Suddenly this week several of my classmates are turning to me for advice with the homework.
All I can say is: if I'M the one who has the best grasp of the material at this point, then we are all up a creek without a paddle. . .
But we are keeping our sense of humor. Tonight Peter attempted a means of explaining dummy variables that set most of us up to be "dummies." And I can't speak for the others, but every time I think of the computer's Korean outburst (which happens more than it should, at really inconvenient times) I break into fits of laughter.
ADDENDUM TO PROVE MY POINT:
I got goofed up on how to read the chart that tells us if we set up the dummy variables correctly for the regression. Unfortuntaely, we set them up backwards in the test. Fortunately it didn't screw up the whole analysis but it did mess up all the numbers and interpretations of the dummy variables. Hmm. . .perhaps Peter's little analogy was not so far off base after all. . . :)
Also, Dr. Luedke is HARD CORE. He used logistical regression throughout his doctoral thesis when he'd never had a class in it - he had to figure it out on his own.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Homoscedasticity
This was the million dollar word learned in statistics this morning. It is an underlying assumption of regression analysis that means there is uniformity of variance over the measures of independent variables.
Please do not ask me to explain it any further than that, I'm not entirely sure I understand all the other big words in that definition yet. :)
What I do know is, this morning began week 4 of this class and at this point even the inanimate objects in the room are getting punchy.
First the fan blew out its motor, making the place reek of burnt rubber and plastic. Then Churho's computer spontaneously began addressing us in Korean and it took a while to get it to stop.
I say when the machines are giving it up, it's time to call it a day.
Please do not ask me to explain it any further than that, I'm not entirely sure I understand all the other big words in that definition yet. :)
What I do know is, this morning began week 4 of this class and at this point even the inanimate objects in the room are getting punchy.
First the fan blew out its motor, making the place reek of burnt rubber and plastic. Then Churho's computer spontaneously began addressing us in Korean and it took a while to get it to stop.
I say when the machines are giving it up, it's time to call it a day.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Absentminded Me
I wanted the previous post to stand alone, but this was how my day began: so, if I'm paying attention to what I'm doing when I'm doing it, I actually have a pretty decent visual memory, to the point that even many months later I can give a fairly accurate and detailed account of an experience, or find my way around someplace I haven't been in years.
The problem is, I am almost never paying attention to what I am doing when it comes to the minutiae of life, like where I set my glasses or my keys or my cell phone. I know this about myself and I try to compensate for it by creating a few designated places for those items to "live" and that's where I look when I need to find them.
Despite this, I'm unfortunately still not very good at placing these things in their self-appointed homes, so I spend an inordinate amount of time searching for glasses, keys, and cell phone (at least the phone answers when I call, provided I have remembered to turn the ringer back on upon leaving the library - if someone would invent a way for glasses and keys to make noise on command I would be eternally grateful to them).
I'm afraid my absentmindedness reached new levels this morning, when I could not find my slacks. I have three pair of black dress pants, and I knew one of them was in the hamper after the funeral on Wednesday. The other two were not hanging in the closet as they should have been - "oh, I must not have ironed them yet," I thought. Except they weren't on the "to iron" rack either.
Now I was really confused and wracking my brain and checking everywhere, muttering "How the #*&! did you manage to lose, not just one, but TWO pair of black dress pants?"
I finally found them, folded neatly and buried underneath something else. Thinking back, I suspect they were victims of the same term paper as this - I probably just folded them quickly and thought I would put them away properly later only to cover them up and forget they were there.
UFF. DA. Some days I honestly wonder how I've managed to get this far in life, because, well, seriously. . .
PS - Thanks to Cat's Staff and Mary for your feedback on the new template. Before I ditch this font completely I wanted to experiment with it a little more. I made it bigger and to me it looks easier to read, but what do you think?
The problem is, I am almost never paying attention to what I am doing when it comes to the minutiae of life, like where I set my glasses or my keys or my cell phone. I know this about myself and I try to compensate for it by creating a few designated places for those items to "live" and that's where I look when I need to find them.
Despite this, I'm unfortunately still not very good at placing these things in their self-appointed homes, so I spend an inordinate amount of time searching for glasses, keys, and cell phone (at least the phone answers when I call, provided I have remembered to turn the ringer back on upon leaving the library - if someone would invent a way for glasses and keys to make noise on command I would be eternally grateful to them).
I'm afraid my absentmindedness reached new levels this morning, when I could not find my slacks. I have three pair of black dress pants, and I knew one of them was in the hamper after the funeral on Wednesday. The other two were not hanging in the closet as they should have been - "oh, I must not have ironed them yet," I thought. Except they weren't on the "to iron" rack either.
Now I was really confused and wracking my brain and checking everywhere, muttering "How the #*&! did you manage to lose, not just one, but TWO pair of black dress pants?"
I finally found them, folded neatly and buried underneath something else. Thinking back, I suspect they were victims of the same term paper as this - I probably just folded them quickly and thought I would put them away properly later only to cover them up and forget they were there.
UFF. DA. Some days I honestly wonder how I've managed to get this far in life, because, well, seriously. . .
PS - Thanks to Cat's Staff and Mary for your feedback on the new template. Before I ditch this font completely I wanted to experiment with it a little more. I made it bigger and to me it looks easier to read, but what do you think?
This Little Pastor Went to Pride
So we raced through second service this morning, then raced to clean up afterwards, so we could book it over to the Pride Parade and march with our fellow Reconciling in Christ Lutheran congregations. Despite our hurry, we knew we wouldn't catch them at the top of the route, so we parked in the vicinity of Loring Park (the end of the route and the main location for the festival) and worked our way up Hennepin until we spotted our contingency and joined in with them.
I purposely wore a lavender cleric and a rainbow stole to march today, because given the damage a lot of clergy have done and continue to do to LGBT people, I thought it was important to reclaim those symbols as a supportive presence rather than a condemning one.
