This has got to be the worst music video of all time. It is so bad that I just had to share it with the whole internet.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Finnish Disco Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Ehrman and apostasy
I found this interview with Bart Ehrman online today. Ehrman is a biblicial scholar and Dean of the religious studies department at UNC Chapel Hill. While I don't agree with his agnosticism, I appreciate his candor about issues about how the bible actually came to be. If anything, the issues Ehrman presents indicate to me the need for Latter-day scriptures and a restoration. Not for the faint of heart. You may not like this.
Death Cab
The song Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie is one of my favorites. I heard this song on the radio and have loved it ever since. Here is an acoustic version that I am sharing with you. I hope that it moves you the same way it moves me.
A side project by the lead singer is calle the Postal Service. This song, Such great heights, was in the Garden State soundtrack and is pretty cool too. You might also learn something about how micro processors are made too !!!!!!!:-)
Season of Change
I had a sad thought today. I thought about what will happen to our students when we leave. Who will teach them? Will the new people be as dedicated as we are? Will they work as hard as we do to help them reach higher levels of independence?
We have accomplished so much with the two students that are here that one cannot help to think about these things. People, like us, who are dedicated to making the world a better place by helping the disadvantaged and disabled cannot help but feel this way about our kids.
From what I can see is that this transition will be much like a dear loved one passing away. It will be very painful at first, but I am sure that as time passes, and new people and experiences fill the void, it will get better until the departed loved one becomes a fond memory.
I was in Helen Georgia during October to see the magnificent autumn foliage of the 
North Georgia Mountains. Some friends and I hiked to Anna Ruby Falls. While leaning up against some rocks at the falls the wind picked up filling the air with swirls of bright reds, deep browns, and brilliant dark oranges set against a clear blue sky. It was then that I had the thought that while life is fluid and transitory, each phase is to be enjoyed and appreciated because that is why they are given us. Simultaneously though, a happy and productive life requires one to not only appreciate fall, but to move with seasons as they move and appreciate the good that comes with the winters, springs, and summers.
The preacher (the book of Ecclesiastes) said that for everything there is a time and season under heaven. How true this is, and how happy and sad it makes me at the same time.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Change for sure
It is for sure that things are changing. Today our department head informed our lead and another of our team that they are moving to the mild classroom that will open this fall. What was once something we only thought was going to happen is now a reality and come fall, things will be changing.
I am really okay with this. They have dealing with the challenges of a severe autism classroom and want a new to take on a new situation with the good and bad that will come with that. I don’t blame them because seeing what we have been through during the past two years, and knowing about what has happened in the past, their decision to move seems very wise. When it comes the safety of staff and the kids, there are some things that are just flat wrong no matter how others try to justify them.
It will not hit me that something great is coming to an end until the last day of school in May and we all have to go our separate ways, my friends to new work opportunities and me to wherever my graduate studies carry me. There are some people I know who have said that it would drive them crazy not knowing exactly what I will be doing six to eight months from now in terms of school and work. I don’t blame them.
On the other hand I have always been adventurous, always wanting to explore new places, meet new people, and have new experiences. For instance summer vacations were filled with wonder as my friends and I would ride our bicycles to the edges of our known world, exploring every vacant lot, wooded area, or local wetland that was in the Garden Home community of Portland Oregon.
After two very dismal and depressing years at BYU-Idaho, on a whim I filled out an application to BYU-Hawaii. I remember my mother thinking that I was joking around in filling out an application to attend school in Hawaii. Going to Hawaii was not just transferring to another school, but moving into a whole new world of cultures, possibilities and experiences that I would not have but when August of the following year rolled around and I got on that plane to Honolulu. It became apparent to everyone that I was totally serious about moving thousands of miles from Lawrenceville to a remote island in the middle of the Pacific.
The thing in life that I have learned is this; when I go with these impulses to have new experiences, to learn and see new things, it always turns out for the best. On the other hand when I stick with the status quo, misery generally follows. My happiness is in adventure. That’s part of who I am. I don’t think that I will ever be able to give it up. I also think that life does not end at thirty. It only ends when either you are dead, or loose that sense of wonder that drives you to see what’s in that stand of trees, or down the road.
I am definitely more of a Liahona Mormon. That’s who I am.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Keepin it together?
Something really funny just happened.
I signed for a professional learning class that was being offered through the school district that I work for. So today after school I went to Radliff Middle School, the announced location for the course.
After parking my car, I made my way to the media center where the class was going to be held and found a place to sit down. Seeing that no one else had arrived and that the class might be starting later then advertised, I decided to take advantage of the extra time to do some scripture study.
Forty minutes, a chapter from the Book of Mormon, and several sections from the Doctrine and Covenants later, I began to wonder what was going on. Were they running really late? Had they cancelled the class? With this in mind I checked my work email. Between the time I had left Brookwood and arrived at Radliff there was the possibility that the class had been canceled and everyone was informed by email of the cancellation. Sadly there were no new emails indicating a cancelation.
I remembered after registering for the class a few weeks ago I sent myself a message to my Gmail account with the class schedule. I pulled it up and to my pleasant surprise I was early for class, a whole week early. The first class does not begin until the 28th at 4:30pm at Radliff Middle, not the 21st at the afore mentioned time.
Stress must be getting to me. I usually don’t do this sort of thing unless there is a lot going on that is mentally taxing. Oh, well. I will just enjoy the night off and spend it at Institute class at the Mt. Park building.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
A definite must see
I love Youtube. It has taken the place that Mtv2 and FUSE had when it comes to music videos. Here are some of my top picks.
This is Interpol. Their album, Antics, was my soundtrack up until a few months ago. This song, Evil, is awesome.
Radiohead is another favorite. I saw this video for the first time, at Craigos, a small pizza place that used to be located just off of Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) campus in Rexburg. The song is called karma Police. I don't listen to them as much as I used to. Mostly when I feel nostalgic for the days right before my mission.
I almost went through the roof of of my car on the way home from work when I heard this song. I sat in my driveway until it was done to find who sang it and what it was called. The video is cool. Imagine Joan of Arc, meets Cortez or Columbus, meets the Donner party in an elaborate community or high school theatre production. I give you Phantom Limb from The Shins.
You have to take the time to watch these.
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