Quiet

Thanks to everyone for the prayers related to this request. Sorry to have been rather silent this week. I'll hopefully post something more tomorrow, but I wanted to say at least that much tonight.

Bad Day, Redux

Today was a painful day, connected to the “bad day” I experienced last October (the date of which, October 20, has been emblazoned in my mind), as well as the much more positive post I made this past May about calling. Much of what had caused the bad day last October had been due to mistaken information, much of what caused today's is the confirmation that those mistakes are no longer mistaken. The pain is dull right now, I've not yet had it sink in — I know I am in shock.

How I'd love to write more, to talk about this, but I can't. I covet an outlet, but must be content to just stew on this for now. I've not yet given up, I've come too far to throw in the towel after feeling as though I was being lead for over a year. I hope beyond hope that I've again misunderstood something, but what I misunderstood before has become so explicitly clear, I cannot see how.

In many ways, it is probably best I cannot detail things. While I have no doubt about the long term impact of this, I realize it would probably seem minor and petty from the outside (perhaps it does even to myself if I can try to position myself as an impartial observer). In the midst of so many problems I see people suffering, I have very little to complain about.

All I'd say for now, is that if I might be selfish, I would appreciate your prayers. Prayers, mostly, about clarity concerning God's leading. If He really is leading in the direction I thought, I need to understand how to get past this show stopper of a roadblock. If I've misunderstood, I need to know where I am really suppose to be going. I have no doubt that God leads me, I just know I'm often too dense to really see where it is He wants me.

Mostly Good News for the CDU

I'm rather pleased to see the Christian Democrat Union (CDU), with Angela Merkle at the helm, has come out ahead in Germany. I am disappointed that she was not able to get the 40% that would have been necessary to allow the “preferred” coalition that has been talked about over the past few weeks, but even if she must work with Schroeder's Social Democrats, it will at least force the left to accept some of CDU's ideas. Perhaps this bodes well for the CDU's pro-life platform plank?

Sheehan: She Doesn't Get It

I've tried to avoid commenting on Cindy Sheehan, because I just don't find her that interesting. To the extent she is a mere anti-war protester, I say let her say what she wants to say. I think she seems a bit off her rocker in her methods (there are anti-war protesters I find far more respectable), but I really couldn't care less.

Now, however, Ms. Sheehan seems to have decided that New Orleans needs her help to become unoccupied. What exactly is she hoping to accomplish with this? Allow anarchy to overtake a U.S. city for months on end? This is the first time I've heard someone indicate having military in the city's ruins is a bad thing — hasn't everyone been complaining they did not get there soon enough?

“I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.”

I'm sorry, but this is non-sensical. If this is the kind of stuff she is going to spout, then it is time for everyone to go home and ignore her, because I don't think there is anyway to make sense of it. Even if she feels the president should resign, it makes no sense to say we ought to leave a vacuum of power in New Orleans! She acts as if New Orleans is some foreign country instead of one of our own cities.

This person is truly mad and the best thing everyone can do for her is to ignore her.

Song o' the Day: Big Yellow Taxi

They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parkin' lot.

—Joni Mitchell

It's a long story of why I'm posting this, don't ask. Really — it isn't that interesting. But, now that the song is stuck in my head, I figured I might as well share the joy.

Working Out the Bugs

SAFARI 2 is fairly stable from your point of view, but the backend is still a bit of a mess due to two transitional factors and one other factor:

1. It still is recovering from the switch to MySQL from a plain text “flat file” database.
2. It still has the remnants of the old issue-based organizing structure.
3. I knew a lot less about Perl when I started writing thing thing in 1999 than I do now, six and a half years later.

I promised Ed a copy of SAFARI for his blog, and I have several other sites that need it as well, so I've been trying to hack away at the final bits of basic administration interface bugs. There are infrastructure problems still, but so long as I get it so that there is a stable database format and a usable article posting interface, I can worry about the rest even after I start doing multiple deployments of the code base.

Just a bit more work, I think. There are some features I'd like to add, but I'm trying to distinguish between “must have” features and “I want” features. I am also trying to distinguish between ones that will require reorganizing the system and ones that I can plan for now and easily “snap in” later.

Hopefully, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sunday Lunch, On Tuesday: Pies

Another Sunday Lunch from Michael. Yes, I am two days late, but that still isn't as late as I am on the July PhotoQuest.

1. What is your favorite fruit pie?
Well, I'm not a big fruit pie person, presuming that by that you mean meringue-less fruit pies. My mother made a very good blueberry pie for the Fourth of July, though. Maybe I'll go with that. It is cheating, however, since it is meant to be served with whipped cream on top, hence making it somewhat of a cream pie.

2. Is the Boston Cream Pie, a pie? Defend your position.
I plead ignorance.

3. What is your favorite custard , cream pie or pudding pie?
Lemon, followed by banana, followed by chocolate silk.

4. What other desert item do you like with your pie?
Depends: on a fruit pie, you must have ice cream. On a cream pie, just meringue or whipped cream.

5. Who makes the best pie?
My mother. And, no, she does not read my blog, so I am being honest. Really. If you mean pies purchased some place, I'd say the Hen House (in Michael's neck of the woods) is my favorite.

