Old Man Me

So I'm having a pretty successful sabbath. It's so relaxing to be able to do something without any sort of time constraint. I've been running out of pages in my Moleskine, so I decided to buy another copy of it plus some Chinese flash cards. I really like the Moleskine notebooks (I get the non-ruled kind) because I feel it gives the freedom in sketching out ideas, models, etc. I've found that I'm not much of an artist, but I really enjoy diagramming and using visual space to organize my ideas. This morning I went to play flag-football. And, (I've actually known this for a long time), I'm getting old. Of course, everyone is getting old. If you're not, that means you are dead. But I guess if that dead body is still you, then you're still getting old. Anyways, back to flag football. I had a couple of great plays, but I just run out of gas so quick. And then my lower back started aching. Sigh. I'm looking forward to playing basketball tomorrow with the fellas from church. I wonder if that will be different. Afterward, the Boss and I went to see Lily play basketball. She's super scrappy. It's a lot of running up and down the court and missing the basket. But it plays a lot like a soccer game. Every basket counts! The final score was 8 to 6. Lily hurt herself too, but I don't think it was because she was feeling the onset of old age. I crab sometimes (act crabby, as opposed to any other connotation "crabbing" might evoke) just to be old-man like. I think acting like an old-man is funny. You get to pretend you don't hear. You get to yell at the kids to get off the grass. I don't know that I'll think it will be so funny in the future. I supposed that some of the humor comes out of the situation. Here is a person that feels a sense of entitlement to what he expects. And if things don't go his way he gets upset. Yet he is unable to do anything physically about it because of his age. Very similar to a newborn. Except more wrinkly and less cute. But it doesn't have to be that way, I suppose. But I'm still looking forward to it!

Anti-technology

When I was in college (in a galaxy far far away) I remember there was this new cool product; the cell phone. As more and more of my friends got one, I promised myself that I would never. It was a very insidious device; it would ring at the most inappropriate times. And every time it rang, the person had to answer right there. Even while they were doing their business right next to me! And it got worse. It seems that when you got a cell phone, people would except you to be accessible all the time. It wasn't like you could just have a home phone and people could leave a message on your answering machine (remember those)?

But after moving 4 times in 3 years, I finally broke down and got one. And, I'll admit, the cell phone has changed my life, for the better (I think). But that whole episode made me realize that I'm something of an anti-technologist. Which is ironic since I am (by training) a computer programmer and have a more refined insight into computer technology than the average person. I remember when the iPod came out and I was working at Apple, I was like "Who is going to buy this thing? It'll never sell." I only got one later because Apple offered all of its employees the chance to buy one at a steep discount. Good thing I wasn't a decision maker at Apple. Haha.

And when the iPhone came out, a number of people asked me when I was going to get one. Psh. I already have the iPhone nano, I don't need that. Or want it. I'm not on Facebook, I don't believe in Twitter. I'm not such a Luddite that I won't consider something new, but it's got to have real value. It can't just be one more thing that I have to add to my to-do list.

I think that's one thing about the Mac platform that really appeals to me. I feel like it has real value. There are a whole bunch of pragmatic reasons why you shouldn't by a Mac, but if those reasons aren't your reasons then I think a Mac is a great purchase. One of the things that I've noticed too is that there are more people passionate about the Mac than there are people passionate about Windows. Even percentage-wise I would say this is true (this is all anecdotal of course). But I think this is reflected in the kinds of software that are available. I remember doing a little googling a while ago to look for grade-A Windows developers and their products. Folks that really loved what they made and paid attention to detail to make their products awesome for XP or Vista. I really couldn't find any. Most Windows programs that I've seen don't seem to take a real disciplined look towards design and ease of use; compare SmartFTP to Panic's Transmit (screenshots at the bottom). And, I really haven't seen a program for Windows that was fun! And I'm not just talking about games. I'm just talking about a program where you just wonder, why hasn't it been this way the whole time?

