My blog is moving!!
I am moving my blog to leejhinkle.com. Check it out on the "blog" header.
Thanks for dealing with me and this movement! I'm super-excited. I may not quite have the same blog support as with blogspot, but it'll be nice to have other support as well.
Lee J
06 March 2011
05 March 2011
IT Fun
This has been a really fun week for me in IT. I've set up servers at school and at home. And I completely fubarred my home router trying to install dd-wrt on it. It seems like every spare moment I've had has been spent doing mostly useless things in the IT area.
But it's bee very good for learning. I also bought two domain names, leejhinkle.com and leejhinkle.net. It's likely that the -.net address will end up pointing to the -.com one, but we'll see what happens.
Anyway, it'll be fun to try hosting those sites myself. I'll set up IIS on Windows Server 2k8 on my desktop and work to set my sites up and show them to the world. But for now, the blog will remain here.
But it's bee very good for learning. I also bought two domain names, leejhinkle.com and leejhinkle.net. It's likely that the -.net address will end up pointing to the -.com one, but we'll see what happens.
Anyway, it'll be fun to try hosting those sites myself. I'll set up IIS on Windows Server 2k8 on my desktop and work to set my sites up and show them to the world. But for now, the blog will remain here.
06 February 2011
Goals
Always a fun topic, Goals focuses on several things. Or at least brings greater clarity to me of what my goals should be.
Somethings you can jump right into. Other things you have to learn a little bit about and then you can jump in. Others have a completely foreign culture (maybe) and take some getting used to.
I went to Jackson Hole, WY last year with some friends. One of the people I went with talked about doing a bike race from Logan, UT to Jackson (332 km). Initially, I thought he was nuts (I still kinda do), but I spent a lot of time after that trip riding my bike and running some shorter races.
And I realized I am addicted to adrenaline and to competition. I like the feeling of passing people and knowing I can pass more people. Or maybe I just like everyone looking at my butt.
Anyway, I want to do Lotoja (LOgan TO JAckson). One problem. My physiology. I'm a sprinter. This is made very obvious to me by my ability to be good in short bursts and breath heavily for a while and then do it again. And I have a 30+-inch vertical--meaning my musculature is at least 50% and likely 70+% fast-twitch X muscles.
I ran two 5k and one 3k race last year. I felt 5k was a little farther than I'd like to go and 3k is almost perfect (of course, I'd really prefer <400m, but those really don't exist). In any case, I placed very well in the races I ran.
Then I tried a super-short triathlon hosted by my university's tri club. I did it without any training during the two months prior to it and placed very well in my division (the one without the really good triathletes).
So anyway, I've been looking for local 5k to run this year--I want to run at least one a month (or 12 on the year, because January is gone and I didn't run one and I doubt I'm gonna run one in February). Also I've been looking at sprint-distance triathlons (200-800m swims, 10-15 mile bikes, 5k run) and there are a fair number nearby. But then Lotoja is in the back of my head.
For both the triathlons and Lotoja, I have to have a new bike. Period. The 5k obviously don't require a bike. I'll probably get a new bike in June, but if I want to do Lotoja I have to be riding 100+ miles/week prior to June and I don't know if my current bike can handle that.
I think the solution to my dilemma presented itself. Swim and run now. Keep biking to school. Compete in 5k events until I get a new bike, then do triathlons. Biking 10 miles is easy-peasy. Simple to do at top speed, especially on a new bike. Running and swimming are my crappy events anyway. Focus on Lotoja next year. Because I'll need more than 7 months (Feb to Sep to alter my physiology enough to last for 10-12 hours in the saddle). And my musculature may not be the only thing that needs altering. :-/ I love thinking aloud.
Somethings you can jump right into. Other things you have to learn a little bit about and then you can jump in. Others have a completely foreign culture (maybe) and take some getting used to.
I went to Jackson Hole, WY last year with some friends. One of the people I went with talked about doing a bike race from Logan, UT to Jackson (332 km). Initially, I thought he was nuts (I still kinda do), but I spent a lot of time after that trip riding my bike and running some shorter races.
And I realized I am addicted to adrenaline and to competition. I like the feeling of passing people and knowing I can pass more people. Or maybe I just like everyone looking at my butt.
Anyway, I want to do Lotoja (LOgan TO JAckson). One problem. My physiology. I'm a sprinter. This is made very obvious to me by my ability to be good in short bursts and breath heavily for a while and then do it again. And I have a 30+-inch vertical--meaning my musculature is at least 50% and likely 70+% fast-twitch X muscles.
