Harvest: another manly album for a manly man

Neil Young's haunting voice rocks this sublime collection of country-tinged rock that feels like a visit from an old friend every time you put it on. Harvest yielded Young's only Number One hit, "Heart of Gold," and helped set the stage for the Seventies country-rock explosion -- both James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt sing on the album. Along with Young, they were in Nashville to appear on Johnny Cash's variety show the week that Harvest was cut with an odd group of accomplished session players that included bassist Tim Drummond, who had played with James Brown. The sound was so manly and gutsy -- steel guitar, slide guitar, banjo -- stripped down and rebuilt with every jagged edge exposed. The standout tracks include "Alabama", "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold"; but every song is satisfying to thirsty ears. Harvest was chosen as the 78th greatest album of all time by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine in 2003. I'd rank this album much higher than that. I was so thankful to get a CD of this album for Christmas after not having a turntable to spin my old vinyl copy on during these last 12 years. Oh, it sounds as fine as ever....thanks heaps to Tara for the bucks:)

A Fine Flick for Manly Men

a man for all seasons is the best film i have seen. if you care for manly things, you should do yourself a favour and view it. thomas more knows what he is and what he lives for; his strong sense of what is important in life guides you through the story. he is no fickle wuss either; he stays firm to what his conscience tells him and he perseveres in honoring what he loves even unto death. now that is manly behaviour; worthy of all commendation.

i saw a film last night with vic and ramone --- i should say i was tricked into seeing a movie last night by vic and ramone (i had wanted to see king kong battle it out) --- however that may be, i had to sit through a brutual chick flick called the family stone. don't see it; my butt was aching as i watched it just from shifting around on my seat so much out boredom. it is the anti-thesis of a man for all seasons. no one knows who they are or what they stand for. it is a movie about wasted lives. oh, it is supposed to get the tears flowing...the way it does so is by appealing to either superficial liberal platitudes or to superficial romance. the drawn out scene of the bus leaving...going...going...going..may be stopping???...no, going....going...won't it stop?....going ...going....(of course it will stop)....but some more of it going...going...and then, voila! it stops and she gets out to smooooooch! ah so original i didn't see that sentimental scene:) again, don't see the family stone: find a copy of Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons instead.

gmail

I would like to offer a gmail account to anyone in the St.Herman's blogging world....even to those more remotely connected to our little online realm. The gmail account affords you 2 gigabytes of storage; so even if you merely send things to yourself it is handy. I strongly urge you to take me up on this offer. If you want an account, send me an email to thomas.wildemanATgmail.com, being sure to remove the AT with @. The best thing about a google mail account is that it is very fast and very secure, provided you don't write your password down anywhere ever.
It is easy as pie to set up your gmail account to be automatically downloaded into whatever email program you use. However I advise against doing this with any email: keep it on the server it is sent to and view it on the web through firefox or your favourite browser. For your own security's sake do all your personal emailing on the web unless you have a closed network and you can trust all the people who have access to it. I don't even view my work related email off of the server it is on. Bringing bad stuff home is most often done by accident; so make it a policy to never download email messages. With your gmail account, you will be able to do as much with your email online as you would if you downloaded it to eudora or thunderbird. As has been my preference to recommend since 2001 or so, if in any doubt about which is the most secure operating system to install on an amd or i386 or macppc architecture use this one and you will be glad. Especially if all you do on a computer is listen to music, watch movies, word process, email and browse the web; puffy the blowfish will guide you safely through a hostile internet and back home:)

Let me know whether you want a gmail account.

O come, let us adore him!

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning;
Jesu, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, Now in flesh appearing.

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

God of God, Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, Begotten not created.

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

This is my favourite Anglican Carol; and I have selected two of my favourite stanzas from the song. I sing the first 5 stanzas to my children to wake them up on Christmas morning; it has become something of a custom in our house for me to do this. Of course I can't sing well, but this song is so true and beautiful it can somewhat overcome my lack of ability. May the light of Christmas shine upon you and anyone you love; and may your "...loving heart enthrone Him." Christ is born, Glorify Him! Merry, merry Christmas! Enjoy the feast:)

Some thoughts on the "Denial Twist" by The White Stripes

If you've never heard the white stripes, you've missed some good tunes. This little snippet below is from off of their latest album, Get Behind Me Satan and it expresses a point of view that I think is missing in a lot of popular culture. One of the ironies of feminism is that, in wanting carte blanche equality with males, much of the older unwritten codes of male chivalry had to go. Now no one seriously would fight the old feminist fight for equal pay for equal work, but you might want to ask the modern female aged 16 to 35 if she's joyful at the loss of courtesy, honour, and gallantry toward women? Of course, males experience things differently than women -- and vice versa; but if males are raised to treat women as equals -- that is, as the boy himself would wish to be treated -- then you start to get an increase in date rape and other things where the male was just acting out this type of 'equality'. This song is cool in that it tries to reassert the old, noble of view of women and how a girl ought to be treated differently than a boy would want to be. It would seem that feminism has outgrown its usefulness, and has in fact contributed to the lessening of the nobility in the male human. Men need to relearn what is manly, and women need to diligently guard what is womanly so as not to be thought of as anything other than a woman and to be honored for it. Such are my thoughts on this song by the white stripes; the message it carries is sound and worthy of all ears in our times of confusion about gender roles. Here's the snippet of this funky and pertinent tune:

