Only in Baseball

One of my favorite parts about baseball is the unusual trades that go on quite frequently in the game. The most common type of trade that you never hear about in any other sport is the well-known "player to be named later" trade. Team A will trade Player A to team B for a "player to be named later." Talk about trusting the other team not to stick you with someone worthless! Or maybe there's something in the trade deal that requires comparable value. I don't know.e
Well, a quite unusual trade has just been reported by the media. You can read the story here. Apparently, a minor league team in Canada has traded one of their players for baseball bats. Yes, you read that correctly: baseball bats. I guess the team had trouble getting the guy into the country, so they decided to get something of value out of signing him. Still, it is a bit odd to trade a player for bats. What next? Trading a player for catching gear?
Only in baseball can you find such unusual trades, and that's one reason why I enjoy following the sport.

I Didn't Think I Was THAT Old

The other day, I was looking in the mirror, and I noticed one hair that looked out of place. It wasn't that it was heading the wrong direction, like they so often do for me. Nor was it longer than all the rest. Instead, a gray hair stared me in the face. Now, I realize that I'm 30. I realize that I can't stay young forever, but I really didn't expect my hair to start showing any signs of gray until at least 35 or 40.
I did a little research, however, and from what I read, it sounds like the initial gray hairs are not that out of the ordinary for my age. Of course, the part that bothers me is that I'm saying things such as "not out of the ordinary for my age." I'm not that old! I can't be! Wasn't I just 27? And what happened to 25 and 26? College really wasn't that long ago, was it?
So, I should go, now, before these musings develop into a "quarter-life" crisis.

It's Not to the Level of a Faramir, But...

I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Capsian tonight, and I was disappointed. Now, I knew coming in that they had made some changes. (Tangent: Why screenwriters feel that they need to make significant changes to books when they adapt them to the screen is beyond me.) However, I was not prepared for the severity of the changes.
Don't get me wrong: the movie as a movie is a good movie. Most people, who don't know the book well, will find it enjoyable.
On the other hand, those who know the book will probably find the amount of changes to the storyline (for no apparent reason) disappointing. I won't put any spoilers in the regular post, but I will leave one comment that contains a spoiler, so be warned.
So, was it a good movie. Yes. Was it as good as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? No. Let's hope that this movie grosses enough that the Hollywood big-wigs will decide to make Voyage of the Dawn Treader into a movie. And when they do, let's hope they hire a new writing staff: one that knows how to adapt a book without messing with the plot.

Amazing Weather

It's been a wonderfully-cool spring so far. By this time last year, it was already in the 80s on a consistent basis. This year, though, it's been cool and enjoyable every day. Praise God for this nice weather.

Weather Tomorrow

Tomorrow has the potential to be a bit of an interesting weather day. A cold front/dry line appears poised to move through the area tomorrow. Depending on its timing, the Topeka area could see strong/severe storms. At this time, the Storm Prediction Center seems to think that the best threat for severe weather lies to the southeast of the Topeka area. That could change, however, depending on the timing of the system and the state of the atmosphere tomorrow. The only way to be more confident of the exact timing/details of the storm system is to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully, it all comes to nothing. The area in SE KS and SW MO has already had enough rough weather in recent history.

Bye, Bye, Cox Cable

My experiment with over the air digital television has been an astounding success! I get great picture and sound with just a small, indoor antenna, so there's reason to pay $14 a month for what I get already over the air. I've not been pleased with Cox's services, anyway, so I'm glad that I have an option that doesn't cost me anything.

Washington, DC

I usually don't talk about school-related items on this blog, but I'm going to make an exception because this past week involved more than the usual school-related activities. It was Tours.
As most of you know, the Tour week is a standard part of the education at Cair Paravel, where students from 7th-12th grade (in groups of 2 grades each) travel to different parts of the country to learn by experiencing what God has made.
This year, I went with the freshmen and sophomores to Washington, DC. This DC trip is quite familiar to me, since this trip was #4 since 2002. Even though many elements of this trip were familiar, traveling with a different group of students made the trip different (and enjoyable). Although no single event served as a highlight this year, I enjoyed getting to visit places like the Capital, the Smithsonian Museums, the International Spy Museum, the Memorials, and Mount Vernon. Seeing a baseball game at Nationals Park was also great, especially since the game took only 2 hours, 4 minutes, and we got a free bobblehead out of the deal. :-)
Despite the adventures at the beginning, by God's grace, it was a great Tour, and I'm looking forward to finishing off this school year.
The pictures that I took while on Tour can be found here.

Lawn Work

So, yesterday, I went out to mow my front lawn with my little push mower. My neighbors were out working on their lawns, and one of them offers to let me borrow his gasoline-powered mower to trim my Bermuda-grass front lawn in order to help it warm up. I took him up on the offer, and I'll tell you what: my lawn looks really good right now, just by how it's clipped. I'm thinking I might have to invest in a gasoline or electric lawn mower just to make caring for my minuscule front lawn a lot easier. The old push mower that I have just isn't cutting it (pun intended). But, there are bigger fish to fry around the house: the garage needs to be re-roofed and the whole exterior (including the garage) needs to get re-painted. We'll just have to see whether the funds will be there or not.

Digital Television Experiment

For months, I've been hoping to use an antenna and a digital converter to get television over the air instead of paying money to cable for basically nothing. Monday, the coupon that I've been waiting for from the government finally arrived, and today I hooked up the new digital converter box to my old, analog television. So far, the results have been good, even though I'm using only a small, indoor antenna. Every station seems to coming in relatively well, although I do have to re-orient my antenna to get the best signal. Still, the results have been quite satisfactory, even with thunderstorms in the area. I'm going to give this experiment a two or three week run before I finally pull the plug on cable, just to make sure that everything will work satisfactorily. Then, if all goes as expected, I will happily stop paying money to Cox.

Spring: This Time It's for Real

After a couple of false starts, Spring has finally settled into the Central Plains. These past two days have been beautiful, with sunny, warm weather. It looks like the abnormally-cold start to Spring is finally over with. While I've shivered a lot at soccer games so far this season, there have been two tremendous benefit to this cold start to Spring: minimal yard work necessary and no mosquitos. Normally, everything would have already bloomed two weeks ago. Instead, everything is blooming now, and it is beautiful. What more can I say but thanks be to God!

Taking Things a Little Too Seriously

If you want to read about a situation in which someone had his priorities a little out of whack, read this story from the AP about a construction worker who tried to curse the NY Yankees' new baseball stadium by burying a Red Sox jersey in the concrete. I mean, I understand his desire to see the Yankees lose. I'm no fan of NY and the destructive effects its overspending has had on Major League Baseball as a whole. Still, an action such as this one, which could likely result in criminal charges, is a bit over the top. Baseball, after all, is just a game. In eternity, we're not going to care whether the Yankees (or Royals) won the World Series in a given year. All that's going to matter is what we have done for Jesus Christ. And I know that I fall far short of serving Him as I ought. So, I'm going to take this as an object lesson for myself to continue to work on getting my priorities straight, putting the eternal first and the temporal second.

I Spoke Too Soon

With a forecast high of only 49 for Friday, it appears that my declaration of Spring's arrival was premature. The average high for this time of year is about 60-61 degrees. For most of this month, we've been stuck in the 50s or lower. It has been a cold, gray, rainy start to "Spring." The nice part about this cool, rainy weather is that it helps keep the bugs under control. It's been too cold for mosquitos and flies to become active, meaning that as long as one dresses properly, it is enjoyable to be outside. In fact, I think I'll do that right now. I feel the need for a nice, easy jog.

Finally, Spring!

The nice weather that I've been waiting for has finally arrived! Today feels like Spring. The temperatures are in the 60s, thunderstorms are in the forecast for the coming days, and I've got the windows open, enjoying it all. I can hear the roar of lawn mowers and smell the freshly cut grass from one of my nearby neighbors mowing his lawn. I can hear the birds singing with gusto. My cat is going nuts, running between the windows while trying to keep an eye on all the birds and squirrels. Ah, yes, Spring is here!

The Royals Start 2008 Well

Just have to publish this because I'm a bit surprised to be writing it and because I want to savor it while it lasts: the Kansas City Royals have a winning record! After 2 games, the Royals are 2-0. Today's game was a 4-0 blanking of the Detroit Tigers, a team that is expected to compete for the AL Central. The Royals, if all goes well, will avoid the cellar, but it is unrealistic to expect much better than that. Still, it's exciting now to have a couple of good wins to kick off the season.

Grammar Rant

<rant>I think that we can emphatically say that the American education system is completely worthless. A billboard along a major highway here in Topeka has emblazoned on it in gigantic letters, "Topeka: The skies the limit!" If you don't see what's wrong with that statement, go back a re-read it. If you still don't see what's wrong, grab your nearest dictionary and whack yourself firmly in the head with it (just kidding). The problem is that whoever wrote the billboard's text confused "sky's" (the contraction for "sky is") with "skies" (the plural of sky). The statement, instead of meaning that the sky is the limit, mentions multiple skies (and last time I checked, there was only one sky here on Earth) and a limit, but has no verb connecting them. In a twist of bitter irony, this billboard that attempts to make Topekans feel good about their city is instead confirming about every stereotype about the city. </rant>

Oops

Looks like I forgot to post on Wednesday night. This week has flown by after Spring Break, mercifully, passed by quite slowly. By the time I realized that it was Thursday, it was Friday, so I completely spaced the need to post. Of course, I have very little to post right now, as you no doubt can tell by how pointless this post is. I'll try to having something substantial to post next time a post is due.

Global Warming (Again)

Here's an interesting op-ed piece out of Australia regarding the possibility that we might not be seeing global warming now. You can read it here. Remember that it is an op-ed piece in the British style, so there is some "the other papers are idiots" stuff at the end. The initial information, though, refers to other points besides the author's and should be consider as we evaluate the entire global warming situation and what we should (or should not) do about it.