It was interesting, though, making our way through the park and the crowd along the parade route, I definitely got a lot of looks - some smiles and "right on" kinds of nods, some double-takes, some just kind of surprised and bewildered. I was initially surprised by their surprise, but then I had to remind myself "Duh, this why you wore what you wore today, because a lot of people in this crowd are not used to seeing clergy as allies, their surprise is a natural reaction."
I also had to remind myself that 90% of my LGBT friends are practicing Christians, so my "sample" (to put it in statistical terms, natch) is not at all representative of the population as a whole. My friends have said they often feel like a double minority, because being LBGT makes them minorities among the Christian community, and being Christian makes them a minority among the LGBT community. After my experience today I have a bit fuller appreciation for what they mean.
Anyway, when we finished the parade we stayed at the end to watch the others come through, and at one point these people with bright yellow shirts that said "Free Bibles" walked by pulling a dolly with boxes on it. One of the members of our group was like "Oh, that's a good idea, but I bet that's really heavy at the start of the parade."
To be honest, it looked like it was kind of heavy at the end of the parade and something about this group just didn't feel right in my gut so I said, "I don't know - that could go one of two ways - are they handing out Bibles to show people how they're filthy sinners, or are they handing them out to show people God's not a jerk? (I used a much stronger term than "jerk" but I'm trying to keep this post PG) Even with good intentions I'm not sure how well received that would be in this crowd."
And then when the parade was all over and we walked back through the park on the way to the car, we passed this group again, outside the park, with three teenagers holding a sign that asked "Who is Jesus?" and that just kind of confirmed my suspicions - they were there to tell people they were filthy sinners.
I think of all the looks I collected today, the looks from this group were my favorite, because they showed not only surprise, but also betrayal, like, "You're supposed to be one of US, what are you doing with THEM?"
I didn't think to say this until we were long past them, but if I had been more quick-witted I'd have told them "I'm with them because of my answer to your question: 'Who is Jesus?' He's the one who always stands with those on the other side of the line."
I purposely wore a lavender cleric and a rainbow stole to march today, because given the damage a lot of clergy have done and continue to do to LGBT people, I thought it was important to reclaim those symbols as a supportive presence rather than a condemning one.
It was interesting, though, making our way through the park and the crowd along the parade route, I definitely got a lot of looks - some smiles and "right on" kinds of nods, some double-takes, some just kind of surprised and bewildered. I was initially surprised by their surprise, but then I had to remind myself "Duh, this why you wore what you wore today, because a lot of people in this crowd are not used to seeing clergy as allies, their surprise is a natural reaction."
I also had to remind myself that 90% of my LGBT friends are practicing Christians, so my "sample" (to put it in statistical terms, natch) is not at all representative of the population as a whole. My friends have said they often feel like a double minority, because being LBGT makes them minorities among the Christian community, and being Christian makes them a minority among the LGBT community. After my experience today I have a bit fuller appreciation for what they mean.
Anyway, when we finished the parade we stayed at the end to watch the others come through, and at one point these people with bright yellow shirts that said "Free Bibles" walked by pulling a dolly with boxes on it. One of the members of our group was like "Oh, that's a good idea, but I bet that's really heavy at the start of the parade."
To be honest, it looked like it was kind of heavy at the end of the parade and something about this group just didn't feel right in my gut so I said, "I don't know - that could go one of two ways - are they handing out Bibles to show people how they're filthy sinners, or are they handing them out to show people God's not a jerk? (I used a much stronger term than "jerk" but I'm trying to keep this post PG) Even with good intentions I'm not sure how well received that would be in this crowd."
And then when the parade was all over and we walked back through the park on the way to the car, we passed this group again, outside the park, with three teenagers holding a sign that asked "Who is Jesus?" and that just kind of confirmed my suspicions - they were there to tell people they were filthy sinners.
I think of all the looks I collected today, the looks from this group were my favorite, because they showed not only surprise, but also betrayal, like, "You're supposed to be one of US, what are you doing with THEM?"
I didn't think to say this until we were long past them, but if I had been more quick-witted I'd have told them "I'm with them because of my answer to your question: 'Who is Jesus?' He's the one who always stands with those on the other side of the line."
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Can't Go Back Now
Well, my old template is no longer available so I hope I don't regret changing to this new one.
On the whole I Iike it - a wall full of books would be a good graphic to depict ANY point in my life, really, but is especially appropriate during this journey through PhDland.
And on the whole I like the look of this font, it feels like it fits the type of musings I most often put up here, and I LOVE that it's called "Covered By Your Grace." I do worry it might be a little difficult to read (though my actual handwriting is also kind of difficult to read, so that too is oddly appropriate), and I don't like how hard it is to tell whether I've put anything in italics. Perhaps I'll have to find a new way to emphasize particular words, like using bold or CAPITALIZING. Mal sehen. . .
Feedback is welcome.
On the whole I Iike it - a wall full of books would be a good graphic to depict ANY point in my life, really, but is especially appropriate during this journey through PhDland.
And on the whole I like the look of this font, it feels like it fits the type of musings I most often put up here, and I LOVE that it's called "Covered By Your Grace." I do worry it might be a little difficult to read (though my actual handwriting is also kind of difficult to read, so that too is oddly appropriate), and I don't like how hard it is to tell whether I've put anything in italics. Perhaps I'll have to find a new way to emphasize particular words, like using bold or CAPITALIZING. Mal sehen. . .
Feedback is welcome.
Friday, June 24, 2011
The Arc of the Universe is Long
. . .but it bends towards justice. -Martin Luther King, Jr
I'll always love you, New York, for many, many reasons - but you can add today's momentous decision to the top of the list.
I think a little celebration is in order - how 'bout some Ryan Adams?
