"America Today Begins to Turn Back to God"

The title of this post is a quotation from Glenn Beck from the rally at the National Mall today.  If he truly means this, I guess I have to agree with Mr. Beck.  But it is going to be a lot of work, and Mr. Beck will have to persuade many of his followers, I'm afraid.  After all, this road is going to lead us to

• Like the Good Samaritan, take care of our neighbors' medical needs;
• Treat the aliens in our land with respect, just as God's people were aliens in the land of Egypt ("The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God": Leviticus 19:34, NRSV);
• Plead the case of the widow and the orphan (Isaiah 1:17);
• Acknowledge God's response to Cain, that yes, we are our brothers' keepers, and shake off this "ideal" of rugged individualism;
• Ensure that religious leaders do not gain so much power in this country so as to oppress the people and gather power among themselves, even if we have to overturn some tables;
• Say only "what is useful for building up" (Ephesians 4:29, NRSV) and stop the shouting matches that pass for political discourse today;
• Love our enemies as ourselves.

So, I will pray that we can make some progress on the above, non-exhaustive list.  And maybe, just maybe, we can get all of those tea-partiers to join the rest of us to get some work done on the list.

The Eye of the Storm

As the summer of 2010 winds down, I find that I am definitely between the workload for the summer and the surge of work I will have to do this fall.  I have done just about all I can do in preparing to write my prospectus for my candidacy exam until my advisor gets back.  At least I'll have a couple of days to try to not think about math (okay, try to think less about math).  This week, after recovering from the Hersheypark trip, I did meet up with a friend from high school and college at UMD as he begins his master's program this fall.

The new student committee I am on has finished the work it can do at this point.  Things go into high gear next week when the first-year students get here.  I noticed when preparing my grocery list for the week that I'm not going to be eating a lot of dinner at home next week.

I am also glad I'm not on the church council this year.  At the Rocky Ridge carnival this week, which is held at my church's park, a kid ended up getting a piece of wood stuck in his abdomen while going down the Big Slide (those of you from Frederick County should know what slide I'm talking about).  So, depending on how events develop (i.e., how many lawyers get involved), the church may have to consider/be told by its insurance company to close down the slide.

Thus, I am in kind of a holding pattern for the next couple of days.  Hopefully everything doesn't hit the fan all at once.

Advice for Pepco Executives

"In certain, older civilized cultures, when men failed as entirely as you have, they would throw themselves on their swords."--The Operative from Serenity.

Thank You, Pepco

While most others in Maryland's Washington suburbs are cursing Pepco this week, I, on the other hand, feel the need to thank them for their performance in power restoration after the storm.

1. I now have my sleep schedule back on track.  Instead of waking up at nine or so, I now wake up at six.  Since I have to keep the windows open because of not having AC, I don't even need an alarm clock.  The trash truck emptying the dumpster takes care of things.
2. I certainly won't be gaining any weight this week (not that this is a serious concern of mine).  Over the past forty hours (the time since the outage), I have had a banana, two peanut butter sandwiches, two granola bars, and six cookies.
3. Once the power comes back on, I get to restock the fridge and freezer with totally new, fresher food.
4. I have been more social.  Since it is too uncomfortable to work in my apartment, I have been on campus this week, so I get to talk with people.  Also, I have been able to spend time with Adam and Jon, and may even get to petition them for refugee status at their apartment.
5. I won't be spending money on frivolous things, at least not when I have to restock my food supplies when the power comes back and spend money on eating out, since the peanut butter sandwiches may get old after a while.
6. The area conserved water Sunday and Monday since power was out at the main water treatment plant for a while. 

So while some people are calling for investigations of Pepco, I think they may be overreacting.  As the above list shows, the power outage is actually helping us.  We should thank them instead.

What Was That?

At about 3:45 EDT on 25 July 2010, a storm system came through and within a few minutes, the temperature dropped about 30 degrees Fahrenheit.  As such, there is still some damage in the area.  The National Weather Service has teams out today surveying damage to see if a tornado hit.  (We've already had an earthquake, so why not a tornado?)  But, I have learned a few things as a result of this storm.

1. My apartment has strange wiring.  Right now, I have power in the outlets on the south and east walls of my apartment, the lights in the kitchen and common room, the ventilation fan in the kitchen, the range, and the smoke detector.  The AC, outlets in the kitchen, outlet with the TV and such, the hall light, and the entirety of the bed and bathrooms have no power as of yet.  And before you asked, yes, I checked the fuse box; and the maintenance staff at the complex said this is normal after a bad storm.
2. Once power comes back, I have to buy some more milk, salad dressing, carrots, bacon, eggs, and lunch-meat.  Fortunately, the apple juice has not yet been opened, so it is still stable.
3. Having any water during a power outage is still weird to me, even if there are restrictions since the power was lost at a water treatment plant.  I guess growing up with a well will do that to you. 
4. Contrary to popular belief among some of you, I had nothing to do with this.  And Nick and Laura: my sympathies with the leak.
5. Thank you Adam and Jon for refuge last night.
6. Fortunately with this cool down, next weekend is supposed to be nice.  So it won't be a big deal that my church doesn't have air conditioning.  (Do remind yourselves of point 4a.)  And if any of you want to skip Otakon and go to the service, let me know.  It'll be your last chance to watch me possibly screw up at the pulpit for at least a few months.

Okay, time to get some work done.

Spare Tire = Holy Grail?

Pray you never need to get a replacement spare tire.

After checking my car (tire pressure, fluid levels, etc.) on Saturday, I noticed the tread on the spare tire in the trunk was coming off.  "No problem," I thought.  "I'll check around with some of the tire stores in the area and get a new one."  No luck.  "Okay, I'll check with the guy from my church who owns a tire shop."  His supplier doesn't carry the size my spare tire is.  In fact, the only place I've seen on-line that even recognizes that this tire size exists in the Chevy dealership in Taneytown my parents use.  Unfortunately, they have no tires of that size in stock.

So, on Tuesday, I go see the guy from my church and find out what he recommends.  I'm hoping that if he can't do anything, the Chevy dealership can order the tire.

But if anyone knows where to obtain a tire of size T115/70R16, please let me know.

Round 4

It happened.  I get to preach again on August 1st.  The church finally has a supply preacher for a while, but she can't start until the middle of August.  So that means no Otakon trip this year.  Sorry to those of you who will be there, but I will have to miss it.

For those who won't be attending Otakon (and those that are), I'd love to have you at the service.  For those who haven't been there, it's fairly laid back.  Just be warned that there is no air conditioning in the church.

So if you want to attend, drop me a line.  I'll give you directions and such if you want to go.