NCAA Round 2

The second round of the NCAA Men's Tournament is here, and both K-State and KU are still going. K-State faces the tougher of the two games this afternoon, playing a Wisconsin team that is one of the best defensively in the country. K-State is going to have to shoot at least as well as they did against USC if they hope to be able to win the game. K-State is also going to have to rebound well, like they did against USC, a team that does not rebound well. Wisconsin, I have a feeling, will be a bit too much for K-State, and the Wildcats will probably lose. Then again, I thought the same thing about San Diego. And I hope I'm wrong about K-State's chances.
KU has a bit of an easier game against UNLV, but the Running Rebels are well-coached and used to tough games in the tournament. As long as KU plays solid defense and shoots average to above average, they will win. It will probably not be a blow out game, though. Both games should be entertaining.

K-State and KU, pt. II

The K-State game has just ended, and they played the kind of game that they needed to play in order to advance beyond the first round. They played great defense, wore USC out, and found ways to score with Beasley in foul trouble. KSU proved that they deserved better than an 11 seed with that performance. K-State's next game is probably going to be against Wisconsin, and that's going to be a much more difficult game. If they play the way they played tonight, though, they have a chance at winning. I was impressed with K-State's play.
KU, in its game, looked like a #1 seed. They will face an actual challenge from UNLV. Still, it should be a challenge that KU should have minimal trouble meeting.
Of course, there's a reason that we play the games: Belmont nearly knocked off Duke (and messed up 3/4 of the country's brackets). Ah, March Madness!

Thoughts on K-State and KU in NCAA Tournament

For K-State and KU, their NCAA basketball tournament runs start today. Just how far they get is anyone's guess. The media "experts" have K-State losing to USC in the first round and KU going various distances, usually quite far. I don't agree with the "experts." I can see the possibility of K-State winning their first round game if they play well as a team. Too often, K-State has been a one-man show, 4 of the 5 guys on the floor for K-State stand around waiting for Beasley to do something. That can't happen tonight. K-State is also going to have to shoot well from three point range. This team seems to like to take threes, and they also seem to like to miss them. A solid night shooting from behind the arc will open up the middle for Walker (and for Beasley). K-State might make it past the first round, but I don't expect them to go much farther unless the team manages to put together two consecutive games like the game they had against KU in Manhattan.
KU, on the other hand, has what should be an easy first-round game. That means, of course, that they could struggle for the first 15-20 minutes because they underestimated the determination of their opponent. Some people seem to think that KU can win it all this year. I would be surprised if they do. This KU team has had some off games this year, and if they play only as well as they did against A&M in the Big XII semi-final round, they will be gone by the Sweet Sixteen. I expect them to make it to the Elite Eight this year before their tendency to have an off game catches up to them. (Unless, of course, there is a team whose name begins with "B" playing them sooner, in which case, they're done.)
Of course, all of this is speculation. There's a reason that they play the games instead of just handing the trophy to the overall #1 seed. It should be an interesting tournament.

New Word

As most of my students know, I am the king of coining new "words" by mangling old ones. Tonight during small group, I added a new one to the repertoire: blestprate (instead of breastplate). A blestprate is a combination of two words: blessed (blest, in its older form) and prate (meaning to talk on and on without meaning). So, then, does that mean that a blestprate would be a preacher who talks on and on? I'll leave that for you to decide.

Interesting Notes

During the second half of this week, I've run across a couple of interesting items that I thought I'd share.
First, the founder of the Weather Channel is arguing that global warming is not occurring and that the scientific community is silencing those who would say otherwise. In an effort to get the argument into the public arena, he is suing Al Gore for fraud. The story can be found here.
Second, I've run across a couple of fascinating Star Trek items. Apparently, CBS has the rights to the original Star Trek now, and they are re-mastering all of them to bring the special effects into the 21st century. Re-mastered episodes are being shown weekly in your area. Check your local listings; it may not be on your CBS affiliate. In the Topeka area, the show runs on KTKA 49 at 11:30 pm on Sunday nights, followed by a repeat showing of last week's episode at 12:30 am. If that's too late, you can always set your VCR/Tivo to record it for later. For those who want to watch the show in all its original cheesy goodness, CBS.com now has every episode available for viewing online. You can watch the episodes here. Be sure to check one or both of these out if you're a fan of Star Trek.

Nice Day

Today temperatures feel like they belong about a month later. It's in the 70s here right now, or it was until a cold front started its slow assault on the region. Tomorrow sadly, won't be as nice, with temperatures struggling to hit 50. Enjoy this nice weather while you can. I have nothing else to say.

Daylight Saving Time 2008

Daylight Saving Time (DST) for 2008 has arrived, and with it comes the usual feeling of being jet lagged (or is it clock lagged?) due to speeding ourselves up by an hour in order to get more light in the evening. Personally, I enjoy the result of DST, but I do not like the initial side effects: drowsiness, irritability, insomnia, headache, cold, and backache. Oh, wait, those last three are for prescription medications--sorry. So, with DST here, that should mean that Spring is just around the corner, and the weather here has happily obliged. It's over 50 outside right now, which means that I am done blogging for now; I'm going out to enjoy this nice weather.

Happy Wedtuesmonthursaturfriday!

These past couple of days have been a bit confusing for me. For some reason, I keep thinking that the day of the week is different from the one it actually is. Yesterday, for example, I thought most of the day that it was Tuesday. I would have forgotten to show up at the Study Hall I was supposed to monitor if a student hadn't asked me if I was supposed to be monitoring it. Then, for some reason, most of the day today, I kept thinking it was Wednesday, even though I know better. Ugh. It's quite disconcerting when that happens. Oh, well. I know it's Thursday and that life is going to be busy these next couple of days before it slows down a little bit. So, have happy Tuethurwednesday!

Kansas Weather: As Moody as You Think

Today into tomorrow, a fascinating early-spring/late-winter will push through the Central Plains. Yesterday and today, we've enjoyed April-like temperatures, with highs at/near 70 degrees. However, a strong cold front is pushing through. The rain has already begun to fall here in Topeka as I write this, and the rain is eventually supposed to change over to snow during the overnight hours. Up to three inches of snow could fall, and this time, I'm not going to say that such a forecast is an overestimate, not after being so wrong on the last snowfall we had here.
Regardless, it's going to make for a somewhat abrupt change in the weather, something typical for Kansas in early March. The high tomorrow will only be around 32, with a wind chill in the 20s. Quite the contrast to the last two days of warmer weather. Still, warmer weather is starting to set in, and soon this long, cold winter will be a memory.

Inflation

Unfortunately, something that hasn't happened since the '70s is poised to happen again in the coming year: inflation during an economic slowdown. Obviously, inflation is generally bad if it occurs in a significant way. For example, during 2000 and 2001, Turkey experienced (at times) nearly 100% inflation on the Turkish Lira. Within a year, money that was worth $2 sank to being worth $1. That was great for us foreign visitors; it was lousy for the Turks, who over the course of a year, found their paychecks effectively cut in half.
While the inflation that is facing the US right now isn't expected to be nearly that bad, inflation still has the same effect on the wages of workers here in the US. Generally, the Federal Reserve acts to keep inflation under control by raising interest rates, as it did in the 1970s and 1980s. However, news reports today seem to suggest that the Fed won't be raising rates and instead lowering them in the hopes of staving off a recession. My question is why is the Fed so concerned about avoiding a recession. I guess that I'm not well-enough schooled in Economics to understand. It seems to me that recessions are an inevitable part of the economic cycle, while inflation can be avoided (or at least controlled) more easily. Shouldn't the Fed be more worried about controlling inflation than preventing a recession? If one of you out there understands this whole issue well, I welcome your comments.

Worst...Drive...Ever

So, I went down to watch our boys' and girls' basketball teams play in the KCAA Tournament yesterday. I thought for sure that the road trip back would not be that bad. Snow was in the forecast for Wichita, but based off of what I saw, it looked like the snow would be not much farther north than that.
It turns out that I (and just about every other meteorologist) was wrong on this storm system. It moved farther north than expected, dropping snow almost to Topeka. That made the trip back home far more of an adventure than I would have liked. What should have been a 2-hour drive back from Wichita turned into a 3-1/2-hour-long, white-knuckle adventure of trying to stay on the road. The turnpike was completely snow-packed from Wichita all the way to the Shawnee County line (and a bit beyond). Most of the trip, I was only able to travel at 40 mph at best. Passing proved impossible, since there was only one "lane" that wasn't under at least an inch of packed snow. I don't think I would have set out from Wichita at all if the road condition hotline had accurately described the road condition of the turnpike. Instead, though, it said that the road conditions from Emporia northeastward was "Normal Seasonal Conditions," a statement that proved to be totally incorrect. I'm not sure where the hotline got its information from, but it was totally incorrect in this case. Oh, well. I made it home safely, praise God! Now, I can get set for a new week. Soccer is just around the corner.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Tonight at about 9:00, weather-permitting, look towards the east because the last total lunar eclipse for the next few years is going to be happening, and it will be visible throughout most of the country. The moon should look reddish-brown, quite a different look from the usual full moon. Let's hope that the clouds stay away long enough for this wonderful display of nature to be visible. I'm looking forward to it!

Writer's Block, Pt. IV

Catching cold #4 this winter has brought about a horrible side-effect: I have writer's block.
It's been amazing to me, though, how many students I've had out this year with colds and/or the flu. It's been several years since I've seen this many students gone, and I can't ever remember a year when I've still had quite a few students gone even this late in the year. If I can't get over this cold soon, next week's start to soccer season could be really tough.

Random Picture

I have nothing to say, so here is a random picture of a doorknob. Enjoy!