If you think that a kiss is all in the lips
C'mon, you got it all wrong, man
And if you think that our dance was all in the hips
Oh well, then do the twist
If you think holding hands is all in the fingers
Grab hold of the soul where the memory lingers and
Make sure to never do it with a singer
Cause he'll tell everyone in the world

What he was thinking about the girl
Ya, what he's thinking about the girl, oh

A lot of people get confused and they bruise
Real easy when it comes to love
They start putting on their shoes and walking out
And singing "boy, I think I had enough"

Just because she makes you feel wrong
She don't mean to be mean or hurt you on purpose, boy
Take a tip and do yourself a little service
Take a mountain turn it into a mole

Just by playing a different role
Ya, by playing a different role, oh

The boat ya you know she's rockin' it...

nonis get a goalie!

even the most astute hockey writers and commentators agree that the time is high for the canucks. the canucks are so near to being the best....so close. but a major piece is missing in their line up: a goaltender. the time is nigh, for the canucks will either obtain an expensive tender and ride him to the cup or this otherwise very talented squad will just fade away. the shame is that they are 'only' 3 million dollars or so away if you look at it fiscally. in terms salaries that is not over the top. nonis would be wise to push to get a starter for auld...and to do so within this next month so the team can come together around him by playoff time. the last three games clearly indicate that the canucks need a goalie if they are to go far into the playoffs. who should nonis go for? luongo?

joy and the divine: a logical corollary?

well here is an oil painting of ramone jumping for joy. we are so thankful to christ our god in this present time because he has blessed us so richly. thanks go out to those of you who prayed for ramone to get that promotion to the rank of a loan's officier; she received word yesterday that she was the successful candidate! yippee, christmas has come early to our house. not to put a damper on the joy this news brings, but the tangible financial benefits to this promotion do not actually kick in until june or july. but that is fine; our hearts are joyful and thankful even now. congratulations go out to the ramon0s.baby, and unspeakable gratitude to the lord!!! christ is the sine qua non.

Bohannahs owns Goldie on Mount Seymour

She turns, she links her turns and she goes zooming by! The bohannahs owned Goldie; but she was owned by the rope tow:)

We had a great time. The weather was perfectly sunny. We shred and shred some more, and then we left satisfied with our rides, and our first time snowboarding.

The lukemeister said it best, "it was a fantastic day!" indeed it sure was fun.... we will return again soon to further our skills after our bruises have become less sensitive:)

abide yet a while...the break is coming

well soon we should be enjoying some sort of break from the regular grind of day to day work that keeps most of us from thinking about the one thing needful. sadly that is not the complete truth; for other things serve as diversions from the one thing needful, even if i didn't have work to keep me pre-occupied. in a way work is both a curse and a necessary diversion; for mankind would do much evil if given to being excessively idle.

tomorrow night i will one of the teachers working on my high school's canned food drive. friday i will be so sleepy and weary. but on saturday i plan to put on my snowboard boots and shred with my custom x !!!! argggh, it should be so groovy! hannah and the luke-meister will come along and take a lesson. it will be a tiring first day on the slopes. yet it will be one of those restful kind of quelled tireds. i love the feeling of coming home after a day on the mountain; i sleep so deeply and wake up with sore legs that ache in a good way, as if you did something for the joy of it. check out my boots; you have to be ultra-manly to wear these in bad-ass black with pink laces:) the laces sort of match my friend the krut-meister's lavender shirt...

...and the lavender man can dance a manly river dance :P

be manly

this image comes out of the matrix, a terrific show to watch when you are wanting to learn to fight against the darkness and the demonic. this is agent smith in your face with his weapon, ready to try to take you out. of course this is exactly the way it is; we are at war with these awful unseen demonic forces and they put all their best weapons to work to take us out on a daily basis. and they are very good at what they do; there is no denying it. but the point is to never give in, to keep getting back up and to take another beating, to persevere and be manly.the story of st.george fighting the dragon is useful at times of intense spiritual warfare. just look at this saintly knight driving the demon off, rebuking it in the name of christ, breaking its very heart and knees. we can take strength from this, that in our struggles, too, we are best to fight by fighting for it in the holy name of jesus. i hope that everything st.paul wrote is true and worthy of following and trusting, even the smaller details and hard to grasp lessons on hair and head coverings. but most of all is that bit he wrote about how all ought to bend their knees at the name of jesus. i trust that all knees will bend to that holy name or they will be broken. st.george seems to me like a knee-breaker. for myself, it is high time to crack back at some demonic knees. it is time for me to be ever so manly and pray and fast and continue to war. this advent fast is a tough one for me....and i am not sure why, but i know when i have a demon in my face. arrrgggh! Just be manly...

the light of the face of christ...

well i got up this morning and this was what met me. what an ugly mofo; and he just stayed around, too, the way a bad fart does. all was hazy and lacking in clarity; all was smoky like the ugly mofo's rotten face. as usual i tried to withstand this onslaught without calling my lord jesus. needless to say this unholy face just kept corrupting any good, clear breath; he kept clouding my judgment. then i remembered the right story. in st jude's epistle it is relayed; there we learn about how the archangel michael handled the likes of this demonic presence: he left the rebuke of the devil to the lord, being unwilling to even continue to argue or try to out-wit the deceiver.
it was good to recall that story; it helped me to see the light in that moment. i hope someday christ will grant me to see the light shining from his face; i imagine the clarity of it will be sublime. yes it is the advent to our winter pascha, and this fasting season has been hard for me and my house. the personal demons we all face have been coming upon us, in most vigorous ways: as always at our weaknesses. we are finding the battle getting very bloody. we so long for the light of christmas....until then, let the unholy mofos rage, and rage some more, for we will not cease to resist; the rebuke of the lord will be their final end. amen, o lord come.

