Wha happenning? October 27, 2005
Posted by Aaron in : News , 2commentsBack in the days of yore there was a great giant known as AT&T. Its size threattened the well being of the country and a champion named DoJ arose to fight it. After a great battle (7 1/2 years) the giant lay broken into 7 pieces. Fairies protected the beast from being broken into further pieces stating that there was no reason to break these baby bells up further. In the years since then there was much infighting between these 7 pieces and over time they conquered each other (and occasionally other creatures that got in their path). Now only two remain of 7, their names are Verizon and SBC. Both are in their own right, large beasts, however only one has had the daring to seize the great skin that its predicessor was clad in. Today this SBC is in talks with the champion’s decendants seeking permission to reabsorb all that is left of the original giant except for its brother, Verizon. If the champion’s deem it worthy, when finished there will no more be Verizon and SBC, but Verizon and AT&T.
To Get to Know People October 26, 2005
Posted by NL in : Life , 1 comment so farIt all started a month or so ago. I heard an announcement at church about the church’s weekend at Shrine Mont, basically the campground of the Diocese of Virginia for the Episcopal Church. When I first heard the announcement, I figured I’d have to work that weekend. Then the weekend before the grand Alumni Race when they announced it, I realized that I would not work that weekend.
The next day I ‘registered’ by sending the church an email. It wasn’t until last Monday that I actually turned in the official registration and paid the necessary money.
Friday after work I dropped by the apartment to fill out my timecard online, grab another game and a couple other things and headed out toward Shenandoah National Park. My directions said that it would be at the end of the road, and the road, US-263, most certainly ends at the grounds. After turning off VA-11 onto US-263, I had 13 more miles to travel, and, if I could have driven like a bird, it would have been less than 13 miles because that road wound around, here and there, up and down; we were at the edge of the Apalatians, if not further in.
It turns out that we were staying at an historical landmark. The main building, containing the dining hall is four stories tall, of an architecture definitely from the past, but quite beautiful. Our church’s meeting room was The Ladies’ Parlour, where the ladies would gather in times long past while their husbands discussed other matters such as the War or yesterday’s horse races or whatever they had to talk about. I think my favourite part of the architecture of this building was with the stairs; they went up on either side of the entrance, curving back around and up to the next floor, the hand railing had a beautiful curve as it curved up and around following the stair’s curve to the next floor.
The building I stayed in was basically a motel. The walls were thin — the building not designed originally to be winterizible by today’s standards.
After supper we gathered for Evening Prayer, after which we watched Whistle Down the Wind, a British movie made in the 1960’s about some children who find a man in their barn who they think is Jesus but who is actually a criminal.
After the movie I talk with three of the other young people there. One was a young woman, a senior at Shenandoah University studying environmental education; she is engaged, so she’s not available (for those of you who would be wondering). A young man, about 17, and another young woman filled out the group. The second woman is studying nursing somewhere in the Washington Metro Area and has a 3 year old daughter. First impressions, first impressions… I heard all sorts of stories about these three and others in the church, past and present. God’s grace is quite amazing. I went to bed about 1 that morning.
After breakfast we had Morning Prayer and then discussed the movie. After lunch several people took a hike up the mountain to the Cross. The weather was not cooperating — if we were desiring a good view — because about three quarters the way up the mountain we started to be in the clouds; and, from the Cross, you could see a couple hundred feet at most… you would have no idea that the major ridge separating Virginia and West Virginia is not far in the distance.
After returning to the Ladies’ Parlour, I introduced a few more people to the game Set. After supper and Evening Prayer we had a game night, a few of us finished putting together a 3D puzzle of a castle while others played a game of Trivial Pursuit, mid-1990’s style. After we finished the 3D puzzle I joined in on the second game of Trivial Pursuit, but may as well as have not been a part of it considering the grand amount of knowledge that I contributed — or didn’t contribute. After Trivial Pursuit most people went to bed, except for the four of us from Friday night and another young woman who I believe is a freshman in high school. We played a few games of Set, all the while the three girls becoming more and more giddy as the night progressed.
