Blog Archives - The Land of the Weird

The Land of the Weird

End of November 2017

11/30/2017

While I often complain about time rushing by, I have to say that November actually felt like a full month. I'm not saying that it dragged; rather, it moved at a nearly perfect pace. Although I am still struggling to stay on top of my multiple obligations, November allowed me just enough time to not miss any deadlines while still having some time to enjoy life as well. Here are some of the highlights:

My back, which was causing me pain throughout most of October, finally recovered. Now I just need to get back into the exercise habit that suffered as a result of the injury.

We saw, and enjoyed, Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. The first is better than the latter, but I quite enjoyed both of them.

We received our first major snowfall, and the boys and I have been taking regular advantage of our sled run as a result.

Trevor had his stage debut as Charles the cat/coachman in his high school's musical, Cinderella. He did a great job and is eagerly looking forward to being in the next play.

I finished the fall term at Walden, putting me one step closer to my EdD in Educational technology.

Janelle and I watched the Netflix Iron Fist series. It's certainly the weakest of the Marvel shows on Netflix, but I'm still glad we saw it. We also have started watching the Punisher series, which has been one of the best. Meanwhile, the boys and I finished season 4 of Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and loved it. We are eager to see what they do with season 5 (once it comes out on Netflix).

We had a nice "Thanksgiving" dinner the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a family, and another great dinner on Thanksgiving with friends.

We survived Black Friday with much of what we wanted to get while still spending less than in past years.

The dogs beat up Janelle (with the help of the garage).

I started playing Horizon: Zero Dawn and am loving it.

There was certainly more that happened, but that is all that comes to mind at the moment. I have to say that December is already shaping up to be a great month too. Hopefully it will be so for everyone.

Geocentric Tendencies

11/29/2017

Recently in my world history classes, we were discussing the impact of the Scientific Revolution on European society and religion. One of the major players was the Polish astronomer Nicholaus Copernicus who presented the heliocentric model of the galaxy as a way to explain the erratic paths of planets and comets across the night sky. When one of my students asked why people would have such a hard time believing this idea, I stated that people are still having issues with it.

Some of my students chuckled and referred to people who follow the "flat Earth" philosophy, but I told them that one did not have to go that far to find people who still think in geocentric terms. I then suggested that they might have some geocentric tendencies themselves. I now suggest that those of you reading this might have them too.

Take, for example, the movie trilogy Back to the Future. In it, a modified Delorean with the help of a flux capacitor and 1.21 gigawatts of electricity can move through time. Once it hits 88 miles per hour, it disappears from its current space in time and appears in that exact spot in its target time period. The first experiment has it travel one minute into the future. It disappeared leaving a fiery future trail, and one minute later, appeared exactly where it had disappeared. That is geocentric thinking, as it would only work if the Earth were standing still.

However, our Earth is constantly in motion. Not only is it revolving on its axis and orbiting our sun, but our sun's system is orbiting the center of the Milky Way, which is moving through the Virgo supercluster, which is also in continual (and accelerating) motion. Should the Delorean actually travel through time to instantly appear in the same spot, the Earth would not be there to greet it.

For time travel to actually work, not only would time have to be bridged, but the physical distance in space as well. Perhaps this is why we haven't heard from any promising time travel inventors; their successful experiments are sitting somewhere in front of or behind the Earth's path.

This is one of many reasons why I would want the Tardis as my time machine.

Dogs

11/28/2017

Our dogs are not well trained. They tend to rush guests at the door. They usually do not come when called if they are playing with one another or have escaped outside. They pull with all of their might when on the leash.

It's the latter one that got Janelle today. When taking them to the van, so they could go to the vet, Janelle found that the two dogs have become quite stronger since the last time she had them on the leash. Instead of heading into the van, they took off for the sledding hill. Janelle tried tugging them into the open garage, but they instead pulled her into the metal guide-rail for the garage door, banging her elbow and breaking her glasses in the process. Currently, her right eye is reminding me of a Rocky movie (any of them, take your pick). They then ran off, and it took her twenty minutes--and a bit of cunning--to get them back.