listening: american music, the violent femmes

concert memories

i remember seeing the meat puppets back in 1987 at the Town Pump; that was one of the best concerts i ever saw. when i first saw nirvana, they were a dirty and harsh bunch of druggies who lived hard and certainly lived to rock. And they did rock; they were so loud that the solid wood bar at the Town Pump was vibrating like a xylophone key. ales were jiggling as they rested on the surface of that mighty bar. that was in 1988 or 1989; my last year at ubc. a short while later nirvana wouldn't be playing in places like the Town Pump.

i remember seeing rem play the ubc thunderbird stadium in 1985. although michael stipe gave us the finest vocal solo at the close of the concert, it wasn't as close and harsh and intimate as the meat puppets or nirvana concerts. the best concert i have ever been at was the spirit of the west: when they played at the commodore ballroom in 1988. those guys played such fantastic music and they were spectacular as a live act. It was hard to sit down, you just had to get up and boogie. And cutting-a-rug at the commodore is so cool because of the horse hair beneath the hard wood floor: can you say 'bounce'!!? i saw the violent femmes play at the commodore, too. but, sadly, i wasn't feeling well at that concert.

it is weird to think that i went to see the Police in 1983 and 1984, and that ramona, my future wife was there. other memorable concerts i went to include billy bragg in 1986. he was so impressive with just his voice, a guitar and an amp. i remember a sonic youth concert in 1986-7 that stirred my ear drums. during 1985-6 i lived with the bassist for the grapes of wrath, a local vancouver band. i saw many - even too many - of their concerts. yet i did get to see a lot of very good opening acts that were young back then like sarah mclaughlin, 54 40 and my favourites, slow. slow never went on to do much in the recording industry, but they owned my ears.

There'll be a golden ladder reaching down....

This post is to thank my God Christ for helping my friend to sell his truck. It is something I have been praying for over the last three or four months. I think this has been a time of testing for the Krutmeister and his wife. To me it is a sign that Christ wants the Krutmeister to keep proceeding with certain plans. Again, thank God for giving the truck and for letting it sell! Ah the comfort of the Lord, and how it must be worth spilling many tears for.

As a rather anxious Dane once said, it is one thing to stand on one leg and prove the existence of God, while it is quite another to prostrate yourself before the Trinity in thanks. I think he should have added the prepositional phrase 'like a fish' in between the 'yourself' and the preposition 'before'. But not everyone is into holy comedy during prayers. However my feeling is that being able to chuckle at oneself is a means to a deeper holiness. I mean consider for just a moment what The Man might think as I tell him my prayers and plans and all that; it keeps me grounded to realize that I probably make the Trinity chuckle a great belly chuckle. Whatever the truth of this may be, I will prostrate myself like a fish and offer sincere thanks to the most High for being so gracious to my friend. Indeed, the Lord is merciful.

so what is a redneck?

my wife says that rednecks are just people with conservative opinions. given that definition, i am a redneck. but, alas, i wonder am i really a shotgun toting, cheap-beer guzzling, shaggy-pony-tail-haired, willie nelson listening redneck? well, let's see. when i die, i want a hearse like the one below -- but, hey, does this make me a redneck?my wife tells me that rednecks always tell others to screw off in quite an insensitive manner. a few days ago i was out walking in the woods, and i came upon this tree. Take a little gander down-yonder at this nasty and very insensitive redneck tree. if i were a redneck, i'd label this photo as 'clear cut this.'
so as to prove that i am not a redneck, i will show you a copy of my wife's desktop on her windows xp laptop. i set this up for her all by myself and it is the epitome of order and civilization; hardly the stamp of a redneck. again, would you say this is a redneck's desktop? i think this is the Q.E.D. that puts all doubt out of mind as to my redneck status. are conservatives and rednecks just one and the same...that seems a weak proposition. and can a tree be a redneck? check in sometime soon for some tapes of me singing; these will clarify further my lack of redneckiness. oh, i think my liver is diseased even more...

canucks need to trade for a goalie?

i would answer the question in the title in the affirmative. we need to trade cloutier and someone like morrsion or jovo to shake up this team. alex auld is not the go-to man; he is a back-up, nothing more. his performance in the edmonton game tonight was so lame, he was not merely the victim of poor team defense. i was hoping we'd get luongo. no way now. i don't see this current canucks' squad going far in the playoffs; they lack both the grit and the goal tending. perhaps when we get cook back, some grit will swell up from the depths of this team. but the canucks need a proven goalie and they will need to spend the loonies to get him. it is too bad they didn't snag the drama-queen of goalies, hasek, prior to the season start. cloutier has shaky nerves and injures easily and under duress, i.e, during a playoff series. i say it is time for the canucks management and owners to decide whether to stay ok and let the current core age into nothingness over the next two years, or to spend the money and give up a morrison or jovo and get this team its missing pieces: a proven goal tender and some grit. i hope they do the latter.

