The webeldotnet Vault
This vault contains the 1,036 earliest webeldotnet posts from February 2002 to April 2006 (some images and comments are gone forever).
Monday, March 31, 2003 at 6:38 PM
Nice Strong Chest
Straight Line Designs is a company that makes cool looking furniture. In fact, they hardly have any straight lines in any of their designs. If you have a chance, look at some of their stuff. It's great.
Wouldn't it rock to have a room decorated by these guys? I'd feel like I was behind the looking glass or something, stuck in a cartoon.
Or maybe I'll just learn carpentry. All I'd have to do is try to make something look straight and it'd probably turn out like that, without the charisma and personality. Hee hee hee.
Computer Literacy
That's all I have to say about that.
Good morning.
Friday, March 28, 2003 at 8:14 AM
God's At The Center.
The shortest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 117.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119.
The center chapter in the Bible is Psalm 118.
There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118.
There are 594 chapters after Psalm 118.
594 plus 594 equals 1188.
The center verse in the Bible is Psalm 118:8.
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."
-- Psalm 118:8
Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 8:54 PM
Interest of Conflicts
1. The U.S. Government is already organizing cleanup efforts for after the war.
2. They just awarded a multimillion dollar contract to put out oilfires.
3. The bid went to Halliburton.
4. Halliburton is Dick Cheney's old company.
5. Dick Cheney is the U.S. Vice President.
6. The U.S. Vice President works for the U.S. Government.
7. Go to #1.
Hmm. See Jon Stewart report on the story here (via Boingboing). The story is also here (and everywhere else on the web in another day).
New Treads?
At Apple the other day I noticed that Pez was wearing some pretty sweet shoes. Knowing he has great taste in style and an acute ability to pinch some pennies, I asked Pez where he got them. "Final Dash Score Dot Com," he replied.
So I visited today and found 4 shoes I might be interested in. I have my personal favorite, but it is unfortunately the only one that's 29.99 (instead of 19.99). What do you think? I'm in for a new pair sometime before this summer, but I need your input. Which shoe should I get?
Oh, as a sidenote, each of these also comes with a left-foot shoe as well. Don't worry, amputation is not being considered (although it probably would save money ... do you think amputees ever get together and split costs 50/50?).
War Protesters and Christians
Ryan Smith of Relevant Magazine has just written a very interesting article comparing current war protesters to current Christians.
In both groups of people, he says, there are informed and passionate activists who deeply understand the situations and their own motivations for what they believe. They follow the news and watch the culture and become actively engaged in providing solutions (not just making noise).
Both groups, however, also have a large contingency who are simply there to be part of the community ... to fulfill their innate need for fellowship and common ground. They don't let their spoken views impact their everyday lives (except for about once a week at a political rally or church service). They shout things in the streets but won't give up a meal to feed someone that's starving, whether it's on their own street corner or in Iraq. They quickly jump on the bandwagon when an inspirational email or weekend conviction hits their heart but quickly hop off as soon as a more distracting bandwagon drives by.
How thought-provoking.
How very insightful.
How convicting.
How true.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 2:23 PM
This Holiday Life
I had a few friends in college who formed a band named Donkey Talk. They then got their pop-rock thing going by reforming as Superstar (yes, they were solid). Since then, all three have gotten married (I think), and Scott and Bobbie (unrelated but both named Anderson) moved to San Diego where they regrouped as This Holiday Life.
THL is starting to catch on out there in SoCal, where the culture is fast and rich. I just saw that they landed a gig opening for Switchfoot, who just released one of the best records I've heard in a long, long time (it's called The Beautiful Letdown). Mark my words right here, folks ... you're gonna see THL nationwide in the next two years. These guys love the Lord and have an incredible passion for people ... and they've demonstrated (from their early days in Missouri) that they have a drive and understanding of commitment. Yo.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 1:06 PM
What's Going On?
I am unable to see http://webel.net from here at school today, but if I go to http://www.webel.net, I can see this website perfectly. I'm trying to figure out if this is just a problem with our school's network or if it's a problem with the servers my website is held on. I think it's the latter, because I also am having trouble with my email.
Are you able to see anything at http://webel.net?
