http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200805222746276
Sometimes it is nice to see worlds collide. God and baseball collide about 36 seconds into this. I don't know much about Adrian Gonzalez or Albert Pujols but they moved about 5 steps up in my book for their obvious declaration of faith and the immediacy with which they did it. These two men clearly would respond to any situation in this way and it makes me proud to say that I am a baseball fan in moments like this.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Simplicity
I love things that are complicated. The harder a solution to a problem is to come by, the more I will work and work and work at it until I dream about it (if I can sleep without solving it) and eventually figure out the problem. There is something intriguing about the difficulty in solving and the process that makes me joyful to be alive. Because of this aspect of my personality, I really have a difficult time solving simple problems since I always think of complicated solutions to simple problems.
For example: I designed a tree view (the hierarchical menu system that you see on the left hand of windows explorer) for an application that was pre-populated with data. Each of the parent nodes was a container for one or more parent nodes and one or more child nodes. As you got closer and closer to the leaf level (end of the line) the more specific the navigation became. IE Dog -> Big Dog -> Great Dane -> Harlequin Great Dane. What I needed to do is get all leaf nodes under a specific node. In the example above, I would need to get all Great Danes.
The way that I solved this problem was to create each node with a specific filter condition and then I would get all the nodes from a table of all nodes that match the filter conditions. So the Great Dane node would have the filter "Type=Dog, Size = Big, Breed = Great Dane" and then I would just run the query on the table and it would return all results that matched the filter. This is an elegant solution, extensible, and fairly well written. The only problem was that the nodes had already been filtered and I was reinventing the wheel in an even more complicated manner.
After thinking about this solution, I had to pause and go back and rethink. Why didn't I just get all the child nodes under the parent and not bother with the filter condition? Because I'm crazy, that's why.
Chrisitanity is the same way. All that matters is that God is A number one in my list of priorities. Everything else is just details. Theology, following moral codes, the spiritual disciplines, everything that comes along with Christianity is placed remarkably into perspective once I realize that the things that are dragging me down all have the root cause of not placing God first.
Getting this through my thick head on a daily basis is what I will continue to struggle with until the day that I die.
For example: I designed a tree view (the hierarchical menu system that you see on the left hand of windows explorer) for an application that was pre-populated with data. Each of the parent nodes was a container for one or more parent nodes and one or more child nodes. As you got closer and closer to the leaf level (end of the line) the more specific the navigation became. IE Dog -> Big Dog -> Great Dane -> Harlequin Great Dane. What I needed to do is get all leaf nodes under a specific node. In the example above, I would need to get all Great Danes.
The way that I solved this problem was to create each node with a specific filter condition and then I would get all the nodes from a table of all nodes that match the filter conditions. So the Great Dane node would have the filter "Type=Dog, Size = Big, Breed = Great Dane" and then I would just run the query on the table and it would return all results that matched the filter. This is an elegant solution, extensible, and fairly well written. The only problem was that the nodes had already been filtered and I was reinventing the wheel in an even more complicated manner.
After thinking about this solution, I had to pause and go back and rethink. Why didn't I just get all the child nodes under the parent and not bother with the filter condition? Because I'm crazy, that's why.
Chrisitanity is the same way. All that matters is that God is A number one in my list of priorities. Everything else is just details. Theology, following moral codes, the spiritual disciplines, everything that comes along with Christianity is placed remarkably into perspective once I realize that the things that are dragging me down all have the root cause of not placing God first.
Getting this through my thick head on a daily basis is what I will continue to struggle with until the day that I die.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Religion and Politics
My favorite things to talk about are religion and politics. I love them both equally because everyone has to have an opinion about them in one way or another and the opinion of two people, except in the most odd of circumstances, will be different. These seemingly divisive (since when did everyone pronouce that "dih-vih-sive" as opposed to "dih-vye-sive") actually make me feel closer to a person than if we shared the same beliefs. Let me explain.
The ability of a person to articulate their feelings on an issue in additon to having the courage to defend those beliefs in a logical and conclusive manner without clamming up or becoming actively hostile makes me enjoy the conversation. If you cannot debate your opinions without descending into emotional drivel, then you do not have an opinion. You have been innundated with rhetoric and dogma and are merely regurgitating what you have been told.
Tina Fey was on SNL a few weeks ago, I don't remember if she was the host, but she was given a soapbox at the Weekend Update desk. She utilized this position to proclaim her Hillary Clinton calptrap and stated "bitch is the new black." It was not a very funny statement and made me think of one of the two funny lines Dane Cook has ever uttered. "It's that awkward silence like we were all sitting down eating dinner and dad just got up and smacked mom and now we're trying to go back to our dinner." A horrible situation, but a perfect analogy.
A few weeks later Tracy Morgan came on and was talking up Barack Obama. I don't remember much of what he said, I only remember that it was moderately amusing but mostly bad. Sitting on the couch with Kimmy, we kind of felt that justice had been served and had started talking during his little diatribe. We quieted down to hear the end of it and he uttered these words, which will forever be burned into my brain. "Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch" No better words have been spoken and I applaud NBC, SNL, and Tracy Morgan for this.
Amy Poehler is also a vehement Clinton psychopath and when the camera went back to her and Seth Myers to finish the segment, Seth was doing all he could to not die of laughter and Amy was gritting her teeth. This is a link to the speech, which is bad in most of it but ends with the one liner to end all one liners.
