Thursday I went to the Olive Garden with some friends to use a Christmas gift certificate.

I’m relatively new to the whole Salad Scene, particularly at a halfway posh Italian restaurant like the Olive Garden. The first two people ordered and said they wanted salad. I thought it was a little strange that no dressing was specified, so I determined not to make the same mistake. I told the waitress what I wanted, and then added I wanted a salad “with ranch.”

She smiles and says, You don’t want our Italian dressing? It comes in a big bowl, all together.

Oh, sure, I say, Sure, I’ll try that.

But I can get you a salad with Ranch, if you really want it.

Oh you can? Ok, well, sure I’ll have that then.

But everyone loves our Italian dressing, it’s great, you sure you don’t wanna give it a try?

Um, sure, I guess I’ll go with that.

I waffled back and forth so bad I thought we were eating breakfast for a second (sorry). See, I was insecure about the whole fancy restaurant thing, because I didn’t really know the convention obviously, and then I committed this faux paus evidently. And I blew like a reed in the wind on that one. It’s pretty funny to think about.

In honor of Castaway and my alternate ending:

A man once was hit by a truck.
He really was down on his luck.
From an island he came,
To marry his dame,
But she had run off with some schmuck.

Floundering. Words come and go easily. No, actually words come like a large man running a marathon. Well, actually, in a way they do come and go easily, but only as fragments. And if the point of words is to project intelligence (which it isn’t), that ideal is far from achieved.

I’ve heard it many times, “We learn (insert discipline here) so we are able to speak the (insert name of discipline practitioner here)’s language.” Example: “we learn economics so we are able to speak the economist’s language.”

This is rock-solid thinking. You don’t have to be able to solve the force of the vortex created by a jet engine at takeoff to understand the concept of flight and you don’t have to be a computer scientist to understand a little about networking.

If you do understand conceptually (a little technical knowledge is good too) what’s going on, you can talk intelligently about a subject, but if you don’t, you’re lost.

If you’re lost, that’s ok, just admit it up front. There’s nothing worse than listening to someone stumble through something that they have no clue about. Except maybe being the person stumbling through something that you have no clue about. Some people are good at it. I’m not, and I feel it acutely when I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Lesson learned today. Admit emphatically up front if you have no clue, the more eloquently the better.

I acquired an Institute of Industrial Engineers flier. They have pictures of twenty-four individuals in the publication. As best I can tell there are twelve women and twelve men pictured.

In my IE 337 class, which all Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering majors have to take, there are roughly thirty-five people enrolled. Of those, perhaps seven are women, and that’s probably being generous. That means that there is probably a 4:1 ratio—at least—of men to women.

Suffice it to say, the flier presents a skewed picture. Maybe it’s a picture of their ideal. Maybe Oregon State University is the only college in the United States where men vastly outnumber girls in the engineering disciplines (laugh laugh, hack hack…excuse me, I’m choking).

Trust me, if you’re going to college to sit beside girls in class, don’t go for Engineering. Go for Elementary Ed. or Psychology.

This brings me to another point.

There’s some rule in the NFL (National Football League) that says when a team is interviewing head coaches, they have to consider (I think that includes interviewing) minority candidates. Sort of a crazy rule. I mean, they’re a private corporation, so they can do what they want, but in principle telling a team they have to consider people solely based on their race is sort of ridiculous.

However. However, I know why they do it. They’re doing their best to legislate racism out of their ranks. Let’s say there’s lingering bigotry in certain team leadership structures (owners, general managers, other team officials). There are plenty of white head coaching candidates that are qualified, compared to a relatively few amount of black head coaches that are similarly capable. If there’s racism, those prejudiced teams are always going to give the benefit of the doubt to the white man.

Furthermore, if we go back in time and there had never been laws made forcing certain entities to include black people (certain restaurants, for instance), the civil rights movement may have never come to fruition. In this case, legislating morality was the best solution from the state’s perspective. Yes, really the only solution. They’re not in the business of changing hearts.

Just consider the NFL situation a microcosm of the state back in the 60’s, although this application is much more tenuous and its validity much more dubious.

Much is made in the Engineering world of all the formal, classroom education that you need. But they also tell you that one of the things that will help you get a job is leadership capability. How do you show leadership capability? Certainly not by a degree or a demonstration, but by experience. No formal training here. Just experience, serving on a committee or being a student officer for a club. What up with that?

Do you get my point?

Most of this was actually written yesterday (Wednesday) but I had some problems with my Internet Connection.


There was this movie Castaway that we watched about this guy who is in a plane crash and is stranded on a tropical island for four years. Of course, he miraculously escapes due to his ingenuity and luck, and amidst much fanfare is welcomed home. I thought a more compelling ending than the stupid love story angle (and trust me, it was stupid as love story angles go) would be that he would have got home, surviving the immense hardships and deprivations, and after gloriously arriving, he steps into the street and gets hit by a truck.

I don’t know what this says about me, but in movies or stories, being persuasive and thought-provoking rule over being happy. If that means people dieing I’m really ok with that. It’s a story! Anyone can write a story when everyone is happy all the time. That’s why in every good story there’s a protagonist and an antagonist, adversity to overcome, evil to fight, you know?

What’s the point of a story if it isn’t to make a point? A good story does not just entertain, but it also allows you the opportunity to think, one that--paradoxically--I don't take all that often.

