The First Weak of the Semester

Hello all of you faithful blog readers.

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately. Hopefully as the semester progresses I'll get in to a more consistent schedule, which will help me to post at more or less regular intervals.

I guess that my last post left off just as I had arrived back in Lincoln last Thursday. I should mention that Friday was my birthday, which means that I am now 2^5 years old - a pleasant age, and not just mathematically speaking. By the time my age is one again a power of two, I will have almost reached retirement age, assuming I make it that long - plus even if I do, I don't ever plan to retire. I may change vocations later in life, but as long as I am physically able, I plan to work to contribute to society and to build the kingdom in some way. Life is too precious of a gift to waste it on retirement.

As always, my birthday fell smack dab in the middle of the week before classes. But, this was less of an inconvenience than usual. For the first time since I have been back in graduate school, I didn't have to spend my entire birthday in all day TA orientation meetings. Since I am not teaching since I am on fellowship this semester, and since I already did my time running orientations for younger incoming TA's, all I had to do was go to the 1-1/2 hour general department meeting after lunch. So, for the first time in 7 years I got to sleep in on my birthday, and for the first time in 7 years, I got to spend part of the day with family.

Those of you who have read my previous posts know that my parents recently bought an RV. Well they loaded 'er up and drove out to Lincoln (they were actually on their way to Minneapolis for a big 50th birthday party for my mom's sister). They times things out so that they arrived on my birthday, and we spent the evening together. My folks have only been to Lincoln once before since I started school here, and when they were here last, they got hooked on Lazlo's. So, we decided to go there for dinner. If they were open for breakfast, I bet my stepdad would have tried to get up and go again before they got back on the road.

All in all it was a good birthday.

Since then, it has been a bit of a weird start to the semester. I'm not doing Nav staff or LESTER this year, so the first weekend it was strange not to do saturday workshops and Big Red Welcome recruiting. And since I am not teaching and not taking any classroom courses (I'm only registered for dissertation hours this semester), it has been strange not having classes to attend or lessons to prep, or student's names to learn, or papers to grade. Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty to do. But I'm used to a certain rythm of life and activities, and this semester is going to be very different. I am going to have to have a lot more self-discipline, as there is very little outside accountability on the things that I need to be accomplishing with my time and energy - which is good. This is an area that I could stand to build more character in. I have always been one who responds better when there is external pressure, or visible consequences for failing to get things done. But I aspire to be one who is internally motivated, and who is consistent about living right and doing right regardless of the external.

I think I eased into the semester a bit too much to start with. It was hard to get back into the swing of things after being away for a month. Honestly I felt like I was going through culture shock my first 3-4 days back in town. Hopefully next week will be a good productive week.

This weekend, I'll be driving up to Minnesota to visit with family - I'm getting a lot of family time in this month. My sister from London flew in earlier this week and will be here until early next week. I haven't seen her for 5 years, and I'll be meeting by 4 year old niece Annoushka for the first time as well. i'll also be reconnecting with a lot of extended family that have been off the radar screen for several years as well. Please pray for my drive up there and back (my car's been fantabulous, but it is about 20 years old and has 221,000 miles on it), and for good time with family.

I'd better sign off - my friend Chuck and I were supposed to go to dinner 10 minutes ago, and I think he is ready to gnaw my right arm off...

Back in NE

Howdy folks,

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am back in Nebraska.
My travels back to the land of corn were fairly good. After leaving Eugene, I spent a couple of days with my folks back up in Portland. we got to celebrate my stepdad's birthday (we actually celebrated it twice - once on Sunday with his extended family, and then on Monday, his actual birthday with just the immediate family). We went to this ridiculously expensive (and ridiculously good) steakhouse in downtown Portland. This is the sort of place where the steaks are 30 bucks apiece, and then you have to pay more to get side dishes. Considering the fact that my weekly grocery bill is around $20, that seemed to be a lot to pay for a single meal, but he has been wanting to go to this place for 4 or 5 years, so he decided to splurge and take us out there. If you are curious to hear about how a $30 steak tastes, I can say that there is a difference. While I was sitting in the dimly lit swanky restaurant, eating a perfectly cooked medium rare ribeye steak and sipping an oversized, half-full glass of cabernet sauvingon I had a flashback to that scene in the original Matrix movie where Cypher is meeting with the agents to betray Morpheus.

"Ignorance is bliss."

After my time in Portland, I flew into Colorado Springs before Driving up to Denver to spend a couple of days with some old and dear friends from my High School and early College years. (Hmm... I guess I've been in college far too long, since I have to divide my college friends into four categories: early, middle, late middle, and present). The flight out was OK, but there was a 2 and a half hour delay on my connecting flight, and then the airling misplaced my bags and had to ship them up to me in Denver later that night (they were supposed to get there at 11:00pm, but didn't get there until 1:00am. Good thing we were up playing cards until then.)
My time in Denver was really good. It was just fun to see folks - it had been a couple of years, and we just picked up where we left off and just enjoyed being together. We managed to squeeze a lot in during the two days I was in town.

