Archive of Bfine107’s Xanga

I’ve got an hour before class, and I’m teaching a lessonrnon using a weekly planner and the importance of being organized.

rnAnyone?

rnSo, now that I am actually taking a break from work and not, justrnposting to steal your creative ideas for my job, I guess I should postrnsome thoughts.

rnLot’s of people are writing some really interesting and amazing stuffrnout here in the Xanga world.  Hat tips to you all… I still havernyet to read through a lot of them.  It’s interesting that whenrnothers write good stuff, I don’t have much energy to write.  Irnguess my motivation to write has usually come from a need to sayrnsomething that wasn’t being said.  Not that I’ve exhausted thosernthings, but right now others are saying good things, and I suggest yournlisten.  I’ll post my brief thoughts on others xanga’s so you knowrnwhat the heck I’m talking about, but that’ll come later. 

rnI’m also not writing as much cause I really want to try and readrnmore.  Truth is I’m not succeeding at that too much either. 

rnMy attitude about work can be pretty bi-polar.  One minute I’mrndown in the dumps thinking I’m just an uncreative, boring excuse for arnteacher; the next minute I’m pumped and energized looking for ideasrnthat I think might “work” to engage my students.  Lord knows Irnneed a lot of help.

rnAll for now.

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Alright Xanga world, let’s see how reliable we are.

rn1.  I just realized the School of the Americas Watch Protest isrncoming up and I’d like to go.  It would be great to hitch a ridernwith any Wheaton folks going down, especially if they are passingrnthrough Nashville.  So, Wheaton Folks, anyone seen a poster, orrnknow who I should talk to about this?

rn2.  I started a blogrnabout the Crash Project I’d like to put together.  One hour laterrnI got an email from a prof at some college that was looking forrndiscussion guides to help with showing the movie.  There is a hugernneed for this!  So, I really want to get started.  Here’s therntype of things I’m looking for.  First, if any of you go to arncollege, or know of a place where the movie has already been shown, I’drnlove to get contact info for the discussion leaders or organizers tornget their feedback on what worked in their discussions, and what theyrnput together.  Second, for all you Sociology and Psychologyrnmajors, I’d love references and links to any studies you know of thatrntouch on anything mentioned in the film.  For those who like tornresearch, I’d love for someone to help me look for news articles, etc.rnthat have real stories that are similar to those in the movie. rnFor those with PERSONAL stories similar to those in the movie, I’d lovernfor you to email them to me so I can compile them together.  I’drnLOVE some help with this, so anyone interested in lending a hand let mernknow.

rn3. why are my friends so cool?

Looks like lucky Mr. Christopher Vogt will be my firstrninterviewee.  Hopefully I’ve got a few folks that are interestedrnin listening.  Out of curiousity how many of you have an mp3rnplayer, or regularly burn CDs of things you download?  How many ofrnyou use iTunes?  Based on the feedback I’ll give a little tutorialrnon how to make it easy to listen to the stuff I record.  For nowrnlook forward to hearing an interview with Mr. Vogt.

rnWork has been going well.  I recently ordered a adapter to hook uprna computer to a TV.  The plan is to use it to show bothrnpowerpoints when necessary, and to have “commercial breaks” duringrnclass to help keep the guys attention.  There are TONS of funnyrnvideos on the internet and I’m counting on the fact that most of themrnhave not seen them.  

rnI’ve been working on reading more, it’s been going so-so.  Notrnmuch else to say at the moment, I’d like to dive into some of thesernprojects.  I started a blog about the Crash Project.rnI’m hoping to find some others interested in looking up (researching)rnnews and other facts related to scenes in the movie.  Also, Myselfrnand three others who have shown an interest have started collaboratingrnon a website/book project focusing on raising awareness amongstrnChristians about social issues.  Let me know if your interested inrnthat.

rnno deep thoughts for now.

So, I’m trying to catch up on all my friends xanga entries, and notrnonly are there a lot of them, but some people have been writing somernLONG stuff, or referring to long stuff.  I need to remind you ofrnmy struggle with a short attention span and my difficulty of bucklingrndown and reading much of anything these days longer then arnparagraph. 

rnSuprisingly nobody has dibbed to be my first interviewee.  I’mrnalso venturing into Video Journalism.  I borrowed my parentsrncamera and I’m gonna try and shoot some stuff and send it into a localrnnews station.  This station recently had a class about VideornJournalism and how to shoot decent video, I pitched some ideas I wantedrnto video and the guy seemed a little interested.  I guess they payrnyou about $100 if they use your stuff, so maybe two successful shootsrnand I can get my own camera.  Any Nashville suggestions?

rnThis is the first morning I’ve had in a while and I feel like there isrnso much catching up to do.  The time in Wheaton and Madison wasrngreat but it had me working like crazy to make up the hours Irnmissed.  I’m trying to utilize my mornings the best I can, one wayrnbeing to make a good lunch and leave ready to make dinner in the fridgernfor Mindy.  Any tips on easy to make good tasting meals that I canrnpre-prepare for Mindy would be rockin.

rnI’m out.

