The coolest thing EVER!

You must see this skateboarding bulldog! I'll never be half this cool.

Traber611 Online is dead! Long live Traber611 Online!

Wow. This new format looks great. It's almost as good looking as... oh, never mind. You guys wouldn't want to hear about that sort of thing.

Aeijtzsche Update

Well, Coye sort of asked how I was doing in another thread, so I thought I'd do an official update.

As many of you may or may not know/remember, last April I moved from Grand Rapids to Los Angeles to start working with a small company that handled the Beach Boys archival library. All was well for a time, and getting to know the culture of LA has been fun. What kind of place is this? It's like another country in some ways, or perhaps another universe. For instance, the phrase "no, you can't bring your dog in here" is not understood by naitive Angelinos. A mile in the rest of the country is equal to roughly 2.7 miles here when using powered transportation. People don't understand the concept of "snow".

On the other hand, LA is a place like any other, with lots of completely regular people and such.

It ended up being kind of a tough experience for me in the end now, about a month before Christmas, it became apparent that the company I was working for was about to break up. And, just after the new year, the company formally split up and became a non-entity, and I essentially lost my job, though I still am on call for the occasional errand from my former bosses.

All of that kind of took the wind out of my sails. I don't really feel like living here anymore. I like the area a lot in terms of geography and weather and interest, but I just don't want to be here right now.

I sold some guitars and am living off of the money from those sales. Contemplating my next move. As much as I dislike academia (sorry, Dr. everybody) I'm pretty close to trying to get some degrees and some qualifications. One problem with that is I still don't really have any idea what I want to do with my life, making any sort of specific pursuit difficult to choose.

Anyway, I think I may return to Grand Rapids for a while, do some music-related recording, and whatnot. We'll see.

Any of you DC guys know somebody in the FBI? I wouldn't mind being an elite special agent if somebody could hook that up.

Peace out.

Wilfred Owen

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son...

The DC Informant

Sometimes, people seem to forget that there is a T6 enclave here in DC (among all of the talk of reestablishing a physical T6 community). I'm going to take the liberty of providing a post Morehouse wedding update since they haven't been active bloggers. We (Luke, Brett, DeGroot and myself) were all together last night along with DeGroot's girlfriend for Emily Tangen's birthday dinner at a Moroccan restaurant. Luke, Brett, and Dave all see each other on a very regular basis since they all share an apartment. The hang out of choice is Mario Kart for the GameCube at their place, but Luke and Dave are also big into going to a local soccer bar on weekends and do not discourage Brett and me from joining them. Unfortunately, Dave can't do the athletic stuff much these days, because he is in need of knee surgery and will be out of commission for a couple of weeks after the surgery. Please keep him in your prayers.

It looks like I will be the one most likely to depart from the T6 fellowship first. Brett was considering applying to law school, but he decided not to because working to save his boss's job ate considerably into his LSAT study time. I'm currently waiting to hear back from econ Ph.D. programs after applying to 8 of them. None of the schools are in the DC area. I've been asked a few times if I could go anywhere, where would I go, but I'm trying to avoid answering that question until I really know my choices. Plus, if all continues to be going well, I'm hopeful to be taking someone else's opinion into consideration besides my own. Yes, if any of you are thinking it and don't already know it, I have a girlfriend, who I think is very special. I like talking about her, but if anyone wants to hear more, I'd prefer to fill you in further some way other than the blog. I will say one more thing though that when I went out to Chicago to visit her for a post Christmas vacation I got to see Brad Kaspar. It was very encouraging to hear how his missions work in the Czech Republic is going.

Congratulations!!

AAAHHHH!!! Hearty congratulations to our collegue and friend Coye, who passed his qualifying exam yesterday (no doubt with the flyingest of colours!!!)!!! Although both his and Andy's intelligence pale in comparison to my staggering cognitive faculties (after all, the whole concept of instutionalized hazing...er, qualifying examinations... was my doing!!!), his success is yet worthy of high accolades and much praise.

William Butler Yeats

"Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost."