On Sunday morning we had our service, celebrating the Eucharist, at the Shrine, which is an outdoor cathedral of sorts. The altar and bell tower are built of stone, quite simple, but beautiful. The day was a beautiful day, very much contrasted by the previous couple of days and thus-far the subsequent days; and worshiping outside was quite refreshing.
After lunch and packing, four of us decided to hike up to the cross, some of us for our second time, some for our first. This time we could see the mountains in the distance; God’s creation is amazing, beautiful to behold. Two of these people rode back home with me.
For me the weekend was filled with fellowship, meeting new people and getting to know others even better. I think I might actually remember more people’s names now. God is awesome, creation just screams of His goodness. Praise be to God.
Farewell October 25, 2005
Posted by Aaron in : World News , add a commentRosa Parks has died at the age of 92. Article here.
Why rolling your ankle multiple times isn’t always a bad thing October 24, 2005
Posted by Aaron in : Life, Play , add a comment… or How I spent my weekend
So this was homecoming weekend at greenville college. As per house tradition, a group of us decended upon the town (well ok I was already here, but still). I made the mistake of giving away more beds than I have. My mom was passing somewhat close to greenville (within a state) and decided to come watch the race, she ended up getting to sleep on the couch since she was the only one short enough to be able to do that. Tim got the small bed and I shared the big bed with Brad. After some joking around eventually all fell asleep.
Saturday was race day. As hoped Luke turned up for the race too. Luke and I basicly ran the race together (until he decided to start kicking at 800 meters to go, for you non-metric/non-track types, thats a half a mile from the finish line). I did speed up with Luke but let him go when I realized how much faster he intended to run that last half in. I caught a student with a long block to go, I could tell he didn’t want to let me beat him. On a whim I decided to start my final kick a touch early (by about a quarter of a block) hoping to break him. Much to my surprise it didn’t work, which tells me a great deal about the condition of my final kick these days. More surprising was that this unexpected event didn’t end in him beating me as my burst ran out a quarter block early, stubbornly we both glued to each other side by side. Neither of us broke and if there was a winner of this sprint then it was only by inches. Luke of course beat me by a minute or two, I hope to have a picture up from his finish. While I was unsuccessfull at breaking my competitor in the final dash, Luke was not and there is a beautiful picture of him passing his former professor.
Lots more happened and since I’m finishing up this post a week after I started it I won’t go into all the details. Sufficient to say the rest of the day we watched some tennis, a lot of football and some soccer. My feet and ankles were incredibly sore by the end of it as I spent most of the day on my feet after running 3.1 miles. Oh and we ate at Changs, which only those familiar with Greenville will appreciate.
MST3k Fans: Don’t go see doom October 24, 2005
Posted by Aaron in : General , add a commentYou’ll note that this post is aimed at mst3k fans, its because I figure that anyone who is going to see the movie Doom for any other reason to make fun of it is already a lost cause. I won’t spoil the ending or anything, but let me just say that I know it looks like it will be fun to ridicule but trust me it isn’t.
When you go to see a movie based on the classic first-person gore-fest that is the Doom franchise you expect that while there will be some changes to make the basic premise work on screen, it’ll keep the spirit of the game alive. Boy was that a wrong assumption in this case, first of all the game is exciting because when you sneak around that dark corner there is a very good chance that there will be something grotesquely evil that will attack you. The movie tries to maintain the suspense of that but since for half of the movie nothing does it gets pretty boring (yes thats right, this movie was boring because a lot of it lacks action which is hard to imagine they’d even be able to get the rights to use the name Doom if the game makers had an idea that’d happen). Sure there is blood and they run across dead bodies, but that isn’t action. So the action finally kicks in, and they are dying left and right. They have a classic hallway of zombie’s rushing them sequence and Sarge (The Rock’s character) has the BFG strapped to his back (they give it a more sciency sounding name, but its still the big freaking gun of the game). Guess what they do, they use their machine guns and get decimated (not entirely but still). Where are the gratuitous explosions and excessive force that pretty much defined the Doom gameplay in my mind (I should note that I’ve spent very little time playing doom, but have watched others play it a fair amount).