Republican Caucuses

Something rare in the history of Kansas happened today: the Republican party held a caucus. This is the first caucus in the past 20 years, which also makes it the first caucus I am old enough to participate in. Since I have never been to a caucus (I never went to the ones in Iowa while I was in college), I thought I'd take the short trip over to the Expocenter to take part in this unique process.
The crowds were large. Heritage Hall was nearly full when I arrived at 9:15 am, so I went over to the overflow room. It was already almost full. By 9:30, it was standing-room-only, and the back half of the meeting room was opened up in order to accommodate the extra participants. I would estimate that somewhere between 750-1000 took part in the caucus here in Shawnee County. What the totals will be in other counties, I don't know.
The experience was fascinating, though, far more interesting than a sterile primary. People freely handed out campaign literature and proudly held up signs for their chosen candidate. Speakers officially representing Ron Paul and John McCain spoke, followed by a line of people unofficially speaking in favor of Mike Huckabee. Then, everyone voted. The speeches, though, made the event worthwhile, and I'll summarize my observations below.
Not surprisingly, each candidate's representatives stuck to one of several main themes, trying to play to the given audience. Ron Paul's representative emphasized that Rep. Paul never raised taxes, that he should be the choice because he was different, and that he was pro-life. The first and last points will go over well with the generally conservative Kansas Republicans. McCain's representative emphasized his electability, his foreign policy experience, and his right-to-life stance. Huckabee's supporters took two different tracks. The first couple emphasized his religious convictions, while the remainder basically touted his support of the FAIR tax, a national sales tax.

Best speech: Senator Sam Brownback (no surprise) urged people to vote for John McCain because of his electability. Senator Brownback is a gifted speaker, and he also had the best quip of the event when he said, tongue in cheek, "There is no perfect presidential candidate in the race. I've already dropped out." Still, I agree with Senator Brownback that McCain may be the only candidate in the field that stands a chance in the general election. Moderate voters are not going to look favorably on Huckabee's conservative values, and I fear that the Democratic party's mudslinging/propoganda machine would have a heyday making Huckabee look like a backwards, far-right extremist.

Worst speech: One of the speakers in favor of Huckabee said that he was voting for him because "Huckabee was a man of God" and that "Huckabee is God's man for the job." A speech like that is going to do more harm than good both to Hucakbee's cause and to the cause of Christ. In fact, as this speaker made his first statement, one of the guys behind me whispered to the man next to him, "Can't stand those Christians--they're so intolerant." And really, the guy speaking did make a fool of himself. He came off sounding unintelligent and unthinking as well as clueless about politics and about the candidate he claimed to support. He gave no logical reasons that Huckabee would best make the next President other than that he shared this man's religious beliefs. I wonder what the speaker would have thought of Jimmy Carter?

Least well-received speech: A nun speaking in favor of John McCain went on an emotional tirade against current U.S. policy of arresting and fining illegal immigrants. "We're a nation of immigrants," she argued (ignoring the fact that most of our ancestors came here legally). "Who's going to pick our vegetables and work all the low-paying jobs?" she demanded, presenting the classic false dilemma argument that "illegal-immigrant rights" supporters use far too frequently. The effect of illegal immigrants on the U.S. economy is far more complex than the taking of the low-end jobs that no Americans want, a claim that I dispute as being valid, anyway. It's not a simple either-or proposition. I could sense that the majority of the crowd wanted to shout her down but out of respect, thankfully, did not do so.

Prediction for Kansas: It's too close to call. I think that John McCain, bolstered by the moderate voting blocks in the KC Metro area could edge out Mike Huckabee, especially if areas like Manhattan/Junction City/Fort Riley value McCain's foreign policy ability over Huckabee's more conservative credentials. That could change, however, if Sedgewick County (Wichita) goes for Huckabee in incredibly large numbers. Senator Brownback's support of McCain may not have swayed enough Kansans away from Huckabee. My sense is that many Kansas Republicans simply do not like McCain's moderate stances on several issues, especially illegal immigration.

Prediction for National Primary Results: McCain will win the Republican nomination. He has a solid lead, and while many conservative states will back Huckabee, the moderate states will swing McCain's direction (along with a few conservative ones) to give him the overall nomination. Honestly, I hope McCain does get it. He is the best hope of keeping the Democrats out of the White House, a fate that could have tragic consequences for America. My reasons for saying that, however, belong to another post on another day.

Snowfall in Topeka

So, my forecast of 3-6 inches turned out to be a little off. I had 8.5 inches of snow here at my house in the heart of Topeka. This winter has turned out to be one of the snowiest in recent memory. I certainly am more aware of the snow this year, since I have to shovel everything out every time it falls. The good news about getting about 8 inches of snow is that school was canceled for the day. It was nice to sleep in and get some stuff taken care of without having to feel rushed or pressured. A few pictures of the snow and my measurements of it can be seen here.

A Sign That I Need More Sleep

I guess I need more sleep, because I had to fight laughing in Sunday School today after I heard the first part of this little exchange.
Teacher: "Potiphar's wife was very beautiful."
Person in class: "She also carried a lot of weight" [at which point I started laughing] "being the wife of a high ranking official."
So, nothing funny about it; the comment makes perfect sense. But I clearly did not hear it correctly.

Why Education Methods Class Have a Bad Reputation

A quotation taken directly my mathematics methods book, which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty:
"Before we can discuss what problem solving is, we must first come to grips with what is meant by a problem."
Yes, this book, in discussing how to teach problem solving, spends about a quarter of page (and a couple hundred words) to define what a problem is in mathematics. This bothers me for two reasons. First, given that it is a college-level textbook, is it really necessary to define a problem? Second, if defining problem is necessary, is it worth spending a quarter of a page to define what could have been handled in two sentences?
And teachers wonder why they aren't treated with the same level of respect as engineers and doctors...

Expelled

I ran across the site for an interesting documentary that is coming out this April: Expelled. This documentary, hosted by Ben Stein, examines how the scientific community is treating those of its members who question Darwinian evolution. I'll you to explore the website on your own if you're curious about some of the details. One story, though, particularly disturbed me, since my alma mater is involved.
The full story can be found here. To summarize: Iowa State University has denied tenure to a professor of Physics and Astronomy (Guillermo Gonzalez) for co-authoring a book called The Privileged Planet. He never taught this material in class, and all of his work was first-rate. Yet, he was denied tenure for "unsatisfactory progress." Based on the evidence that I have seen, it appears that Iowa State is attempting to silence scientific inquiry out some of sort of fear of mixing science with religion.
(Note to ISU President Geoffory: Any hope you might have had of me supporting Iowa State University has been shot to pieces. I will not support an institution that works to quash scientific debate by denying high quality scientists tenure. I would have expected something like that from the University of Iowa, but certainly I thought ISU would be more fair-minded.)
So, when this documentary comes out, go visit it, and take your friends, evolutionist and non-evolutionist. The whole point of the documentary--and the goal of Intelligent Decision scientists, I might add--is to re-examine and debate ideas that we once thought were correct and now may well be wrong. Isn't that what we're supposed to do in science? I guess that's only true as long as we stay away from anything that suggests we humans are not the ultimate beings in the universe...

Random Sketch

I had a very strange dream the other night, a story fragment, as most of them are. I had a little time, so I thought I'd try to turn it into a short scene. This is still very much a rough draft and probably far too wordy, still. Read on and enjoy, if you wish.

Anyone roaming the castle hallways on that dark night would have seen nothing, not even the shadows of the three ogres who stole through the darkness. They tried to move stealthily, and, being ogres, they were not entirely successful. They ran into each other, stepped on each others’ toes, and whispered nasty ogres curses at each other. Yet most of the castle slept, so the minor thuds of ogre footfalls and the harsh whisper of ogre voices failed to arouse any alarm.
As they bumbled down the hallway, they neared a chamber out of which came the noise of a party. The ogres hesitated, fearful of the door opening and light from the chamber exposing them. The remembered the warning written on the potion’s bottle: invisible only as long as not being struck by light.
Grugg moved first. He cautiously stepped forward. No sooner had he done so than one of the late-night revelers opened the door, spilling light into the hallway. For a brief moment, Anwern and Prugink could see Grugg’s head, seemingly floating in mid-air. Grugg quickly backed out of the light, desperately hoping he had not been seen.
Out of the doorway staggered the party-goer. The door closed behind him, and he rambled down the hall in a direction away from the ogres. He did not notice Grugg’s head floating in air for the brief moment that it was visible. If he had looked after the door had closed, he would have seen nothing.
After an interminable wait, Grugg turned behind him and whispered, “All right. He’s gone. Come on, you slugs.” He took a few steps forward before he noticed that no one followed. Retracing his steps, he drew near a doorless, dark chamber. From inside came the sound of metal bending, followed by the pop of a wooden lid being forced open. The cacophony of gold coins being spilled on the floor echoed out into the hallway.
Before Grugg could say anything, the light of carried torches began to appear on the walls at the far end of the hallway. The guards knew that someone unwelcome was inside the castle.

Sad, Yet Ironic

While I don't wish to make light of something as tragic as this, there is just something ironic about it. Read the story here.