Grief

This picture so clearly shows sorrow at a loss. Seraphim's painting is sublime, but not beautiful. The rich textures, the deep lines and wrinkles all convey a sense of grief at the loss of a loved one. I believe Seraphim painted this work based on a photo taken at St.Peter's after the passing of Pope John Paul II had been announced. Her sense of loss is all but consuming, except for the gloss on her eyes. In these one can sense a glimmer of hope in the flash of light they emit. My father has had to go into the hospital tonight because of his heart; his doctor thinks he had a mild heart attack. If my father were to die, I would grieve his loss. I am praying he will be fine, so that I do not have to lament and grieve. At least he has been blessed as described in Psalm 128:6. To quote Leithart quoting yet another, "I think my liver is diseased."

Powder, argggh! The man is coming to the mountain...

Just check this shot out, it gives me goosebumps and causes me to make manly grunting sounds:Doesn't that get your mojo running? Not that your mojo is the end, for if it were, then I'd go do this on every Sunday; but this is a manly activity nonetheless. Check out this one:
Serious kicking. In this next image, it is as if the photographer were to have caught me flying down by a cave.
Whoa, I bet you didn't realize a wildman like me could fly? Oh gravity where is thy sting? Soon...soon...not soon enough:P

blowfish

Puffiana Jones at your service.

walk the line: a fine film I will spoil for you...

If you care what I think about a film, then you will be delighted by this post. I have a couple of comments to make about it that are constructive. If they had only asked me...

The first being that the film minimizes the influence of Christ on Cash's development through his turbulent early career. Even though the film's focus is on this period in his life, when Johnny ostensibly led a depraved life, the influence of his relationship to Jesus only materializes when Cash wants to play Folsom Prison; and this scene gives the film its second-best line. When Cash wants to play the prison, the record executives see it as a bad business move which will alienate his main audience, the Christian gospel music lovers. Cash replies if they don't like it, "they aren't Christians then." This leaves one with a very difference sense of Cash's relationship to God than is true. In reality Cash's depravity was more out of a reaction to fame and making himself a god unto himself. To lose sight of this minimizes his loyalty to Christ from 1968 onwards. More of Cash's Christian motivations would've enriched the film with other great lines like that one had they been explored further by the film. The second piece of criticism is about the initimation of a sexual fling between Johnny and June. The truth is that there is no evidence they ever did have a sexual affair; and the movie doesn't show them rolling in the hay per se. But it would leave you with the impression they just had sex if you didn't know the biographies. And while it is true Cash had numerous flings with young idolizing girl fans, the point must be made that Johnny held the true love of his life as something to be kept 'pure' and with all honour.


These two points aside, the film is so fine in portraying this period in Cash's life. I particularly appreciate the manner in which Viv Cash, Johnny's first wife, is characterized. One can sympathize with her desire to divorce Johnny. This is one of the great strengths of the film: there is no attempt to cover up any of this holy man's warts or weaknesses. It has often amused me that God's great sense of irony can be exemplified in this: from the great depths of depravity, come the greatest heights of spiritual union. Examples could be multiplied to illustrate this, not the least of which include St.Mary of Egypt and St.Paul. I figure they see the darkness, and its pointlessness, and thus learn to love the light so much so that their sense of gratitude knows no bounds.

The best line in the film is delivered by Jack, Johnny's 14 year old brother, who was aspiring to know the Bible front to back like my priest Fr.Lawrence does. I could almost hear Fr.Lawrence delivering the line when Jack said to Johnny, "if I want to be a preacher, I need to know it front to back. To help somebody, you need to know which story to tell him." A poignant film indeed. It is the best new film I have seen in 2005.

Bye bye

The fat lady is singing, this blog is no more, it is no longer going to be updated as thomasw-. If you are interested, I will be posting here from now on. You may or may not want to update your links. This is not a blog which will change your life or anything. I post off the cuff, very temporally; nothing here is meant to be of lasting worth.

This new site name, to which I have transferred all my old posts, takes its inspiration from the words of Christ to Saul in Acts 26, who was on his way to Damascus for the purpose of persecuting Christ's own Body, the Church. It is important to note the identity Christ establishes between the Church and Himself in this passage. In verse 14, the risen Lord tells Saul it is hard for him to "kick against the goads." This image of futility is succinct and very clear and somewhat gross. Just think: kicking against a spike to bring it down. Obviously it does only hurt the kicker, not the spike; so kicking against a goad is futile. Kicking against anything one has no control over is like kicking against a goad; i.e., worrying over money, over aspects of your appearance or height, over other people or even about The Man Himself. More to the point is that I, very knowingly, kick against Christ, His Church and His Holy Ones quite frequently. Why? I am stupid, thoughtless, uncaring and forgetful...all true. But that is only part of the truth. Sadly the harder truth is that I don't love God or trust Christ or His Church enough. Let that sink in; and then decide if there is any point in reading or seeing anything I would post. The only thing I have going for me is that prayer of the publican; all my hope is in that simple and very profound prayer.

I hold with an iron fist to the traditions handed down, for the practical man, when all seems grey or unsure, the best course of action in this life lies in clinging to tradition.