She'll Not Be Comin', but Moses Is

Ok, call me strange. I've got a quiz in Old Testament class today and one of the questions was why Moses broke the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. That's easy enough, right? Well, I answer it, noting that the scene involves Moses coming down the mountain. That was my fatal mistake. Soon, I had a new variation of “She'll Be Comin' Down the Mountain” in my head. I present it for your perusal. Yes, there is no doubt, I am strange.

VERSE 1
He'll be comin' down the mountain, when he comes,
He'll be comin' down the mountain, when he comes,
He'll be comin' down the mountain,
He'll be comin' down the mountain,
He'll be comin' down the mountain, when he comes.

VERSE 2
He'll be breakin' two white tablets, when he comes,
He'll be breakin' two white tablets, when he comes,
He'll be breakin' two white tablets,
He'll be breakin' two white tablets,
He'll be breakin' two white tablets, when he comes.

VERSE 3
O, we'll all be in trouble, when he comes,
O, we'll all be in trouble, when he comes,
O, we'll all be in trouble,
O, we'll all be in trouble,
O, we'll all be in trouble, when he comes.

VERSE 4
O, he'll destroy the gold calf, when he comes,
O, he'll destroy the gold calf, when he comes,
O, he'll destroy the gold calf,
O, he'll destroy the gold calf,
O, he'll destroy the gold calf, when he comes.

VERSE 5
And, we'll all drink gold an' water, when he comes,
And, we'll all drink gold an' water, when he comes,
And, we'll all drink gold an' water,
And, we'll all drink gold an' water,
And, we'll all drink gold an' water, when he comes.

Chicken on a Honey Wheat Bun

That must be the new “big thing.” On Friday, I finally tried one of McDonald's new deluxe chicken sandwiches. They are really on the pricey side, for the venue, at least, but I was pleased with my “Classic” chicken sandwich. It rang in at $3.29, including a nice grilled chicken fillet, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a “deluxe” honey wheat roll.

Today, I tried one of White Castle's new chicken sandwiches, which — surprisingly enough — also are on a honey wheat roll. The home of the crave gives you a very nice honey chipotle sauce on top of the chicken, as well. It was a tasty little sandwich, and combined with a few slyders, I was well satisfied. Price wise, unfortunately, the little White Castle chicken rings in at $1.49. Given the size, you'd probably need to spend $4.50 to approach the amount of chicken in the $3.29 sandwich from McDonald's. I'll stick to burgers next time, I think). That is only $0.69 for the Jalapeno cheese variety.

Oh, The Wells Fargo Wagon... Brought Books!

I needed to order some books for my Contemporary Moral Theory course and while I was at it, I ordered some books I just wanted to read as well. Here's what came today via the Wells Fargo Wagon UPS:

• Already Purchased Elsewhere: Writings on an Ethical Life by Peter Singer. I bought this one a few weeks ago. I've read most of the selections required for the course already. Singer is probably the best known living philosopher, the professor of bio-ethics at Princeton, and a general nut case. I mean that in the most respectful way possible. While he advocates policies such as infanticide and euthanasia, I respect the fact that he reaches these policies by taking the philosophy that many secularist people claim to adhere to (which is really just a form of utilitarianism) and following it where it goes without a lot of bias. I don't like his conclusions, but I agree with him that if you accept actions such as abortion, it is hard to argue against more controversial ideas such as infanticide.
• A Theory of Justice by John Rawls. This book is going to represent Kantian Morality in the course.
• After Virtue by Alasdair McIntyre: This book will be the champion of Aristotelian philosophy for the course. (In other words, he's the Good Guy!)
• Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek by Bruce Metzger: I've managed without it so far, but my Greek instructor advised me that now would be a good time to pick up a copy of this, so I piggy-backed it on the philosophy order.

• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (Trans. John Ciardi): This translation of the Comedy got good marks from a number of highly respectable poets, such as Archibald MacLeish. I've never read all of Purgatorio and Paradiso so now is my chance. This edition looks to have very nice, extensive notes. T.S. Eliot said that there were not three literary greats — that Shakespeare and Dante are too far above the rest. I'm not sure I'd go that far, there are others, like Aeschylus and Homer that ought not be forgotten, but his point is well taken.
• Babylon Rising: The Secret on Ararat by Tim LaHaye and Bob Phillips: I read the first book in this series last year and I want to know what happens next. It might not be the best written series in the world, but it is good enough to read a bit more.
• Impeachable Offense (Left Behind: End of State) by Neesa Hart: I can't say I respect the Left Behind machine any more for releasing spin off series, but here's another book I read the first one of, which was fairly decent, and now I want to see what happens next.
• The Rising: Before They Were Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins: The first prequel to Left Behind. Yeah, the series has gone on too long, but I understand the prequel is suppose to be pretty good, and I've gone this far, I might as well finish what I started.
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë: I've never read the whole book, but I've read parts long ago. It did not do anything for me, but a good friend of mine was telling me how this was surely the best book in English literature, so I thought it was well past time I read the whole thing and gave it a fair chance. I respect the said friend's taste very much, although I remain skeptical until proven wrong on this one.

And, for now, that is that. I have a few more philosophy books I'll need to order within a few weeks, but those listed in the first section should keep me on track through October, I believe.