I ran two 5k and one 3k race last year. I felt 5k was a little farther than I'd like to go and 3k is almost perfect (of course, I'd really prefer <400m, but those really don't exist). In any case, I placed very well in the races I ran.
Then I tried a super-short triathlon hosted by my university's tri club. I did it without any training during the two months prior to it and placed very well in my division (the one without the really good triathletes).
So anyway, I've been looking for local 5k to run this year--I want to run at least one a month (or 12 on the year, because January is gone and I didn't run one and I doubt I'm gonna run one in February). Also I've been looking at sprint-distance triathlons (200-800m swims, 10-15 mile bikes, 5k run) and there are a fair number nearby. But then Lotoja is in the back of my head.
For both the triathlons and Lotoja, I have to have a new bike. Period. The 5k obviously don't require a bike. I'll probably get a new bike in June, but if I want to do Lotoja I have to be riding 100+ miles/week prior to June and I don't know if my current bike can handle that.
I think the solution to my dilemma presented itself. Swim and run now. Keep biking to school. Compete in 5k events until I get a new bike, then do triathlons. Biking 10 miles is easy-peasy. Simple to do at top speed, especially on a new bike. Running and swimming are my crappy events anyway. Focus on Lotoja next year. Because I'll need more than 7 months (Feb to Sep to alter my physiology enough to last for 10-12 hours in the saddle). And my musculature may not be the only thing that needs altering. :-/ I love thinking aloud.
14 January 2011
Tolerance and love
While I was at home I ripped the entire series of M*A*S*H to dvd. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) So I've been watching it a lot recently. One of the topics that seems to come up frequently is the need to accept people for who they are and love them. This is evident through the interactions between Major Frank Burns and Captain Hawkeye Pierce.
Burns is a very intolerant person and often refers to the enemy (Korean War ==> Chinese) as "gooks." He uses this dehumanization of people to justify his doing his duty as a US officer. Because all the officers at M*A*S*H are doctors, they have a higher calling and responsibility than just to their country. Their Hippocratic oath is an oath to all humankind--therefore the lesson Hawkeye often must show by example is one of human decency--putting the enemy on the operating table ahead of American soldiers because they are more mortally wounded.
In one episode, Hawkeye starts quoting Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din--a poem about British occupation in India. The poem is linked here. As I read the poem, I was moved by the speaker's brutal honesty. He speaks of the need to fit in with his comrades, but also the need to treat the regimental bhisti with better respect, because he is a better man than the speaker.
The speaker speaks for all of us as we realize that often we act exactly as he did: we see that others whom we treat poorly are better people than we are, but for social reason--and any others--we may not have the inner fortitude to better our actions. And we essentially say with the speaker,
Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you.
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
Burns is a very intolerant person and often refers to the enemy (Korean War ==> Chinese) as "gooks." He uses this dehumanization of people to justify his doing his duty as a US officer. Because all the officers at M*A*S*H are doctors, they have a higher calling and responsibility than just to their country. Their Hippocratic oath is an oath to all humankind--therefore the lesson Hawkeye often must show by example is one of human decency--putting the enemy on the operating table ahead of American soldiers because they are more mortally wounded.
In one episode, Hawkeye starts quoting Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din--a poem about British occupation in India. The poem is linked here. As I read the poem, I was moved by the speaker's brutal honesty. He speaks of the need to fit in with his comrades, but also the need to treat the regimental bhisti with better respect, because he is a better man than the speaker.
The speaker speaks for all of us as we realize that often we act exactly as he did: we see that others whom we treat poorly are better people than we are, but for social reason--and any others--we may not have the inner fortitude to better our actions. And we essentially say with the speaker,
Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you.
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
28 December 2010
Unique teaching methods
A new movie burst into my top five tonight. I'm not sure which one it knocked out, so maybe my top five has six, but that's not the point.
I spent the last six hours or so working via a virtual private network (I love being able to do that). Luckily the work is mindless enough that I can watch movies and other things to keep myself entertained as I work. I had watched several episodes of M*A*S*H, but I felt need for a more in-depth, cohesive storyline, not something that changes every 25 minutes. So I plopped myself in front of my parent's DVD cabinet (hence the need for the VPN--working for a Utah-based company while in California can get pretty tricky) and searched for something new to watch.
I chose Charly a movie written by an LDS physics professor that I heard was "sappy" and "a total chick flick." Never having been too put off by such things (although most chick flicks are trash) I decided to watch it.
It is a definite tear-jerker and would have elicited more from me if I had not been partially focused on my work. I'm kinda glad I didn't see it for the first time with a girl because I may have lost all semblance of manliness in her eyes if I had. However, experience shows I may not be much better the second time around.
