Ewoks are curious little things

http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/arj_and_poopy_unlucky

Look, I'm telling you there's something moving, and it ain't us!

Alien Swarm goes to HL2! Gah I can't wait!

http://www.blackcatgames.com/swarm/index

I'm so dusting off my Valve Hammer and going to work for these guys in the fan community.

Friends, there comes a time in every man's life

where he has to look the potato of injustice right in the eye (and demand to know wtf is going on).

So I make 2 seperate calls:

Me: "I'm trying to find out what's going on with my check card, there's some activity for 233 total I think"
Bank: "One minute...There's a 199 charge made yesterday and then the rest on a seperate charge made at..."
Me: "Ok, thanks that makes sense to me then. Do you have an authorization number for that 199?"
Bank: "Sure..."


Me: "Hi, I tried to make a purchase yesterday that didn't go through on your system yesterday, however, my bank is telling me my account has been charged.
Them: "Are you sure?"
Me: "Yes."
Them: "One minute while I look up your account...Sir, there's no charge here"
Me: "My bank account says otherwise. I have an authorization number and the money is no longer available to me"
Them: "Are you sure?"
Me: "Yes. I just got off the phone with my bank and I want to know what's going on."
Them: "I'll need to call you back and research this some more"

Moral of the story, them people are stupid.

The boulder story

I know not the author, as to the best of my knowledge the source is anonymous, and undoubtedly has some of its roots in Sisyphus from Greek Mythology. This however, is my own personally redacted version:

There once was man who lived in a cabin in the woods. One night, he found himself awoken by the very presence of the Lord.

God said to him, "I have a task for you."

And the man replied, "Lord, I will do what you ask."

God then said, "There is a huge boulder outside of your house. Every day, I want you to push that boulder from the start of sunrise, with all of your might, until the sunsets.”

So the next morning the man woke, and he pushed, and he pushed, and he pushed with everything that he had. Evening came, and he found himself exceptionally tired, but remained faithful in his promise to do what he was asked. He did the same the next day, and the next and the one following. And so he continued doing it for years, going out every morning, and pushing on the boulder with every fiber of his being.

One day, a man came to him and said, "I have watched you for countless days now, and you have been pushing on that boulder with all of your strength, yet it has not moved one bit. Perhaps it is time to stop? But if you are insistent on going out there, maybe you would feel better at the end of the day if you didn’t tire yourself out."

And so the man thought about what the other had said, and became frustrated. He began to push less and less, while his rests grew more and more. Finally, he had just about stopped all together, convinced that it was completely futile to go on, when the Lord came to him once more and said “Why have you stopped pushing as I told you to do?”

The man confessed to God, saying, "Lord, I have struggled and pushed and labored against that boulder for years - and I have done it with all that I am, and yet, I have not moved that boulder one bit in all these years. I'm tired, Lord. I have accomplished nothing, and I fear I have failed you."

The Lord then replied, "My dear, dear child: For years, you have faithfully done all I asked you to do. You have pushed with all that you are against that boulder. You have not failed me. You have done exactly what I asked you to do."

"But Lord," he replied, "what do I have to show for it? I have exactly nothing. Nothing has changed. I am still in this cabin, and the boulder is still in front of it."

The Lord answered mightily, "Much has changed! Behold your muscular arms and look at the vast strength in your chest, shoulders, and back! Look at your calloused hands whose grip is unmatched! Marvel at your legs, which are like rods of iron!”

In a slightly softer voice, the Lord then finished, “Because you have proved yourself faithful to me, you have changed.”

"But Lord," the timid reply came, "I may have changed, but I still have failed. The boulder still remains."God smiled kindly, "When did you ever hear me say to you, 'Move that boulder' or ‘Place it over there’? Never once did I make such a demand, as I merely asked you to push on the boulder, to which you have done wonderfully well. When the time is right, I will move that boulder."

You have quite a treasure there in that Horadric Cube!

I am certain that such a line will still spark fond memories in 40 years.

