Proving a point that was lambasted

It happened in the last months of high school, or one of the first breaks I went home for in college. I think Christmas or spring break, but it could have been several months later.

I was sitting in one of the booths at the In-N-Out across from UCI. I was at the end of eating my Double Double combo. My Associate and Larry were there with me. I do not remember the flow of the conversation, but somehow fingernails came up. I said "I really like having long thumbnails."

My Associate burst into laughter. I was confused, as I could not see the humor in my comment. Between spurts of laughs, he explained the conviction in my voice for such a statement was funny. He immediately went back to laughing.

In fact, he continued laughing for over two minutes. It was ridiculous. Larry and I kept waiting for him to stop, but every time he was quiet for a couple of seconds he started laughing even more. It got to the point where we talked and just ignored him.

Aside from the fact I was at that In-N-Out last night, I bring this all up for a reason.

I cut my fingernails within the last week. Since then, I have said to myself several times "I miss having long thumbnails." I could be cleaning a pot I boiled pierogies in, cutting a piece of floss, removing a key from a key ring, cleaning a spill in the fridge, opening a box of Legos, or trying to unstick two Lego pieces. There were many situations where having longer thumbnails would have helped me. They are the next best thing to having a knife in your pocket.

Last weekend's election

In my continuing series describing the process of becoming Catholic, the previous two weekends were filled with RCIA events. While I do not have a link handy with all the information, I have a program from the Rite of Election that lists almost all the steps.

Rite of Sending
Two Sundays ago (the last one before Lent started), we had the Rite of Sending at church. All of the catechumens (the unbaptized) gathered at mass. Each of them signed the Book of the Elect. After being prayed for by the congreation they were sent from the parish to the bishop.

Signing the Book of the Elect signifies deep commitment and starts the final stage of preparation. For example, any person who dies after signing the book but before receiving the sacraments on Easter is given a Catholic burial.


Rite of Election
The catechumens, their godparents, candidates, and their sponsors went to see the bishop this past weekend (the first weekend of Lent). While it was one big event, the Rite of Election referred to what happened to catechumens and the candidates were involved with the Call to Continuing Conversion.

This big event was held in the largest church in the diocese. Even though the church seats over 1,000, they had to schedule Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon sessions to accomadate all the people. The program was in four languages, Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish, and English. All the directions were given in English and repeated in Korean and Spanish (the Vietnamese people must have gone to an earlier election).

The format was basically the Liturgy of the Word. The reading from Ephesians touched on why the people are called elect:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

The elect are those God chose to have faith.

Affirmation by Godparents and the Assembly
The bishop asks the godparents if the catechumens are sufficiently prepared for election. The godparents respond "They have."

Invitation and Enrollment of Names
The bishop asks the catechumens if they want to participate in Easter sacraments. "Therefore, do you wish to enter fully into the life of the church through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist?" Catechumens respond "We do." As each parish brings up their Book of the Elect to the bishop, the names of the catechumens are read aloud.

Act of Admission or Election
The bishop says "My brothers and sisters, I now declare you members of the Elect, to be initiated into the sacred mysteries at the next Easter Vigil." The catechumens are now properly referred to as the elect.


Call to Continuing Conversion
This is for the candidates who have already been Baptized. It is similar to Election, except there is no book presented. There is an affirmation by the sponsors testifying to the preparedness of the candidates. The bishop says "My brothers and sisters, the church recognizes your desire to be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and to have a place at Christ's Eucharistic table. Join with us this Lent in a spirit of repentance. Hear the Lord's call to conversion and be faithful to your baptismal covenant."

This is followed by intercessions and prayers for the elect and the candidates. The choir sang the line "Hear us, O Lord" in four different languages. I would have joined in, but the singing was not distinct enough for me to pick up and sing in three languages I did not know.

That was the end of that day's activities.

