the last stop

Want to read a book with me?

2011-03-01T21:28:00.009-06:00

There's this new book coming out soon by Rob Bell. If you're not familiar with him, he's a guy who likes to challenge Christians to think in new ways (at least some might describe him as such, and I'm all about and feel we need more of it) but sometimes I feel like he must enjoy smirking at the way he gets his points across more (this is just my opinion, and I've not read or listened to close to everything this guy has to say - it fits with what I've seen/read). To be sure, he's very deliberate about the way he chooses what he has to say, and I can appreciate someone who spends time thinking about not only what he has to say, but also how he wants to say it.

Anyways, the book is called Love Wins (link at amazon). In certain circles, it's started quite the conversation about the afterlife and Bell's theology in general (example 1, example 2). Some commenters, with varying degrees of familiarity with the upcoming book, have said The book doesn't hit shelves until March 29th, but I'm interested in reading it for a couple of reasons.

1. There are too many books that are easy for people to read without ever having to think. If a book is talking about that which you value most, it should make you think about, not just agree with, what it has to say.
2. Rob Bell's delivery/arrogance/confidence/whatever else you want to call it places him in some sort of magical middle ground that seems to make a startlingly high percentage of people who encounter what he has to say think about what they really believe about the potentially outrageous things Bell has just said (and while sometimes this results in polarization in his crowd, few of those, at least in my experience, just find themselves in one crowd or the other... for the most part, they've thought about what they believe, thought about what Bell's said, and decided from there... That result of the conversations he initiates I happen to really like...).
3. The folks who may have spoken out of turn (let's face it, it's not always wise to make sweeping comments about hot topic issues and notable personalities without reading everything that's been said, i.e. the whole forthcoming book) about what's allegedly in Bell's book seem to be motivated by a desire that resonates with me: not only are there are things that are right and things that are wrong, but those things are worth talking about and in many ways demand that we talk about them (or at least if we're not talking about them, we have something to say about them that's rooted in more than what we've heard).

So here's the part where I'm going to pretend that I'm somebody famous and people will actually do this... Heh... I like to entertain myself...

Here's a "book trailer" for Love Wins. After I've read the book, I'll be better prepared to say whether or not it's a solid intro or not, but for now, it's what's there.

While I don't always agree with his answers, I'm often intrigued by many of Rob Bell's questions. This book is no exception.

If you're interested in reading this book, talking about these things, thinking about these things, let me know. I'm going to read the book and be thinking about it, but the more people who help that along with conversation, the better.

I read these books

2010-12-22T17:16:00.012-06:00

For the first time ever, I kept track of the books I read throughout an entire year. I'm sure this is as many books as I've ever read in a year, and I'm pretty pleased with the list I came up with. In no particular order (because of the infuriating way this thing makes me insert and adjust images), here's what I read.

Matterhorn and Lemuria Books

2010-05-28T14:48:00.004-05:00

It's when I'm reading something else that I'm most often inspired to write something of my own. Unfortunately, there's not much I can add to this post over at lemuria's blog. Matterhorn should be on your list of books to read this summer.

Also, if you haven't seen this bookstore (which is likely given that I live something like 10 hours from it...), you should check out their website. Their first editions club has guided me to several books and new authors I wouldn't have found otherwise.

Also, check out the little border that exists at the top of their pages. So much that's good there...

book talk: Beatrice & Virgil

2010-03-28T00:30:00.005-05:00

Yann Martel's new novel, Beatrice & Virgil, is rather fantastic. However, it's a "the less you know going into it, the more fun you have figuring things out on your own" type of novel, so no lengthy chit chat here.

Fans of Life of Pi will enjoy seeing animals at the center of the storytelling again. The novel is worth your time, and it shouldn't take too much of it to complete. However, while the novel is just short of 200 pages, it promises to be a conversation starter. I'm looking forward to discussing the novel and figuring out what I missed on my first read.

That's all I'm saying. Well, that and this: do NOT go looking through the reviews and such that are out there already. Some of the reviewers have no concept of what spoilers are...

What I should have chosen first...

2010-03-21T03:59:00.007-05:00

A while back, I posted a few books that I was considering reading at the time. Let the Great World Spin fizzled out about 80 pages in. I enjoyed Plainsong but not enough to go out and buy Eventide immediately. Tonight, (or this morning or whatever) I found myself hooked on this fantastic novel by Jeffrey Lent, In the Fall.

Before I continue, here are two facts you need to know about me. After something like 8 or 9pm, books make me sleepy. Really sleepy. Also, books that come highly recommended or with loads of unbelievable praise don't so well with me. I like to find things on my own instead of refinding what someone else just found... Whatever...

Now that you know that, know this: In the Fall has me up reading until 4am. I've not read nearly as widely as many of my friends, but I can count on one hand the books I've been this excited about recently. Seriously.

Do yourself a favor - grab a copy of this book.

Fair warning - The novel doesn't have some sort of earth shattering opening. (well, the prologue has me thinking still, but that's not the point...) The first of the three "books" brings the narrative that's been picking up steam over 150 pages to a full boil. If you agree to pick up this book, you agree to read through the end of the first book. Also, apologies to those of you who have read this book and are much better suited for writing this sort of endorsement... Feel free to fill in any cracks I've left/correct any mistakes or places I may have misled people...