In short, I could have bought a footlong sub for what that movie cost me, and even if I didn’t enjoy the sub, you could have more fun making fun of a sub sandwhich than watching Doom. When the sequel comes out, I’m buying the sub.
Update: This is pretty accurate.
Yummm, coral October 22, 2005
Posted by BatWeasel in : General , 1 comment so farSo in the mail today I receive this magazine of weird gifts I assume you’re supposed to give your old crazy relatives, and one of the more interesting offerings is Coral Calcium Supreme - “The Elixir of Life”. An excerpt from the descrption: “Bob Barefoot discoverred that many of the natives of Okinwa, Japan live diseasy-free to be 100 years old. The secret to this phenomenon he believes is a diet that includes calcium derived from the coral reefs surrounding the island.”
Obviously he’s nutty (his name is Bob Barefoot, by the way) but is he really saying that he thinks Okinawans eat coral?
The results October 17, 2005
Posted by Aaron in : Life, Play , add a commentGuess I really ought to write a follow up to my post about the meet. Well it was a beautiful day and the Greenville Track Club chalked up 5th place out of 15 teams. Greenville College’s men took 1st, the women took 3rd. As for my personal results, well I finished and I think I’ll leave it at that. I’ve got another race coming up this saturday morning then I’ll more or less return to retirement. I probably will only come out of it for 5k races for now on, this one made it painfully clear that what I lack in natural talent is far too great for my lack-luster motivation to train in advance. It was fun, but I think I’m done.
Oh in case any of you runner types are curious to see a detailed break-down of the race, you can find them all here, ignore the fact that the page says 2004.
Tomorrow October 13, 2005
Posted by Aaron in : Life, Play , 1 comment so farWell the race is tomorrow afternoon. Nathan’s crashing at my place for the weekend until his flight back to the east coast. Apparently the alumni team may have 7-8 runners which is much better than what I’d thought (5).
In unrelated news its 11pm and I can’t sit still anymore. So much more I could say about that but you wouldn’t be ready, I know I’m not. The curse of having a website that you tell people about is that people will read it. Doesn’t seem to be a curse eh? It is if you want to ramble and don’t want anyone to actually read it. I’d break out a pen but there isn’t enough motion in that to keep me in one place, I’d fire up word but um somehow that doesn’t work either. Whats the point of writing a story no one would ever read. *shrugs* Heh my playlist has a sense of humor twisted though it might be, this is a call just started. But it won’t finish, time to finish the cryptic post that I’m sure will garner at least one email, enough sitting still, its nice outside and there are a multitude of shadows to slip through.
Four Miles October 3, 2005
Posted by Aaron in : General, Life , add a commentHuzza! at long last, I’ve run 4 miles. Not only that, at the end I could have added another mile without needing medivac at the end of it. I chose not to since my only objective was to hit 4. I, like nathan have been training to participate in a cross country as part of the GC alumni team. Ten more days of training and I just ran 4 miles for the first time in months. But unlike others on the team, I’m not going for fast. I’m going for survival, though fast might be nice, I simply started too out of shape and with not enough raw talent to make up for it. Up until today intellectually I’d known for about a week that I could survive the 5 miles. Today I go to bed with no doubts remaining, not that I’m saying it’ll be pretty mind you.
In other news, a present for me was appropriatly waiting for me after work, some books I’d purchased. From the ender’s game series (by orson scott card) I now own Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. As we speak I’ve found another set of 3, Ender’s Game, Ender’s Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon. I’ve considered picking up this series for a while, but never been much of one to own books. I was trying to decide how many of the series to get but upon doing some digging discovered that with these new 3 I was only missing 2 more. Seeing as how I still need a couple to get free shipping and to finish the series, perhaps I shall partake a little more.
Ok well its midnight, time for me to go to bed. Though there is something I’m forgetting. Something I was suppose to do on october 3rd. *shrug* been trying to figure that one out all day, guess I can only hope I remember on october 4th.