Holiday Spirit?

After reading about events from Black Friday, I guess I lost my copy of the memo telling Americans how to celebrate the Christmas season. I guess it's filed with the memo on TPS reports.

Not only is Black Friday when many Americans get up at some forsaken hour of the morning to get bargains on Christmas shopping, it is now the day when we sacrifice some of our own to the gods of holiday consumption. At least three people in the United States died on Black Friday in incidents involved with the shopping season. One poor Wal-Mart employee from Long Island was trampled by the horde that stormed into the building after the employee opened the doors, and several shoppers actually rushed over the employee while he was laying on the ground. Two other people shot and killed each other in a Toys-R-Us elsewhere in the country. Is this how we celebrate Christmas now? Really?

I guess we are at the point when we celebrate the birth of the Savior, Jesus, who would give his life on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of all human beings and save them, by killing each other to get the must-have items to give as presents. Tell me I'm not the only one who sees something wrong with this. I'm not so sure we aren't celebrating Cash-mas instead of Christmas anymore.

So I have a proposal. (I'm not Jonathan Swift, so I won't call this idea modest.) Let's not have a holiday shopping season for a year or two. No presents, no trying to outdo the neighbors' decorations, no mad stampedes into the stores the day after Thanksgiving. This will force people to focus on what is actually important: good family, good friends, and the rest of the human species.

And I have a message to those who think the above proposal would take away the celebration of Christianity's holiest day. First, Christmas is NOT the holiest day of the Christian year. In fact, I wouldn't even rank it as number two. I put Easter and Good Friday (at least) above Christmas. I do this because out of the four Gospels, only two even mention the birth of Christ, and the two that do give no date for the event. Usually, the Bible is pretty good about giving the time of year to celebrate holidays. Maybe this is a signal. Second, the proposal may provide an opportunity to overturn the tables of our money changers, so to speak.

I know, this post is very cynical. I've had to actually consider whether the true Christmas spirit exists anymore. There will be stories that remind us that it is, but the events of Black Friday remind us that the true Christmas spirit needs our help that much more. Let us commit ourselves to provide that help this year.

Houston, We've Had a Problem

First, as others have already mentioned in their blogs, it was very nice to get to St. Mary's this past weekend and see friends again. It was like old times in LQ 22, sans Law and Order, and Oscar. We did the usual stuff: watch anime and YouTube videos, work (okay, a lot of that was me), and generally just had a good time.

However, the trip was not without snags. Friday afternoon before leaving, I checked my tires (and the spare), and the fluid levels in my car. But before reaching the Route 50 exit on the beltway, one of the tires went flat. Out of the car Adam, Jon, and I went to change the tire, and go back and get another car for the trip down. The jack worked fine. Four of the five lug nuts came off relatively easily. The fifth one would not come off. After ten to fifteen minutes of trying the get the last lug nut off, we looked at the tire iron and realized it had been stripped. Thus a call to AAA and an hour's wait on the side of the Capital Beltway at night was in order. However, this, and a couple of other delays moved an original ETA of 10 p.m. on Friday to the neighborhood of 3 a.m. on Saturday.

And to cap the weekend off, the handle on my suitcase broke right as I entered my apartment after getting back home. Well, there is that trip to my parents' on Thursday...

But would I make the trip again? Yes.

My Term is (Almost) Over

I have now completed all of duties as president of my church council. I am still president until the council meeting on January 7, 2009, but unless something urgent comes up before then, I am finished. However, I will not be able to hand off the "president's bag" on the 7th, as it is two days before the qualifying exam I will take. (I anticipate the night of the 9th of January will involve some drinking.)

But I have received the lectionary material for the sermon I will be giving on February 1st. So now I need to review the material and decide if I want to follow the lectionary or go off on something else. I still have a couple of months, though. And on the note of the sermon, those of you who read this regularly are invited to the service to see it (and perhaps see me make a fool of myself in the process). Please come. Maybe the average age of the people in attendance can be brought below 55 for a change.

Lest I forget, I still need to sign up for classes for next semester. I'm thinking about taking the second semester of partial differential equations, a topics in applied math course, perhaps the first semester of numerical analysis, and maybe an introduction to research topics course. I should probably meet with my advisor at some point about that...

Also, congratulations to Roscoe Bartlett for being the last Republican congressman from Maryland.

It's Time

In about 48 hours, the first of the polls will close in the 2008 election. Thus, those of you who are eligible have some responsibilities to take care of (if you have not already).

1. Research the issues. Figure out what issues are important to you, their relative importance, and how you stand on them.
2. Research the candidates. Find out where they stand on the issues. Be aware that there is probably no candidate who will agree with you completely. But this is why you ranked the importance of the issues. (Note: be careful when using the news media. They seem more concerned about the horse race, and not on providing a useful service to American citizens).
3. Get out and vote. (Or mail in your absentee ballot in time.)

See, this is not a complicated process. And then you can enjoy/endure the election night coverage. I recommend the Daily Show's coverage.

So go, and perform your civic duty. Apathy over the system not working is no excuse (you sitting at home is not going to fix the problem).

Back to the Drawing Board

On Sunday, I found out that I need to restart on something I have been thinking about/working on the past month or so. Apparently, someone else had the same idea I did, so I don't think it would be appropriate for me to do the same thing. Some people may get a little annoyed if I do.

So, I need a new sermon idea. My preacher essentially gave the sermon I was planning on giving. At least I have a few months.

Also, while grading the latest Calculus II midterm, I think I found a student who graduated from my high school. He had a very unique way of doing integration by parts--using a "Zorro box" (those of you who took calculus at Catoctin should know what I'm talking about).

Now, to finish grading these exams and maybe figure out something to do for Halloween.

Mission: Delayed

As I stated before, I knew this week was going to be interesting. Still, I didn't expect what happened.

First the good news:

• No one liked/did especially well on the complex analysis exam. However, the professor recognized the level of his exam, and "graded" accordingly (and also reminded us that grades are not that important in grad school)
• The PDE exam went from a two-day exam to a week-long exam. Thus, with less stress, I am actually making headway on the last problem.

Also, my church has a congregational meeting three weeks from Sunday (which means I'll be in Frederick County that weekend). I have done a grand total of nothing to prepare for it. I suppose I should get on that. And don't even ask about the sermon in February.
Remember: less than three weeks until the election. So if you're eligible, remember to vote. (And don't forget to educate yourselves on the issues and the candidates first.)

One Interesting Week? Coming Right Up.

Regardless of what happens in the next seven days, my life will be interesting. Whether or not there are any radical changes in my life due to the upcoming week's events remains to be seen.

Monday starts off with my first exam as a graduate student: a one-hour, in-class, complex analysis exam. On Tuesday, I get a PDE exam as a take-home, due on Thursday. Also during the week, plans for a meeting with a good friend from high school will (finally) be settled (hopefully).

On an uplifting note, http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=81308. Stories like this can give even cynics like me renewed hope in humanity.