Dinner with David and Dan
Last night, I dined with David Hopkins and Dan Hughes at a little spot called Cafe Brazil in Deep Ullum. David's wife Melissa joined us later, too. Melissa, David and Dan all took pictures with their digital cameras, and have promised to post them someday. I don't have a digital camera, but actually considered doing the Dave Attell thing with a disposable camera.
We talked about many of the big issues of our time: impending war, blogging, teaching high school English, writing, photography, community, church, etc. I ate a steak quesadilla, which was decent, but unfortunately I was not feeling very perky. I have been battling a cold (again) and was spaced out on a generic version of Sudafed. I'm not feeling much better today, either, and had to break down and pluck a package of Tylenol from the minibar in my room this morning. I wonder how much that'll set me back?
P.S. to Dan: great song from a brilliant songwriter and wonderful album.
:: Andrew 08:07 + ::
...
:: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 ::
Blogging live from Dallas
Today I find myself in the luxurious Fairmont Hotel in Dallas. This place is tres swanky and the food is ridiculously overpriced, but when I finally got checked in around 3 p.m. yesterday I was famished so I ordered the cheapest thing on the room service menu: a Caesar salad for $9.50 (plus the $2.50 delivery charge, plus the 17 percent gratuity already added on for my convenience).
I'm here on business, in my role as a member of CASE, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. In about an hour we'll begin rousing rounds of rhetoric regarding the big issues facing education today (read: budget cuts) and what, if anything, can be done about it (read: much hand-wringing and/or sturm und drang). Perhaps one thing we could do, given the tight budget situation in much of higher education, is stay at less posh hotels -- maybe even find one that's not far from a coffee shop where I could get two eggs, over easy, with bacon, toast and coffee for, oh, say, $3.99? (Of course, I'll get reimbursed for the $14 caesar salad, and this morning's overpriced breakfast, but still, I think we could be a bit more frugal as an organization.)
:: Andrew 07:58 + ::
...
Dinner with David and Dan
Manana I travel to Dallas for business, but while there I shall dine with intrepid blogger and scourge of Postmodern Super Friends everywhere, David Hopkins himself, and his sidekick Dan (They Blinked). (Why do I suddenly feel like breaking into a Tenacious D song?[wav audio file]) It should be good fun. We'll be feasting at Cafe Brazil, one of David's favorite eating establishments.
:: Andrew 16:09 + ::
...
Speaking of Daves...
This morning I woke up with this Dave Matthews Band tune (Windows Media audio file) stuck (as in playing over and over) in my head:
Big-Eyed Fish
Look at this big-eyed fish swimming in the sea oh
How it dreams to be a bird swoop and diving through the breeze
So one day caught a big old wave up on to the beach
Now he’s dead you see beneath the sea is where a fish should be
But oh God
Under the weight of life
Things seem brighter on the other side
You see this crazy man decided not to breathe
He turned red and blue-purple, colorful indeed
No matter how his friends begged and pleaded the man would not concede
And now he’s dead you see the silly man should know you got to breathe
But oh God
Under the weight of life
Things seem brighter on the other side
Oh God
Under the weight of life
Things seem so much better on the other side
No way, no way
No way out of here
You see the little monkey sitting up in his monkey tree
One day decided to climb down and run off to the city
But look at him now lost tired living in the street
As good as dead you see what a monkey does -- stay up your tree
But oh God
Under the weight of life
Things seem brighter on the other side
Oh God
Under the weight of life
Things seem so much better on the other side
No way, no way, no way
No way out of here
Rain in my dreams
Fall away
What, oh what, in the name of all that's sacred or profane, is the meaning of this? Can anybody tell me?
:: Andrew 16:07 + ::
...
:: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 ::
Dean? Giddy as a schoolgirl? He can speak only in questions now?
From a very giddy Mean Dean today: Do you understand what this means? Imagine infusing title arguments with Scripture "The Great Commission" so hyperlinks and acronyms have more meaning (i.e. when you hover your mouse over the link) ? Or perhaps rewiring a DHTML trick for long posts to expand Scripture references the actual Word of God? Imagine your Bible Studies, Sermons and Devotionals programatically able to incorporate the Bible in the form of fully annotated footnotes? Imagine the ability to get verses of Bible into countries that would otherwise ban it with a little proxy trickery?
It's all geek to me, but it's nice to see a giddy Dean.
:: Andrew 15:54 + ::
...