Presentation of the Creed
This past Sunday (first Sunday of Lent) the elect were presented with the Nicaean Creed. It is a concise summary of Catholic beliefs and is recited every week at Mass.

Father opened his homily with a story. He did not link it to RCIA, but it is close enough for retelling purposes. First I should say Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays in Lent. However, in olden days the injunction applied to every Friday.

Once there was a Jewish man who lived in a Catholic neighborhood. Every Friday, he would grill stakes outside and the sweet aroma would fill the neighborhood. The Catholics were not pleased with this, as they could not eat meat on Fridays. The Catholics worked at converting their Jewish neighbor and after many years finally convinced him to join the Catholic Church. As he stood before the priest on the day of his conversion, the priest sprinkled him with holy water saying, "Born a Jew, raised a Jew, now a Catholic." Everyone was happy. The next time Friday came around, the neighborhood filed with the smell of BBQ again. The Catholics rushed to their friend's house to remind him of the practices of his new religion. When they got there, they saw him sprinkling the stakes with holy water saying "Born a cow, raised a cow, now a fish."

What records are you examining?

Earlier today I took the GRE. I do not have a specific graduate program in mind I will be applying to, but I want to have some scores handy in case they are needed.

Like many people, I have given ETS a large amount of money in my educational career (SAT, 2 SAT IIs, 9 AP tests, and now the GRE) and still might be taking the Physics GRE, or even the GRE again. Before I recap today, I will explain what I did beforehand.

Preparation
I prepared for the test by going through all the problems in the math review pamphlet ETS put out and at least one round of all the different types of questions in their Powerprep software. It helped a lot, as I made many simple calculation mistakes the first few times I did such unusual things as subtract integers and multiply one and two digit numbers. If there was an operation a competent fourth grader could do, I found a way to screw it up. After a little practice I got past the computation mistakes.

The only conceptual problems I had were remembering things like the median (I still don't know why people think this is so important), the standard deviation (the last time I calculated this was the first or second week of quantum mechanics in 2006), and some of the probability. I still do not understand how to get the answer in number 3 of this set. For a while I forgot about the Pythagorean Theorem. I knew what it was, I simply forgot it is very useful when dealing with geometry problems.

There was a sour problem about people in a survey. Below is a question I made up based on a concept from the Powerprep software. This was the hardest type of math problem for me in the software.

In a survey, 72 people like apples, 68 people like oranges, and 73 people like bananas. Of the people, 8 said they only liked apples, 9 said they only liked oranges, and 8 said they only liked bananas. 38 people said they liked all three. How many people said they liked apples and oranges, but not bananas?

A) 4
B) 10
C) 16
D) 27
E) 29

I will post the answer in the comments after someone gives it a try.

The Test
When I got my unofficial scores at the end of the test today I was very disappointed: Verbal 630 and Quantitative 660. I looked online for the percentiles of these scores and found a table from 2005-08. This puts me in the 90th and 62nd percentiles for the verbal and quantitative sections.

I can think of a few factors that pulled my math score down. I had not worked with some of the concepts and calculations in a long time. There were some issues with charts where I had to find a number, find a percent, do comparison to another graph, and give the answer as a percent. There were proportions, where there were x students to every 1 teacher and they wanted to know how many something about a graph. I am carefully avoiding revealing any details of the test. The exam cost $160 but it took very little of that to create, administer, and process. That leaves a lot of money for ETS to pay lawyers to file suits against hapless test takers.

I had a bad mental state and poor time management. On a few of the earlier (and easier) problems I was second guessing myself and checked my answers more than I should. On one of the early problems I spent over a minute to think, compute, try one way, and retry another. I know there was a time in high school I would have looked at that comparison and known the answer without doubt in ten seconds. I did not even get to the last six problems in the section because of my poor time management. I also let the idea of adaptive questioning and being unable to go back weigh on my mind.

I think I did well on the verbal section, but anything below 700 means I could have done better. The results for the writing section will come in a couple of weeks. I think I did well on them, except the graders might want longer essays than I wrote.

