Pursuing Holiness

I just heard about this today or I’d have been pushing it for the last week. You’ve only got one more day to see how Joss Whedon and a bunch of other insanely talented people amused themselves during the writer’s strike.

After that, you’ll have to do what I plan on doing, which is to buy the DVD. (Yes, it really was that funny.) I’d rate it PG or PG-13 for a little mildly off-color humor. What are you hanging around here for? Go watch it, already!

h/t Jay Tea

written by Laura

Heh - Amazon is having a Blu-ray 3-for-2 Sale. There aren’t 3 movies that I want, but I may do some Christmas shopping. Every year I say I’m going to do it early and every December 20 I start to freak out because I’m not even close to being finished. Maybe this is my year for getting it right. (Yeah, right. )

written by Laura

This coffee pot can be taken over by a remote attacker, who can cause the coffee to be weaker or stronger; change the amount of water per cup; or cause the machine to require service.  That’s an amazing coffee pot.

I’m not quite that geeky or quite that wealthy - I’ll stick with my Capresso, thanks.  Every morning it wakes up fifteen minutes before I do, grinds the beans, filters the water, and brews up better coffee than Starbucks.

At $200 it’s a bit of an investment, but then, we used to run through $40 coffee pots every few years and not enjoy the coffee nearly as much.  This pot is holding up better than the cheaper ones, and it makes mornings a lot more pleasant, so I don’t regret spending the money at all.  And we do spend less money at Starbucks, so it’s probably a net gain.

I’ll gladly live without cable TV, but don’t mess with my coffee.

written by Laura

Warning: unhinged personal rant after the jump.

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written by Laura

So I’m starting off the day with this message from PostTask: There are 25:07 h left! You could be done by 10:40 am. That’s 10:40am tomorrow morning, and if I work straight through, don’t take any bathroom or meal breaks.  Mind you, I still love the service, because no matter how discouraging reality may be, I’d still rather know than not know.  Plus, it’s free.  What’s not to like?

Based on a message from a reader who got here on a search for CS Lewis’ essay “Why I Am Not A Pacifist” I took another look at Weight of Glory and realized that reading it is hard going for this generation - and to some extent, my own.  Complex sentences, complicated concepts… we are increasingly dumbed down.  (Back when I was writing computer software manuals for large companies I was instructed to write at the 8th grade level.)  It’s a very slow, thoughtful read and these days, most folks aren’t willing to put that much energy into it.  That aside, the concepts in the essay are so cogent that anyone who reads it with an open mind will, I believe, be persuaded that pacifism is an unChristian stance.  John Piper has thoughts along the same lines.

If we can’t keep a thought in our heads long enough to comprehend concepts like those Lewis maps out in detail, how the heck are we ever going to stop nonsense like this non-solution to the non-problem of climate change?

I got an email from a business acquaintance with a link to his new website.  Honestly, I’m torn.  It looks pretty bad, but he’s going live with it so he must be satisfied.  I’m no designer, but I do create websites for a living and I know what works and what doesn’t.  So do I give him a little free-and-unrequested professional advice and risk offending him?  A guy was wandering around the grocery store with his fly unzipped - people were noticing it but nobody was saying anything - and I finally approached him and told him.  (I’m glad he didn’t ask “So why are you looking at my crotch?!” because there’s no good answer to that question.  I wasn’t trying to look… but everyone else was looking and then I noticed… honest!)  This feels about the same way… except it’s not a stranger I’ll never see again, it’s somebody who runs in the same business circles I do and whose feelings I’d rather not hurt, nor those of the person who built it for him, who is a programmer, not a designer.  On the other hand, if you care about someone at all, you’d try to help them, right?  On the other, other hand, I normally get paid for that kind of advice.  To tell, or not to tell - that is the question.  Advice is welcome; comment or email me.

So Hillary is quitting, or not quitting… whatever.  She may be holding out to see what damage the alleged “whitey” video will do but a)if it exists at all, which I doubt the damage is fully mitigated by the “why’d he” defense and b)with a whole network in the tank for a candidate, not to mention pretty much all the print media, it’ll all get swept under the rug.  We’ve had a whole war get hyped/ignored by the press (whichever does our enemies the most good at the time) so the idea of a video of a candidate’s wife saying something she shouldn’t isn’t going to get anywhere.  I can’t help but be amused at how the Hillary supporters are so riled about MSNBC, though.  Clinton News Network, anyone?  And no matter which of the three of them wins, we’re going to have a more socialized government; the difference is one of degree, not kind.

Speaking of the war, you can tell the combat part is essentially won because Excitable Andy is coming back over from the Dark Side.  May he be the start of a trend; but on the other hand, does anyone take him seriously anymore?  His new fanbase of nutroots is going to kick him to the curb for his heresy if he keeps it up; his old fan base has Moved On(tm).  Probably he’s just mellowing out because of the recent gay marriage court victory.  I’m looking forward to seeing who/what he takes his rage out on when CA voters smack it back down.  But not enough to actually, you know, go back to reading his hysterical tripe myself.  I just follow via other bloggers commentary on it.

Jay Tea has a new oxymoron:

Islamic Thinkers Society.

Because if there’s one Society that is utterly inimical to thought, to debate, to inquisition, to challenging fundamental precepts, to making breakthroughs, it has to be Islam.