To move to my actual thoughts: the story is not about the love Sam and Charly have for each other. Their love is the vehicle for the underlying message: when love is founded in true principles, it can be eternal. That is, "happily ever after" is not a fairy tale. It can be reality if both individuals want it and work at it.
Some sort-of spoilers follow, but knowing what happens won't change the powerful emotional effect the movie has one you.
Movies that elicit powerful emotions quickly jump to be among my favourites. The last forty minutes (as I saw it--your experience may differ) is about a man who loves his family so much he will do anything, include acting contrary to God's will (a belief he holds very strongly) to try to ensure that family can live together. Sam takes every step he can think to hold onto Charly and Adam for as long as he can. But Charly's illness proves to be terminal.
Sam is a powerful example to men of how strongly they ought to love their wives. Together he and Charly teach the viewer how a couple must foster a relationship so it can last longer than "as long as you both shall live." Part of this is belief in correct principles, part of it is the continuation of courtship beyond marriage.
One symbol pervades the story: a ferris wheel. When Sam meets Charly, they ride the ferris wheel for hours, mostly annoyed with the other (you gotta watch it to understand why they would torture themselves like that). Here the wheel symbolizes the futility of their conversation and even their relationship to that point. It symbolizes a happy-go-lucky girl stuck in a constant state of college party and a too-old man (only within a certain culture ;) ) constantly stuck in his boring ways.
The first time they return to the ferris wheel (maybe the second?--I was working) they actually are engaged and each has progress toward the other. Now the ferris wheel symbolizes potential. They dream of creating a relationship that will last forever, a relationship that death cannot terminate.
Later they again return to the ferris wheel (the practical person in me wonders how it is still there, given the transient nature of most ferris wheels) and it symbolizes their immediate hope for an eternal relationship together. It is their last time to ride the wheel together. But it symbolizes eternity--the ride has no end. There is no beginning or end to a circle--there cannot be. Thus the ferris wheel symbolizes their hope and faith in an eternal relationship--what they worked so hard to create and what they look forward to when they are reunited after their deaths.
After Charly is buried, Sam takes Adam for a ride on the ferris wheel. The story begins again, but in a slightly different place. This last visit moves the circular story into three dimensions and we realize what was a circle in two dimensions is a helix in three. Throughout the story Sam and Charly have been circling on this ferris wheel, but each time they come back to it, they are on a higher plane--they are closer to both God and each other. This last time introduces Adam to the ferris wheel and begins his symbolic journey to mimic what he parents created.
Thus the author actually uses the relationship of Sam and Charly to teach the principle of eternal marriage. And hey preys on people's emotions to make the story hit home. Realizing how similar I am to the characters and how similar my life could be draws me into the story and makes their emotional roller coaster one I must experience, and one I should prepare for. I pray I never have to leave a young wife, and I pray I am never left by my wife when I am young, but I know I can overcome the trial with faith in God, with faith in His teachings and His gospel. No matter how many nights I end up crying myself to sleep if that happened to me, I know that pain will be replaced with joy, because I will be married for eternity.
What is perhaps my favourite line of the movie came after the credits ended, and summarizes my belief of life on earth and whether this is the totality of existence. I cite it verbatim:
Not The End
I spent the last six hours or so working via a virtual private network (I love being able to do that). Luckily the work is mindless enough that I can watch movies and other things to keep myself entertained as I work. I had watched several episodes of M*A*S*H, but I felt need for a more in-depth, cohesive storyline, not something that changes every 25 minutes. So I plopped myself in front of my parent's DVD cabinet (hence the need for the VPN--working for a Utah-based company while in California can get pretty tricky) and searched for something new to watch.
I chose Charly a movie written by an LDS physics professor that I heard was "sappy" and "a total chick flick." Never having been too put off by such things (although most chick flicks are trash) I decided to watch it.
It is a definite tear-jerker and would have elicited more from me if I had not been partially focused on my work. I'm kinda glad I didn't see it for the first time with a girl because I may have lost all semblance of manliness in her eyes if I had. However, experience shows I may not be much better the second time around.
To move to my actual thoughts: the story is not about the love Sam and Charly have for each other. Their love is the vehicle for the underlying message: when love is founded in true principles, it can be eternal. That is, "happily ever after" is not a fairy tale. It can be reality if both individuals want it and work at it.
Some sort-of spoilers follow, but knowing what happens won't change the powerful emotional effect the movie has one you.
