Paul

My family is pretty funny

2011-10-31T11:26:00.002-05:00

These emails came across the wire the past couple of days:

Eden (my sister in Peru):

http://www.legacyalpaca.com/ - [My friend] started a business and wanted to use me as a model. Thus begins my hat modelling career.

The link has pictures of my pretty sister:

My mother replied:

How fun. Just dont start doing heroin and having eating disorders.

Nice Mom.

On Consumer Electronics

2011-10-01T14:13:00.000-05:00

I first heard about Squaretrade warranties on Woot. I didn't really have a reason to purchase one though, until I bought an amazon kindle. Jeremy had recommended the warranty services from squaretrade, and so I purchased one for my kindle. I think I paid something like 30 bucks for it? I'd had the kindle for a few months when someone sat on it and killed it. The e-ink screen started bleeding around like an etch a sketch that has been partially shaken, and then it wouldn't even turn on.

I sent an email to squaretrade, and they replied with a shipping label. I mailed them the paperweight that had previously been a book, and a couple of days later they asked how I wanted my refund of the purchase price of the kindle. With their offer of a 5% bonus if I took the money as an amazon gift card (they also offered to mail me a check or just give it to me in paypal), I came out, not quite ahead, but the extra money ended up making the warranty that much cheaper. On my second kindle the story was much the same. I'm now on my third kindle, but I've only paid once.

When I got a new cell phone, I decided that I'd prefer to not have a bulky case increasing the size and complexity of what I would be carrying every day. So far, so good, but I'm not at all worried about the time when I drop it in the pool, accidentally wash it, leave it on the roof of my car or whatever the horrible way that it will meet it's demise turns out to be. Squaretrade will pay me back in cash and I can upgrade to whatever the new hottness is.

On Google+ VS Facebook.

2011-09-30T08:34:00.002-05:00

I always hate facebook. I can't stand their website. I don't mean, that I can't stand their website, like, I hate what they represent or what they do, I mean, I can't stand their UI.

Yesterday I decided that if I wasn't friends with my girlfriend on facebook, then I shouldn't be friends with anyone. I went through and deleted all my friends.

I've done this before! Facebook decided to undo all of my work though. I know this, because, even though 1)I had never once told facebook to give my information to Pandora, and 2) I had de-activiated my account, Pandora kept telling me which of my friends liked certain songs.
Despite the obvious privacy violation, this was kind of annoying. When I moved to Dallas I wondered if maybe I'd use facebook again, and I signed in. Lo and behold, I had 200 friends... Gee facebook, thanks for giving me free friends. whatever. I don't care too much.

Anyway, I go on this awful wreck of a website and I spend about five minutes figuring out where to go to delete my friends. When I finally found it, I made sure not to leave the page, as I wasn't certain I could get back to it. it took me another minute or so to figure out how to delete this list of people, and I was appalled to discover what it required.

1. mouse over a button. Don't click it, because that stops the popup menu from coming up.
2. A popup menu will slide open. if you are at the bottom of the page, don't worry, the popup will extend beyond the viewable portion of the window.
3. Click "unfriend"
4. Click "yes" on the "are you sure" dialogue.
5. Click "Ok" on the confirmation dialogue.
6. The page will refresh which causes it to scroll to the top....

I know that this sounds unbelievable and absurd, and that you're thinking that I have a bias against them already. I know you're thinking, it can't be that bad...

Try it yourself. Make sure to delete the bottom friend from your list so that you can observe the absurdness of it all.

Compare this to G+. In Google+ if you want to delete a group of people from a circle, you hold the mouse button down and draw a box around the people you want. You can use Ctrl to select multiple as well! Gee, use a UI idea that all users understand because they've been using it on the desktop of their computer for years? Who'd have thought of that? Macs do it, Windows does it. (The Alt-text is exactly what I'm talking about even...)

...I'll bet that the facebook "engineers" get paid more than I do too.

Heh. I didn't even go into how it took me so long to find the spot where you turn off your account that I almost gave up on doing that.

Support Superior products and practices!

Paul, why the hate against tablets?

2011-09-28T20:41:00.001-05:00

Laurel Smith - I'm also curious to hear more of your take on tablets, Paul. Why are they not for you? Is there a group/demographic/user (struggling to find the right word here...) for whom you think they are a good investment?

I've often made my opinions on tablet computer known, but I have been considering my opinions and I feel that I'm coming to a better understanding of my dislike of them. Besides, I got questions about Tablets a few times in the past few weeks, and It's better to answer questions in a public blog than a private email. Share your knowledge with the world and you'll be doing it a favor.

A lot of my problems with tablet computers start from the common marketing hype (lie) that a tablet is necessary or that it's possible to do legitimate work on it. A tablet is first and foremost, a toy. You can watch the commercials that will suggest otherwise, you can think up some real life situations where a tablet might be a legitimate replacement for pen-and-paper, but a touchscreen isn't good enough for real input. It's fine for clicking buttons or links. It's probably superior for twisting an image, zooming in, or navigation, but, as soon as it becomes necessary to type a name, an address, a search request, or an email, it is quickly apparent that an on-screen keyboard is hardly comparable to the mechanical variety. This isn't to say that one can't "get by" with an on screen keyboard. On my android phone I use a SwiftKey keyboard and I highly recommend it (as does engadget). I have found that it's almost bearable sometimes, but it really kind of depends on who I'm talking to. Maybe it's just my irrational hate for when the inferior becomes the most successful.

Let me get back to my earlier statement. A tablet is a Toy. A tablet is probably a great toy. I have played on one a bit and, much like they did with the Wii, some game designers have done quite a bit with the new form of input. A tablet is a "Hip" toy. Cool people use them, and those cool people can look down at us laptop toting losers as we wait for our computers to turn on. Apple is "hip" (and a company getting that reputation and fan base seems so wrong. They make Designer computers) and so I assume that most of that hipness comes from the fact that the major tablet seen is apple's, but I kind of think that a tablet just draws interest from anyone around. After all, they might get to touch it! Being a nerd is cool these days, much to my displeasure, so looking like one AND being hip is just awesome.

So what's wrong with spending some money on a toy? Nothing, it's your money. Take your money and buy an ipad or buy a laptop or even send it to help a Nigerian prince! I don't think I'll buy one though. A lot of times I buy a toy because I can think of ways that other people will enjoy it with me. I bought a projector because more people can see it at once. I bought an xbox so that I could play rock band with company. I spent ~$200 on board games! A tablet doesn't really lend itself to sharing. I watched a couple on the airplane splitting earbuds to watch a movie on the ipad, and I thought, "that sucks." They probably didn't know that they should switch the sound to mono, so they might have even been missing some of the dialog! Perhaps a couple likes to be close, and so can enjoy sharing a small screen with each other, but that won't be true for a lot of cases.

There's also price. With a little bit of looking, one can probably find a laptop that has three or four gigs of ram, a big (enough) hard drive and a dual core two or three gigahertz processor for about $300 (this one is a few weeks old) I don't know what an ipad costs ($600?), but I think most android tablets have been something like $400. Even if we're assume that they're the same price, your average tablet has a one gigahertz dual core processor, possibly one gig of ram, and anywhere from 4 to 64 gigs of memory. For your extra 100 bucks, you get half the processing power, 1/3 the ram, a quarter of the memory, and a touch screen instead of a keyboard. To be fair, Amazon's new Kindle Fire is probably about the price that I'd expect the hardware to cost. Whenever someone tears it down and reports the cost, we'll get to see if that's actually the case or not, but I'd honestly be surprised if they're losing much.

People still buy them. Maybe you're one of those people and you're happy with your purchase. If you're thinking about getting one of your own though, perhaps I just took away some of your justifications. :) To be fair, I do have a kindle and a smart phone myself, so maybe I already have everything that a tablet gives. I dunno. These are just my opinions though. Even if you don't agree you can always go buy a tablet and be happy with it. That'll show me!

the scary guy with the beard who keeps looking at you

2011-09-23T10:08:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, especially in socialsituations where I don’t quite think I fit in, I like to go be alone. I wander around and I watch people. I stand against the wall by myself. While I’m standing there, I am the righteous judge,watching to see who will come and talk to the apparently lonely guy in the corner. Sometimes I make eye contact with a person, andI smile at them, encouraging. SometimesI am the guy getting smiled at, and I raise my eyebrows and nod my head back atthat guy in the corner. Now I’m back inthe corner, and I think, “You and I could talk. Don’t just give me a nod, give me a sentence.” It’s useless though. Even when they do come back and talk to me, Icontinue to judge. You shouldn’t betalking to me, you obviously don’t know me. The guy who nods knows me, but, because of that, he also knows that it’spointless to talk to me. For those ofyou who are looking to “solve” this, I’m sorry. Truthfully I could go fit in to a group if I wanted. I could go talk to a group, and join the conversation. I’d probably even give them a fewlaughs. Today I don’t feel like beingthat guy. Today I’d rather think andsulk.

There are other reasons to bestanding alone in the corner too. There’salways the chance that someone will come and stand beside me. That person understands. That person, the one beside me, knows thatwords don’t help, and we can, together, be superior to these people who areenjoying themselves with such petty things. Perhaps someone will come and stand beside me for my sake. Not to judge, but because, on previousoccasions, I have opened up, and they want to join me in case I do itagain. Or perhaps just because they loveme, and they want to be there for me and with me when I am in this state.

Children sometimes, because theydon’t know the stupid social rules that govern polite company, are more willingto come up and talk to me. Usually theyalready know me and, for whatever reason, are happy to see me. Heh. Nothing pulls me into being social quicker than a few kids coming up andtalking to me.

Whatever it is, the next time you see me alone at a wedding, or alone at a church, or whatever, shoot me a nod and a raised eyebrow. Come over and talk to me. Come over and be silent with me. Send your kids over to talk to me. Even ignore me, and have fun without me. But don't worry about me. I'll be okay.

In which I go to Awana

2011-09-08T19:31:00.000-05:00

Awana started up again this week; I get so many free points for helping there. I had a great time with the kids to boot.

I shared a ride too and from with Grace Goering. On the way home I commented, "I'm really glad for Awana. If it weren't for that, my gifts would be so wasted." I've commented several times that the way kids are around me and with me isn't because of anything I do, but I keep repeating myself because I don't think that people believe me. Any abilities that I have with children come from God, and this belief is always reinforced.

Of course not, Everyone knows that they ride in the pouches

It was reinforced Tuesday night when the pictures were taken. They were taken within about 5 minutes of me arriving. I didn't even know like half of those kids.The boy on my shoulders is from Australia, and two of his sisters were somewhere up there too. They'd had visitors that week and their friends were also at Awana that night. Kids must really be raised up more durably over there, because the five of them were fairly intense about the way that they "played."

The point is, I didn't do anything. I don't ever do anything. I can find results that happen with just my presence. Much like so many other important things, it doesn't matter what I do or how I do it. Whatever it is though, I still like them.

All is Fine, Will Robinson!

2011-06-14T08:31:00.003-05:00

Sunday afternoon mostly I just read, but in the novel I was reading there was a lament that the society was changing. There were no judgements cast as to whether it was for the better or the worse, but in general what had happened, cutting out all that I can of the non-essential story, an invention had made a formerly dangerous occupation safe and there was no longer any need for men to do this job.

This made me consider a bit on how safe my life is, and how safety is now a part of our rights as Americans. I don't mean to go off here with my libertarian views on seat-belts, airbags, child seats in cars, warning labels, and insurance policies (or how a person of faith would balance faith and these fall-backs). Instead, my thoughts considered the lack of danger in my life.

I've always resented how my office job takes away the threat of death or dismemberment and leaves me sitting down (!) in an office with conditioned air. Aside from that, a shower isn't required upon getting home and I never bang my fingers with hammers any longer. I suppose those are the reasons why they have to pay you more. I've also gained a bit of weight and lost a bit of muscle (making my overall weight gain a bit deceitful).

I've become soft! I don't want to go outside cause it's hot, and I don't want to go outside cause it's cold. I went all the way to Peru, hiked for five kilometers up and down switchbacks I didn't even go stand under the waterfall! My excuse was something to do with the fact that it was already raining, but when the British boys showed up they dived right in and went right across the pond (no pun intended). My sense of comfort has grown too large and I am the worse for it.

What is the solution? Humility and less fast food would probably be a start. I need some danger though. I considered a run through an iffy neighborhood or a bike ride, but it's pretty hot outside and that, like the fighting in Fight Club, might not even satisfy. I remembered talking to a guy from church about his work with the Homeless in Dallas. I hope to meet with him soon to talk more about what I could do to help them out. Of course he needs some software work done, but I'm sure there would be other opportunities as well.

Justify your spending

2011-06-08T10:15:00.002-05:00

(The alt text reads: Wait a minute. If I'm escaping from a submarine at 50 meters, then I'll definitely need a flashlight to find air pockets for gradual decompression on the way up. Time to start shopping professional dive lights.)

It's so easy to add up justifications until you are looking to buy top-of-the-line. This example shows flashlights, but consider computers, cars, clothes and cat-food.

(I almost linked to sony on computers as well, and I admit I was basically lost at clothes because there are probably other, better options for that category. )

movies and other forms of entertainment

2011-05-27T01:02:00.002-05:00

I have a friend, Jared, who isn't the fastest reader who I know. He enjoys some of the same reading material that I do, and so, at times, he will ask me for advice towards a book to read. My paying attention to how he feels about what I suggest, and my tailoring of suggestions to him that I feel he will enjoy has earned me some regard in the vocation of entertainment-chooser. My success with recommending to Jared has made me wonder if, perhaps, I have some skill in that regard?

Unfortunately This potential skill does not apply to myself. I am fairly easily entertained. I often find myself liking things that aren't actually "good." I like to think that my tastes are just turned down a bit lower than other people's, so that I will find things enjoyable that others won't(on the other hand, as I am writing this sentence, a song by Ingrid Michaelson came on the Pandora. I really like this song, but I refuse to buy it because I can't find a version that won't involve me buying this soundtrack. I suppose I do have Some standards :). All this in mind, I wonder if my experiences are what make me enjoy what I like or if perhaps I do have a good opinion of things. You be the judge dear reader:

I just watched "Morning Glory" starring some cute brunette and Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford did a pretty good job making me like his unlikable character and the girl did a good job at making me like her likable one. The movie was slightly girly, with Harrison and Jeff Goldblum adding much of the masculinity. The definition of a chic-flic played itself out in as much as They-Got-Back-Together-In-The-End, but this is correct as it is in a fantasy where the Good Guys must win. A girly movie with masculinity showed off is okay by me as I have been known to enjoy studying girly things(A great mystery they are that (warning, link contains the word "sex"! [also the alt text is the best part of the joke.]) I am sure I can solve!! Anyway I did like the movie, but on the other hand, I have been living on my own for a week and perhaps something sappy is helpful to my Soul. Whatever. Perhaps you'll also enjoy it in spite of what IMDB says. I grow less impressed with their review numbers.

A week in Dallas and in my life

2011-05-07T21:42:00.003-05:00

As the summer approaches, I become more worried about how I'm going to pull it off. I've really been enjoying living with Jeremy and Grace. They're good people, and they've been being very gracious to put me up and put up with me. (Jeremy will probably comment about how it's no trouble, and that may even be the case, but it takes a lot to beat the conditioning I had growing up about how I'm not to be a bother at someone else's house) But they'll be leaving soon, and I'll know very few people.

The number of people that I will know is surprisingly big, and growing, though. There's a couple at church who randomly invited me over to house-sit for them for a week, and they've suggested that I come over and play cards. (Some of you might know the game that they've suggested as onzie) There's a girl who moved down from Topeka to go to DTS, and she said that she'll be here this summer. She's quite social too, so I expect that that could be quite a profitable contact. An old friend from back at KSU just recently moved down too. On top of this, my boss at work likes me, and just this week I went to a bible study with a co-worker.

My weeks since I got back from spending a week in Topeka have been long and sometimes hard. I went to the KBC workday last weekend and ended up leaving Hutchinson late, and I drove straight to Dallas. I arrived at about 2:00 AM and I was down with the sickness. Due to my late arrival and my poor health, I decided to try the 24/7/365 hours that I'd heard TI has and pick up my laptop on my way home late Sunday night. I had no trouble getting in and grabbing my computer, but I felt quite meh the next day, so I didn't really get any work done. I got a letter in the mail too, but it wasn't the paycheck I was expecting. It was a $75 fine for "running" a stoplight. At least it won't be affecting my insurance, and I don't have to pay a court fee. Still... The rest of the week went well, and I got some standard eight hour days in.

Tuesday was the last Awana. I have only attended for a few weeks, but they keep asking me if I'll be back next year. It is a work that have been known for. In fact... Counting back, I've probably spent eight or nine years involved somehow in some sort of children's ministry or another. I am continually surprised (a paradox I know) by how kids like me(Even tonight, when the Goerings and I were at the park, a younger black boy came up and asked me to push him on the swing). At the end of Awana I ended up running around and playing tag with about half of the kids while the parents ate ice cream and socialized. (Note: my rules about this are basically that I don't mind at all keeping track of your kids and letting you talk, but, in exchange, I am going to ignore any complaints that I might get about what I let the kids do) It was a successful game of Tag (How? It's tag!) and there might have been even 30 kids running around in the slightly soggy field.

On Thursday at work, we had a meeting with another guy who is writing a bit of software much the same as I am, for the same group. After the meeting was over, Matt, my "Technical Contact" (A fancy way of saying that he is my guy if I have questions) asked my boss (Falk Alicke [ahl-eek-eh, although I think of my mother {Alice} whenever I see his last name]) and me if we had any ideas for a bible study that he was a part of. I ended up going to the study with him, and I had a good time. I hope to continue going.

Today I played with the kids and Jeremy. It's his first day out of class so he is relishing in his freedom. For me it's Saturday. This post isn't quite as interesting as some are. Family and friends sometimes ask me how things are going, and rather then just sending out an email I wrote it all here. In exchange, I'll try to be interesting next time. I've been reading Douglas Adams, so that should help.

Why I'm selling my house

2011-04-24T21:51:00.003-05:00

I moved to Dallas. I like it there somewhat, I don't really have any friends aside from Jeremy and Grace. Luckily, I really like them, so it works out ok. Sadly, they'll be leaving soon and I'll need to find a new social group. It was about a year in Topeka before I actually looked forward to spending a weekend in Topeka, and I don't expect any results to be quick here either.

The first question anyone asked me when they found out I was moving was, "What are you going to do about your house?" True that could be a bit of a nosy question, but, anyone who knows me would probably disagree. If you weren't one of the people who asked that question, my answer was: "I'm probably going to keep it till summer and then kick the guys out and look into selling it, then possibly buy something in Dallas"

I decided, for once in my life, to try and be ahead on what I needed to do. I called up a realtor (why does it think that it needs to be a capitol word?) and I asked him how I could get things moving. His opinion was that June was too late. I should be getting it on the market as soon as I can, preferably even as soon as last week. As is often the case, I decided that I was dealing with an expert, and, for now, I would trust him as one and try and follow his advice. He went and took a look at the place...

His opinion was that there was a LOT of work to be done. I was expecting nothing less. He mentioned (repeatedly) that the place was a mess and that there was a long way to go before it would be ready to sell.

This conversation is about where I forgot what my goals were. I took his expert advice and decided to get moving on getting the place cleaned up. I was planning on going to Kansas for two or three weekends in a row and I went ahead and decided to just spend an entire week up in Topeka working on getting the house ready. I talked to my Boss and he seemed to think that it would be fine, so I packed up for the week and headed off. I had been waiting for a paycheck in the mail for the few days before I left, but I suppose it didn't get there until I had already left on Friday. I figured I had quite a bit of money in the bank and that I'd be fine for a week.

I spent a great weekend at KBC at the retreat, and headed up to Topeka Monday. I got started and made a list of all of the work that I would like to do. I looked at the daunting list but I weren't skeered. I have a lot of friends in Topeka, and there are three big guys in the house. I was thinking of other times where I've had projects happen and how many people have showed up to help and how it's been a fun time. I looked forward to the times we'd have over the next few days. I looked at the list and looked around the messy house. I couldn't imagine where I should start. Someone texted me and mentioned lunch. I was glad to be getting away from the task at hand. The distractions began...

I got news that Monday night would be bad for a few people. Some people actually said that they could come, but I decided that I'd just get a good start on Tuesday and hammer out a bit of work. It worked too. Johnny and Kara and Esther and Regan showed up and we got the basement almost totally cleared out. I realize that most people haven't seen the basement, but those who had were quite impressed that we'd cleaned it in just a day.

`Wednesday went well too. Joel, Joel and Jeff helped and we took 3 big loads off of the property. There was a bit of a hiccup when the scrap metal yard was about to close, but we made it with minutes to spare. They weren't happy with us, and then they made us take back a few peices of the old gravity furnace that I'd taken out about three years before because they had some asbestos on them. I had kept this scrap for three years. I kind of blame my job though. Working at Kalos takes up all of the day, and there isn't much time to take care of business with any other 8-5 operating hours operation. Jeff had the genius idea of just leaving the asbestos metal beside the curb, and sure enough, it was gone by the next morning.

