Oh, it's cold!

It has been hovering between 10-25 degrees all day. It's down right chilly, you might say. For some reason, I don't think Covenant had its heaters running in some rooms today, which made my first class and Friday chapel really cold. Ironically, although the chapel itself was cold, the next class I had, which was in the basement of the chapel, was quite comfortable.

At least I was comfortable on the way there and back. One option I probably would not have sought out, but came with most of the Beetles that the dealers had last summer, was the cold weather package. That provides heated seats, and I must say I am surprised at how nice that is! It was a very small package, so now I'm quite glad they ordered the car with it.

Don't feel bad...

…if my last post made you think “huh!?!?” That's precisely what it was suppose to do. More coming soon.

Now I Am Really in Trouble

I'm going to be another day late. One day soon I will return.

Homework

Christopher gave me a homework assignment on his blog, but I must admit I'm going to have to turn it in late. The cat ate my homework!

Tomorrow, maybe?

Social Networking's Ugly Side

I think I've come to the conclusion that for all of its good, social networking allows a little too much information at times. It lets one see an ugly side of some people that normally wouldn't surface. Twice in the last few months, while looking around Facebook, I've stumbled on some acquaintance I thought highly of only to be shocked and somewhat disturbed by the language and opinions expressed on the person's Facebook profile.

I keep thinking: I'd have been better off without seeing that, thank you very much. I'm not sure why people feel that an alter ego “anonymous internet identity” works when one is using one's real name, but for some reason people do (this has, of course, be reported on in the media). I don't know — I'm quite conscious when I post here, or anywhere else on the internet, that as someone using my real name people I know in the life offline may see what I have to say. Facebook and sites like it, that link many people I know offline with my online presence further this connection even more. However, even if I didn't think people would tie Tim the Blogger with Tim the Person, is it really a good thing to act differently just because you don't think anyone will ever be able to identify you with your offline self?

Don't worry, it isn't anyone who is a regular commenter on asisaid or who is one of my Facebook friends that encouraged this little post. And, the people shall remain nameless who did.

11:55

What an interesting time. Just five minutes before a new day, yet the day is still full of potential… I could even write a long post. I could, but then it wouldn't be 11:55 any longer. Actually, now it is 11:56. G'night!

Nifty Bible

I just opened a Christmas gift of the Reformation Study Bible (ESV). It is edited by R.C. Sproul and has extensive notes on each page. It reminds me a lot of my Harper-Collins Study Bible (NRSV), save that it comes from a conservative scholarly viewpoint rather than a liberal scholarly viewpoint. It is nice to see it is a scholarly conservative viewpoint — the type of thing Sproul is good at providing — usually conservative leaning study Bibles seem to ignore or entirely dismiss the other side without sticking to scholarship. This new Bible and my Harper-Collins ought to balance things quite nicely. It seems to deal with points such as the documentary hypothesis rather fairly even as it expresses its disagreement with those points.

Oddly, for my general detachment from the KJV tradition (other than that I like the way the KJV sounds), my two study Bibles have a heritage linked to it. I'm not familiar with precisely how much influence the KJV exerted over the NRSV and the ESV, but the former is the official heir to the RSV and the ESV apparently draws enough from the RSV to merit reference to the RSV copyright.

Interestingly, the ESV apparently picks up the middle ground on gender translation, favoring a neuter reference (such as “people”) when the original text is not referring specifically to a male, but retaining the usage of “brothers” and other similar words as opposed to “brothers and sisters.”

I've ended up with two other ESV Bibles over the last six months, but I've not yet investigated it much. We'll see. I'm still partial to the NIV and NCV and I'm still using the NLT the most (since that's what edition of the One Year Bible I own).

To use Christopher's phrase, me likey.

A Bunch of Questions

Well, I've not even gotten so far as to read the asisaid comments today (I was busy working on OFB, among other things), but I am trying to post all the way through December, so here's a little something I had already filled out but not posted. It is a set of questions from Mark.

1.In two words, explain what ended your last relationship?
Eh, to answer that question one would first have to have had a relationship. As of right now, N/A, in other words.

2. When was the last time you shaved your legs?
N/A once again.

3. What were you doing this morning at 8am?
Catching up on some sleep, given that I had no pressing things occurring today.

4. What were you doing 15 minutes ago?
Talking on the phone to a client.

5. Are you any good at math?
I can do quite well at it, I just don't enjoy doing it.

6. Your prom night?
Well, I was home schooled, so unless I took myself out… and, anyway, see question 1.

7. Do you have any famous relatives?
Yes, as a matter of fact, I have one relatively well known one.

8. Have you ever taken out a loan to pay for school?
So far, I've been fortunate enough to avoid that.

9. Do you know the words to your MySpace song?
Huh? I'm not sure what a MySpace song is, but then again I'm not on MySpace. It looks too messy and I simply haven't figured out why I'd want to join. I am on Facebook, Linked-in and Okrut, although I only actively go on Facebook. I haven't updated Okrut in a couple of years, I think.

10. Last thing received in the mail?
A free iPod nano case from Morphie for joining “the Mob” about nine months ago. I haven't opened it yet. The Mob was some kind of promotion where the first 5,000 people got a “Relo base case” free.

11. How many different beverages have you drank today?
I've had a variety today. I had some water, then a Snapple peach tea (“made from the best stuff on earth,” of course), then some more water, then a bunch of iced tea, then a Starbucks Venti Iced Latte.

