Just pulled a coding marathon with my partner in crime, Brent, for the my NSF project. We didn't end on a particularly good note, but we did get a lot done. Our program is getting just delightfully complex. We have, I don't know, probably 40 variables and we're not nearly done.

What a tiring day. Next week is going to be a zoo, especially until Wednesday, when I have a big (I'm fearing) Visual Basic assignment due along with two other guys.

By the way, I had another midterm on Wednesday, and I'm pretty sure I did well on it. It was thorough, but straightforward. And it was in stats, with a really good teacher. That all adds up to me being comfortable with it.

There are times when I hear people talk about the breakdown of the church and its lifestyle and I wrinkle my brow because they must not know some of the Christians I know. But there are other times that I'd have to almost agree with them.

What are people who call themselves Christians thinking?

But then I think, I wonder how surprised we'll be when we get to heaven? I wonder who will be there whose Christianity we scoffed at?

What if you taught at a University. One of the responsibilities of a University professor is to advise students about their academic situation, tell them what courses they should be taking. Another thing about a University is that it is a huge organization. Thus, things my catch you by surprise and when things do, there's not much you can do to change them.

All of the sudden you realize that you are scheduled to advise incoming students on Sunday. This is a problem for you because you try to do as little business as possible (and certainly avoid working for pay) on the Lord's day. However, these students have been promised an advising session, and to stand them up would not only be rude, but bordering on devastating and disorienting to them.

So you have two options. "Keep the Sabbath" and don't show or "Do unto others..." and advise them.

So which is the most important command to keep?

I think there are more dilemmas like this than we can count. Do you obey the Bible's command to feed and shelter the poor or do you Golden Rule them with tough love because you know that will be better for them in the long run?

This is a very relevant issue for me right now, and I don't think it will fade into the background any time soon, seeing the direction my career is heading at the moment.

Have you ever started to write a password in a textbox that was asking for your user name and then worried that some evil hacker would steal your credit cards?

"Work Smart, Not Hard."

Elitest?

What are you doing in mid-August?

Golden Rule versus keeping the Sabbath.

The point isn't how they connect, the point is that they could (and have) connected in such a way such that to keep one would have been breaking the other.

It's very interesting that I've never considered that type of thing before. Or, maybe I have but I foolishly thought that there would always be a "best" or "right" solution to a dilemma.

What if there's not?

'Sup?

I'm excited.

We have a basketball game in awhile. Supposedly, it's the championship of "B" league. Sounds like we might have quite the cheering section too.

Let's say someone was leaving, but right before they left they told me to buy this book on stuttering called "By...By...By the Way." If that were true, this person might say:

"Bye, Bye, By...Buy "By...By...By the Way"!

My name is Byran.

> On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 Byran wrote:
>
> >
> > Dr. Arthur,
> >
> > I'm a Junior in the IME department, and I have possible interest in grad school and Operations Research.
> >
> > I'd like to talk to you about options and courses I may want to take as an undergraduate.
> >
> > I could meet Thursday morning or sometime next week if that works out for you.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Byran Smucker
> > Junior, Industrial Engineering
> > btahq@juno.com; ahqt.com/by
> >
> -- Jeff Arthur wrote:
> Brian:
>
> I'd be glad to meet with you and discuss the M.S. program in OR, but it is
> going to have to be next week. Would Monday sometime between 1:00 and
> 3:00 work for you?
>
> Jeff Arthur
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Department of Statistics office phone: 541-737-2429
> Oregon State University department phone: 541-737-3366
> 44 Kidder department fax: 541-737-3489
> Corvallis, OR 97331-4606 email: arthur@stat.orst.edu
> URL: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/statistics/people/arthur
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

On Wed, 3 Dec 2003 Byran wrote:
>
> Dr. Arthur,
>
> That should work for me, say at 1:30 on Monday.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Byran Smucker
>

-- Jeff Arthur wrote:

Bryan -

Got the spelling right this time. I have you down for 1:30 Monday. My
office is Kidder 62.

Jeff Arthur
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Statistics office phone: 541-737-2429
Oregon State University department phone: 541-737-3366
44 Kidder department fax: 541-737-3489
Corvallis, OR 97331-4606 email: arthur@stat.orst.edu
URL: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/statistics/people/arthur
---------------------------------------------------------------------