Wednesday night we took a load of burnable trash from my house to Johnny and Kara's property and had a nice bonfire. Kara had invited a couple of girls that she knew from a prior job out and they showed up. I was surprised that they offered to help when I mentioned that I would be doing some painting the next day. I didn't expect them to show, but I got a text and they came on over. We painted some ugly walls over with kilz and it really improved quite a bit of ugly. My offer was to buy food for anyone who was helping me with my house and we went out and had Pizza Thursday night.

I was planning on leaving Friday for a prior engagement to see people in Wichita. I called them Friday morning, but found out that it wasn't going to work. This actually worked out for me because I wanted to load up a load of my stuff on Saturday in Joel's truck to take down to my folk's house. I called a few people who said that they could help with that, and I mentioned that I'd be around Friday night in case there was anyone who wanted to help get a bit more work done. I talked to the girls who I had met a day prior and one of them, a Taylor, mentioned that she would be happy to come help if I had more work to do. The realtor came over and we talked money.

What he had to say wasn't exciting. I'd be lucky to get out of the house what I'd paid plus what I put into it. And that was considering that I moved the guys who were living in the house out and got the place cleaned out. I was slightly depressed by this, but I decided that maybe the guys would work with me and that I could move my crap out, and that it would work. Taylor came over, but the others who I had thought were going to be helping all had other stuff going on. Luckily Matt was there and Nate showed up so I didn't look like a creeper. I decided that shopping was next on the agenda and we went out to get some blinds and outlet covers. I ended up deciding to wait on the blinds and as per my prior commitment, I offered my help dinner. My help consisted of just one girl, so I suppose it would almost be even a date. Her roommate ended up coming too and I went ahead and offered to cover all the food. Embarrassment! My card was rejected!!! (clever readers will remember my previous foreshadowing) Previous instances where this could have happened I had people with me who either A) had jobs or B) owed me money. Luckily I found a way to cover what I owed.

Saturday morning I woke up early, packed up the mess I had been leaving at Joel's house (he has internet) and headed to my house to prepare to empty the house for loading and moving to store at my parent's. I remembered to call my bank and they told me that I had $4 in my accounts which is why my card was rejected. I calculated that I had enough fuel to get to my parents. I would borrow some cash from them and would thus be able to afford to make it to Dallas to work on Monday. In the end, no one showed up to help us load. I know that people had things going on that morning, but it was basically the last straw in all that I was attempting to get done during the week. I sat around for about an hour considering the work still remaining to be done, the way I was upsetting my roommates by asking them to move, and how I wouldn't be able to be around to make things happen. Finally I called Joel, who was coming over with his truck and trailer, to tell him nevermind. He was a couple blocks away by then so I waited until he arrived and we talked. In the end the disappointments of the week were enough to make me re-think what I would do with my house and I decided that I could maybe figure out a way to keep it for another year and be either ready to sell by next spring or find new renters who were willing to upkeep things a bit better then the guys who are there now. Meeting new girls who were so eager to help was quite uplifting and I was much benefited by that, but otherwise it was a bit disappointing to feel as though the week was mostly almost a waste. I did feel that it was a learning experience and I'm glad that things are, for the most part, taken care of.

Sorry that it was so long. I was surprised too.

House-sitting, with Dogs

2011-03-19T11:26:00.002-05:00

I am house-sitting for a family that found out about me through church. (Church implies a singleton! Is this really my church? I'm not sure yet, but I think it will be for the time being. I guess maybe part of the problem is that I don't know if I feel at home in TX enough yet to consider that type of thing yet)

It was nice to be able to break from staying with Goerings, and to be able to give them some sort of break. I don't think that I needed it and I doubt they would admit if they did, but I think that me being gone for a little while will keep that potential necessity at bay for a bit longer.

This family, the Willis', were gone for the week, and they have some pets that need fed. They live in suburbia in a nice house with a very comfortable bed. I am to feed the dogs each morning and make sure that the cat has some food. When I go to work I should lock the dogs up so that they don't Get Into Trouble.

On the first night that I arrived, the dogs were not happy to see me. There was much growling and they stayed away from me. Jack is the smaller dog, and he didn't seem to take a new person at his house very personally, but the bigger dog, Buddy, was offended and upset that I was there. After a few minutes Jack had gotten over it, but I was a bit concerned about Buddy. Hey was growling a lot and I didn't want to get bit. Then I remembered that I could walk them. At the word, Buddy forgot all his distrust and ran to his leash. I couldn't find the leash for Jack so he just ran alongside with us as we sniffed and marked the base of every mailbox like some sort of bizarre postman.

When I left for work the next day I locked up the dogs and the house without much trouble. That night I watched a movie. Jack laid on the floor beside me while I watched, but Buddy didn't really want to have much part in this activity. I didn't really pay the animals much attention which is probably why I had so much trouble getting Buddy to go into his cage when I left for work the next day. I made sure to go on a walk that evening and things were fine again the next day.

I noticed the action/reaction quickly, but I didn't think that dogs would have that kind of memory. It also seemed so petty that he would give me trouble just because of a simple thing that I had neglected to do. I'm looking for my life lesson here, and, like many things, it's simplest to just reverse it. When I feel neglected I should make sure to not be petty because it doesn't help anything. Meh, I was hoping for more, but I suppose it'll have to do.

in which I am like a grandparent

2011-02-28T19:17:00.004-06:00

I've been living with Jeremy and Grace for a few weeks now. I've been attentive towards the possibility that I've getting towards the end of my welcome, and, although it hasn't come yet and I like it here, I will soon be looking towards getting out of their hair. The weeks haven't seemed as long as they actually have been because I've made a few trips and the Goerings, as always, have full lives that cause the weeks to move fast.

The other night, as I was about to leave, Caris became a bit clingy and it was a nice feeling to be wanted. Caris is about two and a half, and her sister Hannah is about a half. Caris has some of your standard two year old girl traits with demands and insistence and a incomprehensive idea of when she is an authority and when other people are the authorities (i.e. my parents are authorities over me because they are older, therefore I am in authority over my baby sister. Or sometimes Paul). Hannah is just happy all the time, and pleasant to be around.

I feel as though I am some sort of grandparent, with all of the fun and none of the responsibilities. Perhaps it's more like an Uncle or something though. I am learning quite a bit about myself in this prolonged exposure to the same kids. I'm not yet to the point my Grandpa is--carrying a bolt in my pocket, but if I had one, I probably would keep it for Situations-that-Might-Arise. I also keep learning more about my opinions of discipline and notice how my patience compares with that of Real parents (it's less than). I have become more easy-going though; things that kind of bothered me a bit when I first arrived no longer evoke that response in me.

This morning I woke up early, which is good as I intended to spend a long time at work, and I didn't know if I wanted to stay late. I went downstairs and the girls were being happy. I felt useful (my addiction), so I sat with Caris and held Hannah and watched Curious George paint. When the girls were finally put into the car I discovered that it were 9:00. I would stay at work till 6:30, but I was happy with my morning. Besides, traffic doesn't really let up till about then anyway.

That's freakin' bully

2011-02-23T00:11:00.002-06:00

One of my childhood heroes is Louis Pasteur. I don't know how or why, but I remember writing several reports on him and what he did. He was a pretty interesting character, and his studies have affected pretty much everyone's lives directly. Milk is "Pasteurized," that is, boiled to kill germs.

I'm not so much thinking about him though. One of my father's heroes is Theodore Roosevelt. He was quite a Man. I can remember at least one book that Dad read to us about him, but I think that there might have been another. He was born under sickness with a grim outlook on his life, but he went on safaris and fought in wars and stuff. He was serving as VP when William McKinley was assassinated and he moved on up. While he was president, a casual remark to a reporter that he wouldn't run for re-election (that he instantly regretted) defined that he didn't do just that. I wish we had men of such character today...

One of the books I remember reading, or being read was called "Bully for you Teddy Roosevelt" I think that the idea was that bully was the slang back then. I propose to attempt to revive such slang and add it to my vernacular.

A couple possible correct uses include:

That youtube video is Bully!
You got the job? Bully for you!
Bully!

I propose to never use this term sarcastically so as to provide a clean way of preventing confusion during textual based conversations. (also it's cheaper then the scarcmark)

Driving while alone

2011-02-08T21:54:00.003-06:00

I just drove to Dallas from Topeka with one stop in Oklahoma City for gas/potty. I don't count the stop 3 miles from Jeremy's house to buy Chipotle (pro Tip. Go to Chipotle nearer to close and the food preparers are much much more liberal with their distributions). I didn't even pee at Chipotle! ...I still haven't peed. ...Need to drink more water. So that's eight hours on the road straight. I did meet some nasty weather between Topeka and Wichita, but I still made the whole trip in basically seven hours.

When I left Topeka, I was in a hurry because I'd heard tell of weather in Oklahoma and more weather in Dallas. When I got to Dallas, a bank was telling me that it was 45 degrees. I suppose I wasn't in as much of a race with the weather as I'd thought. The dumb thing about all of this is that all this racing just to get here is really just me hurrying up to wait. The talk of weather in Dallas is already cancelling most things, and, if you combine that with my boss' wife being sick, you get that I'm not going in to work tomorrow. I will be doing a bit of work from home, but I could have done that in Topeka or Wichita just as well too. Basically I'd rather drive down early for nothing, then drive down late through show, ice, sleet, or even just their aftereffects.

I compared this trip to others and I decided that I love how I trip. It's one of the things that I can only do while I'm single, and while I'd be happy to give it up, I'm glad for it now. Also, this post is a warning for any and all who might travel with me. If I'm driving... The chance of stopping goes way, way down.

Day 13 in Peru

2011-01-12T22:34:00.001-06:00

"The rooms are really nice, they've got a pool and a fountain and flat screen tvs." she reported. My impressed "wow" was cut short by her mentioning the price at 190 soles a night. 190 soles is about $60 American, but that was an insurmountable sum when compared to the 40 soles that we had been quoted at the place that was feeding us lunch. We decided that we weren't worth such luxuries.

A couple of notes at this point will be good. It rains about every day here. The rain is sporadic, but it mostly keeps the temperature down, so it's not so hot that swimming sounds as appealing as it does during a Kansas summer. Also Eden cautions me to not trust the Hostels, and because of that, on every hike we've taken, we've packed up the expensive electronics.

We left most of our luggage and walked the 5.5 kilometers to the falls. The hike was mostly switchbacks up and down. It was quite an endevor, but it was also a pretty trek. When we got to the falls, Eden walked over to be close to them. Clouds had come and covered the sun and I was getting a bit cold and adding wet to that wasn't appealing enough to convince me to have that experience, even though I knew that there would come a day where I'd wish that i'd done it.

Soon after I made the decision to stay dry, it started raining. Mostly it was sprinkles, but then it picked up for a few minutes and I was forced to seek shelter in the cleft of a rock while Eden covered our luggage with her pancho. While I was hiding, I saw a group of white boys come down the path, and I laughed at the fact that Eden's pancho made her blend in with the rock. The boys walked down the path, stripped to their shorts jumped right into the pool at the base of the falls and swam across to the falls. While they were playing in the water, Eden and I packed up and headed out.

For most of the walk back, the rain held off, but as we got closer and closer to town the rain increased. After slipping and almost falling over in the muddy path we found some shelter about a half mile away from the town. The boys mentioned prior caught up with us and we had some conversation. They were british and they had ambitions plans to hike the rest of the 6k to the highway and catch a combi (small bus) to chachapoyas. Eden and I left them as we found a nice, dry hostel and spent the rest of the evening resting. I thought of the boys and their doomed walk down the mountain when the rain finally let up, hours later.

As we were eating supper, and it being Sunday, we could hear some congregation singing hymns (I recognized "Oh for Grace to trust in Jesus"). It was a shame that we hadn't been fillled in on the local itenerary else we might have joined them, but I wasn't too sad to miss a sermon that I wouldn't be able to understand anyway.

Day 12 in Peru

2011-01-11T17:14:00.002-06:00

Upon waking up, I took a shower (cold) and we left to find transportation to the town that we had meant to stop in. The bus-ticket salesman the night before had told us that a bus would leave at 9 to take us where we wanted to go, and so we made sure to be at the bus station by 8:00. However, this time we were told that there was no bus, and that we would have to take a collectivo. Apparently it is common for people to say one thing and it to be a complete lie, as Eden was not too bothered by the misinformation. A collectivo is basically a taxi, but they hold as many passengers as they can fit instead of just the single fare. Most of the ones that we've travelled in have been station wagons. We had about an hour ride backtracking, and at the end of it we got another collectivo and were taken to the town nearest to Gocta. Gocta is the waterfall that we were visiting. It is one of the taller waterfalls in the world (apparently there's some debate, see my link if you care). In this small town we stopped at a Hostel to eat some lunch and look into a room. The lunch was delicious, and after we had eaten it, Eden checked the price of a room, and then walked over to compare with the neighboring hostel, which was quite an attractive looking building. I assume it was built recently as the waterfall has become more of an attraction.

"The rooms are really nice, they've got a pool and a fountain and flat screen tvs." she reported. My impressed "wow" was cut short by her mentioning the price at 190 soles a night. 190 soles is about $60 American, but that was an insurmountable sum when compared to the 40 soles that we had been quoted at the place that was feeding us lunch. We decided that we weren't worth such luxuries.

A couple of notes at this point will be good. It rains about every day here. The rain is sporadic, but it mostly keeps the temperature down, so it's not so hot that swimming sounds as appealing as it does during a Kansas summer. Also Eden cautions me to not trust the Hostels, and because of that, on every hike we've taken, we've packed up the expensive electronics.

We left most of our luggage and walked the 5.5 kilometers to the falls. The hike was mostly switchbacks up and down. It was quite an endevor, but it was also a pretty trek. When we got to the falls, Eden walked over to be close to them. Clouds had come and covered the sun and I was getting a bit cold and adding wet to that wasn't appealing enough to convince me to have that experience, even though I knew that there would come a day where I'd wish that i'd done it.

Soon after I made the decision to stay dry, it started raining. Mostly it was sprinkles, but then it picked up for a few minutes and I was forced to seek shelter in the cleft of a rock while Eden covered our luggage with her poncho. While I was hiding, I saw a group of white boys come down the path, and I laughed at the fact that Eden's poncho made her blend in with the rock. The boys walked down the path, stripped to their shorts jumped right into the pool at the base of the falls and swam across to the falls. While they were playing in the water, Eden and I packed up and headed out.

For most of the walk back, the rain held off, but as we got closer and closer to town the rain increased. After slipping and almost falling over in the muddy path we found some shelter about a half mile away from the town. The boys mentioned prior caught up with us and we had some conversation. They were british and they had ambitions plans to hike the rest of the 6k to the highway and catch a combi (small bus) to chachapoyas. Eden and I left them as we found a nice, dry hostel and spent the rest of the evening resting. I thought of those boys and their doomed walk down the mountain when the rain finally let up, hours later. As we were eating supper, and it being Sunday, we could hear some congregation singing hymns (I recognized "Oh for Grace to trust in Jesus"). It was a shame that we hadn't been fillled in on the local itenerary else we might have joined them, but I wasn't too sad to miss a sermon that I wouldn't be able to understand anyway.

Day 11 in Peru

2011-01-10T18:23:00.001-06:00

After my late night of writing, there was an early morning of waking to catch our flight to the jungle. At some recent point, time has started to lose it's meaning for me. I'm not sure if it was when I quit my job and stopped having a certain, daily responsibility, or if it was when I got to Peru. Either way, I didn't know how much sleep I was due, or how much sleep I was going to be getting when I went to bed, and it didn't even seem to matter too much that it wasn't going to be that much. Mostly I just knew that I woke up early and tired.
We caught a taxi to the airport and caught our plane. It has been quite a while since I've walked across the tarmac to get on or off of a plane, and probably quite most of two decades since I've done it for a commercial flight. Also of note is that on a one hour flight, Peru Air will serve a meal. A pre-packaged box with a small ham and cheese sandwitch and a few cookies, sure, but it beats peanuts. Upon landing, we found a taxi to take us to the bus station where we would catch a flight to a town closer to where we actually wanted to be.
When we got in the taxi and started, I realized that we weren't in Lima anymore. The taxi was a modified motorcycle. The rear wheel had been replaced with an axle, and fitted with a seat (think school bus) and a tarp roof. Thing was, this wasn't just a taxi, this was basically how you get around. I saw a smattering of cars, a handful of bikes, but a majority of little motokars. The taxi took us to the bus station and we discovered that our bus would leave at noon. We had several hours to kill and so we visited a museum.
I don't know how many of you know my uncle Rick Khol, but, for those of you who do, the curator, and his museum reminded me of him. He was quite excited about his exhibits, and he showed Eden and me around for over an hour while he told us stories about how jungle culture was disappearing, dangerous jungle animals and insects would kill or eat you, and how some of his various machine models were used to make sugar cane. There's a certain joy in giving time, even just to listen, towards an idea that another person puts value in and I was glad to look at his place.
We stopped at a place to eat. Eden ordered a meal that was quite delicious. Fried bananna peices and some sort of pork that reminded me of jerky. The place was a bit hotter than I had been led to expect, so I ordered a frozen limon(lime)aid to counter the heat contained in the pants that I had worn. We wandered through the market a bit and then we got on the bus for a six hour ride.
When I was in college, I went on a bus trip to San Diego with some friends. It was really a cheap way to travel, and, I felt, worth what it cost. Everyone else was quite dissatisfied with the thing and vowed to not do it again. This bus trip in Peru was, in fact, a horrible trip. At every stop a herd of people would get on the bus and march up and down the aisle attempting to sell various products. The aisle was about big enough for one person to fit, but the street merchants managed to squeeze past each other, usually by leaning into the passenger's seats. At one stop, a man got on and "Preached (more on that later) and soon after he had left the baby in the seat in front of us peed and it dripped onto Eden't leg.
"that baby just peed on me." she said, quietly.
"Are you sure it wasn't just the rain coming in the window?" I asked in disbelief.
"It was warm. This is why my friends tell me not to lean up against the seats in public transportation."
I was a bit grossed out. I've had that happen to me at least once, but at the time I was immeadeatly offered the use of a shower and a washer and dryer. Besides, I knew the kid! Eden had a few hours of bus ride left and where we were going there would only be cold water and possibly some soap. She cleaned her foot and shoe off as much as she could and tried to go back to sleep. I tried not to think about it, but kept my feet quite clear of that part of the floor. A few hours later the mother of the diaper-less child opened up her window and spat out of it, only to have it blow back in and hit Eden and I in the face. Both of us tried our best to contain our horrified laughter as we wiped our faces on our shirts.
"First your child pees on me and then you spit in my face!" Eden said, trying to be quiet as we both giggled. It was horrible but funny, and we both felt bad enough for the poor lady that we didn't want to make her feel any worse. Not like she could do anything anyway. The bus trip continued on and on and on. We were expecting six hours and we had left about noon, but in the end we got there about 8:00. After we got off, eden gave me some money so that I could go use the bathroom and when I returned, she informed me of, perhaps, the worst news of all. We had gone about two hours past where we needed to be getting off at. Note to anyone who takes a bus trip in Peru. There is nobody announcing the stops, and the towns don't have the fancy green signs outside of them telling you where you are. It had been a long day, so we decided to just grab a bite to eat and deal with the rest in the morning.
We found a resturant that claimed to serve hamburgers. I was curious as to what the peruvians considered this meal to be, and Eden wanted to eat there too, so we did. As we left I noticed the peeing-baby and spitting-mother family sitting at the table beside us. We decided to get out as quickly as we could. We found a hostel, watched a few episodes of "Raising Hope" and went to bed. I was glad to be putting that day behind me.

I'm hoping that this posts. The internet cafe that we stopped in barely can talk to the tubes. I was going to include some pictures, but I don't think that I should push my luck worst case scenario, I'll be back to the states next Saturday...

Day 10 in Lima

2011-01-07T23:08:00.003-06:00

Today was pretty lazy. I woke up late, and didn't leave my room for quite a while. Eden came in and told me that she had found a new Groupon to a Bubble-Tea place that she liked to go to, and that it was near the Incan market. First we stopped by her school, and I was able to see the room that she teaches in and meet a few of her fellow teachers and administrators.

We met a student of hers who was working on his English in a room nearby. He was reading "Because of Winn Dixie" and we conversed with him for a bit. He informed us that he was studying English, and When Eden and I commented that his English seemed very good, he gave us an assertive "No." Eden told me that he was Korean, and because I have just recently been talking to a friend who has been teaching English in South Korea for the past year or so, I understood a bit better why this child was so adamant on improving his English. My friend had talked about how his students who are learning English will commonly stay up all night studying for a quiz that he is giving the next day. And these are like, nine year olds... ...Eden says that they do great at drawing things that she will pose for them, but are a bit more off at the abstract types. An interesting paradox...