If I decide to apply to a graduate program, I will retake the test. In the meantime, if I feel the need to take any tests I will prepare for the Physics GRE. Even if I do not take the test, it would be a good review of physics I will be using at some point in my life. Until then there is fun to be had.


Tiger in your Tank

1 oz Jagermeister
1 oz Early Times (or other bourbon whiskey)
2 oz Orange Juice
6-8 oz Coca-Cola (or however much you want to add)

This drink was found here under the name dirty butt whore. Unless I am setting up a joke "A guy walks into a bar and asks the bartender..." I think the name needs to be changed for many situations. In the vein of naming drinks after critters and this being the year of the tiger, my Mom came up with Tiger in your Tank.

While I was in my car

I might be driving a few people tomorrow to the Rite of Election for RCIA. So earlier today I did what I always do when there is a good chance I will be transporting people, I cleaned my car. I cleaned out the cup holders, vacuumed out the interior, and applied Formula 2001 to all the vinyl and plastic surfaces inside.

This brings me to some useful pieces of information about motor vehicles.

If you cannot turn the key to start the car
Sometimes you are able to put the key in the ignition but cannot turn it to start the car. In these cases when the key will not turn, the problem could be the steering wheel is turned too far to one side. To fix this, turn and hold the steering wheel to release the pressure. It will only slightly move, but that is all you need.

The most important step to using this technique is recalling it when needed. Last month I was in my brother's car and I could not turn the key. I had used this trick before, but I did not query my memory correctly so I did not know what to do. I felt stupid when my brother reached over and pulled the steering wheel a little and the engine started. In my defense, I have not had to use this in a long time. When I park my car I do not leave the wheels jammed to one side.

To recap: When the key in the ignition of a car does not turn, pull and hold the steering wheel to one side while turning the key.

Rear view mirror switch
On the rear view mirror, there is a switch. When the switch is thrown, the mirror changes its angle and reflects less light. This is designed for night driving when the full light of an approaching car's headlights can be blinding.

I had been driving for a couple of years before I learned about this. When I saw someone use it, I was bewildered, then shocked, and finally realized it made sense.

On the topic
While I am imparting automotive knowledge, I will say I hope everyone knows how to jump start their car and has jumper cables in said motor vehicle. If you are using a car, you need to know how to jump start it. I have had to jump start the cars of more clueless people than I ever thought I would have to. Also, be familiar with your specific car. Once I opened the hood of a BMW and . . . the person had to wait for AAA to arrive. I did not see anything to work with and the driver was clueless. I even ran into a girl who did not know how to open the hood of her Mercedes. She had the owner's manual, but that did not help her.

If someone learned something and uses it this post is a success.

The Observance of Lent

As you might know, the Christian season of Lent started on Wednesday.

One of the great things about blogging compared to other media forms is the incorporation of hyperlinks. A person can link to a different section of his writing, someone else's writing, or a separate website of interest. For example, there are a few comments I could write about Ash Wednesday and Lent in general. However, I am too lazy to perfect what I want to say. Instead, I will link to a some words Amanda wrote on her blog. This accomplishes many things. The link communicates relevant information, makes my life easier because I do not have to write about it myself, and I appear magnanimous telling other people to read what someone else wrote.

Before I go any further, I will mention Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor of the second century. It is great work and if you do not want to read anything too Catholic I would recommend it. There is even a Google book result for the work.

Below is a list of ideas of stuff to do during Lent.

Things to do
All of these should be prefixed or suffixed with everyday.

