Inconsequentials & Trivialities

Let me explain. No wait, there is too much. Let me sum up.

I really didn’t want to get up this morning. I lay in bed for 15 minutes trying to figure out if I felt poorly enough to call in sick. Alas, I felt ok.

I did get a few of the catalogs distributed today. But I only had a couple of boxes of the bound variety so I didn’t get far. We did get in all of the loose-leaf boxes and I’m told we’ll have 16 boxes of bound catalogs within a few days. Apart from that, I got Tuesday’s agenda finished. So I was able to get a couple of things done today.

I skipped my walk today because it was rainy.

After work I went to pick up my new glasses. This make three pairs that I can keep scattered around town for my use.

I was hurrying to get home because I had signed up to do a new three-man instance in LOTRO. I met up with Theo and another player and we gave it a try. Several tries. But without a real healer, we didn’t do too well. 🙁

I think I’ll try to go to bed early tonight.

Catalogs and Council

We received the college catalogs late last week. It seems that this was an incredibly quick turn-around on our order! I went by Receiving to pick up a couple of boxes this morning. I printed out labels and have begun my distribution process. Yay! Something to do for a few days! 🙂

Pastoral Council meeting tonight. It went well. Among other things, we discussed our progress on the Strategic Plan. We’ve decided to break into smaller groups to develop tasks for each of the goals. I am leading up the group working on the liturgy goal. I’ve asked Jim, Oscar, & Deacon Jose to join me. I will also ask Mercedes even though she’s not on the council.
Afterwards, Steve, Fr. Ramon, Vangie, and I went to Perkos.

I am really enjoying the feeling of progress I have right now. It just feels like St. Stans is really getting back on good footing. And this golden age will be more stable than the last one. Bet on that.

What to sing?!?!?

Last Friday, my friend Steve asked me if I would play for a funeral this morning. I agreed and he told me that Fr. Bill McDonald would be the presider. He said that Fr. McDonald would call me that afternoon to talk about what was what. So, later that day, I did receive a call and was told that there was already someone scheduled to do the music but could I provide some praise & worship after communion? I told him that p&w really wasn’t my strength, but I’d be glad to give it a go.

I agonized for two days about what songs to do. The one request was that I do a Holy Spirit song like Spirit of the Living God. Ok, that would work, but what else? I thought I’d do a medley of Spirit of the Living God, I Want to Praise You Lord, and the chorus of Awesome God. Cool.
So I find these songs on the interwebs and I practice singing/playing through them. Wow. I could not seem to sing in the same key I was playing in. I was horrible. Finally, I decided to change plans. I opted instead to sing Holy and Anointed One, I Lift My Eyes Up, and Spirit of the Living God. Total improvement! These songs flowed much better and I could find the correct key!! Feeling much more at ease about the whole thing, I went to bed.

Then this morning, when I was double checking with the priest, we cut my part down to just two songs. Cool! At the reception that followed the funeral, several people told me how much they missed me singing for Mass. I tell you, that was really nice to hear. 🙂

Topic #76

What’s your favorite number and why?


I have several numbers of which I am quite fond. Here are three of them.

• 2 – I like this number because it is the only even prime number.
• 42 – From the Douglas Adams books. The answer to life, the universe, and everything. But to understand the answer, you need to have the right question.
• 24601 – Jean Valjean’s prisoner number. From Les Miserables.

Honorable mentions include: (as a group) 4 8 15 16 23 42, from LOST. pi (who doesn’t like pie?). 1, because it is its own multiple. And I was going to say i, but I was just imagining it.

Just about the most boring day ever

Super lazy day today. I wish I were more inspired to do stuff. 🙁

• Played some LOTRO. Did some book work with Aluatis.
• Watched a lot of stuff. Episodes of Castle, Robin Hood, 30 Rock, Lie To Me, Smallville, and the movie Pandorum. Pandorum was interesting. I have questions about what the members of the ship were experiencing for the entire movie. I feel there are some unresolved plot points.
• Called and talked with my dad.
• Researched stuff to do in Portland. The more I look into making the trip, the more excited I’m getting.
• Did not go shoot photos of Nicole for her website.
• Cooked up chicken and pasta.

My beard is starting to get on my nerves. It will be a relief to shave it off.

It’s expected to be rainy and blustery all week. I hear frequent creaking coming from the vicinity of the roof.

Reenforcing a ‘thinking only of myself/my needs’ attitude

Watched a two-hour episode of The Event tonight. It was the first episode of the spring; the series having resumed after the winter hiatus. On the whole, meh. I’m not real excited about this series. But I’m not real excited about any television right now. Which is odd.

Anyway, during this episode a familiar, well-worn trope was used. A man was forced to facilitate a break-in of a government facility or else his family would be killed. He chose to help the bad guys and in the process, many, many people were killed. Call me a cold-hearted bastard, but I really take issue with the lack of moral fibre I see on display. It’s true that I have never been in such a situation, but what right would I have to decide that these people should possibly get killed so that I can save people whom I care more about? Either way, someone is going to get killed. I can choose to actively participate in that or not.

Frankly, I feel the same way about bumping rights at work. I believe it is morally wrong for me to be allowed to decide that it is more important that I get someone’s job than it is for him to keep it. Let me explain. If I have more seniority than my coworker and I have once upon a time worked in a position that has the same title/classification, if my position in my department is downsized, I can lay claim to my coworkers job and they are out of luck. Of course, they can dump on someone else less senior. It all rolls downhill, right? Gah! I have a real problem with this.

