Today was just excellent! I hesitate to say what I want to and declare that I wish every day was just like today - beautiful and bright, moderate and calm. But man, it was nice.

Stinkin' It Up

I've been slightly sick lately, and it's been messing with my nose. I was sure, as I was climbing up the stairs to the IAC, that I smelled something like mice. But I was in a stairwell, so I pretty much chalked it up to a stuffy nasal passage.

Consequently, I wasn't exactly floored when I was sitting in class yesterday and it started smelling like cows in the classroom. At first I was thinking it started when someone opened the door and came in, but hey, I'm sick and can't trust my schnoz.

Then I walk outside after class and it's unmistakeable. The atmospheric conditions were perfect for the Ag department's barns, east of campus, to visit us with their lovely aroma.

Two Kinds of Coding

All coding is not equal. Some deals with semantics, some with logic. You've got to master the semantic basics, however, before you can move on to the joy of logic. In my view, the first is a necessary evil, the second fun.

To explain what I mean, consider me right now. I have a class that requires periodic homework assignments that require coding. I've been sitting beside my research partner for a year now, watching him code and thinking through logic with him. But when I sit down to start my own program, I go nowhere. It's not because I don't understand the algorithm I'm trying to program, it's because I can't even get my "printf("hello");" program to compile.

It's because I don't understand the semantics, I can't successfully combat the error message that it gives me. Thankfully, I still know and work with my research partner, he's going to help me.

Please note that my post on Monday was in reference to the post on Sunday. I've edited it to make that clearer.

I am superintendent at church and someone shared this Sunday morning about the conversion I referenced earlier. In the back, acting as an usher, was a dear saint, and you should have seen him when he heard this. I had the best view in the house.

His face lit up in disbelief. He closed his eyes and thrust his fists to heaven in jubilant celebration. He just walked around back there praising God for working this miracle.

God Strikes Again

There was this old man, bitter as bad coffee. People had been praying for him for years, visiting him, trying to work with him. He didn't want any help. His son had been electrocuted when he was really young, and that turned him against God.

I don't know this guy, but several from our church had interacted with him through the years, prayed for him. And now, he's a Christian! Evidently, a minister from another church led him to the Lord. It's incredible and awesome.