• Pray a morning offering: Set a time, like right after you get dressed.
• Read a section of the Catechism: Start at the beginning of the creed, paragraph 185 of what I refer to as The Green Book. After you get through the explanation of the first line the following sections seem trifling in length.
• Pray the penitential Psalms: Learn what is special about Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. I will even link to the first one to get you started.
• Read a chapter of The Imitation of Christ: Take ten minutes afterward to be still and apply it to your life.
• Pray the Rosary or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy: This is easier than pulling out a book and reading something new.
• Learn the Pater Noster and pray it: The words and a chant are available a few places online.
• Go to daily mass: Go one or two times during the week. It is better than Sunday mass.

If you follow one of the reading paths be sure to set a clear goal of how much a section or chapter is. It is better to stay on the low side until your habit is established.

If you are into reading grab a book and have it as a reserve project for Lent. The book is for any times you want to do more. For example, have Saint Augustine's Confessions at hand and if you are in the mood read a few sections. If you only open it up once in forty days that is fine. The book is there as one possibility for the times you have nothing to do.

Stopping useless habits
Habit is a very powerful force. It can advance positive or negative ends.

Before you check your email or facebook, ask yourself "Is there a reason for this?" If you are going to a website needlessly admit it. Say "I am checking my email even though I just did twenty minutes ago. This will not bring me happiness."

If you like any of these ideas, give one of them a try. If my suggestions are only mildly interesting, come up with something better yourself.

Flowers and Unique Things we See

When I saw this flower, I thought of more than a plant. I saw an entry point to a topic that germinated in my mind four months ago.


Do you want to see this flower? I can see it outside my window when I am in bed. It is less than twelve feet away. I have a great view of it. In fact, I have the best view anyone has of this flower.

The people who originally nursed the plant when it was a sapling have not seen it. The person who moved this plant to its current location has not seen it. Even my neighbors who own the plant and have it closer to their window do not have as good a view as I do. From their end the blossom is behind the leaves of the plant. In the last few days I have seen more development of this flower than anyone else.

In September when I was at Kim and Patrick's wedding I had a thought. At the ceremony there were over one hundred people. Most of them were relatives or had otherwise known one of them much longer than I did. Of all the people who were there only three had known them before they were a couple.

No one else there saw them in San Diego, when two normally quiet people kept talking to each other and laughing all the time. No one else saw the two of them together and wondered if it was obvious to everyone except them that they liked each other. No one else went with them to the Big Game hours before they declared themselves a couple.

Of everyone there I was one of two maybe three people who "watched their love blossom" (to steal the maid of honor's words).


Many people wish they could be where you are and see the things you see, but they are not. You are a witness to things other people can only dream of.

Did you read? London was in Alaska

Today I finished reading The Call of the Wild and a few other stories by Jack London. I purchased this book at a Borders store where the 55 ends (under the label Costa Mesa in my current blog header). The store was going out of business last month so I stopped and picked this up along with Seneca's Letters from a Stoic for 40% off. Using a gift card I received for Chinese New Year many moons ago, this trip only cost three dollars and some change.

The Call of the Wild follows a dog Buck and is told from his point of view. It follows his adventures being a sled dog in Alaska and how he got there. Also included in the Signet Classic edition I read were the short stories "Diable-A Dog," "An Odyssey of the North," "To the Man on Trail," "To Build a Fire," and "Love of Life." The first line of the introduction (written by Alex Kershaw) of the collection describes the author compactly.

Jack London is perhaps the only novelist this century of whom it can be said that his own life is as dramatic as any of the suspenseful fiction he wrote.

The big literary theme of all these stories is the change a harsh natural surrounding has on life. Out in the wilderness different traits are brought out in people and animals. The values necessary for success out there are contrasted with what is praised in civilized life. There were some dark undertones to Call of the Wild and the short stories. However, they were all organic parts of the stories and not superfluous.

I enjoyed The Call of the Wild and would recommend it. I would also suggest you check out a few of London's short stories.

The first steps of RCIA

Last September I became involved with the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program at church. I heard they had a couple of teenagers in the program and wanted some younger people to be involved as sponsors for them. I volunteered and was assigned to Philip, who is in his first year of college.