A Totally Yonker Weekend
Even though it's already past midnight, I'd like to type a little bit about this past weekend. Somehow it helps me process what happened, and it's fun to share some of it.
Mike Dunfee decided to come out and spend a little time with me (what a guy), so right after track practice on Friday I headed home to get ready for his arrival. It turned out that he didn't show up until about 8pm, so I plenty of time to shower, eat, and sit around watching Black Hawk Down until he got there. I intentionally chose to watch that movie because of the war ... I wanted to feel a little closer to the reality of war, even if it was only a Hollywood-produced war-of-sorts that I was watching on a flat screen. The story was real and gritty and incomplete, just like the real thing.
Once Dunf arrived, we pretty much sat around the whole night and talked. I stoked the fire (or vice versa, I'm not sure which) and he knitted a little while we chatted up a wealth of topics, including marriage, Iraq, school, the census bureau (where he works), driving, camp, hair, and some unmentionables. In the morning we sat around some more and ate breakfast, loaded some laundry, went the lab for some internet access, then made french bread pizzas (or freedom bread pizzas, as some would call them) for lunch before heading up to camp.
It was good to be out there ... Oxford Bible Fellowship's Youth Group was at camp for a retreat, so we helped to belay them (secure their ropes while they rock climbed) for a couple of hours. Once the kids left, I pulled on my climbing shoes, strapped a bucket to my harness, and jumped over the top of the climbing tower with a task in mind ... to strip the flat wall naked.
[huh?]
You see, I've had this desire to paint the Hawk's Nest (that's our climbing tower's name) for a few months now, but before that can be done all hundred or so holds (pieces of rock bolted to the wall) needed to be unbolted and removed. What a task ... hanging 40 feet in the air with nothing to hold on to (because I was removing all the holds as I slowly descended) and a bucket strapped to my waist full of rocks (the removed holds) for two days straight really took a toll on my lower back. But after returning Sunday, with a lot of help from Amber, the wall is now naked, stripped almost completely bare (with the exception of about 5 holds with stripped bolts). Next weekend I'll be painting while hanging from a rope ... bring that on!
The best part about the weekend was the moments when I'd find a song well up inside my chest and I'd just belt it out, hanging 30 feet up in the air. The leaves are off the trees right now, so when you spin around and look out from the climbing tower, you can see almost the entire campground through the usually concealing trees. I could sit there and worship God freely, praising Him for Who He is while looking at His handiwork. It was beautiful. And it was so awesome to be able to gaze over the whole grounds and pray for this coming summer, asking God for His mercies and graces in the big and little things and praying for the hundreds of people that would be living there at one point or another. I truly believe that God has anointed PVM to be a sacred and holy place, a place He has set aside, a place where God dwells. What a privilege to be a part of it.
Saturday night was a blast. We went to Bruno's for some pizza at about 8 or 9pm, when all of these people started showing up. Steph, Suzie, Jack, James, Ethan, Jed, Ben, Ryan, and one of Steph's friends (I already forget her name) joined Dunf and Amber and I for some hearty conversation. After a little while we went outside to freeze in the cold, continuing random conversations, headed toward the "I don't know, what do you want to do" stage. If we weren't careful, we'd end up watching Steph throw dirt on Jack. Stuff like that always happens when camp people get together (watch out).
Then the idea popped into my head, and Ben filled in a missing detail ... A Kroger Scavenger Hunt! We all went to Kroger's, the local 24-hour supermarket, with a mission. We divided into teams of 2 or 3 then headed to the aisles to each fill a cart with 23 items. Once we did, we met at the dairy section to swap carts. Each team then raced to put all of the items back on the shelves ... it was a blast! I highly recommend this activity, as long as it is played cautiously and courteously, in your local supermarket. It's great fun, as Suzie can attest.
That night Dunf and I ended up sleeping in what might be my new cabin this coming summer (I hope so, it's awesome!) then arising for church at OBF in the morning. I went to that church for 4 years in college and have had the opportunity to remain a part of the family throughout the summer (it's only 15 minutes from camp). Dave Smetana had a very interesting talk out of Psalms, an interactive walk through the Psalms of Ascent. Afterwards we went to a great Chinese Buffet and gorged ourselves on delicious dishes. After hanging from the tower for a few more hours, I had dinner with the Maynards then headed back to Cincinnati.