Movies that elicit powerful emotions quickly jump to be among my favourites. The last forty minutes (as I saw it--your experience may differ) is about a man who loves his family so much he will do anything, include acting contrary to God's will (a belief he holds very strongly) to try to ensure that family can live together. Sam takes every step he can think to hold onto Charly and Adam for as long as he can. But Charly's illness proves to be terminal.
Sam is a powerful example to men of how strongly they ought to love their wives. Together he and Charly teach the viewer how a couple must foster a relationship so it can last longer than "as long as you both shall live." Part of this is belief in correct principles, part of it is the continuation of courtship beyond marriage.
One symbol pervades the story: a ferris wheel. When Sam meets Charly, they ride the ferris wheel for hours, mostly annoyed with the other (you gotta watch it to understand why they would torture themselves like that). Here the wheel symbolizes the futility of their conversation and even their relationship to that point. It symbolizes a happy-go-lucky girl stuck in a constant state of college party and a too-old man (only within a certain culture ;) ) constantly stuck in his boring ways.
The first time they return to the ferris wheel (maybe the second?--I was working) they actually are engaged and each has progress toward the other. Now the ferris wheel symbolizes potential. They dream of creating a relationship that will last forever, a relationship that death cannot terminate.
Later they again return to the ferris wheel (the practical person in me wonders how it is still there, given the transient nature of most ferris wheels) and it symbolizes their immediate hope for an eternal relationship together. It is their last time to ride the wheel together. But it symbolizes eternity--the ride has no end. There is no beginning or end to a circle--there cannot be. Thus the ferris wheel symbolizes their hope and faith in an eternal relationship--what they worked so hard to create and what they look forward to when they are reunited after their deaths.
After Charly is buried, Sam takes Adam for a ride on the ferris wheel. The story begins again, but in a slightly different place. This last visit moves the circular story into three dimensions and we realize what was a circle in two dimensions is a helix in three. Throughout the story Sam and Charly have been circling on this ferris wheel, but each time they come back to it, they are on a higher plane--they are closer to both God and each other. This last time introduces Adam to the ferris wheel and begins his symbolic journey to mimic what he parents created.
Thus the author actually uses the relationship of Sam and Charly to teach the principle of eternal marriage. And hey preys on people's emotions to make the story hit home. Realizing how similar I am to the characters and how similar my life could be draws me into the story and makes their emotional roller coaster one I must experience, and one I should prepare for. I pray I never have to leave a young wife, and I pray I am never left by my wife when I am young, but I know I can overcome the trial with faith in God, with faith in His teachings and His gospel. No matter how many nights I end up crying myself to sleep if that happened to me, I know that pain will be replaced with joy, because I will be married for eternity.
What is perhaps my favourite line of the movie came after the credits ended, and summarizes my belief of life on earth and whether this is the totality of existence. I cite it verbatim:
Not The End
25 December 2010
Christmas
Christmas is about potential. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who grew up to be the Saviour of all men. We collect as families and close friends to celebrate what will be. Maybe I'm not making sense.
Before the world was formed, God had a plan. His spirit children (us) needed a world to come to and experience life in a body and learn how to master bodies. He knew we would make many mistakes and needed a way fo us to be able to return to Him. (He is perfect and imperfect people can't come back to stay.)
Jesus Christ volunteered to come to earth as a mortal, like us, and suffer more than any man had ever suffered. He would experience the entirety of human experience and atone for all pain, lost, sickness, and sin--all imperfections--so we could return to God and live with Him forever.
We had known Jesus for a long time, and knew He was the only spirit sibling we had who could possibly make good on such a promise. We supported this and looked forward with faith to His life.
On Christmas day (or what we celebrate as Christmas day), Jesus was born to a virgin mother. Heaven had such trust in Jesus that angels proclaimed his birth across the world. A new star appeared, telling everyone the Saviour was born.
It is the beginning of His perfect life we celebrate today. We celebrate the potential of a tiny baby child; born in the muddy, flea-ridden stable; lain in an animal's feed trough for a bassinet to become the perfect example to all mankind of how to live and how to return to God's presence.
Christmas reminds us of our potential. Each of us can choose to be like Jesus. We can live following His example, repenting of our mistakes because He atoned for our sins. His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary's Cross allows us to repent and have our sins, though as scarlet blemishes on our souls become white as driven snow (see Isaiah 1:18).
Jesus allows us to fulfill God's plan, to fulfill our potential as children of the Most High. We can achieve limitless heights because He performed His mission on earth. We each must do the same. We must follow all His commandments and help other do the same. We must find and fulfill our purpose of life.