I'll always love you, New York, for many, many reasons - but you can add today's momentous decision to the top of the list.
I think a little celebration is in order - how 'bout some Ryan Adams?
A Rollicking Good Time
I have a neighbor who works for the Guthrie who is awesome and gracious enough to offer this poor student some free tickets every once in a while. This week has been the first time I haven't had a conflicting commitment and could graciously receive their generous offer, which is how I found myself at the H.M.S. Pinafore tonight.
I was not familiar with this work before tonight, but I figured it's Gilbert and Sullivan, you can't go wrong with that. The wit, as expected, is biting and hilarious, the cast is spot on, the set is brilliant, and the choreography is outstanding.
In fact, the only thing I did not like about this production was the orchestration in the pit. For some reason they expanded it to include modern instruments like electric guitar and bass, hammond organ, and trap set, and they altered the accompaniment to some of the pieces (the full company ones in particular) to sound more like late 20th century rock opera instead of early 20th century comic opera. It just didn't sound right, and actually became kind of annoyingly overbearing at some points (when 12 men are mic'ed and singing their hearts out I should have no problem hearing their every word but sometimes the pit overpowered them). There was less of this in the second act, for which I was grateful.
On the whole, a rollicking good time and worth your attention if you're in the Twin Cities.
And, randomly - before the show started I was looking at pictures from past productions that were all along the hallway, and I have to say there were a few faces I was quite surprised to see, I had no idea they had ever done a production at the Guthrie - these included William H. Macy, David Canary, Don Cheadle, and Kristin Chenoweth. Goes to show you learn something new every day.
I was not familiar with this work before tonight, but I figured it's Gilbert and Sullivan, you can't go wrong with that. The wit, as expected, is biting and hilarious, the cast is spot on, the set is brilliant, and the choreography is outstanding.
In fact, the only thing I did not like about this production was the orchestration in the pit. For some reason they expanded it to include modern instruments like electric guitar and bass, hammond organ, and trap set, and they altered the accompaniment to some of the pieces (the full company ones in particular) to sound more like late 20th century rock opera instead of early 20th century comic opera. It just didn't sound right, and actually became kind of annoyingly overbearing at some points (when 12 men are mic'ed and singing their hearts out I should have no problem hearing their every word but sometimes the pit overpowered them). There was less of this in the second act, for which I was grateful.
On the whole, a rollicking good time and worth your attention if you're in the Twin Cities.
And, randomly - before the show started I was looking at pictures from past productions that were all along the hallway, and I have to say there were a few faces I was quite surprised to see, I had no idea they had ever done a production at the Guthrie - these included William H. Macy, David Canary, Don Cheadle, and Kristin Chenoweth. Goes to show you learn something new every day.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Hello Batsh*t, Meet Crazy
So I was sorting through the mail and checking the new journals in at the library today when I noticed one of the envelopes was from the "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."
And I thought to myself, "Really? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints wasn't fundamentalist enough for you, you had to make your own especially fundamentalist offshoot?"
But then it gets oh. so. much. better.
Because, contrary to my expectations, they did not send us your run-of-the-mill unsolicited magazine. No, instead they sent us your run-of-the-mill unsolicited doomsday "warnings to the nations of the earth."
Apparently Jesus (now going by the nickname "Son Ahman" - guess I missed that memo) had a very busy March, April, and May, which he spent dictating 163 pages worth of warnings to the president of this sect.
Though the Lord repeatedly warns that his day is immanently drawing nigh, the receiver of these messages did not see fit to dispatch them poste-haste, but rather took the time to get them copyrighted.
Because what - he was afraid Jesus was giving the same dictation to some other guy in Utah at the same time?
I didn't realize plagiarism was such a problem among latter-day prophets. . .
And I thought to myself, "Really? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints wasn't fundamentalist enough for you, you had to make your own especially fundamentalist offshoot?"
But then it gets oh. so. much. better.
Because, contrary to my expectations, they did not send us your run-of-the-mill unsolicited magazine. No, instead they sent us your run-of-the-mill unsolicited doomsday "warnings to the nations of the earth."
Apparently Jesus (now going by the nickname "Son Ahman" - guess I missed that memo) had a very busy March, April, and May, which he spent dictating 163 pages worth of warnings to the president of this sect.
Though the Lord repeatedly warns that his day is immanently drawing nigh, the receiver of these messages did not see fit to dispatch them poste-haste, but rather took the time to get them copyrighted.
Because what - he was afraid Jesus was giving the same dictation to some other guy in Utah at the same time?
I didn't realize plagiarism was such a problem among latter-day prophets. . .
Monday, June 20, 2011
Tips for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Nothing shuts off the faucet that is my bleeding progressive heart faster than sending my bullshit meter into hyperdrive.
So if you're going to call around to different churches and try to scam them out of money, you should really keep track of who you have called and what you have asked them for. Because when you call the same church twice in the same day, and give the exact same backstory but ask for completely different things, and the second call in no way acknowledges the first, I'm pretty sure you're not going to use the money for what you claim to need it for.
So if you're going to call around to different churches and try to scam them out of money, you should really keep track of who you have called and what you have asked them for. Because when you call the same church twice in the same day, and give the exact same backstory but ask for completely different things, and the second call in no way acknowledges the first, I'm pretty sure you're not going to use the money for what you claim to need it for.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
And What Will We Do in the Afternoon?
This is a punchline to an old East German joke. I don't remember how the joke goes, but I have a vague notion that it involved an impossibly long list of things to do that could not realistically happen all in one day, but the person on the receiving end of the list asks "And what will we do in the afternoon?"
For some reason I thought of that punchline this morning, and it has proven to be quite an appropriate theme for this day that was so oddly full. I mean, my days are normally pretty full but this one was such an eclectic mix of things, it was almost like being back in the parish. . .which I guess makes a little sense because I'm covering for someone right now. Anyway, the day looked a little something like this:
Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, etc
Call Eileen, go over draft of letter to participants in the upcoming LPI consultation
Edit draft according to conversation (including looking up and adding participants' titles, positions, and institutions). Take care of other administrative tasks for LPI.
