here's life

According to many, not going to church is short-changing yourself. Others hold that skipping church or Sunday school makes others miss out as well. By careful scheduling, I mistreated myself and two churches yesterday.

The sermon at the first church was about leadership in the church, and after a recitation of a passage in Matthew, the pastor drew parallels between the pharisees and themselves. "We don't have raised seats..." (gestures toward the platform they are standing on) "...well, they aren't raised much." The question was raised, If we are all brothers and sisters, and are not to be called "Teacher" (per Matt 23:8) why are we pastors employed by the rest, do most of the teaching and pretty much run the church? Well, pastors are given training to better do what they seem to be gifted in (I got the feeling it was a matter of specialization for practicality and convenience). We were then shown that we had a part in most of what a pastor does, and we needed to step up and do it, because the members of the church are going to be there long after pastors have come and gone. I thought of YAC, and Impact, and how when people, decide to be active and accomplish things.

I left before Sunday school, and went town the road to the second service of the other church. Some of the people I know from there had gone to the first service and were now going out for lunch, so I missed fellowshipping with them. I stayed and listened to another installment in a series on Radical Christianity (radical: of or proceeding from the root). The text was from Ezekiel 34 (ministers who are munching mutton instead of feeding the flock are going down) and the good old story of Korah, Dathan and Abiram continued through God's confirmation of Moses's authority. This sermon had a great deal of scripture in it, and focused more on the chain-of-command in the kingdom of God: God>pastor>churchpeople. Obedience was stressed as a necessary ingredient to seeing God work among us. All done in an almost conversational oration.

There was a focus on authority (from God) as being important, and necessary for having power. Having artificial authority without God to back you up is not a fun place to be.
We don't have to worry about bad leaders--God will take care of it. We were shown what happened to Korah and his friends when they said that the rest of Israel were just as special as Moses, Aaron---Korah et al were Levites, no less, and they were complaining even though they already were part of the priesthood. We saw how God protects His leaders from the people, and His leaders constantly try to protect the people. I was struck by how stubborn we are: It was pretty obvious who was in charge by the way those who stood against Moses got consumed by fire, and swallowed by the earth. Yet, the next day the people are saying that the Administration is responsible for the death of the people. And once again, Moses has to intercede for the people and sends Aaron out to stop the Plague's body count at a mere 14,700.
Fire! Earthquake! hmmm, maybe we should listen to Moses. (eventually they responded, incorrectly: "we're all gonna die!")


All in all, it was an interesting Sunday, getting two sermons, each based in scripture, that seemed to look at different facets of the way the church is run. First was the progressive, Democracy type church model, and then the more theocratic hierarchal system. The priesthood-of-all-believers versus obey-the-leaders-God-has-put-over-you. I know which country makes me feel more comfortable.

It turns out there are things to do in Wichita. Other than sit in my apartment. Today I went to a 2-cylinder John Deere tractor show/swap meet. I wouldn't have gone, but one of my former roomates who lives in Jamaica was going to see it, so I figured it was worth the drive to the other side of town. There was lots of old pieces of cast iron, as well as shiny assembled pieces of metal. Since many decades of tractors were represented, I got to see a progression from extremely simple (engine, radiator, transmission, wheels--"I could make that") to much more complex (hydraulics, electric, wires and levers and hoses--"How did they get all those parts to work at once?")--still much more simple than your car. There was an "All-fuel" tractor with an electric starter on a 4 cylinder gas engine, that started a 2 cylinder engine that, as suggested by it's name, would burn pretty much anything.

There was also a section that was dedicated to Merchandising. They had John Deere hats, and shirts and signs and collectible toy tractors and any thing else that would make people think of the "good old days" enough that they could turn a profit.

After looking at everything (again) we had lunch and then went to a tool store on the other end of town. It was closed, but we walked around and looked at the dozens of types of trailers they had for sale.

It was good to see J5 again and hear how things are going, as well as meet his brother, who, incidentally, went to RBC with mine. It seems odd that I needed someone to come from out of the country to tell me what sort of things are happening in my city. And there is more than just this tractor show, there are airshows and cool stores and museums.

It was inspiring to spend a day with people who farm, in an environment (onstensibly) focused on farm implements. I need a couple acres in which to muck about. Farming for a living is a life, and it isn't easy, but can I improve mine and others quality of life, while saving some money by growing some food?

...especially those of us who cannot run or hide from chainsaw wielding agents of a darker world. Who choose not to shy away from or fight the envoys of death. Those of us who stay at our post, solemn and still, until we can not stand anymore. Who bring to others shelter from the blistering summer, but pass on from above the warming winter rays . Move only in the wind, feeding off the breath of the more mobile. And even when dead provide warmth and shelter to others, possibly the very ones who brought about our demise.