Every Sunday I attend church with Philip and he is dismissed with all the other candidates and catechumens after the homily to learn more about the scripture readings of that day. After mass the candidates, catechumens, and sponsors together hear a teacher from the parish talk about a different subject. Some past topics have included prayer, stewardship, the Epiphany, holiness, marriage, and forgiveness to name a few.

Before I get to far, I should mention the difference between candidates and catechumens. Candidates have already received Baptism and are preparing to enter the Catholic Church and become confirmed. The Catholic Church acknowledges "one baptism for the forgiveness of sins," so other Christians do not need to be baptised again. Catechumens are new to Christianity and preparing for Baptism and Confirmation.

I joined as a sponsor later in the process so I missed a few of the early parts. The unnamed geniuses have a summary of the RCIA process along with the steps and rites which can fill in anything I miss. The first part I was involved with was the Rite of Acceptance. I was part of this several months ago, so my memory might be inaccurate.

Rite of Acceptance

At the beginning of mass, the catechumens and their sponsors come forward. The catechumens express their desire to follow the Gospel. The catechumens receive the sign of the cross on their forehead, mouth, ears, shoulders, hands, and feet as a blessing. This is to open them up to God. The priest blesses the catechumens and asks the congregation to pray for and support them. The catechumens accept a cross to wear as a sign of their intention and journey while the congregation accepts the duty of guiding them.

Presentation of the Our Father

This usually occurs later in Lent, but for scheduling purposes it occurred earlier in our program.

There are a few Gospel readings where Jesus first gives His disciples the Our Father. Then, the candidates and catechumens are given a paper with the Our Father on it. Like all the other rites, the candidates and catechumens are accompanied by their sponsors, who have their right hand on their shoulder to show they are to support them.

Today (the last Sunday before Lent) was the Rite of Sending, but I will cover that later when I explain who they are being sent to.

The Voyage of the Space Beagle and other works of A.E. Van Vogt

Last month my Associate gave me a book, The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. Van Vogt.

The book is made up of four sections that were originally published as individual short stories from 1939 - 1950. However, when placed together they form a coherent whole. The book follows the ship Space Beagle and its crew as they journey through space on a mission of exploration. A.E. Van Vogt was inspired by reading Darwin's account of his research expedition in The Voyage of the Beagle.

The book was a direct inspiration for several science fiction works that came afterward.

I liked the book and wanted to read more of Van Vogt's works. There was a time when I would have immediately rushed out and bought a few of his books. Instead I did a more sensible thing; I went to the library and checked out a couple books.

I read Slan, which is about a boy who is a Slan, a race of beings that are being hunted and killed by humans. The other book was The World of Null-A. In this novel everyone tells the main character he is not who he says he is, then they try to kill him. I would explain things more, but I do not want to give away anything important in either book. Of the two I liked Slan better. It was easier to follow and made more sense when I was reading it.

To summarize, the A.E. Van Vogt books I read include:

The Voyage of the Space Beagle
1/21-24

Slan
1/25-30

The World of Null-A
2/2-9

If you are interested, go to the library and check out Slan by Van Vogt.

Dessert Recipes and a Drink

Hurry Up Coffee Cake

This is an easy one I got from my Mom.

1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup flour
1 can fruit pie filling (can be cherry, peach, apple, or any kind you like)
4 eggs

Combine the cake mix, flour, and eggs. Cut up any large chucks of fruit in the pie filling.** Stir the pie filling into the mixture. This can be put into a bread pan (I think it can fill two) or a 9x13 pan. Either way grease the pan throughly.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. If it is a 9x13 pan, it can take 5-10 minutes less. Use a toothpick to see if it is baked throughout. If the toothpick comes out clean, it is done.

**If my Grandma is making this with cherry pie filling, she likes to leave the cherries whole and gently mix them in. This way when the finished cake is eaten the cherries are still individual cherries.