Depart to Grandma's
Each lunch with Grandma, then take her to a doctor appointment
(aside: I went into the test room with her today, and it was equal parts cool and weird to see this heart that has loved me so well for so long beating there right in front of me on the screen)
Bring Grandma home
Go to the church to check in with the secretary, fix the four mistakes I realized (last night) were still in the bulletin, check for messages and take care of other random administrative type stuff
Come home
Make dinner
Eat dinner while watching an episode of Hand Aufs Herz
Go to ISAIAH training for faith-based organizing
Get a call 2/3 of the way through training from a number I do not recognize. Realize it's probably a pastoral emergency and leave the room to deal with it. Find out a parishioner has died, I now have a funeral-planning meeting tomorrow and a funeral sometime early next week.
Rejoin the last part of the ISAIAH training
Come home, facebook the friend I'm supposed to meet for lunch tomorrow to warn we will probably have to reschedule
Write blog post on the oddly full day before emailing secretary so she can add prayers for the deceased's family to the bulletin before running it tomorrow morning
I will then finish the evening reading through more galley proofs of Chris' forthcoming book (hint: it's really really good), taking a final pass at editing and constructing Scripture and Topical indexes before it goes to print
. . .and then what will we do in the afternoon? :)
For some reason I thought of that punchline this morning, and it has proven to be quite an appropriate theme for this day that was so oddly full. I mean, my days are normally pretty full but this one was such an eclectic mix of things, it was almost like being back in the parish. . .which I guess makes a little sense because I'm covering for someone right now. Anyway, the day looked a little something like this:
Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, etc
Call Eileen, go over draft of letter to participants in the upcoming LPI consultation
Edit draft according to conversation (including looking up and adding participants' titles, positions, and institutions). Take care of other administrative tasks for LPI.
Depart to Grandma's
Each lunch with Grandma, then take her to a doctor appointment
(aside: I went into the test room with her today, and it was equal parts cool and weird to see this heart that has loved me so well for so long beating there right in front of me on the screen)
Bring Grandma home
Go to the church to check in with the secretary, fix the four mistakes I realized (last night) were still in the bulletin, check for messages and take care of other random administrative type stuff
Come home
Make dinner
Eat dinner while watching an episode of Hand Aufs Herz
Go to ISAIAH training for faith-based organizing
Get a call 2/3 of the way through training from a number I do not recognize. Realize it's probably a pastoral emergency and leave the room to deal with it. Find out a parishioner has died, I now have a funeral-planning meeting tomorrow and a funeral sometime early next week.
Rejoin the last part of the ISAIAH training
Come home, facebook the friend I'm supposed to meet for lunch tomorrow to warn we will probably have to reschedule
Write blog post on the oddly full day before emailing secretary so she can add prayers for the deceased's family to the bulletin before running it tomorrow morning
I will then finish the evening reading through more galley proofs of Chris' forthcoming book (hint: it's really really good), taking a final pass at editing and constructing Scripture and Topical indexes before it goes to print
. . .and then what will we do in the afternoon? :)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Ulterior Motives
Or: Some Thoughts on the Marriage Amendment
A post on Emm-in-Sem's tumblr already had me thinking this way, but this quote from today's STrib continues the train of thought:
"While gay marriage is already banned in Minnesota, supporters say passage of the amendment would block legislative efforts to change the law."
Really? It's just a cat-and-mouse game to pre-empt any change in the law?
Because what, to make same-sex marriage doubly not legal will add that extra layer of protection against "the gay agenda"?
I don't buy it. I think this is all about flipping MN in the next presidential election.
Minnesota, with it's long strong tradition of progressivism. Minnesota, the only state in the union to vote for Walter Mondale in 1984. Minnesota, a stalwart democratic stronghold in presidential elections for longer than I've been alive.
But things have been changing, shifting evermore towards the conservative end of the spectrum. The DFL has been imploding over the last 13 years (and I personally hold our current governor responsible for a good chunk of the infighting), which hasn't helped matters. But the GOP has been slowly laying this groundwork for a while. Why else do you think they held their 2008 convention in St. Paul? Pawlenty was expected to be tapped for McCain's VP, they were hoping to flip the state back then.
Add to this the perpetual embarrassment that is Michele Bachmann, who we seem utterly unable to unseat, and who is constantly stirring and polarizing the pot. There is also the fact that Jim Oberstar (most senior member of MN's delegation, Democratic Representative from the normally staunchly pro-DFL NE corner of the state) was unseated last November. And there is a chance Pawlenty will be the front-runner on the GOP ticket in 2012.
I think certain powers-that-be were looking at these trends and possibilities and wondering to themselves: how can we capitalize on this? How can we guarantee that people who will vote for Pawlenty and Bachmann and Cravaack will come out in droves next election?
I know - let's put gay marriage up to a vote.
It's sad and sickening, really. They know they can't out-community-organize Obama, so they're not even going to try. While thousands of DFL staff and volunteers will be pounding the pavement going door to door, meeting their neighbors face-to-face and building personal connections to turn out the vote, the Republicans will merely run ad campaigns that prey on base fear and hatred.
Fellow progressives, they're kicking our hive, and though it's not a charitable thought, I'm really hoping they get stung for it. Let's show 'em what happens when compassion and civility and good citizenship wins the day.
A post on Emm-in-Sem's tumblr already had me thinking this way, but this quote from today's STrib continues the train of thought:
"While gay marriage is already banned in Minnesota, supporters say passage of the amendment would block legislative efforts to change the law."
Really? It's just a cat-and-mouse game to pre-empt any change in the law?
