Those of you who frequently or infrequently visit this site will notice big changes beginning the evening of June 1 if all goes according to plan. The rollout of jimporett.com version 2.0 is about to go live. Notice I’m using all of the terms like “launch”, “rollout”, “go live”, etc… Ha! This explains my lack of posts the past month. Lots of work configuring.

As I may have mentioned before I am going to be using WordPress instead of Blogger to power the site. Nothing against Blogger, it has served well, but with WordPress I have complete control over the look and function of the site, adding more pages of content and flexibility to change in the future. Some of the same features will remain and some have been updated or removed.

I spent a lot of time making sure the new version of this site looks consistent in browsers: Firefox, Safari, Opera and dare I say Internet Explorer 6. Though I must say if you are at home and still using Internet Explorer 6 for most of your web surfing. Stop now! Switch to Firefox 1.5! It’s much more secure than IE6 and is much better than anything Microsoft has come up with.

All of the posts and archives from this version will be on the new version. I have yet to find a good way to properly migrate the comments over, but that’s a minor concern at this point.

The home page is still jimporett.com, but the content will be in a different subfolder. Going to jimporett.com will take you there directly so no worries!

“The DaVinci Code” movie opens this weekend and I thought I’d throw in my two cents. I should preface by saying I have not read the book yet and do not intend to see the movie.  Mainly because I’d rather not give the author my money.  However, I am going to read the book, but I will be checking it out from the library or borrowing it from a friend.  I feel that to effectively engage in conversations with people about it, I should read the book.  This fictional novel will not change my views as a Christian, nor create doubts in my mind about my faith. I have heard about the content of the book from others and could probably discuss it without ever reading it. However I think it would be disengenuous on my part to not read it and yet discuss its falsehoods.

The ongoing boycotts of the movie are understandable and for the most part I agree with them. In essence, I am doing the same thing. With that in mind, I don’t necessarily have a problem if a Christian decides to go see it. I think Christians that decide go see the movie may have legitimate reasons for doing so and that should be respected.

Director Ron Howard contention that its a harmless, fictional movie is quite short sighted in my opinion. They do say that it makes people discuss religion which is true to an extent. However one of the actors, Ian McKellen [Gandalf of "Lord of the Rings"] made a very foolish, uninformed statement in response to a question by Matt Lauer on the “Today” show about some calling for a disclaimer in the movie that it is fiction.

He stated “Well, I’ve often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer at the front saying ‘this is fiction.’ “

The problem with that is the Bible is not fiction at all. For McKellen to make such a statement about the Bible while defending a clear fictional work that makes a shameful mockery of the Bible is both ironic and sad.

Mr. McKellen, In fact there is overwhelming archeological, internal and external evidence that the Bible is indeed true.  My hope is one day you will come to that understanding.

I am currently working on a new version of jimporett dot com. I’m not sure I will have it ready for prime time by the one year anniversary of my site (May 15). Either way I am looking forward to it. It will not be powered by Blogger anymore. I am going with WordPress. It is a widely used, open source blogging engine and much more. It powers an entire site, far beyond just a blog. WordPress is much more flexible allowing multi page architecture with added features and a new look. Keep your eye out for it!

Earlier this year, I purchased a Canon digital SLR type camera (not a point and shoot pocket digital camera) and wanted to learn how to use it beyond just shooting vacation photos. To that end, I just finished taking a lengthy Photographic Design class. I learned more than I ever expected about design and composition of photographs.

The instructor emphasized that you don’t “take” photographs, you really “make” them. This is accomplished by not just looking at something and snapping off a shot of it, but considering what’s around it, what’s in the background, moving in closer (with zoom or physically), almost never centering the subject in the viewfinder, etc. This also includes the basics of design: Light, Line, Shape, Texture, Perspective.

It’s been interesting how my paradigm for things in everyday life has changed a bit. Things we see in everyday life and take for granted can be great subjects for photography. I am starting to learn what it is to have a photographic eye. I frankly have surprised myself as to how much I really enjoy photography and think it will be a life long hobby.

Here’s a link to the instructors website. He is a great nature photographer and did a great job teaching the classes the past several weeks.

Update: Some of my more recent shots as a part of different photo essay assignments like the one above are posted on my Flickr photostream account (link is also posted in the right column of this site). Flickr is a great place to share photographs publically or for private (friends and family) viewing.

Lou Dobbs had an very interesting commentary about the illegal immigrant protests today. Read it here. It is revealing and thought provoking.