Pumpkin Delight

This recipe came from one of my Mom's friends. Even with the high price of pumpkin recently this is worth making. How can this not be good? It has two sticks of butter!

1 large can pumpkin (not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)
3 eggs

1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup butter, melted

Mix the first five ingredients. Dump into a greased 9x13 pan. Then lightly and evenly sprinkle the yellow cake mix over the top. Drizzle the butter over the top and bake at 350 for one hour.

A variation is to add 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans between the cake mix and butter.


Glorious Revolution, or 1688

This is a drink I created myself. However, I am still looking for another alcohol to add to it.

1 oz Gin
1 oz Scotch
1 oz Irish whiskey
1/2 oz Triple sec

Fill with club soda.

I drew upon English history for inspiration for this drink. The alcohol represents England (gin), Scotland (scotch), and Ireland (Irish whiskey). If I knew of something I could use for Whales, I would include that as well. The triple sec (an orange flavored liquor) represents William of Orange who was invited to take over the crown of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

If you want the complete summary of the history, check out what the unnamed geniuses have written.

Which way are things going? Part II

My initial post in this series covered what some of my friends and other people (one of them is not a friend of mine) I know have done with their lives since graduation.

Things I have done
In this post I have summarized a few of the more interesting things I have done. Part of the reason I started this blog was to write down some of my activities.

People who have been positively impacted by me
The most important thing in my life is how I affect the people around me. These are a few examples.

• My Mom: I have helped her do many things she wanted to get done but could not do herself or get help with immediately.


• My neighbor Mary: She was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in September. Since I live closer to her than any of her family, I took her to doctors appointments and radiation treatment a couple of times a week. Without me she would have had to find someone else to take her; someone who would not have been as supportive and positive as me.


• My RICA catechuman Philip: If I did not get involved with the program, he would have a sponsor two or three times his age instead of someone only five years older.


• A few people with leukemia and people who had surgery and needed platelets. Somewhat related post about donations here.

Trips I have taken
All of the dates are approximate.

New York
These trips were to Western New York including Buffalo and Jamestown.

Oct 08 Visit grandparents with my brother
Jan 09 See Grandma get an award for supporting Catholic education
May 09 Celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday
Jul 09 Spend time with Grandma

Las Vegas
Most of the trips were with my family where we went to comedy clubs, saw shows, and enjoyed buffets. I think I am missing a trip somewhere in here.

Oct 08
Dec 08 Hang out with Larry and Peter from high school
Jun 09
Aug 09 Hang out with Peter and Larry again
Sep 09 We took my Aunt Addy there on here visit here

Berkeley
Thanks to the hospitality of my Associate and Linda, Sidney, the Newman Staff, and the Taggart and Purcell families, these trips progressed well.

Aug 08 A goodbye tour before more people scattered
Dec 08 Visit the Associate
Apr 09 Stay at the rectory and plan for the alumni group
Jul 09 Fr. Charlie's last student dinner
Sep 09 Kim and Patrick's wedding
Jan 10 See people I did not see on my previous trip

I went to two CRP conventions in Anaheim and Sacramento. Rohit handled the rooms.

On the drives up and down the 5 and the 101 I made stops to see people many times in Santa Barbara, San Jose, and Sunnyvale.

I went to a few Cal football games. The close ones were day trips, but the bowls were full adventures into new places.

Cal at USC '08
Emerald Bowl
Cal at UCLA '09
Poinsettia Bowl

For good measure I went to San Diego last month.

There were a few day trips around Orange County, into Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. I went to the Orange County Fair for the last two years. Considering the state is trying to sell the fairgrounds my visits were timely.

Books I have read
I made a separate post listing the books I read in the last two years. Reading 35 books in 15 months is a decent amount. There are at least 1,000 pages of reading that did not make it onto the list.

Television
I watched over ten seasons of The Simpsons, all of Arrested Development, all of Star Trek The Original Series, and all of Stargate SG-1. I spent a lot of time on Hulu.