I took this tree for granted, which swayed outside my window until today. I hardly noticed it's presence, until I came home to find it's severed trunk piled lazily on the grass. It was just another part of my life that slowly brought joy and life into my wreckless existence. I will enjoy the grass while it lasts, it speaks much better than the burnt, hard earth that may replace it tomorrow.

Ok, just some quick pictures of my mouse and saucer. Here is the mouse, under the glass, under the saucer, nicely hanging on.












Here is the mouse with it's button levers and the bottom of the saucer with the cloth (to make it slide) pulled back so you can see the array of magnets that match some of the magnets I put inside the mouse. The center one holds the mouse ball against the glass, since gravity isn't helping us out.
The multiple magnets keep the mouse oriented correctly and make sure that it slides along.







And a side view of the mouse and saucer. All of these are in my kitchen because the lighting is much better there--and my camera is very picky.

I plan to glue a magnet or two to the bottom, or bottom edge of the cup, allowing me to manipulate the mouse buttons, by way of the magnets on the ends of the button levers. I will simply move the cup over them to click the buttons.

Epoxy is cool.
I also need to cut away parts of my frame to leave room for the mouse to move--and plug into the motherboard.

Thanks to a suggestion by the winner of the 41 Scholarship, and declaration of it's impossibility by aduma, I am attempting to make a table that runs linux. I have mounted the computer and monitor, and now I just need to wire it all up and get some cloth to put under the glass top. The next hard steps are picking out the cloth at walmart, and getting the computer to boot without a keyboard--I didn't make allowance for the cables.

But I don't think that now is the time to go to walmart, so I will go to bed.

Here is the monitor in the table, which is on a lazy-susan bearing thing, so the whole thing can rotate for flexibility in viewing direction.

It became cold today. In a way that makes me think that it means it this time. I had some Granny Smith apples, but they were too sour to eat for midafternoon snack--I didn't even try. But, I thought, wouldn't some apple pie be good? Or better yet, some apple dumplings! So, I bought some brown sugar and a few more apples. I cored the apples (pretty hard with a knife, without cutting it open) And I stuffed butter and brown sugar into the resulting hollow in the apples. Next I mixed up some pie crust--pretty simple: butter, flour and then milk (I put in a little baking powder as an experiment). Rolled it out flat, wrapped each apple, and they are baking now. I have been scooping up the resulting juice and pouring it over the top of the apples every so often. It didn't seem to have enough liquid, so I added too much. Baking sugar/apple/butter into the crust makes it oh, so delectable. Now I need some icecream to eat it with, but alas.

I had a good weekend. You can read all about it at aduma's blog.
This saves ink, but I should give you the things I thought important, in case aduma doesn't cover them.
The drive was cool--all night, but I got a chance to catch up with aduma, although I had used up most of my stories on my blog, or on Impersonal Messenger; first time I have left somewhere and kept up with my friends from there.
It was cool to just be back, not have classes, but be able to walk into a room whose occupant wasn't there, and act like it was my own room, and go to sleep.
It was good to see that the place didn't fall apart without me, (suprize!) but seemed to do quite well with it's new management.
I enjoyed Grey's Tech Support Hotline.
Church was cool as always, nice mix of songs, good solid teaching.
Bubble's house was quite a winner. If I lived in town, I would want to live there.
It was helpful to see people again and recalibrate my sensibility and saneness.

I guess that is about all that floats to the surface of my autocentric reality.
Now, I am off to read aduma's post, and get the rest of the story.

Most of you know I spent this weekend in Longview. We got there friday morning, in time for a nap and then chapel. I got to see the climax of the Fall Fest week, and people I had missed for months. Things had changed, things had stayed the same.

Today I changed the oil in my car. It had been oh so long, and I am thinking about doing some driving this weekend, and at 230,000 miles, it could use all the help it can get. I also cleaned it some--which mostly consisted of removing the topsoil with a shovel. I went to start it up, to get the oil into the filter and,,,it just cranked and cranked. Oh, no, I thought, it is not good to have a car that suddenly stops starting when you are driving 9 hours the next day...
So, I poked around under the hood, wiggling hoses and such--though I know it isn't the hoses. Then I realized that when I replaced the air filter, I pulled the coil wire loose, and suddenly my car is as reliable as ever.

I was reading a site this evening--a collection of stupid user tech-support stories. It was fun to laugh at the total ignorance of some people--especially when they think they are so knowledgeable. But while the "cup-holder" jokes are funny, it really isn't that suprising that people would have trouble with computers, and actually doesn't show them to be all that stupid.