The Future of Publishing

2010-03-18T10:16:00.009-05:00

As a Kindle user, I've had the thoughts about if in X amount of years, all my students will walk into class with something like that.

In some ways, that would be great.

In others, well... I'm not so sure.

I like the feel of a book in my hands, and that sensation is definitely lost during the Kindle (or any ebook) experience. This video takes an interesting look at some of that future.

The clip is likely to have some place in a classroom about making snap judgements or assumptions about others. Be sure you watch it all.

Also, to be fair, I found this video at Lemuria's blog (here). Lemuria books is a fantastic little independent bookstore in Jackson, MS which, one day, I will have the privilege of entering. Until then, I visit here. Thanks to them for the video.

McCarthy Covers

2010-03-17T13:33:00.004-05:00

I know there are a few people who read this who are also big Cormac McCarthy fans. This link, shown to me by a good friend, is all about the new set of covers that McCarthy's books are being reissued with (maybe just in England? I'm not so sure...).

I tend to agree with the some of the commenters who voiced concerns about dropping the subtitles for Blood Meridian, and the covers are far from perfect; if nothing else, they're something pretty to look at and tempt you to rebuy copies of books you already own.

Also, I tend to like the covers more for the books I've not read. Not sure what that means, but it's something to think about.

Enjoy.

Edit: I like this cover for The Road better than the eventual design...

two things... eh, sorta three

2010-03-15T01:11:00.003-05:00

First thing.

I've continued to support my problem of buying more books than I can possibly find time to read by purchasing an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of Yann Martel's Beatrice & Virgil (the one that won't be in bookstores until sometime in mid-April). I'm really looking forward to reading it for a couple of reasons. Despite the fact that I was annoyed when given Life of Pi in my freshmen English class in college (I wanted something I had already read. You know, to prevent me having to do much work...) I actually enjoyed reading the parts of it I read to write the paper. I wasn't on the English teacher track at that point, and I'm now a little bit disgusted with myself for not reading this a little more closely. Oh well.

Not sure which is the actual coverart. Or which I like more. Guess I'll just be surprised. :)

The book is fairly short, but it promises to leave me thinking for a good, long while afterwards (which I prefer greatly to the tome that's answered all its questions 50 pages before the author stopped writing...). It'll also be nice easy reading after the other stuff I'm trying to tackle this spring break.

Second thing.

N. T. Wright's book, After You Believe, is not easy reading. It's much different from the two previous books in the same line of thought in both density of information (is this even a thing? it's the best way I know to describe what I see on the page... nearly every paragraph begs to be read and reread to start to move towards understanding his point) and his decision to express his point with much more theological language than I'm used to encountering these days. I'm getting acclimated again, it's just taking a little while.

However, this is not what I really have to share.

Amid the dense, theological language, Wright turns to Hamlet to help illustrate one of his points in the second chapter. While discussing how living a life of "virtue," or Christian character as he has carefully constructed thus far, often requires readjusting our nature to what we may be comfortable with at the moment, Wright quotes this passage from act 3, scene 4:

Refrain tonight;

And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence; the next more easy;

For use almost can change the stamp of nature,

And either curb the devil, or throw him out,

With wondrous potency. (lines 165-170)

Wright's inclusion of this quotation allows him to draw connections to what's going on in the "religious world" (I hate this term, but can't come up with an applicable alternative at the moment...) at the time Shakespeare penned these words and to offer encouragement given the difficulties of beginning to engrain this a type of life into our daily schedules until it becomes second nature.

Undoubtedly, I have misrepresented some of what I understood Wright to have said and am likely to have simply misunderstood some of what he intended in these passages. His book is challenging me to think more about how I think and how I live, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Hopefully I haven't scared anyone off from it. The best thing for both of us would be to talk about what he's mentioning in the book and figure it out together.

Anyone have any insight on extra application of the passage from Hamlet? I'm very interested in any additional perspective (literary/theologically/whatever). He seems to stick to a few stories that he continually references, so your help will really help me as I continue through this. Thanks.

also, this Thursday, March Madness vs. Incredible books on my shelf. Not sure who's going to win that fight...

Books that aren't for English class/New thinking excitement

2010-03-11T20:11:00.002-06:00

Through several of the talks over the past three weeks at Church and in our comgroup, I've really felt like it's time I started reading about how Church happens again. Starting around this time of year during my sophomore year in college, I began to think about how Church traditionally happened around me and how that lines up with the models depicted in the New Testament (see Acts 2 as a good starting point).

Tonight, I started reading N. T. Wright's After You Believe.

I'm excited about the challenges the book is sure to bring about in me and the opportunity to write about how I'm being changed.

Hopefully it'll spur me on to some good topics to blog about as well.

teacher stuff

2010-03-10T18:20:00.005-06:00

Trying to explain this to people is complicated and doesn't lend itself to the blog very well. Also, at some point, I started to address my co-workers in the second person. If that's not you (read- if you just asked yourself what second person is), then sorry.

I teach with a fantastic group of people. They are a creative, insightful group individuals who care about both their subject matter and their students. They manage to successfully earn students' trust while continuing to challenge their classes to excellence. Furthermore, they're a blast to hang out with.

In general, I enjoy my job and feel like I'm keeping up my end of the bargain as a teacher.

However, I'm worried about a few things. I'll try to explain.