We then stopped at the Incan Market and looked around. I had finally found the place in which to go to buy souvenirs. Eden told me that many of the things that were being peddled were possibly cheaper in the jungle, and so I didn't buy much yet. We'll go back the day before I leave to finish shopping. I did get a pair of pants because it seems that we'll be a bit higher up in the next few days, and I'll be wanting to be a bit warmer. I can see myself spending quite a bit of money on some of the nice, obviously Peruvian, things that are available there. Looking forward to it!

The Bubble Tea store was amazingly like a coffee shop that one might see in the states. There were young people working behind the counter, weird machines that made drinks, and even a tip jar. The wikipedia article linked has a picture that is almost exactly what we got when we ordered. There was even a "Wrap" to eat along with our tea, and they gave us some Jasmine loose-leaf to take home with us.

After that it was back to the house so that I could go paragliding! Eden had contacted the guy who owned the gear. It was quite an experience. I have some pictures, but they're on the camera still... I'll post them up eventually. It turns out that I am too fat to really get a good ride, but they charged a bit less because it was short. I was actually content with what I had got, and I kind of plan to look into the gear when I get back to the states. It was a lot of fun, like flying a kite, but a bit more intriguing.

We had dinner and Eden was planning on going out dancing with her friends at 10:00. I had been invited along, but I was intimidated by that prospect. I don't quite have enough fast-twitch muscle fiber to pull off much dancing. In the end, Eden decided that our 5:00 AM flight was too soon approaching and that the Peruvians had gone all South America on her and hadn't even left yet at 11:00 so she too stayed home. She told me that I had missed meeting Rosanna's "Cute British friend" and I told Eden that such a prospect probably would have been enough enticement to get me to join. Oh well, such is life. I had put off writing blogs long enough anyway and I had wanted to spend some time writing.

I was much interested in posting as this is my tenth day to post in a row, and it might be my last for a while. I am currently planning on continuing posting, but we'll be in the Jungle soon, and internet might be a much more complicated commodity there. I do plan on keeping some notes as to how my day goes, and perhaps over the next week I shall inform as to what happened. My daily posts have been a good practice for my upcoming job where I shall be forced to force myself to work, and for my future goal of forcing myself to write. Thanks for your support, and I hope to be speaking to you again soon.

Day 9 in Lima

2011-01-07T11:06:00.006-06:00

It's getting to where we've done quite a bit of the obvious things here, which is good as we will be heading to the jungle soon. When Eden woke me up, she told me about a tour that we should take. She neglected to volunteer enough information, and I forgot to ask, and I left the house in shorts, t-shirt and tennis shoes for a boat tour that could even involve swimming with sea-lions. I was a bit annoyed that I hadn't dressed more appropriately, but in the end my complaints were for naught.

We went all the way across town to the place where the airport is, but more importantly, where the seaport is. Eden had done some research into this tour on the internet, but it seemed that what she had read was slightly incorrect as to prices. She was quite insistent that we could probably find a cheaper deal somewhere, but we didn't, and ended up barely having enough money with us to pay for the ride. The boat turned out to be actually quite nice, and, as far as I was concerned, the possible extra cost was worth it.

We took off for the islands around Lima. Being on the Ocean is always exciting (to a point),

and being so near a port allowed for much sightings of bigger vessels. I have recently read "The Winds of War" and several books by Tom Clancy, and many of these stories feature large ships. Seeing in person again that which I have so recently read about brings to life the locations of the stories and the characters who occupy them. Someday I would captain a boat on the ocean. Perhaps a sailboat...

The first island is home to a prison. The tour guide, through the loudspeaker, told us that the Indians had worshiped the island as a god, and that they had buried offerings to him there. He also mentioned that pirates had used the island and that there might still be treasure there hidden somewhere. This experience with these amazing stories made me wonder a bit at the legitimacy of the history being shared with us. It would, perhaps, benefit the tour-guide to share a version of history that was slightly more elaborate than actual events. By this same logic though, one can question all of the history that he has ever been taught... In the end though, one must either trust in the things that he sees, or he can trust in what other people tell him. Is it worth believing that the island is full of buried treasure because the guide says so? I conclude that in such a small matter, the truth is not quite as important is it might be in other matters, and even if it were important to Know, I would be able to verify or discredit his report with a small amount of research.

After this first island, the movement of the boat began to affect me, but I found that taking a nap was sufficient to calm my ears. Eden was already sleeping, and I drifted off to the sounds of the English-speakers behind me talking with their guide/translator about the birds of Peru. When I awoke, we were quite near the semi-final destination of the "Island that was Covered

with Sea Lions" They had told us 5000, and I would give that to them without much of a fight. The animals made noises that already sounded like a human imitation of the noises that they might naturally make.

After the Sea Lions, we continued on for a bit.

It was another twenty minutes or so and my sea-sickness was continuing, so I took another lie-down. At the final island we were able to see penguins. Penguins are perhaps one of my more favored animals, but the nausea was getting to me, so I just took a quick look-see. Besides, they were quite small and a bit far away so I felt as though I had basically seen all that there was to see. Eden did get a picture though.

After that was the long journey back to port. I started feeling better once we got back in sight of the big boats again and I was able to throughly enjoy the rest of the trip.

Eden had noticed a fort that she wanted to look at, and so when we got back we wandered around a bit. There was an offer of a tour that we declined and instead just wandered around by ourselves. It was an interesting piece of architecture, and Eden noted it as a place that might be worth visiting again with other visitors that she might have.

In the evening we went to see a subtitled movie(Red) with Cynthia at the cinema. The movie wasn't bad, but there were several jokes that only Eden and I laughed at. Apparently they don't quite translate as well... It felt a bit odd going to see a movie when I was all the way down here, but all the foreign people around made it somewhat touristy :)

Day 8 in Lima

2011-01-06T16:34:00.006-06:00

A week ago I woke up and got in the car to drive to the airport. In this short time I've grown used to not understanding people when they talk, to not carrying a cellphone or wallet, to riding in buses and Taxis, but not to the food.

This day was my second dentist appointment. Much as the first, it was fairly short. I received a prescription for some penicillin because of something that I didn't quite follow, but who am I to argue with a doctor? He took another x-ray and decided to wait until the day before I leave to do all the work. I am kind of glad for this--I'd rather suffer at home.

After the dentist we went to the market where people go to buy clothing. In Spanish, the

"Gamarra District." Wow. This might have been one of the more impressive things that I've seen so far in Lima. Perhaps I am just a small town boy at heart and crowds impress me, (and the crowds were amazing) but there was so much more then just quantity of people. The clothes, the stores, the advertisers, and the whole setup was pretty amazing. The basic setup is this: There are these big mall-type buildings, and they are full of little kiosk-booth things instead of stores. Each booth has a clerk and sells one particular type of clothing. For example, in one building, one floor might sell mostly men's clothing, and each booth will most likely specialize in one particular brand. One booth will sell Abercrombie & Fitch shirts, another Hollister, another Armani, another Guess Jeans, etc. I have forgotten to ask what the dress code is at my new job, but I figured I could get some new polos since they were cheap. I ended up buying some shirts that were "Eduardo Piaccio" and some that were from "Riif Urban" Normally I would proudly link to the designer's website in order to show off my amazing purchases that I probably got for cheap, but it seems that the reason that I got them for cheap has something to do with the fact that I can't find the brand anywhere. Luckily for me, that doesn't matter too much to me. The shirts are comfortable, and Eden helped me pick them out, so I think that they're at least not horrible. I could talk quite a bit more about the shopping district, but, as I was after the three-four hours shopping, I'm tired of it.

Eden seemed to be tired too, because when we got home both of us took extra long naps. I woke up, as usual, stupid and useless, and so when Eden asked if I wanted to

go parasailing, I was hesitant. Then she explained that she had actually meant paragliding, and I was quite a bit more interested. We took a short bus ride to where the paragliding guy would have been, but it seemed that he had closed up shop for the evening. We did catch the sunset over the ocean though, and it was somewhat pretty. I usually find ocean sunsets to be somewhat bland. Usually they have no clouds and so you just get a somewhat pinkish orange sky for a couple minutes as the sun disappears. Seeing those same colors reflected across the clouds in Kansas is an experience that I much prefer, although there is a serious lack of good vantage points in Kansas for the good views. I'm sure that they'll get prettier and prettier the longer that I am away :)

It was quite a long day. After our failure to paraglide, we decided to go to the fountain park(scroll down for the pictures). It's quite worth the trip to go there. One nice thing about visiting a big town is that there are a lot of tourist attractions. Here's a video showing one of the fountains. It's kind of a maze that will turn off and on randomly and you can try to sneak through without getting wet. Quite fun. We caught the end of the first big light show, but we didn't stay to watch the second one.

It was a long day, but it was also a day of people not believing things. Firstly we had the taxi driver who didn't believe that Eden lived where she told him that she lived. He decided that she should probably live less far away then she actually did. His desire for her to live closer upped the cost of the ride by like 28%... Secondly we had the waitress who didn't understand how mixing drinks works. The menu talked about pineapple juice and orange juice, and I asked for them to be mixed. When Eden was paying, the waitress, of course, billed us for both drinks. Eden and I both looked at her as she deserved, that is to say, we looked at her as if she was a moron. Eden's drink and my drink were both the same size, so Eden did the obvious thing and showed that to the waitress who still didn't seem to get it. I mean, imagine if in the states you asked the waiter for a mixture of diet coke and coke, and when you got the bill he had charged you once for each... Dumb. Finally there was the fountain park, where I started feeling raindrops. Eden kept insisting that it was just water splashing on me from the fountain, but I was pretty sure I knew rain when I felt it. Eventually it picked up to the point where it was impossible to blame the fountains, and, as a result of the rain, our taxi ride home was more expensive. Also, we passed a bus that had no wipers... The driver kept reaching out with his newspaper to clean the windows. Eden says it only rains two or three times a year in Lima.

Day 7 in Lima

2011-01-05T16:03:00.003-06:00

We woke up in the small mountain town (I don't recall it's name, and I don't know where Eden is to ask her) and went for breakfast. I usually don't eat breakfast, and I wasn't hungry that morning either. There was an offer of fresh cow milk, and I recalled that I had possibly even seen the cows the previous day while we were hiking. Unluckily (or perhaps for some people, luckily) for me, there wasn't enough for all of us, so, since the milk is served hot and I don't care much for hot drinks, I allowed the others to split and leave me out.

I did have some juice, and let me tell you: The juice here is exotic and interesting. There are fruits that you've probably never heard of, or tasted, and, in some cases, you can pick them from the trees. Eden tells me that they don't have Lemons here, but just Limes, but they still call anything which they make out of limes lemonade. There aren't free refills here and water is not complimentary. Add in that the juice is good, and the result is that it's pretty much what I drink.

After breakfast some of our party seemed to want to sleep, so Rosanna, Eden and I sat in the square, myself reading and the girls talking. I don't know if you, dear reader, are aware of how children like me, but they do. I call it a God-Given Talent, and I also think that it might be hereditary from my Mother's Father. Anyway there were a few kids playing on their plastic car, the likes of which are often seen in church nurseries. The baby who was maybe 18 inches tall would ride and his sister and brother would take turns pushing. Eden remarked that the car might have been their Christmas present. I would smile and laugh at them when they went by, and eventually they all came over to talk to the gringos. They were especially interested in my Kindle, and enjoyed seeing the pictures that the kindle uses as screen savers.

There was also a missionary group. They stuck out as such because Rosanna recognized one of their translators from a previous stint of her own. Eventually one of their group came up and talked to us. I pegged him as young, possibly even just a freshman. He seemed to lack the courage to talk to us, and this was too bad because Eden and Rosanna had already planned out different heresies to become believers of if the chance would present itself. I will give him this though. No one else in the group even attempted to make conversation with us.

We drove back in time to eat Ceviche for lunch. When I was in Virgina this past fall visiting my cousins, David and/or Laura made some for Allen and Joel and I, and it was just as good here in Peru. If you are the type who might try to cook something new and exotic, I would suggest that you try this one. For the benefit of anyone who didn't read the Wikipedia article, the gimmick is that the citric acid in the lemons cooks the fish.

I got back to find that my room was being painted. Imagine if you were staying in an unfamiliar house. One day you walk in, and everything seems a bit odd, as though you were in a house that had the same floor-plan, but owned by someone else. When you walk to your room, you see someone who you don't know inside of the room, and it's not your room. IT'S NOT YOUR ROOM!!! It's close! But... but... but the walls are obviously a different color. I turned around and walked back downstairs to find Eden and make sure that, yes, this was the right house. A very odd feeling to say the least.

Eden and I went for a run to the cliffs above the ocean so that I would know where to go when/if I wanted to go on my own. Instead of going home, we went to find a movie at the pirated movie store, and then to eat. We were going to get sandwiches, but then Eden noticed a really ritzy sushi place. The chefs even said "irrashi" to us when we walked in. (I think that they might even have been Asian!) The food was delicious if, according to Eden, a bit expensive. We did notice a discrepancy in the menu. The English menu said that a half-roll was 13 soles and the Spanish menu claimed a price of 15, but when we mentioned it to the hostess, she didn't seem to care. After eating we watched a movie and went to bed.

Day 6 in Lima

2011-01-04T15:39:00.002-06:00

Woke up tired and early for a dentist appointment. Eden was ready to leave, but we were planning on going straight to the mountains for an overnight trip after the dentist and I wanted to finish my blog so as to keep consistent. In the end we were a bit late to the dentist.

How is the dentist in Peru? He was very nice. He looked at my mouth and decided that if he were fixing my teeth, he'd want to put in a bridge because that was the best. Since the dentist in the states hadn't said such a thing, I decided not to go through with it down here. He did look at a tooth that needs a root canal, and I will go in Wednesday to get that taken care of. He took an x-ray, agreed that it needed the root canal, and then he pulled out a drill. I saw him with the drill, and thought, "Unless he really knows what he's doing, this should be short..." because my sensitive teeth have proven dentists judgement of what pain I can take wrong before. Apparently my tooth is well and truly dead though, and I felt nothing. As we were leaving, Eden mentioned to me that he wrote down $50 for the price of the root canal. Take THAT malpractice insurance.

Next we took a long bus ride to the mountains. Eden's friend Miguel picked us up half way and the car was much more convenient. This was the first time that I had met Miguel as he had just returned from Mexico. Miguel doesn't know as much English as some of Eden's other friends. Also, he's cooler then people who I usually hang out with, and that along with me being out of many conversations brings out some latent insecurities that I have with being accepted. It's not a problem that often comes out because of (I think) my dislike of cliques, but it might be something that I get to deal with more once I move, and I should be sure to count this as practice.

This brings to mind some other things about the trip so far. Not knowing Spanish is more of a social hindrance than I had assumed that it would be. Also, I spend quite a bit of time reading, or playing on the computer. I'm not sure what one is supposed to do, but it sometimes seems like I'm wasting time doing things that I could be just as well doing at home. Of course, Eden is here, and I am doing things that I can't do back home... Also, I enjoy reading and playing on the computer, and I find myself in similar situations on most of the trips that I take. So I don't know how bad I should feel. Either way it's relaxing so that's nice.

We stopped in a small mountain town and got a room with six beds in it there. After dropping off our stuff, we went on a hike up the mountain to a waterfall. There was a nice path that we followed up, and it paralleled a sort of aqueduct that moved water, I assume to the village. In Lima, things seem to be dusty and tannish-brown, but out here everything was fairly green. Perhaps the water was for irrigation... There were some big holding tanks that would fill up, and a wheel that (apparently!) anyone could turn to let water out and down the mountain. At the top there was a pretty waterfall. The locals informed me that it was quite a bit more powerful then usual. We continued past the waterfall and saw some people camping. I remarked that some of my friends back in Kansas(Johnny, Kara, Joel, Jere, Mike) would be so jealous if I told them that we had camped there. The Peruvians decided that that's what they would do next time they go. A bit further and it started raining on us, so we turned around and went back to our room where we spent the next few hours listening to the rain fall on the corrugated tin roof and trying to warm up and dry off.

After it was dark, Eden and Miguel wanted to go sneak into the graveyard and some old abandoned houses. The graveyard was interesting, and I felt a bit bad for doing it, but, at the same time, I didn't see any harm in looking at whitewashed tombs. (There are some pictures, but I don't know where just yet) After the graveyard though, we went to an abandoned house. This I did not like at all. We walked up to it, saw some clothes in a pile, and I went back to the car. The girls all followed. There were quite a few dogs around, and they kept barking more and more. Miguel wanted to go look in a window, and while he was there, we saw a shape materialize out of the shadows of the house we had just left. It was a man with a black hood on! Miguel ran back to the car (his car!) and we got out of there. I was kind of upset that we had trespassed into this guy's house, and felt bad about that, so I wasn't really into going into any more houses, but we did it anyway. The second house was obviously empty, as were many of the houses around it. We walked out of the village a bit, and looked at the stars. The stars here are different than they are in Kansas, but it seemed to me that there weren't as many as I'm used to seeing back home. Eden says that it will be better in the jungle, so I won't cast any judgments until then. After this we walked back to the room and, after finding ourselves locked out, Miguel, of course, just broke in. Then it was to bed.

Day 5 in Lima

2011-01-03T07:09:00.002-06:00

I woke up with some sort of cold. I was having a hard time talking, and my nose was a faucet. Perhaps it wasn't the air pollution that had been getting me down every morning. Seeing as it was Sunday, we went to Eden's church. Most of her Peruvian friends who I had met so far attended. I, knowing that I would not be able to follow what was going on, had downloaded a christian book to my kindle. After all, most people at the church wouldn't know the difference between that and a bible. (Desiring God by John Piper if you must know) The songs were praise and worship songs, and I had never heard them, so I wasn't able to follow along too well, but I did make a pretty good attempt. When the pastor would speak, he would, at times, say "amen?" and the audience would respond with an Amen of their own. I didn't participate, because, after all, I didn't know what kind of doctrine I might be agreeing with.

I gained a bit of new respect for my hero Bruce Olsen (Bruchko) when I went to church. I was thinking about how going to church kind of rejuvenates my week, and how I wasn't feeling that while I was going to a church where I knew no one, and don't speak the language. Also I'll be missing the next couple weeks too, so that's going to be different. Then I remembered how Bruce, on his own and without even a church back home supporting him, had gone for years without a church. I know that there are several things that set him apart from most missionaries, but I hadn't considered this facet until yesterday.

After church we ate some empanadas at a small store. They were more of a gimmick food. the empanadas were small, varied in filling, and came with several types of sauces with which to dip them. Following this, an uneventful afternoon and then we went to the beach to celebrate Christian's birthday. This beach was rocky, and the waves would splash against them. I think I liked it quite a bit more then the sand beach. The wind was nice, and we were able to watch the sunset. We cooked hot-dogs in a small fire that we had made and sat around and talked. It was more evening, and that was much better for myself, as I am sunburned. We took a nice walk along the road running at the edge. We did get a few pictures, but there is no time to get them.

On the way home, Eden's friend Cynthia conversed with me. She was speaking mostly english, and she wouldn't allow me to speak anything but spanish. The conversation was slow, and mostly mundane, but when we had finished, the three girls in the back all applauded. I hadn't realized that they were listening because they were all talking. Goes to show that females are tricky. We had an early night, as the next day, I am going to the dentist.

Day 4 in Lima

2011-01-02T13:30:00.003-06:00

I was awakened early by my sister who informed me that they were going to go to the beach. After some thought as to the hour, I decided that staying home would be too lame, and so I decided to get out of bed, in spite of the early hour.

One thing that I noticed every morning so far is that when I wake up, I feel as though I had smoked a cigar on the previous night. I asked Eden about this, and she confirmed that the city does have a bit of a problem with pollution. It's kind of a strange feeling, and I don't think that I could get used to it. It does make me look forward to our trip to the jungle and being out of the city. I wonder if Dallas has the same type of issues...

As a part of my normal waking up routine, I checked my email, and I had received one from that same sister who woke me up. "Sent: 3 hours ago" gmail informed me. She had gotten less sleep than I. In the end, we didn't leave for another hour beyond what was scheduled. The drive was a bit, but since it was a holiday, the beach was crowded. Eden informed me that a week prior, they were the only occupants of that entire beach.

I am not the biggest fan of beaches, but there are a few things

that I usually enjoy doing at them, and I managed to check those things off of that list. I enjoy digging holes, reading, and perhaps a bit of wave-play. I started a hole in quite an ambitions spot, and I didn't discover water for probably an hour of digging. eventually I had enough that other people were willing to get involved, and we managed to make something big enough that I could sit in the bottom in a puddle of water. After that, in order to clean off, I went into the ocean. Eden tried to show me how to play in the waves, but it was a bit cold. Also, I kept getting salt water up my nose. This discomfort was not overcome by the water, so I was happy to quit the ocean and finish my list by reading on the sand. A kindle is not the most appropriate of mediums for reading when you are on a sandy beach, but even a book will get sandy, and my kindle seemed to do fine. I was happy that I had purchased the squaretrade warranty though, you know, just in case.