Political Ponderings

I have wondered for weeks why Sam Brownback, a conservative Republican, endorsed the more moderate John McCain for President. It seems that McCain's political views would be at odds with Brownback's own. A recent analysis I read from Bob Beatty (found here at the Topeka Capital-Journal Online) perhaps partially explains Brownback's endorsement. In the piece, Beatty points out that nationally, McCain is the only Republican candidate who has favorable numbers against Obama and Clinton, the two Democrat front-runners. Now, I am not a huge fan of McCain's politics, and I am not huge on the idea of him being President. But I am even less in favor of one of the Democrats in office. I really don't want higher taxes, a bigger government, and disastrous social values. That is, after all, part of why the current Republican regime has frustrated me so much: they've spent like Democrats.
So, given that he appears to be the most likely candidate to win a general election, McCain is getting a second look from me. I'll need to do a little more digging before I am convinced that I can comfortably support him. I know, though, that I would rather support him than Obama, and I would rather live in Myanmar than vote for Clinton. It will be interesting to see if McCain can win the Republican nomination. Now, if only the process would start a couple of months later so I don't have to deal with all of this for NINE MORE MONTHS! >:-(

A Modest Grammatical Proposal

In the past 30 years or so, some people have taken objection to the use of the "generic he" in the English language. The result is that "Everyone needs to get out his book" has become turned into the ungrammatical "Everyone get out their book." The first construction, while grammatically correct, offends some people. Many opt for the second construction, but it is grammatically incorrect, since everyone is singular and their is a plural pronoun. So far, no attempted remedy has met with the satisfaction of everyone in society, so I would like to following modest proposal for fixing this potentially offensive quirk in the English language.
Instead of using simply "he" or simply "she" (or worse, yet, some "/" combination such as he/she or s/he), I propose that we create a new pronoun for use whenever both genders should be included in the pronoun. This pronoun, in its basic form, will be called "Shim" (a combination of she and him). This pronoun would have the following forms:
Subject: Shim (Example: As Mr. Jones talked to each teacher, he found that shim was intelligent, loving, and sanitary.)
Object: Shim (Example: As a teacher, shim found it was hard to have students talking to shim.)
Possessive: Shis (Example: Shim went to the store to go get shis favorite food.)
Reflexive: Shimself (Example: Shim went to the store to get shimself some of shis favorite food.)
Alternative possessive: Shine (Example: Whose food is this? It could be shine!)
With this new construct, hopefully we will finally solve the incessant war between the angry feminists who feel oppressed by standard English grammar and the traditionalists. It may take a while for it to catch one, but I think it has quite a bit of potential. I invite each of my readers to submit shis comments.

Day 2 of Week 2 of the Sprint through Early January

So, I'm a day behind my usual blogging schedule, which should give you some idea of how busy everything is for me right now. I really don't have much to say because I have a bunch of projects that all hit at once. Once this week is over, then, Lord willing, things will quiet down, and I'll get to enjoy life without being tired. :-) For now, it's time to go to sleep. I'm exhausted.

Rant: Constructivism -- Bah! Humbug!

Three long busy days after a busy week have left me in the mood for a rant.
As a part of my Masters degree, I am taking a course in mathematics instruction methods (to make up a deficiency). I just read the first chapter today, and already I'm seeing constructivism show up in the readings (and it's not the first time it's showed up in readings for educational classes).
<rant>What is it with math teachers and constructivism? In every way constructivism (which is just relativistic humanism applied to psychology) contradicts the foundational principles on which mathematics is based! Using constructivism in math is what yielded so much of the poor quality mathematics reforms of the 1990s, such as "Let students figure it out on their own" (even though they lack the background knowledge and desire to do so) and "There are no wrong answers" (which last time I checked, wasn't true, either). No wonder we are so far behind in mathematics education when we're too busy adhering to a philosophy that is so contrary to reality!</rant>

Perelandra

I was going to write about my theory of relationships, but I decided to wait on that. I need to find my previous thoughts on the matter and use them as a template. Instead, I want to comment on one of my favorite CS Lewis books: Perelandra.
In Perelandra, a man from Earth by the name of Elwin Ransom is sent to Venus (called Perelandra by its inhabitants) for what are initially unknown reasons. He soon finds himself in a battle with another Terran, a battle which will decide whether Perelandra will avoid the Fall that its cousin planet, Earth, experienced.
One of the interesting aspects of the book is how Lewis (through Perelandra) pictures what an ideal Earth would have been like. In Perelandra, the humans are to the animals what God is to us: He loves and cares for us and wants to see us become as much like Him as we can. The goal of the King and Queen (the first sentient Perelandrans) likewise is to make the animals of Perelandra as much like humans as possible.
If Lewis is correct in his thinking, then it would explain why we humans tend to anthropomorphize animals so easily. It also explains our propensity for pets. There could be some residual memory of our original Edenic calling to take care of the animals and make them more like us.
It's certainly an interesting thought, one that had never occurred to me before reading Perelandra.

Thoughts on Bowls

Bowl season is (mercifully) winding down. The few games I've seen have been anything but interesting: Missouri blowing out Arkansas; Oklahoma getting hammered by West Virginia. Tonight's Orange Bowl could be very interesting. And it presents a dilemma for me: whom to root for. On the one hand, I am anything but a KU fan, having grown up as a K-State fan most of my life. One the other hand, KU is representing the Big XII Conference (which could use a quality win after Oklahoma's embarrassing loss last night) and the state of Kansas as well. It's hard not to cheer for them when they're the last remaining conference team to play and when a KU win would mean the Conference would at least come away with a winning record. So, I'm not sure what to do about that. Maybe I'll be a mostly neutral observer.
On a side note, I was looking at a list of bowls for this year. I didn't realize that there was a bowl game in Toronto (the International Bowl). I wonder what the NCAA rules are about playing college games outside the country...

My 2007 in Review

The Christmas cards from friends and family got me thinking. I haven't ever written a "Christmas letter" type summary of my year. So, I thought I'd give it a try on my blog. If you aren't interested in this sort of thing, that's fine. You can stop reading now and wait for the next post, probably on Wednesday. (Caveat: I don't normally think in calendar years, so I won't reference much from the first part of the year simply because to me it was "last year." For me, the new year begins the week before school starts.)
Major events of 2007
1. Buying a house. Motivated by the rapidly decaying condition of the apartment complex I lived in, I was able, by God's grace and help from my family, to find an affordable house here in town. The month-long sprint that was the process ended in early July when I finally took possession of the house and moved in--for one day. The next day saw me off to Sioux Center for three weeks. [A huge thank you, by the way, to my friends the Catlins as well as my entire family for helping me move into my house. And a second thank you to my family for re-doing my bathroom while I was gone. I still love it six months later!]
2. Starting classes for a Masters degree. The three weeks in Sioux Center (and indeed, the two months of preparation work) were the most stressful weeks of my entire year. The work was intense and detailed, although I enjoyed it. By the end of three weeks, though, I was ready to leave and start living in my house.
3. CPLS Graduation in May. It was a privilege to watch a class of 29 seniors take their final walk across the stage. This class and I have a long history: some of the students have had to put up with me as a coach and/or teacher since they were in 7th grade. It was a bittersweet yet joyous moment for me. To see these kids begin to take flight on their own after all the years of working with them was wonderful.
4. Running in the first CPLS 5K in August. I've always been (and probably will be) more of a sprinter than a distance runner, but I decided to try the 5K that the school sponsored. I finished in exactly 24 minutes, not exactly fast, but for me a great time. And the extra endurance that I gained from training for the race certainly made refereeing easier.
5. School Tour (to New York). For the second time in 6 years at Cair Paravel, I was able to go with the juniors and seniors as the traveled to New York City for a week. It was great to travel one last time with both classes.
6. Visiting Ames. On my way down from Dordt to Topeka, I made a side trip over to Ames. It was good to see all of my old friends one more time, and as nostalgic as always to roam the campus of Iowa State.

Normal events of 2007
1. Teaching. What else? I am truly grateful to God that I get to do what I do. I can't imagine doing anything else. Cair Paravel is a great place to be, and I enjoy the privilege of working with the students. I could go on for hours....
2. Coaching. I spent this year as an assistant coach for both the boys' and girls' teams. Like teaching, coaching is tiring work, but it is a chance to interact with my students outside of class, making teaching them in class easier. The girls' team won the inaugural Kansas Christian Athletic Association girls' tournament in the Spring. The boys came close this Fall, taking second after an exciting championship game.
3. Refereeing. It's my excuse to get out and run while still getting paid for it. This year, I did a few high school games and enjoyed doing that. There's nothing like a little refereeing to give one practice in handling irate people. :-)
4. Bible Study. I am part of a multi-generational study that meets weekly (for the most part). It's a blessing to be able to sit in there and learn from people older and wiser than myself. I also hosted a small (very small; we need to find more guys) single men's Bible study at my house.
5. Scholars' Bowl. Our 2007-2008 team took first place in our classification at one tournament. We also participated in another. The team had a lot of fun at both tournaments, no matter if we won or lost. This coming calendar year promises to be the most active ever in the history of Scholars' Bowl at CPLS: we are headed to two more high school tournaments and hosting a small high school tourney of our own, not to mention the two middle school tournaments that we're hoping to do in February.

As always, God has shown Himself faithful in my life in many ways. I know that I could not survive a year of teaching without His grace. It is simply too demanding a job, and I would burn out, becoming the ultimate grumpy teacher. From financial provision (tuition for graduate school, help with the down payment on the house) to the blessing of being able to spend time with my family over breaks, God constantly provided what was needed when it was needed. Soli Deo gloria!
Thanks for reading! May God make your 2007 a year of great joy and of knowing Him more deeply!

What Day Is It?

The joy (burden?) of being on a break from teaching is that one often forgets what day it is. Such is the case with me right now. I only knew that yesterday was Saturday because my computer told me so. To be honest, I would have had no clue as to which day of the week it was otherwise. I'm pretty sure I skipped a day last week (not sure which one, but one seems to be missing from my recollection). Of course, being sick and trying to rest isn't exactly a memory-making experience.
Off to other adventures now.

And More Snow!

If the forecast holds, Topeka could see another 2-4 inches of snow on top of the 9 that fell last weekend. This is one of the snowiest Decembers that I remember, and I'm not looking forward to shoveling it. Still, the snow makes for beautiful scenes, like on Christmas Eve, when it was so bright (thanks to a full moon), that everything was casting shadows. It gave everything a serene, peaceful appearance. That probably won't be quite the case with this snowfall, since the moon is now waning.

Snow!

