Go

This week I am beginning to work through some life and death problems from "Get Strong at Life And Death" by Richard Bozulich. I played a game on Monday and although I was tired I feel that the life and death is where I lose points and territory. But heck it's a lot of other stuff too.

I'm listening to Joanna Newsom's "Ys" album, which is still as exquisite and beautiful as ever. Micah gave me some new music to listen to as well, which is great cuz I need some fresh music. Out.

Hard to get

Here are some lyrics by Rich Mullins which are special to me. "Hard to Get."

You who live in heaven
Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love
And who get hardened by the hurt

Do you remember when You lived down here where we all scrape
To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did You forget about us after You had flown away
Well I memorized every word You said

Still I'm so scared, I'm holding my breath
While You're up there just playing hard to get

You who live in radiance
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that's not as patient as Yours was
Still we do love now and then

Did You ever know loneliness
Did You ever know need
Do You remember just how long a night can get?
When You were barely holding on
And Your friends fall asleep
And don't see the blood that's running in Your sweat
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While You're up there just playing hard to get?

And I know you bore our sorrows
And I know you feel our pain
And I know it would not hurt any less
Even if it could be explained

And I know that I am only lashing out
At the One who loves me most
And after I figured this, somehow
All I really need to know

Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead
And we can not get free of what we've left behind

I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All the words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here
Where I'm lost enough to let myself be led
And so You've been here all along I guess

It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get.

Ninety nine

"He left the ninety nine...."

We really are a bunch of ragamuffins except for grace. One of my biggest problems is that I'm so quick to forget what I have, and that god's way is the right way. Aren't we just like sheep to go wandering from the pasture thinking we have a better sense of what's good for us than the shepherd?

New evidence for global warming!!!

Statement as of 05:27 PM EST on January 17, 2009

... Record low temperature set at Williamsport PA...

A record low temperature of -13 degrees was set at Williamsport PA
today. This breaks the old record of -12 set in 1982.








Hahahahahahaa...... riiiiiight......

a primary human fault

I am becoming convinced that one of a human's primary faults is our susceptibility to distraction. How many good intentions and worthy goals have been set aside because we are too easily distracted from them?

Dangerously Doubling Bubbles of Gum

What happens if you chew two pieces of double bubble at the same time?

QUADRUPLE BUBBLE!

But wait, what if I chewed ANOTHER piece of double bubble bubble gum. Would I get a septuple? Actually, no. I would get an OCTUPLE! And I'm not even going to talk about a fourth piece of gum because that would be completely INSANE!

lost and found: one netflix customer

There are two things I really really hate. Okay probably more but only two that have to do with what I'm about to write. One thing I hate is when I buy a piece of software or download something or buy a printer or a camera or any piece of technology and the stupid piece of junk doesn't work! I mean, holy crap! Hewlett Packard, you sell five million printers and you can't get your stinking drivers updated? Yeah, that kinda thing really gets under my skin.

The other thing that gets under my skin? Crappy customer service. I mean every time I call Sallie Mae I spend fifteen minutes pressing buttons trying to navigate menus while my stupid hands-free thingy pops out of my ear every thirty seconds. Finally I speak to a human being and I get some stranger from pluto saying "Haalloooo dis be jar jar binks how can I heeelp you wid yo loan financial moneyyyy serbice accounty?" Yeah, so it gets under my skin.

So last night I was pretty bored, and on a whim decided I'd try Netflix. Cuz you know they say "Try one month free!" and expect that I'll stay keep using it after stealing a month of free service (and, being a born sucker, they're often right). So I get all stoked thinking I'm going to watch some streaming movie on my computer in like five minutes. So let me ask you a question. Do you think it worked? Do you think I logged on and pressed the lousy "play now" button on the lousy japanese anime movie and the lousy thing worked? It didn't work. Holy cow, I hate that.

I tried to fix it. Sure I did. Cuz I love movies, and I want what I want when I want it right now. Tried reinstalling stuff and searching forum boards about netflix error messages and all that nonsense. Did I get mad? Oh yeah. Lousy Netflix, they really pulled my chain. I was gonna write a consumer letter the likes of which Netflix had never seen. I was going to put such inflammatory verbiage on that letter that their greedy little eyeballs would melt out of their sockets.

That's what I was going to do. Instead I noticed the toll free help line. And it was a 24/7 help line. I didn't feel much better. Cuz really, who wants to talk to Jar Jar Binks at night or any other time, even if he wants to help? So I dial the number. And it asks me to type in the netflix customer service number on my screen. So I dial the six numbers. Ring ring "Hi this is scott how can I help you?" His name was Scott, and he spoke English. Not English. AMERICAN.