We didn't stay too long, which was good as I was beginning to be sunburned. I took a shower to wash off the sticky salt, and then did what is quickly becoming a standard and took a nap. Time is starting to blur and I am losing track of what is normal. It's probably good that I won't have a job right away once I get back. We went out for lasagna, and then to bed. Eden was, as one might expect, tired.

Day 3 in Lima

2011-01-01T08:16:00.005-06:00

Sorry for the length. A lot happened. New years is a big holiday here. Happy birthday Aunt Anne(also Camryn too, but I doubt she reads my blog).

We started the day by going to the market and the "Museo San Francisco" This is, as you'd expect, a museum dedicated to the San Fransisco Gold Rush. Well at least, as far as I could tell it was. I find that I remember half as much Spanish as I wish I did. Actually the museum used to be a place monks lived. We wandered around the market for a bit prior to the museum though. Eden purchased some yellow balloons and underwear(the adjective applies to both nouns, it's a new years thing). I bought a polo shirt that looked expensive because it was cheap. Also it felt comfortable, and I think it was name-brand, or at least a rip-off of a name brand, I think it was Rocksie or something. I suggested that I should look into buying some new clothes, and Eden agreed that I could get some nice things for much cheaper.

I also tried Cow-Heart-on-a-Stick, and it was pretty good, but I felt like it would have been better if I could dip it in BBQ sauce. Ahh, being an American (note to anyone who didn't know this, don't say that you're from America in South America. Say "The States". Technically they are from America too) is great.

I saw my first Peruvian Flute Band too. They manifested themselves as live music on the bus that we were taking to get to the market. After an hour or so of market, we went to the museum.

The Museum was very interesting. The first

picture is the library. The big book in the front we later learned is a hymnal. They would place this giant book on this rotating tower-thing, and they could all read from it to sing together. Now, of course, they use it to hold up the projector ; ) An interesting thing about the library, was that, except for the part that the tourists can walk in, all the books are still on their shelves. Most of the books look like they're about to fall apart and are dusty, but Eden informed me that sometimes historians will be allowed to come in to read them. (When I asked her, she told me that my father had asked the tour guide that same question) I don't know if the picture shows any, but there are signs everywhere that say "No Photographs." When we walked in, Eden says to me "This is my favorite room. Hand me the camera!" She proceeded to take a picture right then and there. I was a bit concerned when the camera made a noise when it turned on, but no one said anything and the tour guide didn't notice.

A note on the camera. We were using Eden's roommate's camera. As we began to walk out of the door, eden pulled a water bottle out of her bag, and commented that she wouldn't take it because someone had told her that it leaked. Then we realized that her bag was holding about 2 cups of water. Her phone still worked, but when I turned on the camera, the poor thing just zoomed in and out pitifully. "Dale's going to be mad..." Eden remarked. I couldn't help but agree.

Further down in the monastery, we were allowed to visit the catacombs. These smelled like dirt and at many times I was forced to duck. One interesting thing about these catacombs was that we were able to see the bones. In a few places these bones were even arranged in some strange patterns.

For some reason Eden lagged behind in a couple of the bone rooms, and--Hey! I have pictures of them.

After the museum, we headed back home. Eden wanted to stop at one more market to grab one thing for her Virgin New Years party, and we happened to run into her good friend Cynthia there. Cynthia was my first kiss. Peruvian greeting kiss that is. We wandered around the market. Imagine dozens of mall kiosks all side by side with about five feet of aisles between them that twist and turn and remind you of the places that the spy would run through to get away from the terrorist. I want to go back. With Cynthia there, the shopping was rejuvenated, but I wasn't. We stopped at the "Metro" (grocery store) and bought a couple things, and the girls dropped me off so that I could walk home. I took a nap, and then the party got started.

Since I had just woke up, I was in no mood to meet new people, but I managed to do it anyway. Luckily people showed up slowly and I wasn't quite overwhelmed. The party had Virgin Daiquiris, Virgin Pina Coladas, Virgin Mojitos, and a Virgin Paul. I liked Eden's friends, but it was hard for me to hang out for long, as I am doing a miserable job of communicating or comprehending. At midnight, we went on the roof and watched fireworks. The fireworks were of a quality that, in the states, is matched by municipal shows. Also they go on a lot longer. I do recommend watching from a roof, as other people shoot of their fireworks from their own roofs. Things are so much higher.

I followed the tradition of eating 12 grapes on the new year, and making twelve wishes. Another tradition is for anyone who wishes to travel in the new year to run around the block carrying luggage. I continued to watch fireworks from the roof as the girls did that.

Also they wear yellow underwear, for good luck, on the new year. I didn't participate in that one either, but as I told Eden, I can produce yellow underwear whenever they're needed.

I made twelve wishes for the new year. Some were obvious, some were for other people, but I have a lot of high hopes for next year, and as I made the first few wishes I realized this. As I made the middle few wishes, I considered all the people who I'm going to seriously miss as I move out of Kansas. As I spent some time trying to think of the last few wishes, I realized that if I'm having a hard time thinking of 12 things that I want, I should spend some time remembering the things that I no longer want, and recalling them, consider how blessed I am.

Day 2 in Lima

2010-12-31T08:39:00.003-06:00

We landed in Lima about 1:00 and I had no trouble getting into the country. My first sister, Eden was waiting at the airport.

My family has all been down here before. At Christmastime, they were all warning me about how Eden uses the Taxis.

"See, what you're going to do, is get in to the airport, and Eden will take you out of the airport gates into the bad neighborhood surrounding the airport to find a taxi there. She thinks that the airport taxis are too expensive."

When we walked out of the airport, there were several taxi drivers waiting. One of them caught my eye and started up his spiel. I was walking beside Eden, and so I just pointed at her. Inside I was already smiling. He and another guy started talking at her, and she didn't even turn her head as she responded to them. Also we didn't slow down. The first guy saw that his efforts were useless pretty quickly, but the second guy continued his efforts.

"Dis is dah Tacksi!" He said, pointing to a newer Toyota Camry. "Veinte Soles!" His pleading got him nowhere.

To Justify some of her actions, I will say that the walk out of the airport was short. Once out there, the second taxi we saw agreed to take us for quince soles.

After we got to Eden's house, she showed me around and introduced me to her roommate, cats. I set myself up a bit in my room (Pictured), and we went out for some lunch. Again, we took the first taxi that showed up. "I can't believe it was so cheap! He doesn't know what he's doing" was Eden's comment. She had a Groupon and so we were able to get a grilled fish platter for really cheap. We were across from the ocean so we did a bit of walking. We watched the Friar Cliff dive, and then caught a taxi (this time we passed up a couple) back to her house. I fell asleep in the taxi, so when we got home I foolishly took a nap, and thus was worthless the rest of the evening. We went to a Panaria for supper and watched a movie (TV show, actually). Afterwards it was bedtime.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures. We forgot the camera.

Day 1 in Lima. Err, Panama

2010-12-30T06:57:00.004-06:00

Got in last night. There were some lines to deal with after arriving, but I picked up my, no, Eden's bag, got through customs, and made it to the hotel at about 2:30. Oh yeah, I didn't make it to Lima.

I was supposed to get to Houston at 1:35, and my connecting flight would leave at 2:05. The flights were in different terminals, and the lady in KC assured me before I left that I could get from one to the other in 25 minutes. This would leave me at least five minutes to spare before I missed my connecting flight. I needn't have worried. The flight in Houston was delayed, then they had a lot of trouble with their baggage, and then there was weather. I ended up getting to Houston at 1:10, and getting on my flight to Panama at about 2:50. We were scheduled to land in Panama at 7:00, but we didn't get there till 11:00. (I actually sat down in my seat, and didn't get up until we landed. Maybe there is a use in an office job...) At first I was figuring that I'd be spending the night in the airport. Some of the benches at Tocumen International don't have those annoying arm-rests that prevent them from becoming a bed, and I had

noticed a set of three-prong outlets. In the end, we were put up in a Very nice hotel and everything was taken care of.

On the flight to Panama City, I had been moved to an empty row, and another passenger had moved to that sam

e row so as to share the empty seat. He was from Peru originally, and actually lives in Dallas right now... Strange, as I am moving there in less than a month. He spoke Spanish, and was very helpful in dealing with everything at the airport. Also he was travelling to Lima as well. We also joined up with a couple other Lima travelers, Chad and Daniel. Daniel is a PK at some (apparently, big, or at least moderately rich) church in Denver, and Chad works with the P. (Preacher) Apparently their church sends them on mission trips and the like, but apparently this is their first pure recreational trip in five years. Together we did the necessary.

It seemed like they are a part of mainstream Christianity in the States, as they just met some other people who are also vacationing in Peru, and who recognized them from some conference. Mainstream because they swapped Big Names ("Is Mr. Swanson there?" "Oh, are you going down with Paul Washer?") The name swapping solidified some assumptions that I had previously made about these two based on the things that they said, their iphones, and comments about their trip. I have a certain box that I put churches-as-corporations type of people into, and I'm still not totally sure how I feel about them.

Panama City is apparently has some sort of money. There are a lot of skyscrapers,

and the tolls on the roads seemed high. I know that because of how nice the hotel was some of my impressions were probably skewed, but I would have been impressed with those meal prices in the States as well. As well, it was a casino, so I'm sure that that further jacked up prices. Either way, the Continental vouchers took care of everything from travel to the hotel, to food. I was a bit disappointed to not get to see Eden already, but it's not often that I would stay in such a swanky place, and I'm only a few hours off of the original plan. They're calling for boarding to Lima now. Weather seems clear!

No Stick Shifting

2010-11-30T20:40:00.002-06:00

I was driving to visit Regan Herrington after Kids Club tonight, when my clutch cable snapped. This provided a problem, as I was no longer able to use a clutch to shift gears. Also, the car won't start unless the clutch is in, so once my car died, it was not going to start again until the cable was replaced.

This is the route I took

You might notice that there are some weird unnecessary turns. This is because I forgot that I wouldn't be able to start the car, and almost stopped at Regan's house anyway. This would have meant that I would have to be towed home, and that was an unacceptable solution. At one point, I hit a red light, and didn't keep the car in gear long enough to have speed to run it. The car stopped... Somehow, I managed to JAM it into first (poor poor transmission...) and I was able to continue driving.

The rest of the trip consisted of me going as slowly as I could so that I could time my red lights well enough that I wouldn't have to run them. So I took the highway. On the exit ramp, I was lucky enough to have someone in front of me to sit on the timer. The worst trouble was the next hill. I thought that I had enough speed in first gear to get into second, but I didn't. I came to a complete stop. Luckily I was on a hill. I found that I could no-stick into reverse and back down that hill and up another one where I could coast forwards into first again. The few people who I passed going backwards in the other lane probably thought I was drunk. After that, I managed to make it home and that's Why I'm Awesome.

Oh... ...You ...Liked? that?

2010-10-26T17:12:00.003-05:00

I have my name attributed to a certain discussion of "Man Points" I enjoy (probably too much) finding discrepancies between genders. I get a kick out of things that girls like and boys don't. I like to figure out why the girls like it, and why it's un-manly to do the same. Of course, this isn't a complete truth. Some girls enjoy hunting and some boys enjoy romantic comedies.

One of these truths is for me. I will openly admit that I have little to no taste. I mean, the range of food that I like is much bigger then for most people. Movies and music and clothes are also like that. and not just categories. I know people who like good music and I like their choices ( Hi Adam Sallee!) I also know people who like bad music (hi David Khol) and I like his music too.

I'm not sure if this is a gift or a curse. I am hesitant to recommend things to people, because I'm not sure if I'm trustworthy, but at the same time, I can enjoy Mozart and Taylor Swift, I can enjoy Anime and Kurosawa.

I suppose that what I am doing here is confessing. I bought a Taylor Swift album today. It is new, and it was 4 bucks on amazon. It's dangerously close to country, but there is some guitar in it, and I enjoy that. can I be forgiven? It's the first time that I've done such a thing, but I ... ...I liked it...

...Now you've been warned.

A sure way to get oneself into trouble

2010-10-25T18:06:00.003-05:00

At Kalos we only have 2 bathrooms. One is for girls and one for gentlemen. These are of the One-person-at-a-time variety and since, of the 23 employees 18 of us are men, about mid-morning and mid-afternoon there is often a back-up at the men's-room. I mean a line back-up of course, not the other variety.

Another problem is that the bathroom is at the end of a long hallway, and it requires a bit of walking in order to get to it. Sometimes there's even a long walk, followed by a long dejected walk back to your desk to continue wiggling your legs. To be fair, the fairer sex also has these same problems, but not to the same degree.

In light of these circumstances, I came up with an idea. I would hang out in the bathroom with the light on and the door open and await a co-worker's sigh of relief as they approached the door, only to spring out, close the door and exclaim "Ha ha sucker!" heheh...

As with most pranks though, the idea is surely more funny then the execution, so I'm just sharing it here. Besides, while some people would probably laugh with/at me, others (who sign my pay-checks) might not find it so humorous.

In which I eat like a missionary does and I sometimes am hungry

2010-10-05T16:58:00.004-05:00

A while ago I decided that I would fast some. There was a goal in my mind though, so it wasn't a complete fast. My rules were this: I can eat food, but I can't eat food that I purchased with my own money. If someone wants to buy me lunch or share dinner that is totally acceptable, but I can't go buy food.

I was hoping that I would be able to identify with missionaries somewhat through these rules. I went for a week, and, except for one day, I hardly went hungry. That day I noticed that I was a bit snappish towards people, so I had to try a bit harder to keep from being noticed.

There were a lot of people who provided for me, and I wanted to list them out here, but I might have missed a few people who helped me. Meh.

Wednesday night I had Nate and Kendra's leftover salad
Thursday lunch I think Johnny had some extra leftovers
Friday lunch Rex brought me something that Shawna had made.
I was out of town some for the weekend, and, because we were in groups, meals had been planned and provided. There was a bit of a dilemma here for me because I wouldn't allow myself to do my normal and give a bit of cash to whoever provided the meal, but, at the same time, I was expected to eat. It was hot dogs if I remember right, so I felt Ok about that. If I remember right Mike and Ellen provided some meals that weekend.
Monday was my hungry day, so I got to feel like I was really doing something. There were a few times when I really wanted to ask for some food, but I managed to hold back. Nate shared a few pieces of dillons wings with me and it was much appreciated. I don't think that bones are often that well cleaned.
Tuesday I didn't eat lunch, but some girls (Laura, Kari and Kristin) came over to make dinner and hang out. This was the most tricky of all because I almost always buy the food so that they can cook it. This time I was not the initiator of the plan so I wasn't quite as responsible, but the girls seemed to think that it would be more efficient if I went shopping. Having missed lunch, my will was a bit weak, but I was having a hard time justifying how I would be able to eat the food if I purchased it. In the end the girls went shopping and I just ate the food that they gave me without paying for it. (I'm sure that they noticed that I did that) I like to think that I would have just let the girls eat and not eaten myself, but I'm not too sure if that's true.
Wednesday lunch I still had no food, but I was on the home stretch and even missing lunch was no concern. Of course, I didn't miss lunch because Chad shared his Giant Sandwich with me. I felt almost sheepish eating it, but I realized that not eating it would be rejecting this example of provision so I did.

I learned a bit of humility that week because pride falls before hunger. I didn't really do a lot of begging for food, but that was mostly due to the fact that I would have been begging from people who have much less to live on then I do and that just seemed silly. It was a lot of fun though, and unlike traditional fasts, it really allowed me to see the Lord's provision more obviously. I highly recommend it.

I get a kitten and find a crazy cat lady

2010-09-30T18:56:00.002-05:00

When Regan lived here there were issues with getting a cat, but we took care of one anyway. I had planned on getting one of my own once he left, and then the boys were complaining of mice. Kara Bloom has 9 kittens, so I took one of hers.

There were a couple of weeks between the time this decision was made and when I actually got the cat. During those weeks I discovered that my friend Laura is actually a crazy cat woman. She'd text or IM me every couple of days and ask me if I'd gotten the cat yet. Yesterday the cat arrived. The boys and I were having a house meeting, so we were gone the evening, but Laura wanted to come visit Caleb. I didn't have my phone on me, so I received the following communications all at once:

Laura Weatherford: There's a cat at your house right? 9:22 PM

Laura Weatherford: I am about to give up on your cat... can't find it anywhere... this isn't some mean practical joke is it 9:59 PM

Laura Weatherford: I hate him right now... searched for an hour, he kept tempting me by making noises.. think he is hiding in matts room 10:53 PM

Note the times :) She was looking for most of 2 hours. I felt sorry for her, but it is pretty funny.

In which I compare myself to someone who may or may not be making fun of me.

2010-07-02T18:16:00.003-05:00

It's funny cause Randall agrees with me about dating (alt-text on picture reads: "A breadth-first search makes a lot of sense for dating in general, actually; it suggests dating a bunch of people casually before getting serious, rather than having a series of five-year relationships one after the other." )

I was considering that our different world-views would make us different, but on second thought... He is logical moreso then most, so it could be easily suggested that, while we disagree on many important things, we would together be outsiders in our agreement on situations where logic doesn't often trump emotion.

...Although it could be that he is poking fun at himself and myself by suggesting that anyone would think this way.

Anyway, if only I could convince girls that they should go on casual dates, then I could occupy my evenings. At the same time, any girl who I could convince of the benefits of casually dating might be worth dating seriously...

There are two of me! part 2

2010-03-14T14:01:00.002-05:00

I was previously explaining about how my decisions are sometimes ruled by a logical part of me and other times by an entity who who seems to only be thinking of my destruction.

All this thinking was brought about by me trying to rectify how I deal with girls. When it comes to women, I've never trusted emotion. He likes to believe that certain series of events indicate certain feelings. Logic will sometimes be pulled along in this charade, so I have tasked him with analyzing emotion's findings. There are times when Logic is surprised at Emotion (maybe you remember this instance?) . The point is, never trust emotion cause he'll read into things that girls do. Logic sometimes plays a part in this too, and he has betrayed me in the past. But there are also girl-things that I won't trust Logic to handle.

I've often wondered at times why certain girls who have no disqualifying features (Some people might look down on me for suggesting that features could disqualify, but I'm sure that their definition of "feature" is more narrow then mine. I would include a multifaceted amount of aspects including (but not limited to!) height, weight, hair color, eye color, level of physical fitness etc. ) will be totally unnoticed by emotion. But then, the things that do catch his attention will oftentimes cause logic to be confused for days. I am aware that Logic too quickly loses interest in things, so Emotion gets to pick which girls will be interesting. Logic has many times cast his vote towards a certain interesting set of features, but she gets no chance. This is So Annoying! Other people will often make that same observation too. "What's wrong with xxxxx Paul?" and I can only respond, "I really dunno..."

All of the times where Logic has chosen a likely candidate and then never seen any sort of agreement from his lesser brother have led me to realize that in this aspect (and almost only this aspect) I put so much more trust in Emotion. Emotion will always decide on a girl. ...Not that this doesn't provide it's own set of problems, because Emotion is a lot slower at catching up then Logic. When emotion overcomes logic and persuades me to talk to the girl and she says "No, Never, No way" then logic is content to move onwards.

"See," he tells Emotion, "I told you so. You should remember who is good at noticing things"

Emotion is curled up in the corner telling logic many things, using many strong words that would probably get me too much flack if I were to repeat them here. He will remain this way for days sometimes and he'll be whiny and pathetic for way too long afterwards.

So. Next time you're suggesting that I should consider girl xxxxx this is what's going through my head. Just cause you suggest it doesn't mean that I'll stop being interested in you, or that I'll be interested in your sister, or that I'll go talk to the "HAWT" girl across the room. Emotion is involved here, and he is picky in ways that I have not yet realized. When God brings the right one though, I'm sure that I'll know why he's been waiting.

There are two of me!

2010-03-12T18:01:00.003-06:00

I have long attempted to keep on top of which part of my thoughts is in charge of my actions. I feel that there is an emotional part of me. There is also a logical part of me. The logical part plays an important role for me. It helps me make good decisions and it does math and science. The other part, the emotional part, does other things of a less enjoyable nature. The Logical side will do things that my employer will pay me for, while the emotional side will talk to it's friends. (the logical side has friends too, but they're a bit weird, and hard to be seen with in public) Both sides work together sometimes and are at opposition other times. In some situations it will be good to base decisions on logic and at other times, the feelings should take control. Going to lunch is sort of a good example.

