Lost Fragments in Time

Look, I've been enjoying the summer. Yes, posts are coming soon. Yes, I am pretending someone out there cares.

Fragments for those scoring at home:

Our oldest will be shipped off to kindergarten this year and I have mixed feelings. Someone asked me if my wife would cry on the first day, I told them I would be crying as well. Things I will miss that will soon be going away are mispronounced words (most of which is for food for some reason: "Tater Tots" (for Sweet tarts),  "Gorilla Bar" (granola bar), "Strange Cheese" (string cheese) or "Stunk" (for skunk). So cute.

Pondering doing good in system that is morally corrupt - am I helping the system by helping it stay afloat?

Saw a Confederate flag flying  (yes, a big ass flag in the back of at truck, you couldn't get more tacky)...out of my neighbor's daughter's boyfriend's truck (whew)....I always hated that but now with our family becoming transracial - I hate it even more. It's insulting.

Gearing up for the fall and getting really excited.

Maybe my love affair with religion and comic books stems from my fascination with magic. I honestly believe most good things in life on this planet happen because we're all trying to transcend the everyday hum-drum existence or at least transcend death.

Lately my head has been swimming with the thoughts of God's existence or non-existence, I suppose reading The Rebel will do that to you - I keep coming back to my ideas about why I think God does exist and frankly, they aren't that good, which is why I fall back on Kierkegaard's ideas so heavily.

Making a mix CD for a friend for the first time in YEARS. It's fun. Debating wheather the first track should be the theme song of Perfect Strangers or "The Book I Write" by Spoon.

Now that I am thinking about it....enjoy!


Update: Perfect Strangers did indeed open the CD - how could I have ever considered something else?

Frag - Mints

DAH.


I have fallen behind for whatever reason.

Working on a complete re-recording of my old radio show back in college (the awkwardly named, The Paba Free Show). It's quite ambitious actually. I am editing clips and songs to create one massive WAV file that will be as if the listener (that will be me pretty much) is listening to a old tape - in order to move forward you will have to just wait or fast forward. No skipping tracks. I know, I know, kinda weird but sometimes I miss the 20th century.

I'm Free baby - I'm not the chair.

Started getting obsessive about the Spurs again. Re-read newspapers from 1999 and started tracking down old NBA games on YouTube. Cracked up the Dynasty DVD's as well. Cool beans, yo.

Revamping all my classes for the fall except World Civ I. Fun but challenging.

Weezer Concert Review Coming this Week (maybe Thursday or Friday).

Gotta run, I need clean my room, desk and do laundry, etc. It's a good thing Netflix has Star Trek :TNG on streaming. Boy o Boy that made me happy. The other day my wife called it Star Wars. I had the typical reaction. "Uh honey - no - it's MUCH different". Luckily, I like both (keep in mind, I pretend the whole prequels were never made).

Actually watching Darth Vader at the Beach would be better than watching any of the prequels.

Thought of the Day

Why does my ear hair grow so fast? What if this rate of growth for my ear hair could be transposed to hair growth for bald men? It would make a lot of people very happy.

I'm just glad I have light hair because I would have to cut those damn hairs everyday if they were black.

What I Learned As Chair....

I am three days away of not being academic chair of my department at work.

Here are some bullet-points of wisdom that I learned:

(Note: I have never figured out how to use bullet-points on this blog, so just imagine them there with each little paragraph or sentence)


(Side note: Why are they called "bullet- points" -- why is our language so inundated with the culture of violence?)


Your organization is only as good as its processes. The college district I work for either does not follow its processes and policies or just reacts ad hoc to problems with no real strategy or planning. This really amounts to headaches, finger pointing and a general malaise that does not create a positive working environment.

Most people that complain just need someone to listen. They need someone else to let them know they understand how they are feeling and that someone cares. Sometimes this involves acting like you understand or care.