Because what, to make same-sex marriage doubly not legal will add that extra layer of protection against "the gay agenda"?
I don't buy it. I think this is all about flipping MN in the next presidential election.
Minnesota, with it's long strong tradition of progressivism. Minnesota, the only state in the union to vote for Walter Mondale in 1984. Minnesota, a stalwart democratic stronghold in presidential elections for longer than I've been alive.
But things have been changing, shifting evermore towards the conservative end of the spectrum. The DFL has been imploding over the last 13 years (and I personally hold our current governor responsible for a good chunk of the infighting), which hasn't helped matters. But the GOP has been slowly laying this groundwork for a while. Why else do you think they held their 2008 convention in St. Paul? Pawlenty was expected to be tapped for McCain's VP, they were hoping to flip the state back then.
Add to this the perpetual embarrassment that is Michele Bachmann, who we seem utterly unable to unseat, and who is constantly stirring and polarizing the pot. There is also the fact that Jim Oberstar (most senior member of MN's delegation, Democratic Representative from the normally staunchly pro-DFL NE corner of the state) was unseated last November. And there is a chance Pawlenty will be the front-runner on the GOP ticket in 2012.
I think certain powers-that-be were looking at these trends and possibilities and wondering to themselves: how can we capitalize on this? How can we guarantee that people who will vote for Pawlenty and Bachmann and Cravaack will come out in droves next election?
I know - let's put gay marriage up to a vote.
It's sad and sickening, really. They know they can't out-community-organize Obama, so they're not even going to try. While thousands of DFL staff and volunteers will be pounding the pavement going door to door, meeting their neighbors face-to-face and building personal connections to turn out the vote, the Republicans will merely run ad campaigns that prey on base fear and hatred.
Fellow progressives, they're kicking our hive, and though it's not a charitable thought, I'm really hoping they get stung for it. Let's show 'em what happens when compassion and civility and good citizenship wins the day.
Come Holy Spirit Come
This is literally the only red shirt I own, so I wore it to church today for Pentecost:
My friend Sarah declared it "the geekiest Pentecost shirt ever."
Incidentally, your inner Lutheran Geek wants to know that this shirt came in a small pizza box that really is covered in cheesy graces.
In other news, Happy Anniversary to Kristie and BJ! That wedding feels like it was yesterday, can't believe it's already been a year since I hitched those two up.
And, even though their anniversary was back in May and I already gave them a shout out then, because it's Pfingsten I've felt all weekend like it should be Adri and Burki's wedding anniversary too - so happy happy to you two again too! :)
My friend Sarah declared it "the geekiest Pentecost shirt ever."
Incidentally, your inner Lutheran Geek wants to know that this shirt came in a small pizza box that really is covered in cheesy graces.
In other news, Happy Anniversary to Kristie and BJ! That wedding feels like it was yesterday, can't believe it's already been a year since I hitched those two up.
And, even though their anniversary was back in May and I already gave them a shout out then, because it's Pfingsten I've felt all weekend like it should be Adri and Burki's wedding anniversary too - so happy happy to you two again too! :)
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The Bambino Files
The short version: she is totally awesome.
Very determined little kid, very intent about practicing the new skills she is learning.
So during my visit she was all about climbing stairs. She had just figured out how to go up so she wanted to keep practicing, practicing, practicing that until she perfected it. And she wanted to go down like an adult would (holding on to an adult's hands, of course). We thought, "She's probably never seen a baby go down stairs before" so we modeled for her how to do it safely, on her bum. And she looked at us like, "That's interesting, now give me your hands so I can do this properly."
She is also finding her voice. Lots of practice with babbling sounds and other sound effects. She discovered Auntie C is a fun one to practice this with because I also love making all kinds of sound effects and will either mimic what the bambino does or supply the bambino a new sound to mimic. :)
She has a great sense of rhythm. She bounces to the beat if there is music on. One night after dinner, I made up a song about all the foods she likes to eat and I put a little rhythmic clap in there. After watching and listening for a couple minutes, she started clapping with me, not indiscriminately, but exactly with me, in the right place, right number of claps, right rhythm.
And she is walking. She did it for the first time when I was there, on Sunday after church, she walked by herself a few times that day and then wouldn't do it the rest of the week, regardless of our encouragement. But then a week after I got back to MN, she started doing it on a regular basis. And is apparently undeterred by impromptu baby gates, she will climb right over them.
As I said, the bambino is totally awesome!
Welcome To My Summer
This is the book that is going to teach us how to operate the statistics computer program we will be using this month for Intro to Mixed-Methods Research:
It is 1.5 inches thick and weighs in just shy of 5 pounds.
In theory we are only learning the theory behind the math, not the math itself. That's what the ginormous book and computer program are for, to do the hard math for us.
But I don't know. . .today in class Dr. Luedke was throwing around terms like "degrees of freedom," "kurtosis," and "central limit theorem" and even though he was working hard to explain them clearly, I felt like he might as well have been speaking Greek.
Strike that - I think I would actually do better with Greek. Languages I get. Math, not so much.
ADDENDUM:
Ok, I actually started to read the ginormous book, and it's totally hilarious. The author is a Brit with a Pythonish sense of humor and the introduction is basically "I hate boring textbooks so I thought I would write one that I would actually want to read." He admits SPSS is a stupid tool that relies too heavily on users already knowing what they are doing. He includes cartoon pictures alongside the text, various characters to indicate things like what is the bare bones need to know info and what is interesting to statisticians but tangential to the main point. There is also a picture of a cat who just shows up to "look cute and make bad cat-related jokes" and all the SPSS tips are disseminated by "Satan's Personal Statistics Slave."
Want a taste of what I'm talking about? Under a section titled "What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here" he writes:
Andy Field, you are my new hero.