Reality #1: I've taught two new classes this year. When I'm not teaching the class I taught five times a day last year, (and sometimes even when I'm in front of those students) I'm generally afraid of what might happen. One of those anything and everything can and will go wrong situations...

I'm not sure why, but it genuinely freaks me out to tackle new material for the first or second time in front of 15 year olds.

Reality #2: I'm pretty sure that most of the people who occasionally offer me a flattering comment have no idea how unsure I am of myself when teaching my new classes this year. (And for those scoring at home, this applies to both courses I've taken on this year that aren't about American lit...)

Also, I'm well aware that I'm the guy who's always bugging someone with questions about this and that or how this happened or what went well a certain part of today and all that sort of thing. I don't know any other way to learn how to do this job.

Reality #3: If I had fallen into some other situation where the people around me weren't willing to explain lessons to me over and over, I would have quit. A long time ago, I would have walked and never thought twice about it.

That's not ok.

How can so many fantastic teachers exist around me and I not have a good way to learn from them?

(I suppose some witty/ironic thing about how there is now way for the teachers to teach the new teachers how to teach well should appear here... I'm not feelin it right now, but know that it should be said. )

Beyond looking at a calendar or sacrificing a planning period to watch someone else teach, there aren't many good ways to figure out how all that great teaching that happens in your classrooms comes to life.

In a meeting today, discussion went round and round about the merits and ills of submitting written lesson plans. I've seen fewer topics divide people and spur on pessimism like this one.

So, what's in it for you to write lesson plans?

If nothing else, they would help me learn to be a better teacher. If you write them how they make sense to you, it will help me learn to think differently. I would love to look through the notes my friends have made about how they teach The Road, Catch-22, Midsummer, Romeo & Juliet, 1984, Huck Finn, and a host of other works to see not only what my students may have discussed in the past that I could draw connections to with my units, but also to get ideas about what I might be able to adapt from other courses or levels to fit in my own classroom.

It's no big deal to me what the administration might do with the lesson plans developed by our department. I'm interested in looking at how you convince students to learn in your classroom. I don't want to know every gory detail about how class went or see some foolishly complex documents completed about what's happening in your room. What I'd enjoy seeing want to see is how you move from one thing to the next. I want to see the connections you make and the discussions you love having with certain literature. When I get stuck, it's the kind of resource that could both help my attitude and predicament.

What should I read next?

2010-01-17T11:32:00.016-06:00

So what should it be? I'm stuck with several good books around and not an incredible amount of time to read at the moment.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (he's the author of the novel I just finished, The Clearing)

Woodsburner by John Pipkin

In the Fall by Jeffrey Lent

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

Another good book

2009-12-30T09:00:00.002-06:00

Check out The Clearing by Tim Gautreaux (pronounced go-trow according to my dad who was born in the same city in south Louisiana as this author...). Again, I found a little preview for this one, too.

This is the first book I will have read entirely on my favorite present from this Christmas. Snazzy, eh?

two fantastic finds

2009-12-24T13:50:00.005-06:00

Check out these two things (well they sort of become one here shortly...) that I've found recently.

The first discovery is this little app that will let you sample a book (thanks to Spiefel & Grau).

The second is Philipp Meyer's first novel, American Rust, which is available for you to sample below. I stumbled across this book at a fantastic bookstore in Austin which you should visit any time you are near there. (Go after eating at East Side Pies.) The only unsettling element to Meyer's novel is that people actually behave the way that he's characterized them in the novel. And it's not set back in the wild west or in some other detached era. It's set in the present, and people really behave that way.

I'm aware that this is fairly vague, but I can't offer you a more enticing snipet of the story that the first chapter. Read it.

Church Talk 1 - Fall Festivals (or how we serve ourselves...)

2009-10-31T21:30:00.006-05:00

Disclaimer: Churches do a great deal of good in most communities. On nights like tonight, if churches weren't putting things together for kids, many kids would end up in unsafe places or go without candy. I get that. However, I feel like these events reveal a few unhappy trends in which the modern church finds itself entrenched. So, with that out of the way, here we go...

Fall festivals irk me.

If you're unfamiliar with the concept, it's often billed as some sort of safe version of Halloween that's put on by a church near you. The idea seems innocent enough, but is often a bait and switch where attendees are offered candy and entertainment only to be force fed a sermonette (and that's the best case scenario... it could end up being much more torturous than that...).

Many things with the Church rub me the wrong way naturally, but I'm particularly frustrated/confused by the Halloween alternatives offered on October 31st in church parking lots. If the Church is designed to be a group of people who make it their business to go out into the world and find ways to love the people who they come across, why, on the one night of the year that it's perfectly acceptable for you to offer candy to your neighbor's kids who you've never met are so many Christians all huddled together in parking lots at fall festivals? Not only are those people not in their neighborhood with the people who pass by each day, but they've likely either left a bowl of candy (which the first kid with no parent watching over his shoulder will promptly empty) or nothing at all on the welcome mat. Way to make a good impression on the neighborhood.

The Church has honed its skills at this approach to outreach. It's quite common for those in charge to default to an approach that asks what events will bring the most people to the building (or other strategically chosen location) so that we can interact with them there. Events like these are a common response as an alternative for parents and their kids when faced with the ills of the world.

Why is that?

Why has it become ok to gather together on nights set apart to be in our neighborhoods?