Yesterday was a record setting day for Topeka snowfall, at least for the date. The official NWS tally of snowfall, 9 inches, was the highest snowfall total recorded on 12/22 in the history of the climate records. (Admittedly, these are only about 100 years old. I'm sure that sometime in the past 4000 years, there's been a bigger snowfall, but no one bothered to record it...) Here at my house, I had 7 inches of accumulated snow, although it was deeper in places thanks to drifting.
I was initially surprised that Silver Bells was postponed, but once I went out last night about 8:30 p.m. to clear off my driveway, I realized that it was a brilliant decision. I spent about an hour outside, and I only made it a 1/4 of the way down my driveway. I went back out this morning and spent another 45 minutes digging myself out so I could make it to church. The last time I saw this much snow, I was in Ames, IA, going to college. The last time I saw this much snow in Kansas was probably when I was a teenager in Lawrence. It's an amazing and beautiful thing to see. And the thunder was a nice addition. It's quite a rare thing to have thunder snow, and we did yesterday. Really cool!

Rant: Time and Date Errors

I'm just feeling the need to go "Andy Rooney" for a minute:
There are several common mistakes that people make with dates and times that are either slightly annoying or slightly amusing to me, depending on the mistake.
One is what I call the "noon problem." It seems that many of us have forgotten whether noon is 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. Consider the following statement, "The store will be open on Christmas Eve from 8-12 a.m." Now, I think we all know what that means. The store will be open from 8 a.m. until noon. However, that's not what the statement says. Noon is not 12 a.m. Midnight is. Noon is 12 p.m. So, the statement is really saying that the store will be open from 8 a.m. until midnight on Christmas Eve. I don't think those hours are going to be popular with most of the staff....
While the "noon problem" is more amusing than annoying, the "misplaced year modifier problem" is more annoying than amusing because it shows an ignorance of how our calendar system is set up. The problem manifests itself something like this: "He was born in 5 B.C. and died in 50 A.D." The problem? Our calendar system was set up in such a way that the split between B.C. and A.D. is the year of the birth of Jesus Christ. (Now, the guy who calculated the year was off by about 5 years, but hey, cut him some slack. He did the best he could with what he had.) B.C., thus, stands for "Before Christ," and A.D. stands for "Anno Domini," which is Latin "Year of our Lord." B.C. modifies the year by sitting after the number, e.g. 5 B.C. means 5 years Before Christ. A.D., however, modifies the year by sitting before the number, e.g. A.D. 50 means in the Year of our Lord (number) 50. It doesn't make much sense to put it the other way, e.g. 50 A.D., since that would mean 50 in the year of our Lord. When thought of that way, the second options is quite confusing. 50 what? And what year, precisely is this "Year of our Lord?" Sadly, we no longer teach the meaning of the phrase A.D., and so it has wound up misplaced after the year instead of before.
Of course, there are some, primarily historians, who realize full well what B.C. and A.D. stand for. They seem uncomfortable with this knowledge, however, and that leads to a third "error," one that is particularly infuriating to me. Here's how it works. In an effort to remove any references to Christ from their calendars, some historians call every date that would normally be designated "A.D." as "C.E." meaning "Common Era" or "Christian Era." Likewise, "B.C." becomes "B.C.E." or "Before Common Era." The numbering stays the same. Now, hopefully, you're seeing the absurdity of this. The dividing point, the birth year (albeit slightly miscalculated) of Jesus Christ, is still the same. But the reference to the cause of the dividing line has been removed. It's like people were afraid that if they used references to Jesus as a real, historical person that they might actually have to believe in Him.
It's also intellectually disingenuous for two reasons. First, there's no such thing as "Common Era" because many cultures use different calendars with different starting and ending dates. Secondly, the "Christian Era" could not begin at A.D. 1 because "Christians" did not really exist, yet. (Christ would only have been about 6 at the time and wouldn't have had too many disciples.) The "Christian Era" probably should not be held to begin until later, perhaps as late as Constantine's "Edict of Milan" in A.D. 313. So, the whole point of the designations is not for some valid historical reason; rather, it's simply an attempt to avoid the references to Christ in the year naming system. Yet this point is not acknowledge by proponents of the system. They somehow feel more "enlightened" for having removed from their system the reference to its origin in the first place.
So, the next time you plan on sending the e-mail out about your Christmas party, be sure to say that it runs "From 7 p.m. to 12 a.m." (not 7 p.m. to 12 p.m. That would be one long party!) and that it is on "December 21, A.D. 2007" (not 2007 A.D.). And please, don't even dare try to say, "2007 C.E." Somehow, the idea of a Christmas party in a year designated "C.E." just seems a little too much like mockery to me.
End of rant.

Colds! Bah, Humbug!

So, two weeks ago, I lost my voice thanks to a cold. I had just gotten over it, and then I manage to catch another one. This one, thanks be to God, has left my voice alone, but I've been coughing for three days, now. It's not fun. I can't remember the last time I've been sick for this long. Last year, I caught nothing. Not so this year. :-(

Winter Is Here

Astronomically, winter starts on December 21. In terms of the weather conditions, though, winter started with the early-season snow last week and the ice storm this week. And it looks like winter is going to get into full swing with a significant snowfall in the forecast for this weekend. The current official forecasts call for 5-7 inches of snow in Topeka. That will certainly make things wintry. Of course, I'm supposed to be helping family move to town Saturday morning. Could be a bit difficult if the snow falls as predicted. We shall see. Accurately forecasting snow accumulation is quite difficult. Still, it will be nice to have snow this time around instead of ice. Perhaps it will even linger for a week and give us a "White Christmas."

Prince Caspian Trailer...I'm Concerned

I've just watched the first trailer for the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and I have to say that overall it looks like it will be an interesting movie. Unfortunately, it also looks like it's going to deviate from the book (and embellish) on it far more than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe did. There are several little hints I saw that concern me, but I'm not going to mention any of them. I'm going to take a "wait and see" attitude regarding this movie. Hopefully, it won't deviate as much as I'm concerned that it will.

"Ice" of You to Drop By

By this time tomorrow night, NE Kansas could be in the grip of a serious ice storm. Warm air aloft and cold air near the surface could combine (potentially) to produce a serious freezing rain event. That much is well known. The Weather Service does a great job in sending out warnings about this sort of event.
What's not in the forecast, though, is the amount of uncertainty regarding what actually will happen. Some systems are easy to predict. Some are not. This system is proving slightly problematic. A small error in the forecasted direction of the upper air disturbance will result in far less ice or far more snow to the region. Surface temperatures also could sneak over the freezing mark, turning a potentially dangerous event into a cold gullywasher.
That being said, taking precautions is certainly wise. If this system does indeed progress as the forecast models predict, we could be in a for a long couple of days. I'm praying that it doesn't and that God will be merciful to us in this situation. Please join me in praying.

Cold

A few random thoughts on the word "cold" (because I have nothing else to say right now)
I have a cold.
It's cold outside.
I'm not used to this cold, yet.
Cold is a strange word if you stop and think about it.
Wouldn't frío be much better?
I just has that onomatopoeic sound to it, like someone trying to talk while cold.

Veni Veni Emmanuel

With December here, cold air descending on Topeka (albeit only for a day), and the season of Advent beginning, it is time to turn to thoughts of Christmas. I have tried as hard as I can to avoid Christmas related music and decorating until Advent starts. It's sort of my way of "rebelling" against our culture that seems to feel the need for Christmas to start the day after Thanksgiving (or even right after Halloween). With Advent now here, my Christmas lights are now turned one and my Christmas tree is now up (much to the delight of my cat). My thoughts now can slowly turn towards the joyous birth of our Lord and Savior in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago.
Sadly, though, as I've gotten older, Christmas has ceased to be my favorite holiday. I know that there are people that just seem to love this holiday more than any other, who could listen to Christmas carols year round and have their lights on perpetually. To me, though, Christmas has lost a lot of its wonder, thanks to the secular and materialist emphases that our culture has placed on it. (If I hear one more commercial hawking products using "Carol of the Bells," I think I'll go crazy.) Christmas is supposed to be about celebrating the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, which is a wonderful and joyous event. It is an appropriate time to give gifts. Yet our society wants to have the joy without the Source. The result is so saccharine that I can hardly take it.
So, while strangely dressed gnomes sing carols to try to get me to buy GPS systems that I neither need nor want, I'm going to content myself with singing the centuries old refrain "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Amen, come Lord Jesus. And save us from our own folly.

Global Warming Fueling Major Hurricanes? No So Fast!

For the second year in a row, hurricane forecasters have missed the mark (albeit barely) on their forecast for the number and intensity of hurricanes for this year. The forecasters had predicted 7-9 hurricanes, 3 of them Category 3 or better. However, only 6 hurricanes formed, 2 of them major (both Category 5). Now, while this prediction is closer to reality than last year's very off forecast, it is still below what the more alarmist members of the media are trying to tell us will happen. A lot of factors go into hurricane formation, the available energy is the only one. Clearly, the atmosphere is far more complex than any of us can understand, and we should not be surprised if our initial forecasts are off. God has made this world wonderfully complex and yet also surprisingly simple. And above all, he remains in control and will do what pleases Him.

Adventures in Lighting

So, with being a first-year homeowner comes the adventure of trying to decorate the house some for Christmas. Now, I was going to wait until Saturday to put up lights on the outside of my house. My motivation for waiting was primarily the tendency of our society to jump right to Christmas right after Thanksgiving. I can't stand that. I can't take Christmas that long. I'll be fine to start it once the liturgical season of Advent starts this coming Sunday. Thus the motivation for putting my lights up this Saturday. Then I saw the forecast for Saturday. It's not going to be light hanging weather. Besides, by God's mercy and grace, my dad happened to be in town today on some errands, so he swung early this evening with a ladder, and I hung my lights. It was a bit of an adventure because I've never hung lights at this house before, and I didn't have any lights to hang.
So, I went out and bought some, but there are innumerable varieties of lights out there, including some that will calculate and file your 2008 income tax for you. I settled for 3 sets of basic mini-lights. Then, I had to drive all over Topeka trying to find the right kind of hangers. I finally found what I was looking for at a hardware store in north Topeka. Everywhere else was out.
Once I got the hangers, with my dad's help and a little bit of ladder work, I was able to get the lights up relatively quickly. I'll turn them on Saturday night when I do my interior Christmas decorating. And enjoy the fact that I'm not putting lights up will sleet and freezing rain are falling.