All in all, it was a good time. A good game, if you know what I mean. A totally yonker weekend.
Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:38 PM
Headline Extraordinairre
The University of Leeds in the United Kingdom has received partial funding from Microsoft to teach would-be developers to write secure code.
Apparantly Microsoft is really getting serious with their Secure Code Initiative (if you hadn't heard, William Gates told his company in January that they were going to stop focusing on features and instead work on Windows security and privacy). They want to raise up a new generation of programmers that write seamless inpenetrable code, building a lockbox of insurmountable proportions.
Nevermind, I can't type any more without cracking up ... M$ paid more than $60 in 1999 to buy Intrinsa, maker of a bug-finding program called Prefix that found thousands of mistakes in M$ products. Maybe they should start a class for aspiring small pieces of software that want to get out of their grubby jeans and t-shirts and one day wear suits.
Or perhaps M$ should invest in this battery that runs on shots of vodka. That's the ticket.
Musical Computers
Last week in my fifth and sixth grade classes I did a typing excercise I call Musical Computers. Each student starts an encouraging letter to a teacher or faculty member while I stick on some music. Every time the song changes, then, the students all get up and switch computers, continuing the encouraging letter that the person next to them had started. This continues throughout the class period until the students get 45 minutes of typing practice (without knowing it) and we get about 20 letters to deliver to teachers! And bonus ... I didn't even realize it, but this week is Teacher Appreciation Week (free food galore), so it's quite appropriate to be delivering these letters!
Little did I realize how encouraging this activity would end up being for me. Here are some snippets:
- You always teach your students in ways no one else would ever think of.
- I like your c.d. wall, it shines and looks cool; you should make the whole room look like that. The only exception should be your wall of posters because that is cool too.
- You da bomb.
- I hope that you continue to teach us children to be good people as in your POWER OF THE TONGE speech.
- I really like playing the games that we play with everyone at the end of computer class.
- Like cool last name dude you are my favorite computer teacher I've ever had. Even though I've only had two.
- I admire your strong love for Christ.
- God smiles on you!
- You embarrassed me when we played that game kind of like guess who. I thought that was funny and a good experience to learn.
- You are a wonderful computer teacher and a good encourager. You are also a good speaker (especially in chapel). Keep it up!
- Learning new things about the computer is great because I love technology and no one in my family knows about those kinds of things.
- You rock my socks!!
- You're fun to be around. You have many good qualities. I liked your power of the tongue lesson and I learned a lot from it. I thought it was well thought out.
- You can make a difference with your speeches.
- I did not know very much about computers before I came in your class.
- You're nice.
- You know this musical computers thing, it's hard. Also are your fish tanks salt or fresh water? Since you have a poster of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, do you like their show?
- You have an awesome job.
- After school I go home and give my dad a few pointers. he uses the computer everyday for work. He told me that I use PowerPoint better than some of his sales people (the people that he keeps on track).
- You make us all happy when we are blue ... well not really blue!
- You have an ....................... interesting personality, but that makes you great!
- You always put a smile on my face, even if the joke isn't very funny.
- Thanks for being a computer teacher and playing music while we work. You should play more punk rock music!
- You are a very good computer teacher and the best one in the school.
- You don't yell at us even though we sometimes don't listen.
- You are so much fun you are always doing a silly introduction and making people smile.
- You are always doing something nice and considerate yet fun.
- My old computer teacher was old and boring but you are awesome!!
And now for the top 5 (drumroll, please):
- You defiantly (note the spelling) know how to teach someone how to type.
- You get mad sometimes but it is only because we talk too much. We should respect you more as another teacher.
- If I ever need someone to talk to I know I can trust you.
- Thank you for letting Erika Wittkugel hit you with a rubber band last year.
- I didn't know you very well in the beginning of this year. But throughout the year, I realized that you are an amazing person, and that you shine your light for everyone in this school, it makes us feel special in what we do.
It's Probably Not This Simple Either.
The more I educate myself about this war and the more I think about how peace is obtained, the more I begin to see how naive we all are. I love to talk idealism, but reality is not that gift-wrapped. For instance, if you still have a problem with the fact that people are dying because of this war, this article might give a little perspective (beware ... it's very graphic and disturbing). Then again, it might not.
