¡Team Perez!

Beautiful. perceveja: Edward Burtynsky. Highway #5, Los...

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:23:38 -0700

Beautiful.

perceveja:

Edward Burtynsky. Highway #5, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2009.

Does Your Dock Reflect Your Priorities?

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:44:23 -0700

Does Your Dock Reflect Your Priorities?:

minimalmac:

The Dock. That little area on your iPhone or iPad that contains a handful of apps which are available on every screen. It says something about what you’re about and what you want to achieve.

Nice post. I speak about applying this same idea of sacred spaces even more broadly in my book. Nice to see it echoed in a specific area here.

An insight far too many haven’t yet learned.

leliabroussard: My late night cover of The A Team by @EdSheeran

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 20:59:22 -0700

leliabroussard:

My late night cover of The A Team by @EdSheeran

dadsaretheoriginalhipster: Your dad skateboarded before you did...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:57:50 -0700

dadsaretheoriginalhipster:

Your dad skateboarded before you did and he’s got the street surfing skills to prove it. He was the Albert Einstein of Evil Knievel creations. With a stoned vision of riding the pavement wave, he strapped wheels to board and got shreddy land style. He’s kickflipped panties off and grinded pools like a porn star of skate. The middle class didn’t know how to handle this new menace to the suburbs, which is why they tried to pass laws to stop him from getting gnar on public property.

So hipsters, when you’re kick-pushing your way down a bike lane or heelflip-falling while trying to show off for the apathetic female onlookers, remember this…

Your dad not only did all the killer shit that you do, but there is a good chance he invented it too.

This would have been my dad but he was gnaring it up in the surf before the beach boys made it main stream. But whatever he was doing, I’m sure he did invent it.

iOS Address Book access should prompt the user for permission

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:31:34 -0800

iOS Address Book access should prompt the user for permission:

marco:

We can’t prevent developers from being creepy, so Apple needs to step in.

The crux of the matter Jim Daly at NRO: Consider the facts: The Komen Foundation is a private...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:45:04 -0800

The crux of the matter

Jim Daly at NRO:

Consider the facts:

The Komen Foundation is a private philanthropic organization. It has every right to fund or not fund charities or causes of its choice.
That certain individuals and causes are “outraged” over Komen’s announcement is, in itself, outrageous.
To complain about a gift not given is the highest form of presumption and arrogance. And what about Planned Parenthood?

According to its annual report, the nation’s leading abortion provider is worth in excess of $1 billion. In 2010, abortion procedures constituted 91 percent (329,445) of Planned Parenthood’s services for pregnant women.

Yet, to follow their illogical argument, to have lost Komen’s projected yearly gift of $680,000 was somehow going to cripple their empire — and prevent them from continuing to offer mammograms. But Planned Parenthood centers do not offer mammograms, and instead refer women to other clinics for such services.

More than anything, it surprises me how few people know that Planned Parenthood does not offer mammograms. Bracket everything else in last week’s dustup and you have this simply fact.

"I only wish that people were as certain about what the highest good is as they are about the fact..."

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:27:04 -0800

“I only wish that people were as certain about what the highest good is as they are about the fact that human beings cannot be happy unless they attain it.”

- Saint Augustine, On Free Choice of the Will (II.9)

A Year Resolute (2012 Edition)

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:10:33 -0800

Last year I split my goals into professional and personal. This year, none of that. Let’s keep them simple and focused. Besides, my professional goals are fairly straight forward: get good grades in my Ph.D. program, network at conferences, and generally rock it like an aspiring academic. Here we have my goals for 2012. Sure I have a list, like resolutions, but they are more like goals to pursue, to keep me hungry for more.

Sound Body

This is a little tricky. It’s not so much about losing weight (although, that’s part of it) but about continuing habits that I built in 2011. It starts with staying up with CrossFit. Then, when time permits*, I need to explore activities to add into my schedule. Last year’s resolution to climb rocks and do more yoga remain the front runners, but I must add a few to that.

Set new CrossFit Goals (weight loss, Oly Lift PRs, Pull-ups, etc).
Climb Rocks
Do more Yoga
Surf more waves
Paddle/SUP in Austin
Ride my Longboard

Sound Mind

California: 8 Vols

If anything that I write about actually approaches the level of a resolution in the classical sense, Kevin Starr’s eight volume history of California is it. I had it on my list last year and failed to even begin. I’ve since begun the first volume to get a head start and build momentum. Quite simply, the more time that I spend away from California, the more I yearn to be home, to settle near the coast, to know her history and her culture and not simply live ignorant of that which has so greatly formed who I am.

Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915
Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era
Material Dreams: Southern California through the 1920s
Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California
The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s
Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950
Coast Of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2002
Golden dreams: California in an age of abundance, 1950-1963

Christian Theology

Short list here. Long on discipline. I really must finally get to A Grammar of Assent for both personal and professional reasons. And since I intend to make Augustine the them of my research, I ought make him a theme in my daily life.

Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent
Read a little Augustine every day

Sound Fun

Travel to Europe Again
Learn Spanish
Go to a Buckeye game in the Fall
Hone my Cooking Skills
Keep a Food Log
Pay off one Credit Card (Yes, this would be fun times if I could do it.)