Quick break from quite an interesting day.  Um, here are some random thoughts.

rnMindy and I are excitedly venturing off with a little more organizedrnlook at our lives.  A notable change would be our bedtime and wakernup time.  So except for maybe a late night phone call to folks tornthe west (Nate?), we’ll be heading to bed 10pm no questions asked (andrnthat’s gonna be tough for me). 

rnI still see Xanga as a wonderful way to keep in touch with friends allrnover the globe.  Maybe I’ll write more on this later, but I thinkrnwe should avoid the attitude that this is a geeky thing, or justrnsomething teenagers do that has no point.  But, xanga is notrnenough:
rnI thought I’d practice my audio recording and interviewing ability, asrnwell as connect some of my graduated Wheaton friends, by interviewingrnpeople.  So, I’ve got a list of who I’d probably like to talkrnto.  I’ve got to start with those I know well from Wheatonrnfirst.  So, anyone eager for me to call them up and interview themrnabout their life since Wheaton (Those at Wheaton still can bernincluded), email me or leave a comment.  First person to get backrnto me gets first dibs on this .

rnA lot of folks have written some really long Xanga entries, and theyrnseem really interesting.  I’ll buckle down and read themrnsoon.  It’s so great to hear and learn from the wisdom of closernfriends.  I love that the opportunity to see what others write,rnwhat they are thinking, and how they challenge me to Christ likernliving.

rnpeace.

Wow, I had an amazing weekend.  The whirlwind tour startedrnThursday night when Mindy and I drove to somewhere in southern Illinoisrntill we got tired and slept in the car.  Then it was off tornMadison to surprise my mom for her birthday. But not before we detouredrnthrough Chicago cause we missed our turn off due to wonderful andrnamazing conversation with my beautiful wife (good thing we didn’t endrnup in Iowa or something). 

rnMy mom was HUGELY surprised, and a bit freaked out.  Keane hadrncome up too, so the whole family went out to dinner and just hung outrnand celebrated our amazing beyond words mother. 

rnSaturday morning we took off, after a delicious breakfast, arrivingrnjust in time to go to Goose and Whitney’s wedding.  It was arnbeautiful ceremony, and a meaningful thing to be there.  After thernwedding we spent the rest of the wedding hanging with tons of Wheatonrnfriends (We LOVE you all!).  It was so great to just be around allrnthose people that are so special and meaningful to Mindy and I. 

rnMonday morning (today) we woke up at 4am and hightailed it tornNashville, getting me to work at 2pm.  Now I’m rolling back intornthe swing of things, feeling REALLY rejuvenated for my job and justrnlife in general.

rnFor those who don’t know, Mindy is an amazing and stupendousrnwomen.  We had some amazing conversation driving in the carrntoday.  I’m often awe-struck by Mindy’s insight into life, bothrnother people’s and her own.  We are together eagerly lookingrnforward to some goals we’ve set for ourselves concerning the way wernwant to live our lives. 

rnp.s. We love our friends, and our mom.

So, this will be one (of maybe two) post today.

rnI’ve written an article about the Sudan Genocide for Relevant Magazinernthat should be on their site today.  I’m a little annoyed withrnRelevant, they’ve still got a big old flashing spot about donating tornHurricane Katrina (which is a good thing no doubt), but they’re mentionrnof the Earthquake was on the front page for about five days and now it’srndown in the archives somewhere.  You know the death toll of thernEarthquake? About 79,000. 

rnIn other disasters, please be praying for the Melendez family.  Wernsponsor them through World Vision in El Salvador, and they might havernbeen in an area affected by the Hurricanes there.  We won’t knowrnanything till we get a personal phone call about it.

rnMy sister’s friend got hit by a car.  She’s okay, I guess just arnconcussion.  My sister was right there when it happened and hasrnbeen a little shook up by it. 

Dinner Break:

Looks like xanga figured out how we where hiding their ad banner and they got it back up there on my xanga (they also messed with my comment box for a bit I think, should be working now). 

Zach was having some trouble with the MP3 of me and Nate, anyone else having problems? My suggestion is 1) Right click the link and hit “Save Target as…” 2) Just get Firefox it’s so much better.

On my mind: How many times a day should I post on my xanga?  Please vote on one of three options:

1) I’ll just post once a day summarizing everything I might say

2) I’ll post as many times as I see fit in a given day (maybe five)

3) I’ll post once, and edit (update) that one post through out the day as I see fit.

So, I haven’t been writing much, doesn’t look like anybody has. rnThe bummer is I haven’t been reading as much as I would like torneither.  I finished Tuesday’s with Morrie, Who Moved My Cheese andrnsomething else I think.  I want to be spending more time reading,rnbut mostly I read news and blogs online, I find it more interesting.
rnI do want to write some stories, mostly to practice my story tellingrnabilities.  I mean true stuff, not fictional, that’ll come muchrnlater.  I’ve been struck by a desire to practice things. rnStart drawing things, writing in ways I haven’t before, be a goodrnverbal story teller, etc.  Any suggestions on books or anything onrnhow to do those things well would be sweet.

rnI’ve been working long days so that I can have some time off Friday andrnMonday and drive up to Wheaton to hang out with folks. 

rnTime for work almost.

rnP.S.  I’d really like everyone to listen to Nate and my podcast.  Just click here.