That's why I love software on the Mac. And that's why I love trying out new software. There's very little obligation and it's really cool to see what kind of innovation people use to solve a problem. So one of my latest experiments in software is eschewing Firefox for Omniweb. It's been fun trying out something new, but we'll see if I got back to tried and true or not.

Credit Crisis

The boss told me the other day that she didn't really understand the economic crisis. I don't fully understand it either but I found the following video to be helpful. I was listening to NPR the other night and a program talked about the sense of outrage and desire for justice that many Americans have in relation to the crisis and the bailout. Basically, many people are saying "I was a good steward of my money and I don't have to foreclose on my own home. How come my neighbor, who bought a house bigger than he can afford, gets a bailout because he made a stupid purchase?" I fully empathize with this sentiment, but there are a couple things that this complaint is missing. First, this is an economic problem right now, but it could quickly devolve into a social one. Since this affects everyone, even people that were good stewards of their money will find themselves in difficult financial situations. Prices may rise, jobs will get scarce. So, even though your neighbor made a stupid mistake, the question is how far will we go to have them reap the consequences of those actions. Will we allow those repercussions to affect us? The second thing that the program brought up was that people make stupid decisions like this all the time and yet society has already decided that dealing with the problem first is more important than determining justice, at that point. Examples are things like smoking in your bed and then your house catches on fire. The fire department will come right away and put out the fire. They won't sit there and try to figure exactly how much you should suffer and whether or not you can afford to have them come and put it out. In fact, even though your neighbors will be annoyed at you, your neighbors want the fire department to save your house because there are ancillary benefits to them. Another example might be going to the hospital in the event of an emergency. In the mini-video, it shows some people walking away from their homes because their mortgages are more expensive than the value of the house. First of all, I think that's wrong. The person borrowed $300K to buy the house. They ought to pay it back. Second of all, the price of something is only worth determining if you are going to sell it. If you want to live in your home forever, then the price that you paid is what it's worth. (Sure, you might want to borrow against the amount of money that you own in the house and that might determine it's current value, but that presupposes that you are willing to move out of your house. Which is the same thing as selling it…) The most interesting part of the NPR program was that an ethics expert (what's an ethics expert) commented that people are clamoring for others to get what they deserve, but if everyone got what they deserved, we'd all be in hell. I don't have any reason to believe that this comment was made with spiritual/religious implications, but I thought it was interesting that even in this economic crisis there is a necessity for grace. The program reminded me how I am inherently ungracious and undeserving and I need to extend grace to others.

How to Save a Life

Over the past two weeks I've had to face the reality of death. One of the Greek professors at Dallas seminary died unexpectedly and a guy that I knew growing up died of cancer. On the flip side, a woman from my church who was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia recently found a bone marrow donor. As I read accounts of and talked to people who are intimately connected with these events I have felt the weight of death and the brevity and volatility of life. I commented to my wife that Jodie and Alex were probably like us a year ago: trying to get the daily things done, enjoying time with family, etc. But in the space of a few months, their lives were tossed all around. It makes me wonder what kinds of things are in store for me, how different life will be in the coming months, weeks, or even days. You just can't plan for stuff like Severe Aplastic Anemia. Or throat cancer. Or death. The campaign behind finding Jodie's donor was amazing. Our church did a bone marrow drive. There's a ton of bone marrow drives going on now. Jodie's sister put a ton of energy into mobilizing people and spreading the word. She used everything at her disposal. I got multiple requests from her to forward a request that people get registered for bone marrow donation to everyone I know. That's a lot of people. And even though I wasn't comfortable to forward it to everyone I knew, I really admired and appreciated the lengths that Jodie's sister went to help be part of the plan to save her sister. I would have done the same. So I asked Jodie's sister if she would mind that I post her email to my blog because, I reasoned, people come here to read something rather than having something pushed to them that they may or may not want. But we got the news this past week that she found a donor. I encourage you to go to their site: savejodie.com. It's not as dramatic as the email but I think it communicates the same information. One of the striking things about this campaign was the fact that a match would most likely come from someone like Jodie; someone who was ethnically Asian. It didn't surprise me, though, to learn that there were very few Asians on the donor list; if it doesn't help you make money or get good grades why do it? Haha. I think that a lot of that has to do with culture. Chinese culture is very tied to taking care of your own. So you would take care of your own family, but taking care of a stranger is not a value intrinsic to Chinese culture. There are other concerns of course; Felicity and I talked about how, if we were matches, that might affect our timeline in planning to move to China. In the end, though, both of us agreed that this was an opportunity for us to help save someone else (Jodie or otherwise). That was what made this campaign compelling. In the Christian faith we talk about imitating Christ and following His example. Bone marrow donation (or any type of bodily donation) is but a shadow of the redemptive, life-giving, life-changing of Christ. Where he gave his body for us, here was an opportunity for us to give our body for others. I am thankful for this small opportunity to possibly be part of something so significant in my own and someone else's life.