Imagine you bought a house and found that when you adjusted the thermostat, the water in the kitchen started running. Your sense of reality would be challenged. It wouldn't take you long to notice that the toilet didn't flush, but how long before you realized it was actually opening the bedroom window. One day you lean against the wall before turning on the coffee pot, and you fall through it, into a thornbush and get hit by an errant cricket ball. How long before you tried anything but what was clearly written in the directions--if you dared to open a book? And then imagine that it isn't a house at all but actually a giant rubber chicken filled with marshmallow cream. When things happen that you don't understand, and you can't get things to happen except by arbitrary complex demanding steps, frustration would quickly cause you to seize up. Take this example of "user stupidity":

...When he wrote the instructions to the sales representatives on how to do this he got the letter back from one of the regional offices with complaints. His original instructions read like this:

From the File menu, select OS-Shell. This will make your screen look like this: C:\SPS\WIN

Now type DOWNLOAD to..., blah, blah, blah, etc, etc.

The hand-written remark on the sheet of paper was, "These instructions are incorrect and cannot be followed! Right after C:\SPS\WIN, a strange bracket (>) pops up and it will not go away!"

Funny how they didn't know about $p$g. But could they really expect things to work even if the directions aren't followed verbatim? Not after the ear-full the collective user heard after this:

....
Tech Support: "Hmmm. The file's there in the correct place -- it can't help but do something. Are you sure you're typing I-N-S-T-A-L-L and hitting the Enter key?"
Customer: "Yes, let me try it again." (pause) "Nope, still 'Bad command or file name'."
Tech Support: (now really confused) "Are you sure you're typing I-N-S-T-A-L-L and hitting the key that says 'Enter'?"
Customer: "Well, yeah. Although my 'N' key is stuck, so I'm using the 'M' key...does that matter?"

As I attempt to learn new systems at work, I run into this all the time---did I press enter and then yes, then select the file, then press yes twice, or not at all, to confirm---depending on how I am opening the file? And how was it if I didn't want to lose all my work?

User interface should be simple and succinct, but it also needs to be consistent, so it can be learned. Otherwise, your world will fall apart. Hey, better close the fridge door before someone sits down on the couch--you don't want your lights to burn out, do you?

Posted on the 11th of Nov,
Photos of ottoman (footstool) in construction

My house is finally somewhat clean after a month of good intentions.
The weather these days is beautiful. So this after noon I took a walk down the road, along side the huge petrol tanks until I neared the liquor store and beyond it the AFB. I miss being in an area like Missouri, where I can walk west all day and just get deeper into the woods and hills. But I have a very short drive to work, where I probably will be going tomorrow.

Coffee Table:
A simple coffee table with elegant angles that you could easily build with minimal tools. A lively center piece for any room, this low table will hold chips and controllers--or books and tea with equal endefince.

Total: $41
or less if you choose the smaller top. You will have plenty left over of everything but wood, should you want to do another project.

Ingredients:
2 8 ft. 2x2's $4.38
1 4x4 sheet 15/32" plywood $13.78 add $0.75 for cut
or
1 2x4 sheet 15/32" plywood $7.88
1 2.5" drywall screws, lb. $4.47
1 varnish/stain (Polyshades), quart. $9.87
4 oz. wood glue $1.18
1 wood filler (natural color), tube $1.96
1 foam brush $0.57
1 100 grit sandpaper, pack $1.98
1 220 grit sandpaper, pack $1.98
1 stir stick FREE

If you prefer a larger table, choose the 4x4 sheet of plywood and have them cut it at 32". Use the strip leftover as a shelf under the table. You can also express your creativity with a top made from oak plywood, glass (shown), plastic, bamboo, ice, etc.

Tools:
Saw: hand, circular, table, etc.
[if you have a table saw available, buy a 2x4 and cut it in half instead of using 2 2x2"s]
Screwdriver: preferably power, but hand will do
[if you have a drill, pre-drill the holes for the screws with a bit the size of the shank of the screw (smaller than the threads)]
Square (preferably a Speed-Square)
Pencil
Tape measure
Drop-cloth and rags
String

Directions:

First you will cut the boards. Cut one end of a 2x2 to a 45. Measure down 29 inches from the tip and cut another 45, creating a parallelogram. Repeat. Trim the angle off the 38 inch piece left over. Now you have turned an 8 foot 2x2 into:
2 29" parallelograms \-----------\
1 36.5 (or so) stick |----------------|

Repeat with the other 2x2, cutting it in the same way that you did the first.