Then we, too, through Jesus' atonement that rights every wrong, will realize our potential as we stand before God and are ushered into His loving arms once again.
Before the world was formed, God had a plan. His spirit children (us) needed a world to come to and experience life in a body and learn how to master bodies. He knew we would make many mistakes and needed a way fo us to be able to return to Him. (He is perfect and imperfect people can't come back to stay.)
Jesus Christ volunteered to come to earth as a mortal, like us, and suffer more than any man had ever suffered. He would experience the entirety of human experience and atone for all pain, lost, sickness, and sin--all imperfections--so we could return to God and live with Him forever.
We had known Jesus for a long time, and knew He was the only spirit sibling we had who could possibly make good on such a promise. We supported this and looked forward with faith to His life.
On Christmas day (or what we celebrate as Christmas day), Jesus was born to a virgin mother. Heaven had such trust in Jesus that angels proclaimed his birth across the world. A new star appeared, telling everyone the Saviour was born.
It is the beginning of His perfect life we celebrate today. We celebrate the potential of a tiny baby child; born in the muddy, flea-ridden stable; lain in an animal's feed trough for a bassinet to become the perfect example to all mankind of how to live and how to return to God's presence.
Christmas reminds us of our potential. Each of us can choose to be like Jesus. We can live following His example, repenting of our mistakes because He atoned for our sins. His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary's Cross allows us to repent and have our sins, though as scarlet blemishes on our souls become white as driven snow (see Isaiah 1:18).
Jesus allows us to fulfill God's plan, to fulfill our potential as children of the Most High. We can achieve limitless heights because He performed His mission on earth. We each must do the same. We must follow all His commandments and help other do the same. We must find and fulfill our purpose of life.
Then we, too, through Jesus' atonement that rights every wrong, will realize our potential as we stand before God and are ushered into His loving arms once again.
19 December 2010
Home
The phrase apparently goes "Home is where the heart is." I believe the phrase was meant to be symbolic of where the subject's thoughts and preferences lay. I don't agree with that interpretation.
For the last 6 years I've lived away from home. I spent one year at university, two years in Toronto, and returned to university for the past three years. Although I love visiting my parents (what the symbolic interpretation of the phrase would imply is "home"), I know this isn't where I live. However, it is home. But only so far as I am living here for the next 10 days. Then I will return to the place I normally sleep and where I pay (too much for) rent and live 96% of the year.
But that wasn't always home. I've been in three different complexes at university this year. Each of those places was home for the time I lived there.
So what is my home? It's the place where my physical heart beats. It is wherever I am. Wherever my head hits the pillow at night, that is home. Home is literally where the heart is. And to make the symbolic statement true, I have to work to love where I am.
Maybe there's a lesson in that...
Love where you are; you never know how much longer you will be there.
For the last 6 years I've lived away from home. I spent one year at university, two years in Toronto, and returned to university for the past three years. Although I love visiting my parents (what the symbolic interpretation of the phrase would imply is "home"), I know this isn't where I live. However, it is home. But only so far as I am living here for the next 10 days. Then I will return to the place I normally sleep and where I pay (too much for) rent and live 96% of the year.
But that wasn't always home. I've been in three different complexes at university this year. Each of those places was home for the time I lived there.
So what is my home? It's the place where my physical heart beats. It is wherever I am. Wherever my head hits the pillow at night, that is home. Home is literally where the heart is. And to make the symbolic statement true, I have to work to love where I am.
Maybe there's a lesson in that...
Love where you are; you never know how much longer you will be there.
14 November 2010
Me, the Bari-tenor
So I love to sing. Not that I'm particularly talented, mind you. I just love to do it. For most of my semi-adult life (age 14 on) I've considered myself a bass. I've got good low range (I bottom out around D2/C2--deep C or "the C below 'low C'") and I can push myself to reach E4 (F4 on a really good day--just above middle C (C4)).
And then one day, singing in my car I realizes there aren't many cool songs for basses. Thus I must improve my upper range and become a baritone or 2nd tenor. Boy, that was fun. So I've been experimenting with singing tenor in church choir. Lucky for me, I live in an area where tenors are in plentiful supply (usually good tenors are the hardest to find at church). Thus I have the ability to hear a good tenor in both ear and match where I need to pitch my voice.
Stretching my limits has been very fun. I sang a song over summer that required a G4 (a step and a half above my normal max) that I had to falsetto, but it has been fun to learn to hear the higher range of notes. Bass is easy to pick out because it is the lowest note you hear.