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience."
--Romans 13:1-5
"He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."
--Isaiah 2:4
lance
(from annie's blog)
Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 11:07 PM
Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:07 PM
Let's Try That Again
I am really getting tired of Blogger. If I mess up one quotation mark, it messes up the entire post and there's no way of going back to fix it. So sorry about that last post ... here's the picture I really wanted to share with y'all. I just think David looks so precious in that flowery comforter. He probably has really beautiful dreams.
What A Pretty Comforter!
Friday, March 21, 2003 at 2:47 PM
Definitely.
I definitely need to learn to spell this word correctly (instead of spelling it "definately"). I think at this point, it's definitely ingrained into my fingers ... when I think the word "definitely" I automatically type the word with an "a." I definitely know that it's the incorrect spelling, but it's a bad habit now. I think the only definite way to break the habit is just to type the word "definitely" as many times as possible. Most definitely. In fact, I'm not sure how many times I have to type "definitely" to break the habit. I'll probably have to type "definitely" indefinitely.
It's like sin. You do one little thing and it snowballs. Sin can definitely take over your life, one little piece at a time, until it becomes completely natural. This is definitely true with the things we say ... just look at how many people say "Oh my Gosh!" Christians, nonchristians, Buddhists, Jews, everybody says it. And most of them definitely don't think about the fact that they're actually saying "Oh My God" with a simple phoneme substitution (sh for d). They're calling on the name of God without really wanting His help (it's called "taking the name of the Lord in vain") and sometimes even cursing God directly. It doesn't matter what phonemes they use, it's a definite curse because of the intentions they have. It's definitely a problem, and it can definitely only be fixed by repeated attempts to definitively do the right thing.
Same goes for sin. And spelling. Most definately.
Quotation of the Day
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
-- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:49 AM
Al Gore is my Coworker.
Now this is getting interesting. Apparantly Al Gore, the inventor of the Internet, just joined Apple's board.
I'm just sitting here laughing. The reaction around the web is totally hilarious ... some people are offended, some are inspired, most are laying down some great jokes about the iLockbox or Apple owning the Internet. I think I'm just going to sit here and watch before I give any thoughts of my own.
ROTFL.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003 at 3:05 PM
The webeldotnet Philosophy
I have noticed an interesting phenomenon: Whenever I have a lot of things to say, I'm usually too busy to get online and post them. Conversely, whenever I have enough time to post something on webeldotnot, I don't have anything to say. Thus, this website is pretty much full of useless miscellaneous information. I guess that's ok, and it somewhat caters to a really fun group of people. But I've noticed that whenever I publish something remotely substantial or thought-provoking, it tends to attract much better interaction and much more interesting comments. Good thing I'm not doing this for the crowd, eh?
Actually, that brings up an issue I'd like to mention: the philosophy behind this blog. I think it's pretty important to explicitly state why my website is out here and organized the way it is. Believe it or not, there is a rhyme and a reason behind it. If that philosophy is unstated, however, it can definately lead to problems ... even in real life (I've experienced that a little lately). I want my purpose to be clear. So here goes:
1. webeldotnot is an organic expression through an emerging medium. It seeks to change and grow as a reflection of its creator (that's me!). Because of this, all sorts of content may arise ... random thoughts, deep introspections, surreal graphics, hilarious photos, moments of truth, communications with the Giver of Life, links to other interesting websites, and situational ironies. It's dynamic. It's organic.
2. Moreover, comments, links, and interaction on webeldotnot are just like a patchwork quilt; they usually point to a larger community, a collection of other people (just like me ... I'm a collaborative work by the people around me). You are an important part of this, whether you contribute or just eavesdrop (there's nothing wrong with that).
3. Interestingly, this website seeks to take advantage of the medium of cyberspace by connecting people, spanning global issues, and connecting worlds that would otherwise remain compartmentalized. I have been blessed to know and understand a variety of different worldviews and lifestyles, and those people deserve to be enriched by each other. A blog, at its best, is simply a conversation.
4. In some respects, webeldotnot is a unique opportunity to generalize (to learn something outside the learning environment). For instance, I can reinforce items that I teach in my computer literacy classroom by the things that I post here and the ways that I post those things. I can also gain accountability for my thoughts and actions by being completely honest and transparent here (a type of generalization for myself). Additionally, this website allows other people (campers, family, friends, students, etc) to give input and interact where they would not otherwise get the opportunity.