My drive back to Lincoln went really smoothly. It was a cool day with a light drizzle falling during most of the drive, which is good as my car doesn't have AC. Traffic was light and I made good time, and it was nice just to have some time to myself to process all that had happened over the summer, and all that is on the horizon for the coming year. I enjoy time to think and reflect, and time to plan and look ahead as well. So often, life is so overwhelming that all you have time to do is to try to survive or endure the moment. Perspective is a luxury that is often hard to afford.

Hmm...

This is getting a bit long, so I think that the weekend and the start of the week will have to wait until another time.

Headed North by Northeast

Well, I sat through my last lecture, finished packing up all of my stuff, had my last meal at the dorm cafeteria (it was wierd being back in a dorm setting), and here I am sitting in the library on the U of O campus one last time.

I'll be heading north to Portland in a little less than an hour. All in all the mini course out here was a pretty good experience. I'm glad I got a chance to go, but I'm ready for a little R&R. It will be good to spend the weekend with my folks, but I am starting to feel a homeward pull.

Travelling is fun for a while, but it gets hard living out of a suitcase and not having all your stuff or your own living space. Not having a schedule or a routine is freeing for a while, but I am starting to miss the comfort of structure, the familiarity of life's baseline that we call "normal" - if that term can be said to have any real meaning.

I am sure that I will greatly enjoy whatever comes my way in the next 5-6 days of my ongoing adventures, but it will be good to get back to Lincoln.

My Brain Is Fried

Hi folks,

After sitting through an hour and 45 minute lecture this morning, and a 2 and a half hour lecture this afternoon, I think that my brain has reached (and perhaps exceeded) its capacity for processing information today. I am surprised that I am even able to form coherent thoughts at the moment. Then again, perhaps what I am thinking and writing at the moment is not coherent, and only seems so to me in my current state. Perhaps this is all just rambling nonsense that I will look back on tomorrow and wonder exactly what it was I was trying to say.
I calulated that we sat through the equivalent of nearly two weeks worth of graduate math lectures today alone.

Anyhow, there are two more days left in the program out here at the University of Oregon, and though it has been a worthwhile experience, I will be glad to be on the other side of it so that I can enjoy a little down time before the upcoming schoolyear begins.

I have a lot to think about as the start of school approaches. I'd like to do some prioritizing, and some personal goal setting. Perhaps I'll ramble a little about that when I have had some more time to think and pray about what this next year should look like.

Wanton Profundity

Rutabagas: alimentary fallacy or anagogic mystery?

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this important controversy!

Mathematical Musing

A comment Jenny made on her blog (babysunflower.blogspot.com) got me thinking about connections between posts and comments. It got me wondering, and so I spent a little time looking for patterns, and here's what I came up with:

There seem to be four main factors that impact the number of comments that a blog post gets. I've listed them in what I believe is the order of their level of impact.

First and foremost is traffic - that is how many people read the post.

Second is the length of the post. There seems to be an inverse relationship here. That is, as the length of the post increases, the number of comments it elicits decreases.

Third is content: what does the post say. Certain topics generate more interest and feedback than others. (this is a bit vaguer than I would like, but I'm still trying to quantify what makes a topic "buzzworthy")

Fourth is what I would term an active request for feedback. That is, if the post contains a question (either specific or open-ended) directly addressed to the reader, then it will typically generate more comments.

Now, there are certainly factors that impact commenting that are on the side of the reader (e.g. mood, speed of internet connection, time available, relationship with the "poster", and the commenter's own communication agenda) , but as these are generally out of the control of the blogger, I've chosen to omit them from my analysis.

I'll let you know if have any additional insights, or if I have to amend my theory.

Back In Eugene

Howdy folks.

I'm back from my grand weekend adventure.
I had a great time with my family over the past few days. A lot happened, so I figured why not give a quick play by play.

On Friday, I skipped the afternoon lecture for my math class (I know, shame on me...). My parents picked my up on campus and we drove back to Portland and grabbed a quick dinner at home before heading downtown on Portland's quiet and efficient light rail system. We went to the Rose Garden (the big auditorium where the Portland Trail Blazers play) and saw a great concert featuring the David Crowder Band, Mercy Me, and Michael W. Smith. It was a bit weird to be at a concert with my parents, but after I got through my "I must be back in Junior High" flashbacks, it was a phenominal concert, and all kidding aside, I was glad to be able to share the experience with my parents. That, and it was an incredibly good concert. If it comes near your area, I'd say go!

