SerendipityWalker's Xanga

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:04:06 GMT

Anyone know what happened to Stixandstonz' blog? I hope everything is okay -- during the busy-busy semester, I miss things that are going on here at Xanga. Seems to be less and less.

Good thoughts and love to all of you who are and have been part of my Xanga experience over the years.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:44:10 GMT

My geology professor shared this 90 min video with us in class. It's important enough to pass on -- everyone should see it, I think. When you have time, please watch.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:04:14 GMT

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect intended us to forgo their use."

Galileo Galilei Quoted in Des MacHale, Wisdom (London, 2002)

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:49:20 GMT

For Michael on his birthday.

30 Years!

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:12:51 GMT

About.com says that Diamonds or Pearls are the gifts we should give each other for our 30th year together, (did you know my middle name means Pearl? My first and middle name together mean Pure Pearl...not so very apt, methinks,but anyway...) but we've decided the appropriate gift is good BBQ. Thanks to last year's bout with unemployment coupled with my plunge back into academia, we'll be keeping it short and sweet, but we're headed for Houston this weekend. We have long-time and newer friends there, and I've been promised the best BBQ in the country at a little place called the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church BBQ! I foresee lots of discussion as to whether it's the sauce or the way the cooks smoke the meat that makes good BBQ, maybe some good-natured debate as to the merits of Mesquite vs fruitwoods or hickory, lots of laughing and reminiscing.

My best friend from my graduating class at VanCleave lives just outside Houston, so we'll spend lots of time with him, and a friend we met first in Istaria and still later in Middle Earth is the Man with the BBQ Plan. We've never actually seen each other in person, so even though we've been talking for years, this is like our first formal introduction. What a world we live in. It will be nice to just do something frivolous and fun for a change, and I'm so looking forward to it. Will put up pictures when we get back.

Si Beag Si Mor

Thu, 28 May 2009 17:31:13 GMT

Nice example of players in LotRO making music together. I love having time to go to Middle Earth again.
(no, I didn't witness this live, but wish I had. They play beautifully, now if only they could spell...)

The Sweetest Thing

Tue, 05 May 2009 19:18:21 GMT

Today was the last class for this semester. Thursday is the only Final Exam left to take, and if I can get at least an 85, then I'll have made an A in a class I worried that I'd never pass. Miracles do happen. And along the way, we find the sweetest people. The girl who sat next to me all semester is a lovely young lady from Puerto Rico, shy but so friendly and sincere. Today for the last day of class, she gave me this drawing.

I am grateful to find sweet people like Hazel in the world still. Every success to you as your life unfolds, Hazel. Thank you for being part of mine.

Missing you.

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:22:10 GMT

Always.

Still.

BTW, Off the Wall...

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:12:17 GMT

I just want to take a few minutes out of my research and math practice to be incredulous. Granted, not everyone had the pleasure of living in the midst of a paper-mill forest, so they probably have no idea that making paper doesn't deplete the rainforest or anything like that. I did have that privelege. When I was finishing high school, way back when, my parents' property was adjacent to a huge forest owned and maintained by a nearby paper mill.

Living where I did, I learned first-hand that a paper mill grows acres and acres of fast-growing pine trees, maintaining a huge forest that they harvest selectively on a rotating basis, replanting each area after it's been harvested so that by the time the rotation is completed there will be tall trees again for the next harvest. This has the effect of constantly maintaining a living, breathing forest for years and years. The amount of biomass doesn't change, just the plant density in each section. And that forest is full of all the creatures that normally live in a forest, so it is actually a nicely managed, fully functioning ecosystem.

The thing that ignited my incredulity? This: "Chegg for Trees will ensure that a tree is planted in a needy area every time a textbook is rented via the Textbookflix.com service. Chegg is delivering this program in partnership with the newly founded Eco-Libris, an organization that seeks to balance out the trees cut down for the production of books by planting trees in developing countries."

While it may be good to plant trees in developing countries rather than cutting them down to make way for urban development, and I am in no way discouraging their practice, I think it's kind of dishonest to imply that making textbooks is depleting trees from the earth. I know otherwise.

Back to my regularly scheduled studying.

Afterword: I keep finding other less than positive comments about this same Chegg...
http://www.dewknight.com/2008/09/08/stay-away-from-chegg/
Too bad, because I otherwise liked the idea of 3rd-party textbook rental.

Just for Today

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:32:26 GMT

Just for today, O heart of mine, be brave --
The passing day is such a little while,
Your courage surely can endure so long!
Perhaps tomorrow at your fears you'll smile.
Just for today, be brave.

Just for today, O heart of mine, be true,
True to the things that you have counted best.
The heart that lives its high ideals today
Can hardly fail to meet tomorrow's test!
Just for today be true.

Just for today, O heart of mine, be glad --
Be good to live with; smile; put by your care;
Love life and friends and joy. if there's a cloud
Still trust tomorrow's skies to be more fair.
Just for today be glad.

Just for today, O heart of mine, be kind --
Have patience, nor refuse the helping hand;
Forbear to judge your brother's error now;
Tomorrow you may better understand.
Just for today be kind.

B.Y.Williams
(p 296, Between the Bookends with Ted Malone, 1942)