Unwanted Commentary

I’ve heard it said before that, with the current state of affairs, if this is the best that God could come up with He isn’t any God that I want to have anything to do with. I think George Carlin said some form of this, but I’ve heard it said a number of times by those who need reasons to proclaim their atheism. This got me to thinking about stuff, namely if you take God out of your world view equation then you tend to put all your cards in the Science basket. So, wouldn’t it be fair to say, “If this is the best that science can do, is it something I really want to be a part of?”

Sure you can blame a lot of things on the doorstep of religion, God and the Church (whichever your prefer), but I don’t think its fair to ask of God “is this the best you can do?” and not look at science and technology and ask the same thing. Because for as many bad situations that God has gotten us into, if you want to look at that way, I don’t think they are as near as bad as many of the current problems we face, and most of those were caused by technology and science. Mechanized destruction of the planet, global warming, recession, gas prices, yadda yadda yadda…

Of course if technology and science created these problems then science and technology will save us, but wasn’t that the point of technology in the beginning. Science and the technology it has brought us was supposed to save us from the problems we had before, but it also introduced new problems for which it then had to solve, which then created more problems. It’s a circular, self-propagating situation, but I guess it’s what we have to live with, because even more so than God, I don’t think science and technology are going to go away. Nor would we want them to at this point.

And I’m not trying to be anti-technology here, I just feel that the spirituality of the human being is just as important as anything else, it is oft neglected, and I tire of those who find it convenient to lay all of humanities ills at the feet of God.

Posted by Jeff at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

About a month ago I started a stone carving class at the Creative Arts Center, and below is my project. I believe if you follow the picture/link you can go to Flickr and view the other photos.

I haven't mentioned this because there's been so much going on lately, but it has been something that I've come to look forward to a great deal. The class itself was around $200, I know, kind of pricey, but I figured I'd have a go at it. Mitzy is taking a pottery class, and that's how I found out about all of this. The classes take place on Saturday and the session goes from 9:30 to 12:30 A.M., outside, but under an awning.

My first day was pretty intimidating as people showed up and started working on all of these complicated and intricate sculptures, and the instructor was late, so I sat there thinking that I had really stepped off into something I had no business getting into. Fortunately, when the instructor did show up I found that there was another new guy starting out, so I didn't feel too much like I was all alone in this adventure. Art, my instructor, spent the next two hours showing us around the work area, explaining tools, going over technique, telling stories and basically getting us acclimated to the scene. At the end of all of this he gave each of us a slab of scrap limestone on which we could chisel around on.

When we showed up for the second class session we were to have thought about what we wanted to sculpt and how big of a stone we wanted. I had learned from my orientationing that I would need to purchase my own rock! Art said he could get a good slab of limestone for about 40 cents a pound, maybe less, I forget. My co-new-guy had brought in his own stone, and since I was unsure as to what I was going to create I told Art that I had been thinking of going with a stone of similar shape and size, and I really had been. I didn't want to start off too big, which is evidently a problem with the class, new students come in wanting to do David on their first try. In a very groovy turn of events Art let me have the scrap stone I had been hacking away at last session, and being the tight-ass I am, I eagerly accepted.

That first pic up there pretty much shows you the shape of the stone I started with, I didn't think to take a picture of it when I started, but you have to imagine it a bit more rectangled out. That pic represents about two and a half hours of going at it with a single-prong chisel and pneumatic hammer. Chisel and pneumatic hammer, it is every bit as much fun as it sounds, and there is a very real satisfaction one gets from shaping stone with power tools, not to mention the stress relief. I had started off thinking I would do some sort of small gargoyle figurine using only the first four or five inches of the rock, but as I started knocking chunks off of it I saw the shape of sleeping dragon, so I switched gears and that's what I've been going for. I'm not sure how successful I'll be, but however it turns out, the whole experience has been super fun.

Posted by Jeff at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am now dangerously close to purchasing a house, but to be honest I wouldn't be anywhere near the precipice without the diligent work of Mitzy. She's really pushed the deal through. I feel pretty good about the whole process, it has gone exceedingly smooth so far, meaning I am very alert for any rogue footwear that might fall in my vicinity. We wheedled the seller down almost 10k off the price, so we're either shrewd negotiators, or we're heading head first into some sort of quagmire, money pit, roach infested hell hole. We'll see. Hopefully the inspector will alert us to any blaring structural mishaps or infestations that we as of yet have not noticed.