Other
I have tried dozens of new recipes and made a lot of drinks. I took a class on PHP and MySQL, learned some C++, and started an alumni group complete with a website. I fixed a pencil vending machine and front door latch. I biked and ran more miles than I can remember.

A few books read

Listed here are the books I read after graduation through to the end of 2009. Most of the comments are what I wrote at the time of reading the book. If you have any questions about the books or want further commentary about them ask me. A few of the books near the end have links to posts about them.

Meditations Marcus Aurelius
The Roman emperor makes his case for a life focused on good living that shuns the trappings of wealth, fame, and power. There are many great comments in this book.

The Language of God Francis Collins
I had reached a similar conclusion before I read the book about how God and His creation can be glorified and better understood by science instead of attacked by it. I skipped over some of the sections recounting scientific advances I had studied before.

The Sign and the Seal Graham Hancock
The story of Hancock’s search for the Ark of the Covenant. Very well researched and presented, this systematically traces the evidence and reads like the real life Indiana Jones adventure it is.

The Gnostic Gospels Elaine Pagels

History of my own Times William Otter
This was assigned reading for one of my classes, but I did not open the book until over a year after the class.

Alchemy E.J. Holmyard
This Dover book has good general comments on Alchemy followed by sections on prominent alchemists. I did not read all of the alchemist sketches.

Union 1812 A.J. Langguth
Each chapter traces a different person and his or her involvement in the making of the Unites States through the War of 1812 and the buildup to it.

The Time Machine H.G. Wells

Catch-22 Joseph Heller

The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells

The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Invisible Man H.G. Wells


2009

The Associates Richard Rayner
Traces C. P. Huntington and his associates in their quest to build a railroad empire that spanned the continent. It also talks about the founder of that school that is across the bay.

Crazy Horse and Custer Stephen E. Ambrose
Ambrose’s masterful parallel biography of two great warriors follows their careers that clashed at the Little Bighorn. It conveys the history of Indian warfare from the 1850s through 1876 and looks at how the title characters embodied their respective societies.

The Ten Things You Can’t Say in America Today Larry Elder

The Beleaguered City Shelby Foote

Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson

The Enemy at Home, The cultural left and its responsibility for 9/11 Dinesh D'Souza
D’Souza talks about the causes of 9/11 based upon his research and travels in different parts of the world. He explains many societies have a negative view of America because they are bombarded by American entertainment and the negative points of our culture. D’Souza brings up a lot of good points that are completely absent from current discussions.

The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories Nathaniel Hawthorne
This collection published by Signet Classic includes many of Hawthorne's short stories spanning his career.

The Interior Castle Saint Teresa of Avila
I stopped reading the book somewhere in the sixth of the seven mansions. The first few parts were great. However by the time I came to the sixth mansion I felt it was talking about things too far removed from me to keep my interest. I plan on picking it up and finishing it after I have read a few other things and made spiritual progress.

From X-Rays to Quarks: Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries Emilio Segre
I read a few parts of this, specifically the ones on E. O. Lawrence and particle accelerators. This has more mathematics than most layman books. I also applied to an internship named for Segre, but that is a story that ended in rejection.

Letter to a Christian Nation Sam Harris
This book berates Christians' behavior as compared to what they espouse. The book points out inconsistencies exist in the Bible and cites lines to show Christianity is intolerant and guilty of many things, at least as read literally in the Bible. The use of statistics in the book is unconvincing and selective to prove the author’s point. The reasoning is inconsistent. Examples of faults in Christianity from one section, if viewed in the discussion of a later one, become counterexamples to the author’s subsequent point.

The Lamb's Supper Scott Hahn

Atheism: A reader S. T. Joshi
I read a few sections to further develop some of the ideas from one of the above books.

The Lost World Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Moby Dick Herman Melville

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson
There were a few other short stories in the Barnes & Noble edition I read as well.