* “time permitting” sound like a cop out that will only lead to failure. I know. But it’s impossible to predict what kind of schedule one will have each semester until it actually gets underway. I also have no idea what’s going on over the summer, if I’ll be studying Greek (i.e., no free time whatsoever) or if I’ll be power loafing in California (i.e., lots of free time). To compensate, I plan to focus on at least one of those activities per month, starting with the easy ones to fit into my schedule (Yoga and Longboarding). Then, I’ll evaluate regularly.

2011 Resolution Review:

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:35:04 -0800

I had some “pretty basic” resolutions for the year. So let’s see how I did:

~~climb rocks~~, do more yoga, and ~~ride my bike~~ (ankle permitting).
Complete the CrossFit beginners routine.
Keep a food journal.
Read Books

Enchridion by Epictetus

A Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman

Nicomacean Ethics by Aristotle

Commentary on the Ethics by Saint Thomas

Thomism and Aristotelianism by Harry Jaffa

~~Travel Abroad~~
~~Take a photograph every day~~
~~Learn Spanish~~

My final comments were pretty spot on: it was too big a list to complete, but the journey is always more important than the destination. Often, when setting goals I prefer to pick one that’s too far out, or a few too many, to reasonably complete in the given time. It keeps me hungry. I get board if I set a goal and then cruise past it. But if I come just a hair shy, and nearly could have done it if I slacked off a little less here or there, that makes me eager to fire up and go at it again.

Even though far too many goals were not achieved, I did have some pretty good highlights. After making some progress on my ankle recovery, I picked up surfing, something that I’ve been wanting to do for ages. I successfully defended my thesis and was admitted to the University of Texas for my Ph.D., and I got serious about CrossFit. My general them of ‘sound mind, sound body’ was maintained and achieved in more ways than I could have anticipated.

In the next day or two, I’ll post my goals for the coming year, after I’ve had time to think about the successes and failures from this year’s goal list. The important thing is to give serious thought as to why or why not resolutions were successful so that I can make better ones in the future.

Winnowing the Field

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:53:43 -0800

Winnowing the Field:

From the Editors at National Review:

Just as heartening, the White House seems winnable next year, and with it a majority in both houses of Congress, so that much of this conservative consensus could actually become law. A conservative majority on the Supreme Court, a halt to the march of regulation, free-market health-care policies: All of them seem within our grasp. But none of them is assured, and the costs of failure — either a failure to win the election, or a failure to govern competently and purposefully afterward — are as large as the opportunity. We fear that to nominate former Speaker Newt Gingrich, the frontrunner in the polls, would be to blow this opportunity.

clientsfromhell: Client: “My computer is frozen!”Me: “What screen is it frozen on?”Client: “The...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:29:01 -0700

clientsfromhell:

Client: “My computer is frozen!”

Me: “What screen is it frozen on?”

Client: “The first screen, where it says push ctrl+alt+del to log in. I can move the mouse around, but when I push those buttons it does nothing”

Me: “Is your keyboard plugged in?”

Client: “No, It’s a wireless keyboard”

Me: “Have you changed the batteries?”

Client: “This thing takes batteries!? I thought it ran off satellite power.”

File under “I fear the survival of civilization”

Updates, soon.

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:55:31 -0700

Holy crap. I’ve really neglected not just this blog, but my other social outlets as well. Foursquare is down, Flickr Pro account is expired, and who knows what else. Some one remind me to get on that: stat.

No sex on campus?

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:48:05 -0700

No sex on campus?:

there is an increasing phenomenon of unlikely bedfellows opting out: Catholic and Muslim women. These women of faith are increasingly allied in searching for a different way to live out their college tenure than from dorm room to dorm room. And they are finding that despite theological differences that run deep, shared perspectives about modesty, chastity, and dignity run deeper.

Interesting approach to genuine ecumenism that is bottom-up, ad hoc, and more genuine than the feigned platitudes that pass for dialogue these days in most circles.

Photo

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:53:00 -0700

Quality family time.

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:25:22 -0700

Quality family time.

Photo

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:25:17 -0700

ZOOEY'S MISCELLANY: an open letter to patt morrison

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:35:58 -0700

ZOOEY'S MISCELLANY: an open letter to patt morrison:

What a great reply. Simply brilliant.

zooeydeschanel:

Dear Ms Morrison, JULY 11, 2011

I feel compelled to respond to your recent blog post, regarding comments I “allegedly” made outside the BAFTA dinner on Saturday night. I never spoke to you at this event; in fact, you weren’t even there. I am completely and utterly shocked that a…

Runaway Agency

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:04:26 -0700

Runaway Agency:

Taken alongside such abuses as targeting Boeing for having the audacity to expand its operations in a right-to-work state, the NLRB is the very picture of a runaway agency pursing a narrow, partisan political policy rather than any legitimate public mandate.

Today's Headlines

Mon, 02 May 2011 12:10:06 -0700

Today's Headlines

Thesis, Defended. Changes in the Works

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:44:51 -0700

I’ve been remiss in my writing lately, but as anyone who knows me knows it has been for good cause. On Monday I successfully defended my Master’s thesis. The last two months have been quite busy, to say the least, as I made all the final revisions, edits, and preparations.

I will be returning to regular writing soon, but I also plan on making some changes. This fall I will move on the doctoral degree—because being a student is better than being unemployed—and I want to move the blog to a different site. This URL will soon be a landing page with links to my personal and professional websites.

Until then, I’m just glad to be finished with the thesis. It took its pound of flesh from me, but it was also a project that I am glad I stuck with to the end.