Yesterday, Jess and I left Indiana after a wonderful time with our families. Seeing as Jess had to work this morning, we set out from my parents' house at 5:15 am, with the hope of arriving here soon after 8:00 pm. These expectations are reasonable provided there are no weather or traffic problems. You could say that we had both yesterday.
The 36 hours before we left were filled with snow and wind. We were hoping that both would have ended before we left, but neither had. So we took off, driving into a headwind from the west, driving about 30-40 miles an hour on a state highway. Upon reaching the interstate, the roads were pretty fully cleared, and the speed of traffic increased to 50-60 miles an hour, but now the wind was blowing from the passenger side, with the gusts trying to push the poor Civic. After being on the interstate for about 20 miles, while it was still dark out, I hit a patch of ice, coupled with a gust of wind, and started to fishtail. Thankfully there were no other cars nearby, as after a valiant attempt, the car still went into the ditch.
Both of us were not injured in the least, and I hadn't hit anything with the car. I got out to examine the situation to see if there was any way to get the car out without calling a tow truck. I tried to push while Jess put it in reverse, but no such luck. Someone stopped and then we had two of us pushing, but still no luck. We were in too far by about a foot, so our back tires couldn't get any traction. I was fortunate enough to get both of my feet absolutely drenched, as well as mud on my pants. We waited about 45 minutes for the tow truck to arrive, and when he did arrive, it was about 5 minutes (and $75) until we were on the road again.
By that point, people realized that the roads may have looked clear, but were not really clear, as no one was driving over 55 (and I was keeping it around 40, just for good measure). Thankfully, the sun started to come out and it stopped snowing, and we got far enough south (and started going west again into the wind) that the snow wouldn't have really bothered anything. We were able to stop and get some dry socks for me and I changed into them and my dry pair of shoes. We were a bit concerned when things picked up and the car started to shimmy around 60. However, I think we just had some snow mashed up in the car somewhere because over the next 1000 miles, the shimmy disappeared, and everything ran fine.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, and we arrived in our apartment about 10:30 pm, 18 1/2 hours after we left (as we gain an hour coming back). For the first time, I don't miss snow. I will definitely be enjoying the 75 degree weather this weekend.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Holiday Media - Book One - Slaughterhouse-Five
The semester ended last Friday for me, and now I'm on my Christmas Break. I'm going to try and read a number of books and watch a number of movies particularly between now and next Thursday when we leave for Indiana and from January 3-14, before classes start for me. I will try and give updates about each piece of media I consume (including CDs if I receive any for Christmas).
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
I received this book as a gift for my birthday from my wife. I have been told by many people that I would really enjoy Vonnegut, and so I thought I'd ask for a book of his for my birthday. I didn't have a chance to start reading it till this past weekend and finished it this morning. It is a dark, humorous novel that is a retelling of the Allied bombing of Dresden, Germany in World War II. As one who was present for this event, being held as a P.O.W. in Dresden, Vonnegut gives us a perspective of that event (and war in general), that runs contrary to how many would speak of it. This book is a reminder that war is not glorious. It is a gruesome thing in which we must dehumanize our enemies in order to make it glorious. War seems to be inevitable. However, Vonnegut paints a picture of a man who comes to accept the war through the means of seeing the world and its events as completely determined and always existing, so we do not have any sort of say in how things turn out. Through this acceptance, Billy Pilgrim lives his life, jumping about from moment to moment of his life (skipping about many years in an instant), for there is no now, but everything always has been and always will be.
Although I disagree with the way that Pilgrim comes to accept the evil in the world (and the world in general), I thought this was a wonderful book. It is a great commentary on the war and the unnecessary slaughter of humanity (particularly civilians) that occur in most wars. It is a very dark book with moments of humor that might make you chuckle a bit. When you finish the book and reflect on it, the idea makes you want to laugh until you are reminded that the idea of the book is found in reality. This book was my first Vonnegut read, but I already look forward to the next chance I'll get to read another one of his books!