///end.of.rant.by.the.dry.spiritual.man

Extreme mathematics and writing...

so i came home from work today and talked to luke, my son, about his maths lesson today in Gr.5. it turns out he obtained 93% on his latest mathematics geometry test. so just to challenge him, his teacher gave him a little bit of integration to learn. i do think it is great to push a kid intellectually, but this seems rather extreme. next, they will be discovering logarithms by exploring the spirals on shells:


on a side note, i have thoroughly enjoyed The White Stripes' album "Get Behind Me Satan" over the last few months. the whole album rocks my socks, but in particular i dig the tracks 'passive manipulation' and 'my doorbell'. Congratulations to the luke meister for kicking geometric butt:P (that's euclidean butt, of course).

let the led out!

people have been posting a lot about music. since so much of the music i have been reading about is not suitable for manly men, i have decided to let the led out all the way. the only thing in popular music that touches led zeppelin is johnny, and the man in black is in a class unto himself. I posted about him before, of course; as there is no good reason to deny letting your ears hear about him. the violent femmes and pink floyd play some very harsh tunes, but led zeppelin teaches manly lessons about grace and woe to the manly man. i still remember the first time i heard led zeppelin, it was some willie dixon cover not on the first album--i didn't know men could express sorrow about loss like that; even when i was ten i listened to the second side of the first vinyl record of physical graffiti containing trampled underfoot, houses of the holy, and kashmir: and i memorized all the lyrics and sang them to myself, playing air guitar and probably sounding just awful. but the music was gracious and lifted my imagination. i remember that time as one where i became more thoughtful, which isn't a bad thing for music to encourage. there is a box set of led zeppelin I-V albums out and it looks so fine. let the led out, indeed!

leithart and john paul II

peter leithart is a fine writer. I would characterize his style as terse and aphoristic. insightful would be the way to characterize his written content. in his book 'against christianity', rarely does he elaborate on his views with copious references and counter-referenced footnotes. though insightful and thought-provoking his ideas remain. take as an example this out-take from 'against the sacraments':

Romans normally excluded children from the dinner table until the age of fifteen or sixteen, at which age boys received the /toga virilis/ that marked their entrance to manhood. Family dinner as we know it was a Christian invention, not some "natural" form of family life. The family dinner is a reflection of the eucharistic meal, the meal that welcomed all members of Christ to the table.
Opposition to communion of children is pagan and seeks to reverse the revolutionary table fellowship established by the Church. It is an attempt to return to Egypt.

jenny used this a month or three ago to give her readers a feel for his brilliance. it is hard to know that leithart is outside the church. especially when he holds such pure and unstained views on the church and the sacraments. leithart is must read material: i think even victoria might like reading his sparse and succinct style despite it being non-fiction.

i put seraphim's pope john paul II up because i loved the man and most of what he stood for; he never wavered. indeed, this is incredibly rare to find in our present day rulers. once i took this test and found myself almost identical to john paul II.

Extremely holy

My friend Seraphim painted this for my wife and I. This image of the Mother of Christ has held me in a charmed state since I first stumbled upon it in my second year at UBC. I was just a punk back then, but it seemed so, so...well, I couldn't find the word to describe it at my tender, foolish age. Now I would just call it holy; in the sense of being set apart for God.

Some of us just don't comprehend holiness; and I think it has to do with vile idols; i.e, in the sense of turning vile by desiring that which is but a vile idol. I understand a sliver of that which is holy, but I do not escape the battle against a few vile idols in my life.

With Dylan Thomas, I say, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light..."; and smash that which is vile.

///end of rant:it felt grand to get the word 'smash' in there:P

puffy

This is a very groovy and apropos image for OpenBSD: secure, hard to attack; and extremely functional. And those lips....whoa, the smooooch-ability factor is high.

Just returned home from seeing the latest Harry Potter flick; I enjoyed the battle with the dragon for the golden egg, but I felt the ending was rather anti-climatic. My kids thought it was spectacular.

I had really wanted to see the new cash flick, but ramone has to work early so we couldn't go:/

Lights are going out, I will rest my weary mind.

long day

i worked from 7:15am to 9:15pm yesterday. and considering i taught for half a day, and then did parent-teacher conferences for the remainder of the time, it was an extremely tiring and mentally draining day for a briggs-myers INTJ. Way too many people, way too many names and faces: interaction overload. fizzle, crack, boom: thrrrppppt! yes, i am glad it is friday, though i am a bit sad that my wife must work all-day saturday and that means we can't get together with the krut-o-nator and his cash-loving woe-man.

looking forward to christmas: i will be putting up the first decorations this weekend. luke and i will hang the lights today. i love coming home from work to see the lights shining and glowing as christmas approaches.

my snowboard cometh

i am told that my custom x board is a sweet ride for a manly man; soon it will come. all i know is that it is black, white and red and that it goes vrooom. can you dig this shred? it is a glimpse of what will come when my custom x cometh and i goeth to ride baker.

looking forward to installing OpenBSD this weekend; my friend vic will be assisting me because she digs the blowfish. and how can she not? indeed, how.

church temple

our parish needs a new temple and i think this one by spanish architect, gaudi, has loads of potential for glorifying our lord. no one seems to be commenting on my recent posts, and so i think i will stop writing about openbsd and other stuff i think about. it is too bad that unix bores people.

thinking about the guidelines for determining a theme in a piece of literature. also i am dreaming about snowboarding this winter; hemlock and baker will be where we go most often.

