another year

It is funny how a little bit of no blogging seems to make any blogging a bit harder.  Just sayin'.

This past Friday was the celebration of another year of residency for Sara and friends.  They have this big dinner at the botanical garden here at the end of each year and give away some awards, watch a video that they make, and then dance for a bit before some have to go back to work at midnight (but they get a good half a day off!).  It is super crazy to think that two years have gone by.  Sara only has one more year and I, well, I have a few more - but still!  

Most of the awards that they give out are chosen by peer vote, which makes it more special because it is the people that you work with all the time that choose who they think is consistently at the top of their game.  Because Sara is a bad ass, she won the award for the second year residents.  Technically it was shared with another guy as there was no statistically significant difference between their votes, so says the head dude.  Anyway, it was pretty cool and she even got a nice little plaque for it.  

cut out of the loop

I was just reading that if you click on the first link not in parenthesis in a Wikipedia article, and continue doing that, at some point any and all articles will lead to 'philosophy.'  This sounded like fun and a good way to not do work so I tried it.  It may work, but I think I happened to hit on the only trail that does not.  I wasted enough time doing it, and wasted enough time telling you about it that I didn't try a second time.  Something interesting (maybe??) did happen - I got caught in a reoccurring loop. This was after a click trail randomly lead me to 'research.'  I wonder if that means all of these things are, in some interesting way, basically linked to one another.  Anyways, here were the topics:

Research > knowledge > fact > information > sequence > mathematics > study > Research

I figured instead of wasting more time thinking about how/why these topics are related in a closed loop I would waste your time by sharing and I could be done with it.  :)

MARCEL THE SHELL

Sara is all finished with the ICU now, which is lovely. Long hours and challenging cases, but the best part is that there were no deaths while she was on. She learned a lot. Including the video below. Seriously. The attending showed it to them. Enjoy.

Economics and moral boundaries

We all see ourself as being a certain kind of person.  We all want to be a certain kind of person.  This person is always juxtaposed with something else that is 'not me,' and being or becoming what we want to be always requires the use of actions and symbols to communicate it.  So, for example, I want to be a nice person so I may try to smile and say hello to people as I pass them.  Action.  I may want people to know and think of me as a Christian so I may leave a Bible in a visible place in the house - even if it is not read (ahh, mine isn't really visible and I do try to read it...).  Symbols.

It is for this reason that some theorists talk about the economy in terms of its inherent moral dimension.  What we buy and spend our money on, or don't for that matter, also says something about us as people.  It says something about who we are and what is important to us.  It isn't even just a by-product of purchasing things, sometimes it is a deliberate purchase made in order to reflect who I think I am.  It seems to me that this is something that is becoming even more prevelant, but that could just be me.  I bought a Mac because they were finally usable and because I perceived Apple as a smaller and a less domineering and controlling company that Microsoft.  Next I will probably buy a PC for the same reason.

This is just the beginning, however.  Social entrepreneurship has become something of a fad lately.  Now there is mircrofinancing that will help people in need put money to use and seems to make clear moral claims all the while still allowing one to invest money (such as these peeps).  Fair trade coffee allows us to still buy coffee, but at the same time make a moral demarcation that people deserve fair pay for their work - and I am able to make that happen.  (some friends roast some HERE)  The RED campaign also allows me to spend my money while also communicating to others that I am aware of problems in the world and concerned about them.  I can buy a pair of shoes while giving a pair to someone who needs them - the TOMS one-for-one idea.  Hey you need shoes and have the money to buy them, but in doing so can provide for someone who needs some.  Everyone wins and we all know what TOMS look like so we can know who is 'like us.'  It is a moral symbol that says something to me about who they are as a person.  You can buy a T-shirt, for a good price, that provides a dress shirt and tie for an ex-prisoner to help them get a job once they get out (HERE).  Or you can get an affordable pair of glasses - Warby Parker - that are stylish, sometimes too much it is true, and also provide a pair to someone who needs them.  You can give a 'goat' for a present, or other things like soap to help build wells and the economy (and the gift/project changes quarterly!).  There are also products out there specifically aimed to help people who need jobs.  For example, you can buy a laptop over anywhere, but if you buy one of these, you can help someone who has/is struggling with sex trafficking.

I think I like this trend.  What we buy and how we buy does do something.  It is more a question of whether it does what we want/think it does or not.  We may not think about what our purchases say about us, but I wonder if this lack of thought also correlates with who we are on some level as well.  Do we not think about it because it doen'st occure to us, or do we not think about it because it really ins't that important to us?

Makes me first go Hmmm, and then Smile

Today is World Water Day. I know there is practically now a day for every food, world issue and person, but this one is pretty important. (the international observance of World Water Day apparently grew out of a UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992). Efforts to provide clean drinking water to those in developing countries has always been something Aaron and I have felt strongly about supporting, but through a friend of a friend of a friend's blog that we now read (I am sure Aaron could write a philosophical post on 'blogging communities' and what they mean for society another day) we have started supporting the efforts of The Adventure Project, so below is their current project.

Problem: One third of all handpumps installed in the last twenty years in developing countries are now broken. And 4,000 children die every day because of lack of clean drinking water. We feel that’s unacceptable. So we’re thinking differently.
Solution: Instead of drilling more wells, we’re using our charitable gifts for something revolutionary – to train and employ handpump mechanics. The mechanics earn an income, bringing themselves out of poverty, and they save lives – turning water back on for thousands of people each year.

