Saturday, January 29, 2011
sara got a new do
ahhh, this one is overdue, but better late than never. Sara chopped the hair. shortest it has ever been.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Study Buddy
It has been a bit since I have posted a pic for not reason. Enjoying some coffee that some friends of our roasted.
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| From Photostream |
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Photosynth!
A while back I saw this video on TED about a 3-D photo viewing thing from Microsoft. It is available to look at and make your own now. I got excited about it and gave it a shot in our office. not too great of pics and it is all messy, but it is still cool. you can pan and zoom using the circular arrow thing in the middle.
Sometime I will do a 'real' one....
(you may need a Silverlight plug in to view it, but if you watch netflix, you probably already have it...)
(and it looks like you have to actually go to the blog to see the link, if you read blogs by a RSS reader...)
Sometime I will do a 'real' one....
(you may need a Silverlight plug in to view it, but if you watch netflix, you probably already have it...)
(and it looks like you have to actually go to the blog to see the link, if you read blogs by a RSS reader...)
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
writing on the wall
You know how sometimes people write or draw stuff on the walls of public bathrooms? Baylor is no different, and sometimes this is pretty entertaining. Here it seems to develop into conversations as people write replies and what not. I have a new favorite bathroom wall conversation, just enough wit to make you think while standing at the urinal. There is the usual crass stuff, and then the following:
Person A: Act like men for God's sake.
Person B: Or, act like God for man's sake.
Person A: Touche.
Person A: Act like men for God's sake.
Person B: Or, act like God for man's sake.
Person A: Touche.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
inconspicuous consumption
I have been thinking about how I/we buy things this week. It mainly started after reading this article about books and publishing after Amazon. Now, I buy a lot of books and Amazon makes it so easy to find them, order them, get them for cheap, and they offered my free shipping on any purchase no matter the total price because I am a student. Mainly because of this last part, they have received a lot of money from me this past year.
It is easy to consume, but hard be consume well. Responsibly. Maybe even morally. Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist back in the day and he worried about the effects of modernization on society. In the pre-industrial revolution days, he saw society as being defined by mechanical solidarity - people are socialized and bound to one another because they were in community with each other and interacted or were aware of one another regularly. After society modernized, this changed to what he called organic solidarity. This was defined by a removed dependence on others. I don't know who provides my gas for the car, but I need them, and so on. We are all still connected, but in a different way; often unnoticed but still 'organically' needing each other.
I have mentioned before that I like Wendell Berry. He is a critic of short-sighted modernization. Being a farmer, this typically is aimed at agriculture, but he is aware of and talks about the wider implications. This is a point of a great essay, where he argues that we try to solve problems by immediate and short-sighted solutions, or try to get unrealistic gains that don't take into account long-terms results. (Solve problems with solutions that are the next problem to be solved.) He thinks that we do not think about the fact that everything is connected in some way and changes, or failings, affect the entire system for better or worse. (other related Berry posts talking about implications of this here and here... if interested)
My consumption is no different. It is easy to not think about the authors, publishers, book seller, and all the other people involved with each of my purchases. Amazon is arguably a less than responsible way for me to spend money, and my spending has implications for many other people out there that it is easy to forget about. The other day I spent a bunch of time trying to find more responsible ways to purchase books because I think it is important for me to be cognizant of the effects of my spending. This is the same reason we only buy fair trade coffee (I know, this list should be longer...). My spending DOES do something, it is just a matter of whether that something is in line with how I ought to live or not. We are blessed to be a society that has the option to consume; we are cursed to be a society habituated into doing it blindly. And that is costly.
It is easy to consume, but hard be consume well. Responsibly. Maybe even morally. Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist back in the day and he worried about the effects of modernization on society. In the pre-industrial revolution days, he saw society as being defined by mechanical solidarity - people are socialized and bound to one another because they were in community with each other and interacted or were aware of one another regularly. After society modernized, this changed to what he called organic solidarity. This was defined by a removed dependence on others. I don't know who provides my gas for the car, but I need them, and so on. We are all still connected, but in a different way; often unnoticed but still 'organically' needing each other.