So anyway, I can sing bass better than most, and my tenor is coming along, if a little short on the upper end. Either way I love it.
And then one day, singing in my car I realizes there aren't many cool songs for basses. Thus I must improve my upper range and become a baritone or 2nd tenor. Boy, that was fun. So I've been experimenting with singing tenor in church choir. Lucky for me, I live in an area where tenors are in plentiful supply (usually good tenors are the hardest to find at church). Thus I have the ability to hear a good tenor in both ear and match where I need to pitch my voice.
Stretching my limits has been very fun. I sang a song over summer that required a G4 (a step and a half above my normal max) that I had to falsetto, but it has been fun to learn to hear the higher range of notes. Bass is easy to pick out because it is the lowest note you hear.
So anyway, I can sing bass better than most, and my tenor is coming along, if a little short on the upper end. Either way I love it.
12 November 2010
Twilight
(Originally dated December 2009)
I honestly can't believe I'm blogging about this. Actually, I can't believe I watched Twilight.
I honestly can't believe I'm blogging about this. Actually, I can't believe I watched Twilight.
I have mixed feelings about it. Yes. It was as bad an awkward as everyone said. The music was cheesy, and the acting seemed poor as well.
But it other ways, I was very impressed. As bad as Rob Pattinson's performance was (I was reminded of Hayden Christensen's Star Wars performances) both he and Kristin Stewart played the awkward high schoolers perfectly. The script could either be labeled as horrible, or as perfectly representative of high school relationships. Add to that the strangeness of an emotionally troubled girl thinking she is in love with an equally emotionally troubled vampire. (Although you'd think that he'd be a little more in control after "living" for 100+ years.)
The strange camera angles can be seen as reflecting Bella's troubled mind as well as Edward's mental instability in regard to Bella (actually it was horribly accurate to how I felt around one particular woman).
(I had more to say at the time, but I found this in my draft box and decided to publish this.)
(I had more to say at the time, but I found this in my draft box and decided to publish this.)
Less inspiring, no less interesting
When I started this blog, I felt it would be important to monitor where my traffic (visitors) came from--or at least how many visitors I had. I thought that's what the SiteMeter widget would do. It doesn't.
However, some time between when I last blogged frequently and now, blogger has added a sweet analytics interface to my admin dashboard. And what I can see is super cool. Since this architecture was implemented, I can track my most frequently read posts, and the sources that send people to my blog. Yay for Google buying blogger and integrating GoogleAnalytics into the blog interface!
That said, why is "Unclog the Flow" my most-read post? Please comment, I'd love to know your thoughts. (Although if you do so anonymously (i.e. don't have a gmail account for some odd reason (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?)), please leave some hint for me to know who you are.
However, some time between when I last blogged frequently and now, blogger has added a sweet analytics interface to my admin dashboard. And what I can see is super cool. Since this architecture was implemented, I can track my most frequently read posts, and the sources that send people to my blog. Yay for Google buying blogger and integrating GoogleAnalytics into the blog interface!
That said, why is "Unclog the Flow" my most-read post? Please comment, I'd love to know your thoughts. (Although if you do so anonymously (i.e. don't have a gmail account for some odd reason (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?)), please leave some hint for me to know who you are.
11 November 2010
Jesus Logic
At first this may sound a little blasphemous. It's not, I promise. (As an aside, I freaking hate toaster ovens. I can't even toast things properly.)
In Toronto I met a lot of people whose opinions about Jesus varied. "He was a good guy." "He was a fraud." "He taught good things." "He was the Son of God." "He was a charlatan."
While opinions are well and good, we can know Truth. We can know exactly what Jesus was/is/will be. The Spirit will guide us to this knowledge as we are prepared.
However, what helps me is whether things make sense. Regardless of what my mother claims, I feel I am a logical person whose opinions are based in fact and reason. Thus we shall take a lawyer-influenced look at Jesus and His claims.
We know Jesus taught many things taken as truth and as beneficial. However, are they really? Can we really trust a man who claimed he was the Son of God? In a court case, if a witness is proven to have lied on the stand, even once in hours of testimony, the entire testimony is often discounted and the witness is assumed to have lied about everything. This must happen because picking truth from lies is impossible.
Similarly, we can put the testimony of Jesus on trial. Without doubt, the claim that he was the son of a God and a mortal woman is the most questionable he ever made. If someone can disprove that claim, the entirety of his teachings falls apart. Thus the Beatitudes become useless--for they are obviously taught by a liar, His commands to love one another become unnecessary, etc.
