I’ve been meaning to post these for a month now, so here we go. I don’t necessarily consider these “New Year’s Resolutions”- but things I want to do with my life.
1. Enjoy silence.
Mainly, I want to keep my mouth shut. My opinions are helpful sometimes, but not all of the time. The funny things about words is that you can speak great things for hours, but in a single comment, you can tear all of that apart.
That is something I don’t want to do.
2. Never miss a celebration.
Life is short. We should savor every moment of it. I want to enjoy every morning, every day, every friend, every birthday, and every good deed. Instead of seeing the bad in the world, I want to focus on what is good–on the things that are beautiful and amazing.
3) Tell better stories.
At work, i am trying to tell the story of Champion Forest Baptist Church (and of Christ and Christianity). I want the website to tell the story cohesively. In every other thing I design, I want it to tell the story of the company or person. When I lead a Bible study, I want to tell the story of the Bible–I want to make it interesting and enjoyable.
People remember stories. And so I want to be the best possible storyteller in all areas of my life.
Monthly Archives: January 2006
Europe Photos
I’ve finally edited my pictures!
Check ‘em out on Flickr…click here…
Oh yea, and make sure you leave lots of comments…
Iran
I’ve been reading a lot lately over the problem with Iran. Of course, my first thoughts are that Iran’s president is a cook (anyone that says the Holocaust didn’t exist is a fool). And too mention that Europe should take the Jews back and make Israel out of a part of Germany is equally dumb.
So it concerns me a bit that they will soon have nuclear weapons. You don’t give a mentally unstable person a gun. It just doesn’t make any sense.
But of course, we talk a lot about the “rights” of countries. What exactly is a coutnry’s right? I’m not sure there are rights in the “national” sense. Every nation has the “right” to do whatever it wants on its land. I mean, seriously, it owns the land. Who says they can’t use their land for something they want to do.
The concept of rights on a international level mean almost nothing. Iran has the “right” to enrich Uranium. All they have to do is pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and they can “legally” enrich Uranium and make weapons. That’s what the “international laws” say.
But we don’t want them to have weapons. It makes us (the United States) nervous. And as a result, we have the “right” to do something about it. We feel threatened and so we have reason to add embargoes and trade restrictions. Of course, these are small items of international diplomacy. If we really are concerned, we can bomb the heck out of them. That’s our right–we feel like they’re going to endanger us or hold us hostage…so why not preemptively act?
People clamor about the benefits of peace, and I have to agree that peace is better than war. But that assumes that peace is the natural condition of the world–that the “peace” we currently have will continually exist. That concept is foolhardy, at best, because it fails to account the ever changing dynamics in the world. So pacifism seems a poor choice.
Some people may say on a personal level, you cannot preemptively attack someone else. I agree–that’s bad and is not condusive for society. Our society has laws which protect you and a definite mechanism in place to deal with people who threaten you. No such mechanism exists on the international level–the only mechanism close to that is brute force. The “I’m gonna pound you if you touch me” response. It’s been fairly effective.
So what’s the point to all of this? I’m not sure… I suppose I despise all this talk of the “international community” not accepting Iranian nuclear weapons, yet they do nothing. They talk and talk about very interesting international platitudes but fail to act. And to a certain extent, I agree with Iran that they have the “right” to nuclear weapons. I just think that we have the right and the obligation to make sure that doesn’t happen.
A Guide to Careers
Kids — are you still in the process of deciding which career you want to choose? Or have you finished college and chosen the wrong one? In either situation, this quick guide will help you match your skills to a new career.
Are you constantly wrong? Do you always seem to bet for the team that loses? And do you wish you could have a job where it’s okay to be wrong? Then TV Weatherman is for you. They’re never right.
Do you like to eat? And do you like people who know what good food is and cherish the experience? Then you should work for a church. They know what a lunch break is.
Do some people say that your are a habitual liar? Can you say one thing to a person and completely change your opinion when you talk to the next? Then you should be a lawyer. They never tell the truth.
Do you struggle getting any work done? Can you never seem to complete a task? And does the efficiency of other workers baffle you? Then you should be a bureaucrat. They never get anything done.
Do you struggle making difficult decisions? Do you struggle making any decisions? Do you want to please everyone? Then you should be a politician. They can never decide anything without a poll.
Do you feel like the world hates you? Do you feel like you are the step-child of the entire world? And do you feel like making sure that the world knows that it’s not your fault? Then you should be the mayor of New Orleans. He can’t decide whether to blame Bush or God for the damage.
Do you like for people to give you money? Do you care for the people that give you money? And do you often stick your foot in your mouth? Then you should be a Televangelist. They can’t decide whether to do good things or say stupid things.
Do you like functional things? Do you want to make sure the world works correctly? And do you dislike attractive and pleasing things? Then you should be an engineer. Their creations may work, but they sure are ugly.