a christmas poem in german; hellos from thomas and ramon0s

i hope it plays well. i tried to sound very macho; ramone said i was merely a goof-ball. however that may be, at least i know north from south and west from east:P

mittens and socializing

i am on the grad social committee for the current gr.11 kids at my school. what this means, i do not quite know. but for certain i will be able to put all my superb socializing skills to work....Oh yeah, baby, let me loose at those parties where i can just work the room, chatting up a storm about meaningless drivel with people i hardly know: i dig that, being the elite, manly socializer that i am. ah the sarcasm. the truth is the reverse; usually i find other people to be tedious and draining. i have a struggle remembering and even pronouncing other people's names, especially if the name is ethnic or unusual or just weird. to me socializing is like trying to sing; i know i am so limited in my skills, and there is a point at which the challenge and comfort level goes way, way above my head: and i freeze and need to step away and hide. getting away from the social scene is for the most part what i am thinking about. i have no idea why the students would want me to be the sponsor; the only part i look forward to is the idea of going skiing or snowboarding for a day with just the grads. this reminds me that i need some good mittens for snowboarding this winter. mittens are macho and manly; don't be deceived.

looking forward to seeing dave's new castle. hanging out with krut and vic is one of the tender mercies for me in this life. i wonder what the homily will be like this sunday, it is always difficult for me when fr.lawrence isn't delivering the homily. but this is probably a good spiritual exercise for me....i write 'probably' because i am not sure what i am supposed to gain out of not having fr.lawrence deliver the goods.

ksh

The korn shell is the sine qua non of unix shells. All one needs to do is set -o emacs in your .profile and you are in business. Along with ksh, the other main modular programs I use regularly include irssi, lftp, ssh, lynx, unrar, cdio, mplayer and mp3blaster. More and more I am seeing the efficiency of running programs from within my korn shell -ksh- even on OS X with Aqua, the most beautiful GUI in any OS I am aware of. Of course on OpenBSD, I run all programs from the commandline within ksh.

One of the thrills in using the commandline is building programs from source. On OS X the easiest way to learn is by using fink or darwinports.

For anyone interested, I am very keen to start shredding turns on my snowboard this season. I think on Saturday we will attend the snowboard buy/sell at the TradeX in Abbotsford; there are a number of items we still require.

hyssop

Psalm 51:7 reads "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." When I read that Psalm in my childhood my mind wondered how God could use a weed like hyssop to clean someone of such a terrible sin as David was repenting of. As I grew older I thought starting a soap company called 'Hyssop Soap' would be a rather cool venture for a business. Verse 6 explains poetically where the real cleaning would take place; "...in the inward being; ...in my secret heart." Hence the soap would be quite useless at cleaning up sin. But it was a nifty idea nevertheless, at least for a little chap.

Even now I wish there was cleansing soap for sin; I'd use it instead of my daily dose of Pears!

theology in fairy stories: indeed!

I have long been of the suspicion that the best theology is lived out; and that this is best documented in the fairy stories many of us have grown up with. The Narnia series, the Tolkein Trilogy, the Wind in the Willows and the Brothers Grimm all exemplify some of the best Orthodox theology. This was recently confirmed for me in a homily my priest gave. Furthermore, Fr. Thomas Hopko told me much the same when I was casting flies with him. With two such giants as back up, what more need I add? The answer being an unequivocal 'nothing'.

Yet, which stories best relay the relations between man and God best for you?

ibooks > ibm clones

i am going to buy my wife a laptop for church record-keeping. the lame thing is it won't be an ibook, but some sort of ibm clone with bill gate's software pre-installed. i really dislike windows as an OS. the ibm clones are nowhere as tough or aesthetically pleasing as the apple laptops; and to top it off, the OS is ultra-insecure compared to os x or any bsd. but fortunately a buddy of mine, dave, is spotting me an old pc which i can use as a firewall: i will put OpenBSD on that puppy and let puffy the blowfish keep my wireless network somewhat secure. still i really dislike wasting money on llama semi-adequate pc hardware. if it were a real ibm x40, then i'd be singing another song. enough of this rant...off to costco tomorrow evening.

i am getting very excited about snowboarding this winter! there is a snowboard-equipment buy/sell at the tradex centre in abbotsford this coming weekend; we will attend it.

for christmas i hope my wife gets me that nikon d100 digital slr i have been desiring for the last five years or so. or, an ipod nano; that would be groovy. or some really good wool socks from aj brooks. {i think i will end up with the socks...}


on the other hand, i don't really want anything other than some time with my friends and family: and not having to work the next day! i do enjoy the time off during christmas immensely. my bio-rhythmns are so tuned to the academic calendar; each month has a certain feel and is understood in relation to the next reporting period or break.

check out the smooooch...not so bad?

Not bad at all, indeed!

That was a smashing smoooch; one of the finest I have ever delivered or ever seen.

I would rate this smoooch quite highly, perhaps an eight out of ten....or more, especially when you consider it was delivered in public. As a rule I find public displays of romance rather tacky and worthy of all disdain. But this was an innocent smoooch at my wedding.

Yes, it was a fine and dandy smoooch.