I have mentioned before that I like Wendell Berry. He is a critic of short-sighted modernization. Being a farmer, this typically is aimed at agriculture, but he is aware of and talks about the wider implications. This is a point of a great essay, where he argues that we try to solve problems by immediate and short-sighted solutions, or try to get unrealistic gains that don't take into account long-terms results. (Solve problems with solutions that are the next problem to be solved.) He thinks that we do not think about the fact that everything is connected in some way and changes, or failings, affect the entire system for better or worse. (other related Berry posts talking about implications of this here and here... if interested)
My consumption is no different. It is easy to not think about the authors, publishers, book seller, and all the other people involved with each of my purchases. Amazon is arguably a less than responsible way for me to spend money, and my spending has implications for many other people out there that it is easy to forget about. The other day I spent a bunch of time trying to find more responsible ways to purchase books because I think it is important for me to be cognizant of the effects of my spending. This is the same reason we only buy fair trade coffee (I know, this list should be longer...). My spending DOES do something, it is just a matter of whether that something is in line with how I ought to live or not. We are blessed to be a society that has the option to consume; we are cursed to be a society habituated into doing it blindly. And that is costly.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
creation's groove
Alright, three posts in one day. This is crazy. I wanted to put this up though. Put it somewhere so this thought can 'arrive' and make way for another in a way. It is a bit long so, ehh. I realize that we may not be able to actually talk directly with many that read this, so it may be a bit bewildering. Sorry 'bout that. More for the unknowing than the bewildering. word.
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Life is such a roller coaster. Over the years there are ups and downs. Even over a matter of weeks or days. There are downs.
A while back I was walking on campus and had one of the more surreal experiences of my life. I was walking with my headphones in, listening to a favorite song. I have long had a soft spot for music’s ability to connect deeply to emotions, memories, and experiences. Because of this, I think music is able to take us to a place where memories, emotions, and desires in life can all crash together in a cacophony of thoughts.
It was beautiful out. As I walked, I had the sudden feeling of isolation. There were people all around me that didn’t interact with or notice me at all and I didn’t interact with them. They all had their thoughts, feeling, emotions and desires - all of which were completely isolated and separated from me. It was deepened by the fact that I couldn’t hear them because of the music, but hearing only gives the impression of connection. Isolation is the reality; connection is the desire that doesn’t actually exist.
I think this is true. We are all isolated. There can be truths, philosophically cogent arguments, and Reality (with a big 'R') and other universalizing stuff, but in the end none of that matters. Experience is king and it is both rational and irrational. Connection is deeply related to the ability to connect, which is necessarily related to identities. Identities are endlessly individual specific and so each connection is going to be, to some degree, disconnected.
Disconnection is the problem.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer had an amazing lecture on creation and the fall. He talked about how the tree of life was in the middle of the Garden of Eden, and so life flowed from the middle of the Garden. This life of the middle was supplied by God. The middle, supplying life, was in tension with the limit of life that stood next to it - the tree of knowledge. In the fall, Adam and Eve ran from the life of the middle to the knowledge of the limit of man that was embodied by death. They pulled back and disconnected from God, and no longer knew each other. But God did not leave them in their broken and disconnected state, but sought them out and brought them back to himself.
Christ is now our middle, our life, pulling us away from the limits - the disconnection.
Life is a roller coaster with crazy ups and downs. Elation and tragedy. The temptation is to pull back, disconnect, question, and stew. But disconnection and isolation flows out of living from the self at the limit all the while our history is re-written by the re-centering of Christ. The struggles will continue, but Christ is determined to stop us from brooding at the limits of the dead-end road. The real answer to the pain is not necessarily an answer, but a connection.
___________________________________
Life is such a roller coaster. Over the years there are ups and downs. Even over a matter of weeks or days. There are downs.
A while back I was walking on campus and had one of the more surreal experiences of my life. I was walking with my headphones in, listening to a favorite song. I have long had a soft spot for music’s ability to connect deeply to emotions, memories, and experiences. Because of this, I think music is able to take us to a place where memories, emotions, and desires in life can all crash together in a cacophony of thoughts.
It was beautiful out. As I walked, I had the sudden feeling of isolation. There were people all around me that didn’t interact with or notice me at all and I didn’t interact with them. They all had their thoughts, feeling, emotions and desires - all of which were completely isolated and separated from me. It was deepened by the fact that I couldn’t hear them because of the music, but hearing only gives the impression of connection. Isolation is the reality; connection is the desire that doesn’t actually exist.
I think this is true. We are all isolated. There can be truths, philosophically cogent arguments, and Reality (with a big 'R') and other universalizing stuff, but in the end none of that matters. Experience is king and it is both rational and irrational. Connection is deeply related to the ability to connect, which is necessarily related to identities. Identities are endlessly individual specific and so each connection is going to be, to some degree, disconnected.