The more disturbing reality is that many church-going-folks expect this type of event to come together so that their kids have something fun (but not too much fun), safe (meaning isolated from those evil influences), and cost effective (aka free) to do on All Hallow's Eve. It also doubles as a place where kids can bring their friends (who aren't "saved") to get candy and have a good time. It looks like something for others, but is really an event for the members.

Unfortunately, the issues I see with fall festivals are only a symptom of a greater issue that's crept into the church.

The larger issue revolves around this set of problems:

We've transformed membership in the church into something that more closely resembles membership in a country club than a group of like minded followers of Christ.
We've made the church into a place we bring people who have problems.
We've neglected the conversation about how we go about being the Church together.

Each of these areas of concern needs its own post for further exploration, but those will come quickly.

Tonight, on arguably the most neighborhood friendly night of the year, ask yourself why it is that things like fall festivals seem like such a good idea.

And remember, I know that there are good things that are happening there, but there are questions that are worth asking here, too. Join me in figuring all this out and continuing the conversation.

This might be the funniest thing I've heard in a while...

2009-09-16T00:18:00.003-05:00

In a conversation with my sister, who's in Argentina at the moment, this came up:

then, i knew i had no other option so i went into my host parents bedroom and told them in spanish that my poop was stuck in the toilet

i said 'caca' and everything

they started rolling laughing

i told them i was going to go to my room and die

then i heard my host dad go into the bathroom and fill a bucket of water and poor it down the toilet

then he yells in broken english "goodbye! it's swimming!"

Fantastic.

The post about another future post...

2009-09-14T20:30:00.002-05:00

For a long time I thought a lot of things about the way Church happens.

Then things changed. I'll get into that another day.

For a lot of reasons, I've kept quiet about many of the things I think about for a couple of years now (save for a couple of occasions in which the conversation was initiated by others around me), but I feel like I'm ready to talk about these things again.

There's a big part of me that doesn't know where to start with this and, in many ways, doesn't know where exactly it's going to end. In fact, that's one of the few things that I'm certain of with this whole deal: I've got no idea where this is going. I can see some of where we are, and I'm great at complaining about how where we've been has screwed up where things are now (I know what a charming quality, right?), but as for where things are headed, I'm not sure. Maybe that's why I'm so interested in these questions. I feel like this is going somewhere significant, but I'm not sure where yet.

In the midst of all those qualifiers, what I do know is that it's time for me to start talking about this again.

Wherever you find yourself, I'm interested in what you've got to say about these things.

If I haven't completely scared you off at this point and you're interested in a little more reading, check out this article by a guy named Michael Spencer. I don't agree with everything said in that article by any means, but I do like the questions he is raising for the Church. And just so you know, the ideas Spencer is discussing do represent many of the more radical viewpoints present in the discussion in which I've found myself.

I'll stop for now. I'll post thoughts about and reactions to the article sometime soon(ish).

Fantasy Football: Free League

2009-08-23T19:31:00.003-05:00

Across the country, it's that happy time again. For me, it's the first time it's been that happy time. Today, I completed my very first fantasy football draft. 16 rounds. 2 hour and 20 minutes. Several pizzas and plenty of wings. You get the idea.

Here's the team I've drafted. I've got no clue how good they will be, or even if I have a decent team going. The cheat sheet I grabbed from ESPN seems to say that I'll be alright. I've included position, round drafted and team as well...

Here we go:

Round 1 - Matt Forte (RB - CHI)

Round 2 - Larry Fitzgerald (WR - ARI)

Round 3 - Calvin Johnson (WR - DET)

Round 4 - Matt Ryan (QB - ATL)

Round 5 - Thomas Jones (RB - NYJ)

Round 6 - Derrick Ward (RB - TB)

Round 7 - Jonathan Stewart (RB - CAR)

Round 8 - John Carlson (TE - SEA)

Round 9 - Kevin Walter (WR - HOU)

Round 10 - Matt Cassel (QB - KC)

Round 11 - Chicago Bears Team Defense/Special Teams

Round 12 - Domenik Hixon - (WR - NYG)

Round 13 - Ernest Graham (RB - TB)

Round 14 - Tony Scheffler (TE - DEN)

Round 15 - Lawrence Tynes (K - NYG)

Round 16 - San Diego Chargers Team Defense/Special Teams

That's how things shook out. Hopefully it'll work out well for me in the end. Wish me luck!

Music music

2009-08-22T19:14:00.002-05:00

Thanks to BigRedPoet, the last stop is now equipped with pleasing tunes to accompany your reading experience. You have to click it to get it going over there, but hopefully it's worth the minimal effort.

Enjoy the new tunes!

Should Taco Bell be called Taco Bell if they've got no tacos?

2009-08-13T23:12:00.003-05:00

Attention Taco Bells around the world: if you intend to market 4th meal as a viable option, have a healthy supply of taco meat on hand at any and all times. Apparently, one Taco Bell in town needs this message. After asking for two tacos tonight, I was informed that "we don't have no more taco meat," and I would need to select something off the menu that didn't require this essential ingredient.

If you run out of the central ingredient for nearly your entire menu, someone didn't order something or forgot to start "cooking" it up or whatever. Fix it.

how going to the dentist got worse...

2009-08-12T15:49:00.004-05:00

Ok, it's no stretch to say that most people don't especially enjoy going to the dentist. It's not much better if you often find yourself as the lucky recipient of a return trip to fill cavities as I frequently am.