On Saturday, we got up, and got my parent's RV loaded up and headed for Seattle. This was another slightly surreal experience. I have never travelled in an RV before. Ours is not a huge one - its more like an oversized van and actually gets around 15mpg, unlike the 5-6mpg the "motel on wheels" type get, so I didn't feel too guilty about it. Still, it was just one of those things I never pictured my self doing.
Incidentally, its actually kind of nice to travel with a refridgerator, a bed, a small kitchen, and a fold out table available. One really could get used to travelling in that kind of comfort. I was actaully able to swivel the passenger side chair around and play cards with my mom while my step-dad drove.
In Seattle, we stopped by my brother's house for a few hours and got to see Bethany, my 5 day old niece. It was a really nice visit. I got to hold her for a little while, but she was a bit sleepy. She is a beautiful baby - really tiny, and quite mellow. We decided not to stay too long as Lisa (my brother's wife) is still recovering from labor, and a newborn takes a lot of energy to care for.
I forgot to pack my camera, so sorry, no pictures (curses!). I'll get my brother to email me some in the near future so I can put some up.
For the remainder of the day, we drove down to catch a ferry out to Anderson Island, which is located near Olympia Washington, out on Puget Sound (a better blogger would have a link to a cool map here). The ferry out to the island is pretty big. You can just drive your car onto it and park, and then either sit in your car on the main deck, or take the stairs up and stand on the upper deck. It's about a 20 minute ride across the sound out to the island. The island itself is about 7 miles across (or was it 7 square miles - I forget). The reason we went there is that my parents just bought a 1/5 acre plot of land in a new development there. It is in a forested area, and has a view of beautiful lake Josephine. They hope to build a cabin on this property sometime in the next few years, and by this I mean they want to buy the materials and build it mostly themselves. As my stepdad worked as an engineer before he retired, they should be able to pull it off without too much trouble, but it will be a lot of work.
The island is a really cool place. Only a couple of thousand people live there, and of those, only about 800 are there year-round, while the rest are part year or just have a vacation property. Its a relly quiet, safe, and friendly community. We camped out there overnight, and came back over on the ferry today.
After that, we drove back to Eugene (not quite 5 hours) so that I could get settled and get a good night's sleep before class tomorrow.

All in all it was quite the weekend.

The Road Ahead

I thought I'd write a brief note this morning, since I'm going to be on the road a lot this weekend and thus will probably not be able to post. I'm headed up to Portland to spend the afternoon/evening with my folks. We'll then continue on to Seattle first thing Saturday morning so that I can visit my new niece. It will be a nice change of pace after 5 days of intensive mathematics -- well, maybe not that intensive. I could be making better use of my time in the evenings (e.g. studying my notes, spending more time working on the exercises given in lecture) but I've been really wanting to finish the Brothers Karamazov (an almost 800 page Russian novel), so I've been spending a couple of hours every evening on that instead. I just finished the last chapter this morning before breakfast. I'm still processing it, so perhaps a bit more on that later.

On the plus side, I get to start a new book. I already have a few ideas (and a few books on my shelf at home that I am supposed to read before I buy any new ones). However, I figured that I should take advantage of this new electronic medium and give all of you gracious readers the opportunity to recommend a book to add to my personal reading list. So, the gauntlet has been thrown down -- who will rise to the challenge?

In the Library

Well, here I am once again sitting in the Library at the University of Oregon. Incidentally, if you ever find yourself on a new university campus and are looking for a way to pass the time, I'd definitely recommend checking out the library (no pun intended). I have been to several campuses across the country, and make it a point to nose about each one to see what it is like, and what makes it distinctive from all the others I have been to.

That got me thinking not just about what is distinctive about each college campus, but also about the ways that many are so similar. It seems to me that university campuses share at least three distinctive features: an administration building, a student union, and a main library. I suppose there are others (like rec centers, intramural fields, dorms, athletic stadiums ...) but these vary quite a bit in size, scope, and form, while the big three tend to be quite uniform. Perhaps there is a reason for this that can be found by looking at the specific function of each of these places in university life.

The central administration building is like the head of the campus. It is the seat of power and authority. This is where the chancellors and presidents reside, where policy decisions are made. Funds are sent here to be sent to be added to the coffers, and edicts are issued to be obeyed by the university at large. Using a less biological metaphor, I would say that what we see here is the throneroom, or palace of the peculiar principality that is the modern university.

On the other hand, the student union is a place for the commoners to gather - the peasants if you will. It simulates he village common, or the town bazaar. There is food for sale in a variety of stalls, as well as supplies that can be purchased (books, paper, pens, notebooks ...). There are places to gather and meet and talk with old friends, or to meet new ones. There is also usually some sort of association of student clubs and organizations (the guilds for artisans and craftsmen as well as societies for philanthropists and idealists of all sorts). Out front there is usually an open green space, and perhaps a fountain. Usually an orator or two can be found, and more merchants peddling their fare, or political activists stirring up a crowd to achieve some desired end.