On another note, I still marvel at how much a little name tag can influence people. Just having the words "Chaplain" hanging off my collar opens doors (literal and metaphorical) I would never be privvy to. Those doors are often scary however, and I am required to go in them no matter what may lay on the other side. I feel Jeremiah's lament:

"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." (Jeremiah 1:6)

And I must admit, I can hear God's reply just as clear as bell as well:

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to..." (Jeremiah 1:7)

People have asked - on numerous occasion - if such work is draining. I suppose it could be for some. Some situations never get easy. And I pray that they never will. The moment a chaplain walks into another person's crisis and thinks its easy, or is "just another day", is the moment, in my opinion, they need to step back and take a break (possibly a complete leave). While indeed there are some calls, even days, that are very rough, there are as many, if not more, that I leave seeing the patient in a far better place than when I walked in.

In the end, what gives the most endurance, strength, and passions is that I am required to only push the boulder, not move it (which will be the topic and explained in another entry).

YAWP

(yet another warcraft post)

I put http://thottbot.com/?i=51326 on my hunter, despite being told by gms and guildies not to (well the gms just said they didn't know what would happen). Thinking outside the box is fun, as this little trinket does indeed work for hunters, and quite well infact. AFAIK I'm the first with it, at the very least, first on the server (spirestone) with it as a hunter. Massive arcane shots and serpent stings are just yummy.

This isn't about you

:p

So there's another hurricane coming

Weeeeee! Kinda a bummer tho it peetered out. It was the strongest ever recorded, and now has shrank back down to a measly cat 4. Ok ok, so that's probably extremely bad that part of me would like to see a massive cat 5 hit something, but so be it. Not that I'd like to see people's lives destroyed, but you have to admit, a storm that huge is pretty spiffy, at least on some level.

I saw an article clipped out of the Orlando Sentinel (I think) while I was doing my rounds as a chaplain the other day about the first national meeting of internet Christian bloggers. I thought this was a bit interesting, and some people saw it as a way to not only discuss theology and politics under the same wrapper, but a way to publically keep the cliche' televangelist honest (if that's even possible, har har har). I'd like to see what dirt - to speak - they can dig up. Reminds me of someone I know that worked setting up a TV E's stage once (in a union, so they did all kinds of things) and he said that when the trucks pulled up, and the opened up the very first one, it was just filled with crutches and wheelchairs. O.o! Doesn't get any better than that :)

Although to be fair, I was speaking with a pastor of a local church, who shares the same "healthy" skepticism as I do, and says he went with a friend to one of these large gatherings, and this friend had great trouble hearing, and the pastor swears up and down that this friend of his was indeed healed, and he has no explination for it (natural at least) and can certianly see why some (if not many) wouldn't believe him unless they were there. So I guess that's my 2 cents on the matter.

As a piece is learned...

...both hands undergo a similiar journey, training, practicing, learning in parallel. When the left hand falls away, and the right remains, the melody is usually still there, and even recognizeable, but that sounds that are heard are now broken and incomplete.

Eeeeoooooooooooowwwwww!

bidda bidda bidda bidda
KRAKOW!

Chaplain!

That's me. At least til Feb. and that's what I've been doing the past month or so. Its definately a unique experience, and definately is exactly how I thought in terms that, no matter what anyone said about it, or what stories they could share, I couldn't ever really relate (just like bootcamp stories prior to me actually going to PI) until I did it. A minor excerpt from one of my reflections (part of the intern training):

"I started my shift Wednesday with a brief encounter of one of my new nurse friends. And I should probably give a little background on this coming story, by going back to last week with another story. Last Wednesday, before my first patient (or maybe second) I had ducked behind the nurse’s station to wash my hands and check the charts, etc. when a nurse walked up to me and said, “What are you doing behind my nurse’s station? Are you allowed back here?” in a bit of a joking, scolding manner. I simply turned (I was finishing washing my hands), smiled, and pointed at my nametag. She leans in a bit to read it and says “Oh I’m sooooo sorry chaplain!” to which all of her friends there at work started laughing at her and teasing “Ooooo you’re going to hell!”"