Sunday, October 2, 2011
Test to see whether anyone's reading
Hello. I haven't posted forever. Most of my writing gasoline is worn out by the time I get to non-obligatory things like blog writing. So, my apologies. I am listening to the Lion King soundtrack. This is, in my opinion, one of the best movies ever. And I am writing a paper.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Beach
Again, just trying to get some news out in September. I had forgotten that since Jonathan has started school, he needs to read something during class. Maybe I'll post my papers to this site, because that's all the writing I really have time for.
So, I spent two weeks at beaches this summer. One week was with Elizabeth in Florida, whereupon we were engaged.
Hooray! :)
The other was with my family. It generally followed the pattern of most of our trips to Stone Harbor, except for the following deviations. One deviation was literally that; we diverged from our route to avoid traffic. Relying on my trusted friend Karen (=Garmin GPS), I took our two car caravan (a conversion van and a Buick) on a detour in New Jersey. We traveled smoothly for 2 miles until we hit standstill traffic again. I told everyone that another detour, yet farther off our route, lay only 1 mile ahead. It took maybe 30 minutes move that mile, and once we saw the road Karen had suggested, we hesitated. The sign reading "No Outlet" and the mere 200 yards of pavement that transitioned abruptly into dirt portended ill for our trip. Nevertheless, following the Office 's Michael Scott's move of driving his car into a lake in blind obedience to his GPS, we continued along the dirt path. Karen called this dirt path "Beaver Causeway." She vindicated herself, and more importantly, me, when we discovered an outlet and gained at least 2 miles on our previous position.
Other deviations from the norm included having meal-cooking teams. Debating the organization of the system occupied one hoochie-poo, but it worked wonderfully.
Also, someone caught a baby shark on a fishing line.
Also, the water was freezing on Robbie's last day at the beach. My dad and I took turns babysitting him in the water. I think I suffered hypothermia.
That's all for now. I've been in school for a month. More to follow on that sometime in the future.
So, I spent two weeks at beaches this summer. One week was with Elizabeth in Florida, whereupon we were engaged.
Hooray! :)
The other was with my family. It generally followed the pattern of most of our trips to Stone Harbor, except for the following deviations. One deviation was literally that; we diverged from our route to avoid traffic. Relying on my trusted friend Karen (=Garmin GPS), I took our two car caravan (a conversion van and a Buick) on a detour in New Jersey. We traveled smoothly for 2 miles until we hit standstill traffic again. I told everyone that another detour, yet farther off our route, lay only 1 mile ahead. It took maybe 30 minutes move that mile, and once we saw the road Karen had suggested, we hesitated. The sign reading "No Outlet" and the mere 200 yards of pavement that transitioned abruptly into dirt portended ill for our trip. Nevertheless, following the Office 's Michael Scott's move of driving his car into a lake in blind obedience to his GPS, we continued along the dirt path. Karen called this dirt path "Beaver Causeway." She vindicated herself, and more importantly, me, when we discovered an outlet and gained at least 2 miles on our previous position.
Other deviations from the norm included having meal-cooking teams. Debating the organization of the system occupied one hoochie-poo, but it worked wonderfully.
Also, someone caught a baby shark on a fishing line.
Also, the water was freezing on Robbie's last day at the beach. My dad and I took turns babysitting him in the water. I think I suffered hypothermia.
That's all for now. I've been in school for a month. More to follow on that sometime in the future.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Some Events from this Summer
So, it has been summer for me for almost a week! Among the many highlights so far are Elizabeth's and my trip to SilkHope winery and the round of golf with my brothers and father......Arg, as I'm finishing this post, finally, summer is now over and I'm at a fellowship retreat in Kentucky right before I begin my studies. Alas! [Now posting 1 month into school...holy cow]. Anyway, the stories:
Elizabeth knows that I love the zoo. She has actually grown fond of some of the animals, too, like the lions, chimpanzees, and polar bears. Still, the zoo is my place, and Elizabeth humors me by taking me there at least once a month. I reward her charitable patience with a trip to a North Carolina winery on our way back to Chapel Hill. We've visited some scenic vineyards and generally have had good times. This past time, on my last full day in Chapel Hill for a while, we stopped at a place called SilkHope Vineyards. Using my Garmin GPS, we passed by the entrance once, only to return and see a sign reading "Closed." Not to be discouraged by the pesky sign, we drove up the long dirt driveway, anyway. We arrived at a vineyard with a large (i.e. 200 x 100') Quonset, which is basically a miniature windowless airplane hangar. A man wearing dirty jeans and a t-shirt walked up to us and asked how we were doing and whether he could help us. I told him that we had been hoping to see his vineyard. "Well, there it is," he said and pointed across the hood of the car to the vineyard. Elizabeth asked about tastings, so he escorted us to the inside of the Quonset, where we navigated a maze of boxes to sit down at a table and drink wine. It turned out to be great wine, but we feared for our lives every now and then.