And he did everything a good customer service person should do. He made me feel like I mattered. And darn it, I DO matter! He knew what was wrong, explained it, walked me through, stayed on the phone while my computer rebooted for four minutes, and made sure it worked.

Now, I don't expect good customer service very often. I expect technology problems on a regular basis. I expect bad customer service most of the time. I thought Netflix would work quickly, and was upset that it didn't but the cynical voice inside me felt somewhat triumphant. But a positive customer service experience flipped the situation upside down, or inside out, or rightside left or something. It didn't restore my faith in humanity, since I never had any to begin with, but it turned me into a satisfied customer. Oh, and I got to watch "Space Battleship Yamato" which is a fantastic anime classic which had a huge influence on Star Wars and all the other epic space opera movies. And I just finished watching Dirty Harry. And I might even watch Season One of Heroes or The Office or something. Netflix: good stuff.

August news update.

FYI between moving and adjusting to a new job I've been pretty stinking busy but I am still going to try and keep this blog regular once things settle down a tiny bit. So for starters here's a news update.

As of this afternoon, I am completely finished with my mentorship at work. The program I counsel in is a six month program for kids in the juvenile corrections system. I'm pretty exhausted from picking up some overtime right now. My job involves working on the floor with kids, which means supervising and redirecting and when necessary processing poor behavior. When supervising I'll roam the halls, help transport, run bathroom breaks, shower breaks, etc. The kids might be kids but they aren't exactly trust-worthy, so they're never ever unattended. My counseling job involves working with a client (kids), his family, and his county. That includes weekly individual counseling sessions, family conferences every two weeks, talking with probation officers, going to court with the kid, and a truly remarkable quantity of paperwork. Fortunately I only have one client on my case load but that will change very quickly to seven or so. I get up at 5 AM to go to work four days of the week, and then have one PM shift on Sunday. I've worked two double-shifts this week. It's surprising how quickly sixteen hours will fly by. I did that on Monday and yesterday, both immediately followed by AM shifts; I'm going to try to avoid doing that more than once a week, but overtime is a great opportunity right now. That's a basic summary of work.

The apartment has been pretty nice. My roommate and I don't see each other that much because we have opposite working hours, but we get along well when we do and are both clean. Hmmm not much else to update right now, or at least not off the top of my very sleepy head. Powers out.

July News Update

Since I don't have time to write anything worthwhile I will just give a quick and general news update. (It's sort of a compromise.)

First of all, I'm starting a new job this coming Monday which I'm stoked about. I will be working for a youth and family services center which runs programs to help restore first time juvenile offenders. It will be challenging, but will probably be fulfilling as well. I've had one friend ask me if it is going to be too much, and here's what I told her: this is my ticket to a different place. Starting this job is like stepping onto a plane that promises to fly me to new and better opportunities. I may or may not like it enough to stick with it for years, but one thing is for sure I am going to stay on that plane until I know I can safely land, because if I step out before the plane lands all I'm going to get is a nasty fall.

Second, I'm moving to a new apartment in Shippensburg on Friday. I will have one roommate, Jason; he is a great guy and I think we will get along fine. The apartment is brand new and very beautiful, the city is beautiful, and I think I'm really going to enjoy living there. Eventually I'm going to go crazy with room design and be my very own design star. I'll start small of course; getting a bed trumps any decorational impulses.

And here's a few random things taking up my time and thought. I've been playing the ancient and wonderful game of go at least every day with the free program igowin. I am not quite ready to play an experienced human (my college professors), but at some point will have to swallow my pride and enjoy the learning experience of getting my butt handed to me. I found a fantastic turn-based strategy game for my phone, "Mobile Battles: Reign of Swords"; it's a great way to pass time when I'm stuck somewhere and don't have any light reading to pass a few minutes. It even offers an online component to battle other players. Much too fun for a phone. For reading, I put aside anything periferal for awhile and am starting to work through Plato's Republic. I am also starting an intensive study of Philippians. In very very tiny bites.

And here is one more thing I am really excited about: my philosophy professor has announced a new online graduate program which is unlike anything ever offered by that place. It will be a Great Books program focusing on sustained reading and discussion of books representing the major western worldviews throughout history. For example, the first course pairs study of Homer's Iliad representing poetic polytheism with Plato's Republic representing philosophic monotheism. I don't know if I'll be able to take one of these classes this fall (though I'd love to if time permits), but it looks like I may be able to start pursuing a Master's after all. And heck, even if it was for no degree at all, they are still going to be incredible courses. Knowing how great the teaching will be, I would probably sign up anyway. The great books courses would take 15 of 30 credits required for a Masters of Science in Biblical Ministries. Oh and my favorite seminary professor is in charge of the MSBM program so whatever else I would need to take would be excellent.