Hillary is intelligent, calculating, and will do anything to get what she wants even if it means destroying the Democratic party. I am a Republican but will vote Obama because I believe that his intentions are to make this a better country. McCain is pretty much Bush's mini-me and we've seen how that has gone the past 8 years. Clinton's intention is the presidency and she will stop at nothing to get it. This is a perfect video. The only difference is that the small dog knows when it's time to quit.
The ability of a person to articulate their feelings on an issue in additon to having the courage to defend those beliefs in a logical and conclusive manner without clamming up or becoming actively hostile makes me enjoy the conversation. If you cannot debate your opinions without descending into emotional drivel, then you do not have an opinion. You have been innundated with rhetoric and dogma and are merely regurgitating what you have been told.
Tina Fey was on SNL a few weeks ago, I don't remember if she was the host, but she was given a soapbox at the Weekend Update desk. She utilized this position to proclaim her Hillary Clinton calptrap and stated "bitch is the new black." It was not a very funny statement and made me think of one of the two funny lines Dane Cook has ever uttered. "It's that awkward silence like we were all sitting down eating dinner and dad just got up and smacked mom and now we're trying to go back to our dinner." A horrible situation, but a perfect analogy.
A few weeks later Tracy Morgan came on and was talking up Barack Obama. I don't remember much of what he said, I only remember that it was moderately amusing but mostly bad. Sitting on the couch with Kimmy, we kind of felt that justice had been served and had started talking during his little diatribe. We quieted down to hear the end of it and he uttered these words, which will forever be burned into my brain. "Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch" No better words have been spoken and I applaud NBC, SNL, and Tracy Morgan for this.
Amy Poehler is also a vehement Clinton psychopath and when the camera went back to her and Seth Myers to finish the segment, Seth was doing all he could to not die of laughter and Amy was gritting her teeth. This is a link to the speech, which is bad in most of it but ends with the one liner to end all one liners.
Hillary is intelligent, calculating, and will do anything to get what she wants even if it means destroying the Democratic party. I am a Republican but will vote Obama because I believe that his intentions are to make this a better country. McCain is pretty much Bush's mini-me and we've seen how that has gone the past 8 years. Clinton's intention is the presidency and she will stop at nothing to get it. This is a perfect video. The only difference is that the small dog knows when it's time to quit.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Update x2
So the Cubs won that game. Still undefeated with me in the stands (5-0 or maybe more). I also passed that exam I was talking about and another one, so I am one exam (70-549) from MCPD-EA. w00t!!
Guild drama has begun :) I have two issues with people on WoW and both are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Type 1: Immature. Mostly Hunters. Have no concept of "team." Suffer from short and long term memory loss. Can not listen to instructions. Amazingly selfish. Will not sacrifice anything so that the raid will succeed. I have no idea how they manage to survive. Darwin clearly had some flaws in his theory.
Type 2: Hardcore. Mostly tanks and healers. Control freak. The type of person who will request to work solo on all group projects. See team members as dragging them down, holding them up, or as a cancer on their success. Refuse to admit faults. If something goes wrong, instead of busting out Benny Hill and laughing, will scream and yell and pick one person who *really* screwed up and harrangue them the rest of the night. Never have a "good day."
There are multiple type 1's in my guild and one specific type 2. One of the things that I have to laugh at is if something can go wrong involving this person and me, it will. For instance, if she heals me, the monster will attack her even if mathematically there is no reason for it to do so. Within the 3 seconds that it takes me to a) realize the monster ran away b) run after it c) get it off of her she has normally died and is fuming. If we are signed up on a group together, something inevitably will come up and I will miss it. Every time. I have, as a result, avoided her at all costs. The only time I group with her (and will group with her from now on) is in 25 man raids where I have a 1/23 chance of not being on her bad side. Last night, luckily, someone wasn't paying attention to heal chat and he felt the wrath of her type 2 personality.
This type 2 is married and I think I heard her husband say 5 things all of last night (2+ hour raid) even though he was a tank and should have been talking most of the time. Poor guy.
Guild drama has begun :) I have two issues with people on WoW and both are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Type 1: Immature. Mostly Hunters. Have no concept of "team." Suffer from short and long term memory loss. Can not listen to instructions. Amazingly selfish. Will not sacrifice anything so that the raid will succeed. I have no idea how they manage to survive. Darwin clearly had some flaws in his theory.
Type 2: Hardcore. Mostly tanks and healers. Control freak. The type of person who will request to work solo on all group projects. See team members as dragging them down, holding them up, or as a cancer on their success. Refuse to admit faults. If something goes wrong, instead of busting out Benny Hill and laughing, will scream and yell and pick one person who *really* screwed up and harrangue them the rest of the night. Never have a "good day."
There are multiple type 1's in my guild and one specific type 2. One of the things that I have to laugh at is if something can go wrong involving this person and me, it will. For instance, if she heals me, the monster will attack her even if mathematically there is no reason for it to do so. Within the 3 seconds that it takes me to a) realize the monster ran away b) run after it c) get it off of her she has normally died and is fuming. If we are signed up on a group together, something inevitably will come up and I will miss it. Every time. I have, as a result, avoided her at all costs. The only time I group with her (and will group with her from now on) is in 25 man raids where I have a 1/23 chance of not being on her bad side. Last night, luckily, someone wasn't paying attention to heal chat and he felt the wrath of her type 2 personality.
This type 2 is married and I think I heard her husband say 5 things all of last night (2+ hour raid) even though he was a tank and should have been talking most of the time. Poor guy.
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