5. Finally, this is a humble pursuit. It is not a priority of mine nor does it claim to be complete or without fault. webeldotnot is merely a reservoir of glances into my heart, mind, and soul (and consequently a glance into those of the people around me).
So that's it. It's not a comprehensive or exhaustive philosophy, but hopefully it's a little clarifying and perhaps even thought-provoking. Has it provoked any thoughts?
Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 10:07 AM
Yes, I Did Get It.
I was pumping gas a Meijer's the other day when I noticed this advertisement above the trash can. Notice the proper use of the English language ... are they deliberately trying to appeal to those who are bothered by casual and improper language (i.e. "got milk?")? Interesting ...
Friday, March 14, 2003 at 2:00 PM
Hey, I'm A Teacher!
During my seventh bell class, these high school guys and girls came down to the middle school to teach a class about the number pi (today is 3.14, "Pi Day"). It could have possibly been a very neat thing, but the class was absolutely chaotic. The high-schoolers just kinda sat in the corner and yelled across the room at the kids. There was no classroom management, very bad communication (they didn't really explain what the kids were supposed to be doing), and a general lackadaisical manner.
In a roundabout sort of way, it boosted my self-esteem. I can see that i've learned a lot about how to teach and become much better at communicating in the classroom. And it was easy to see that I truly do care about my students and that I want them to learn.
Sometimes it's really easy to get discouraged when teaching middle-schoolers. It's hard to see how well you're doing, especially if you're relatively new (like me) and don't have a lot of years or experience to benchmark against. I often feel that I'm just falling flat on my face, day after day.
So, for whatever it's worth, I might be a better teacher than I think ... compared to lackadaisical high-schoolers. :)
Thursday, March 13, 2003 at 9:20 AM
Not For Prophet
I was talking to Matteo today on the phone, telling him (in a roundabout way) about how stressful this week has been for me. Last Friday, as you may know, I was the guest speaker at our school's chapel service. This basically means that I got up in front of about 450 people and gave a mini-sermon.
It really was very awesome ... I've spoken to groups that size before and I love doing it ... but never before have I been able to speak to so many people who I already know. I have every one of these students in class weekly and have had the opportunity to build relationships with them. So I decided to be a little bold with my talk.
After much deliberation and observation, the topic I chose to speak on was The Power of the Tongue. It was spurred on by some intense observations of what goes on behind-the-scenes at CHCA.
You see, over the course of the past two years, I've had the privilege of getting to know quite a few of the students and seeing some sides of school life that many teachers don't get to see. This is partly because of my age and personality ... I relate to these kids very well, mostly because I consider myself to be a part of their generation. I get to teach a relatively fun class (in many of their eyes) and I love to hang out and just have fun with them. I've also been blessed to be able to coach several sports teams and hang out with students outside of the school setting at a number of venues (socials, camp, bible studies, etc).
And this is what I've seen. When the bell rings and the teachers (or parents) aren't around, the lips often become loose. Rumors and gossip begin to fly. Kids start to swear and tell dirty jokes. Insults and unkind words are tossed around like popcorn kernels at the movies. Of course, when supervision or authority returns, much of this is shoved under the carpet, and the same 5 kids in each grade (known as troublemakers) get blamed. It's almost ironic, because the ones actually causing much of the trouble are the ones teachers would never suspect.
So I decided to lay it all out on the table last Friday, preach a fire and brimstone sort of message and tell it like it is. I spoke from James 3, a provoking passage that talks about how powerful and deadly the human tongue can be. I called the students on sarcasm, cussing, word battles, insults, gossip, lying, and not speaking when words need to be said.
The whole point of the message was to show that our tongues are our steering wheels ... they determine the direction our lives will go. If we say mean and hateful words, we will become a mean and hateful person. If we say kind and gentle words, we will become a kind and gentle person. I showed a few clips from A Christmas Story, depicting how Flick stuck his tongue to the flagpole and got his whole self stuck along with it (note the power of the tongue). James likens our tongue to a horse's bit, a ship's rudder, and a forest fire's spark -- all three set the direction for something much larger than themselves.
