Chris Hambleton's Blog, page 4

Fixing Broken Things

“His name is MacGyver, and he can fix anything.”

Growing up in the Midwest, we watched a lot of television in the winter, even though we only got three channels (four, if you count PBS, which we never did). My favorite show growing up was “MacGyver”, remember him? (And no, the new “reboot” doesn’t count.) MacGyver was the guy who could be locked in a basement and somehow improvise a rocket-launcher with an empty toilet-paper roll, duct-tape, baking-soda, and a couple of ball-bearings. Not onl...

Two Scoops, Please!

Disclaimer: t[image error]his isn’t a post about Raisin Bran (though it would taste wonderful this morning!), but about self-worth. It’s a subject that’s been bouncing around in the back of my mind for awhile, particularly recently. And honestly, the more I consider it, the more I realize that my own sense of self-worth has often been misplaced, probably for most of my life.

Where do we typically get our sense of self-worth from? As a generalization, men tend to get their self-worth from their accomplishm...

Do the Next Thing

This has been one of those weeks where everything hit the proverbial fan.

[image error]The highlight was getting into an accident on an icy hill that put my car into the shop, and then learning the damage would be far too costly to fix. At home this week, we’re dealing with friend issues, piles of homework, sleepless nights, a house that’s still being put back together after a painting marathon, fighting colds, a long bout of anxiety, a big software release at work, and two broken hearts (and a partridge...

The Most Important Question

If someone pulled you aside and asked you “What is the most important question ever asked?” what would you answer? Some of the more probableanswers would be “Where did I come from?”, “Where am I going?, or “Why am I here?”

[image error]With such a question in mind, the Bible quickly comes to the rescue. In fact, the very first question asked just happens to be the most important one that we can ask: “Did God really say?” All other questions we might come up with in this world are secondary to that primary...

Dinosaurs: A Question of Faith

Dinosaurs. Since as far back as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with dinosaurs. What boy hasn’t been at one time or another? However, after watching Jurassic Park and thinking about what a real-life dinosaur experience would be like, I think I’ll pass!

A couple months ago, I read an interesting article about how recent discoveries of dinosaurs bones (not merely dinosaur fossils, but bones) have been confirming the literal Biblical account in Genesis. No, not the old Day-Age model that th...

Perspectives, Love, and Liberty

Think of your favorite book for a moment — do you realize that NO ONE will ever read thatbook the same way as you? Even the incredibly detailedand intricate workslike “The Lord of the Rings” are never read quite the same way. The other day while hunting around for a clever quote about perspectives, I stumbled across the following from Edmund Wilson which intrigued me:

“No two persons ever read the same book.”

At first glance, the quote makes very little sense since most books are indeed read...

Decisions, Decisions, 2016

Life is full of tough decisions— and when it comes to politics, sometimes repugnant decisions! Though the 2016 political season has been ongoing for the lastyear, weonly have a coupleweeks leftuntil the general election. Then — it’s back to “life” as we know it.

Personally speaking, I haven’t been paying much attention to muchof it this season because frankly, both candidates rather disgust me. It’s not merely a matter of choosing the lesser of two “evils” this time because both have been run...

A Peculiar Epiphany

Epiphanies. Sometimes they hit you right out of the blue for no apparent reason. I don’t have epiphaniesvery often, but when I do, they’re usually rather significant. Sometimes they’re a stream of thoughts that rush through my mind, while other times they’re merely very strong emotions that change the way Iperceive or interpret something.

When I considerthe word “epiphany”, I tend to imagine a bright light-bulb lighting up right overmy head and suddenly, everything becomes clear. However, the...

Failing Fast, Failing Often

Fail fast, fail often. In the new development world at myoffice (now two years old), this mantra has been repeated countless times. While at first it seemed like it was another one of those Silicon Valley fads that come and go after a couple years, this one seems to have legs, mostly because it’s common-sense — and it works.

One of the books we were recommended on how to improve ourAgile development processes was“Fail Fast, Fail Often — How Losing Can Help You Win” (synopsis/highlights). The...

Compassion? For Her?!?!

Compassion. Sometimes it pops up inthe most surprising of times, places — and people.A couple weeks ago when glancing over the political headlines, Donald Trump struck alow-blow againstHillary Clinton over her brain “short-circuiting” and I suddenly felt two very strong emotions: disgust towards him and compassion towards her. That’s right — compassion.

In politicalnews over the last couple weeks, Clinton’s health has become atopic of “concern”, particularly on the Right. The rumors over her...