Games, boys. Games.

New Website Up

Finally.

www.davidnathanaeljones.com

I hear you Strauss

I won't switch over until everyone has been given the option to switch on their dashboard. Please let comment here and let me know when you have the ability to switch. Once I have Andy, Strauss, Coye, Stephen, Ryan, Adam, and--of course--TEFKAMS (i.e. the folks who post semi-regularly) I'll make the switch with my account.

dave

Today's Second Lesson

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

librarything

Anyone else have their library organized on librarything? I am still in the process of completing mine. I will post the link soon.

Switching to Blogger Beta

My account wizard informs me that I can now switch my blogs over to bloggerBeta. After I research to make sure that group-blogs will still work the same way, I'm going to do it. We're going 2.0 baby! Consider yourselves told.

-The Managment

TWO YEARS!!! and Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everybody... almost. I hope you're all having a blessed advent, anyways. My life at the moment is better than it's been for... well, let's just say I can't really remember things being quite this good. My first year on T6 is, of course, a close second. Maybe a distant second. Medium range? Anyhow, I'm sitting in my appartment, supposedly writing my last paper of the semester (Joseph Conrad, ethics, aesthetics, dangerous books, etc... damn fine work, if I say so myself), and I decided to take a "break" from "writing" and check the old blog. I realized that it's been two years since Dave stuck that first, hopeful post out into the cold vacuum of electronic space. One small step for Dave, we might say. Thanks, Dave. I love this place; I love you guys. I haven't been around much for a the last couple of months, but I hope to show up a little more in the spring. It's great to know that I can find you guys, your lives and your crazy schemes whenever I want to... so thanks everyone who has kept this thing moving along for two, count 'em TWO, trips around the sun. So, I should get back to work, but Merry Christmas, everyone, and a very special Merry Christmas to Dusty, as always.
Peace

Commune musings

Rachel and I were on a road trip to Phoenix a few weeks ago and got into a brainstorming session about the commune-in-planning. Here's a few notes for discussion about what it might actually LOOK like, in no particular order...

- We should be thinking about doing this in phases, something that's already been discussed a little bit. It might be something along these lines... Phase 1) Getting into the same time zone or zip code with outside employment. Phase 2) Intentionally spending more time together in fellowship. Phase 3) Evaluate our gifts and skills; begin to find ways to be co-dependant and supportive of each other. Phase 4) Develop a plan for outward ministry... Etc.

- We may want to have a sort of formal "steering committee", one that would provide initial leadership and help choose a church and community.

- We may want to commit to each attending the same church (of course, not an easy proposition due to variety of faith backgrounds). This would reinforce our internal community, and that relationship would also support the church. Having everyone at different churches might drain our ability to minister to each other if we are also being involved in the local church body.

- Understand that WE would not be a church to ourselves. We don't have the church-planting experience, and I think that we would still need to be a part of a larger body of Christ for accountability and support. It would also be a lot to bite off if we tried to make this community living thing work and start a church at the same time.

- Seek out remote or on-site community advisors (elder mentors) in order to have wisdom from older generation.

- For participation in this community, have a clear agreement on what is expected as well as how and why someone may have to leave. Participation is based on willingness to sacrifice some of your own preferences and comfort for the sake of the body, not based on an enforced commitment.

- At a later phase of the community, we'd have to have an idea of whether there would be financial sharing. This brings up possibility of establishing a formal non-profit status.

- We were thinking that it would be helpful to have some sort of leadership group at a minimum, with input from all adults of the community. Think of maybe a rotating headship, with a president-sort of position to handle day-to-day admin decisions. That position would be part of a committee with the last pres and next pres in order to preserve continuity.

Anybody have comments or other thoughts?

Technology Updates

1. Blogger Beta: too bad we're not able to switch over yet. Tags are nice.
2. Google personized home page: super cool, especially with well ordered tabs
3. Google Notebook: super cool, useful for research
4. Google spreadsheets, docs, calendar, email: googleGooglegoogle
5. YouTube.com

No Links because I'm bored and you're smart enough.