And I’m still following the demoralizing, but fascinating fall of western freedoms in Canada.  Testimony from yesterday’s travesty of justice:

2:37 PM We’re going through an interview Awan gave on Mike Duffy Live.  He tells Duffy that this isn’t a case of free speech versus minority rights. Rather, he says, Maclean’s can go on publishing what it likes, Steyn can write whatever he likes, just so long as “the Muslim community” gets a right of reply. (I’m paraphrasing. The video of the interview is here.) So really, what they’re proposing (he explains in the interview) is an extension of free speech.

I think I see his point. Every time Maclean’s wants to publish an article some group doesn’t like, they just have to give them an equal amount of space in the magazine. Double the space, at twice the cost to Maclean’s - but zero cost to the complainants. That’s ”free” speech, of a kind.

Here’s Coyne’s liveblog post today - just open a tab and refresh it periodically to see the death of Western Civilization live.

In a few hours I’ll be taking my husband to the surgeon for a follow up visit and we’ll begin the process of finding out just how much permanent damage there is to his right arm; that actually accounts for most of my pessimistic, sour attitude.  But as long as I have it, I’ll take dubious enjoyment in just wallowing in it.  (Come on, you know you do it too!  I’m not the only irrational person in the world.)  Here’s the Rhapsody playlist I usually reserve for rainy days, and if you want to wallow along with me, you can get 25 songs free.  (Another reason to be disgruntled - no affiliate program so even if you click through I get no spiff.  I recommend it anyway,  though.)

written by Laura

The night before my husband’s surgery, I barely slept. There’s just something about general anesthesia that spooks me, and combined with my recent paranoia and urge to buy life insurance, the little whisper in my head was saying, “This is it. This is what you were afraid of; it’s the end of the life you’ve built.” The guilt of knowing I’ve been building my house on the sand, together with the guilt of having spent a good part of the evening dealing with an emergency from a client that needed to be resolved before I took two days off was a recipe for a sleepless night. Then the surgery; along with repentance, prayer, and an overwhelming gratitude that God granted us more time - along with a resolve to keep my eyes on the eternal and not waste any more of my life. So I very cheerfully brought him home and fetched and stepped and I was especially glad to, considering all he does for me. That was part of my fear, actually; he’s taken such good care of me over the years that I feel quite dependent sometimes. As it happens, yesterday disabused me of my worries about my perceived helplessness.

I had taken out meat for dinner, expecting to make stuffed pork chops. (He’s always starving after surgery for some reason, and though we start light with soup and scrambled eggs, by evening he’s more than ready for solid food.) Unfortunately, at dinnertime I realized that I’d taken out a beef eye of round, not pork. That’s really tough meat, and there wasn’t anything else in the house. We’re flat broke; in fact, today is payday, so a trip to the store was out of the question. No time to marinate it or slow cook it. I ended up slicing it, pounding the crap out of it, and inventing Beef Sortaganoff.  (Added: when you pound meat, make sure to wear an apron or a towel or you’ll look like you’ve recently left a crime scene.)

I had some cream of mushroom soup, a can of beef onion gravy, and about 3/4 of a cup of sour cream. So I fried the pounded beef in a little oil, added the soup and gravy, and let it simmer while I cooked penne pasta (the only kind in the house.) Mix the liquid with the drained, cooked pasta, stir in the sour cream at the last minute, and there you have it - Beef Sortaganoff. Not too much like the real thing, but very edible, not to mention economical. Given our recent economizing and my dislike for spam, maybe I should keep the recipe in mind. It was much better than Hamburger Helper and we practically lived off of that stuff in the 90s.

So from the other side of the bed (the side of his good arm), I put one knee on the bed and leaned over to hand him his dinner. Crack! the base of the bed snapped and the mattress sagged into the drawers below. We got one of these about 18 months ago. I know, friends don’t let friends buy particle board… but we also didn’t know if we’d like the style, and didn’t want to invest a lot of money into it unless we were sure. Later on we’re going to use this as a pattern to build one of wood, although we’ll be adding another layer of drawers to it. But I digress.

I was in a panic, and began to wonder which one of our men friends I could call on for help. Then I remembered… am I not the woman who, at 19 years old and armed only with some borrowed tools and a Chilton’s manual, replaced the starter, alternator, distributor and head gasket on my Pinto? Why, yes, I am. Did I not wield a chainsaw to great effect in the weeks after Katrina? Why, yes. I did. I decided to fix the bed on my own. Well, not entirely on my own; my daughter was ready and willing to help. We’re Curtis women. Isn’t our family motto “try hard things”? We can do this. Right?

Kris was dispatched to the couch, and Susanna and I rooted through his power tools and scrap lumber. We figured out how to use the chop saw, and proceeded, all digits intact, to clear the area and disassemble the bed. (Hey, that gun’s loaded, okay? Mind how you handle it. Yes, that one too.) Aside from some issues with the drill (WHY does it keep going backward!? Oh, that button.) and outright missing the blocks of wood (I didn’t say any profanities but I was thinking them REAL loud) we were screwing to the inside of the particle board frame several times, we did just fine.

The Curtis Women - Victorious! We are women, hear us ROAR! If we could make that Tim Allen noise, we would have. So while I have been cared for and loved, I don’t really think I’ve become that dependent. I’m still creative, ambitious, and not too prideful to ask for help when necessary. When I need to get something done, I still can. What a blessing the reminder has been!

Now back to our regularly scheduled stepping and fetching.

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Photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar

written by Laura