Disconnection is the problem.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer had an amazing lecture on creation and the fall. He talked about how the tree of life was in the middle of the Garden of Eden, and so life flowed from the middle of the Garden. This life of the middle was supplied by God. The middle, supplying life, was in tension with the limit of life that stood next to it - the tree of knowledge. In the fall, Adam and Eve ran from the life of the middle to the knowledge of the limit of man that was embodied by death. They pulled back and disconnected from God, and no longer knew each other. But God did not leave them in their broken and disconnected state, but sought them out and brought them back to himself.
Christ is now our middle, our life, pulling us away from the limits - the disconnection.
Life is a roller coaster with crazy ups and downs. Elation and tragedy. The temptation is to pull back, disconnect, question, and stew. But disconnection and isolation flows out of living from the self at the limit all the while our history is re-written by the re-centering of Christ. The struggles will continue, but Christ is determined to stop us from brooding at the limits of the dead-end road. The real answer to the pain is not necessarily an answer, but a connection.
over the hills and through the traffic
Last night was a perfect night for a bike ride. I was in the upper 50's with only a light breeze, and so Sara and I dutifully loaded our bikes up on the car. We met a friend of ours and over 300 other people we didn't know. It was the annual night bike ride with a local biking club to ride through the neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights.
It was crazy awesome.
I guess last year they said they had like 60 people and then this year well over 300 showed up for it. People had their bikes all decked out in lights and some people were dressed all festive like - some even towing bike trailers with stereos playing Christmas music. I often felt a bit bad for some of the cars that had to wait for a huge train of bikes to pass (the bikes did stop intermittently to let the cars though - not quite that mean).
The neighborhood we went through was one of the nicer ones around and many of the people there actually pay people to 'professionally' put up lights for them. So, some are pretty cool displays. A good number of people would come out to watch all the bikes pass. I thought it was really ironic - we were their to look at their houses and they came out to look at us looking at them. Anyways - here are some pics....
Sara and a friend.
On the campus of SMU.
Some houses and some bikes...
It was crazy awesome.
I guess last year they said they had like 60 people and then this year well over 300 showed up for it. People had their bikes all decked out in lights and some people were dressed all festive like - some even towing bike trailers with stereos playing Christmas music. I often felt a bit bad for some of the cars that had to wait for a huge train of bikes to pass (the bikes did stop intermittently to let the cars though - not quite that mean).
The neighborhood we went through was one of the nicer ones around and many of the people there actually pay people to 'professionally' put up lights for them. So, some are pretty cool displays. A good number of people would come out to watch all the bikes pass. I thought it was really ironic - we were their to look at their houses and they came out to look at us looking at them. Anyways - here are some pics....
Sara and a friend.
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| From A Step Beyond |
On the campus of SMU.
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| From A Step Beyond |
Some houses and some bikes...
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| From A Step Beyond |
~--~
So I know I said we don't have any pictures of the half-marathon, but when I took the pics off the camera today, there were some from the start and finish line (I waddn't there). Here is one of the three finishers, medals and all. That statue behind them is what they looked like as the ran, with a full head that is.
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| From A Step Beyond |
Monday, December 13, 2010
a mile or two (+ 11)
So I realize that a lot of the time, the posts on the blog here are probably a bit boring for most people. I blame it on the fact that we have fairly consistently boring and routine lives here in the wild west. But, at times, we actually do things. Sara ran a half marathon here in Dallas about two weeks ago or so, and while I forgot to take the camera and so there are no pictures, I thought I would at least share a bit of non-academic life with ya'll.
It was one of the more fun route for me, as a dedicated spectator, as it was accessible, pretty close to our house, and I could follow for a good bit by bike. It was a bit cold when they started - about 31 degrees out - and it probably only hit upper 30s by they time she was done. Sara dominated despite not having too much time to train with living at the hospital and sometimes sleeping.
She was a bad ass anyways though: Her time was 1 hour and 43 minutes; came in 41st in her category (out of 1090 people); came in 141st overall in women (out of 5692 people).
It was one of the more fun route for me, as a dedicated spectator, as it was accessible, pretty close to our house, and I could follow for a good bit by bike. It was a bit cold when they started - about 31 degrees out - and it probably only hit upper 30s by they time she was done. Sara dominated despite not having too much time to train with living at the hospital and sometimes sleeping.
She was a bad ass anyways though: Her time was 1 hour and 43 minutes; came in 41st in her category (out of 1090 people); came in 141st overall in women (out of 5692 people).
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