Now you are ready to start connecting the wood.
Lay the parallelograms side by side with the angles sloping the same direction. Measure 13.75 inches from the tip of the top, using the square to make a mark all the way across each one.
Take a pair and flip one over the other, creating an X, (complete with serifs--the top angles align , and the bottom angles do too). Line up the marks you made so the other board is on the bottom side of each mark. While holding these straight with your feet and the square, pre-drill two holes at the intersection (preferably), sink the screws. Get the screw heads to sink about 1/8" below the wood, so you can hide them with wood filler. If you have a larger drill, countersink the holes. Next, disassemble the two boards and put wood glue between them. Reassemble, being careful to keep them at 90 degrees with the square. Wipe off the extra glue and repeat with the other pair of parallelograms.

Now, place the two X's as far apart as the other boards are long. Position the long boards as shown. Be sure that angled ends are correct on both X's. Tightening a loop of string around the long boards, midway between the X's can help hold it all together, freeing up a few hands to fasten it. Make sure the X's are square with the long boards (all four legs on both sides). If the long boards bow together in the middle from the string, you may try loosening it, or using two strings. Once every thing is straight, pre-drill and screw the long boards to the X's--one screw into each member of the X at each end of each long board seems to be fine. Next, loosen the screws in the ends of the long boards, one set at a time and get glue in the joint, and tighten it back up, countersinking the screw heads, go on to the next set.
If using a wood top, center it on the base, screwing it down with 4 screws, glue, and sink the heads into the wood.
Once it is all glued and tightened up, fill the screw heads with wood filler, smoothing it off slightly higher than the wood--it sands down easily. While you let it dry for 2 hours, reward yourself with some supper or start sanding the top.
Which brings us to the sanding. Use the 100 grit sandpaper to bring all the surfaces to a basic level of smoothness, and then finish it off with the 220 grit. Sanding is somewhat tedious, and should be done outside, to avoid coating everything with fine dust, like I have in my house.
Once you have it as smooth as you want, wipe off all the dust and get ready to varnish it.

You want good ventilation, but not wind, and dropcloths. Stir up the varnish and put on two coats, following the directions on the can. You can wrap the brush in plastic and put it in the freezer between coats so it doesn't dry out. (or buy a couple, they're cheap). I have found that dusting it down with steel wool between coats just got steel wool powder on it, but maybe I was not letting it dry long enough. Maybe a "green scratchy" (normally used to scrub pots) would work well--haven't tried it. You can get away with not sanding it between coats.
congratulations, you have a table! Now if you only had some coffee to put on it.

Prices were gathered earlier this week from a branch of a nation-wide hardware store chain whose name starts with an "L" and rhymes with "rose". Prices may not total as perfectly in you area or in your store.

I tried to cut a piece of glass to put on the long boards, between the X's. Glass cutting is dangerous, so I took safety precautions: Safety glasses, leather glove, etc.

After scoring the glass, I tried to break, but it was especially flexible (my first ignored warning) and so I put a 2x4 on edge under it and bent the ends down until they touched the ground, and then it shattered:

Glass is tempered by shrinking the outside layer, through rapid cooling, compressing the inner layers, giving it strength. However, when I broke the balance of forces, the inside was suddenly freed to expand, and it flew apart--mostly expanding lengthwise, not up into my face. Then for the next 20 minutes I could hear it still crackling and popping, like tiny kernels of popcorn in a hot kettle. Good news it that my large sheet is probably tempered as well, giving me extra strength and safety.

So, friday I went to work ready to leave for the weekend, but I didn't know if I actually wanted to. I finally committed when I told my boss that I was leaving, and then a half hour later I started for MO. After getting some oil and crackers, I was on the turnpike, and the miles were slipping effortlessly by.
Fast-forward to Columbia, MO, where I met up with my sister, brother-in-law and a friend and we took a '83 Mercedes diesel and drove to Columbus OH.
My whole family was together, which was quite cool. There was a new baby to admire, and friday my next younger brother had announced his engagement.
Half the family drove another 2 hours to a wedding, but I stayed and helped insulate my brother's house. We drilled 3" holes in the siding (51 on one side) and using a large hose, blew cellulose insulation (shredded newsprint) into the walls. I mostly manned the hose, and my youngest brother ran the machine that fluffed and pumped the grey snow. And snow it did--on me, on the ground, in the neighbor's yard. It really wasn't that bad to get covered in the stuff--not itchy like fibre glass, and it had the sweet taste of newspaper when you inhaled it. We ran out of daytime when we had done about half of the duplex.
That evening we sat around and talked. I complained about my job, instead of looking for the cool things about it when they asked.
After breakfast sunday morning three of us left for MO, this time in a Taurus, but we still made it all the way. And then I drove to KS, reaching home about quarter to twelve.
I was really tired today, but I am really glad that I went.
It is now time to sleep, so I can continue my life.