Valentine's Day

If you don't already know, I don't like celebrating any holidays. I especially abhor the ones whose primary purpose is to separate me from my money; VD (I think that the initials are not a coincidence) falls right into that category. I'll admit it: I'm something of a bah humbug. The wife always asks me, "Why are you always being like an old man?"; I can't wait till I'm old so that I can say, "Because I am." But it's not just VD. I'm like this around Christmas too. I read a xanga post by DC who basically said he loved the gift giving during that time of year because he got great pleasure from seeing other people react with delight to their gifts. I think there's something to that sentiment. But I figure, if you love that so much, just give gifts whenever you want. There's something in Christmas that builds up a sense of entitlement or obligation (for the receiver and the giver). But I'm getting ahead of myself. 10 months ahead of myself. So you want to know the true meaning of St. Valentine's Day? If Valentine's Day were celebrated in its rightful historical context, we'd have a way awesomer holiday. The legend goes something like this: As the early church was growing, it was looked upon with curiosity by the Roman public at large. The cult had grown out of its provincial roots in that backwater of Palestine and had spread throughout the Empire. Rome, at the time, had a tradition of considering their emperors as gods; Christians abhorred this and refused to worship the emperor. This particularly incensed Claudius II and he decided to punish the Christians. He made a proclamation that anyone adhering to the Christian religion was forbidden to marry, since Christians were known to marry incestuously. This came out of a misunderstanding of the terms that Christians often referred to one another, as brother and sister. In defiance, Valentine began marrying Christians that wanted to be married. Claudius heard of this and imprisoned Valentine. Valentine was offered a release if he would just say that the emperor was divine. The emperor's messengers pleaded with him, telling him that he didn't have to believe it, he just had to say it. Valentine was brought before Claudius with the emperor's offer and he refused, saying that if his heart belonged to God then so did his words. The emperor was furious and immediately jumped out of his throne with dagger in hand and cut out Valentine's heart, proclaiming to the court: "His heart is mine!" Terror swept through the Christian community and that very day all of the husbands of the couples whom Valentine married were brought before the emperor and were given the same offer. The next day each of the wives received a small gift. The bloodied heart of her husband. This isn't some candy heart that says "Hug Me" or "Too Sweet". This was a heart that was a picture of heroism, sacrifice, loyalty and devotion. (Cue the LEGENDARY ROCK anthem). And not to something as droll and mundane as the picture of love given to us by or Maid in Manhattan or 27 Dresses but to something greater. Alas, Valentine's Day has been co-opted by popular culture and turned, instead, to an expensive day for couples and a lonely day for singles. I look forward to the first real Valentine's Day movie. Maybe they could get Bruce Willis to be St. Valentine. Or Samuel L Jackson. For a more traditional look at Valentine's Day read what my wife has to say.

Marketing Fail

Here's a list of rejected names for a singles social group (aka young adult church fellowship): Lonely Together Just Friends All by Ourselves Le Meatmarché I was told that guys (single or not) might find this funny but women would not.

Is this forever?

I'm on a YouTube posting binge. I ♥ this kid.