Lesson from the Garden

Hear now the story of
The wise Gardener
He plants the flowers and shrubs
With great care and love

With purpose He selects
Buds, seeds, bushes, trees
To make an arrangement
Glorious to see

Some walk by the display
In lovely springtime
See the beauteous blooming
And think they've seen best

Others look at His choice
Of type and color
With a jeer and a sneer
They harshly say ill

"Flowers that bloom too late
Are killed by the frost
Roses that bud too soon
Are lost to the cold"

Rare is the passerby
Who pauses to see
The autumnal beauty
Of the late bloomers

Yellow lilacs mixing
With red fallen leaves
English roses shining
Beneath reddened trees

Bushes of burgundy
Amidst fallen gold
Shrubs of pink and purple
Beneath dropping oaks

Few stop to take notice
Yet the Gardener
Sees and smiles as His plan
Unfolds exactly

Late plants shining brightly
Together lovely
Bringing color ere cold
Sends them all to rest

Raking Leaves after Sunset

The last week was very busy for me, so I didn't have any time during daylight hours to rake the leaves that have been covering my front lawn. So, with frigid weather forecast for today, I spent two hours yesterday raking leaves in the darkness, with only my front porch light to help me see. It was actually not as unpleasant as I had expected. By the grace of God, the winds were nearly calm most of the time, allowing the leaves to stay where I piled them and my trash bags to stay open. It was a more enjoyable experience than I expected it to be. Thanks be to God for a cool night, calm winds, and an iPod!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

It's been a while since I've felt like this. Between this past week and refereeing most of the day yesterday, I am exhausted. It will be by the grace of God alone that I am able to teach successfully these next two days. I need a break, no matter how short. Somehow, I hit a wall last week. I don't know what it was, but suddenly, I have felt that I'm just walking through some sort of morass. Maybe it's the switch to Standard Time; maybe it's something else. I don't know. All I know is that while I enjoy teaching and I love my students, I still need a break to be able to be the teacher that they deserve. Thanksgiving is coming at the perfect time.

Writer's Block, Pt. III

Writer's block is a piece of wood. It is rectangular, about 2 inches tall by 4 inches wide by 1 inch deep. Thank you; good night.

And Suddenly, I Have Nothing to Say

I knew it was going to happen again, eventually. After that sequence of quizzes over The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I am out of ideas right now about what to write.
I think I'll go out on a long run here soon. The weather is simply too nice to stay inside, even with the windows open.

LWW Quiz 20

Here's the final installment of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe quizzes.
39. Who walks into the room right after the children fall back out of the wardrobe?
a. Mrs. Macready
b. No one
c. The Professor
d. Mr. Pevensie

40. To whom does the Professor say that going back to Narnia through the Wardrobe won’t be possible?
a. Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy
b. Peter and Edmund
c. Susan and Lucy
d. Lucy

LWW Quiz 19

Sorry it's a day late. Here's the penultimate quiz.

37. Who says that Aslan is not a tame lion?
a. Peter
b. Mr. Tumnus
c. Edmund
d. Mr. Beaver

38. What is the name of Edmund’s horse?
a. Phillip
b. Jonathan
c. Mr. Ed
d. We don’t know

Happy Reformation Day!

Today is Reformation Day. It was on this day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the chapel at Wittenberg. This one action is seen by many historians as the start of the Protestant Reformation. So, instead of celebrating Halloween this year, I'm going to celebrate Reformation Day by going to Bible Study and then coming back home and sleeping. :-) No costume for me, although if I were going to be at home, I would hand out candy dressed as Martin Luther. ;-)

LWW Quiz 18

35. How many of the enemy does Susan kill?
a. Zero
b. One
c. Two
d. Three

36. Where is Edmund when Susan and Lucy find him?
a. Behind the fighting lines in the care of Mrs. Beaver
b. Riding a unicorn
c. In the midst of fierce combat with the Witch’s dwarf attendant
d. Lying wounded on the field of battle

LWW Quiz 17

33. What animals pull the White Witch’s chariot in the battle against Peter and the army?
a. Reindeer
b. Polar bears
c. White horses
d. We don’t know

34. Whom is Edmund protecting when he destroys the Witch’s wand?
a. Himself
b. A leopard
c. Peter
d. Susan

LWW Quiz 16

31. In what manner does the White Witch leave Aslan’s camp?
a. She is carried on a chair on poles
b. She walks
c. She dances
d. She runs

32. After conferring with the Witch, Aslan orders the entire army to move its encampment to what location?
a. Cair Paravel
b. The Fords of Beruna
c. The Beaver’s house
d. He doesn’t order the army to move camp

LWW Quiz 15

29. What animal(s) serve as Aslan’s attendants?
a. Fauns
b. Leopards
c. Bears
d. No animals serve as his attendants

30. Where do Aslan and the White Witch hold their conference regarding Edmund?
a. At Aslan’s throne in the camp
b. Inside Aslan’s tent in the camp
c. By the river where Peter killed Maugrim
d. At Cair Paravel

LWW Quiz 14

27. How does the White Witch enter Aslan’s camp?
a. She disguises herself as a tree and sneaks in.
b. She walks into the camp.
c. She rides a chariot pulled by polar bears.
d. She is carried in a chair by four Cyclops.

28. What is the White Witch’s name?
a. Jadis
b. Jedes
c. Jaudis
d. We don’t know; we never hear it.

LWW Quiz 13

25. Put the following events in the correct order:
a. The Pevensies see the Stone Table
b. Peter draws his sword
c. The Pevensies see Aslan
d. Aslan talks with Peter

26. After Aslan shows Cair Paravel to Peter, what does Peter say in response?
a. Nothing.
b. “We’re from Finchley, and I’ve never seen anything like that castle.”
c. “I’m not who you think I am.”
d. “That sure looks a lot like Minas Tirith!”

LWW Quiz 12

23. How close do the Pevensies come to being captured by the White Witch’s wolves?
a. Very close. A fox saves them once, and a melting waterfall saves them another time.
b. Kind of close. The Beavers stage an argument to provide a distraction.
c. They are captured.
d. Not close at all. They are never chased by wolves.

24. What happens when Edmund meets Tumnus in the White Witch’s castle?
a. Edmund draws a moustache on Tumnus.
b. Tumnus and Edmund talk, Edmund realizes that the White Witch is evil.
c. Tumnus helps Edmund escape.
d. Edmund never meets Tumnus.

LWW Quiz 11

21. According to Father Christmas, who is responsible for the collapse of the White Witch’s enchanted winter?
a. Aslan
b. Father Christmas
c. Wayne Newton
d. Each person’s heart because of being stirred to hope by news of the Pevensies’ arrival

22. How does Father Christmas responded to Lucy’s slightly fearful prediction that she would be brave enough to fight in battle.
a. He tells her that she would not be brave.
b. He smiles.
c. He says that he doesn’t doubt it but that battles are ugly things when women fight.
d. He tells her to take heart and unleash her inner feminist warrior when the time comes!

LWW Quiz 10

19. How many wolves chase the Beavers and Pevensies as they leave Beaver’s house?
a. 0
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4

20. Under what conditions do they meet Father Christmas?
a. He pops down the Beaver’s chimney.
b. He stops by the cave where they have stopped for the night.
c. They are fleeing towards the Stone Table when he overtakes them on the edge of some woods.
d. He is in Aslan’s camp near the Stone Table

LWW Quiz 9

Oops! I'm a couple of day behind. Sorry. I've been in a bit of a survival mode these past couple of days. Here's the quiz:
17. Where is the White Witch’s castle located?
a. In the middle of a plain
b. On top of a hill
c. In the middle of a lake
d. Near Cair Paravel

18. How do the Beavers and Pevensies flee Beaver’s house?
a. They don’t. The White Witch captures them.
b. They walk along the dam and then take to a narrow path on the far side of the river.
c. They climb down the dam and flee along the river
d. They go out through a tunnel that Beaver has dug.

LWW Quiz 8

15. Where are the Pevensies and Beaver when he tells them Aslan is on the move?
a. In the forest
b. In his house
c. On the way to his house
d. He doesn’t

16. What do Peter, Susan, and Lucy do once they notice that Edmund has left the Beaver’s house?
a. They do nothing, thinking he’s gone out to get some more fish
b. They run after him and see him enter the White Witch’s castle from a distance
c. They immediately set off to meet Aslan at the Stone Table
d. Peter breaks out into a long poem about Arwen…I mean…never mind…

An Amazing Comeback...

