A Thought on Sleeves

The other day I was running in the sun, and I was wearing my t-shirt. Like all t-shirts, this one had sleeves. I suddenly realized a major problem with my t-shirt. Why on earth does it have sleeves?

When it is cold outside we often wear coats or long-sleeved shirts. Perhaps sweaters as well. When it is warm, we exchange or warm clothes for cool clothes. T-shirts are one of them. Yet these pieces of cloth that hang on to the body of our clothes appears unnecessary. Is it because of modestly? I wasn't aware that you might morally stumble because of the lack of covering over the region of the upper arm.

As I began to question my sleeves, I noticed that they lacked more then a purpose. They also are a nuisance. I was quite hot, and those sleeves held in heat. I thought we wore t-shirts for the purpose of keeping cool yet sleeves keep heat in! Not only are sleeves purposeless they inhibit our comfort.

Therefore, I propose we take scissors and snip off these pets from our cool clothes. Let us be free of the sleeves.

(I am not responsible for anyone irrationally cutting all their t-shirts nor am I responsible for people making poor wardrobe choices. Furthermore, I am currently wearing sleeves.)

God, Dead Week and Finals

It is Dead Week at Taylor. I used to think this term meant that you die because of all the assignments that are due. Thankfully, I have not been put beneath six feet deep of assignments this year, only four. My finals week should be harder but again, not the hardest I have had to endure. The irony of this week is that the term "Dead Week" is supposed to mean that students don't have any events going on so they have time to study for finals. I thought that was a joke but apparently it holds truth.

In my mind, one phenomenon that I enjoy during this week is all the wishful thinking that occurs. I have so many thoughts like "if only I worked harder." One particular odd thought I have is that I wish I worked hard on projects so I could say that I am more busy. Taylor and me suffers from the illusion that business equals cool.

Many cool people Taylor are busy this week. For example, my roommate has six papers due this week. And that's not counting finals. I'm "busy" myself, but not that busy. If I was, you wouldn't be reading this but instead watching me run around like chicken with no head.

Finals will be stressful, they always are. My finals for most of my classes will determine how good my grades will be, but I don't have a large quantity of work. The phenomenon in my head is that I want to be busy so I can be cool.

The problem with this is that when I become busy, my God is left out of the picture. It's only in those crisis moments that I honestly pray to him. Sure, I do my Bible Study, "pray" and go to church. Yet, I don't live with Him.

A great example of this problem I have is when I was walking from class to a dinner-meeting at work tonight. While walking I reviewed memory verses. It was Galatians 6:9-10. "And let us not grow weary in doing good works, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good works toward all people, especially of those who are of the household of faith." (not a direct translation.) Funny thing was that later that evening I had a chance to do a good work, and guess what, I didn't do it. I was too busy.

The problem with being busy is that it takes away the awareness of the supernatural world in which our actions recorded. We will reap a good reward if we do not lose heart. When I become busy, I lose heart.

To be busy is to lose sight of what's really important and focus solely on the tasks at hand. You forget the supernatural. In sense, you become a materialist. So, I have work to do and things have to get done, but I'm not busy.

How to Dry your Hands

Yes, this is a post that hopefully will help your forget that I failed to correctly predict the election.

Recently, Taylor University has changed how people dry their hands in the public restrooms throughout campus. Previously, we were provided with machines which contained paper towels. We would press a lever and paper would pop out. We'd tear it away from the ream, and dry our hands. This is no longer so.

Taylor University has installed machines that blow hot/warm/cold air. When I first used these machines I noticed a couple problems. First, it takes longer to dry your hands. Second, your hands become rather dry because the water is often blown directly into your skin and when it dries out, your hands are left that rough scratchy sensation. Lastly, it is no longer possible to dry your face when you splash water on your face.

Because of these problems, I have developed certain methods of drying your hands and using these blow dry machines in the most efficient and practical way.

The Time Problem
I have found that there is a method which greatly saves on time. After your wash your hands, shake them virgorously, but let your wrists and fingers relax so you get kind of a snap while your hands shake. Then, while keeping your wrists limp and fingers pointed down, put your hands under the machine. Direct the air flow directly on the highest point on the backside of one hand. Go down all the way to where your fingers begin. Then get the sides and proceed to do the other hand. Switch back and get ready to hit the fingers. (Your fingers should be pointed down the whole time.) Begin by hitting the lower part of the fingers and work your way to the tips. You should notice that the water is not being blown into your skin, nor dried out, but rather being pushed toward your finger tips where they simply drop off. With a little practice, you can get your hands dried as fast as your would with a towel.

The Dry Hands Problem
The key to this drying your hands method is to direct the air to push the water down your hand, toward your finger tip and not into the skin. That is why you keep your fingers pointed down and wrists always limp. Though this doesn't stop your hands from becoming dry, it does help reduce the problem.

Drying your Face Problem
This has a story behind it. I was working late in the library, and was starting to feel sleepy so I went to the bathroom and splashed my face with water. I forgot we no longer had towels and so when I turned to dry my face, I realized, while dripping with water, that I couldn't dry my face. So I stuck my face underneath the blow dry machine and felt like I was sticking my head out a car window at 60 mph.

Though it worked, I have discovered a more efficient way to drying your face with a blow dry machine. Simply cup your hands together like you're going to drink water from you hands, hold it up to the machine and direct the air to bounce off your hands and into your face.