The logical side of my brain limits my choices to restaurants that are close and affordable. The logical side also pushes that there are some places that are "better for me" and that those restaurants should be given priority. The options are usually given to the emotional side to decide what I would "like" to eat. On days that I am more hungry, more sad, more angry, I am likely to spend more. Other factors apply too. The logical side says that I should pack a lunch, but the emotional side is lazy and would rather spend my hard earned money on frivolous things like snack wraps or fries.

It's not always like one side is in control of me either though. There are times when Logic will decide on The Right Way of doing something, but Emotion and all his friends get whiny. I must always be informing Logic that while I know that he is right, there are many people who would not like to hear about this. And Since Logic goes to bed early, I am always having to calm down Emotion so that he isn't cranky tomorrow.

Sometimes these two will work together. Emotion will be excited at driving a certain speed while logic will be satisfied that he has picked a good route. Or logic will see a fallacy in a certain light and the in-congruency of this thought will cause Emotion to laugh.

Emotion would like to continue writing, but logic has observed that people can be too picky about the length of prose, and it suggests that we continue the rest of what there is to say on another upcoming day.

In which I am pwnt by a female

2010-02-15T22:52:00.005-06:00

As I drove home today I considered a question that I was asked in sex-ed back in grade school or junior high or whenever they have that stuff. (My parents did talk to me about things first, so no need to go judging them)

It was some sort of quiz used to determine something, but I don't know what. I only remember the one question anyway, and it not all that well. Something like: "Is it alright if the girl asks out the guy on a date?" I remember that my answer at the time was "yes", but I'm not sure that I haven't reversed it since then. If a girl were to ask me out I'd probably instantly go on the defensive and then start to wonder why she was having to ask Me out. I'd probably do something that would make her cry but she'd be so confidant that she wouldn't cry and I'd get scared and she'd get mad and then she might hit me and then I'd probably say yes... Or something along those lines.

Actually I think that this might have happened once before. The girl was really shrewed though, so I never caught on what she was doing. At the time I'd never guess that she would do such a thing, but now that I know more females and have seen what they're capable of I wouldn't put it past her to have pulled it off so well.

In high school there was a girl who I was really interested in for years. I chased her, and if I'd had the courage I'd have asked her out on any of several occasions. There wasn't much reason to though, so I wasn't ever really forced into a decision. By my senior year I had somehow moved on (although if you'd told my sophomore self that I wouldn't care much about her any more in just 2 years I'd never have believed you) and my world began to revolve around other things. Come prom I didn't have a date and neither did she. I wanted to ask her, but like the Cowardly Lion I was missing something. One day our group hung out all day and I was hanging out with my friend and his girlfriend. The girlfriend was talking about going to prom with all of us and how good it was that we were all going with each other. She somehow let it slip that I was going with Laura.

"Oh she didn't ask you! Whoops! She was going to today, I guess she didn't"

Armed with that knowledge I was sure to ask her now! Except that I didn't. The other girl in our group also "let it slip" that she knew that I was going with laura too. This is what it took, and I did ask her and we did go to prom together. Had a lot of fun too.

Can a girl be the initiator? Apparently. They do have the gift of sneakiness and they use it well to their advantage. I'd probably be a bit intimidated if one did, but if she was subtle enough she could maybe pull the wool over my eyes again. Only if her sense of subtlety has improved equally with my observations though as the advantage is obviously towards females!

In which I experiment with girls

2010-02-14T22:17:00.004-06:00

I have this belief that dating is fun. There was this one time where I was convinced that I should ask a girl out on a date. I remember shaving and showering and putting on deodorant and trying to become the type of person who a girl might like to be seen with. I remember it taking like an hour to get all this work done.

I remember it being exciting and fun.

This experience led me to the belief that any date will follow that same type of pattern. The excitement that came with the idea of the date was intoxicating.

It's been a few years since then and I am looking for another fix. I have some problems to overcome though. Christian society puts a lot of stock in dating. They seem to think that the act of going on a date means that there is so much more going on. This rule is meant to protect girls from predatory guys, but it also protects them from the other types of guys. The consolation offered to guys who are looking to hook up is "just hang out in groups." Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for hanging out with groups. It's a great way to get to know groups. Sometimes there are even times when most of the group is gone and you can actually meet persons in the group too! Groups are fine for what they are. They're a great place to get to know a little bit about a person, but there are some relationships that can't be expanded upon in a group setting.

There's a girl I know who I have some contact with. I see her at a few events. She is a part of a group that doesn't really overlap with my group. I don't really know her. If I were to want to meet this girl (exchanging pleasantries is meh) then my best option would be a date. If she's like some girls though, a date will be too much of a commitment and she'll turn me down.

Along with this problem there's the perceived Christian societal notion of what a date is. If we go on a date we're "Dating." I don't blame girls for being scared of the commitment that a date has turned into.

Here I am though, identifying a problem, but what good is that skill without a solution. I decided that I would have to remove the stigmata that comes with dating. I prefer to attempt an unorthodox solution before any others, so I decided to attempt to get a date for Valentine's Day by asking the girls that I knew out. The first was a sure "No" but I made the futile attempt anyway. The second would likely follow the same answer, but there was no way of knowing without asking! The answer "I'm afraid of what people might think" perhaps provided some progress towards my prior prediction, but my proposed solution was practically without potential.

Onward and upward! The third girl was also responded with a negative answer, but she included a complaint that the merit of my proposal had decreased because she was, in fact, the third girl instead of the first.

Several people, (read: Women) when faced with this anecdote laughed and told me that I should have realized this. I complained that girls always assume that just because something falls at the top of the list, it automatically makes it better then the other things on the list. (Note to self: the next time a girl suggests that order matters, ask her if she organizes her grocery list by importance)

As I was defending myself, I said something that Rachel Everhart caught and my own mouth had betrayed me. Apparently I had placed an order on this list. I knew that it wasn't an order based on anything objective, but I couldn't figure out what it was at that time. I suggested that it was an order based on the likelihood of a negative answer, but I knew that wasn't it.

I asked the girls closest to me first because, no matter how delicately I phrase it, the question has the potential to not be harmless and I'd rather find my "Yes" before I find the girl who changes how she looks at me because I asked her such a thing. (If Possible)

In the end it all fell apart when #3 (Don't read into that, it's just chronological) suggested that #4 would probably be more upset (and exactly one more Upset) that she was that much removed from having the first chance to tell me "Never."

In conclusion don't ask out girls who are friends cause they might tell each other. I'm not sure if they'd be any happier if I'd have just asked them all at the same time though...

Next time I'll just start with #3 and I'll force her to give me a real excuse.

2010-01-31T13:15:00.002-06:00

` often say "Efficiency is King" and I get a lot of concerned replies that "people aren't efficient!" or, "I can't wait till you're married."

When I was 12 or so I spent a lot of time at my cousin's house. The Khols had six boys and usually a few foster children running around too. The youngest two are twins, and back in those days it was really hard to distinguish between Benji and Jeremy. I was particularly bad at it, so I came up with the excellent solution of just calling whoever it was that I saw "Twin"

The oldest Khol boy, Nathan, rebuked me harshly for my lack of humanity, and I saw his point. I guess the lesson to be learned, is that when you have twins you should just name them both the same thing so that mixing them up is less of a problem.

Apologies to my fan

2010-01-13T16:47:00.003-06:00

I apologize for the lack of posts. I was told by several people that my Twitter account was better than my blog and I've been paying more attention to that. I was also hoping to post more regularly too once I got started. So I'll start today.

my trip to LA

2009-11-16T00:29:00.002-06:00

I'm in LA on business. There's a lot to write about. There are probably even pictures and stuff to show. I've decided I probably won't have or make time to blog enough during the week, and I forgot my camera. I have been doing a lot on twitter though. If you're at all interested in my trip, you can follow along there. I think when I get back I'll write more about it.

I like to kid myself and think that people really want me to blog/twitter more. really they'd probably rather have an email. I guess I'm just lazy.

There was a time when we landed. Johnny and Jere were texting their wives. There was a slight feeling of something. It wasn't quite sadness, it wasn't quite loneliness, it wasn't depressed. But something was telling me that I should have someone who I care enough about that they will be excited to hear that I'm in California!!! Since I had no one, I just texted told everyone through twitter. I still have no one (although my family might care if they had phones) but it's still okay too.

selflessness

2009-10-11T02:01:00.004-05:00

I just watched the latest "The Office" episode (It was the one where Pam and Jim get married). I might have teared up a bit actually. It wasn't so much the wedding that I enjoyed. It wasn't so much even the goofiness. It was Jim's words about how much he loved her, and his actions to prove it.

I usually like the things that happen in the BBC version better. I really enjoy how far down they take you, and I think that the show suffers in America because they aren't willing to take things to the extent that they really need to. They'd probably lose a few viewers if they told the story like it needs to be told, but at the same time, the story would be better. The american version of the stories is good. It's even worth seeing. But, as was said in "Stranger then Fiction" It's not great. The BBC show is going to be harder for an average American viewer to watch, but at the same time, it's a much more real story. Mainstream has more money, but a good story worth telling shouldn't be stifled.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the Jim-Pam wedding. I think that my favorite part was the selflessness that the couple showed.

"This is supposed to be about us!" The bride-to-be complained. But in the end, they made it about the other people instead. I think that that attitude is missing a lot. Marriage is about selflessness. It's about putting someone above you at all times. It's about not getting what you want because it's more fulfilling to put someone else first. Life is more better that way too, but that's another story. I didn't go into how the right story being less popular is similar to the Christian's message, but I could.

All in all, maybe someday I'll get married. Maybe my fiancé will consider who the wedding is really about and she'll make a good decision like Jim/Pam did. That's a ways off though...

In which I try something new

2009-10-09T22:42:00.004-05:00

A month or so ago, I did something that I've never had the chance to do before. Babysit! There are several reactions that I expect to get. Some people would laugh at me and poke fun at that one time that I liked that girl who was a few years younger then me. Some people would question the wisdom at letting a boy (and at that, a boy who has never changed a diaper in his life) rear children. Others might think of that line I often get, "you're so good with children" and think nothing of me babysitting.

I enjoyed the job tremendously. I commented later, "it was just like when I get to play with kids, but I didn't have to share!"

We watched sleeping beauty. I was watching Laura Weatherford's niece Clara (about 4) and nephew Charlie (about 1). Johnny was there with me as his wife was working. A bit after the movie was over, Clara, laying on the floor, went limp. I tried to move her around, and carry her to other places, but she just giggled and continued to not move. Eventually I just left her where she started and started entertaining myself with playing with Charlie. He was having fun opening and closing a box. One year olds are so multi-dimensional. After a short while, the ignoring had it's effect on Clara. She tried to catch my attention with a whisper: "Only love's first kiss can awaken the princess!" As far as getting physical contact out of a movie date, apparently horror movies have nothing on Disney.

I snickered in unbelief. A poopy diaper, a crying baby, a child who misses mommy... these are the types of things that a babysitter might deal with. My situation is different. I suppose that it's for reasons like these that I, as a male, am not offered many chances to watch children.

I like to think my solution to this problem was elegant, simple, and complete. A stage kiss for the staged sleeping beauty, with my hand between our mouths and a loud KISSSSS noise. I had "awaken" my ward! Wide eyed, she stared at me and the evening was allowed to continue.

Babysitting is fun. I haven't felt that confidant in a long time.

Adventures in car buying

2009-10-08T20:55:00.003-05:00

I just bought a new car. It's another Geo Metro (Geo-chan II). This one is a bit newer then my last one, and it has fewer miles then my last one. also it's not banged up, like the previous one was. Joel and I drove to get it. Joel usually comes with me to look at cars. You always need two drivers (so one person can go home with the new car) and Joel provides car buying advice, as he has purchased quite a few in like manners. As we were going home, he remarked that it was good that I got a car that I was happy with, instead of anything else.

And I suppose I am. It's slower, it's nothing to look at, but it's cheap. And it gets better mileage then about anything else on the road. It'll get me by day to day. I think it'll even appease the people who are so concerned with the car that I buy. I don't know if they realize how much it bothers me to suggest that I should purchase some vehicle that my job would afford. More like how much debt I can afford to go into.

Anyway. We were driving to get this car. The car is off of a highway. I am taking a highway. these two road intersect a few miles to the east of where the car is. I am driving eastward to get to this car. I decide to turn north a bit early in order to save some miles. As I start, the road is better then I expected. it's a nice solid gravel road, almost like a paved road. I pass a sign and think nothing of it. The road becomes a less gravely road. It's more dirt and less gravel. I go over a hill. At the top of the hill I notice that the sparse amount of gravel is now gone. I also notice that my steering is gone. My forward motion is continuing though, no worries there! I casually mention this fact to Joel, and he agrees, "oh! yes."

As we continue our trek down the hill, I decided that my best, indeed my only, course of action was to just press on. After another quarter mile or so, and some pushing from joel, I am stuck to the axles. (After all, if you're not buried to the axles, you're not really stuck yet) I'm also at a funny angle, because one side of the car is doing fine.

Joel and I begin our journey. It's only a couple miles to the place where the guy is selling what will almost certainly (and now even more certainly) become my new method of transportation. We discuss what it must have been like for the pioneers who would do walks like this every day. or all the way across Kansas. The north wind blows. We dodge Cow Pies. I continue to try to scrape mud off of my flip flops. The scenery is awesome.

...After a couple miles we find a farmhouse and ask for a tow, or at least possibly a ride. A couple of high school boys take us 4 more miles to the location where the car is being sold. I'd already made up my mind that if everything was as promised, I'd be happy to not have to call for a ride. On the way home, I am not dissatisfied with my purchase. Joel and I rode back together. ...For the second time Joel and I left in one car, and came home in a different one.

It was a good evening.

Perennials

2009-08-06T23:08:00.003-05:00

I'm reading (again) "The Year's Best Science Fiction." I had forgotten about it when it first came out, but it was not to be left unread. I have been buying them for the past 8 years or so, and, like paying the water bill, I've never regretted that reoccurring purchase.

I had to put down "Texas"to pick this one up when it arrived from Amazon. The Texicans were just starting to "Remember the Alamo!" and secession was imminent. Alas! The true (mostly) history of a real place is no match for the Future Histories (Asimov's) of humanity, the Alternate Histories (Philip K. Dick's), the Space Operas (Alistair Reynolds), and the gold old yarns (Robert E. Heinlein) that a book of science fiction stories holds. Even still, I managed to hold off starting my new book for almost 2 days.

Usually a book of short stories will be grouped together by things that they hold in common. Stories For Men is a good read, and it's full of stories that have something to do with how a Man should, could, or would behave. Science Fiction Stories have Science Fiction in common. If you think that that is a limiting factor, you are sorely incorrect. I am constantly having to put the book down after each story in order to give myself time to reflect on what I've just finished reading. I jump from a 200 years away future ran by a Mongolian Empire to a future a few generations away where a boy spends all of his free time in the pursuit of any of the well sought after women who are scare in this future India. A few pages earlier, a SETI program found an artificial intelligence that built something (the story ended before anyone knew what it was) out of our moon. The reading of this book provides me with much to think about. The stories are good too.

I'm no stranger to recommending some of these stories. The best complaint is the size. "If the story is good, it's worth reading, But it ends!" This is often the case for myself too. Often the characters are caught up in a universe where something big, or everything(!) is about to happen. and then it's over, open ended and leaving you full of wonder. Instead of the next page being full of a great war with Heroic Deeds, Epic Battles, Lasers, and Good vs Evil, you turn the page to discover a smaller tale about racism as it applies to clones.

I don't know if you'll agree with me. And I quote from the very book I'm reading: "All machines know that humans are happiest when they think least" Perhaps it's true. Perhaps happiness is overrated too. Either way, I have a whole shelf of books, of which I could find several stories that you might enjoy. Try me sometime, if you're bored.

an intriguing nocturnal experience

2009-07-03T09:23:00.004-05:00

I had a strange dream last night in which I fell in love with a girl. Who? Well, you might know her, except that I hadn't met her until said dream. The details of such a dream are pointless except that they can help us learn about ourselves.

I remembered what that feeling is like. There's choice involved, but, for me anyway, by the time the realization of that choice comes it's too late for it to be much of a decision.

In this case, I was always up. I had the excited feeling of "I-am-happy-to-be-around-this-girl!", and I hadn't gotten past that to "I-hope-I-don't-have-to-go-on-without-her", or "What-is-she-doing-that-for!?" Just as I was waking up she did something really bizarre and weird, but, it being my dream, I handled it perfectly and suavely to the point where everything was cool. Besides, I'm sure that there was a perfectly logical reason for her to say something that suggested that she was insane.

Anyway, it was a delightful way to experience a feeling that normally leads me to feel and act like a Jr. Higher. I'm gonna go back to bed, some of the people in my dream were going to go see a movie and I think she was one of them.

The future is a long ways away.

2009-06-14T14:17:00.004-05:00

I was "camping" this weekend. (side note: commercialized camping is way expensive) We went river rafting somewhere in south Missouri. I didn't have a terrible time. I probably won't do it again.

As always, I get distracted... We were driving back this morning. I started thinking, as I often do, about how to improve the situation that I was in. It started with me thinking about all the ugly roadside ads in the sell-out state that is Missouri. Maybe Kansas doesn't have a lot, but at least we don't have that. We take better care of our roads too. I started thinking about constructive uses for those signs. if you put them side by side, you could build them into walls, and the roads would be sorta safer. I went from there to thoughts of just walling in the highways... No! Tubes! We could build cars to go 150 miles per hour that fly through them. If you sealed them along the walls and powered them by air you could keep air between them so that they couldn't crash into each other. ...but what if the seals broke...

How would we design travel if we could go from the ground up, starting today? People are scared of "Idiots" flying (that's why the FAA has so much power) and some people won't want to give up the power they have from being in control of their own car too. All this thinking about the future and again I realized how long it takes simple good technology to be inserted into everyday use. Why can't your alarm clock tell your toaster and the coffee pot that you're going to be awake soon. Then the thermostat could notice that you're leaving the house and turn off the air conditioning, to be resumed when your car informs it that you're on your way home? And of course the car would check the GPS to make sure that you were headed home so as not to be premature with it's warning the rest of the house. The alarm clock would read your calendar and have a suggested wake up time preset up for you. All of this is possible with technology that exists, and is in use, today.

So what's the hold up? Software. Someone has to write something that does what it can to make all these things interact in a good way. They also have to support this software. Then they have to sell it to an appliance company, who has to add these features to it's products. Then you have to do it in such a way that setting up this schedule is easy as pie.

Or easy as toast.

All this discontentment comes from me being bored in a two hour drive. I guess idle hands are the devil's work.

I am a Handy Man (part 3)

2009-05-29T16:48:00.002-05:00

I am a handsome man. It was required recently that I be handy as well.

I woke up one morning a bit later then I usually try to. This didn't make me late for work, but it did mean that I'd have to shower quickly. Luckily, I had no desire to be in the shower any longer then I had to be because (apparently) the hot water heater had gone out. I checked it after work, and found that the pipes had leaked water and it that is what had put out the pilot. I found an 'O' Ring that was old and rotten, and fixed it. I noticed a suspicious burn mark on the copper, but I paid it no mind.

A month goes by...

I wake up one morning a bit later then I usually set my alarm for. This didn't make me late to work, but I would have to rush through my shower. Luckily, I had no desire to be in the shower any longer then I had to be because (apparently) the hot water heater had gone out sometime in the night. I checked it after work, and found that the pipes had leaked water and it that is what had put out the pilot. Adam had moved in by then, and Johnny was visiting as well. I got a couple text messages while at work that day about how they'd tried to relight it, but had failed. The one from Adam was suspicious though:

"you might wait until the heater dries out before you mess with it i keep getting shocked. I turned the water off already and got a wrench from Joel"

When I got home, I tried what Adam had already tried, and came up with similar results. I own the house though, so I wasn't as concerned about breaking things as he might have been. Also I wasn't getting shocked. Well, I wasn't getting shocked, but there was arcing happening between the lines as I untwisted the pipes. I pressed on though, undaunted. I got the offending pipe out, and called the man who provided most of the genetic material that makes me handsome.

I replaced the copper, conducting, pipes with non-conducting pecks. Then I discovered that the gas line was actually not a gas line at all, but an extension cord, capable of putting out 120 volts of electricty when touched. I actually discovered this several more times over the course of the evening. In the end I had Jeff Mccord from church come over and take a look at the electrical problem. We spent a couple hours trying to figure out what was wired funny, but to no avail. The final suggestion was to buy a roll of romex and go through replacing the cloth that I had with something better. This is a lot of work

The fuse that was making the pipes hot is still out and some lights don't work.