Orr

There has never been a better defenseman. I still remember this moment in 1970 when Bobby Orr scored the winning goal in the last game of the Stanley Cup that year. Furthermore, I recall getting Orr's hockey card at the Dairy Dale Grocery on Dunbar between 27th and 26th Avenue with my first ever 'allowance' of 10 cents. Man, that was a manly joy for a little guy. I rode my tippy two wheeler home to show it off to my father and my friend Roger. I foolishly traded it to Roger for a Bjore Salming card, a Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman wearing number 5. I know now that was a very bad move, but weird things happen to 5 year olds when left to trade hockey cards with their eight year old next door neighbours. I did eventually obtain a 1965 Orr rookie card; today I wish I still had all my old hockey cards. But I don't miss the stale, hard gum that came in the packs.

Glad the canuckleheads won tonight; I predict Cloutier will lose his job, or at the very least, that Auld will be playing more and more of the games. Auld reminds me of Dryden. But Orr is the manliest defenseman ever: accept no substitute in this.

I have to deal with a lame matter on Friday after work and all day next Wednesday; I have to trust in Christ in this matter and hope to be strong and honorable.

my nuts...

i love cashews. they are the nut of nuts.

i enjoy yogurt, just plain yogurt, and cashews.

i love my nuts.

almonds aren't bad, but i prefer using them to make into a spreadable butter.

the gomery report is such a joke.

our tom-dick-and-harry-o-cracy is so lacking in nobility..... it will be better when the man who is the king starts to manage things more directly.

i dig this picture of johnny .......it reminds me so much of the way i'd like to be but won't be because of the man who will come.

snowboarding.....this winter: argggh, yea!

i am writing this one-handed; hence the lack of capitals: i am not trying to imitate ee cummings or to be cool. come to think of it, i don't really have to try to be cool : for i am so macho when the chips are down. take for example my pumpkin: my pumpkin owns, it looks like picasso himself carved it. there, that's enough proof of my cool being. it is all in the orange, hallowed glow: people always say that i have a certain glow, so it must be so! am i the pumpkin ? am i the glow? what rubbish this zen hall o ween stuff is!

the last two words in the title are part of my manly harsh call, which, i have been known to let loose when i am particularly excited. i am very keen to start shredding the runs this winter. both of my kids are extremely keen to start snowboarding this winter: can you hear my manly man call right now? this is going to be so coooool. notice how i emphasized the coolness with those extra ohs? i am so keen to cut some turns....

i used to surf back when i was young and just a little less harsher than i am currently. i think some of the skills will transfer. i am hoping my buddy krut will pursue the sport at some point, too.

i walked with echo my dog yesterday and it was so beautiful alongside the dike at 264th street. it was windy; i love the freshness of it.

Sunday morning...Echo is a dude Hund!

Finished making and hanging the picket gates to contain mein Hund, a Siberian Husky named Echo. I love my dog; he's such a great walking companion, he never bothers me. Oh, sure he is a predator by design, and he will attack and devour any stupid self-serving squirrel or feline that enters his arena: but I like how harshly he deals with things that transgress him, it brings to mind the way the Trinity will consume with fire those who failed to repent in this age. Yes, he is a charming beast who desires above all to be part of the pack, a part of the family. I appreciate his loyalty to our 'pack'. Echo is a manly man's dog; that is why he is such a joyful fellow to be around.


Another article which indicates the superiority of OpenBSD over any linux distribution -- well, Gentoo's not quite god-forsaken..yet -- and over any run of windows by Gates. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1375194866;fp;2;fpid;1

Time to get up and pray before going to the Liturgy. Luke has arrived to snuggle; he's way better than my mo. thru fr. alarm clock:)

Going to watch the decalogue

Ramone talked me into this cool dvd by mail program over at videomatica.ca; we get two dvds sent to us at a time, with no limit on due dates, or on how many flicks we can see: they come as quickly as we mail the pre-stamped envelopes back. It is all based on a set monthly charge. So far we have seen a lot of very fine films. I am a huge Kurosawa man; and I have had the opportunity to see some of his less popular films recently. Rhapsody in August is the next one I will get to view...

The Decalogue is a series of 10 short films with each story taking as its theme one of the Ten Commandments. The rating for this series on imdb.com is very high and so are my hopes for it.

I enjoy different types of films for different reasons, and the main reason I would watch a series of films like these is because I am hoping to get some insight into.....something. Contrary to what my wife will tell people, I am something of a manly thinker; and a thinker such as myself does require thoughtful simulation in the flick watching department on occasion.

I think my tolerance for violence in movies is higher than most of my friends....I guess that's another one to talk to the priest about. Oh, I left my numb-chucks and switch-blade outside beside my rocket launcher....I must go retrieve them so they don't rust in the rain:) Am I not a dude, even a harsh dude? Indeed.

Got my Puffy cd...

Holy jumping Jehosaphat! I found my copy of OpenBSD 3.8 in my mailbox; well, actually ramone did, but she delighted me by letting me open up the package. Also it came with some stickers -- which today I stuck on my overhead projector cart at work -- and a very fashionable t-shirt with puffy the blowfish dressed up like Indiana Jones on the front. Puffy is the mascot of OpenBSD, symbolizing the secure and protective nature of the operating system. Whew, what a day: I mean how cool is a day when the Canucks win on the road and I get my OpenBSD cd, stickers and t-shirt....it is a slice of geek heaven. Just let me at that brown t-shirt and that korn shell commandline...what excitement: even ramone was almost nearly in mild pandemonium!? Well, enough of this, or I might become like a door unhinged. Woe, I am so ...me.