ADDENDUM TO THE ADDENDUM (or, Notes from the Sewer):
Despite Andy Field's humor and Dr. Luedke's valiant efforts to make it all make sense, I have decided SPSS really stands for "Statistics are the Pure Spawn of Satan."
Confirming this belief: three conversations yesterday, at different times, with different friends, all of whom are in public policy/services and had to learn SPSS for school and/or work. When they heard that's what I was up to this month, each of them had the same response - first, utmost sympathy. Then, dawning puzzlement as they asked me "What's your program again? Why do you have to learn this?"
My question exactly. :)
It is 1.5 inches thick and weighs in just shy of 5 pounds.
In theory we are only learning the theory behind the math, not the math itself. That's what the ginormous book and computer program are for, to do the hard math for us.
But I don't know. . .today in class Dr. Luedke was throwing around terms like "degrees of freedom," "kurtosis," and "central limit theorem" and even though he was working hard to explain them clearly, I felt like he might as well have been speaking Greek.
Strike that - I think I would actually do better with Greek. Languages I get. Math, not so much.
ADDENDUM:
Ok, I actually started to read the ginormous book, and it's totally hilarious. The author is a Brit with a Pythonish sense of humor and the introduction is basically "I hate boring textbooks so I thought I would write one that I would actually want to read." He admits SPSS is a stupid tool that relies too heavily on users already knowing what they are doing. He includes cartoon pictures alongside the text, various characters to indicate things like what is the bare bones need to know info and what is interesting to statisticians but tangential to the main point. There is also a picture of a cat who just shows up to "look cute and make bad cat-related jokes" and all the SPSS tips are disseminated by "Satan's Personal Statistics Slave."
Want a taste of what I'm talking about? Under a section titled "What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here" he writes:
You're probably wondering why you have bought this book. Maybe you liked the pictures, maybe you fancied doing some weight training (it is heavy), or perhaps you need to reach something in a high place (it is thick). The chances are, though, that given the choice of spending your hard-earned cash on a statistics book or something more entertaining (a nice novel, a trip to the cinema, etc), you'd choose the latter. So, why have you bought the book (or downloaded an illegal pdf of it from someone who has way too much time on their hands if they can scan an 800 page textbook)? It's likely that you obtained it because you're doing a course on statistics, or you're doing some research, and you need to know how to analyse data. It's possible that you didn't realize when you started your course or research that you'd have to know this much about statistics but now find yourself inexplicably wading, neck high, through the Victorian sewer that is data analysis.
Andy Field, you are my new hero.
ADDENDUM TO THE ADDENDUM (or, Notes from the Sewer):
Despite Andy Field's humor and Dr. Luedke's valiant efforts to make it all make sense, I have decided SPSS really stands for "Statistics are the Pure Spawn of Satan."
Confirming this belief: three conversations yesterday, at different times, with different friends, all of whom are in public policy/services and had to learn SPSS for school and/or work. When they heard that's what I was up to this month, each of them had the same response - first, utmost sympathy. Then, dawning puzzlement as they asked me "What's your program again? Why do you have to learn this?"
My question exactly. :)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
It Really Is The Humidity
Ok, even though today was literally 102 in the shade it didn't feel as bad to me as the day of the storm not quite a month ago. The temperatures were not as high that day but the humidity sure was.
Today's humidity felt relatively low, making the 102 more bearable. Still hotter than blazes, but (and I never thought I'd say this about Minnesota) a relatively dry heat (says the girl who didn't have to do any physical labor in said heat today).
Am I just making that up? Did six heavily hot and humid summers in Pennsylvania mess with my inner thermostat, so that everything feels less humid by comparison? Or was the humidity really not so bad today?
Incidentally, same rules apply when it's cold. Pennsylvania never physically got as cold as Minnesota but the humidity sticks around for the winter so it always felt colder, at least to me. Probably also why Mark Twain said the coldest winter he ever experienced was the summer he spent in San Francisco. :)
Today's humidity felt relatively low, making the 102 more bearable. Still hotter than blazes, but (and I never thought I'd say this about Minnesota) a relatively dry heat (says the girl who didn't have to do any physical labor in said heat today).
Am I just making that up? Did six heavily hot and humid summers in Pennsylvania mess with my inner thermostat, so that everything feels less humid by comparison? Or was the humidity really not so bad today?
Incidentally, same rules apply when it's cold. Pennsylvania never physically got as cold as Minnesota but the humidity sticks around for the winter so it always felt colder, at least to me. Probably also why Mark Twain said the coldest winter he ever experienced was the summer he spent in San Francisco. :)
Another One Bites the Dust
I am getting so sick of how often this story repeats itself. . .
I have this friend M. M is a great pastor. M is friendly and able to talk to anyone. Despite this, M's first call ended really badly, it was not a good fit at all. Very traditional conservative congregation, which should not in itself have been such a problem, because M is a fantastic pastor who is friendly and caring and able to talk to anyone (and from a traditional conservative church in a traditional conservative part of the country, so fully knows how that goes) and theologically speaking M is as orthodox as me, probably even moreso. But M does not look the part of a traditional Lutheran pastor. M has multiple piercings and tattoos. M neither hides nor apologizes for the fact that they smoke and drink. M dresses more stylishly than 95% of our colleagues. This is clearly oversimplifying, but the cribnotes version is: traditional conservative congregation wanted a millktoast pastor who looked the part and would hold their hand while they died instead of a great pastor who acted the part and challenged them to think and act beyond themselves.
So, M currently lives and awaits a call in a hip urban center, someplace the wider church claims it wants to be a witness/presence, among people the wider church claims it wants to reach. And M will go to the bar on a Saturday night because that's what M likes to do. M will talk to a lot of people at the bar on a Saturday night because M is friendly and extroverted and likes talking to people. At some point in the night, God stuff will come up in the conversation not because M is some sleazy proselytizer but because M is a theology geek who loves talking about God stuff with anyone and everyone.