So now you know how to deal with some of the issues involved with blow drying your hands and can deal with them more efficiently.

The Point of Tragedy

Last night, just before the Lakers won an NBA championship, give Kobe a high five and ignore Artest, I finished a tragedy. It is called "Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. Angels was written as a historical novel about the three day battle of Gettysburg. Incredibly easy to read but very insightful about honor, death and tragedy. According to my Apple dictionary (Which is the New Oxford Dictionary), a tragedy is "a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, esp. one concerning the downfall of the main character."

In Angels, it is a tragedy that the South failed in that last charge, losing so many men. (All of Pickett's thirteen officers were either wounded or killed.) It's a tragedy that literally, thousands of men marched to their death but what makes a tragedy is not just the fact that there is a unhappy ending. (So many men died and the battle was lost.) One gleans a gem of truth from the terrible ending. You learn about the true nature of the characters involved, a small window into who they actually are. (The men died moving forward, with bravery.)

In 2004, the Pacer's hope of an NBA championship were dashed, completely, by Ron Artest, who now has a ring. Indianapolis still does not have a NBA championship. Reggie Miller retired without a ring on his finger. A former teammate now wearing one is partially the cause. Such a tragedy that the man who ruined a city's and great player's chance of winning a NBA title.

The question now, what gem of truth will be revealed about the character of Indianapolis and Reggie Miller? How do we end this tragedy?

It is Summer

Being productive during the summer has always been a struggle for me. It's warm out, I'm at home, there appears to be endless hours and days and one can always do something other then what needs to be done. Yet, I have planned out some projects, am taking some classes and have a life to live.

First, I am taking eight hours of classes, (regional geography and microeconomics) and working on my senior paper. All them have one due date, the day I get back to school in late August.

Second, I am reading The Summa of the Summa. This repetitive title designates the great work written by Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica or Summary of Theology. Thank goodness I am reading only a summary of that summary. That means I'm only reading one volume instead of a couple dozen.

Third, I have my own reading projects of about 25 books categorized as following: history, philosophy, devotional literature, novels and education. (Reviews of some will be following.)

Fourth, I am training for three triathlons: The first is in June, second in August and the last in September. See previous post for racing goals.

Lastly, but not least, I am working as a pastoral intern at 2nd Reformed Presbyterian Church, my church. I'm helping out with the high school group, helping lead a missions trip, being a counselor at Covfamikoi and doing what Pastor Johnston needs me to do.

Now, am I going to be able to accomplish all my goals this summer, probably not, but I know that by setting up goals, it gives me more motivation to get things done that otherwise I would have not even had tried. It is better to set your mind to something, fail and reap the benefits of trying then to not ever try in the first place.

How I Got Hurt, and two Ironies

Some may have seen my facebook status yesterday and now you see a picture. The story is this:
I was biking to the Dining Commons yesterday morning before work. I was rode there because I was trying to save time. It had snowed. There was ice on the sidewalk. I almost made it though. I got to the stop sign which is next to the Dining Commons. In order to cross, you need to make two small turns. On the second turn, I leaned in and suddenly I found myself on the ground.
Because of years of experience on the bike, and crashing on bikes, I was able to crash without the bike landing on me, it flew in front of me. Because my left hand was otherwise occupied, my right knee, right hand and chin took most of the blow. I'm glad I didn't have my whole weight on one spot. (Like my wrist, knee or chin.) So the impact dissipated throughout my body. I had a small gash on my hand. My knee was cut, and I had a scrape on my chin, which isn't noticeable because of facial hair.

I laid there for a bit, wondering if anyone saw me. No one was around. I thought I heard voices, maybe the angels were arguing over who failed to protect me, or arguing who succeeding protecting me. I sat up, made sure nothing was broken and walked my bike to the Dining Commons. I got a first aid kit, fixed my hand and went to work, I didn't get breakfast because of the accident. My boss suggested that I should go to the Health Center when they opened (She threatened to call my hall director... though it wasn't a threat, I think it was more of a motherly warning.) So after work I went to the Health Center. They checked me out and cleaned out my cuts, which was really painful because the nurse had to dig into my skin to get sand and rocks out. I would have just left them, in my experience that stuff tend to come out eventually. (I am no medical expert and they said it could lead to an infection. If it was me, in the least they could have used a knife instead a cue tip to get it out though!) I didn't feel very good for a while, after I got some food, and took a nap, I felt much better. I'm still not back to 100% though. It probably will take about a week to fully recover.

The Two Ironies, including my Triathlon Goals for the Year
First, you may be wondering why my left hand was otherwise occupied when I fell. I was holding my coffee. Yes, I was riding my bike while drinking coffee. I won't do it again, at least I will try not to. The irony is that though I did not save my head, knee and hand, I did save the coffee. It was set nicely on the pavement, the top popped off but the majority of the drink was saved. I drank the rest at work.

Second, one of my goals for this year is to avoid being injured. I have struggled with with overuse injuries and avoidable accidents. Hopefully this is the only injury of the year, after my back and knees get better of course.
My other goal for the year is to get my sprint triathlon time below 1 hr. My best time is 1:06.29, and I believe I can get my speed up so that I can drop the necessary six minutes. This will also drop the quantity of hours and miles I will be doing. I think many of my injuries have been related to overuse and trying to do too much too early. So I do not plan on doing any longer triathlons this year, which is a bit frustrating, but I rather shoot lower this year and not get hurt then risk getting hurt and getting far ahead.