Ok, that's all. You can go back to work now.

Voting Data from the Onion

It turns out, there were plenty of good reasons not to vote this year!! AAHHHH!! I voted 17 times!!!! Vote early, vote often...that's my motto!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Foreshadowing of Dave’s Retirement Years, or, Sarah’s Nightmare

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton are retired, and Mrs. Fenton insists her husband go with her to Wal-mart, but he gets bored with all the shopping trips. He prefers to get in and get out, but Mrs. Fenton loves to browse. Here's a letter sent to Mrs. Fenton:

Dear Mrs. Fenton,

Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and may ban both of you from our stores. We have documented all incidents on our video surveillance equipment. All complaints against Mr. Fenton are listed below.

Things Mr. Bill Fenton has done while his spouse was shopping in Wal-mart:

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.
2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the restrooms.
4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official one, 'Code 3' in housewares..... and watched what happened.
5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and asked to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.
6. September 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they'll bring pillows from the bedding department.
8. September 23: When a clerk asks if they can help him, he begins to cry and asks, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'
9. October 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, and picked his nose.
10. November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, asked the clerk if he knows where the antidepressants are.
11. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.
12. December 6: In the auto department, practiced his "Madonna look" using different size funnels.
13. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browse through, yelled "PICK ME!" "PICK ME!"
14. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumes the fetal position and screams "NO ! NO! It's those voices again!!!!"
December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"

Another Student Story

A long time ago I started a series on funny student stories, and even though it’s been awhile, my experiences of the last 24 hours have made it necessary to resurrect this series for your amusement. Our story begins three weeks ago, when, out of the kindness of my heart, I elected to make an extra credit opportunity available to the students in my professional writing class. I distain waste-of-time extra credit assignments (and extra credit in general—but until you have tenure, you are a slave to student evaluations and must give the little people what they want to some extent), so when I do offer such opportunities, I try to design the assignment in such a way that the student will 1) have to do a fair bit of work, and 2) will learn something in spite of themselves. In this case, I had them find any piece of professional communication and write me a 500-word report analyzing the design of the document. But that’s not the amusing part. Not even close.

This week I reminded them that the deadline was Thursday, and that I would accept the extra credit during our class period (in the morning) or during my office hours (from 10:00-11:30). After 11:30 on Thursday, they were out of luck. Seems pretty clear, right?

So, at 10:00, right at the beginning of my office hours, I get an email from one of my lower-performing students. We’ll call him Stan. Stan writes:

Could you tell me where you hold your office hours. I cannot find TR anywhere on the campus map. Please be very specific.

Now, as Katie pointed out, the very fact that he has no idea where I hold office hours at this late date in the semester speaks volumes. More amusing, however, is the fact that TR is a common abbreviation on this campus for Tuesday/Thursday, with which he must be familiar because our class has met on TR every week of the semester. I should also point out that the very top of my syllabus contains this very clear notice: “Office Hours: TR 10:00-11:30: Art Museum Angles Café and by appointment.” Unfortunately for Stan, I was meeting with groups of students during my office hours and not checking my email. So I reply at 11:30:

Hi Stan,

TR refers to the days of the week (Tuesday and Thursday). My office hours are held in the Art Museum Angles Cafe (the building with the large orange circle in front of it, across from Woodburn Hall).

Stan replies a few minutes later:

Thank you, but your office hours are now over. It would be great if you could wait for me there or let me know where you will be next. I will be checking my email about every thirty seconds. Please respond as soon as possible.

So, feeling bad for this student who has ostensibly been wandering the campus looking for the mysterious “TR” building, I cut him some slack and tell him I’ll stick around until noon to wait for him. But after that, I have meetings and my own work to do, so I’m leaving (I said this much more politely, of course). Stan doesn’t show up, so I eat lunch and head off to the library.

At 1:30, I receive yet another message from Stan:

Wow, I feel like such an idiot. First I try to meet you at the Tuesday Thursday building and now I've been freaking out for the past hour because I sent my last email to the wrong address. Please respond as quickly as possible. I will do anything within my power to get this assignment to you.