I've been informed that I get to take them to all future vet visits. However, I don't always have the best of luck either. I haven't even been able to clip their nails lately. They have become more and more skittish about the process. The vet suggested giving them Benadryl an hour before to keep them more sedate, but I haven't had the heart to try it after the last traumatic event.

I love our dogs, but it's times like these that I feel like a terrible pet owner.

Starting a New Class

11/27/2017

Well, break is over. As of today, I am taking a class on the innovations in e-learning. This course goes until the beginning of February. Strangely, I don't know most of the other students. Until now, I have always had a name or two that I recognized; not this term.

That leaves me feeling a little lonely, as well an unsure about what happened. I had already passed by a number of students in my first classes since I am going through the accelerated path. However, I only had one course last term (thankfully), and I now wonder if that put me a term off from the other students who had been working on the accelerated path with me. It's not that it matters that much as I only have another term of "normal" classes after this one before I start work on my dissertation. Still, it would have been nice to "see" a friendly "face" in the class.

Hopefully, the class goes smoothly while still increasing my expertise in educational technology.

The Feast of Christ the King

11/26/2017

Actually, today's celebration is: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This is the end of the liturgical year. Next week starts the Advent season as we prepare again for Christmas.

It is fitting that today's readings talk about God taking care for us as well as reminding us that we need to take care of each other. In the Gospel, the end of times sees humanity divided into "sheep" and "goats." Today's homily reminded us that it is not our job to divide; rather, we should be working to help bring people together. God alone is our final judge.

I find it truly difficult not to judge. Instead, it is easy for me to sit in comfort behind a computer screen passing judgement and shaking my head knowingly rather doing what God has actually called us to do: help those in need. I hide behind the busyness of my life, helping in small, relatively effortless, doses. Yet have I really given food to the hunger, drink to the thirsty, welcome to the stranger, clothing to the naked, care for the ill, or fellowship to the prisoner? Moreso, is what I have done actually from the goodness of my heart, or out of fear of a future punishment?

I cannot help but think that those non-Christians, and especially atheists, who do these types of charitable acts without (or even in spite of) promises of eternal rewards are better deserving of the Kingdom of Heaven than I am.

Birthday Marathon Plans

11/25/2017

Birthday Marathon Plans: With Christmas one month away, I figured that it was time to prepare for my upcoming birthday movie marathon. Thus far, I have done the Star Wars double trilogy (twice), the first four Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Lord of the Rings extended trilogy, the X-Men movies up through Days of Future Past, Marvel phase I, Marvel phase II, and the Harry Potter series (which took a day and a half). This year, I thought that I would revisit one of my favorite movie franchises (well, at least on the even numbers): the original cast Star Trek movies (I-VI).

As these movies actually have a total run time that is shorter than any of the previously mentioned marathons (although the Pirates series is close), this year's run will start and end at respectable hours. The current plan looks like this:

Saturday, December 23, 2017
8:15 AM to 10:30 AM Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2h 12m)
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1h 53m)
12:30 PM to 1:00 PM Break for lunch
1:00 PM to 2:45 PM Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1h 45m)
2:45 PM to 4:45 PM Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1h 59m)
4:45 PM to 5:30 PM Break for dinner
5:30 PM to 7:15 PM Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1h 47m)
7:15 PM to 9:15 PM Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1h 53m)

Yes, I plan on watching the first and fifth ones. For all of their bad moments, there were good ones too. Although I don't like III (even with Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon), it is the bridge between the amazing II and IV, and even has repercussions in VI.

I haven't seen these movies (except for maybe II and IV) in over a decade, and thus had to order their DVDs (well, blu-rays). I saw each of these movies in the theater as they came out, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Black Friday 2017

11/24/2017

I set my alarm for 4AM, but had a restless night's sleep so I ended up actually fully waking up about fifteen minutes before then. This allowed me to get to Freddy's soon after their doors opened. The place was more crowded than I expected, but I was still able to find what I wanted and get out without much hassle. I decided against a few of the specials I originally planned on, but ended up finding several unexpected gems. However, I would later discover that I did not get the full sale advantage that was available to me.

