Friday, September 19, 2008

A quick update


I'm not really feeling the whole writing thing today, but I am feeling a little guilty about not blogging. To compromise, I will concede a brief update on life as I know it.

-Jamie landed her first client in the wedding industry and she is now the proud founder of Designer Events

-All my applications have been sent out to various medical schools in the southwest. I am now just waiting anxiously for replies

-I turned 24 recently and I can tell that I have just begun the long decent into becoming an old man. For the first 23 years of life, you are young. When 24 hits, you start to become old. 

-My brother got married.

-That last one is a complete lie.

-Demerol is not five times stronger than morphine, but it is less addictive.

-I love teaching math at my dad's school. I have been doing that twice a week for a while and it is pretty awesome.

That's it.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Ugly little things, aren't they?


If you know me well, you will know that my favorite animal in the world is Ailuropoda melanolueca. So in a rare display of sentimentality here is a picture of some baby pandas recently born in China. (An unsolicited "ahhhh" emitted from my mouth too when I first saw the pics, it's nothing to be ashamed of.)

Monday, September 08, 2008

Loosing my cool


On Sunday I went to church.

I’m getting good at my beginnings, aren’t I? That is one good sentence; it’s nicely composed and yet it’s very simple; it conveys meaning without too much confusion; it's really rather elegant. Picture me patting myself on the back.

Anyway, Pastor Justin is about to start a Proverbs series, but he has taken the past two weeks to talk about the gospel. Last night was about idols that get in the way of the gospel. He gave a long list of things that are common idols and after much soul searching I believe I have identified my major idols. So, I thought I would share some of the things I idolize.

But first some of the other contestants.

Competitiveness – being first or better than other people

Not lonely – being with a boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife, and not being single

Feeling good – drinking, drugs, or sex that fills this need inappropriately

Money – not being poor

Fame – everyone knowing your name

Power – being able to tell people what to do

These are not where my struggles typically lie. There are three main areas that I generally place too much of an emphasis on.

I idolize being right. I don’t like people to think I’m wrong, because I never am. Ever.

I idolize my appearance. I strive to be attractive and work really hard to stay in shape and dress well.

I idolize knowledge. Being smarter than everyone else, knowing something about everything is extremely important to me and knowing more than other people

The really bad news is that I am turning 24 soon. Which means that I will no longer be cool. Which means that I can’t rely on my coolness to mask my character flaws any more.  Which means that I am going to have to start praying harder. Well, actually, I guess that’s really not that bad after all.

Monday, September 01, 2008

International Art


If you happen to be in Nairobi, Kenya any time in the next three weeks, stop by the GoDown Arts Center for a terrific art show. The artist who painted the fantastic painting in our living room sent me this advertisement. Dennis Muraguri is pretty phenomenal and his art is definitely worth looking into.