It's funny to think that I may soon live in a house. I haven't live in a house since I moved out of my parent's house. I've spent almost 15 years living in apartments. Seven in all, I think. I will now be equipped with a front and back yard, a nice Morgan shed, and a sun room,

I still wish I had had the cahones to go for the crazy hot-tub house. It was this great hollywood style home, but the previous owners has spent something to the tune of 75 grand building this awesome hot tub room. It was so horribly out of place, but so awesome. Mitzy just couldn't get over the odd layout, we just couldn't pull the trigger on it. Ah well, prolly for the best.

Posted by Jeff at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know I'm way behind the curve on this, but then if you are still reading this blog chances are you are too. So, if you haven't you really, REALLY should. It's no Moon passing in front of the GOD DAMNED earth, but it quite possibly is close.

Posted by Jeff at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A view of the moon passing in front of the Earth from 31 million miles away. PWN!

Found via Gizmodo: full story

Posted by Jeff at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At least as far as my first class is concerned. My midterm project is due by Sunday at midnight, and I'm not horribly behind on it, but it will take some dedicated work this weekend to make sure I have everything completed and ready to turn in. So far the class has gone really well, even though I say that with a little bit of reservation. I'm understanding the concepts as I go through the chapters, do the homework and turn in the hands-on assignments, but I'm getting really nervous as the whether or not I'm really grasping what's going on. I've got the pieces so far, but will I be able to build a whole out of that?

Posted by Jeff at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went for a three mile run on Wednesday afternoon and really soaked in the joy of heat in the high 90s. Even more disappointing was that my right heal started really hurting again, even though it didn't hurt too much at the end of the run and the fact that I iced it for a good 10-15 minutes after. Right now I'm not sure I should continue trying to push it, I absolutely don't want any sort of permanent injury, and I'm trying to weigh my options. I'm considering laying off running for a few weeks and taking up the stationary bike to compensate, and also doing some weight training.

Not sure what to do right now, this is a seriously disappointing development and I'm really bummed about it.

Posted by Jeff at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There were problems, but I believe they have been corrected. I'd like to thank D and Adam (I'm going to say thank you to Adam because D was going to enlist his assistance, though I don't know if he was actually employed in the endeavor) for their assistance.

Posted by Jeff at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Super cute little movie, probably the best cgi-animated film since Shrek. The story ran a lot differently than I had anticipated by watching the previews, but that wasn't at all a bad thing. The movie, I thought, did a great job of delivering an environmental warning message without being preachy and not sacrificing the story line or the laughs. I'd highly recommend this one.

Run Lola Run, another long time Netflix queue lurker, finally got its turn. Enjoyed the film, though not sure I really 'got' it. I hate to ruin anything about the movie, but I think it's an enjoyable ride of a film and would recommend it to anyone who likes to see something a little different every now and then. :-) It reminded me of Sweet Sweeeeeetbacks Bad Ass Song in that there's a lot of running scenes. :-D

Posted by Jeff at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Week before last I suddenly got lazy and stopped running in the morning, instead I started going to the gym in the afternoon and either running around their curvy little track or running on the treadmill. One of the positives of running on the treadmill as pushing my pace up to an 11 minute mile, as opposed to a 12, and I did a four and three mile run that way. The downside is that I feel that running on a treadmill is a poor approximation of actually going out and running, plus it's incredibly boring. Wednesday before last I did the 4 miler at just under an 11 minute pace, plus I set the treadmill to do random elevations, I felt this would give a better simulation of being outside. I guess that worked.

Saturday before last I went out to the lake and ran six miles and accomplished that just a tad over 1 hour 13 minutes, pretty good considering the run was pretty excruciating. I just never got comfortable. I also finally overdid it and hurt me heel, I forget what it's called, but it hurts like heck, especially after you've been sitting for awhile, or when you get out of bed in the morning. As a result I took last week off and didn't run at all. I bought some Dr. Scholl's insoles for my heels and that has really helped, they're feeling a ton better. The left is great, the right still hurts a bit.

This morning I got up and ran about a two mile run, and that felt great. Wednesday I'll do 3 and then Thursday 2 again, and Saturday will be 4. I'm going to trim back a bit, as Mitzy thinks I ought to. My heel injury was probably caused by just increasing my mileage too fast. I sure hope that's all it was.

Posted by Jeff at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)