Currently Reading: Ludwig Wittgenstein - The Duty of Genius by Ray Monk
Faith, Film and Philosophy - eds R. Douglas Geivett & James S. Spiegel
Although I disagree with the way that Pilgrim comes to accept the evil in the world (and the world in general), I thought this was a wonderful book. It is a great commentary on the war and the unnecessary slaughter of humanity (particularly civilians) that occur in most wars. It is a very dark book with moments of humor that might make you chuckle a bit. When you finish the book and reflect on it, the idea makes you want to laugh until you are reminded that the idea of the book is found in reality. This book was my first Vonnegut read, but I already look forward to the next chance I'll get to read another one of his books!
Currently Reading: Ludwig Wittgenstein - The Duty of Genius by Ray Monk
Faith, Film and Philosophy - eds R. Douglas Geivett & James S. Spiegel
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Where I've Been...
These last two weeks have been crazy for me. I've traveled the country and experienced many significant moments, at least for me.
On Tuesday, November 13, I flew out of Waco for the Evangelical Philosophical Society conference in San Diego, CA. About the time I settled into the hotel room, I got a phone call from my mother-in-law. Her mother was not doing well and she was trying to get ahold of Jess to let her know. From that point on, my time in San Diego seemed tenuous. However, on Wednesday, I was able to reconnect with some friends from Bethel (some of which are my former professors, but especially after the trip, I feel like I should call them friends). I had lunch and supper with them and also spent time at and in between papers catching up and discussing things.
On Wednesday afternoon, I presented my first paper at a conference. The paper was entitled "Kierkegaardian Commanded Love". It was a brief synopsis of my master's thesis and was well received by all 8 people who came to hear it. It's even better when I only knew four of the eight! Half of the people came because they thought my paper title sounded interesting.
On Thursday, I was able to do my bookshopping at the conference where everything is half off. I limited myself to 8 books, but I'm quite excited about the 8 I chose. On a far more solemn note, while eating lunch with a friend at The Cheesecake Factory, I received a call from Jess letting me know that we needed to start booking tickets for a trip to Michigan. Her grandmother was going to pass away, and they were keeping her on the ventilator long enough for everyone to get back. So with the help of Brad (and no help from Continental Airlines), I got a red eye flight booked for that evening on American Airlines, which was my first domestic red eye flight of my life.
Friday, I arrived in Chicago at 4:40 am, and awaited my flight to Detroit. I arrived there about 9:30, and waited in the terminal for my lovely wife to arrive on her travels from Waco to Dallas to Detroit at 1:30pm. We were picked up by my sister-in-law, her boyfriend, and my beautiful niece, Sophie. It was the first time I had seen Sophie since her birth in September. They drove us back to Jackson, and we went directly to the hospital. We got to see Jess' grandma while she was only semi-sedated on the ventilator and she seemed to interact with us. After some time, we left the room so they could take her off the ventilator, and we came back to hearing her familiar snoring, as she peacefully slept before passing away late that evening. Jess was present with her mom and aunt for her grandma's passing.
Saturday and Sunday seem like a blur. The thing I remember most is working on a slideshow of Erma (Jess' grandmother) for the viewing. I was glad that I was able to help out in some way in everything. The family loved the slideshow and I'm making copies on DVD for everyone to have at Christmas. Another neat thing is that my parents called on Saturday night from Ireland to express their condolences to Jess. That meant a lot.
Monday was the viewing, and it was neat to see how many people Erma had impacted. She was a woman of small stature, but was loved by all. My parents also came up for the viewing (after getting back from Ireland at 1am and working all day). That meant a lot too.
Tuesday was the funeral. It was the first funeral of someone that I felt like I had a close connection to that I was just there as family. Many family members shared at the funeral as well as many non-family people. The funeral home was pretty much packed. The one downside of the funeral was the officiating pastor, who among other things, butchered half of the names of the family members when reading the obituary. Not cool. Not cool at all.