Sunday morning M will provide pulpit supply at a dying pastorless traditional Lutheran church in the heart of the hip urban center in which the ELCA so desperately wants to be present. Literally half of the congregation that morning will be made up of the people the ELCA claims it so desperately wants to be reaching, and they are there because of the conversation M had with them at the bar the night before. Some cannot believe M is actually a pastor and show up just to verify the veracity of the claim. And some show up because what M had to say about God actually made some sense, or at least intrigued them enough to want to hear more of M's thoughts on the matter.
M has been going on like this, working a secular job to pay the bills, for multiple years. M has debated leaving the roster and even leaving the church.
Fellow ELCA members, please hear me, I am most serious: we are killing M's spirit and we are wasting M's gifts. This is an egregious sin and it needs to stop, NOW. Will somebody please give M the permission and the financial support to plant a missional community in the hip urban center in which they live? Please, before M leaves the pastorate and the church altogether?
And I ask this because another friend, S, has just done exactly that. S is also a great pastor, the kind of pastor I myself would want to have, the kind of pastor this church needs. I don't know the details so well, but S also had their first call go horribly wrong. S has been working odd jobs and waiting, patiently, for another call to emerge. The bishop's office has given S the runaround for over a year. S has small children to support and care for and could not keep working odd jobs while waiting indefinitely. Apparently today was the day S cut the ties completely - off the roster, left the church. Hurt, frustrated, disappointed, bewildered - as am I.
Because I hear the wider church say what it thinks it wants and the Holy Spirit lifts up these amazing pastors who we train and develop and send out, and then when they do exactly what we claim we want, I watch us eat them alive.
And I see these creative, passionate friends with a heart for God's people and what God might actually be up to in the world, I see them being crushed and driven out of the ministry at the same time that I see other colleagues who are on autopilot and are completely phoning it in week after week staying in their calls far longer than they should, to both their own and their congregation's detriment.
It makes me want to scream.
Please don't get me wrong - I love the church. In fact, my life would be easier if I didn't love the church, because then I simply wouldn't care. But I do love and I do care for the crazy, mixed-up, messed up, broken beyond frustrating body of Christ.
Still there are some days that I sure don't like it very much. . .
PS - Tim shares thoughts about why he jumped off the ordination track here, and having witnessed what happened to M and S, I can't blame him, though it's also a bloody shame because Tim is another with the kind of gifts and pastoral presence the church needs these days.
I have this friend M. M is a great pastor. M is friendly and able to talk to anyone. Despite this, M's first call ended really badly, it was not a good fit at all. Very traditional conservative congregation, which should not in itself have been such a problem, because M is a fantastic pastor who is friendly and caring and able to talk to anyone (and from a traditional conservative church in a traditional conservative part of the country, so fully knows how that goes) and theologically speaking M is as orthodox as me, probably even moreso. But M does not look the part of a traditional Lutheran pastor. M has multiple piercings and tattoos. M neither hides nor apologizes for the fact that they smoke and drink. M dresses more stylishly than 95% of our colleagues. This is clearly oversimplifying, but the cribnotes version is: traditional conservative congregation wanted a millktoast pastor who looked the part and would hold their hand while they died instead of a great pastor who acted the part and challenged them to think and act beyond themselves.
So, M currently lives and awaits a call in a hip urban center, someplace the wider church claims it wants to be a witness/presence, among people the wider church claims it wants to reach. And M will go to the bar on a Saturday night because that's what M likes to do. M will talk to a lot of people at the bar on a Saturday night because M is friendly and extroverted and likes talking to people. At some point in the night, God stuff will come up in the conversation not because M is some sleazy proselytizer but because M is a theology geek who loves talking about God stuff with anyone and everyone.
Sunday morning M will provide pulpit supply at a dying pastorless traditional Lutheran church in the heart of the hip urban center in which the ELCA so desperately wants to be present. Literally half of the congregation that morning will be made up of the people the ELCA claims it so desperately wants to be reaching, and they are there because of the conversation M had with them at the bar the night before. Some cannot believe M is actually a pastor and show up just to verify the veracity of the claim. And some show up because what M had to say about God actually made some sense, or at least intrigued them enough to want to hear more of M's thoughts on the matter.
M has been going on like this, working a secular job to pay the bills, for multiple years. M has debated leaving the roster and even leaving the church.
Fellow ELCA members, please hear me, I am most serious: we are killing M's spirit and we are wasting M's gifts. This is an egregious sin and it needs to stop, NOW. Will somebody please give M the permission and the financial support to plant a missional community in the hip urban center in which they live? Please, before M leaves the pastorate and the church altogether?
And I ask this because another friend, S, has just done exactly that. S is also a great pastor, the kind of pastor I myself would want to have, the kind of pastor this church needs. I don't know the details so well, but S also had their first call go horribly wrong. S has been working odd jobs and waiting, patiently, for another call to emerge. The bishop's office has given S the runaround for over a year. S has small children to support and care for and could not keep working odd jobs while waiting indefinitely. Apparently today was the day S cut the ties completely - off the roster, left the church. Hurt, frustrated, disappointed, bewildered - as am I.
Because I hear the wider church say what it thinks it wants and the Holy Spirit lifts up these amazing pastors who we train and develop and send out, and then when they do exactly what we claim we want, I watch us eat them alive.
And I see these creative, passionate friends with a heart for God's people and what God might actually be up to in the world, I see them being crushed and driven out of the ministry at the same time that I see other colleagues who are on autopilot and are completely phoning it in week after week staying in their calls far longer than they should, to both their own and their congregation's detriment.
It makes me want to scream.
Please don't get me wrong - I love the church. In fact, my life would be easier if I didn't love the church, because then I simply wouldn't care. But I do love and I do care for the crazy, mixed-up, messed up, broken beyond frustrating body of Christ.