Back at work and I am a marking machine. I am very interested in getting into snowboarding this winter. When I was younger, I was proficient at board-sports. Both of my kids are keen like me. So it should be very cool.

Perhaps I will stick my puffy stickers on my snowboard? Wouldn't that be manly? "Move or face the blowfish." Sometimes I am so harsh, but never as harsh as this dude: http://www.xmission.com/~maddox/

That link is not for anyone who gets offended by harshness. Be warned. But he is quite funny at times; if you find harshness rather funny. That's a sad comment about me I guess...another one for confession.

Tiredness....I will rest.

OpenBSD 3.8 will be released in early November

I look forward to installing OpenBSD 3.8; I have used this unix-based OS for a variety of purposes since version 3.1 about 3 or 4 years ago. These two sites are useful for keeping abreast with this exceptionally secure operating system: openbsd.org and undeadly.org. I have the utmost respect for the aspirations behind this project, and I have helped to fund it over the last few years. I use only two operating systems now: OpenBSD and OS X. And both are BSD-based; I love OS X's Aqua GUI, while I love OpenBSD's commandline efficiency. My favourite applications are lftp, lynx, mp3blaster, and emacs. If I could get Photoshop and quakeworld to run on OpenBSD, then I might have no need for any other OS. But, alas, this is not the way it is.

An aside: I voted today with a big YES to end this illegal strike. I am hopeful that the 'yes' side will win the day tomorrow. I detest the political overtones this job action has taken on, and I want absolutely nothing to do with that side of this strike; as it seems to me to have very little to do with what I was originally taking a stand for. How twisted ideals can become...

I have been walking a lot lately, and reading Peter Leithart and George Grant. Time to make my move to smooch ramone.....later.

Looking Up

With Vince Ready making some recommendations, the BCTF membership will get to vote whether to go accept them or not.

I will not hide the fact that I will vote for it. The thing the more miltitant membership of the BCTF need to ask themselves is this: will Ready or some other arbitrator actually give /recommendation a better deal next week? That seems unlikely, even unreasonable. I say we should cut our losses and weigh the benefits of these recommendations. Consider as well that we will be negotiating a new contract over the summer of 2006.

Even though I strongly oppose the way the Liberal government used the Law to run away from a contract , I I still cannot say that I support, unreservedly, the breaking of a court order about this relatively small issue in the big schemme of things. If it were about a more important moral issue , t hen I could see holding out longer or even being willing to put my life and /or lifestyle on the line. But this is not like that.

The best thing about this strike is that it has made me trust more in my Lord Jesu. Not a bad thing, but I wish He could've done it in a nother way ---the php is s crewing up ---- like, for example, made my friend suffere to show me the value of it in pulling me closer to the Unknown God. It remionds me of the pulley by George Herbert.....I dislike obedience less ons when they happen to me; to others, i sort of enjoy them with a slight chuckle. Ah, my sadistic piety. I will have to confess this rot to my priest.....

Be of good cheer, Thomas, you gett o work on Monday....we will seee. I will stay prayerful about this.

woe to the php!!!

The Strike....out.

I am a public school teacher of grades 8-12 in British Columbia. As a corollary, this means I am forced to be a BCTF member and pay dues and follow the union's rulings. I have no other option if I wish to teach in the public school system in BC. If I were not so greedy I could take a job in a private school and give up more of my time and earning potential. Neither of these aspects appeal to me at all. Yet I do not like the union I have to work in; it is a compromise I have had to agree to. It is one decision I do sometimes regret. As of Oct.7th, I have been on strike. And this strike hurts us a lot; to some extent, I have lost my sense of the purposefulness of this strike. I think it is time for me to use this situation to focus my trust on Christ my God; for in theory I know I should just trust in Him as do the 'lilies of the field', but in practice it is not so easy to just trust a Being you can't see or directly experience. Oh, I know some will say that they do have direct experience of the manly man giving them the-what-is-up. And that must be so pleasant for those of you who do get such manly experiences. But I don't get them; when it comes to spiritual experiences, I am like a dry and weary land where no water is. But back to the issue: the strike and my trust in the Unknown God, Jesus. Should I cross the picket line and risk being blackballed for the remaining 18 years of my professional life? I think I will hold out until Monday, October 24th.

Living along Young and Gay!

Our new place is very comfortable, though much of the landscaping needs to be done. Since we will live here for the remainder of our lives, I don't see that as a problem. It is an opportunity to make something elegant, charming and useful; in another manner of speaking, we will try to beautify the yard.

Off to dream of patterns, space and materials. I hope to see my children smile in the morning.

beer, a fine thing...especially gulden draak from Belgium

If you ever do like to slurp back an ale, then try this one.
The php is screwing up, so I can't write further. Try it, it is so fine:)

good cheer, thomasw.

wondering about things...

I wonder when The Man will come again. Also, I wonder whether I will live to see my kids have kids. I wonder whether life will be better when I retire. But mostly I wonder about why I don't do what I know I should on all-too-many occasions. Especially since I know The Man is coming to judge the quick and the dead.

This reads like a bad set of Johnny Cash lyrics. So be it.

This .img looks a lot like ramone; the hair style is very much like hers used to be. but my wife has deep blue eyes which i can swim around in.