Today, though, there were no cavities. Great, right? No return trip, no paying more money for expensive, painful, time consuming procedures. All is well. Until they decided I needed a "fluoride varnish" applied to my teeth. This is where things go down hill. (And keep in mind, I had three cavities on my last trip to the dentist and fully expected to match that this go around... And also, I own a toothbrush and am well aware of how to use it. Genetics doesn't work in my favor here...)

So, back to the fluoride varnish. When the hygienist and the dentist started throwing around terms like varnish that I only associate with staining wood and the accompanying horrendous odors, I should have prepared myself for the worst. Instead, I laid there waiting to get this last little formality out of the way so I could move on with my cavity free day.

Then, it began.

There were new tools involved (never a good situation at the dentist... I want to recognize what's there on the table for the hygienist to clean my gums... I mean teeth with... new is not good). With the new tools, she begins to paint (as best I can describe it) this terrible gunk onto my teeth. It feels somewhat similar to when you put a piece of gum between your teeth and your upper lip. The only difference is that this kind of has the texture of a melted gummy worm with dirt mixed in. Not cool.

About the time she finishes up, she starts in with the rules. No eating/drinking for an hour (fine, whatever...), and no brushing until late tonight (Are you kidding? You tell me this after you slopped glue all over my mouth???). I've never wanted to brush my teeth more in my life. If you asked me whether I'd rather participate in fluoride varnishing again or eat a dirt sandwich, there's really a 50/50 shot that I'd take either option.

6 hours to go...

Valuable thoughts on tracking in public school classrooms (or, evidently the verbal section of the GRE doesn't deter enough people from grad school..)

2009-08-11T12:17:00.001-05:00

For those of you in the education world who haven't been sleeping through all of your staff development, you've heard all sorts or arguments about tracking. For tracking. Against tracking. Track and field. Tracking for these kids but not those kids. All sorts of arguments I mean discussions.

I'm not here to talk about tracking, but I thought you might like to see what some of my esteemed classmates in the pursuit of higher learning about learning are saying about the issue:

about this issue, at the end is depending what point of view do we see, negative or positive and how to minimize negative aspects

The wonderful thing about having AP credit is that a lot of colleges and universities will take these credits and apply them to a bachelor's degree. So, when they leave high school with several college hours, they are more likely to say, "hey, I have a head start, why not finish a degree??"

Adults change their minds so why wouldn't students change their minds as well?

Notice the insightful revelations, sound logic, and superb control of the English language employed to express these deep thoughts during a recent discussion. It really is remarkable. And to think, such advanced statements are being supplied by the students in graduate level studies! Imagine what those PhD candidates are capable of creating! It boggles the mind!

Don't think for a second that these jewels are one of a kind (or three of a kind or whatever smart remark you may have just thought). There's plenty more where they came from. In fact, there are more than 120 posts in each of my discussion threads filled with substantive posts (words of the prof) like these that provide a lively and productive discussion for all parties involved.

If one of my classmates shares another epiphany or two, I may post those as well. I've got to give myself some reason to read all those posts...

Finished

2009-08-10T02:22:00.002-05:00

So... I just finished college. Pending the grading of my last paper, I'll be all finished up. It's a pretty weird feeling, and it's safe to say it hasn't sunk in yet. I even got the paper (my last remaining assignment) turned in a full 22 hours before the deadline. What's wrong with me? The procrastinating side of myself must be very disappointed with me. Maybe it'll get around to letting me know sometime.

The biggest lesson here is this: I shouldn't start blog entries after 2am... they tend to ramble... on... and on...

What I learned at school today...

2009-07-29T18:59:00.007-05:00

Here's an excerpt from my professor's announcement today:

If you concern about your grade, make sure your exceed the expectations for online discussions and you can get up to 5 points of extra credit.

Now I understand bad grammar is more common than hot days in the Texas summer, and normally I try to give people a break on this type of thing. However, if you post the following in your syllabus, you have to be prepared to write grammatically correct English.

From the syllabus:

Edit your message before posting it. Numerous grammatical errors and spelling errors or a "stream of consciousness" approach makes reading your message tedious.

Yup.

(Inevitably, I've written something that's grammatically incorrect in my rant... pick on me, make fun of me, whatever. I'm not the one working on my PhD and teaching grad classes...)

the post about a future post

2009-07-28T00:10:00.003-05:00

Until now, I've kept silent (at least on the blog... in person, totally different story...) about my lovely certification/grad program. I've just finished writing a nice little post about it. However, I'm going to wait to post it until I've officially wrapped things up here in a few weeks. I like what I've written, but it's not especially nice. Also, I don't have any intentions of changing it to be so. So look for that in the coming weeks, once I've secured my bump in pay and another framable sheet of paper.

Also, fyi, I'm not ripping into people too terribly or naming names of those who should be excommunicated from the department or anything. I just may have a few things to say that would hack people off, and I don't care to invite that type of fun into my life before the class ends. Whatever. Just read the post when it gets here, and decide for yourself...

the end of an era

2009-07-22T15:20:00.002-05:00

I took my last test of my college career this morning. It went without a hitch, and everyone in the room passed their oral exams. The guys liked what I've been working on with philosophical chairs and such. Nice to feel like I actually did some meaningful research.