Still there are some days that I sure don't like it very much. . .
PS - Tim shares thoughts about why he jumped off the ordination track here, and having witnessed what happened to M and S, I can't blame him, though it's also a bloody shame because Tim is another with the kind of gifts and pastoral presence the church needs these days.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Bunte Republik Crocus Hill
In a couple of weeks, Dresden's Neustadt will be home to a weekend-long street festival known as the Bunte Republik Neustadt. The Neustadt is the bohemian part of town, a lot of artists and punks and dogs live there (dogs because the punks tend to own a lot of them, and they're not so particular about picking up after them, so watch where you walk).
I went to the festival the summer I lived in Dresden (in fact, that was one of the summers that it got kind of rioty), and I remember thinking "This is kind of like Grand Old Days on steriods."
I went to Grand Old Days for the first time in seven years today, and now I'm thinking the two are even more alike than I originally thought (except Grand Old Days is, in typical American fashion, way more commercialized).
I went to the festival the summer I lived in Dresden (in fact, that was one of the summers that it got kind of rioty), and I remember thinking "This is kind of like Grand Old Days on steriods."
I went to Grand Old Days for the first time in seven years today, and now I'm thinking the two are even more alike than I originally thought (except Grand Old Days is, in typical American fashion, way more commercialized).
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Dankeschoen Sat1!
My interwebs search for irgendetwas auf Deutsch continues. Before I left for vacation, I found a site called maxdome that's like a pay-per-view thing full of content, both German TV shows and American shows dubbed over in German. You pay 1 Euro/episode to get a jump on everybody else and watch next week's shows, or to watch archival stuff more than a week old. BUT it looked like anything that aired that week in Germany was free to watch for that week. So there was a lot of free content - jackpot!
I registered for an account, loaded the particular reader needed onto my computer - but it still didn't work. Geoblocked (copyright issue that blocks users from outside of the source country). Curses!
But then I came home from vacation to discover that Sat1/ProSieben took the geoblock off one of their daily soaps, Hand Aufs Herz. It's kind of like Glee, in that it's about students and teachers at a high school in Koeln (Cologne), specifically students involved in the singing and dancing activity group (the S.T. AG). But it's also not like Glee in that they don't sing as many songs per episode and they cover darker themes (a couple non-S.T. AG students recently caused an accident in which two teachers died and one of them is having a very dark night of the soul about it).
It's a soap, but I watch American soaps, and this one puts 22 solid minutes of German in my ear every day. And it's working - I'm learning new vocab and surfacing old vocab buried in the recesses of my mind, I'm understanding more and increasingly catch myself thinking to myself in German.
But the way I can really tell that it's working? Last night I dreamt in German. Not completely, it was a mash-up going back and forth between German and English. But I haven't dreamt in German in a looonnnggg time.
So, just want to publicly thank Sat1/ProSieben for removing the geoblock and providing material to help me get my German back in shape. If anybody else is looking to brush up their Deutsch, you can watch the current weeks whole episodes for free here.
I registered for an account, loaded the particular reader needed onto my computer - but it still didn't work. Geoblocked (copyright issue that blocks users from outside of the source country). Curses!
But then I came home from vacation to discover that Sat1/ProSieben took the geoblock off one of their daily soaps, Hand Aufs Herz. It's kind of like Glee, in that it's about students and teachers at a high school in Koeln (Cologne), specifically students involved in the singing and dancing activity group (the S.T. AG). But it's also not like Glee in that they don't sing as many songs per episode and they cover darker themes (a couple non-S.T. AG students recently caused an accident in which two teachers died and one of them is having a very dark night of the soul about it).
It's a soap, but I watch American soaps, and this one puts 22 solid minutes of German in my ear every day. And it's working - I'm learning new vocab and surfacing old vocab buried in the recesses of my mind, I'm understanding more and increasingly catch myself thinking to myself in German.
But the way I can really tell that it's working? Last night I dreamt in German. Not completely, it was a mash-up going back and forth between German and English. But I haven't dreamt in German in a looonnnggg time.
So, just want to publicly thank Sat1/ProSieben for removing the geoblock and providing material to help me get my German back in shape. If anybody else is looking to brush up their Deutsch, you can watch the current weeks whole episodes for free here.
The Stone Marimba
This is just cool. Many thanks to Chris and Eileen for introducing me to the music of Jonsi and Sigur Ros this year.
Happy Saturday!
Happy Saturday!
Friday, June 3, 2011
My Friend Tim is a Creative Genius
Just look at this beautiful video he made of the beautiful graduation blessing ritual that he also created.
He, Eileen, and I did a dry run with one of those lanterns back in January, to see how they worked and what it would look like on video. It was only after we had released the lantern into the sky that we thought to ourselves, "Uh. . .surely that fire is going to go out before it lands anywhere, right?" No reports of fire falling from the sky later that night or the next morning, so we figured they were safe. :)
Currently trying not to be too jealous that he is this very moment celebrating graduation in Kansas City listening to this:
but grateful he brought good MN mojo to KC - Pavano finally got his 100th career win down there tonight.
He, Eileen, and I did a dry run with one of those lanterns back in January, to see how they worked and what it would look like on video. It was only after we had released the lantern into the sky that we thought to ourselves, "Uh. . .surely that fire is going to go out before it lands anywhere, right?" No reports of fire falling from the sky later that night or the next morning, so we figured they were safe. :)
Currently trying not to be too jealous that he is this very moment celebrating graduation in Kansas City listening to this:
but grateful he brought good MN mojo to KC - Pavano finally got his 100th career win down there tonight.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
50 State Stereotypes in 2 Minutes
1 sentence stereotype about Minnesota: "Too nice not to elect douchy governors." Ain't that the truth. . .
I have to admit, this video does make me curious to read his book now. :)
I have to admit, this video does make me curious to read his book now. :)
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