From Freddy's, I went to Walmart (a place I usually avoid) to find the parking lot eerily empty. It was to the point that, had I not known better, I would have thought the store was closed. Here, I did not find most of what I was looking for, but did get a large variety of movies for impressive discounts. From there I went home with one of my smallest Black Friday totals that I can remember.

Yet that was not the end of my shopping. Janelle requested that I go shopping with her and then drop her off at work. We went to JoAnn's and bought out their supply of tulle for decorating Katrina's wedding reception (we also picked up white LED lights later for that purpose). From there we went to Freddy's. I managed to correct my earlier error (to a nearly $40 savings ... on top of the other savings, making the total less than 1/4 of the normal price total), and Janelle crossed a large number of items from her list of items to get.

Having dropped Janelle off, I returned home to have a hasty lunch with the boys before we went back to Kenai to watch the new Justice League movie. The theater was nearly empty, but those who were there made a good audience. I came out of the movie completely willing to see it again. While I understand (and even agreed with; especially poor and overwrought CGI) a lot of the criticism around the film, I truly enjoyed watching it and left feeling more hopeful for the DC movie universe's future.

Back at home, the boys and I went sledding. It's supposed to be sub-zero tomorrow, but it was in the mid twenties (if windy) today, so I figured it was a good day for us to be out. As our run still has a lot of powder after the last snowfall, we didn't get all the way to the ditch; however, Connor did manage to get quite a ways down the run while standing on our new "boogie board."

The boys and I had another dinner of the amazing Thanksgiving foods from Wednesday. We also watched the final two episodes of season 4 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. That show has just continued to impress me. I am so grateful that we decided to give it a third try after its lackluster first season (and beginning of its 2nd season). Now we need to come up with something else to watch while Janelle is away.

I then returned to Freddy's for a third time to pick up Janelle. While working, she came up with more things to get (partially by noting what was on sale as she was working the checkout). Among them included a new winter coat for me (a $200 coat which I picked up for $60), as well as pillows and towels for the cabin. Even with the multiple trips, I think this was one of our more economical Black Fridays in my memory.

It has also been a long day. I certainly plan to sleep in tomorrow.

Thanksgiving 2017

11/23/2017

Thanksgiving is an amazing holiday. While we should certainly be thankful every day, Thanksgiving asks us to look back on the past year and recognize those people and events that helped make that year better. It is a holiday born from adversity. Thanksgiving was made a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. During the time of America's bloodiest war, we were asked as a nation to reflect and give thanks.

These are some of the things from this year for which I am thankful:

The continued love and support of my family whom I love so much.
Our growing connections with friends as well as the opportunities we have had to make new friends.
My new position at Soldotna High School as an English and history teacher.
The new friends I made at my Walden Residency.
Getting to see my friends at the AP World History test reading.
The friends and family who have helped my daughters as they pursue their degrees in Michigan.
Getting to see, and camp on, the Homer Spit for the first time.
That this autumn has been a snow-fall.

I am certain that there are more, but I am tired and I plan on getting up early tomorrow to wallow in hedonistic consumerism ... an opportunity for which I am also thankful.

Thanksgiving Break

11/22/2017

As Janelle has to work tomorrow (a subject that causes me a great deal of anger), we had our family Thanksgiving dinner today. Last night, Janelle and I stayed up until nearly midnight getting the pies ready (she led; I played the role of Igor). She finished the rest of the food today, making an amazing spread.

We weren't the model family as we watched the first half of Fast and Furious 6 while we were eating, but we had fun nonetheless. We finished the rest of the movie upstairs (movies are more impressive to watch in our living room), stopping to get pie for the final scenes (that were on what is apparently the longest runway in the world). The meal and movie were both a big hit.

Unfortunately, Janelle works everyday during our break. Tomorrow, we are hanging out with the Chatty Catholics group from our church to celebrate Thanksgiving (Janelle will be joining us when she gets off work). On Friday, I plan on doing some "search and destroy" shopping; although, this is a time when I would like to have access to more stores without having to drive 3 hours. The boys and I might also go to watch Justice League sometime during this break. Otherwise, I plan on resting up, planning out the remainder of the semester, and putting up Christmas decorations.

It's not my ideal Thanksgiving break, but I plan to enjoy it anyway.