Ornery

2009-05-28T17:19:00.002-05:00

Today at work I received an email that said something like this:

Is 10:00 on Monday OK for the meeting? let me know if that Doesn't work

I got a couple of replies (reply-to-all is just as easy to hit as is reply) that said something to the extent of "That does work for me"

I often say that the funniness of a joke is inversely exponentially proportional to the amount of people who get it. There's another, lesser known rule that has something to do with how if you're going to make fun of someone, it's best to make fun of yourself. Basically, I was set up to make fun of the people who sent emails saying that they could go to the meeting, after being asked not to, but instead I just sent an email too:

"10:00 works fine for me, I don't have anything going on"

You know what they say about assuming?

2009-04-23T18:19:00.004-05:00

I was feeling a bit sick at work yesterday. Well, my throat had been sore all week, and it was bad enough on Wednesday that I wondered if I shouldn't be at work. I was lamenting this to the tech support guys (and girl) and they suggested that most people would go see a doctor. I realized that this was sound advice. Doctors, being expensive, (and busy) are hard to come by, so I instead, Texted my (almost) Nurse friend Laura.

Me: Hey what are you doing today?

Laura: Nothing really why?

Me: I might be sick, and I was hoping you'd play doctor for me and give me a diagnostic.

Laura: I think you could have worded that diferently, did you stay home from work?

Me: No but I might go home and if I do I want to get this taken care of

Laura: K, well I'm busy till 5. But I assumed you would be at work so I didn't tell you that.

A knowledge of Grace

2009-04-13T00:13:00.002-05:00

Disclaimer: Christian

I went to a Passion play last week. Passion week is the name given to the the last week of Jesus's work here on earth before he was crucified. (I could probably link most of the words in that sentence, but I guess I assume most people know most of them already) They re-enacted the story about the woman caught in adultery and then (for the sake of their play) they assume that that woman is Mary Magdalene. Mary was a converted prostitute, so she had a lot of history. Anyway, in this play, at the crucifixion she sings a song.

While she was up there singing, I considered some things about grace. Jeremy Goering recently told me something about grace that has stuck with me, and I've been considering it a lot. Only the forgiveness of failure leads to a good realization of God's awesome Grace.

Back to the play. Mary was explaining to a certain Joesph (of Arimathea) some things about forgiveness. Joe hadn't quite got it yet, and was sorrowful about how he might have been able to do more for the (then-dead) savior) but she grasped it totally.

I then considered how many others who were a part of Jesus' life at the time also would have had that realization that Mary had.

Peter, who had always seemed to be pushing the limits of his faith, had just realized the horrible truth that he had so little.

Doubting Thomas (although I think a more appropriate name would be bitter Thomas) was unwilling to believe after such a let down. No trust at all!

Nicodemus realized what Jesus had stood for, but alas his belief was too late, and his chance to publicly ally himself with the God-Man was (apparently) gone.

The Un-stoned woman, the walking lame, the seeing blind, the demon-free epileptics... So many people had been taken care of, and fixed. So much grace for a fallen world.

For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body.As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

The Humility of a Youth VS the importance of myself

2009-03-27T18:20:00.003-05:00

I started talking to the person who I've named in my Gmail as "Bloom family." I did this because the email that Rex gave me had his name in it. Then when that email was added to gchat, it came up as Shawna Bloom. I was confused, but I wasn't going to be confused again. It turns out that it's an appropriate name because tonight I have been talking to Brooklyn.

It's a lot of fun. Unlike most people who instant message, Brooklyn apologizes when she mistypes. The thing is, she isn't the fastest typist either, so she will sometimes spend longer typing out "I'm sorry, I forgot the ?" then it took her to say "What are you doing" Somewhere along the line, she got the Caps Lock key stuck on too, so I keep feeling chastised.

Another reason I feel chastised is because of how well she is doing. Maybe I am too used to my instant society, but I often won't take the time that I am given and use it as well as she does. It means a lot that she is willing to spend the sixty seconds to tell me that she didn't mean to insult me by forgetting that Question Mark. By Golly, this is Paul Page! He deserves Complete Sentences! What humility! I take pride in my text conversations, and I try to use correct punctuation (except I allow myself "teh" because I feel that it is a wrong done to me by the QWERTY design. I.E. tehpaulpage), but there are so many more times (sigh... driving) when I don't display the patience and persistence that this lovely girl has shown to me this evening.

Here's to you Brooklyn Bloom!

Now we shall continue with the other appendage

2009-03-26T13:08:00.003-05:00

I did something this morning at work that I have neglected to do for the past few days. I listened to music! I actually probably haven't been doing it because I've been moving around a lot and talking on the phone a lot, and I haven't had the chance to sit down and write code for a solid block of time this week. But I digress...

A switchfoot song came on and I remembered how much I like that band. Then another Switchfoot song came on (from one of their newer albums), and I remembered how much I used to really like that band. Some might say that I dislike them more now because what used to be a primarily christian band is now much more mainstream and secular, but I believe that I just liked their earlier style better. It is, in fact, my age not and my religious views that is affecting my musical tastes.

Joel Wakefield had a couple of sample Cd's in his car that each had one song on them that I really enjoyed, and I'd want him to play them whenever I rode with him. After a few trips I realized that both of these songs were written by the same band, and both of these songs were from the same album! A few years later, I actually got a copy of that album and the joke was on me because the difference between the songs that I liked and the rest of the album was like night and day (I've listened to them more now and I appreciate more of that album now that I'm older though)

Anyhow. The thought that went though my head when I was listening to music this morning was about track practice my Senior year of high school. I would lead stretching while the coaches would change or something, and then they'd come out to join us. Usually we would stretch one leg at a time. The stretching of one leg would end and in preparation for the stretching of the other leg, I would call out "Switchfoot!" I laughed at the time because no one had any reason to have heard of an obscure, christian band. Even then my favorite jokes were enjoyed by only me.

I doubt anyone remembers it, but I'm kind of happy to know that now there is a chance for even a layperson to get my dorky joke.

A long day

2009-03-20T12:45:00.003-05:00

I recently mentioned how I had to wake up early on Wednesday. This is the account of that day.

The day began at 12:00 AM. I wasn't quite asleep yet. In fact, I had been trying to achieve that state for the past couple hours, but I had been failing. The late hour, or early morning, soon allowed me to begin my sleep.

The alarm woke me up at 3:30. I had already laid out clothes and I had packed all that I'd need so that I would be ready. Usually it takes me a little while to get out of bed, but when I wake up extra early, I have less trouble. I did drag my feet quite a bit in the shower though. Even almost fell asleep in there. I managed to get dressed and outside with a couple minutes to spare before the girls showed up. The ride was uneventful. We stopped at a filling station and bought a few doughnuts, dropped girls off at the airport, and then I drove home. I had planned on listening to my favorite Tim Keller sermon, but I just prayed instead. Except that I didn't concentrate very well. I went straight to work in spite of the early hour because I didn't want to drive home to sleep for just one more hour. 6:30 - 8:30 I got a bit of work done, then I caught myself falling asleep. ...No Tea... No Coffee... No Pop... All was not lost though. Alex had purchased for me a couple of candy bars. Not just any candy bars though, these were energy bars. I ate the first half of the first one there at 8:30. by 9:30 I ate the 2nd half. 10:45 I ate the 2nd bar.

It wasn't so much that I couldn't stay awake though. No my problem was deeper then that. I couldn't even focus on anything. I'd start to code something and then I'd blank out and forget what I was doing. "Is this what it's like to get that one disease? I wonder if I have enough gas to get around this week... I wish I could sleep. What time is it?" Actually my mind often goes around like that. Usually though, I can keep one line of reasoning going at a steady rate, and usually, I can do it all in a second or two. This was taking ten to twenty times as long. When I left for lunch, I told Rex that I was going to lay down on the couch and see what happens. "You don't think you know what's going to happen?" he just laughed at me. I woke up after a couple hours of sleep feeling deliciously refreshed. I even smacked my lips together a few times. I looked at my phone (clock) and decided that I would go back to work. The rest of the day at work was enjoyable.

The lesson here is that Energy bars != sleep. Coffee grounds work far better. The other lesson is that blogging needs to be more regular or else the page will continue to fill up with words long before the story (and probably after the reader) is exhausted. I can continue this exposition later

In which I am offered an Indulgence

2009-03-19T17:45:00.002-05:00

Alex's phone broke last week and she left it with me to fix it. I took it to work, expecting Randy to have the torque screwdriver that I'd need. He didn't but I had left a fan blowing into it (it was wet) and it powered up just fine when I tried it. Alex showed up to pick it up during my lunch break, and we had good conversation.

Alex and Laura are spring breaking in California. I had volunteered to drive them to the Airport on Wednesday. Their flight was leaving at 6:00, so we had to leave my house ~4:00. I mentioned that I would be tired that day at work. Alex, very pleased with her offer, delightedly exclaimed, "I'll let you drink Tea!" I looked over at her and grinned, laughing at her. She realized her insinuation and laughed with me. "I guess I'm pretending to be God." I had suggested that I would following someone else's rules for a fast, but that actually only goes one direction. She can tell me that I can't do something, but she can't tell me that I can. Weird huh?

The thing about morals is that you always know when you're not following them. Some things aren't wrong for some people that are wrong for others, but there is a time when a line is crossed that is obvious to the crosser, if not to anyone else. So Alex can set the rules for what is or isn't OK, but I'm the one who knows if I'm breaking them.

You don't have to be catholic...

2009-03-02T16:55:00.002-06:00

Alex is fasting for lent. Her idea seemed like a good one, so I am joining her in it. Wikipedia only seems to mention food in relation to fasting, and I think that that definition is quite narrow. The point of a fast is to give something up that you'll miss, so this could include much much more then just food. Social Networking, The Internet, newspapers, TV, texting... there are a lot of things that I would consider much more complicated to go without then just food.

I joined Alex on her fast mostly for the challenge and some because I could. Since they're her rules though, I don't have the luxury of fitting my lifestyle to the fast. If she had chosen to fast from computers, I wouldn't have been able to work, but her rules are simple enough that joining her is easy enough. Another benefit of joining her is that I'm more accountable to her rules then I might be to ones that I had designed.

The rules in this case involve which liquids are drinkable. In this case: Water. The allowed liquid is water and only water. No Coffee (which doesn't hurt at all) no pop (not missing that either) no Juice (hmmmm) no milk (ouch!) and no Tea (this one is mean. I have to go to bed on time!). Nothing that's not water.

This doesn't seem like that complicated or challenging of a fast. I'm not missing much here. The funny thing is that I see someone drinking milk or juice or whatever, and I think about getting some of my own. I have a dull desire to drink something that isn't water, and it's still there. I don't feel like I'll grow numb to it either. I'm kind of happy that it seems like this will really be a chore to keep up.

I was talking about this at work today to Jared and Wayne. I was visiting Johnny this past weekend and he has a basket of assorted Teas. I was admiring them, and even brewing them in my mind when I remembered the length of time it would be before I could enjoy such a beverage.

When relating this Anecdote, Jared piped up, "Did you tell him that he was being a tease with his teas?"

This is why we can't have nice things

2009-02-28T09:29:00.004-06:00

So We're at Emmaus. We made it by about 12:30, but we had a few troubles. The girls from hutch (Lealia and Cassie) were under the impression that I had told them we were leaving at 5:00, and I was under the impression that I had told them that we were leaving at 4:00. The person who was correct doesn't really matter. The point was, we left at 5.

We took Joe Hawkinson's car. It's a bit newer then most of the cars that I've owned. In fact, it has all sorts of features that I've never experienced before. It has things like a built in DVD player, Automatic start, an Alarm, Auto-locking doors...

So the story goes, I get out to get gas. Some of the girls are sleeping in the backseats. I had to stop a lot earlier then I had planned on having to stop, so I just jumped right out. After I started the pump I went in to use the facilities. On the way out from that venture, I met Allen. I was surprised to see him cause I thought he was in the car. Then I saw a couple of girls. Oh! Lealia and Cassie. Then I walked out to the car. My door was locked... I tried the other doors... I looked at the keys... in the ignition... I tried to get Dani's attention cause she was sleeping in the back. No... Dani wasn't sleeping in the back any more. All the doors were locked. Apparently, (although Joe had told me this) the car automatically locks itself after 15 seconds. We called a locksmith, and 30 minutes, 40 dollars and 4 ice creams later we were back on the road. I guess I'll never be worthy of a car that does so much for me.

Oh, and our solution so that it never happens again was to give Allen the car clicker and me the keys.

In which Wilhelmina enters the story

2009-02-26T16:38:00.005-06:00

It's been a long time since I visited here. There have actually been a dozen or more times when I've had a train of thought that I knew would be an entertaining post. I've even started a few of them, or planned a few of them out in my head. I did everything but write them down.

My life has been busy as of late. I'm not sure how or why it happened, but I ended up with a full docket of activities and they're not over yet. I guess I got busy the weekend that I lost my car. Mom and Dad were up visiting, (along with Eden, Dale, Grace, and Joel) and we had just finished eating at mi papa's favorite resturant. It had started to snow while we were eating. I had noticed a bit of slickness on the way home and then when I went over the hill between topeka and kansas on 21th I saw that the light was green. Then it turned orange. I attempted to stop, realized that I would fail, and removed pressure from the brakes in favor of pressure on the horn. Alas, it was all in vain, as someone was a bit anxious to make the recently changed green light and they hit me. The car was un-driveable and it remains in such a state. I guess that it was quite stressful to not have my car. I felt quite busy and out of sorts.

There is a conclusion to this story though. I have a new car that I can drive around. It seems to get a higher miles-per-gallon then did the other car, and it can, much like the car I (even more) previously had, take it's top down. Also it was cheaper. Also it seems to stink of cigarette smoke in the rain.

So far Wilhelmina seems to be doing just fine but she turns on her check engine light every once and a while. She also needs some interior work done on her but I cleaned her out pretty good some on the nice warm day we had on tuesday.

Wednesday

2009-01-22T00:32:00.002-06:00

While today wasn't quite as productive as yesterday, I still managed to get a bit done, thanks to you faithful readers. The sickness was mostly gone, and I think my nose is even dry now. It is a bit later then I was hoping to get to bed though, and tomorrow will probably complain at my late night antics. We did play a couple good games of St Petersburg though, and Micah got to meet the girls.

Alex and Christie came over and made some delicious Cheesburger Macaroni hamburger helper. mmmm... Before they showed up, I did get some things done.

I cleaned my room up. Mosty this invoved picking up my dirty clothes
I did some laundry. I didn't do all of my laundry though...
I washed my bedsheets. ...Yeah don't ask when the last time this happened was

It wasn't half as productive as yesterday, but I got to see people tonight. That's what I usually choose to do too. If I can get better at balancing my act together, that'll be the day.

Today I provide you with this link. Again, many of you have probably seen it, but those who haevn't are missing out. She is my sister, but she is quite funny, and a master of mockery.

Down with the sickness... and probably more

2009-01-20T19:15:00.002-06:00

I spent a majority of the past week being somewhat sick. Tonight it seems to be clearing up. It was a good time to reflect on a lot of things. It was a good time to catch up on rest. It wasn't a good time. Apparently I wasn't easy to be around either. I got myself into more fights then I usually do, and I was pretty worthless for anything good. So I'm sorry if you're one of the people who I've put off since Wednesday night.

It's my goal this week to take my responsibilites seriously. I'm going to try to keep up with various things that I've been putting off. I will include blogging on this list for your entertainment. I will also list what I've gotten done, for the accountability.

Moved my computer back upstairs after the LAN party.
Read Acts
Read 1 timothy
Shaved
Figured up rent and paid utilities

and finally, This Link, which I've probably already shown to many of you.

A lesson on babies

2009-01-01T10:49:00.006-06:00

I slept over at Jeremy and Grace Goering's house last weekend. I used to do this all the time, and there was a period of time (about a month) where I just lived there. I have recently been ousted from my abode though, as Caris now sleeps in that room.

I don't begrudge Caris her bedroom. After all, I had been praying for a while that she would come along and take it. Besides this, I was offered the room anyway, so I knew that mommy and daddy still loved me in spite of her.

I had been at the Pope's house, and I arrived "Home" late. Jeremy was up working on his message, so we did our normal thing where he tries to work and I try to help/distract him. Caris made a noise and Jeremy said, "oh, if you're sleeping in here, let me show you how this works." I followed him to the crib, and Jeremy explained:

"You turn on this night light, here, and then you feel around for the binky, and then you plug her up. The little inch worm will sometimes squish her head against the side of the crib so you might have to move her. Then you just cover her back up and she should be good to sleep" As he told me this, he demonstrated on the child. And everything worked as promised.

So, early (really early) the next morning when I woke up to a cry, I got out of bed and preformed the routine, and went back to sleep. Then again. Then again. Just like any other magic though, there were only three uses of this formula. So I rolled over, plugged my ears, and, for the first time in my life, decided that it was the other person's turn to take care of the baby. And he did.

Meeting New People

2008-12-30T07:40:00.005-06:00

I went to a couple of family Christmas parties last weekend. The first was the Page party. I was surprised to learn that I had readers in that direction. This is a common surprise for me though. "Oh, you read my blog?"

It was a pretty good party, and I enjoyed seeing people who I don't often hang out with as much. I don't avoid them on purpose, the Pages get along great, but I haven't made the time to be at as many family things now that I live a couple hours away.

The second party though, was a bit more awkward. I had previously asked Jeremy if I could hang out with him on Sunday, and he had said that I could. Then the night before, he remembered that he had to go to his grandma's house. I was invited, but the invite seemed to come with great forboding. Since I had nothing else to do, I went anyway.

Earlier that day, Jeremy was speaking Sunday School, and he was doing a lesson on defending your faith. The idea was that instead of arguing why your point of view is correct, you could listen to the other person's side, and they might be willing to listen to your side too. The practice was to ask a lot of questions.

So we arrive at Christmas. I admit that I was expecting to see mostly the Rod and Becky family, with some grandparents thrown in somewhere. When we walked in the door, I was in a house full of strangers. I was unable to make it beyond the front door, and there were no emtpy seats remaining, so I stood awkwardly against the bookshelf in the entry way. Jeremy's wife, Grace, sat on the floor with Caris. She started a conversation with a pretty girl sitting near us. Apparently the girl had gone to massage school and lived in oregon. There were some state laws preventing her from being liscened until she passed some test.

"But I also do Reiki, so I meet a lot of people that way too." I don't know if Grace was looking back to Sunday School or not, but she was totally using that lesson here. Question, Question, Question. What's Reiki?, How do you heal people that way? How do you balance the Chakras? What's a Chakra? I had been listening, mostly because no one else was talking much, but when I decided that Grace was using the Question method I became curious to see where it would go.

"You have, like, seven chakras in you, and you have to balance them. I do guided meditation and stuff... I use a lot of crystal energies..."

At this point I had to stop listening becuase as soon as she said "crystal energy", I had a mental image.

Napolean Dynamite saying "Yeah, hold on... I forgot to put in the crystals". I didn't laugh because of her different belief system, I was laughing because it reminded me of the movie. And actually I didn't laugh at all, I held it all in. it was really hard to do too. I had to look away some.

Merry Christmas, or, I'm glad you're not dead

2008-12-25T00:04:00.002-06:00

I came home for Christmas eve. This year, instead of the usual, boring candle-lighting service, the home church was going caroling. They've recently removed their pastor. (the reason was legitimate, but I don't know enough to speak on it) Anyway, I heard that it wasn't as clean as a break as it could/should have been. The first place we went to carol at was the nursing home. I was the first one in the door, and then I realized something was going on. Then I saw THE OLD PASTOR!!!!! I almost turned around and yelled,

"No! They got here first, we have to leave!"

They invited us in and we got in just in time to hear the closing prayer. It went something like this:

"... Oh God, We do thank you that we are able to not be dead again one more year. It is so good of you that you have kept us alive so that we can celebrate this Christmas this year... " He then went on to talk (It might have even been to God) about bringing the troops home, about how we shouldn't be violent, about jobs for everyone, and about socialized medicine... Well, maybe not quite that far, but you get the picture.

The rest of the evening was more normal. At the first house we got cookies for our singing, and at the last house, the lady handed us twenty bucks. On the way towards the car, my brother commented, "That last house just gave us stupid cookies"

In which I calculate things that are probably best left unknown

2008-12-19T18:26:00.005-06:00

Apparently sometimes girls get worried about things like marriage, or children, or stuff like that.

We were in a conversation where it was discussed that 34 was a good time to quit having children due to health reasons. The girls, being girls, started counting how many years they had left, and deciding when a safe "Last ditch effort" time to marry was. I decided that I would go the other direction and solve for maximum children in the remaining fertile years for these girls. First we have Alex:

7 months till she turns 21

14 years past that till she hits 35

( 14 * 12 ) + 7 = 175 months

Now, for the math, let's assume that she is one year away from marriage. This gives her 163 months / 9 months (per pregnancy) = a maximum of 18 children pre-35 with an extra month or so just in case.

Then Laura, who's a bit older, but it shouldn't hurt her too much.

Laura is "Almost 22" and she's been that way for six months or so. I happen to know that she will BE 22 come Janurary. this is 13 years (minus 1 for courtship!) = 144 months / 9 = 16 potential children.