So on the whole, life is getting exciting. Finances are still pretty scary, and the Escort has "issues", but I think things will hold together. Maybe I'll give a monthly news update or something. Ciao.

Review: Getting Things Done

I have not had much success applying strategies from productivity gurus. I am referring to books like "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven Covey, and other books which share use top-down strategies to order our lives. There are two reasons why these have not worked for me. The first is technical: day-to-day life happens on the level of "stuff". The myriad of small tasks of varying importance and in multiple contexts hampers the effectiveness of top-down approaches. The second reason is a personal one. The entire mindset of these books is very unappealing to me. Books which simplify and systemize our entire lives, such as Covey's books, seem to suck the imagination and life right out of living. Peter Pan would barf and toss these books to his crocodile buddy.

Incredibly, one productivity book has managed to overcome my objections: David Allen's "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" has succeeded where other books failed. "Getting Things Done" (from now on I'll refer to it as GTD) has made quite a splash since its release in 2001. It's influence is already pervasive and some of the most useful blogs on the internet swear by it. I probably see it randomly mentioned every week. So for anyone who doesn't know much about it, I'd like to summarize the book and at the same time show how beneficial Allen's method has been for me.

First of all, GTD is not a top-down approach. Allen explains that "...most people are so embroiled in commitments on a day-to-day level that their ability to focus successfully on the larger horizon is seriously impaired. Consequently, a bottom-up approach is usually more effective." Allen is dead on. I already do plenty of big-picture thinking, and it really hasn't helped me deal with the nitty-gritty details of whatever messy projects and tasks are on my plate. Allen admits that a lot of times what is needed are a few tricks. GTD has equipped me to better deal with my responsibilities, and in some cases gave me some trick that helped make all the difference.

The second problem I've had with productivity books is more complex. I believe it is important to maintain a little bit of a child-like disposition in life. My impressions of the professional world are that it creates uniformity and kills creativity. It's very easy to figure out where my attitudes come from: I grew up watching Mary Poppins and Peter Pan, and Peter Pan was the first "big book" that I owned and read. I think I got that book out of my grandpa's library after his funeral. Both of these stories portray growing up as a very dangerous thing to do, and I've never stopped worrying that I will become old, dry, boring, and bored. But whether I like it or not, life happens, and responsibilities accumulate. And here is how "Getting Things Done" succeeds where others fail: without wasting time suggesting a cookie-cutter pattern for my life, it aids in conquering mundane tasks and responisibilities so that my energy can return to the activities that excite me. As I've implemented Allen's method, I've found myself able to mentally relax and in general am feeling a lot more creative again. That's pretty much fantastic!

Here is a quick summary of the GTD method. Allen describes a five-stage workflow: collecting anything that commands our attention, processing, organizing the results, reviewing the options, and taking action. Going through these steps for the first time is a huge project; Allen suggests taking several days to do this. It took me quite awhile to get all the papers and "open-loops" collected or written down, and several hours of work to organize them. Fortunately, Allen does plenty of hand-holding through this. If someone as absent minded and flighty as myself can do it, anyone can. Allen also includes chapters on developing and tracking projects (really excellent stuff) and deciding what to do next at any given moment. As a manual, it is very well written. It gives brief overviews of everything before going into greater detail. By the time you are implementing it, you already have a decent grasp of the material.

Allen sold me in the early chapters, so I dived in with both feet. It took awhile, but the results are wonderful. I have no loose unorganized papers anywhere. Before I did GTD, my mind felt like it was completely in knots. It's felt that way for years. Now that I don't carry the anxiety of lots of unidentified mental baggage and millions of unsorted papers, my mind feels relaxed and focused. GTD also helps me keep a clear picture of any tasks in front of me, and it's much easier to decide what to do next. Tackling a "next action" list feels a bit like a game. I hope to get one down to zero someday. I am more productive and am feeling more energetic. The method is also somewhat flexible: everyone's implementation will vary a bit. I use a clipboard with next-action divded by context, big wallets to hold file folders in place of a file cabinet, basic office supplies, a paper calendar, and four trays for "inbox", "next action / outbox", "data entry" (for business cards and such), and "waiting for". Very low tech, which is how I like it.

Only time will tell what effect all this will have on me. Increased responsibilities will be the real test of GTD's effectiveness. Although GTD will hold special appeal to workaholics and productivity worshippers, it is potentially beneficial to anyone who struggles to keep track of all the little tasks we need to get done. Check it out!