When people complain they want to feel like there is a "game plan" going forward. Even if said "game plan" doesn't have a shot at them actually getting what they want. (It sure as hell makes it easier getting them out the door).

"So you're saying there's a chance?"

Telling people they aren't doing their job right is a hard thing to do.

Never underestimate the power of those "below you" on the totem pole. Treat everyone nice and you will see rewards all the time. I don't say this in a Machiavellian sense - although I would be lying if I wasn't unaware of the positive outcomes of following the "Golden Rule".  

Sometimes it's best to apologize, even when it's not your fault. You just got to do it sometimes. There's not enough time or effort to fight worth less battles for your ego.

That's about it in a nutshell...

"You SPIT in MY face!"

It was twenty-two years ago this summer at church camp when I spit in someone's face for the first and hopefully last time. The details are blurry - although the face is not. This kid was up in my face for something, I honestly don't remember what it was all about and it happened. It was totally thoughtless and pointless...its just something that I thought about doing and did because I was insulted. It's a good thing this kid was slightly smaller than me as well because he didn't take it very kindly.

He just kept saying "You SPIT in MY face!" over and over - it was so bad he had me apologizing by the third or fourth iteration, which of course resulted in another, incredulous, "You SPIT in MY face!".

This was the first day of summer camp and I can't remember how it all settled out - except to say, with a few friends I can still say, "You SPIT in MY face!" and we can start giggling again.

Fragment Trek

Almost done with my chairship (I don't think that's quite a word but whatever). At this point the waiting has gotten to the fever stage. I have a hard time concentrating at work and I am behind on my grading (which I am putting off even as I type). Don't let anyone ever tell you 8:00 AM's Monday-Thursdays are easy....boy, I don't know how regular people do it. I get up so early I don't see the kids at all.

This week I was presented with a possible opportunity that would be awesome. I don't know when it would be or if I could even go due to our adoption (as it would have me leaving the country for three weeks) - and the person that might arrange for it to happen might not be in his position in the next two years....so....we'll just have to see how it pans out. For now, I doubt it will all happen, but it's an exciting thought.

Speaking of our adoption, we are making serious headway on our waitlist. I wish we could get our son now but waiting isn't all bad. We have time to prepare logistically and emotionally, etc.

Just made a few purchases off Amazon and the two books I bought pretty much sum up my current interests and personality quite well, Albert Camus' The Rebel and Marvel's Planet Hulk collection (which, even by non-geek standards is pretty cool, well on second thought, no, it's only cool on comic/science-fiction standards, most normal people would think it's stupid).

HOT OFF THE PRESS BLOG NEWS
(wow that was exiciting, eh?)

Experiments in Living: A Week Without "Made In China" as been postponed until at least mid-July. I just want to finish my five-week class first.

Weezer Concert Review: Coming Soon. I wrote most of it and then got bored (not exactly the best advertising for that post, I know).

Also, thinking of visiting the local Sikh center one of these weekends.  If I do, I'll have a report.

Here is a picture of Jean Luc Picard because, let's face it, you just can't go wrong with a picture of Jean Luc Picard to end a blog post. It's gold. "Engage!"

Walking into Faith

Why does it always seem to take a crisis to believe?

Why can't we just take the plunge before we find ourselves in a dire situation?

Pride? Stupidity?

Maybe we're just wired that way.

Like Indiana Jones I think you can't see the bridge until you actually walking on it. It's not a freaking Jedi mind trick, it's like asking a blind man to describe a sunset - we're incapable of seeing until we believe. If you think God is dead, then, he's dead.

As I struggle to believe-- I wonder why the things that always bring me back are the things I can't handle.

It's not that pushing the rock up the hill endlessly isn't impossible alone, Sisyphus did it, as did Camus. The point is, it doesn't have to be that way. So while I relax now, comfortable in my air conditioned house to doubt, over analyze and ponder -- I wait knowing that a storm is coming and I don't want to go through it alone.

Like all storms this means preparation is in order and that means I have work to do.