Wednesday we spent some time with family in Michigan, and I did a wee bit of homework. That evening, we drove down to Berne, as we were celebrating Thanksgiving with my family on Thursday. It was the first Thanksgiving spent with family as a married couple. It was cool that my brother Jay turned down doing stuff with his friends when they called, and he told them that he couldn't hang out because he was hanging out with his brother and sister-in-law. It is a good feeling when your younger brother wants to hang out with you. :)
I actually got some good connecting time with each of my brothers over Thanksgiving, especially with Jared, even though he was back in Texas. I love my brothers and am so grateful for them. I'm looking forward to us all being together in Berne for Christmas.
Thursday evening we drove back to Michigan, as our Friday flight was an early one, necessitating us being at my mother-in-law's house at 5:15am. We stopped at Starbucks and we were off to the airport. Because we bought our tickets so late, we weren't able to sit together on the plane, which was sad. We arrived back in Waco around 1:15pm, and were picked up by Travis.
Friday afternoon was spent working on homework and then Friday night was spent going to the movies with Aaron and Bekah. The movie we wanted to see was sold out (No Country for Old Men), so we settled on Beowulf. I was pleasantly surprised with it and would recommend it to most anyone. It was really nice to be back in my own bed last night after 10 nights away from it.
Today, I did homework. Lots and lots of homework. Finished a paper, graded a bunch of stuff, started working on a lecture, etc. I'm just trying to get caught up as the end of the semester is less than two weeks away, and I sure have plenty to do.
All in all, it's been an exciting time. I feel closer to my family now than I did two weeks ago, especially my in-laws. More and more, I feel the distinction between "my family" and "Jess' family" shrinking, which is nice.
Don't expect much from me soon... I'll be in the world of trying to finish a semester strong!
On Tuesday, November 13, I flew out of Waco for the Evangelical Philosophical Society conference in San Diego, CA. About the time I settled into the hotel room, I got a phone call from my mother-in-law. Her mother was not doing well and she was trying to get ahold of Jess to let her know. From that point on, my time in San Diego seemed tenuous. However, on Wednesday, I was able to reconnect with some friends from Bethel (some of which are my former professors, but especially after the trip, I feel like I should call them friends). I had lunch and supper with them and also spent time at and in between papers catching up and discussing things.
On Wednesday afternoon, I presented my first paper at a conference. The paper was entitled "Kierkegaardian Commanded Love". It was a brief synopsis of my master's thesis and was well received by all 8 people who came to hear it. It's even better when I only knew four of the eight! Half of the people came because they thought my paper title sounded interesting.
On Thursday, I was able to do my bookshopping at the conference where everything is half off. I limited myself to 8 books, but I'm quite excited about the 8 I chose. On a far more solemn note, while eating lunch with a friend at The Cheesecake Factory, I received a call from Jess letting me know that we needed to start booking tickets for a trip to Michigan. Her grandmother was going to pass away, and they were keeping her on the ventilator long enough for everyone to get back. So with the help of Brad (and no help from Continental Airlines), I got a red eye flight booked for that evening on American Airlines, which was my first domestic red eye flight of my life.
Friday, I arrived in Chicago at 4:40 am, and awaited my flight to Detroit. I arrived there about 9:30, and waited in the terminal for my lovely wife to arrive on her travels from Waco to Dallas to Detroit at 1:30pm. We were picked up by my sister-in-law, her boyfriend, and my beautiful niece, Sophie. It was the first time I had seen Sophie since her birth in September. They drove us back to Jackson, and we went directly to the hospital. We got to see Jess' grandma while she was only semi-sedated on the ventilator and she seemed to interact with us. After some time, we left the room so they could take her off the ventilator, and we came back to hearing her familiar snoring, as she peacefully slept before passing away late that evening. Jess was present with her mom and aunt for her grandma's passing.
Saturday and Sunday seem like a blur. The thing I remember most is working on a slideshow of Erma (Jess' grandmother) for the viewing. I was glad that I was able to help out in some way in everything. The family loved the slideshow and I'm making copies on DVD for everyone to have at Christmas. Another neat thing is that my parents called on Saturday night from Ireland to express their condolences to Jess. That meant a lot.
Monday was the viewing, and it was neat to see how many people Erma had impacted. She was a woman of small stature, but was loved by all. My parents also came up for the viewing (after getting back from Ireland at 1am and working all day). That meant a lot too.