Our Revolution: Our goal is to find fifty 100 bloggers like us to join our blog-a-thon this Tuesday, and ask ten of their readers donate $20 to The Adventure Project’s Keep It Clean Campaign. There are currently 144 blogs signed up, ours makes 145! Join us in their goal!!! And if the goal of $10,000 is reached the money will be matched by the The Prem Rawat Foundation!

www.TheAdventureProject.causevox.com Click this link to donate or find out more (or use the widget to the at the top right!)!

We would love it if you would click on the link above to donate toward the Keep It Clean Campaign. Even if you don't want to donate I encourage you to at least go learn more about it, because it is pretty awesome!


And even if you don't click on the link, I hope that the issue of clean water makes you initially go "Hmmmm" and think about how awful it is that lack of clean water takes so many lives each day and the efforts to get clean water consume so much much time or those that have a well that once helped save lives no longer functions. But after that initial pause I hope the thought of World Water Day does make you smile because there are so many organizations out there making a difference. And smile and be thankful that you can walk in the next room and turn on a faucet. And then smile and think of ways that you can make a difference :)

Things to Smile About and then make you go Hmmmm....

Days off always make me a smile a little more often, and today was one of those days :) Here are a few things I saw or thought of that made me smile (and then stop and think a little more)

-The dog on a walk today that I saw while running that was wearing sun glasses, or maybe they were glasses to cure his farsightedness???, either way, initially smiled and then thought, who in the world puts glasses on their dog?

- Armadillos (have always had a weird fascination with them ever since my Uncle gave me armadillo slippers when I was 5 for being a flower girl in his wedding, or maybe it was a birthday or Christmas present but either way they were pretty cool. On vacation a few weeks ago we saw live ones while camping near San Antonio and I got REALLY excited)

They do however make me pause to think about their strange shells and tails, and how most people have only seen them as roadkill rather than alive

- Pool chairs being put out at the condo complex pool today (but ask me again in a few months if this makes me smile, and my answer will probably be NO!)

- My husband becoming published!
HERE!

And for those who can't read the small print it says, "Aaron Franzen
Faith, Politics, and Power: The Politics of Faith-Based Initiatives
Sociology of Religion (2011) 72(1): 119-121 first published online February 14, 2011". It is a book review that he wrote. Very proud of him!!!

- And the last one will have to published in another blog, as it deserves its own post

(I think the formatting is going to get messed up when this is posted, but can't figure out how to fix it...)

It's a Miracle!

A friend of ours gave us these pills. Told it they are awesome. One for each of us. Last weekend we had some time, and so we thought we would give them a whirl. You know, see what would happen.

They are Miracle Berry Pills, and are supposed to be made of the Synsepalum Dulcificum berry, known as the miracle berry, which increases the perceived sweetness of food. Apparently this has been around for a long time. Anyway, you put the pill in your mouth and let it dissolve. Then you eat something, we did citrus fruit, and it will taste much sweeter. It actually worked. The lemons actually tasted like I was eating lemonade, the grapefruit was really good, and the lime was good, too. I think by the time I got to the limes it was starting to wear off a little bit and it was still a bit sour, but good. If you see them around, you should but them and try 'em. Actually, you may need to get them on the internet. From somewhere in Asia. Or something.

From Photostream

Infinite Jest and life's groove

I have started to read Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. We have had an interesting start. When I am reading or thinking about something, there can be a tendency to see it in everything else I read or think about. One part of the book did just that...

At one point, there is this terrorist figure and a secret agent type guy having a conversation. They are talking about some guy who wouldn't think twice about dying for some other person. The terrorist begins to talk about how the word fanatic comes from Latin meaning 'temple;' literally, 'to worship at the temple.' He then goes on to say that we are all fanatics about something and we must choose very wisely what we will be fanatical about, saying, "but choose with care. You are what you love... All other of our you say free choices follow from this: what is our temple." To do otherwise, he thinks, is to be the worst kind of slave: the slave who believes they are free. All follow; some are free in their following.

This is something that we also see in social science. People do follow what they revere. If that job is important, we will see the remnants of that job in non-job related aspects of their life. Money? Same. God? Same. Rarely is it clear cut, however. Usually some is money, some is family, and some is God. With limited resources to 'pay out' to these 'temples,' the visits to any given 'temple' decreases with plurality. God gets less because the job gets some, and so on. So, going back to fanaticism, from what are all other choices flowing?

We are reading The Story right now at church. It is the Bible that reads like a story or a narrative, as it is edited, chronologically, to do so. Recently we read:
"A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord.
They are unfaithful to the Lord; they give birth to illegitimate children."

Failing to choose, and stick with, a temple carefully is in a sense to prostitute out for lesser pay what should be God's. Failing to choose temples wisely and blithely play in the playground of plurality leads to something, and it is not the 'child' of faith, or belief, or living in one's groove as Bonhoeffer would put it. He is the temple to which we turn, directing our life and decisions away from the illegitimate children of brokenness and all its glory.

Dusty Philosophy

What happens when you philosophize in the kitchen?  You end up a casualty of Sara's frequently indiscriminate messy cooking.  Poor Hegel and Nietzsche are now an example to us all (if, to the keen eye, that looks like brownie mix, then you win and have found Waldo).  And yes, we do have philosopher refrigerator magnets/finger puppets, thanks to Sister-in-law and Co.

From Photostream