That being said, I’m not sure the point that would be made if the guy would have got hit by a truck. Maybe "life isn’t always happy" or "you can never be too careful" or "live every moment of life to the fullest because you never know when it may end."

I was trying to craft a crossword puzzle today and it’s really, really hard.

Q: What's a significant ethical Mennonite dilemma?
A: Free beer.

Winston Churchill said, "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings while the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

This from Tom, and with it I would heartily agree, except I'm far from depressed:

The cold and the snow are a pain,
And "Frigid's" the name of the game.
The roads are a mess
and I am depressed,
I long for a sweet gentle rain.

This from Tom, too, and with it I would heartily disagree:

Underrated: Nyquil
Overrated: Dough

It’s amazing. Everything is just coated with a layer of ice. I’ve never seen anything like this and I was in Ohio last winter for 7 weeks. Ice is on the windows, cars, the hose, crazy.

Oh what a wonderful day. School’s cancelled and it’s one big ice-covered world outside, but inside it’s warm. There’s nothing to do, today seems like a totally free day. Perhaps we’ll play games together or maybe we’ll watch It’s A Wonderful Life.

What a wonderful day to be alive. How thankful I am for what I have.

Pet peeves and crazy talk

I hate the cold! I've been walking around in the cold for exactly one day. I say, bring on the rain. Maybe I should dress a little more warmly, though.

It must be really, really hard to spell in front of a class on the board. I come to this conclusion because so many really, really smart people have such a problem with it. I realize that intelligence doesn't automatically translate into spelling skill, but I'm not just talking about one professor here. Just today, a Phd student who was filling in for an absent prof spelled a word, then changed it, making it wrong.

What is selfishness? Traditionally, it might be defined as concern for one's own good above another's.

But if you extrapolate that far enough, getting to a store at 6 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving so you can get that great deal on a computer is selfish. You're considering your good (the great deal) over the 101st person's (assuming there's 100 computers for sale that day), aren't you?

If your mom saw $300 (perhaps the amount that you'd save on a computer if you got to the store at the insanely early hour--and you saw it too a second later--lying on the ground, what good person would rush and pick it up and refuse to let their mother have it? Everyone knows that whoever sees it first should get it.

My point is that in interpersonal relations, Christians know that they are to prefer the other to themselves. But when it's not personal, when you can't see the other person, much less know that person, we don't think about it.

I'm talking crazy talk I know. I just thought about this today during class. Maybe that's why it's so fuzzy. And yes, I still believe in getting in lines.

While we're talking about selfishness, why isn't it selfish to become a Christian? It's looking out for #1 isn't it? You're thinking, "Ok, if I do this now, this will happen to me then and that won't."

Well, one reason that's not selfish is because it affects no one else adversely. Salvation is a free gift to whoever wants it. There's no limitations. If I get into heaven I don't bump someone else out. You know?

Another thing I don't like is when a preacher opens it up to the congregation to share and no one does.

Anyone have any limerick subject ideas? btahq@juno.com. This is in honor of Sam.

Here’s the deal, folks. If you’re sick, sleep. It helps a lot, I can tell you that from vast personal experience. I’ve slept off sickness at least twice. Or maybe it was just the drugs that made me feel better.

Also, Nyquil has to be among the foulest concoctions ever devised by humankind.

Underrated: the impact and blessing of good friends.

Harmony Rule #5: If there are repeated notes in the melody, usually it is best to change the harmony, especially if it is over a measure bar.

Yes, monotony is averted when you change the harmonies. An identical chord repeated multiple times is monotonous. Sometimes it can't be avoided, I suppose, but this is an excellent general rule.

For instance, if you are gliding along with a tonic (I) chord with the melody on Do, and the next melody note is also Do, consider changing the chord to a sub-dominant (IV), because the subdominant includes Fa, La, and Do.

You know?

No?

Ok, that's fine. Read it again.

Tomorrow is the first day of Winter Term, but also a predicted snowstorm. We'll see how it plays out.

So what’s up with Byran, right now, at the beginning of 2004?

I’m thankful that God is faithful, else I would be toast.

I’m learning that accountability is powerful and immensely profitable. I’m learning that relationships are what it’s all about. I’m learning—though slowly—how to build the kind of relationships that are meaningful.

My burden is for those around me that don’t know the joy of Christ, and I’m trying to learn how to effectively reach out to them.

I’m learning that knowing God and learning to love Him is a wondrous, stirring experience, and that this knowledge and love are fostered by setting aside unrushed time for Him.

I’m learning that God can change plans that I’ve had for a long time. In a way it’s a mystery, in a way it’s exciting, because He’s working!

I know I love to sing. Losing AHQ for a time has made that knowledge more acute. I treasure the memories I’ve had with those guys. I’ve been so blessed to have done what we’ve done—traveling, sharing...just the singing. I purpose, though, that even if AHQ goes the way of the cassette tape, I’m going to keep singing, somewhere.

I’m still wondering why Christians can’t get along all the time. That one’s got me stumped.

I just love God, and the life that loving God allows me to live. It’s truly awesome and satisfying and it feels…so…good.

Gentle Shepherd, come and lead us,
For we need You to help us find our way.
Gentle Shepherd, come and feed us,
For we need Your strength from day to day.
There’s no other we can turn to
Who can help us face another day;
Gentle Shepherd, come and lead us.
For we need You to help us find our way.

-Bill & Gloria Gaither