The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis
“Screwtape Purposes a Toast” contains ideas about the simplification of education that I fear have made much progress since the piece was written.

The First Men in the Moon H.G. Wells

Poker Wisdom of a Champion Doyle Brunson
Everyone should read about Doyle Brunson. He is one of the greatest poker players there is.

Dracula Bram Stoker
The great Dracula came long before so many other vampire stories.

When the Sleeper Wakes H.G. Wells
It was a veritable golden age of making posts about the novels I read including the sleeper.

The Egyptians Cyril Aldred
This kicked off my recent study of Ancient Egypt.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
I made a post about the hitchhiker and the galaxy, but I will summarize the singularly salient point here. If you ever happen to get your hands on this book Stop! Put the book down. Slowly step away from the book and move out of the area. Of all the books on this list, this is the worst.

Which way are things going? Part I

I have been putting this post off for a while, mostly because I know what the conclusion is and I do not want to write about a loser who is wasting his life.

This is the first in a series of three posts I have planned. They talk about what I have worked on generally for the last 20 months and where that is taking me. Today I bring up the post-graduation activities of people I know.

What other people are doing
Over the past couple of months I have seen many people I went to school with. They are all in the midst of different and varied things. Even a year or two after graduation, these people have done a lot. For example, there is:

• The person who is working for an economist in Chicago and applying for graduate schools.


• The person who is attending law school, after a year of working through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.


• The person who is teaching elementary school with Teach for America.


• The person who is learning languages and applying for history graduate schools.


• The person who is attending law school.


• The person who is working for a chemical company and interviewing for M.D. programs.


• The person who is studying quantum computation in physics graduate school.


• The person who is working in sales analysis in San Francisco.


• The person who is working her second job after graduation and being laid off once.


• The person who worked for one of the big four firms before being laid off.


• The person who worked for an engineering firm before being laid off.


• The person who is attending law school and doing related interning.


• The person who is working for a legal aid clinic in San Francisco.


• The person who is a manager and living away from home.


• The person who is learning to run a family business.


• The person who is studying physics in graduate school (a much more prestigious school than the earlier person).

Those are just the people I saw in person recently. There is the person who will be traveling to another continent with the Peace Corps, the people who are enrolled in the seminary or otherwise studying to live an ordained vocation. There is the person who is working for a homeless non-profit through JVC, the person who is in graduate school to be a teacher. There are a few other people doing Teach for America and way too many people I know attending law school.

Then there is the person who is doing nothing like any of that. This person is not attending graduate school, has not had a single job, and has not done any kind of service or other helpful job.

This person is me.

Why am I getting mail from Tiffany & Co.?

People end up on mailing lists they never signed up for. Somehow I have ended up on the mailing list of Tiffany & Co. This makes no sense to me. I have never bought anything from them or a similar jewelry company.

The best way I can think of that I ended up on their list is from consumer profiling. I must have given my name and address to a group or company which then sold the information. This brings up my next question. Who could have my name and address strongly associated with an activity that a jewelry company would want? The first activities that come to mind involve astronomy, religion, politics, education, and consumer habits.

My name has been on astronomy lists from buying telescope equipment and subscribing to Sky and Telescope for a while. I do not see any connection between jewelry and astronomy or any religious affiliation. Educational mailings I get are very general and usually involve going to a school, buying a diploma frame, or something directly related to education. Consumer lists are a possibility, but I cannot think of any time I bought something at a Tiffany like store. I bought some perfume at Nordstrom's, but that was a couple of years before I started getting mailings.

This leaves political lists. I think my name was taken from a list of actively involved Republicans. Marketing research people could make the jump from Republican -> large disposable income -> want upscale items -> could buy from Tiffany & Co.

The only problems are I have neither an income that could support buying their items nor a girlfriend to dote upon.

If anyone has a better theory I would like to read it.