And so, continuing my extended metaphor of the university as a medieval village, you may wonder how the main library fits in. Have no fear, it does, it does!

The library is none other than the cathedral or temple. Now hear me out. You will find that it is a large building, centrally located - perhaps not the largest building on campus, but close, and generally more ornate in its design and stylings, with its marble or carved stone edifice. And what is the chief object of worship in the religion of secular humanism if not "knowledge" (or perhaps his two sisters "pleasure" and "greed"). There all paths cross, peasant and commoner alike, and do their obeisance to the idol of knowledge. For why else does the university exist but to instruct the top minds from each successive generation in the ways of the state religion, and to sacrifice all in the name of increasing the knowledge base. Whenever it is open, if you walk its dimly lit upper corridors, you will find stalwarts cloistered there in the stacks doing penance, or seeking favor on their next exam or assignment. Near the high holidays and feast days (better known as finals week) even those who were careless in carrying out religious duties during the rest of the year throng here hoping that some last deperate gesture of belief and devotion can somehow avert disaster and bring a desireable end to the current term.

And so here a sit in the temple of knowlege. There are two main doors at the front, and carved above them in stone is an inscription in two parts - one over each. They read: "You shall know the truth" and "The truth shall set you free"

I find myself wondering if these words are to believed. To what truth do they refer, and will knowledge of it truly bring freedom? These words are actually a direct quotation from
John 8:32, but they seem blurred and strained -- ripped from their original context and made to mean something quite different from their orignal intent.

Here is the passage in its entirety:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
"Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?
He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
"I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. -- John 8:31-59

May that inscription hold true for university students aross this nation.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

The Meaning of Life

I was thinking a bit about my purpose in life today. I guess its an easy thing to do when one is sitting through 2 hour math lecture that was only scheduled to last an hour and a half. Really, I tend to spend a fair bit of time trying to address the question of why I do what I do each day, whether or not my daily actions are in line with my core beliefs and consistent with my purpose for being, and also whether my beliefs are in line with truth and reality. I'm never completely happy with the answers to these questions, but the reasons for my dissatisfaction differ greatly - not from day to day, but from question to question. Part of the problem is that the questions inevitably start from the external and work inward, whole the answers must proceed in the opposite direction.

I don't really have any pithy answers at the moment, but I decided that the best thing to do when one is a bit morose and pensive is to see what the Scripturese have to say on the subject in question. So, here for your perusal are a few passages that I found to be informative, encouraging, and challenging on the subject of the art of living well. Enjoy!

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." - Deuteronomy 30:19-20


And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. - Matthew 19:16-22


"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." - John 5:39-40


"I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." - John 6:48-58


"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." - John 10:9-11


"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." - John 17:3

"The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:11-14

A Welcome Addition

Well, its less than 24 hours into my blogging experience and I'm already posting again.

For those of you not in the know, I am currently out in Eugene Oregon attending an intensive summer graduate course on Hyperplane Rerrangements. Maybe I'll explain a bit about what those are and why they are interesteing in my next post (then again, maybe I won't, as I don't want to scare off all of my faithful readers). I'll be out here in the Pacific Northwest for about two more weeks before heading back to Nebraska.

Anyhow, this post really wasn't supposed to be about me or about mathematics, so forgive the brief digression. The addition I was referring to in the title of this post has only a peripheral reference to things mathematical in nature. Indeed, what I wanted to mention is that I found out that I am an uncle again (three times over now). Yesterday, my twin brother Eddie and his wife Lisa welcomed their new daughter Bethany Iris James into the world. Last I heard both mother and daughter were doing well, but do keep them in your prayers.

I couldn't be more pleased with the timing. Since my brother lives in Seattle (only a few hours up I-5 from where I am in Oregon), I will be able to go up and visit them and get a chance to meet my new niece this coming weekend. I am looking foreward to seeing them.

I'll try to post some photos (if I can get all that figured out) although that may have to wait until I get back to Nebraska where I can access the computer in my office.
(For you blogger pros out there: Do I have to store photos locally and upload them via a url reference? Is it worth it to go through the trouble of signing up for photo hosting?).

Welcome to My Blog

Howdy Folks,

Thanks for visiting my new blog. I'm still getting things set up, so pardon the disarray and overall lack of content. I'll try to write something more substantial once I get a better feel for how I want to use this space. But for now, a question to get things rolling, and to test to see if anyone is actually reading this:

What do you think the title of my blog is supposed to mean?

The best (or funniest) answer (to be judged solely by me in an arbitrary and capricious manner) wins a prize (to be determined later).

Justin