Tuesday was the funeral. It was the first funeral of someone that I felt like I had a close connection to that I was just there as family. Many family members shared at the funeral as well as many non-family people. The funeral home was pretty much packed. The one downside of the funeral was the officiating pastor, who among other things, butchered half of the names of the family members when reading the obituary. Not cool. Not cool at all.
Wednesday we spent some time with family in Michigan, and I did a wee bit of homework. That evening, we drove down to Berne, as we were celebrating Thanksgiving with my family on Thursday. It was the first Thanksgiving spent with family as a married couple. It was cool that my brother Jay turned down doing stuff with his friends when they called, and he told them that he couldn't hang out because he was hanging out with his brother and sister-in-law. It is a good feeling when your younger brother wants to hang out with you. :)
I actually got some good connecting time with each of my brothers over Thanksgiving, especially with Jared, even though he was back in Texas. I love my brothers and am so grateful for them. I'm looking forward to us all being together in Berne for Christmas.
Thursday evening we drove back to Michigan, as our Friday flight was an early one, necessitating us being at my mother-in-law's house at 5:15am. We stopped at Starbucks and we were off to the airport. Because we bought our tickets so late, we weren't able to sit together on the plane, which was sad. We arrived back in Waco around 1:15pm, and were picked up by Travis.
Friday afternoon was spent working on homework and then Friday night was spent going to the movies with Aaron and Bekah. The movie we wanted to see was sold out (No Country for Old Men), so we settled on Beowulf. I was pleasantly surprised with it and would recommend it to most anyone. It was really nice to be back in my own bed last night after 10 nights away from it.
Today, I did homework. Lots and lots of homework. Finished a paper, graded a bunch of stuff, started working on a lecture, etc. I'm just trying to get caught up as the end of the semester is less than two weeks away, and I sure have plenty to do.
All in all, it's been an exciting time. I feel closer to my family now than I did two weeks ago, especially my in-laws. More and more, I feel the distinction between "my family" and "Jess' family" shrinking, which is nice.
Don't expect much from me soon... I'll be in the world of trying to finish a semester strong!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Chops of Brilliance
There is a conference currently going on at Baylor right now celebrating the life and writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the leading Jewish theologians/philosophers/thinkers of the 20th century. Many Jewish scholars are in attendance at this conference. As I am presently taking the Jewish Philosophy class, I have been attending some of the sessions, including the luncheons.
Today, we had a buffet luncheon provided by the food services here at Baylor. The buffet included a nice pasta salad, cooked carrots, Peruvian potatoes, some kind of pasta with sauce, and pork chops. Yes, we were served pork chops at a conference full of Jewish scholars. To the surprise of no one, many people were vegetarians for lunch today. It was quite funny, yet sad at the same time.
Maybe I'll write more of my thoughts about this situation at another time.
Today, we had a buffet luncheon provided by the food services here at Baylor. The buffet included a nice pasta salad, cooked carrots, Peruvian potatoes, some kind of pasta with sauce, and pork chops. Yes, we were served pork chops at a conference full of Jewish scholars. To the surprise of no one, many people were vegetarians for lunch today. It was quite funny, yet sad at the same time.
Maybe I'll write more of my thoughts about this situation at another time.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Life in Waco...
At one time I thought I might have something fun and interesting to say on here. I was wrong.
I mean, I have fun and interesting thoughts... I just don't think they're fun enough nor interesting enough to post on here.
Maybe next time.
Until then...
I mean, I have fun and interesting thoughts... I just don't think they're fun enough nor interesting enough to post on here.
Maybe next time.
Until then...
Monday, October 8, 2007
Waiting for tomorrow...
The last few days, I've been living the life of a bachelor again, as Jess has been in Jackson, MI, visiting our new niece, Sophie. During that time, I've been here in Waco alone, trying to get homework done. I also went to the rodeo on Friday night with the philosophy group. It's been a lonesome time, and not nearly as productive as I had hoped it would be.