On my way home I had to take evasive action to avoid being T boned by a careless driver in an F250 (could have been an F350... it was a large white Ford truck moving my way quickly... you get the idea...).

Also, I avoided getting at ticket despite my illegal parking. I really felt like I stuck it to them.

Today's mailbox surprise

2009-07-21T16:00:00.008-05:00

If you've spent any time at all looking for deals on the web, you've likely made your way to woot.com. It's a deal a day website that offers everything from electronics to useless toys to matresses. Every so often, the holy grail of woot.com pops up, the bag of crap. On July 12th, the bag of crap surfaced again. I was one of the lucky recipients who forked over $5 for some of their junk.

Why would I want a bag of crap, you ask? Well in every bag of crap the wooter (one who frequents woot.com) will find 3 "craps" from around the woot warehouses. The best crap ever received was a 40" flatscreen. For $5. You can imagine my excitement when this was in the mailbox today:

Side note: most bags of crap sell out in less than 5 minutes...

to make this last one more widely available, woot.com sold woot lights (seen below) and picked a tenth of the customers to also get bags of crap... end side note...

What I knew I was getting:

When I opened the box, I thought it would only contain the woot lights. I was fine with that. You can imagine my excitement when I saw other crap in there. (Ok maybe you can't. Work with me...)

Crap #1

The crappiest of the craps. Seriously, what am I going to do with this Christmas stocking?

Crap #2

A little screwdriver/flashlight combo. Not bad. A nice addition to the junk already living in my truck.

Crap #3

And what's inside of this mystery bag?

High-brow comedy :)

All in all, a good first experience with the bag of crap. Hopefully I'll have a chance at a few more.

AP Summer Institute: Monday

2009-06-29T20:53:00.003-05:00

Growing up, while several of my friends had newer TVs (with the little plugs that would allow an elementary school boy to plug in his NES), we had the same TV that my parents purchased shortly after marrying in 1979. This was the case until I was about 14 or 15. If I could find it in a landfill somewhere and plug it in, I'm confident it would look better than the "TV" that's in the cheap furniture box in my lodgings for the conference.

For those of you looking for a little more description as to what exactly I'm seeing here, read on:

If you go to see UP, which you really should do, and you find yourself in the 3D version of the film, take off your 3D glasses at some point and imagine you are watching the movie through a green sheet of cellophane applied to a fishbowl. This should reproduce my situation satisfactorily.

tour time

2009-04-11T00:57:00.004-05:00

To say I'm a big fan of the Dave Matthews Band is quite the understatement. With 17 shows at venues in five different states, I'm gearing up for the spring tour that kicks off April 14th in NYC. I'm catching three shows on this leg of the tour and couldn't be more excited about it.

It's really an odd time for DMB fans. Last July, Leroi Moore, one of the founding members and saxophonist, passed away after complications from surgery related to an ATV accident. This new album is the first work produced without him as a part of the creative process, but much of the work he laid down previously in the studio has been salvaged and adapted to fit into several of the new songs. Should be interesting to hear how things sound.

Here's a little preview.

59

2009-03-11T22:50:00.003-05:00

This is the number of points the Fightin Texas Aggie Men's Basketball team gave up to Texas Tech University tonight on their way to an 88-83 loss. Nothing like blowing that nice 48-29 lead from halftime.

For those of you scoring at home, here's just how bad Tech is this year:

Other than a fluke win in a meaningless game at Kansas (which is no small accomplishment, but who knows if anyone on scholarship even made it into the game for KU) the Red Raiders beat Baylor and Colorado this year. These two teams boast a combined Big 12 record of 6-26. Colorado actually only won ONE GAME this year. That's good company you've put us in Ags.

So, will we make the tournament? Selection Sunday is getting closer by the minute, and the forecast is suddenly much more cloudy than it was this times last night.

Watchmen

2009-03-11T22:09:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading Alan Moore's Watchmen. These are the lines that are sticking with me the longest. I haven't gone through it with a fine tooth comb to ensure they are my favorites, but it's safe to say they are up there. If these lines pique your interest, you won't regret spending time with it over spring break.

Also, this is how Moore has divided the monologue up. The following text doesn't fit with the typical standards for correct punctuation, but it's the best I can do via the blog.

"...But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget...

"I forget.

"We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away."

"Come... Dry your eyes, for you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly.

"Dry your eyes...

"... And let's go home."

If nothing else, next time you are at a bookstore, flip open a copy to pages 27 & 28 of chapter 9. The illustrations are fantastic (at least in my very unknowledgeable opinion :).

R.I.P. Circuit City... wait, what am I saying??

2009-03-09T18:08:00.004-05:00

This past weekend, Circuit City closed its last store. Despite the fact that it practically turns Best Buy into a monopoly in my home town, I'm thoroughly pleased to see the city of circuits fade into the horizon.

Why do I show no remorse for a departed electronics store? Well other than the fact a CIA spy couldn't slide pass the vultures in the red polos circling the store looking for the next commission that might lay helpless in front of an overpriced TV, the way local buyers here in town were deprived of much of anything resembling a decent deal rubbed me the wrong way.

