The Hollow Man

Background info:
I’ve been living overseas for 10+ years in South Korea and recently made a decision to repatriate three years from now. One thing i need to do is get myself a new career to be able to generate income once I move back to Canada.

For the last 3 years I’ve really enjoyed hacking away at my sites and helping friends and colleagues start blogs or moodle sites. However, despite what my friends think, I am really a hack who only knows enough to be dangerous. The thing is i really enjoy working on web sites and would like to transition into web design full time.

Clearly I’ll need to build a portfolio of sites. I’m willing to put the time into that. More importantly however is developing my skill set and qualifications. I recently ordered CSS Mastery and will be going through that as soon as the book arrives. What I would like to do is take some courses to get a focused approach to improving my skills. Ideally these courses would be offered online and be a recognized qualification in the industry when looking for work (assuming I don’t start my own design company).

Does anyone have suggestions for me? courses, books, approach to learning, personal anecdotes and/or professional advice would all be greatly appreciated. Additionally prayers for me and my family as we prepare for the move to Canada and a complete culture change.

Posted by The Hollow Man on Tuesday Aug 28, 2007 at 09:50 PM in Prayer | The Hollow Man |
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Taking care of my children for extended periods of time alone (more than 2-3 hours) is always difficult for me. I’m not sure what to do with kids and also I find their needs to be incredibly distracting from my own personal interests. Maybe I’m selfish, maybe I’m not. What I know is that this is the way I am despite having tried to change.

This week my daughters kindergarten is closed all week and my sons daycare is closed Wednesday through Friday. So far things have gone much better than expected. I had a good time with my daughter alone on Monday and Tuesday. On top of her enjoying herself and getting out of our apartment complex with just daddy I even managed to find some time for myself.

Today is the first day with both kids all day and it’s going much easier than expected. After the rain stopped in the morning we took a long walk to the local Krispy Kreme for some donuts. My daughter usually wants to go to Dunkin Donuts but there’s no seats on the first floor and with a stroller it wasn’t feasable so we took the longer walk. Anyhow that went really well. the only difficult part was the hike up the hill to get home with the stroller and a somewhat fatigued 5 year old.

After we got home The Hollow Son took a long nap and The Hollow Daughter entertained herself while I read a book. Overall good stuff. The afternoon has been much easier than expected as well with little whining or fighting. God is definitely watching over me this week and helping me deal with the stress that I usually feel when alone with kids.

Posted by The Hollow Man on Wednesday Aug 1, 2007 at 03:27 PM in Family | The Hollow Daughter | The Hollow Man | Praise | Prayer |
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I’ve been slipping the past few days. I haven’t read the bible in at least four days probably six. I’ve been busy, but that’s just an excuse. Today is Sunday and in about an hour I’ll be heading to church so before I go, I will read the bible and pray. I need to be more vigilant with regards to my time to commune with Christ. 

Posted by The Hollow Man on Sunday Jun 24, 2007 at 01:27 PM in Prayer |
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THis is a good verse for me to remember. I often have trouble with my daughter and need more patience to be better able to guide and raise her properly. It is difficult for me since I feel weak and lacking in knowledge to be able to do this properly.

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Posted by The Hollow Man on Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 at 02:21 PM in Prayer |
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Thursday last week my school had our end of semester dinner.  I was of course sitting next to my best friend, DH. I’ve known DH since 2002 and we are really close friends with similar recreational interests as well as professional development interests and teaching styles. DH is the kind of guy who goes above and beyond for his friends and people in general. He’s just an all around good guy and everyone likes him.

The trouble is that he isn’t saved and is in fact somewhat anti-christian religion. He doesn’t actually go around mocking or taking down Christians or other believers. He is good enough to say that it isn’t for him and leave it at that. Basically he won’t attack Christians believers of other faiths - he just is not interested in it.

Enough background. At dinner he was talking to some of the other teachers and I was engaged in a coversation with another colleague when I heard him say I am more athiest every day. I didn’t say anything for two reasons. #1 it wasn’t the right place or time to get into this without being confrontational and ruining the atomosphere of the dinner. #2 I don’t feel ready or equipped to debate a person who is clearly not ready to believe and come away with any sense of accomplishment.

Over the last few days what he said has been replaying in mind over and over. I feel that the spirit has convicted me to pray for DH. I’ve never felt this way before nor have I prayed for a non-believer in all the time that I have been a Christian. I hope that readers will pray for DH and also pray for me so that I will be able to witness to him in a way that will move him to accept Jesus.

Posted by The Hollow Man on Tuesday Jun 19, 2007 at 08:41 PM in Prayer | Unsaved friends |
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One area that I struggle with as a Christian is prayer and communing with God. My prayers tend to be short and succinct. I hear other Christians whose prayers are incredibly long and eloquent and almost poetic. Yet I rarely say more than thanks and a request for what I would like. I have no passion in prayer.

However if I get together with friends I can talk about teaching (that’s my job) for hours on end. What I like, what I want to try, up and coming trends in language education, the qualities of a good, poor, or excellent student. Before I know it, 3 or 4 hours have passed, but it feels like only 10 minutes.

I am aware that the spirit will intercede on our behalf when we do not know what to say:

Romans 8 26-27
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Posted by The Hollow Man on Saturday Jun 16, 2007 at 10:00 AM in Prayer |
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I’ve been feeling rather blase the last couple of days. I’ve got tons of work to do, but have been putting it off and just sitting around doing nothing. All of my regular favorite activities are just not drawing me. I feel a complete lack of motivation and am not sure why.

Maybe I need to pray more, maybe I need to read the bible more, maybe I just need to drink more coffee, or maybe I need to get more sleep. What I do know is that I have got to get out of this slump quickly.

Posted by The Hollow Man on Friday Jun 15, 2007 at 08:31 PM in Prayer | The Hollow Man |
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