12. Do you ever leave messages on people's answering machines?
Yes. Sometimes I prefer the answering machine, I'm ashamed to admit.

13. First concert?
Ah, I saw a Michael W. Smith mini-concert/performance at a Billy Graham crusade, perhaps that would count as the first. If not, a Stephen Curtis Chapman concert a few years ago.

14. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach?
Nope.

18. Do you like the ocean?
It is OK, but I'm just as happy by a nice lake.

19. Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different kinds of popcorn for Christmas?
Yes, I love them. Especially mixing the buttered and carmel popcorn. I have a two-flavor tin at the moment.

20. Have you ever been to a planetarium?
No, which is rather unfortunate. I need to go to the James S. McDonnell Planetarium at the St. Louis Science Center sometime.

22. Something you are excited about?
Getting started on my master's degree.

23. What is your favorite flavor of JELLO?
I'm not sure. Can I say JELL-O salad?

24. Are any of your great-grandparents still alive?
No, I, like Mark, am down to only one grandparent and no great grandparents. I had two great grandparents still alive when I was born; the last one died about ten years ago.

25. Describe your key chain?
It has a Radio Shack/Leatherman multi-purpose tool with pliers and screwdrivers, a bunch of keys (only about half of which fit anything still around) and a remote entry thingy.

26. Where do you keep your change? In a container on the frig.
In a little plastic container in my dresser. The container was intended to hold American cheese slices.

27. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people?
April, in an organized way; sometime last week in a less organized fashion.

28. What kind of winter coat do you have?
I have a leather jacket, a nice top coat to go with my suit and a big, fluffy winter coat for when its really cold.

29. What do you think of the person you copied this from?
Mark's a good guy and brother in Christ. He has trouble in the Apple department, though.

30. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed?
Open.

TQ: Miscellaneous

From Mark, as always:

1. What Firefox extensions do you use?
I don't normally use Firefox, but when I do, the Google toolbar is the main one. I used one to put little close buttons on each tab too until Firefox 2.0 “fixed” that for me.

2. What family/Friends tradition do you most look forward to regarding Christmas/ etc all holidays?

I'm not sure I have one favorite tradition. I always enjoy going to the Christmas Eve (candle light) service with my family and then sitting around the Christmas tree in the quiet of expectation.

3. What is your favorite tea to drink and how do you take it?

A plain, somewhat strongish tea with ice. Lipton is just fine.

4. What is your opinion on Mod_rewrite?

A site without mod_rewrite is, well, a site without mod_rewrite. I love mod_rewrite. I think it is an indispensable part of the web developer's toolkit.

5. Do you think this site has the right idea? Sorta like what these guys are doing in my state.

For the most part yes. I say, Merry Christmas, if that is what you mean.

TQ: Attire

Mark provides another interesting TQ that I'm answering really late.

1. Do you think your attire effects [sic] the way you work?
Yes, and in a two-fold way. In some settings, I will probably be better off in a suit (or at least a sports jacket) — say giving a presentation or talk. I wouldn't be comfortable otherwise, so I'd probably stumble somewhat. Comfort is another matter. I won't function very well if I'm hot, so in the middle of the summer, a dark suit or trousers or anything of the sort is probably going to decrease my productivity.

Incidentally, in the realm of pants, my bottom level is khakis or other similar types of trousers, preferably with a pleat, not jeans. I don't like jeans. My shorts are similar in style to my pants, only, well, shorter. Short sleeved polo shirts are pretty much my standard shirt, unless I'm wearing a suit; I will occasionally wear a t-shirt.

2. Do you think your attire effects the way others judge your work?
I know so. I've been told by people that they appreciated that I was not dressed as casually as my colleagues in projects. (In one memorable incident, I was wearing a suit, while another fellow was wearing a polo shirt and jeans. Almost everyone around us had at least dress slacks.)

3. Do you judge others by the way they dress?
Yes, in two ways. Incidentally, can you tell I'm in a class that is studying Aquinas at the moment? On every answer I feel obliged to say, “I answer in x number of ways.” I always like Aquinas's straightforward ordering of his arguments. But, I digress.

I'd say, first, I judge people improperly in this. Sometimes, I'll look down on someone, say, at church, for not dressing up a bit more. That's wrong, I know, and its petty. I've gotten better over time, but I'm still not completely over it.

The second way is more appropriate. The way someone looks and dresses says something about them. Someone who dresses entirely inappropriately for whatever event and looks like they could care less probably isn't taking the situation seriously. There may be exceptions, especially in the case of someone who cannot afford proper attire (or doesn't typically attend things demanding proper attire), but in other cases… You don't go to a job interview wearing your 1982 World Series T-Shirt, a ratty baseball cap on backwards and jeans that should have been retired three years ago.

Probably far more meaningful is when someone dresses in a way that obviously takes a lot of work (so their appearance is not from a lack of concern or effort) yet it is disturbing. I'm dubious about goth, for example. I'm dubious about overly baggy pants. I'm dubious about overly revealing clothes. That kind of thing. Those likely speak something about the person.

4. Do you think attire as a society is overrated, underrated or just right? Explain.
Overrated in the amount of time people worry about it, underrated in that every day is super-casual Friday now.

5. Do you think pay scale should dictate your dress code?
Not really. Attire is dictated more by the job position than the amount of money tied to the job.

Note: The questions on this page written by Mark are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 license. I believe my responses are allowed under fair use and therefore are not licensed under the Creative Commons license (I don't want people messing with adapting my personal opinions, thank you very much).