Normally, I don't write about school-related stuff on my blog, but I know that several alumni will be interested in this story. And rather than have to write the story in several different messages, I thought I'd put it here.
WAHAA, one of our chief rivals in the KCAA, came into town with an excellent record and a couple of resounding victories against other teams in our league (8-0 over Heritage and 6-0 or 6-1 against Olathe Christian). They were older and taller than us, as well as well-coached. Coach Congdon rightfully said that this was going to be a tough game for us, and he was right. The story of this game ranks as one of the best comebacks in the history of Cair Paravel Latin School Boys' Soccer.
The game began with the teams trading opportunities back and forth without much success. In the 8th minute, however, WAHAA finally captialized on our poor marking. One of WAHAA's players hit a cross that went through Boggs's hands and to an unmarked WAHAA forward. The game remained a back-and-forth affair, with both teams having opportunities. Finally, we were able to take advantage of one of our opportunities. Harrison was able to corral a loose ball from a corner kick and send it off their keeper's outstretched hand to knot the score at 1-1. The remainder of the first half saw both teams trading fruitless opportunities.
Then, the drama began. Coach Congdon had to leave for a wedding rehearsal, leaving me in charge. (Not my favorite place to be, admittedly, but I can do it in a pinch for one game. Coach is more than welcome to keep his job...)
Anyway, so we began the second half underway, and WAHAA nearly scored a goal on a breakaway. Andrew saved us by making an amazing recovery. And then only 6 minutes into the second half, it rained. Or perhaps a better way to say it would be then the skies opened up and every single ounce of water in the atmosphere (coupled with lightning) came pouring down out of the sky. The game was suspended for 10 to let the storm pass.
As we resumed, the seniors led us in the "Oggie" cheer, something we haven't done for a while, and we came out fired up. Unfortunately, we took a punch to the gut only two minutes after we resumed play, when a WAHAA player was able to beat Boggs to a loose ball in the box.
Now down 2-1, our players had the chance to give up or to fight on through. I was impressed how they continued to fight. The next 12 minutes or so were relatively uneventful, as we again slowly regained momentum from giving the goal.
Then, we took another blow. Or more accurately, Boggs took a blow. He had just dived on a loose ball when one of WAHAA's players speared Boggs with his shoulder. Boggs had to leave the game with an injured left shoulder, forcing us to put Andrew into goal. (Now, Andrew has played goal for us before, but he's had no reps at that position in practice.)
The next 4 or 5 minutes passed tensely as we tried to adjust to different people in different places forced upon us by the injury. With fifteen minutes remaining, the game seemed to have reached a stalemate. Needing two goals in only 15 minutes, we switched our formation to a 4-3-3. Boggs was also able to return to the game as a stopper.
Switching to a 4-3-3 is a bit risky because you can lose the battle in midfield and put insane amounts of pressure on your defense. But if the defense holds together and your opponent doesn't adjust correctly to it (by playing short passes through the midfield), it will usually work within about 10 minutes.
In this case, it seemed to be working. WAHAA's defense was having trouble adjusting to the extra pressure created by the third forward. In the 75th minute (about ten minutes after the change), Ryan hit a great through ball to Trevin, who calmly carried to about 10 yards out and nailed a shot past the helpless keeper.
The score was tied 2-2. With only 5 minutes remaining, the question was whether we would be able to get another goal in time, or whether we would have to take the risk of overtime. Less than a minute later, that question was emphatically answered. Grayson hit a short square pass to an open Harrison who promptly unloaded a beautiful shot from about 25 yards out. The ball sailed past the outstretched arms of the WAHAA goalie.
We were now up 3-2 with about 4 minutes to play. WAHAA made one last-ditch effort to find the equalizer, but one of their wings was called offside on their most promising attack. In the end, we prevailed, and credit has to go to the team for playing such an excellent game. The seniors did a good job of stepping up and showing some leadership with Coach gone, and the defense played much better once Boggs went down. Andrew only had to touch the ball a couple of times, and he performed admirably in both cases. The offense turned it on when it counted, and the team refused to quit. And now, here I am, two hours after the final whistle, still not totally believing what I just saw happen. It was truly one of the most amazing comebacks I've ever seen.

LWW Quiz 7

13. How do the Pevensies wind up meeting Mr. Beaver?
a. He shows up at Mr. Tumnus’s house
b. He runs into them at the Lantern
c. They discover his house while searching for evidence of Mr. Tumnus
d. They follow a robin who leads them to a spot in the woods where the meet Mr. Beaver

14. What is the first evidence that the children have of Mr. Beaver’s intelligence?
a. He starts arguing with his wife
b. He puts his paw to his lips to make a “be quiet” signal
c. He breaks out into a rhyme about Aslan
d. He says, “Well, I ain’t gonna smell it, if that’s what you want.”

ISU Won!

I can't believe it. Iowa State won today over Iowa, 15-12. ISU was 0-2 after losing to such football "behemoths" as Kent State and Northern Iowa. Somehow, though, our players were fired up and apparently were able to shut down Iowa's offense most of the game. It's an excellent win for a team that desperately needed one heading into Big XII play. Now, maybe the Cyclones can continue that winning streak against one of the hardest schedules in the country. Of course, to do that, we're going to have to score some touchdowns...

LWW Quiz 6

11. Where are the Pevensie children when the read the notice of Mr. Tumnus’s arrest?
a. In the Beaver’s house
b. In Mr. Tumnus’s house
c. In the White Witch’s house
d. Outside Tumnus’s house

12. What is the name of the Queen’s Chief of Secret Police?
a. Fenris Ulf
b. Draugrin
c. Maugrim
d. We don’t know

LWW Quiz 5

9. Edmund denies going to Narnia with Lucy. What do Peter, Susan, and/or Lucy do?
a. Lucy runs away back into the wardrobe
b. Peter and Susan decide to go talk with the Professor
c. Peter has a heart-to-heart with Edmund about lying
d. Lucy breaks into tears at Edmund’s taunting. She runs down the hall into the Professor, who asks to speak to Peter and Susan

10. Why do all four children wind up going into the wardrobe?
a. Susan’s looking for a nice fur coat and drags the others along with her
b. Lucy decides to go into the wardrobe, Edmund follows her, and Peter and Susan follow Edmund
c. They are trying to avoid Mrs. Macready as she leads a group of people touring the Professor’s house
d. They break the window of the wardrobe room while playing cricket and, hearing someone coming, flee into the wardrobe

LWW Quiz 4

7. The Pevensies play hide and seek. Who is it?
a. Peter
b. Edmund
c. Susan
d. Lucy

8. Under what circumstances does Edmund follow Lucy into the Wardrobe?
a. While playing hide and seek
b. While exploring the house with Lucy
c. He doesn’t
d. At night while following Lucy to see what she’s up to

LWW Quiz 3

5. When Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus, he asks her if she is a “Daughter of Eve.” What is Lucy’s response?
a. “Of course I am!”
b. “My mother’s name is Helen…”
c. “My name’s Lucy.”
d. “I prefer to think of myself as a Daughter of Adam.”

6. When does Lucy see a picture of Mr. Tumnus’s father?
a. Before Tumnus plays his flute.
b. While Tumnus plays his flute.
c. After Tumnus plays his flute.
d. She never sees it, although we notice it.

LWW Quiz 2

Question 3: Under what circumstances does Lucy first enter the wardrobe?
a. While playing hide and seek on the first full day in the house.
b. While running away from Edmund because he was mean to her.
c. While exploring on the first full day in the house.
d. While following the script.

Question 4: What game do the Pevensies play on their first full day in Professor Kirke’s mansion?
a. They don’t play a game. They explore because it’s raining.
b. They play cricket outside.
c. They play “pin the tail on the professor.”
d. They play a word etymology game because it’s raining.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (LWW) Quiz 1

While it doesn't offer anywhere near the number of discrepancies that the Lord of the Rings movies did, there are some differences between LWW in book and movie form. Most of those differences are minor, but I thought it'd be fun to do another little sequence of quizzes, just like I did a year or two ago for the Lord of the Rings books/movies. For each question, you'll be given several options. Answer either according to the movie (for 1 point) or according to the book (2 points). I'll post the answer in a comment each time.

Question 1: How many servants does Professor Kirke have?
a. 0 -- He lives by himself
b. 1 -- Mrs. Macready
c. 2 -- Mrs. Macready and the butler
d. 3 -- Mrs. Macready, Ivy, Margaret, and Betty

Question 2: When do the Pevensie children first meet Professor Kirke?
a. They don't. He stays hidden in his study at all times.
b. On the first day; he welcomes them at the front door.
c. After Lucy and Edmund have both gone through the wardrobe and returned.
d. Right after Lucy has returned from going through the wardrobe the first time.

This Is What We've All Been Waiting For

It all starts tomorrow...
And by "all," I mean, of course, the school year. The past three months of resting, classwork, and preparation have all been for this: glorifying God by teaching mathematics to high school students. I'm excited! I can't wait to resume the wonderful privilege of doing what I do. No two years are identical, and this year will be different than any other. I can't wait to see what God has in store for this year!

Personality Test

Today was an interesting day. We took a personality test as a part of the in-service, and it's always fun to see what other people's personalities are. We were using the DISC model, a simple assessment that I have taken a couple of times before. It was hard, in fact, not to answer the questions in such a way as to bias the results. I did manage it, however, and my result, not surprisingly, was identical to what it was a few years ago. My personality came out as C/S/D. For those of you who understand the model, you'll probably not be surprised at the combination. The most amusing part of the discussion for me was hearing all of the married staff members talk about how their spouses had their "opposite" personalities. For example, an "I" woman generally seemed to be married to a "C" man. Opposites attract, they say, and that certainly seems to be the case in many circumstances.

And So It Begins...

While my students still have a week left before they must return to grace the halls of Cair Paravel, I get to go back to school starting tomorrow. [Yes, I said "get" and not "have." As I probably said somewhere on a previous post (way back in the archives), I see teaching as a privilege and not as an obligation. I try as often as I can to say "get" to teach instead of "have" to teach. It more accurately reflects reality, I believe. But I digress...]
Starting tomorrow, there are two official work days, one unofficial work day, and two in-service days. I am going to need all of that time to have everything ready to my satisfaction. I'm excited, however, to get back to something approximating normal after this summer, which I think has earned the official title of "Summer of Chaos," thanks to all of the change that has gone on in my life these past two and a half months. Praise God that He doesn't change! Without Him, I think I would probably be a taco short of a combination platter (if you know what I mean).
So, the joy and challenge of teaching begins again for me starting tomorrow, and I can't wait!

This Is Scary...

Separated at birth?
The first picture is of VeggieTales Co-creator Phil Vischer. The second one is of me. Anyone else find the resemblance uncanny?

Random Thoughts

It's really hot outside.
It was good to get some of the weeds cleared out of the backyard, but there's still so much to do...
The Royals-Yankees game sounded more like a slo-pitch game than a major league game.
There's so much still to do...
I like the new basement floor. It makes the basement seem more bright.
Supper time...