Melancholy

11/21/2017

It's okay to be sad. In fact, always showing a happy face in light of unhappy events would actually be a sign of being sociopathic (I read something similar in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and it has stuck with me ever since; I noticed that Pixar's Inside Out had a similar message). Our society is filled with pressures to be happy, and continually suggests that not being happy means that there is something wrong with us.

However, it is important to find balance in our emotions. By forcing ourselves to tuck away our "unpleasant" emotions, we fail to address them, or even embrace them. Now, I don't mean that wallowing in misery, anger, guilt, etc. is a good solution; that can be as much of a problem as a fake smile.

Instead, we should allow ourselves to explore our emotions, discover their roots, and find their edges. In doing so, we learn more about ourselves, and in learning more we can better accept ourselves for who we are. Hopefully, with a better understanding of our emotions, we can put them to better use, rather than continually being taken hostage by them.

This is not a way to say that I'm particularly sad at the moment (although I am missing my family and friends who are not near enough to visit, especially my daughters, and especially as we approach the holidays). Rather, I read "The Raven" to my class today. Poe had intentionally crafted the poem to capture the essence of "melancholy" as he felt the emotion was an example of something being so beautiful it brings us to tears. Perhaps it was his understanding and ability to express such an otherwise avoided emotion that made Poe so popular throughout the years.

... That and the whole creepy, cousin-marrying, social reclusive, mysterious vibe he had going.

Lost It

11/20/2017

I had a good post idea earlier yesterday, but as I did not have any viable means to record it in a way that I would remember it. As I was writing a religious post (since it was Sunday), I hoped to tuck the idea away and use it for today. I failed. I know that I've had the idea before and I know that it centers around a single word, like a philosophy or a brand. Every once and a while I get a flash of a visual image, like a sign or a logo. But that's it.

The only things coming to mind are grading, snow, shoveling, and Black Friday. Granted, I have reason to have all of them on my mind. I spent most of my spare time this weekend grading (due to the upcoming eligibility check) and shoveling (due to the as-promised snowstorm on Sunday). Meanwhile, I'm trying to plan out my search-and-destroy shopping list for Black Friday. Unfortunately, it looks like Walmart will be my primary destination. However, none of those are it.

I also am quite upset about Fred Meyer scheduling Janelle to work on Thanksgiving without any kind of asking first. I have an issue with stores being open then anyway, but even in cases when they are, they should be pulling from a pool of volunteers. Still, that's not the topic either.

No doubt, it will come to me again. Maybe next time, I can pull over to the side of the road and write it down.

The Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

11/19/2017

Today's Gospel was the parable about the talents, coins handed out by the master to three servants. Two of the servants took risks with the talents given to them and doubled the amount given to them originally. The master rewards them by allowing them to keep all they were given as well as what they earned. The third servant fears his master and hides the talent given to him so that he does not risk losing it. Rather than be rewarded, the servant is called lazy, stripped of his talent, and thrown out.

Our homily today was about the need to take risks, not unnecessary or dangerous risks, but risks that require us to push ourselves beyond our comfort zone. We need to use the talents that are given to us, or they will disappear when we need them. We need to try new things that broaden our minds and our spirits rather than stay in the comfortable ruts of routine.

I also noticed that the third servant believed his master to be a harsh and judging master, and so that is exactly what he received when it was time to face him. I believe that this is true for people and their relationship with God. Should they only focus on the harsh aspects of God, and act as harsh and judgemental in their own relationships, that will be the aspect of God that they will face. God's path is clear: if we want love, we must open ourselves to love and love in return; if we want mercy, we must open ourselves to forgiveness and forgive in return.

Winter Weather Advisory

11/18/2017

Our portion of the Kenai Peninsula is under a winter weather advisory from 3 AM to 4 PM tomorrow (Sunday, November 19th). Depending on the news affiliate, we are looking at 3-5 or 5-8 inches of snow through that period with winds up to 30 mph (closer to the coast) which will considerably reduce visibility. Hopefully, everyone drives safely.

While I am quite excited about this due to my fondness for snow, I am a little concerned about the timing. I'm playing guitar and leading the children's choir for mass. I have a feeling that it will probably just be me and the boys; although Janelle is concerned about any of us going at all.