I hate to admit it, but Circuit City always had fairly comparable prices to Best Buy. However, when Mr. Liquidator and his happy bad of apathetic employees showed up, prices on all items shot right back to their MSRP (translation: nearly everything in the store shot up to the manufacturer's suggested retail price from its marked price 30-40% below that). And yet there were cars in the parking lot. Not just a few cars either. The place was packed! Fools! Idiots! They packed the store buying overpriced electronics, marked as 10-25% off the sticker price, that were actually marked up from what the prices were before the bankruptcy was announced. (Don't forget, those were the prices of a company taking its last dying breaths, not terrible deals for the most part...)

Needless to say, I rolled my eyes and decided to come back in two weeks.

I went again ten days later (just couldn't resist any potential deals) and heard people muttering about the next day's discount increase. The next day, I made an interesting discovery. Other than verifying that all the people who were buying up everything the day before and two weeks ago were now snatching up movies, cds, and burnt out TVs for almost as low as Circuit City's original prices, I discovered that large sections of merchandise has suddenly disappeared overnight. Apparently, our local store was on the fast track for the graveyard, while other stores were riding out the wave for an extra month. Most of the merchandise that was worth selling had been shipped out to those other stores to be sold at the higher prices for another month before similar discounts arrived elsewhere.

No Blu-rays. No decent TVs. No computer monitors. Speakers. Video games. Nothing.

Unless you happened to be in the market for expensive cables or fixtures that a decent electronics store used to run itself into the ground, you were out of luck.

As I watched the crowds, who were not to be stopped by the lack of decent merchandise, snatch up what was left, I realized I had been given one last reason to hate Circuit City. I left without purchasing a single item from their liquidation "sale" and wished there was enough time to pull off something like this in a Circuit City somewhere as my last act of vengeance.

the day of reckoning

2009-03-05T17:19:00.000-06:00

I'm a pretty laid back guy in the classroom. On more than one occasion I've been asked if I was having a bad day after beginning to show signs of frustration when my students refused to listen to me. Yesterday, I decided I'd had enough. You see, for today's typical teen, a 2-3 page research paper over anything from the 20th century is an awfully daunting task, especially once I'd told them the topics from last year's paper were off limits. With thirty of the most commonplace ideas wiped out of contention, what else is there to write about? (When I suggested the student watch the video carefully for potential ideas, the student told me there actually wasn't anything to write about World War II. Who knew?)

In response to my students' claims, along with their habitual apathy and disgust, I penned this little note and distributed it to them today in class.

On the first day of school, I made a point to tell each of you that I don’t see teenagers the way that a typical adult (or college student for that matter) does. Your consistently disrespectful attitudes, along with more than a handful of cases of open defiance during the past two or three weeks, have seriously called my assumption into question.

My assumption is based on my experience working with junior high boys. After working with 7^th & 8^th kids for a while, I assumed juniors in high school would at least show the same level of maturity.

When you act like you have, it tells me two things: you think I have nothing to say that is worth listening to, and you couldn’t care less about anyone who isn’t you.

You need to grow up. Some of you are more at fault than others, but each of you is responsible for getting us back on the right track.

If you are part of the problem, stop it. I want to be able to trust you, but right now, I can’t. It’s your job to rebuild that.

If you see the problems happening around you, do something about it! Stop watching me fight against so many of your classmates. Please, help me.

The bottom line is that I no longer trust most of you.

When you walk out of my room for the last time in May, I won’t care if you hate English. Really, it’s not a big deal to me. But, if you can’t see the worth in listening to someone who cares about you, if you can’t pull it together long enough to participate in something that’s less than incredibly entertaining, and if you can’t treat each other better than you do now, I’ve failed.

I'm very proud of the overwhelming majority of my students' responses, and most remarks could easily be resolved by explaining to my students that they actually need to read the letter. Their classmates were especially helpful in laying on the embarrassment.

Tomorrow will be interesting. Much of the shock of disappointment will have subsided, and hopefully those faithful few arrogant enough to tell me that "this is the way 7th period classes always are" will have cooled down a bit, too. Either way, I feel like I left a positive impression on them today, lasting or not.

Also, to the one girl who I told me she was glad I had finally said something about how people have been acting, "Thanks."

me, myself and the taks test

2009-03-04T22:09:00.000-06:00

So, earlier this week, I gave the TAKS test for the first time. Talk about excitement, right? After hearing story after story about why I should assume this four hour time block will be the closest thing to torture I've yet to experience as a teacher, I assumed I was in for the time of my life and prepared for the worst.

Maybe it was because I was pretty nervous about screwing some detail (or, even better, something completely obvious) and invalidating an entire group's attempt to pass the test all of their public education in the great state of Texas had been building toward, but somehow, the time ended up going by pretty quickly.

After thinking about how I was able to survive without a hidden sudoku, a jelly bean taste testing game, or some other distraction to break up the monotony, here's what I've figured out: I'm pretty sure I passed most of the time talking to myself (while diligently monitoring my students' efforts to complete the exam, of course). I'm not sure what's prompting me to share this information either. I guess I just felt like writing something. Who knows?

Next time around, I'll try to take more notes about my conversations and such. Look for those exciting tales in about a month or so.

the gospel according to [insert bad country artist here]

2009-02-15T21:44:00.000-06:00

For the longest time, I was sure that award for the worst form of musical torture you could submit a human to was far and away the country covers of r&b/contemporary Christian/anything else they have no business covering. However, last Sunday at a local Baptist church, a dark horse appeared.

After giving myself a week to process and ponder, I've decided that my conclusions are not reactionary cynical nonsense. Instead, they are logically thought out responses to this baffeling trend.