There was a story that I remember from elementary school about a new chick that was placed in the coop. He learned the first day that all the other chicks would painfully peck the less senior chicks. So #1 would peck #2, #2 would peck #3, and so on down the line until it got to our hero. Well, this chick thought that wasn’t right and resolved not to continue the practice. And sure enough, when newer chicks were introduced and all the older chicks would do their pecking thing, our hero wouldn’t pass it on. And eventually, when our hero was the most senior chick, nobody pecked anybody.

I must really have taken that particular lesson to heart, because I think this pecking bumping order thing sucks. Calling it a right doesn’t make it right. I will not do it.

One wild and crazy night

Saw Rango tonight.

Movie was… ok. Some amusing moments, nothing laugh out loud. The dialogue was definately for adults. The animation was amazing! Especially the textures. I won’t be long before I won’t be able to tell if it’s animated or live. Johnny Depp seems so much more believable as a human being when he’s animated.

Before the movie, I went to Hero’s for a Happy Hour Pizza. That and two green beers cost me $9.42. I gave the waitress a twenty and planned to leave a 2 dollar tip. Well, she brought back my change and it was only $10. Where the hell was my $.58? How annoying. So I left her $1.42. Next time I go in, I will complain.

Topic #73

Topic #73:

Grab the nearest book (or website) to you right now. Jump to paragraph 3, second Sentence. Write it in a post.

Bonus: Make up a sentence to follow the first one, but make it go in an entirely different direction that the actual book or website does.

I sat alone in the apartment and drew the conclusion that the world would be a much better place if I were not here. My point of view would shift radically in the days and weeks to follow, for at that very moment, the long anticipated zombie apocalypse began.

Mini mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant material, used to provide a gentle natural scent in houses

I have been walking the perimeter of the campus during my lunches this week. I’m digging it but, man! I sure wore the wrong shoes today. Tomorrow might be raining and if so, it will curtail my ambulatory activities.

LOTRO was doing some trivia quizzes today on twitter. A tweep of mine won one of the contests, but as she already had the prize (a special mount from PAX East), she gave the code to me! Yay for special in-game items!

I’ve been listening to the CBC at work. I have no idea why the thought of the Pacific NorthWest is so appealing. My chest aches with longing whenever I think about it too much.

Tonight was the Knights Officers’ Meeting.

Among the items discussed were:

• Fish Fry – I have discussed this here already so all I will add is that we decided to not have tilapia, rice, and beans when we do our next one in April.
• Retention – We reaffirmed that the Deputy Grand Knight is the chairman of the Retention Committee and that the Trustees are all members.
• First Degree Team – We’d like to certify a new team to serve from now until June 30, 2012. I will ask Steve if he is willing, and would like, to continue as the Grand Knight of the First Degree team. If he is, I will ask him to put together the team (I have several names of men who’d like to be on the team).
• Elections for 2011/2012 – The current officers will again put forth a slate of candidates for next year. Bill is planning to run for GK, so I will be retiring as scheduled. Dan will run for DGK, and most other officers will run for their current office. This leaves Warden to be filled. I am going to ask Ruben if he would consider running for that position. We also would like to take the roles of Inside and Outside Guard more seriously.

None of this is secret or confidential, but you are getting a preview here. 🙂

RE: Board meeting postmortem

Late last night, one of my colleagues sent out an email to the entire college. This gentleman frequently has points of view and opinions that go against the groupthink at MJC. Sometimes I agree with what he has to say, other times I do not. Sometimes I cringe at the way he says it, other times not so much. But he’s always good for provoking discussions/rants/arguments/conversation. This email was about last Wednesday’s board meeting. His point was that despite how upset at the Board everyone wants to be, none of those who stood up to speak at the meeting offered a viable alternative to the President’s plan. Having no alternatives from which to choose, the Board voted yes on the only option they had before them. He paraphrases the parade of speeches thusly:

“You need to save program X, because it is REALLY important”.
“…(OK, how much will that cost and where is the money coming from?)…”
“Did I mention it’s REALLY IMPORTANT?”
“Thank you, your time is up…”
“NONONONONONO, REEEEEEALLY IMPORTANT”
“Thank you…”
“GRRRRRRR!”
“Thank you…”
“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!       GRRR!    (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!)”

 Oversimplified, sure. But it does sort of encapsulate most of what was presented. You can read the entire email here.

 So, what I find frustrating are the responses that I’ve heard to his email.

1. From a friend and coworker – “He’s an idiot.” Based on past experience, she thinks anybody with whom she doesn’t agree is an idiot. She does go on to say that if anyone is guilty of what he charges, it is he himself; he should have come to all of this realization several weeks earlier.
   He does use the first person when he assigns blame. Why does my friend think that he is excluding himself?
2. Faculty member #1 – (derisively) Too bad he didn’t come to this realization weeks earlier.
   Hindsight=20/20. Yeah, it would also be nice if there were a new $100 bill under my pillow when I woke up every morning. But is the OP wrong?
3. Faculty member #2 – (skipping past the point entirely) The Academic Senate doesn’t have the resources to do the study that the OP refers to in his email.
4. Faculty member #3 – “Not so. We didn’t argue that way at all. We wanted to address a point that didn’t even need to be voted upon that night.”
5. Faculty member #4 – “We didn’t have enough time to present and nobody wants to listen anyhow.”

That last point might be entirely germane, actually. But I think it’s also true that nobody wants to listen to my emailing colleague. We don’t tolerate a lot of deviation from the hive mind around here.