I've found that my wife is a great source of sanity for me. With her absence, I find myself stressing out about homework far more. For instance, I have a paper that I've been trying to work on over the last 36 hours. I have one page... barely. There are so many things I want to write about, I can't choose one. I have a feeling if Jess was here, I would just write on one of them and go with it, for there wouldn't be this open-ended amount of time. I would want to spend time with her, so I would just do it. Similarly, I've been going to bed later and sleeping worse, waking up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, and struggling to fall asleep. I know, it sounds sorta pathetic.
However, tomorrow night, I get to pick her up from the Waco airport! :)
In her absence, I've been listening to the two CDs she got me for my birthday. She got me "The Essential Billy Joel" and "Bat Out of Hell" by Meatloaf. The inspiration for the Billy Joel CD came from her Valentine's Day gift for me. I knew that there were a handful of songs by Queen that I liked, but never was bold enough to branch out and check out a greatest hits CD. Well, I got Queen's greatest hits for V-Day, and found that I loved many more of their songs than I realized. I'd mentioned a few more artists that I liked a handful of songs by, in case she wanted to go that route again. Billy Joel was one of them, and I'm thrilled with his essential hits. I've found that there are many songs of his that I like. I highly recommend it. With Meatloaf, I've always liked the food, so an artist with the name of a food you like can't be bad, right? Actually, I'm a fan of rock opera, and "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is one of my favorite rock opera hits of all time. I had mentioned this fact to my wife once, and she surprised me with the first CD of the trilogy, and it's great! It's only 7 songs, but a full 45 minutes of entertainment. If you're a fan of rock opera or even Queen, check out Meatloaf... and the music by the artist of the same name is pretty good too. :)
I'm sure there's other profound things I could say here, but I'm feeling guilty about my paper... so back to work on that. Oh, and my wife comes home tomorrow. :)
I've found that my wife is a great source of sanity for me. With her absence, I find myself stressing out about homework far more. For instance, I have a paper that I've been trying to work on over the last 36 hours. I have one page... barely. There are so many things I want to write about, I can't choose one. I have a feeling if Jess was here, I would just write on one of them and go with it, for there wouldn't be this open-ended amount of time. I would want to spend time with her, so I would just do it. Similarly, I've been going to bed later and sleeping worse, waking up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, and struggling to fall asleep. I know, it sounds sorta pathetic.
However, tomorrow night, I get to pick her up from the Waco airport! :)
In her absence, I've been listening to the two CDs she got me for my birthday. She got me "The Essential Billy Joel" and "Bat Out of Hell" by Meatloaf. The inspiration for the Billy Joel CD came from her Valentine's Day gift for me. I knew that there were a handful of songs by Queen that I liked, but never was bold enough to branch out and check out a greatest hits CD. Well, I got Queen's greatest hits for V-Day, and found that I loved many more of their songs than I realized. I'd mentioned a few more artists that I liked a handful of songs by, in case she wanted to go that route again. Billy Joel was one of them, and I'm thrilled with his essential hits. I've found that there are many songs of his that I like. I highly recommend it. With Meatloaf, I've always liked the food, so an artist with the name of a food you like can't be bad, right? Actually, I'm a fan of rock opera, and "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is one of my favorite rock opera hits of all time. I had mentioned this fact to my wife once, and she surprised me with the first CD of the trilogy, and it's great! It's only 7 songs, but a full 45 minutes of entertainment. If you're a fan of rock opera or even Queen, check out Meatloaf... and the music by the artist of the same name is pretty good too. :)
I'm sure there's other profound things I could say here, but I'm feeling guilty about my paper... so back to work on that. Oh, and my wife comes home tomorrow. :)
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Way Back When...
On my way to class this morning, I'm listening to the radio and they announce they are playing this next song for "Way Back Wednesday". I'm looking forward to a great 80s hit, or even something from 91 or 92. Instead, "Freshman" by the Verve Pipe comes on. This song was a hit during my late high school years, 10 years ago. It made me feel old that something from late high school could be considered as being "Way Back". I guess that's just how life goes!
On a positive note, my wife's 24th birthday is today! Happy birthday Jessica! :)
On a positive note, my wife's 24th birthday is today! Happy birthday Jessica! :)
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