I'm a person with high expectations. I know this about myself. Bearing that in mind, my expectations for these "special music" situations that often arise on Sunday mornings are pretty high, but not unreasonable in my opinion. The soloist has hopefully selected this piece because it reveals something to him about his creator, that guy who has saved him from eternal damnation, fire and brimstone, weeping and gnashing of teeth, etc. and has provided him with a new life, the life that is truly life, the life that inspires him to sing. So you'd think something significant was going to come singing through those pipes right? Well not from where I was sitting a week ago.

No, this song, which after conferring with my wife and sister to ensure my cynicism wasn't in too high a gear that morning, was nothing more than a bad country song with an even worse accompanying track. If you're familiar with the concepts of mash-ups, think of the worst country song you've heard and mash in the most uninspiring lyrics and you're probably about half way there.

So, you're picky about your music, you may be thinking. Well, yes, I am, but that's not where I'm going with this.

In this situation, I'm left with two options, neither of which I like better than the other because I'm afraid of both of the implied answers. First, what's with the lame representation of the being we have gathered to worship??? If we believe (and I wholeheartedly do... more on my doubts with the church and faith in my savior in another post or several) that something is worth basing your life around, why can't we come up with some decent artistic representations of our feelings? Why are we singing songs that only require a little additional twang to become second or third rate country songs? Gr.. frustration... can you tell?

Secondly, what if that's really what he feels? And even worse, what if that's all he feels? I think that would scare me even more.

I could rant on for days and end up looking even more like a bitter, cynical old man, but I'll hold off for now. It just drives me crazy when I see things that matter to me represented so poorly. More and more, it seems this is all I'm seeing these days. I'll collect my thoughts a little more and revisit this or some of its underlying issues soon.

in defense of literature... a half finished post

2009-02-11T18:11:00.000-06:00

This afternoon, during a conversation I was having largely with myself about my anger with Tom Sawyer (Why you might ask? He was completely enthralled in his efforts to write himself as the hero in the epic story of the rescue of Jim, a runaway slave and my newfound friend, while Huck knew what needed to be done to free Jim. Unbelievable right?), one of my more conversational students decided to change the course of our discussion by blurting out this little gem:

Student: "What do you care?" (but really more like "Whudda you care" muttered in a voice not loud enough to be full volume but plenty loud enough to let almost everyone hear what he said)

Me: "Wait, what?" (I really hadn't heard him well...)

Student: "Why do you care? So what about Tom? It's a book man, it doesn't mean anything. So, what are you so mad about?"

Me: *a long pause*

I broke the silence with a host of thoughts still racing through my mind. These thoughts ranged from questioning the effectiveness of my attempts to teach my students to approach the novel as more than just a little boy's adventure story, my desire to fight said student at that moment, and the always popular self-reflection, "What's this for?" Luckily, I have a core group of students in this class who were successfully indoctrinated with the expectations and standards of our outstanding department last year, and these students proceeded to put in their two cents on the issue. It was nice to hear a few unexpected voices enter into that conversation in defense of literature.

At first, I rationalized that at least this student had given this issue some thought, but now I've decided that he hasn't even given this book, or maybe anything we've covered this year, a chance for deeper meaning. Tomorrow, I'll finish teaching my first novel, and my students will finish reading their first novel of the year. It'll be interesting to see how this works out this semester. I can't imagine this student reading through two more novels this spring without seeing something of greater value in them, but I don't really believe that the upcoming books will be more appealing or approachable for him either.

I can't figure out how to end this post, so it's going to be put on hold here. Perhaps it will be continued at a later date, I really have no idea.

Side note: The other explanation for today's unexpected discussion could be rooted in potential payback from a coworker for snide remarks I recently made online about several topics near and dear to his heart. If that's the case, and I find out, he'd better hide all those toys.

Aramco Half Marathon

2009-01-19T14:11:00.001-06:00

I managed to finish the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon yesterday. I wouldn't say my time was bad given the limited amount of training on my part, but I wouldn't say that the experience was all that great either. I'm 90% sure I had a fever the night before, and, given the incredible amount of confidence I had in my training and previous half marathon experience, I wasn't the most excited participant at 5:whatever it was when it was time to get up to run 13.1 miles for fun.

The last half I participated in (after which I told myself would be the last) I entered with a similar regiment of half hearted training runs (to be fair it was actually a training run) that began less than a week before the gun shot to start the race. I told myself I wouldn't do that again. And then I did it again.

I feel like this little pattern creeps us a little too often in my life. I'm going to read more, and then I don't. I'm going to do be less busy, after I get everything done. I'm going to grade more, I'm going to study more, I'm going to come up with a million great ideas, talk about them, and likely leave them there.

So now that I've realized this, it's time I find some ways to hold myself to a short list of things I really feel are worthwhile. The hardest thing when trying to whittle down the list is that there are just so many great things I could throw myself into these days. My family, my church, my job, and several of my other interests all give me a great looking list of things for me to make myself busy with, but it's time to choose. Otherwise I'll end up with just that, a great list.

In future posts, you may or may not see more about this, but this is where the blog is restarting.

Further evidence of the need for this type of dedication to discipline in my life can be seen when viewing this photograph from Houston's ABC13. On top of not performing so well during my mediocre run, I appear to be running against thousands of people who are all at least 8-10 inches shorter than I am. Not good.