In other news, while golfing with my brothers and father, 3 buildings were hit. I was not responsible for any of these events. My memory is fuzzy about what Robbie and Jonathan may have done [now in September], but I recall that it was my dad who hit the roof of a family friend's house...If your familiar with my father's golfing style and prowess, you'll know this is out-of-character.
Another fun thing I did this summer was to visit Wheeling's Good Zoo and pet lorikeets, which are the sweetest birds ever.
Elizabeth knows that I love the zoo. She has actually grown fond of some of the animals, too, like the lions, chimpanzees, and polar bears. Still, the zoo is my place, and Elizabeth humors me by taking me there at least once a month. I reward her charitable patience with a trip to a North Carolina winery on our way back to Chapel Hill. We've visited some scenic vineyards and generally have had good times. This past time, on my last full day in Chapel Hill for a while, we stopped at a place called SilkHope Vineyards. Using my Garmin GPS, we passed by the entrance once, only to return and see a sign reading "Closed." Not to be discouraged by the pesky sign, we drove up the long dirt driveway, anyway. We arrived at a vineyard with a large (i.e. 200 x 100') Quonset, which is basically a miniature windowless airplane hangar. A man wearing dirty jeans and a t-shirt walked up to us and asked how we were doing and whether he could help us. I told him that we had been hoping to see his vineyard. "Well, there it is," he said and pointed across the hood of the car to the vineyard. Elizabeth asked about tastings, so he escorted us to the inside of the Quonset, where we navigated a maze of boxes to sit down at a table and drink wine. It turned out to be great wine, but we feared for our lives every now and then.
In other news, while golfing with my brothers and father, 3 buildings were hit. I was not responsible for any of these events. My memory is fuzzy about what Robbie and Jonathan may have done [now in September], but I recall that it was my dad who hit the roof of a family friend's house...If your familiar with my father's golfing style and prowess, you'll know this is out-of-character.
Another fun thing I did this summer was to visit Wheeling's Good Zoo and pet lorikeets, which are the sweetest birds ever.
Monday, June 28, 2010
More Links, this one on Economics
Sorry I keep just posting links. But most of the people I link to have more interesting things to say than I. This one is about (non)economists and the deluge of opinions available on macroeconomics (thanks to Mankiw's blog).
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6yuUpUNGf0pZGQ0YmQ5MjctM2ZiNS00NGIxLTg3OWItYWIxOTcxNDYyMzY5&hl=en
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6yuUpUNGf0pZGQ0YmQ5MjctM2ZiNS00NGIxLTg3OWItYWIxOTcxNDYyMzY5&hl=en
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Interesting
I found this interesting: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/?src=me&ref=homepage
It's a humorous story about a bank robber followed by a discussion about practical epistemology.
It's a humorous story about a bank robber followed by a discussion about practical epistemology.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Now I'm on a roll with these posts
A cool article from a referral on Greg Mankiw's blog. I must admit, I often try to think about my own fulfillment in these rather technical terms...
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20100508a.htm#f11
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20100508a.htm#f11
Updates
I feel like I have not had more than 20 minutes at a time to myself to do something other than something I have to do since quite a while ago. That's life, I guess, but it's especially bothersome when it means I spend less time keeping up with important people. I began this blog thinking I could easily update friends and family on the status of my life to avoid having to repeat myself ad infinitum on the phone or in e-mails; anyone who follows my blog, though, knows I haven't been the most prolific author.
Speaking of, here's a note to myself to remind me to link to Jonathan's blog from my blog. If when you're reading this, you don't see a link to J's blog, please add a comment or send me an e-mail. Jonathan writes a pretty funny blog. He also writes well. Forgive me, but I still find it hard to fathom that he can communicate anything more than "Mommy," "Daddy," and "All gone," while twisting his hair with his finger until it tangles so tightly it needs to be cut with scissors.
So, back to my topic. I've realized it's hard work to write so much. Especially when I try to have something funny to say and try to say what I have to say well. So, I'm trying a new strategy; I will post more often, with less crafted content, and in a more conversational cadence. So, I'm sorry for writing so seldom (and lately for calling and e-mailing so seldom).
So, things you should know. The biggest news is that I'm going to Vanderbilt Divinity School in the fall. It's for a two year program (Master of Theological Studies), which is basically an academic-only version of a Master of Divinity degree, the professional degree for mainline and many evangelical denominational ministers. As you might know, I want to earn my Ph.D. afterwards (at some place other than Vandy, namely, back in the Triangle area of North Carolina) and become a professor of religion. Having now had three jobs in as many years, I'm convinced that being a professor would be a great profession for me. I like teaching, I like learning, and I like being stuck in a library basement for hours at a time; writing is okay, too. Of course, it's not easy to become a professor (prerequisites: get into a master's program, get into a Ph.D. program--good ones accept less than 10% of applicants, most of whom are as qualified as anyone else, get a job as a professor--also, can be as many as 200 applicants per position, then get tenure after writing books for 7 years, and don't go broke in the process). Since I want to study American religious history, among other things, I think I could possibly do secondary school teaching as a backup. Anyway, I'm really excited to be back in school, and excited to be in an exciting place like Nashville. Also, I'm looking forward to spending quality time with one of my best friends, Chris McCain. The biggest downside of this (other than that I'll start losing even more money) is that I'll be geographically far away from Elizabeth. I'm glad Southwest flies our route...