Following that track, any teaching that has come since derived from Jesus' words is also false, any teaching from other perceived great men (Ghandi, Confucius, Mohammad, etc) agreeing or citing Jesus must also be taken as false. As you can see, claim Jesus is only a great man and not 100% what He said He was leads to the disruption of much of the moral code the world follows.
However, if He is the perfect Son of God--a knowledge any willing person can gain--all of His teaching (even the ones you don't like) must be true (because He could not lie) and must be followed in order to gain the Eternal Life He promises to His disciples. This is the case because the Son of God would have full authority to speak on any subject, and His words would be eternal law. Thus evaluating Jesus' claim to divine sonship is the crux of most arguments about Christianity.
So the decision comes to you. Will you throw away the morality of the world by believing He is less than what He claimed to be, or will you discover whether He is the Son of God?
My knowledge is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He died and was resurrected so each person who ever lived may gain Eternal Life by following His teachings. Logic supports it and the confirmation of the Spirit irrefutably confirms it.
10 November 2010
Accountability
Any of you who have had an in-depth discussion with me recently know I have been on a kick about agency. You ask me, "what should I do?" and, like a very wise person I know, I answer, "Do what you want." Well, at least that's my answer to most people who already have an idea of what they ought to do. For people who are completely unsure or who I think need guidance I am an endless source of unwanted advice. That said, I still try to end the discussion with "Do what you want."
I take great comfort in the fact we must each answer for our own choices. It makes sense. If my friends came to me for advice and I had to answer to God for their choices, I would not have any friends, nor would I choose to share my opinions. But we will each answer for our own choices. Therefore we have two burdens on us: (1) choose to do what is best for us in all situations and (2) suggest people do the same--this is an action we must answer for also.
So when it comes to you to choose, do what you want. But want to do your best and what God wants you to do.
28 October 2010
30 December 2009
Frequent inconsistancy
I love how my blogging inconsistency is so consistent. Things happen in my life and you know where they go? My journal. Where else?
So the questions becomes, what is blogging really for? I suppose it's a passive way to tell the world what's going on with your life. But why? Wouldn't they ask if they cared?
Or do we do it to entertain others? I'd be surprised if more than ten people end up reading this. (To prove me wrong, leave a comment. (And I'd be happy, albeit surprised to be proven wrong.)) But how do we try to maintain semi-anonymity (the internet is dangerous, despite what some may think) and still share personal experiences? It is possible?
Can I do anything except ask rhetorical questions?
(Might a blog be a place for debate and discussion? A forum of ideas? Mmmm...)
18 September 2009
Genius
So I was reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and came across this awesome quote. It's pure genius.
"In the great literature of progressive societies, love is a verb. Reactive people make it a feeling. They're driven by feelings. Hollywood has generally scripted us to believe that we are no responsible that we are a product of our feelings. But the Hollywood script does not describe the reality. If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to do so.
"Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for people who offend or do not love in return. If you are a parent, look at the love you have for the children you sacrificed for. Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Proactive people subordinate feelings to values. Love, the feeling, can be recaptured." (p. 80)
03 September 2009
Genesis
And so school begins anew. There's not much more to say than that. Basically time is split between good and better things.
Life is always easier when I prioritize. Best thing to do: wake up early (like 530) and read scriptures. For me, everything follows very easily after that. When I put the most important things first (chronologically) in my day, the rest of it flows pretty much perfectly after that. Not that there aren't flaws that creep up, but all my priorities are straight.
So then I go to work. Laundry is so much fun. :) (Yes, of course that is sarcastic.) I work till my first class starts about 900 and then it's off to the races.
The Lord blessed me a lot this year and so I am living one of my dreams: I am coaching a high school volleyball team. Like as the head coach. Yeah, crazy, eh? Crazier still when it takes about 20-30 hours of my week. But I love it. It gives me something to do and forces me to plan and execute my plans well. I get a lot more done when I am constantly busy. But then, doesn't everybody?
Genesis really has nothing to do with anything but the first line of this post.
But a fun scripture in Genesis gives insight to what God looks like. (Yeah, whoa! God looks like something?)
Yup, Genesis 1:26-27 read: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . So God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
How can God create something in His image if He doesn't have an image after which to form us? He can't; it's impossible. Even for God. So the logical conclusion is God has an image and likeness. This isn't completely conclusive that God has a physical body, but mix it up with some NT scriptures and you gotta believe it.
18 August 2009
John 5:39
Here's some vintage Lee J blogging:
I get really annoyed with people taking the scriptures out of context. Take John 5:39 for instance.
"Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
So pretty much every person I know quotes this scripture in order to prove the importance of reading the scriptures. The logical reasoning they use is that the scriptures contain eternal life.
With a more accurate reading of the text, we realise that Jesus is rebuking people for believing that the scriptures contain eternal life. They don't. No matter how hard you try, you will never gain eternal life from reading the scriptures.
The verses surrounding v. 39 tell us that everything Christ does testify of Him as the source of eternal life. And v. 39 supports this reading. Jesus says "[the scriptures] are they which testify of me." They testify of Him as the source of eternal life. He follows with v. 40: "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Coming to Him is the only way to achieve eternal life. Period.
So read the scriptures right. Don't take them out of context. Know what Jesus (or whoever is writing them) is really saying, and don't quote it to make the wrong point. Just make sure you cite John 5:39 to prove the point that the scriptures testify of Jesus and He brings eternal life.
15 August 2009
Beauty
Wow. Two posts in a month. It's like a record or something (until you look at my first four months blogging, and then two posts is kinda crappy.)
Skipping the age story (still not the right time), I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about Beauty--what it is and how we know something/-one is beautiful. And since I'm a man, I'm going to be biased toward women's beauty.
First off, I have to say I disagree wholeheartedly with the thought that beauty is only skin deep. I think that is a shallow definition of the word and espoused by people only slightly less shallow. (In four months I haven't really become any less judgmental.) But I wholly agree that ugliness runs to the bone. (This doesn't refer to the physical definition.)
People manifest beauty in many ways. We obviously think of beauty in the physical sense. We see magazines glorifying this type of beauty at every checkout register of every grocery store. But how many delve into a more comprehensive definition of beauty? How many of us look beyond the face to see what's inside? Innate talents and personality greatly affect my vision of another's beauty.
(I should note that everyone has different ideas of what constitutes beauty. It could include intangible character traits such as intelligence, courage, daring, wittiness, or stubbornness. Or beauty could include very specific physical characteristics--fingernails, eye colour, or hair length. I give these only as examples, not as conclusive exposés of what I consider beauty.)
Women generally become more beautiful to me as I learn more about them (sometimes this goes in the reverse). Perhaps this is a mental connection I make as they talk about who they are. Also my observations of women's actions/abilities change how beautiful they are to me. Also my interpretation of beauty is affected by how similar she is to what I think beauty entails, whether it be physical, mental, emotion, personal, etc. The closer she is, the more beautiful I consider her.
Two examples may help illustrate. To me, a woman with little physical beauty is much more beautiful when I hear her classically-trained voice. This not physical characteristic makes her more beautiful to me. Or if she shares goals/aspirations/opinions (although disagreeing with me can be more attractive (depends on the topic)) with me, she immediately becomes more exciting/attractive/beautiful.
I guess what it comes down to is that certain characteristics people have, certain things they say/do are considered beautiful. These add up to (hopefully) overcome areas where they are not as beautiful as another.
But, all that aside, women who try their best to be beautiful should always be praised for their efforts--in whatever manner they add to the world's beauty.
12 August 2009
Blog? What blog?
So apparently when I get busy, my blogging decreases. And when I'm no longer busy again, then I forget I have a blog. Kinda sad, eh?
Well, it's more sad when you find out that my blog is one of my bookmarks that is so prominently shown on my browser.
Nothing major has changed in the last four months (maybe that's why I haven't written--little to pontificate about). I still like women, volleyball, school, and religion. Maybe a few things have changed. I no longer live with freshmen and am now breathing the fresh air of social interaction with people close to my own age.
It's fun to live where I do. What's interesting is I am among the youngest guys there, but am older than most of the women in the complex. Yay for two year missions. While I may not agree that those years "don't count," (I think I had between four and eight years worth of memories) missions give guys a chance to mature and catch up.
Not that age should matter, but that's another story. (One I might share a little sooner than December.)
17 March 2009
New Post
So perhaps my title is a little facetious, but I haven't written in a while. Not for lack of profound things to say, but for a lack of time. Funny how my last blog was about time...
School kinda closed in around me and has sucked my resources dry. Several of my classes are much more intense than I thought they would be, but I am trying to balance all of my assignments. And I'm fairly successful in doing so. It just leaves me without energy. That's not too bad, but I spent last week sick and didn't do any homework. So now I feel the heat.
Especially since I have two big tests in the next two days, and I haven't really studied for either of them. Well, c'est la vie.
I saw someone write that on his facebook page the other day. Only he had no clue how it was spelled. I was slightly offended (because the French would be), but also laughed my head off. "Se la vi`" is just NOT how it is spelled.
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