He also forwarded that misdirected email for my reading pleasure:

I arrived at the art museum as quickly as I could. My cell phone read 12:08 upon my arrival at the cafe. I realize that you try to stress the importance of punctuality. However, I am going to need more than fourteen minutes to make it from my apartment on East 20th Street to the other side of campus. I do not know how I could have made it to the art museum any sooner. I am sorry if I am inconveniencing you in any way. Please let me know as soon as possible where I can meet you to turn in my extra credit.

That is actually my favorite of the messages, for the way he implies that it is my fault that he waited until the last possible moment to submit his extra credit (how could I be so inconsiderate?). I am also at this point amazed at the level of effort he is putting into submitting this extra credit assignment, which is worth a mere 1 or 2 percent of his grade. If he had put half of this effort into doing his actual work for the class, he would be an A student. But I digress.

For me, the matter is closed. I gave the students 3 weeks to submit the assignment, I made the logistics of submission crystal clear, and I even waited around an extra half hour for Stan. For Stan, however, the game is not yet lost. Apparently, he tried to look up my address (information that is not available to him from the University), and found a listing for me at the apartment complex where I lived more than 2 years ago. I know this because I received an email from the apartment manager around 5:00:

Andrew-

Stan just dropped off some items for you, thinking you still lived at Meadow Park Apartments. We did not catch it until after he had left. He tried to call you but got no answer. Please call him or us as soon as possible so one of you can pick up the items.

Katie and I arrive home at 5:30, and find 5 messages on our answering machine. Who could they be from? You guessed it: my best pal Stan. Now, if I wanted my students to call me at home, I would put my phone number on the syllabus. If I wanted my students to show up at my home (or former home) unannounced, I would put my home address on my syllabus. I do neither, and am starting to get annoyed with Stan. Sometimes, you just need to let it go.

This, however, is not in Stan’s nature. Around 7:30, Katie and I are at home when an extremely loud truck drives up our street and seems to stop in front of our house. It’s dark, and we don’t know who it is. But we have an idea. We are also starting to question the mental stability of Stan (how much do I really know about this guy who shows up late to most of my classes and sits quietly? Is he just a well-meaning, but misguided, kid? A serial killer? An insurance salesman?), and don’t really want to have an evening conversation with him about his late assignment. He knocks on the door. We’re upstairs, so there’s no way he can know that we’re home. We don’t go to the door. He rings the doorbell. We elect to stay put and let him solve his own problem—outside of our house. Then he walks back to his car. The phone starts ringing. It’s Stan. We don’t answer. Stan leaves a message on the answering machine letting me know that he thinks he found my current address and is leaving his assignment in my mailbox. Crazy. Then he drives away.

My advice for Stan: instead of investing several hours and driving all over town for the possibility of a 1 or 2 percent increase in your grade, pour all of that effort into the regular work for the semester, and you’ll no longer be a D student. And don't be so creepy. Teachers don't respond well to stalking. Just a thought.

Alive... if you want to call it a life

I know this will come as a dissappointment to some of you, but, yes, I am still alive (sorry, Ryan). I don't want to subject anyone to a rant/moan/pity-party about how busy I am, so I just won't mention what exactly life is like at the moment. It's good, though. I'm sorry that I missed all you guys at Adam's wedding. Come to find out, Katie has a restraining order out on me (or, to be exact, Andy has an order out restraining me from being anywhere near Katie). Ok, so maybe that isn't exactly true, but it makes a better story than my real excuse.

I don't have much time to post today. I just wanted to jump on, say hello, laugh a satisfied chuckle about the Republicans loosing both houses of congress, tell everyone that I look forward to the days when I can post at least as regularly as TEFKAMS, and then sign off.

By the way, I took the personality test, and it said I was an SOB. Does anybody have any idea what that means? I'm stumped.

Wedding Photos Forthcoming

Are there wedding photos out there yet? I didn't bring a camera.