Moreover, during this whole week I've been driving the point home. In most of my classes, I've shown some more footage from the film and talked a little more about the topic, hoping to encourage a few people to take ownership of their words and actually listen to what comes out of their mouths. I've even left about 250 notes in random students' lockers (in bookbags, shoes, pockets, planners, you name it), reminding them to listen to what they say and set the right direction for their lives.
All of this has exhausted me. I know that I've scared some students. In a way, I've said some very threatening things ... I've pointed out sin and spoken truth publicly ... and there are undoubtedly people that are offended. There are 5th graders who freeze when they see me in the hallways and 8th graders who are insulting me behind my back. And it drives me crazy ... I'm used to being the fun-loving computer teacher, not the fiery-eyed authority figure looking to get everyone in trouble. But boldness needs to happen and truth needs to be spoken. As Matteo insightfully told me, I was almost playing the role of a prophet (they called it like it was, no matter how much the people hated them for it). Is this really how it was for prophets of old?
So now I sit, trying to prepare for this Friday's talk. I'd like to show the flip-side of the coin ... how our words can be used to heal and give life. There are so many verses that talk about this, so many pieces of instruction about how we should use our mouths and tongues. But nothing is jumping out at me, speaking as clearly as it did last week. I want the kids to be able to walk away with something practical, something thought-provoking and hopefully trend-setting. I want them to understand how powerful grace and compassion are, how important their healing words can be to each other. There are students out there that are afraid to be kind, afraid to stand up to lying and hateful tongues, afraid to walk away from their friends when they gossip and slander others. There are chains around their hearts and tongues.
Lord, please help me.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 at 10:27 AM
French Fries Get New Name in Congress
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press
Mar 11, 12:30 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House cafeterias will be serving fries with a side order of patriotism Tuesday with a decision by GOP lawmakers to replace the "French" cuisine with "freedom fries."
"This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France," said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee.
Ney, whose panel oversees House operations, ordered the House Administrative officer to change the menus in House office building cafeterias to read "freedom fries" and "freedom toast."
The House action follows moves by several restaurants around the country to remove "French" fries from their menus to protest French opposition to U.S. military action in Iraq.
Also leading the anti-French campaign was Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who noted in a letter to colleagues that Cubbie's restaurant in Beaufort, N.C., in his district, was now serving "freedom fries."
"Watching France's self-serving politics of passive aggression in this effort has discouraged me more than I can say," Jones said.
Members of Congress have been sharply critical of France for threatening to veto a new U.N. resolution holding Iraq in violation of disarmament agreements and paving the way for a military strike against the Saddam
Hussein government.
Another Republican, Jim Saxton of New Jersey, has introduced several bills to ban Pentagon participation in this year's Paris Air Show and to make sure that France does not participate in any reconstruction projects in Iraq.
Thursday, March 06, 2003 at 1:54 PM
Attack of the Killer Chee-to!
My brother just sent an absolutely hilarious article from CNN. Apparantly some guy found an abnormally big Chee-to in his bag, so he decided to put it on eBay. It wasn't even that big, but word spread, radio stations across the country called to talk to him, people started making tshirts and puppets, and pranksters bid the item up to millions of dollars. So the guy donated the Chee-to to a small town in Iowa (along with $1000 by Frito-Lay). Now this is good journalism.
Some International Flava
Interesting Solutions ...
Today's a really busy day ... we've got quite a bit of technical needs floating around the school, I need to prepare my talk for chapel tomorrow, we're solidifying purchase requisitions for a few more items for the middle school, my office has snowballed into the Quonsot Hut (if you've been out at PVM you know what I'm talking about), and my parents are coming afterschool. So, of course, I'm leaving an entry here. :)
For those of you wondering about the situation from Tuesday, it's almost resolved. The assistant principal told me that she referred the parent to me, stating that that was school policy. I have yet to hear from that parent, but if I don't by the end of the week I'll just go ahead and give him a call to resolve the thing. I don't think it's that big of a deal, overall, but it's quite interesting to me how many of you immediately responded with similar stories or concerns of your own. And I've had a few other teachers here at the middle school come tell me about instances very similar to mine that happened with parents this week. As far as I'm concerned, it all boils down to communication skills and humility. Others may need to work on the prior, I need to work on the latter. Plain and simple.
