Monday, July 30, 2007

Excitement

I think I'm going to Bookman's today.

Why do I love Bookman's so much? I do not know, but the mere thought of going to it makes me very excited.

I think I like finding new science fiction books and buying them for two bucks, reading them, and then making fun of myself for reading them.

Also, sometimes I find interesting old prayer books or stuff like that.

Hey David, how's medical school?

Friday, July 27, 2007

On the Genius of Sufjan Stevens

1. I cannot stop listening to him.

2. He is an alum of the Interlochen Arts Academy. So that's pretty cool--we have the same alma mater.

3. Each one of his albums is brilliant! I can't believe it.

4. Palisades ranks in my mind as not only the greatest songs ever written, but perhaps one of the truly great musical achievements of our time. Listen to it again, and listen to it carefully. Note the shades of Steve Reich, John Adams, and Bela Bartok.

5. And he is really weird. Seriously, you should watch some youtube clips of his interviews or concerts.

(oh, by the way i have a girlfriend now)

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Don't worry, I am not going to ruin anything. I just have a few things to say...

1. I was completely satisfied, and more so.

2. Not since Dickens has there been a name-conjurer like J.K. Rowling. Here are a sample of some of my favorites.
-Severus Snape
-Xenophilius Lovegood
-Neville Longbottom
-Godric Gryffindor
-Salazar Slytherin
-Lucius Malfoy
-Bellatrix Lestrange
-Horace Slughorn

I pause here to note that there seems to be a law in the wizarding community against more than one person having the same first name. Can you think of two characters in her books that have the same first name, that aren't blood-related?

3. It is still amazing to me that she really had a coherent and complex plot in mind the entire time. Really. She makes references back to events in the first book, in the last one. I could have sworn up until the fourth book that she was just making it up as she went along. But she wasn't!

4. These are books that have slowly grown on me. At first they were no more than diversion, on par with my old Timothy Zahn obsession. But now, I'm not sure. While I don't think they compare in richness to the creation of Tolkein (But who could hope to approach that? The guy invented 11 different languages for his imaginary universe). But it certainly deserves to be in that category. Her prose is nothing special, but still, the names, the ideas, the complexity. I don't know how to consider it. Thoughts?

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Some News

So, I am going to Allentown, Pennsylvania to see a friend of mine. Her name is Caitlin Kochanasz. Here is a picture of her...


Charming, isn't she?

Ok, here's another picture...

Yeah. That's Caitlin.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Can I give you a brief insight?

"So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body."

This is in Romans.

Notice several things...

1. This is Paul, talking about his state as a Christian. It would take a "vain professor" to consider himself above such a man of God.

2. See how Paul wrestled with his sin. Notice how he found out its workings in him and despised them. Look then at the sweet words of anticipation that shortly follow the above passage. "Who shall rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

3. Let us remember the words of our Savior:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Do you, like Paul, consider yourself poor in spirit? Do you see that powerful root of sin, which but for the sovereign workings of the Spirit, would hold you captive? Do you mourn at the devastation and destruction which sin has wrought in your life, and in the lives of all who walk in our dark world?

4. Sin is at work in us, as long as we remain on this earth. What does Paul say to the Colossians? Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Are you watchful, carefully seeking out the sin that surely befouls even our purest efforts?

5. Think on this. Sin is emnity to God. It manifests itself daily in our lives by our secret hatred of the things of God, always warring in us against the Spirit. We must first see it. Then, by our great weapon, the mighty Sword of the Spirit, we may pursue it to its root and slay it.

Nothing in all creation is hidden in God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

The Battleground

is in my heart and in my mind.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

American Airlines

Here is my saga, my dear friends...

Step 1: I arrived at the Tucson Airport, aka the airport where you can arrive five minutes before boarding and still have a chance to buy a cinnabon. If the airport had a cinnabon. I got their at five am for a six am flight.

Step 2: Apparently bad weather the previous day in Dallas had prevented the flight crew from getting the required break in between flights. So our flight was going to be delayed exactly three hours. Meaning....

Although I was never flying anywhere near Dallas, not even passing over any part of the state of Texas, some storms there were causing me a three hour delay

Step 3: Which apparently is just long enough to cause me to miss my connecting flight to Detroit.

Step 4: Which, although there are about 50 flights daily between Chicago and Detroit, meant that I could not be squeezed on another flight until the following day.

Step 5: I decided to stay over-night with Jane. Unfortunately, however, my flight was supposed to arrive at 2:30 into Chicago, and Jane works until 9:00 sometimes. No problem, however. I call up one of my new Edgecorp friends, a guy named Nick Wiarda, who lives in Wheaton, Illinois.

Step 6: All is well. Until we start our approach into Chicago, only to be put into a holding pattern because of supposed bad weather at O'Hare. So. being the disobedient passenger that I am, I took out my cell phone and called my friend Nick. I told him what was happening, and that we were delayed because of bad weather. Now my friend was actually outside of O'Hare at the time. His response, "There's no bad weather here. It's not even raining."

Step 7: After several teasing announcements about our eminent landing in Chicago, the pilot changes his mind and says we're actually going to land in Milwaukee. There, he says, we will quickly refuel and fly back to Chicago. He says it will take about an hour.

Step 8: Two hours later we are sitting on the tarmac at the Milwaukee airport, no sign of any refueling tanks. Luckily, our pilot was kind enough to announce every half-hour that we'd be leaving in about a half-hour.

Step 9: After another hour, the refueling truck arrives. The whole process of refueling, taking off, and landing in Chicago takes about another hour.

Now I have only a few complaints...

1. Why don't airlines simply tell us the truth? There was no bad weather in O'Hare. They knew the entire time that there was only one refueling truck in Milwaukee and that it would take several hours tor refuel.

2. As far as customer service goes, the airlines are by far the worst. Nobody has fun when they fly. No one is satisfied. Everyone expects the worst when he flies.

3. A bottle of water would have cost me three dollars!