Realisticly you'd probably be better off counting 10 months per child, which cuts them down to 16 and 14 respectivly.

If you're looking for an even dozen then you'd better be starting early no matter what the case, but your last chance to marry a girl comes at 24. ...if you want a dozen children though, your wife's age is going to be one of the least of your worries.

In which my video editing skills are found lacking

2008-12-18T17:40:00.002-06:00

You may remember this video that I have posted before. I had it in mind when Alex claimed that she had watched part of star wars while babysitting. I made her stop so that I could record it, and this is what came out.

Come on in!

2008-12-11T19:07:00.004-06:00

As I walked into the bathroom at church this past Sunday, I realized how much I dislike locking doors. The bathroom has a urinal and a regular toilet, but I think that most men lock the door when they go in anyway. I know that, in the past, I've walked in on people there, and they've given me some strange looks, but (being me) I didn't care much.

So anyway I felt kind of rebellious. Then I thought about how I don't lock the bathroom doors at home either. And then how I don't lock the house doors. And my car. In fact... I dislike locking doors. So I justified that.

When you lock a door, you're keeping everyone out. It's not just that you're keeping out the undesirables, but you're also keeping out the people who could need help. The people who could need the house that God has given you. I realize that this might not aways give desireable results, but if someone needs in my house, they're never locked out... And if someone needs in my car, they don't have to break my window out. I feel like the benefits of locking everyone out beats out the the detriments of what could happen when I don't lock the door. In this bathroom situation I was almost hoping that someone would walk in on me and feel awkward. And in the other situations, I am happy to not have to go through the trouble of door locking. It's all gonna burn anyway.

I suppose that part of the truth is that locking the door is a bit of work and I don't want to pass the burden of unlocking on to anyone else, but at the same time... it's easier not to have to deal with the locking side too. Either way, It's not my house, it's not my stuff, and I'd love to share it with you, whoever you may be. My address is 2644 SE Pennsylvania...

In which I laugh at my own jokes

2008-12-06T21:43:00.005-06:00

I often laugh at my own jokes. Its one of the things that I get made fun of for. Here's the way I feel about it: If what is being said is funny, one should laugh. Just cause I said it, it doesn't mean that it's not funny, and, in fact, if I'm trying to make a joke and it's not funny, then I'm really wasting a lot of people's time. The truth is, I don't really care if people comment on how I laugh alone. If they don't think it's funny, they're the ones who are missing out!

Tonight I was thinking along these lines, and I had a new idea. I was crying because I was overwhelmed. I wondered if those people who don't laugh at their own jokes also don't cry at their own saddnesses. I've always just assumed that I'm normal because, when I see a Jesus-Fish that has Chinese characters on it, I consider that God is so good that he'll catch us where ever we might come from, and I cry to myself. But maybe I am in a minority here. Perhaps other people are more composed, and those thoughts that would cause them to laugh (or cry) are more subdued when they are alone.

But is a display of emotion a private affair? Am I depriving people when I hold back? And would what I would be depriving them of make a difference?

A day in Hutch

2008-11-29T12:51:00.003-06:00

I went down to hutchinson this past weekend. I figured it's been a while since I posted any pictures so I made sure to take some during the weekend. I neglected to take any photos of the beautiful Dorothy Denny, but she gave me a ride down:

Thanksgiving was good. played a few games and got to meet the boyfriend and fiancee of Elly Denny and Alex Denny (not respectivly). I wasn't so interested in meeting those boys as I was in seeing their girls, but they were worth meeting anyway. I like my family.

On Saturday I went to the Hawkinson's house. Michelle was doing some sort of Supper Club thing, so she wasn't around, but Andrew and I hung out with the kids. There were a few memorable occasions.

"Germs Germs Germs!" Rachael sung, as she wiped down the door. Nothing OCD about that...

This picture was taken right after she looked over at me, smiled, and said,"Have you ever heard of a bike?" As Andrew put it. "How shall I bring up this topic of conversation?"

I love Rachel.

Many other things happened which I did not think to take pictures of. One of these was that I was able to spend some quality, wet, time with Caris.

On Listening to Music

2008-11-21T20:40:00.005-06:00

I am at a coffee shop concert. My roommate Nate opened for a couple guys who've traveled from champagne, somewhere. Nate plays gigs at various places around town, but he doesn't do it enough to prove that he's serious, at least not as serious as these guys apparently are. They're "On Tour." Nate played some songs, I think I've heard them all before, but I could be wrong (I have to be careful not to offend, after all he is a reader) I enjoy some of Nate's music, but I mostly enjoy Nate more. The other guys, for whatever reason, were more to my fancy. I even bought their albums. (In my defence, Nate doesn't even have an album) Anyway...

The Second Guitarist was a lot of fun to listen to. I was tapping my foot while I was reading Orthodoxy. (I was noticing that the combination of listening and listening allowed me to concentrate on the book and the music more fully at the same time. Awesome!) The third was also good. I was nodding my head AND tapping my foot while he was playing. And watching. The second guy was listening to his friend who he had gone on tour with, and I wondered. How many nights had Todd listened to Carl play and vice versa? When people are on tour together do they always listen to each other play, and if so, do they appreciate it more then I do? I often wonder that about the arts.

There are some things though, that I can get more out of then other people do. People who don't understand Calculus or Trig will never see the beauty in the rate of change of a pool filling. Those who don't understand fractals can't comprehend how awesome and abundant they are. I might never comprehend the intricacies of the performance as well as the performers, but I can appreciate the algorithm that can convert the CD I bought into mp3s.

A weekend at Emmaus

2008-11-10T23:43:00.003-06:00

I took a trip to Emmaus. The drive was great, we made great time. There was a layover in Osceola where we stopped at a KFC/Taco Bell. A pox be upon them! Took them a half an hour to make 5 99 cent snackers. Had I known, I would have taken the 5 dollar hit and just left, because the food wasn't worth the time. I mean, I would have paid five bucks to get that half hour back and gone hungry to boot!

There was snow through part of the drive, which was kind of awesome, but it almost made me slow down to be safe. In the end we made the drive in 7:15 which is good time, but the trip home was even better in spite of a speed that was more limited, and an extra stop at Christian's parent's house.

This trip was much better then some of my previous have been. I'm sure that part of this was becuse I spent a lot of time hanging out with the President (I felt more elite) and part of it was the large amount of students who knew me through KBC. Some of these students are my close friends, and some I only met when they visited during the fall retreat.

Conversing with Johnny Bloom was much cathartic, and I feel like I can go on for another month with that release. I've really needed it.

I want I want I want!

2008-11-10T23:23:00.003-06:00

They're hiring at Kalos. A couple people came in to apply today, and I noticed their cars as I walked out to mine. I was totally lusting over them. It was a strange feeling because I don't think that I've ever coveted before, but I was! You see, I've been recruited to find a car for my friend Alex. Her main condition is that it must be 4-doored, but I've found some other hidden requirements as I've suggested vehicles to her. She recently told me that she was about to just give up and take out a loan.

I've been in positions before where I felt like I was going to fail, and I've lost before, but I really want to succeed here. Maybe winning is just easy for me so I have to challenge myself and find obscure or abstract goals for myself, or maybe it's that I really want to be able to help Alex, but whatever it is, I'm about to lose.

If you catch me staring at your four doored accord, you can feel free to warn me about the tenth commandment.

In which I set high goals and fail to meet them

2008-10-31T13:11:00.003-05:00

This past sunday evening, as I laid me down to sleep, I counted the days remaining in the year. The count ended up being equal to another number. (I'm pausing here in case there is any desire to repeat my math and see the number before I blurt it out) It was sixty-six, which is the same number as the number of books that there are in the Bible. I have previously considered the strategy of reading one book a day and failed, so this seemed an omen. problems quickly introduced themselves though. Firstly, I was about to go to bed, and this plan would require that I wake myself back up and begin reading that night. Secondly, the previous time when I had failed to accomplish this, I had given up on some of the longer books and never completed what I was trying to do.

In the end I spent a few days gathering information on size and length, and the importance of such things. Here are some of my results for those who are still reading:

Jeremiah (not psalms) is the longest book, with ~48000 vereses. (Psalms has 44700)
of the 66 books, only 18 have over 20000 words, and only 8 of those are over 30000
Moses (if he wrote the Pentateuch) was the biggest writer by quite a bit, all five of those books were in the top 10 by word length.

My counts are probably off, as I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for on the Internet. I just had to use Open Office's word counting to find my numbers, and that included headings and verses. In the end though, this probably makes Jeremiah even longer then Psalms.

Today I started Proverbs, and I'll probably have all evening to finish the 16 chapters remaining. I might double up today and make up for the rest of the week that I've been skipping.

When I finish it, I'll post the google spreadsheet that I've made.

In which I am a man and I lose trust of the girls

2008-10-22T10:37:00.002-05:00

I was at the girl house last night for Girl Night. ...Let me back up a bit.

I was bored at home so I, having forgotten that it was Tuesday, looked to Alex for entertainment. "Tuesday is Girl Night but you can come watch a movie with us if you bring candies made of chocolate," her text informed me. I considered this and concluded that I'd rather remain a bored man then to become an entertained eunuch.

After more consideration I realized that taking girls chocolates was actually a very manly thing to do, so I picked some up when I went out to go get supper. Only Laura and Alex were at their house, so I sat and talked to them for a bit. I'm sad to admit that I lost a bit of innocence through their conversing. They were saying completely opposite things and both were denying the other. Maybe it was just a reminder, or maybe I was just naive, but I am apparently far too ready to believe what these girls tell me without first checking the bias that their personalities give their stories.

Either way, I ended up staying too long and throughout the evening I shared all of my secrets with the girls. It was a lot of fun.

(GIRLS) Kadesh Barnea (GIRLS)

2008-10-16T01:14:00.003-05:00

Tonight Andrew and Joe Hawkinson came over. Sometimes Joe comes over unexpectedly, but Andrew never does. This probably has to do with how he lives in Hutchinson, so for him to be here is planned. So we hung out for a while, then Alex came over and Joe went home to his wife and Andrew worked on a slideshow. We sat around and had Male Bonding Time. Alex was right there too and she got to deal with all that. I wanted her to come down to KBC with me (I think that she would enjoy it) but she has to work some unGodly hours that weekend. (you know - however you look at the sabbath, she's working that day. UnGodly) This was discussed too. You know, things happened.

Anyway, all this to say that I have this idea in my head of how it goes when she gets home. The girls all sit around on the couches (with blankets) or on beds (with pillows) and they go over what us boys did. I'm sure comments like "Can you believe that they did THAT!" or "What do you think he said that for?" are common. I'm sure they spend days rewinding their time with us. After all, we are that great.

Well, seriously the world doesn't revolve around us, but sometimes the girls do a good job of giving that impression. It's nice of them to do that too, although the exesperated sighs make me wonder that they're doing it on purpose.

I'm too sexy for my bank

2008-10-09T17:57:00.002-05:00

First off, (for context) I have to steal a Nate Goering's story. I don't apologize, if he wanted it, he'd have made a blog already. So here goes. Nate was at the bank, and he noticed that the teller was being exceptionally forward. She was veeeryy helpful, and when he had finished his business, she (this is second hand by the way, it may not be exactly how it went down) leaned forward and, suggestively, asked if there was anything else he needed. His next move was the (at least to the guys who heard the story) obvious one, and he replied, "Sure, your number..." The moral of the story is that all girls are tricksy and are not to be trusted, in spite of any obvious actions.

The girls laughed at Nate when he repeated this story. No sympathy at all! It's even become somewhat of a joke, and one that I used when Alex and I were stopping at the bank on the way to go look at some cars in Kansas City.

"Pull into the slot closest to the window cause I like to be able to see who's talking to me. Also the teller totally flirts with me"

"You and Nate! It's just their jobs to be nice, and that's all that they're doing"

We pulled up and I took out some cash (in the end I was carrying most of four grand!) The aforementioned girl was working, and she did her normal thing. As we pulled out I was grinning at a subdued Alex.

"You're right that was a bit much. ...But she only did it because she could see how much you had in your account"

Listen! I know what I'm talking about!

2008-10-09T16:49:00.004-05:00

I've been thinking some about trust lately. This is partially because of a couple of lies that happened. One indirectly inconvenienced me. I was going to be invited to do something that I would always want to do, but, due to this lie to the person who wanted to invite me, by the time I got the invite it was too late. Easy come easy go though, I wasn't terribly bothered. The second lie did bother me though. It was unnecessary. The person was trying to hide something that I would have never suspected, and so they blatantly lied. The liar could have easily said nothing at all, and I wouldn't have noticed. When I found out that it had been a lie (not from the liar mind you) I was hurt. And more then I would have expected too. I think that there is more going on in that situation though, and this particular story isn't finished yet.

I like to be able to give advice. I think that I can appreciate more things then many people. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm better then other people, it's that some of the stuff that I appreciate is rubbish. But with this lack of discrimination comes experience. I can read lots, I can listen to lots, I can watch lots, I can eat lots. So I sometimes do offer up suggestions to people. I've taken some advice from my mother here though and I try not to push my recommendations because the hype isn't, sometimes, all it's cracked up to be.

I have, on occasion, given advice and seen it taken. I've done it a few times here on this blog, and a few times to my Topeka girls too:

Bruchko: I've mentioned it before, but it did change my life some. I tried to be subtle though. I left the copy that I'd bought (for that specific purpose) at the girl house but it didn't take. I finally got Alex to try it, and last week she burst out in a “Oh, by the way, Burchko is Awesome!” I was pretty happy.
Tea, and it's additions: I once suggested that cream should be added to tea in order to make it better. Laura was skeptical, but a few days later Christie told me that she had tried it and that I was correct.
Andy Gullahorn: I'm sure I suggested him to people, but I didn't have to try very hard on this one. Upon hearing the song “You never let me down” she went through the trouble of sending me a text message thanking me.

I'm sure that there are other examples, and I'm giving a biased sample here. But the purpose of this advice-giving isn't to make myself seem more trustworthy. Sure that might happen, but in the end, I come away with people who are willing to share good experiences with me. It's all an elaborate plot.

One other side to this though, is that people are more willing to follow your suggestions when you listen to theirs. I come out ahead here too, again due to my indiscriminate preferences. So feel free to tell me what to read, to watch, to listen to, to eat. Just expect the same in return!

Change

2008-09-28T23:29:00.004-05:00

I have a jar that I stole from Jonathan Nelson. When I stole it, he was in Iraq and, as far as I was concerned, would not return. Inside of the jar was a few bucks in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. I took the jar because I had never had a change jar, and I realized that filling it would be an accomplishment that I could be happy with. At certain points, I thought of certain girls. They could enjoy a ring that was bought with the proceeds from that jar. I stole quarters from it for paying tolls on I-70 and I replaced them when I cashed my paychecks. I took money out to pay for the tax on something that a roommate had purchased for me.

The jar is getting full. I don't know how much money I have, but there is no certain girl who would enjoy counting that money with me. The thoughts that had driven me to save that money when I first moved to Topeka have come to naught and here I sit. As I watch a lonely movie alone, I catch the reflection of the bathroom light through the empty part of the jar. The percentage of the jar that has no change in it is small. Soon the time to save change will be gone and I will be left with overflowing pockets. What will happen then?

My recent absentness

2008-09-25T00:44:00.002-05:00

So I haven't been writing anything lately. I figured that since I had a few minutes here, I'd talk about why that has been, and apologize because I think it'll continue some. I've been getting involved in the life group that I'm a part of more, and it's been taking up some of my free time. I've been reading my bible more in the free time that I have, and I've been reading other books as well. The times that I do get on the internet I spend mostly looking for a car. Cosette (the green chrystler lebaron) died on me a couple weeks ago while I was taking Sam Hawkinson and Jordan Lemmons home to Manhattan.

So it's not that I don't have things to talk about. it's more that I don't have time to talk about them. do you see the paradox here? Bordem is wasted on the bored.

I want to be a part of this depressedness

2008-09-03T18:42:00.004-05:00

Hurricane (tropical storm) Gustav has sent some rain in our direction. It's really dismal out there. I love it. I would suggest that I am affected by this condition here. The truth might be that in reality I have no such disease, but I do enjoy the excuse to be depressed. Take today for example:

Obviously it's terrible out! I was only outside for a few minutes and I could already feel myself wanting to wear black makeup and write poetry.

Like I said though, I enjoy the depression. There's a weird paradox here too. Being depressed because of the weather makes me happy.

I even had a great idea, and if the evening had progressed in a different direction, I might have followed through with it. I was considereing going running in the rain. Upon returning to the house, I would sit in the hammoc until such time as I became so cold that I couldn't take it any longer. Then! Hot shower!!! There's a chance of rain tomorrow too. Perhaps then I'll take my oppurtunity.

I'm sorry

2008-09-03T07:04:00.003-05:00

Hello World. I've been busy lately. There have been times when I wasn't busy, and there have been times when I've tried to sit down and write things, but lately nothing has been coming. I've been in a slump. Not a slump like I'm depressed. Not even a slump like I'm lonely. There's some irony here actually.

When I previously (I was going to type "recently" but that would have been a lie) posted, I got some of the most interesting comments that I've ever gotten. Long too! They were very encouraging, and I laughed because, while the encouragement was very nice, I'm at such a high point recently in that regard. In fact, I'm willing to venture that I haven't felt this much loved in a long while.

Anyway I haven't been lonely or depressed, but I'm having a hard time writing. It's not just here either. I've been trying to write some letters and those haven't been going anywhere either. think I've deleted thousands of inadequate words in the past 2 weeks.

I'm going to post this. I'm hoping that that act will break whatever twisted thing is holding me back. (even as I attempt to finish this, I, in my head, am telling myself that I shouldn't. That there is more potential here and that I should just work on it later... )

A link and some thoughts on it

2008-08-17T19:32:00.002-05:00

Actually Perhaps two links.
Here's the first, and Here's the second.

I wanted to post and write about the first one, and then I read the second and I developed the same desire. Then I considered how much they tie together and there words flowed easily. As I've said before, that first song, (and that one song by Andy Gullahorn) are usually semi-depressing to me.

By the way, Andy's giving away that CD that I often mention on his website. If we have any sort of similar tastes you might like him.

Back on subject. Depressing. Songs sung by Dads and Husbands about how things are better now then they were pre-marriage, aren't very nice. The drawings on the video were pretty cool though, and I do like the song. Maybe someday I'll desire the expressing of those same emotions, but until then, hearing about how great things are is just rubbing it in. I don't blame those husbands and dads though, I don't think that they can help being what they now are. Usually they share their families with me too, and that makes up for a lot of the loneliness that my Second link mentioned.

Andrew Peterson's brother Pete apparently just packed up his truck and moved. I'm a house, a job, and about six friends away from following that, very desireable, pattern. And the House and the Job don't matter all that much.

From what I know about Pete, I think him and I would get along fairly well, and that we'd share many opinions. The encouragement that he shared could be magnified through his sharing of it, and I am joining in that magnification. Part of the why it matters though is that I know exactly how he feels about the stranger Monday. When we can identify the players as ourselves, the story is much more appealing.

I guess this explains my draw towards the History of the Isrealites. ...Bunch of Losers.

A desire to communicate

2008-08-15T15:27:00.004-05:00

Recently I shared a bit of a problem that I sometimes have. People think I'm trying to say something one way, when I am actually trying to say something else totally different. I usually end up looking bad in these situations, but I don't worry too much about my looks. I do come away concerned though, and I often can't get over the frustration that the failure of communication instigated. This leads to another problem that I should learn to deal with. Fixing problems.

For Example: ~A month ago, for an activity, my family put on a slide show of pictures. The cable that went from the computer to the projector wasn't of quality. In my mind, it was an important problem, and also one that could be easily rectified. In my sisters' thoughts, this was not important. Which was too bad... for them. I spent a good while rectifying this un-ignorable problem, and although I did make the picture turn out Great in the end, certain (female) parties were not excited about my accomplishments.

Anyway, back to communication. If I fail to communicate, I get the same way. I see a problem that I need to fix, where others might see an argument. They might be wanting to just let it go, but I fail at that too. In the end, the girls get frustrated and I get confused.

This is why I prefer writing. I can write for pages on a subject, and I can give explainable examples. In the end, I usually over-exhaust my subject, but the post is read in its entirety. The hope is that, by laying it all out at once, I can say what I'm trying to say with less fear of misunderstanding.

When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail

2008-08-15T00:46:00.002-05:00

...But when you have an Internet, every noun looks like a Link. While I'm making a blog I Keep a few tabs open in my Browsing Internet Browser (as opposed to my Utility Browser) The Browsing browser is faster, works (correctly) out of the box, and doesn't take up a whole lot of computer. The Utility browser can use all sorts of plug ins to reach a level that doesn't quite make it opera, it uses more ram, it's slower, but it can open up most web pages without complaints.