In general, I love interacting with parents and getting to know the families of children at school and at camp, but when it starts to interfere with the programming and curriculum it sometimes becomes an intrusion. We have an interesting solution to the problem of parent "intrusion" out at camp ... in general, there is usually no direct contact between parents and campers during their week at camp in the summer. The parents can send an email or piece of mail to their child that we'll print out and deliver, but there is no phone contact or visitation. Otherwise we'd be up to our necks in homesick tears (it's sometimes quite traumatic for a child to be "seperated" from his parents for an entire week, even if he's having the time of his life).
We actually use our website to alieviate a lot of complaints and interruptions. We hire a summer staff member each summer whose sole responsiblity is to gather photos, video, and manage the website. On each day of the summer, then, this person puts 20 to 30 digital photos of the kids online on our website for parents and families to go view. That portion of the PVMcamp website is password protected (even though we don't publish identifiable information there) to add to the parents' peace-of-mind. And it's really effective ... about 85-90% of the parents go to visit the site, almost daily!
Sure, that allows parents to see what great things we're doing out at camp ... but it also solves an interesting problem ... kidsick parents. When parents love their child, it's often harder for them to be away from their child than it is for the camper themself. Having the pictures online (and the opportunity to email) dramatically reduces phone calls, suprise visits, and other random interruptions to the camp week. We've been considering adding other features like this (webcams, etc) but aren't exactly sure how technically realistic that would be (we only have incredibly slow dial-up connection to the Internet out there).
Wednesday, March 05, 2003 at 10:25 PM
Tuesday, March 04, 2003 at 12:53 PM
I Don't Understand.
So I just had both the principal and assistant principal come down to my room to confront me about my website. One of my posts earlier this week, the one about the great banner advertisement ("Is this your banner ad?"), had linked to a website with inappropriate content, and apparantly a parent had come to them, rather upset about it. I just removed the post.
First of all, I do not tell students to go to my website. It is my personal website where I keep my own personal blog. If students, parents, or perfect strangers choose to come here, that is their choice. If they want to interact by leaving comments, that's wonderful ... but all of my students are at an age where they are perfectly capable of being responsible for their own decisions.
Second, I have never claimed to support all of the content of other websites I visit or link to. That would be ludicrous. This especially applies to websites that are updated regularly ... it is important to understand that the Internet is an organic, growing medium. If I felt that I needed to spend all of my time ripping all links to websites with immoral content off of my page, I might as well take the whole thing down and curl up into the fetal position. Likewise, if you disassociate yourself in real life with all people with sin in their lives, you'd have to sit in a room alone (but wait, even then you'd be stuck with yourself). Going about trying to censor and limit the content from this world will never get you anywhere. That wasn't what Jesus preached or lived. If you're concerned about your child's morality, you need to teach your child morality.
That being said, there is a high probability that I could see this parent's point and I probably agree with what this parent has to say. Of course I don't endorse immorality, and as a Christian I believe that Phillipians 4:8 sums up how I should live in this area:
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable � if anything is excellent or praiseworthy�think about such things."
I want to be a good influence on my students, inside and outside of the classroom, and I believe that we shouldn't compartmentalize our lives to present different images to different people. In fact, I'm talking at chapel on Friday about very similar topics (James 3, The Power of the Tongue).
This parent, however, has decided not to contact me, but to go to my superiors and complain to them. I simply do not understand this. Is he trying to get me in trouble? Is he afraid to go to the source? Does he not see me as an adult, with real decision-making skills? Does he somehow think that the school is responsible for my personal website? What's the dilly, yo?
As I get older and marginally wiser, I'm beginning to see more and more how important clear, honest communication is to me. Whether it be different types of media, my prayer life, accountability with friends, or brand marketing, communication is at the core of what I value highly. Hopefully this problem will be resolved without me having to weed backwards through the trail of scattered words. And hopefully I never lose my job over something as silly as this. If I lose my job, it had better be over something good.
Just kidding, parents. ;)
Happily Deceived Feet.