The roads will certainly not be plowed. There is a chance of the choice being taken completely out of our hands if the accumulation reaches the higher mark. Thankfully, Janelle did have the studded tires put on the van this past Friday, so we will have better traction for the drive.

Currently, my plan is to get up and ready earlier than we usually do on Sundays so we can better assess the situation and shovel at least a driving path down our driveway.

At least the sledding will be even better.

More Sledding

11/17/2017

The snow made a satisfying squeaky crunch today as I walked up our sledding hill. Our latest attempt nearly made it to the end of the run and the ditch that marks it. Rowen had rolled off before the end again, which was just enough force to break our momentum before the final incline. Yet we were determined certain we could make it. I had already done so, sledding solo with a jogging start before I jumped on the sled. We were attempting to get all three of us there together.

It was Connor's idea that all of us lay on our bellies on a single sled, stacked like flapjacks. We didn't all fit on a single sled when sitting normally, and putting two sleds together (with the person in the middle sitting on one sled backwards with his feet on the other) was only getting us about halfway down the hill before we jackknifed--that is, when Rowen wasn't steering us into the woods even sooner. However, our last three attempts in the flapjack configuration had all ended with Rowen rolling off before the end of the run.

I was certain I had the solution.

Once again, I lined up the black sled, making certain its bottom fin was in the correct groove--too much to the left had us follow the curve of the hill into the woods, while too much to the right shot us directly into the sapling that seemed to have magnetic powers. I lowered myself onto the sled, my knees fitting within the lip of the stern and my chest just shy of the bow so that my chin reached just past the edge of the sled. My shoulders were free of the sled so I could use my hands and arms for the initial propulsion and for steering.

I had barely situated before I felt Connor's weight on my back. My chest pushed into the sled so that I could feel the shape of my coat's pockets. Our sled ground slightly farther into the snow as Rowen laid on Connor. I could already feel him swaying a bit on top. I knew he would fall off if we did not make an adjustment.

"Connor, put your legs on the outside of mine. ... Good. Now, Rowen, put your legs straight between Connor's."

I immediately felt the difference, and knew we could make it down if we could just slide true. With the angle of the hill being slightly askew of the angle of the sled run, sliding true meant hitting the initial slope just right and then steering a bit to the right. However, we had to steer using just enough drag that we could make the turn, but not pass the last incline before the ditch at the end of the run. We could be off by a little bit one way or the other, but not by much.

We went through our "ready protocol" with Rowen saying "ready" first, followed by Connor. I immediately started moving us forward by reaching ahead and pulling the sled forward. As we cleared the ridge, I knew we were sliding faster than we had before, and that we were headed slightly off course to the left. I put out my right arm just short of perpendicular to my body and slid my hand along the icy run. The process sent up a small spray of ice into the air behind us. Meanwhile I pumped my left arm, reaching as far ahead of me as I could and pushing until my arm was all the way down my body, repeating the process in quick, strong strokes.

It worked, and we stayed on the hardened path in the middle of our sled run. I tucked my elbows in and placed my hands on the bow to make more subtle steering adjustments as needed. Rowen stayed securely on; I could tell because the pressure on my chest had not lessened as it had on the earlier tries.

As fast as we started, we were certainly slowing down. Even though we were farther than any of our previous attempts, I feared that my turning maneuver might have caused enough drag that we would not make it the entire way. Both of the boys had been cheering on the way down; now Connor was yelling for the sled to "Come on!"

The sled was slowing to a crawl, but the lip was just within reach. I debated "cheating" and using my arms to pull us that little extra distance, but I decided to wait just a bit longer to see what would happen. Just when I thought I would have to untuck my arms, we crossed the invisible line that allowed gravity to take over again, sliding us quickly down the slope of the ditch.

The other side of ditch (which is nearly as tall as I am) sped towards us. I pulled up hard on the front of the sled to use it as a shield against the stems of the shrubs that I do not dare to mow. We slid partly up the wall, and then back down to the bottom of the ditch, the boys cheering in excitement and victory.

We then ran back up the run to do it again.