A fine blog
I'm finding I have many of thoughts in common with Karen Neudorf, editor of Beyond magazine. That's not to say I agree with or hold in common everything she posts on her weblog. It's that I find myself admiring just about all of her posts, even her posts about life in Canada and the beauty of a bitterly cold morning (brrr), and that often I find myself reading a Karen Neudorf post and thinking, "Gee, that's exactly what I was thinkin' just the other day, only I didn't dare blog about it because it would have come out fuzzy or flippant or shallow or inarticulate, or all of those things." But Karen's blog entries are none of those things. They're reflective and thoughtful. Here are a couple of examples:
Karen on why magazines are often better than books: Have you ever been in the middle of a book chapter and noticed that the author is up to his eyeballs in filler? "And here's the twenty-fourth example to back up my point." A poor, innocent sentence becomes a bloated paragraph which becomes an overweight chapter and you are stuck on the back of this big beast on a lumbering ride to nowhere.
That is exactly what I've been feeling as I've been attempting to slog through The Younger Evangelicals. Apologies to Len, who wrote a very thorough and positive review of Webber's book, and to any others out there who find the book worthwhile reading. But I just can't get into it. I find a lot of padding and repetition in it. Magazine articles, however, are a different creature. Back to Karen:
Magazines give us the ability to see into the corners and under the seat cushions - places we would have only visited on occasion and then we are surprised at the treasures held within. They bring us stories we may not have paid attention to in book form. In some ways, a good article, a well done essay or profile can at times contain better writing than a book. The very nature of a magazine's space and time constraints can provide the reader with some wonderfully minimalist writing.
Here, here.
Karen on the point of blogging: I think I've been reading too many blogs lately. I was going to write an entry yesterday but just stared at the screen. I've been thinking about the nature of a commenting society and wondering how does one write small entries without being "quippy"? I really enjoy the nature of a blog - the idea of glimpsing into someone's life and being connected to something that they thought was important or silly or inspiring.
But I looked into some of the more popular blogs and it just seemed kind of weird to me. Some of the blogs that get 50,000 hits a day post almost every 10 minutes and say things like "Oh I really hate this (link to article) and I can't agree with that either (link to article). They obviously don't know what they're talking about here (link to article)." And I wonder how are blogs changing the nature of the media by doing this? This isn't insightful critique. It's point and click thinking, quips instead of reflection or even analysis. Some blogs bring things to my attention that I wouldn't have found on my own. I enjoy Darren's Long Pauses because he takes some time to really think things out. But these sites are few and far between. And I think that's because it does take time and on the web, it's all about the next link.
Yes, yes, Karen. It seems we've all started blogs to become pundits or metabloggers -- to find and post the latest morsel of news, or quirky site or funny flash animation. We scour blogdex to see what everyone's blogging about, then post about the latest blognews so that we, too, may appear with it, current, relevant. I'm not surprised that Jordon Cooper is shutting down his site for awhile to re-evaluate the merits of punditry. It's a good idea. Thanks, Karen, for sharing these thoughts in words.
:: Andrew 16:48 + ::
...
:: Monday, February 03, 2003 ::
Blatant self-promotion time
Yours truly is quoted in Church seekers knocking at digital front door and my book eMinistry is mentioned in that article and this sidebar. God bless the United Methodists.
:: Andrew 08:43 + ::
...
:: Saturday, February 01, 2003 ::
It's obituary time again
Once again I'm assigning my English 60 students to write my obituary. If you're an English 60 student and you've discovered this blog as part of your research, leave me a note.
(To regular readers of this blog: I'm still not dead. Yippee!)
:: Andrew 15:36 + ::
...
Friday Five, revisited
Let's take another shot at that last question:
5. What are your plans for the weekend?
Haven't made any (for a change).Saturday: Field media calls about the space shuttle disaster from home while trying to cook an omelet, then go in to the office, try without success to track down our famous ex-astronaut for the media, then field more media calls, call in some other staffers for help, field more calls, track down some aerospace and structural engineering experts for comment, and help the news media get the "local angle." (But none of them are happy that our famous ex-astronaut isn't available for comment.)
Time to take a breather. Off for home. Saying a prayer for the families of the crew of STS-107.
Sunday's plans (subject to change): Church. Prayer. Bible study. Give the book to my father-in-law for his birthday.
:: Andrew 15:58 + ::
...
Simon Dawes, 