Socks are a funny thing. I don't buy them often (just ask Sarah Sears about that one) ... but when I do, it's a big deal. There are few feelings in this world like a clean pair of feet and a nice warm brand-new pair of socks. Conversely, there are few things that are as perturbing as previously clean and new socks that have recently been placed in a puddle of water.
So I was at Wal-Mart last week, looking for some new socks. At this point in my life, I've pretty much ruled out long tube socks (they smash my leg hair on my shins) and short sports socks (they allow too much airflow up the pant leg and occasionally slip down into the shoe). Even after slimming down my options to crew socks, however, I was still left with quite a selection. Gold toes? Thick seams? Cheap bulk socks (sometime I'll tell you guys about the dollar store's Bag 'O Socks)?
Then my eyes fell upon something special ... These WORK GEAR Heavy Duty Crew socks from Fruit of the Loom. The thing that really caught my eye was the phrase "Steel Toe" ... check it out:
After wearing 5 of the 6 pairs of socks, I feel that I can safely say that they do not, I repeat, they do not, have steel toes. In fact, I seriously doubt that they have any steel in them at all. Call me a skeptic if you'd like, but it looks like false advertisement to me.
But boy are they nice socks.
Monday, March 03, 2003 at 4:03 PM
No, I'm Not Stuttering.
The date today is 03/03/03. Just thought it was worth mentioning.
Sunday, March 02, 2003 at 8:28 PM
Threeator
I just saw the new trailer for Disney's Ghosts of the Abyss. It seems to blur the lines between a movie and a documentary ... but I'm mostly excited about the fact that it's in 3D. It's about time that cinema's started reverting back to three-dimensional adventures. I don't know how they suckered the public into flat 2D movies for so many years. Hopefully this is the beginning of Hollywood actually going somewhere. With Disney's reputation, however, it'll probably just be regarded as a novel art project.
Come on, peoples ... let's reinvent this medium!
Collect $200.
A couple of weeks ago I got my passport in the mail. A couple of days after I got it, I lost it (of course ... welcome to my life!). I did what I call a passive search ... I just went about my normal everyday life for about a week, hoping it would turn up under a sheet of paper or in a jeans pocket. After about a week, I got a little more freaked out (but not much more), until I randomly found it ... right where it was supposed to be. I have a "Safe Place" where I keep my social security card, birth certificate, and now my passport ... and apparantly I had already store my passport there without even knowing it. I guess I need to give myself more credit.
My plane tickets and International Student ID (anyone under 25 can get one) have also arrived ... so logistically, I have everything I need for Morocco. I'm supposed to continue getting a couple of Hepatitis shots, but I'm not going to do so until I get a new doctor and new doctor's office (I knew more about vaccinations than my doctor, and that's pretty lame). I leave in a little more than a month ... how great is that?!
Kiss Them Goodbye
An ashtonishing number of people don't fight back against telemarketers, spammers, robots, and junkmail. That's how they thrive. Here's a great resource on how to get rid of telemarketers for good.
Saturday, March 01, 2003 at 9:55 AM
Good Morning.
I suppose that it's about time to just do a narrative entry, to take a few minutes just to blah about what's going on here and there. I don't really have any reason to type anything, but I'm sure I'll think of something as my fingers keep moving. We'll see.
The spring (is it really spring yet?) tends to be a very busy time in the Webel household, for several reasons. First, the end of the school year is just naturally busy. Proficiencies, tests, programs at school, crazy hormones (in the kids, not the teachers, hopefully), and general exhaustion all start hitting. Second, camp season starts coming on full-bore. You can probably imagine (or perhaps you can't) just how much work is involved in planning a summer camp, including hiring staff, getting promotions out there, and preparing the actual program and schedule and camps (and I'm only part-time out there!). Third, track season starts ... we practice everyday afterschool, and the meets tend to go into the wee hours. Fourth, technology starts to frizz out as the end of the year comes ... I think it just gets sick of kids (and teachers) complaining in front of it.
On the other hand, I have different fingers.
Boy, that last post (the one below) sure takes a long time to load on some computers. Sure, it's just regular text ... but each character has an assigned color, and it's a huge amount of HTML. Sorry to those of you with slower connections or computers ... it probably makes this page perform pretty chunkily.
And yes, that is a word. Chunkily. Look it up. I'm going to go eat lunch.