Do you like to frustrate people? Do you wish to leave your footprint on the lives of people everyday? Do you want to make them stare at your handiwork every morning and afternoon? Then you should be a traffic engineer. Everyday you sit and stare at three colors of their creation: green, yellow and red.
Do you like power? Do you like to see fear in people’s eyes? Then you should be a traffic police officer. They love to flip on those lights and that siren.
And lastly, do you know it all? Or do you think you know it all? Can you comment about every subject known to man, think you’re right, but still be wrong? Then you should be a journalist. They never tell the whole story.
Maintenance
I got a check in the mail today. In the “for” line it read: “friendship fee”. And I thought was funny—almost as funny as if she said “payment for services.”
And it made me think, what happened if she (Kayla) didn’t repay me. I think I would be very hacked at her—because I spent the money, and I wanted it back. So in a sense, her description is completely accurate: that payment was a maintenance fee for our friendship. It would probably die and fade away if I wasn’t repaid.
Is that sad? I don’t think it is.
Everything in life is in a state of atrophy. Everything is falling apart. You see a new road; the next day, cracks are appearing down the lanes. Everyday I walk up the stairs to my apartment and I see how the complex is aging and falling apart. I walked through an abandoned house in college—and it was literally falling apart—the walls were leaning in at places and out at others. My car is more likely to break down every day. And every person I once called friend is slipping further away.
You see everything in life takes maintenance. Roads need it. Apartments need it. Houses need it. Cars need it. People need it.
So what’s the moral to this story? I’m not really sure. I suppose we need to be more active in all areas of our lives – don’t let laziness and idleness keep you from performing the maintenance in your life.
Application Thievery
RANT – I hate how applications steal the focus from other applications. Examples:
Instant Messenger: I’m typing away in another program, someone I’m me, and the next thing you know, all of my latest words go directly to them.
Browser Popups: Don’t take me away from what I’m doing, let me choose to switch over.
Loading Applications: You load a new application (say, Microsoft Outlook) and you go back to whatever else you’re doing. When Outlook finishes loading, it decides, you should now be looking at Outlook.
Somebody (Microsoft) — write some software that will not allow applications to steal my focus. I know TweakUI has a checkbox that say “Prevent Applications from taking Focus”, but on all my computers, I have yet to get it to consistently work!
I’m done now….
Busy Days
I’ve been super-busy this week finishing up a website. I intended to post some, but that hasn’t happened, so I look to update this thing again over the weekend.
Life as a Single Man
This is supposed to be whimsical–not angry or bitter. If you think I’m being bitter, get over it!
What it’s like to be single:
At Family Reunions
“So how’s work? Good. Are you dating anyone yet?”
On talking to a girl
“Oh you like her. I saw you talking to her today.”
On calling a girl
“Ooooh you called her. When’s the first date?”
On mentioning a girl
“Oh you must like her. Why else would you bring her up?”
On talking to a girl (again)
“I saw you talk to her twice, you really must like her.”
On eating lunch in a restaurant
“Do you see that girl? We could totally hook you up with her?”
On not dating
“Why aren’t you dating. You’ll never get married if you don’t date.” (DUH)
On friends…
“What about XXX, you seem to be really good friends.”
On looks…
“They would make such a good couple.” or “They look so good together.”
I think this could single-handedly illustrate the current divorce rate…
Being set up
“I know this great girl. You should totally meet her sometime.”
Of course there are other conversations, but these amuse me the most.
The Supreme Court
“Most people in America don’t believe that God is a dirty word. But the sad fact is that some Americans are left to wonder whether the Supreme Court might have greater regard for it if it was.” Senator John Cornyn
Public Transportation
For quite some time, I have opposed of urban sprawl and believed that public transportation would be an ideal solution for many large cities. I believed this because of the reduced emissions and cost. I still think this is possible, but my experiences have shifted my positions a bit.
The subway system in Paris is crowded (very very crowded at times), dirty, uncomfortable, and difficult to access. Sometimes you stand there and feel like a giant sardine. I heard stories of men groping women (supposedly, the elbow is the most effective weapon to combat this occurance). I also saw people using the walls as a latrine. In the winter, the lines are cold. In the summer they are hot. And did I mention that they’re crowded?
But, the subway effectively takes you all across Paris. But it takes much time.
Some people say that the subway is better because you can do other things on the trains. But on all the trains I traveled on, I only saw a handful of people reading a paper or a book. And during rush hour, there would be no way for you to pull out a paper and read. It was just too crowded.
And all this to say: Americans,be thankful for your cars. They are more comfortable, less crowded and more convenient than any public transportation system will ever be.
The subway isn’t all bad, mind you. It just makes me thankful for the convenience and comfort we have in our cars.