These tabs hold the tools that I use to make my blogs better. First, as was mentioned I use Firefox to type and I use Opera to browse.

Secondly, I use TFD. The free dictionary has a good thesaurus, and most of the time it knows the word that I'm having trouble remembering. I especially like that if you double click on a word then it looks it up for you.

Sometimes I'm talking about a book. If possible, I'll link to the google book version, sometimes there isn't one and I'll just have to find it on Amazon.

Wikipedia. Often times I'll mention something that is more of an internet meme, and I don't expect that normal people will catch on. Wikipedia knows more then it should in these matters.

When I mention a movie, I will mostly link to the Intenet Movie DataBase. The links are fun when searching for an actor, director and all that, and it's a popular site, so it's easy to see about how good the movie might or might not be.

The Net Bible. This is a good translation, and they have some awesome bible tools. They do a great job making there tools interact within a web broswer too. everything links, side by side version comparisons... it's really cool. There's also Bible Gateway, and they have most any translation that there is.

About every time I post, I've used at least one of these websites, and I figured I'd share (even though they are quite popular) May they help you as they've helped me.

An Afrikan I would be

2008-08-13T16:57:00.003-05:00

There was a strange deficiency in one of my roommates that was rectified this weekend. Matt Mills had never seen This Classic! After a game of Ultimate Frisbee we met at my house to movie it up. (let me toot my own horn about that aforementioned game and say that I played one of my better games) As is commonly the case, we didn't get the movie started until a later time, especially considering that it was a Sunday night. As is also commonly the case, the girls fell asleep. At least they'd seen it before...
Anyways, while watching the movie I got this romantic notion concerning the main character's (aye aye aye aye aye) lifestyle. While seeing his life and the way things were for him, I got jealous. He was free. Decisions could be made day by day, and he was doing what he loved. Aside from that, he was in Africa!
I've been here before. Ever since I read Bruchko, (holy cow! I found his website! FRAMES... so 1999) I've considered how easy it is to become a missionary, and if I were so called I'd love that chance. I suppose there's a lot of ME in that desire, and that can't belong in such an aspiration. But I digress. If I were not a coder, there at Kalos Inc... if I were not a coder...

Other people's words

2008-08-09T18:15:00.003-05:00

The girls wanted to prepare my house for the new guy who's moving in. They helped Regan move out of his room and into the room that my computer was previously in. I inherited Alex's desk and it was placed in the corner of my room. Also I bought a new monitor. Was there anyone else still using a CRT? Jared was over the other night while the girls were moving around my house. He was impressed with the work that they were putting into a house that was mine, and he drew a comic illustrating his ideas.

I think a wet garage sale sign is quite a sad thing to see. I managed to snap this picture because the car in front of me was too chicken to go at the stop sign.

I want you guys to know that I read "best of the web today" and I've only linked to it a few times. So when I do, it probably means that I enjoyed it more then usual. Hope you do too!

Rhythm is a Dancer

2008-08-08T13:08:00.004-05:00

I accomplished a lot yesterday. Sadly I wasn't able to accomplish a blog post, but I did get to help Alex move some of her stuff. I say "some" but I think that's kind of not the right word. You know that feeling you get where it's not quite depressing, cause you're not sad? Wait, maybe it's just embarrassment. Either way, we took a few loads to her new, smaller, room and she's going to store some extras in my empty basement. A few loads mostly filled the room, and poor Alex had other projects in the works, so, as far as I know, she didn't get home until late and then had to clean off and make a bed to sleep in.

Before this moving thing happened, Eli and I went Running. (or Wikipedia for the readers) We didn't get into a whole lot that day. Eli has a child to think of, and, besides that, his wife was waiting for him, so time was of the essence. Once we were done I went over to help with the packing and carrying. Well, actually only carrying, but I felt glad that I was able to give something back. The girls were still watching "So you think you can dance" This is a problem that comes up semi-regularly, but it's not all bad. The show can be entertaining, but most of the time I have to (as the girls call it) "bounce my eyes." Anyway, this did happen to be the season finally, so they had a lot of filler. Some of the filler was "cool dance moves from years past" and some of the guys could do some amazing things. As I commented at the time, "I should watch this stuff before I go running for inspiration." I was also encouraged, as some of the break dance moves looked similar to what I am attempting to look like sometimes. I doubt I look that smooth, but I at least am capable.

I am better then I can demonstrate

2008-08-06T22:44:00.002-05:00

I looked bad this evening, and the discussion that led to that view of me never ended. I always feel like no one will like me until I can properly defend myself when something like that happens, and this time, in spite of the comments being jokes, I am more afraid of that. It was suggested that I am handicapped in the ability to show a significant person some affection. The excuse was that I made a comment. I was suggesting that girls in some stories (movies, books) can cause a male protagonist to make improper decisions.

My main example of this is how in the movie "The Bourne Identity", Jason keeps the girl around in spite of how dangerous it is for her to be with him, and in spite of how she, mostly, drags him down. It's not that abandoning her was a great idea, it's that I'm supposed to believe that he's been conditioned to be this awesome smart agent, but he keeps her around anyway. I felt like he could get down to business in the 2nd movie once she was out of the picture.

Anyway, back to the problem at hand. I feel like I'm pretty into the whole romance thing. I'd love to be able to demonstrate to a girl exactly how she makes me feel. I think that I need the chance as much as she needs the demonstration. It's like I always say though, "I have all these good ideas... It's too bad that I'll never get a chance to try them out..."

...Or, more likely a son.

2008-08-02T00:03:00.003-05:00

I've been reading the newest "The Year's Best Science Fiction." That's actually a book that I buy every year. The editor can really pick out some good stories, and they're well worth enjoying.
There was a story that I read over lunch on Thursday that I enjoyed tremendously. I cried even. It hit close to things that I've been thinking about lately. I'd explain more, but it turns out that the entire story is a setup for the end, and I didn't see it coming at all, which might have had something to do with the emotions that it produced. The other reason that I won't explain more is that I doubt anyone wants to read it.
Science Fiction has inside jokes, and shorter sci-fi is more notorious for them. Let me see if I can't explain using fantasy( which has blurry lines when compared to sci-fi) Elves ALWAYS have pointy ears. It's how you know that they're elves. This is a rule that was started sometime ago (probably with Tolkien) and now is accepted. In science fiction books, there are many of these same rules, but there isn't as much pop-culture background to pick up on them with. In the end, the literary rule Show-Not-Tell and these generally assumed knowledges make it sometimes hard to figure out what's going on in a story without the background information. I kind of enjoy not knowing what's going on, and having to guess along until it (hopefully!) makes sense by the climax, but I would totally understand that frusturation would be a constant to a newer reader.
Anyway, all this is to say that my enjoyment of the story is less likely to be shareable due to the fact that it touches two (mostly) opposing worlds. Which is really too bad. Maybe if I had a wife I could force her to enjoy it with me.

Sometimes people do keep up with me.

2008-07-30T17:36:00.007-05:00

I got mention the other day for a comment that I made in passing. I'm glad that Rachael didn't take what I had said in the negative way that I didn't mean for it to sound. After all, have you seen her husband?! We didn't have a conversation about how I called her bitter, but the comments that she made on her blog is actually the half of the argument that I would have made. I think it's nice that she can see where I'm coming from without me having to leave. I don't really think that Rachael is bitter, but she used to have that impression, and it was the old-Rachael, the one who's (very obviously) gone. She was the one who I was poking fun at when I said something mean. Heh... come to think of it, the other thing that she didn't mention is that I called bitter because she said something nice.

Disclaimer #4 I may not always consistently agree with everything I post

2008-07-30T17:18:00.000-05:00

(Previous Disclaimers Here, Here, and Here.

There are times when I will say things that may shock or astound you. The secret is, I can often speak without thinking. Sometimes this is in an argument, debate, or discussion. There's a lot of looking at what I just said in those situations, and through all that I usually become more sure that I'm right, or else I realize exactly how wrong I am. I am always grateful for people being patient with me as I will sometimes argue one side and then switch. Not that I switch sides completely, but that I give up on a certain approach or that I focus on a another problem with whatever issue is at hand.
The same thing can happen though when flippantly say something in passing, or when I am blogging. This is a lot more dangerous and I don't always get a chance to apologize right there. And unless you tell me, I might continue in my problems. I could say something that I might later change my mind about (there are some examples in my older posts, what a dork I was!) and I might say something that someone could feel is flat out wrong!

The girls told me that they did have a good time at KBC, and I could have talked about it better, as a few different people told me. I'm sorry if I made us, or maybe "you" look or feel bad.

Relating Nerdiness and Forgiveness

2008-07-30T16:59:00.003-05:00

I had a birthday last week, and there was a card there that talked about killing dragons, and even doing it on the internet. This led me to ask, Where did the girls get the idea that I was a nerd?
It's true that Alex allowed me to buy glasses that had dragons on them, and even pointed them out to me, but I don't remember how I gave that impression before that. I guess it shows in lots of little ways, but Props to them for being so observant.
When things like this come up, I wonder what other truths about me people might have observed, and I wonder that they continue to be friends with me. I guess there's always that thought that is mentioned in that Andrew Peterson song, "all of my life, I've held on to this fear... ...that his love is no better then mine" While that is true for God, that his love is superior to ours, it's also true that we sometimes feel the same fear about other people. Sometimes I see people thinking that forgiveness is unattainable, and it's too bad that they can feel that way about someone.
A while ago, my dad read us "the hiding place"by Corrie Ten Boom. She talks at one point about meeting a guy who used to be one of the guards in the concentration camp that she had been put in, and how she realized that she couldn't forgive him, but that true forgiveness comes from God, so through her hope, she was able to let it go.
I'll keep on trying, but I know that I'll still need forgiveness from most of you people who are nice enough to me to read what I write. I hope that I can reply in turn to the people who slight me.

Your choice of doughnuts.

2008-07-30T16:45:00.002-05:00

I have a tire that leaks air. Whenever I tell anyone that, I get looked down upon because I am living with a problem that I can afford to fix. I think that there are people who feel that I live with too many inconveniences due to my frugality. . People don't understand that the flavor of these little things that I have to work around is more appealing then the taste that I get in my mouth when I consider expenses.
The end of this story is first, that my tire didn't leak consistantly. It's not that I'm dealing with an issue that is getting in the way of other thigns, it's that I would have to fill it up once or twice a month sometimes. Secondly I got new tires. On Friday a different tire totally died, and I put the doughnut on. Getting new tires was expensive too. I think that the warranty will probably outlast my car though, so I'm not going to ever have to worry about it any more.
I borrowed a festiva from my parents (or my sister, depending on how you she looks at it) The car was quite wobbly most of the way home too, it was a lot too, I actually wore my seatbelt, but putting it on was scary, cause I only had one hand keeping the wheel steady and I was on a dirt road. It was only wobbly most of the way home because, once I got on the turnpike, that tire also turned into a doughnut! the difference was amazing too. I mean, the turnpike has a divider, so I wasn't worried any more about crossing lanes, but I was able to even stay within the lines.

I love anonymity and I love being noticed

2008-07-22T17:06:00.003-05:00

I had written a blog post in anticipation of a forgotten birthday. It's not that I expected all of my friends to forget, it's that I had (almost) never advertised it. I had forgotten that I have joined that great evil that is facebook though, and that (in spite of my policy) I even have friends there.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot, partially because of a conversation that I had overheard while the girls and I were down at KBC: I was trying to set up dinner plans, so I was in and out of the conversation, but I caught a bit where Laura was explaining to Grace that she does a good job with birthdays, and she proceeded to list off all of the birthdays of the other girls who had come down. Since I happened to be standing there, she did notice that she didn’t know my birthday and even mentioned it to Grace. Grace also expressed her ignorance of that particular date. As I walked off laughing, the last bit of the conversation caught up with me: “It must be soon though, because he was complaining about becoming an old man.”
Anyway, Jere gave me a hug when I got to work, I got an inspirational message from my father where he (again) told me that he thinks I'm going along ok. Deborah Denny sent me a great email that really made me happy. Then I got home from work.

I show off friends as I show off friends

2008-07-21T19:13:00.002-05:00

This weekend I took some girls down to Hutchinson. Kari, Alex, Christie and Laura. I think that the girls were a bit concerned about the trip. I planned it a while ago, and there was only slight interest, and up until the day we left there was almost a reluctance to commit to going. I think Laura put it best when she said something along the lines of "I got back from Uganda and they tell me 'We're going to Hutch next week, so get yourself ready!'"
I didn't realize that my plans would be followed that much, I guess I'm just insecure about other people enjoying what I enjoy, but in spite of all that, we had a good time and everyone liked everyone else. The only potential trouble was a game of Ultimate Frisbee that didn't show off KBC's good side.
This trouble has come up before in the Frisbee games that I put together in Topeka as well--if you have people who would rather win then have fun, they don't pass the disc to a lot of people. Let me explain better. In volleyball, even the poorest players have to hit the ball sometimes, (often to their team's dismay) but in Ultimate you can just ignore your weaker players and score anyway. Sometimes you have the players who would equate winning with fun, and those people are the most likely to ignore people who they don't trust. During the game on Saturday night there were 4 girls from Topeka who were ignored for most of the game. Now, Kari was not ignored, but she's an exceptional player and ignoring her in such a sport would be impossible. The other 3 though, spent a lot of time wandering around a field wishing that someone would pass to them.
This is something that I notice, and it's partially that I'm good at including people, but at the same time, it's not too hard to be considerate, and teenage boys would do well to recognize how much that one pass means to the girls.
I dunno how cliquish KBC appeared to my friends, but I put a lot of effort into trying to let the girls be social and some of the good impression that had started with eating at bogey's with the Goerings and the Hawkinsons was lost at the game of frisbee.

C'mon staff! You can do better.

I apoligize for no pictures, my camera didn't make it down with me.

Missed Thusday Pentence

2008-07-18T18:33:00.003-05:00

I again didn't post on Thursday this week, so I'm double posting today. Besides, it's raining outside and I am able to utilize my laptop to an extent that will help to justify the purchase. It's been a busy week (thanks be to the God and father of our lord Jesus Christ) and I haven't gotten everything that I was hoping to get completed finished. I wasn't totally unproductive though, and there was some enjoyment nonetheless. Frisbee happened, as is common, and I even had a few good pictures. This week we did play a few other sports though, and they were also successful. Alex had a birthday party on Sunday that I attended, and at it's conclusion we played a bit of volleyball at sonic. I was above average in my playing, so I was proud of myself. No matter what other people think though, I'm not very confidant in my volleyball game. The other game we played was soccer, and I feel the same way about that one. I do have some drive, and I am fit enough to handle things, but with practiced people I feel less then sufficient.

On Wednesday night when I was headed for bed ~2:00 I decided I would type a bit into my journal before sleeping. It has been giving me weirder and weirder errors lately, and the thing it threw at me this time seemed exceptionally dire. I decided that I would reset it as hard as I could, so I pulled the battery out. After replacing that amazing piece of lithium, (seriously, it really did hold the 10 hour charge) I couldn't manage to turn the computer on. I have been expecting failures from the little box that could for some time now, and I've already replaced it (see, laptop!) I was ready to give up on my writing for the evening too, but there was that small matter of importance that was the fact that the Journal-ada was also my alarm clock. Anyone who's ever been in a dorm with me will recognize the "doh-doh-doh" and you can rejoice as the beast is fallen.

I was up at 2:00 that night because the girls had come over. They'd gone and jumped in the lake before arriving, and I gave kari a shirt that I don't quite fill out. I told her that I didn't want it back, but at the same time, I don't expect to see her wearing it again either. Maybe Kristen likes it better

Matthew 19:21

2008-07-18T18:09:00.005-05:00

I am a computer programmer and I write programs that pharmacies use. This week my company held a conference for our users in Kansas City. At the last minute I was allowed to go, on the condition that I only stayed for the part relevant to myself, and that I drove myself. I found myself on I-70 on Thursday morning. I wasn't speeding, and as a result most people were passing me. It was a cool morning so I had taken the top off and I was enjoying the drive.

So here I am. Sitting in my topless car, thinking about how my life is going pretty well, when I got passed by a brand new short-bus. This bus was some sort of luxury vehicle. I mean, when it first passed I had been seeing casino signs, and I assumed it was associated with those. The lettering on the side, "First Church of the Nazarene" (The names here have been changed to protect the guilty. Or because I forgot, take your pick) betrayed it's true affiliations though. I was disgusted, as I commonly am whenever churches have nice things. Following was a comparably new truck, with luggage visible through the topper. The recently seen stenciled phrase included this truck in the same group that the first had been. Following the truck was a comparably new sports car, and for a couple seconds, I searched it's exterior, expecting to see that same familiar logo, but apparently God hadn't chosen to provide the funding this year for the Youth Pastor to get that new ride.

Vauge...

2008-07-15T16:54:00.002-05:00

Last night I think figured out the rules to a game that I have been playing, primarily with Kristen Weatherford, for a few weeks now. The Game has gotten more intense since this happened, but it hasn't crossed any boundaries yet. The rules are subtle and frightening, and it's possibly the most dangerous game of all. The game continues to pull in innocent bystanders, so I'm wondering if someone might get hurt if it continues. I think I'm the most likely candidate for hurt though, and in spite of that, I'm willing to press on towards the goal.

On another note, I was reading this wikipedia article and, although I think there are quite a few traces of The Internet there, and not as much actual fact, I was intrigued by it's content anyway.
Have I mentioned this Andy Gullahorn song before? (Scroll down to "Roast Beef") It's one that I enjoy quite a bit. I'm probably ruining the whole thing because I'm showing you(Dear Reader) the lyrics instead of making you listen to it. And in doing so, I'm giving too much information. Do you understand?

The semi-death of creepy camera Paul

2008-07-12T23:33:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday, my mother informed me of a party that was happening before Eden's departure for Lima happened. The plan was to look at each others' pictures of our individual trips.

Eden was at Missionary training in Mississippi.
Grace was in Georgia with her boyfriend
Dale, Dad, and Joel were in Colorado
Mom was at home alone.

Luckly for Mom, there wasn't a lot of overlap for these, so she wasn't ever really actually alone. I did feel left out so I decided that I would make my week eventful enough and then photograph it. This was worth doing anyway because it was an excuse to use my camera, and a chance for people to put faces with the names of my Topeka friends. It's nice to be able to blog with pictures and people seem to enjoy it lots more.
I included a select picture from each set.

Playing with children

2008-07-12T22:51:00.007-05:00

I was able to attend a family gathering this weekend. It was not unlike something that might happen when the Denny family gets together. It was a Weatherford families party and it was held partially because Laura had just came back from Uganda, but I tend to think that that was just an excuse. Not to suggest that it wasn't a reason to get a family together, but that their family would love to get together anyway.

About 10 seconds of standing around awkwardly looking at the lack of available seats, I was approached by a young boy who excitedly explained to me the prospect of some Wii Fit in the basement. Relieved at the excuse to hang out with children who didn't know me (as opposed to the parents who didn't know me) I followed happily to the basement and tried to keep a candle steady. Success escaped me, but the innate ability that makes children like me turned itself on and Will (as was that one's name) and I had a great time for the remainder of the evening. It was even suggested that I read the bedtime story (seriously, he was the star); a prospect that I embraced wholeheartedly.

I compare this ability to God's Grace. I don't have to try to win over kids. It doesn't matter what I do, they just like me. Now, once there is an intial contact, I do what I can to remain entertaining, but the initial contact is commonly not of my creation. This a good thing because I am slightly shy around other people's kids and I have a hard time breaking the ice.

All in all, it was a great time.

Shopping

2008-07-08T17:23:00.002-05:00

On Sunday I was, as often is the case, looking for entertainment. I, as is my common practice, called Alex to see what she was doing. Actually we had had previous correspondence, but it had come to naught. She had been waiting on Joel to eat. She was a bit worried because Joel gets confused when he gets hungry and she was concerned that he would forget and just eat without her.
So later, when I met them at On the Border, Joel had snacked so much that he wasn't very hungry. I did profit from this though, as I was able to freely eat his food. It was delicious cheese and chicken and some sort of tortilla. Alex had even ordered some Guac! The discussion as to our plans for the remainder of the afternoon lasted for most of another hour, and I (yes, ME!) was the one to suggest that we just go shopping.
At our shopping trip, many of my spending habits were exposed. I sat around while Alex and Joel tried on clothes in stores that I'd never heard of, for prices I couldn't conceive of. Exorbitant! At the end of the shopping experience, Joel had boughten 3 t-shirts at an unspeakable price and Alex had purchased 2 shirts. I was aghast, well I wasn't but I wanted to use that word. In the end nothing was so terrible that I couldn't stand it. I think of Andy Gullahorn's "Green Hills Mall" and I wonder if I have become "that rich" and in fact, I understand. Either way the conversation and company superseeded that detest that I have (or at least used to have!) for malls and the consumer culture that they embody.