Poor Science

A recent study, referred to in a CNN.com article claims that the number of tropical storms in the Atlantic Basin has increased in frequency and that the increase results directly from global warming. Unfortunately, the connection is unfounded.
While it is true that the number of recorded tropical storms increased in the time period from 1905-2005, the increase is not, as the authors claim, due to global warming at all. The authors completely failed to account for the improved technology for the detection of tropical storms. Weather satellites now allow us to identify numerous tropical storms that we would not even know about otherwise. Since we know can identify more storms, it is logical that there should be an increase in the number of storms recorded since 1905. We simply are capable of finding more storms now than we did in 1905.
Yes, the number of named storms has increased, but that is not the result of global warming. Nor is there anything in this research that indicates any significant human influence upon global temperature, a connection that has yet to proven. So, before panic sets in out there, let me reassure that the planet is not totally falling apart, not yet. :-)

Home Sweet Home

After three weeks, I have finally been able to get back home to enjoy the new house. While I was gone, my family did some remodeling of the bathroom (as a birthday present). This work was much-needed, as you know if you've seen the pictures at Yahoo! photos. I've included a new set of what the house looks like with stuff moved in and mostly put away. A couple of pictures of the re-done bathroom are there as well. Look in the "House Remodel" album. It's great to be back in Topeka, and I'm looking forward to switching gears back to being a teacher instead of a student. I'm not ready, yet, for school, but I am ready to get to work on school-year preparations.

Almost Got It; Stay on Target

Only 4 more hours of class, and then I can take so much of what I learned and put it into practice this fall! I'm looking forward to completing this first lap of the race of graduate school. I'd write more, but I have to study for a difficult test that is tomorrow.

Harry Potter Marathon

Since I have a week of class still to go and since there's nothing to do in Sioux Center except go running and wondering how a college of any sort survives in such a small hamlet, I decided to check out from the College library the four previous Harry Potter movies. I've never watched any of them, and I was in a mood to take a break from the hard work of a difficult week. I was only partially successful. Now, I haven't read any of the books, so I don't know how they compare to the movie, but I enjoyed the Sorcerer's Stone and the Prisoner of Azkaban much more than the Chamber of Secrets or the Goblet of Fire. The Sorcerer's Stone, being the first, is more light-hearted and fanciful. There's a sense of child-like wonder at all that's going on. Chamber of Secrets, on the other hand, is unnecessarily dark at times. The only aspect of the movie that keeps it from becoming painfully dark is the light-hearted friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Still, Chamber suffers simply from having source material that is far too dark. It would have made a better horror story than a Harry Potter story. Prisoner of Azkaban, thankfully, returns to a more light-hearted feel. While there are dark moments, the overall feel of the movie is much more enjoyable. The movie simply is a good mix of intense story elements with light-hearted fun. Sadly, the Goblet of Fire, which in my opinion is the weakest of the four, does not follow Prisoner's footsteps. It's too dark, darker by far than Chamber. Most of the movie seems to be spent in messing everything up before minimal attempts are made to resolve some of the major conflicts, especially the interpersonal ones. For comparison's sake, it feels about twice as unresolved as Empire Strikes Back (and that's saying something). Now, I don't know if that is the result of the screenwriter and director, or if it is the source material. Frankly, I suspect it to be the source material, and if so, I think I've had about enough of Rowling's unnecessarily dark view of life. I don't read books and go to movies to see how messed up the world is. (And I never have. I refused to read Lord of the Flies in 8th grade because the dark tone annoyed me so much. The teacher, mercifully, let me read a different book.) I read and watch movies for enjoyment, and I don't particular enjoy the glorification of evil and seeing everything messed up without proper resolution.
So, I think for now, I'm done with Potter for now. Court Jester, anyone? :-)

Startling Statistic (If It's True)

In a Topeka Capital-Journal article from today, the following disturbing statistic is mentioned: in Kansas last year, there were 11,221 abortions. I find that number a bit hard to believe. How could there be that many? That is approximately equivalent to the entire city of Atchison dying in a single year. What are we doing to our society? If this statistic is true, then we are in serious trouble in this country. I hope for the sake of our country that this is a misprint and that the real number is 1,221. While that is still 1,221 too many abortions, it is much less depressing.

A Day Late

Whoops! I missed my traditional Wednesday posting day due to being so absorbed in writing the rough draft of my research paper for my class this week. However, I am on a break right now, so I have the chance to make a brief post.
One of the unique aspects of these past two weeks has been the chance to interact with a couple of women from Paraguay who teach in a teacher training college near the capital of Asuncion. It's a rare treat for me to be able to say anything in Spanish, as most of my duties in Topeka do not bring me into contact with the sizable Spanish-speaking population. Surprisingly (by the grace of God), I have been able to understand most of the Spanish spoken to me and been able to respond with some success, although I am very rusty in speaking. Apparently, though, my accent is still decent, which is a relief to hear.
Only 1 day and 1 week left!

Week 1 of Dordt

Week 1 of my 3-week class-taking adventure at Dordt College is complete. It was relatively uneventful, with class coming to a quiet end on Friday at noon. The class covered spiritual formation in the classroom and was overall well-done. It could have become an "Evangelical-bashing," as some Reformed theological discussions easily do, but I was surprised about how little of that happened. The phrase "covenant child" was equated with "child of God" a few times erroneously, and young-earth creationists were implicitly accused of being theologically inferior once, but that was the extent of times where I felt that particular beliefs made me not fit. (Interestingly, I had a discussion at the end of the week with the other science teacher in the class. She and I both are young-earth creationists, while those who thought otherwise were administrators and humanities teachers. It fascinates me how we scientists seem to put less stock in science than the humanities people.)
The biggest challenge has been adjusting to a new "city." I put city in quotes since it is hard to refer to Sioux Center, population 6000, as a city. It's really a quiet farm town...that smells like pigs half the time...and has only one through street (Highway 75)...that is so torn up and rough that it is nearly impossible to drive on. But I digress. Living here has made me realize now how spoiled we are in Topeka. We have plenty of shopping and numerous activities. While Topeka may not be the greatest place in the world, at this point in my life, I enjoy living there.
So, one week down, two weeks to go. For my class this week, I am taking "Issues in Education," which is really a philosophy of education class. Here, as with last week, I expect that my support for a classical and Christian methodology is going to put at odds with most people in the class. As I face the potential for criticism and argument, it is important that I remember the old proverb: In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.

Birthday

An cautionary note: this post is long and gets a bit heavy before ending in a more positive manner. If at any point it gets too heavy for you, skip to the final paragraph. With that note completed, we proceed.
The day that I have been dreading for an entire year is here: my 30th birthday. I have found that no one really understands why I have dreaded the advent of my 30th year so much. Even I haven't totally understood it myself. It is only in writing this that I think I am fully beginning to understand why I have so wished that the calendar would stop its dread onward march.
"What," many have asked me, "is so awful about turning 30? You get an insurance break; it means you're a year wiser now; it means that you have entered the prime years of your life." And it also means that God has blessed me with another year of life.
All of this is true (and good and wonderful), but there is something about a milestone birthday like this that causes me to pause and reflect, with dismay, at how quickly the past few years have passed. It seems like only yesterday that I was 25, happily going about life, worshiping God and serving Him. Now, all of sudden, here I am, 30 years old, and it seems to me that my life is passing me by. It touches on my greatest fear that I'm going to wake up one day and find myself aged 85 years and on the brink of death, having passed through all of my life without enjoying it as God recommends in Ecclesiastes, without taking care of the tasks that He gave me to do, and without anything changing in my life.
It's the third item that scares me the most: the lack of change. At 25, I pictured my life at 30 to be substantially different from how it was then. It turns out, though, that my life at 30 looks remarkable similar to life at 25.
Let me try to explain it this way. There are milestone moments in everyone's life that mark significant changes: getting a full driver's license at 16, graduating high school at 18, graduating college at 22. Most people in their 20s enjoy two more such moments: getting married and having children. Almost all experience these two events before the age of 30. I have not been blessed with either of these last two moments, and thus in some ways my life has felt like it has been on pause for the past 5 or 6 years, like my early twenties have been carried on interminably and become spread thin "like butter that has been scraped over too much bread." I feel like I've been holding my breath waiting for the next changing moment, waiting for that next "transition time", waiting for the next phase of my life to begin. Yet, those events haven't happened. Now, as I hit 30, I find myself having spent 5 years holding my breath, realizing that I have missed out on those two great milestones of being in one's mid to late 20s and also realizing how grim the hopes are of ever enjoying either of these two events. (Not to mention realizing with sadness that missing those moments is largely my own fault for missing opportunities.) And I have to ask, "Am I going to have to spend the rest of my life on 'pause?'"

Enough with melancholy thoughts, though! There have been so many good times and so many blessings in the past 5 years. I would not now wish to go back and trade a single one of them for something different! I have enjoyed the opportunity to teach my students, to coach soccer, and to worship and serve God. I have loved so many minutes of it. And if my life has to be "on pause," then I can think of no better way to spend my "paused" time than in the manner in which I have spent it. Praise and thanks be to God for the myriad of joyful experiences and blessed moments which have filled these past 5 years! To all of you out there who have wished, do wish, or will wish me a happy 30th birthday: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. One of the greatest joys of turning 30 is realizing that God has blessed me with so many more wonderful friends than I had at 25. It is a blessing and a privilege to have been your friend these past few years, and I look forward to many years more.

It's Official!

As of a little after 3:00 pm today, I have now become the owner of a house. It's an exciting day, and I've got a lot of work ahead of me. For now, though, I'm going to enjoy the blessing which God has given me: to be out of apartment complexes with their unusual neighbors and noisy environs. I'm looking forward to moving in.
If you want to see pictures of the house, check out a sequence of pictures at Yahoo! Photos and choose the House album.

July 4

Happy 4th of July! The weather in Topeka has provided fireworks for Topekans. A tornado touched down 5 miles south of Hoyt, which is N of Topeka. The tornado dissipated quickly, but it was there long enough for the tornado sirens in Topeka to sound and everyone to take cover. It certainly added some excitement to everyone's 4th!