So, my job at an elementary school in Durham has changed from being a butler to charming, fun, yet incorrigible, complicated, and violent children to doing carpentry work. Robbie will be familiar with half of my job, which has been to demolish walls. I was disappointed when the actual professional carpenter told us that we wouldn't be using sledge hammers. He gave some strange excuse like "there are live wires and pipes in the walls"... The other half entails building new walls. I've learned to use a compressed-air powered Paslode nail gun. This thing is a monster. It might be better to be shot by a real gun and bullet than a nail from this monster. Anyway, I've been loving this change of pace and could do this relatively unsophisticated construction work all day for a long time. Hmmm. Perhaps I should join the day-laborers who loiter around one of my neighborhood gas stations every morning instead of going to grad school.
Also, in other news, my house is infested with insects. Did you know that cockroaches can fly? I now do. One flew off of my cellphone tonight when I picked it up to plug it into its charger. Last week, one crawled over me while I was in that liminal state between sleep and wakefullness. This morning, I hosed what appeared to be a colony of ants scavenging food on the kitchen counter-tops. I used the spray hose that diverts water from the faucet. It was fun, and I'm glad one of my roommates didn't see it...
Alright, consider yourselves updated.
Speaking of, here's a note to myself to remind me to link to Jonathan's blog from my blog. If when you're reading this, you don't see a link to J's blog, please add a comment or send me an e-mail. Jonathan writes a pretty funny blog. He also writes well. Forgive me, but I still find it hard to fathom that he can communicate anything more than "Mommy," "Daddy," and "All gone," while twisting his hair with his finger until it tangles so tightly it needs to be cut with scissors.
So, back to my topic. I've realized it's hard work to write so much. Especially when I try to have something funny to say and try to say what I have to say well. So, I'm trying a new strategy; I will post more often, with less crafted content, and in a more conversational cadence. So, I'm sorry for writing so seldom (and lately for calling and e-mailing so seldom).
So, things you should know. The biggest news is that I'm going to Vanderbilt Divinity School in the fall. It's for a two year program (Master of Theological Studies), which is basically an academic-only version of a Master of Divinity degree, the professional degree for mainline and many evangelical denominational ministers. As you might know, I want to earn my Ph.D. afterwards (at some place other than Vandy, namely, back in the Triangle area of North Carolina) and become a professor of religion. Having now had three jobs in as many years, I'm convinced that being a professor would be a great profession for me. I like teaching, I like learning, and I like being stuck in a library basement for hours at a time; writing is okay, too. Of course, it's not easy to become a professor (prerequisites: get into a master's program, get into a Ph.D. program--good ones accept less than 10% of applicants, most of whom are as qualified as anyone else, get a job as a professor--also, can be as many as 200 applicants per position, then get tenure after writing books for 7 years, and don't go broke in the process). Since I want to study American religious history, among other things, I think I could possibly do secondary school teaching as a backup. Anyway, I'm really excited to be back in school, and excited to be in an exciting place like Nashville. Also, I'm looking forward to spending quality time with one of my best friends, Chris McCain. The biggest downside of this (other than that I'll start losing even more money) is that I'll be geographically far away from Elizabeth. I'm glad Southwest flies our route...
So, my job at an elementary school in Durham has changed from being a butler to charming, fun, yet incorrigible, complicated, and violent children to doing carpentry work. Robbie will be familiar with half of my job, which has been to demolish walls. I was disappointed when the actual professional carpenter told us that we wouldn't be using sledge hammers. He gave some strange excuse like "there are live wires and pipes in the walls"... The other half entails building new walls. I've learned to use a compressed-air powered Paslode nail gun. This thing is a monster. It might be better to be shot by a real gun and bullet than a nail from this monster. Anyway, I've been loving this change of pace and could do this relatively unsophisticated construction work all day for a long time. Hmmm. Perhaps I should join the day-laborers who loiter around one of my neighborhood gas stations every morning instead of going to grad school.
Also, in other news, my house is infested with insects. Did you know that cockroaches can fly? I now do. One flew off of my cellphone tonight when I picked it up to plug it into its charger. Last week, one crawled over me while I was in that liminal state between sleep and wakefullness. This morning, I hosed what appeared to be a colony of ants scavenging food on the kitchen counter-tops. I used the spray hose that diverts water from the faucet. It was fun, and I'm glad one of my roommates didn't see it...
Alright, consider yourselves updated.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)