At Semester's End

It's almost here. I have NO finals this semester, and I am not complaining about that. It came about because I have two lab classes, senior design, a class with an optional final, a class with a "creative project," and fitness assessment. Of those six classes, I am completely done with fitness assessment, communication systems, and EP Lab. That leaves my main things left at my Sensor's Lab project and a bunch of stuff to do for Senior Design. I feel really drained, but by Monday my life should be a lot simpler.

Christmas

In past years of college I've never payed much attention to Christmas until two days before the event when finals were finally (ha, sorry) over. This year I've been more aware of its approach. Maybe it's because in two weeks I'll get to see my nephew for the first time. Or because we've gotten like, two feet of snow in the last week--more than we got in December and January combined last winter, and as an added bonus, the thermometer hasn't made it above twenty degrees since the November. It could be because I'm looking forward to seeing friends at break, or just because I discovered pandora radio (pandora.com), which allows the user to customize internet radio stations, and I've used it to make a rock-awesome Christmas music station. Maybe it's because a certain individual has been giving me and my house-mates Christmas decorations (a not-so-subtle hint :D) and a new toaster, which is amazing.

This finals week I may have zero finals. I do, however, have three projects and a senior design project to wrap up. The end is in sight though...

tests

So I took the GRE today. The nice thing about the GRE is that you get part of your score onsite since it's a computer based exam. A few people asked me if I was nervous or "ready" this morning. I'm not really sure how to answer that, "Um... Almost--got a dictionary I can memorize real quick?" Its not like a few hours of studying are really going to change my score, and I work off of the assumption that I'm pretty smart and I'll do okay. How did that work out, you ask? 800 out of 800 on the Quantitative (math) section. The other sections aren't quite as stellar, but good enough that anyone who considers GRE scores will give me a point or two above most people. That good news was almost enough for me to get over my frustration of bombing a test on Thursday...

Something you probably haven't seen before and won't see again (for good reason)

The power button on my mp3 player stopped working a few days ago. Having learned my lesson about discarding items too quickly and not having the funds to purchase a new one, I decided to try fixing it.

I discovered that the joint where one contact on the button had been soldered to circuit board came loose. I tried soldering it back on, but I found that fitting a soldering iron with a 1 mm diameter tip and solder into a .4 mm wide space doesn't work particularly well.

I had discovered that by putting pressure on the button from the correct side pressed the contacts together and caused it to work. So I folded up a scrap of paper and wadded it inside the case so that when I reassemble the device, the proper pressure was applied to the button. Thus, my mp3 works now-I just hope it lasts till Christmas.

Being A Senior

Tomorrow is UW-Platteville's "Fall Break." Which means we get Friday off of classes. I only have one class on Friday, but all 52 minutes of it are canceled and so I'm home tonight. At the Quik Mart in Platteville we stopped for gas and I saw a friend of mine. I said something about how that's a sign that I'm a senior-I run into friends at the gas station on my way out of town. Just as I finished vocalizing that thought, a car filled with 3-4 other people I know showed up. And before I made it in and out of the gas station (to procure a mountain dew slushy) I ran into two other people I know. I like people and I know a lot of people, and that makes me happy :D

Life is crazy but good.

So I spoke at Quest tonight...

and it was kinda crazy. I really wasn't that nervous and I got a lot of positive feedback. For anyone who isn't in the loop, Quest is InterVarsity's large group meeting. I spoke for ~30 minutes to a group of about a hundred or so students. I was responding to some street preachers who came to campus a couple weeks ago. They did know the gospel, but they presented it in a somewhat incomplete and a rather offensive manner. I talked about a couple things that they did/said that don't line up with Scripture and then talked about the challenge to us to be showing authentic Christianity. You can see my notes here if you're interested.

The deeper question that it raises for me is if this is something I could see myself doing a lot more of. I did enjoy it, but right now I don't think I'd be able to spend all day every day preparing for talks and such. I need to design an amplifier every now and then to keep me sane :).

Every now and then I'm reminded of a a time when I met a pastor who immediately began ask me what I wanted to do with my life. I was probable only about 13 at the time, but I was already thinking about being an engineer and said as much. His response? "I went to school for engineering and now I'm a pastor." I still wonder if that short interchange will end up coming true.

Joy and Happiness

Different things make different people happy. This weekend I was floating pretty happily because I aced a test and a prelab for my comm class, one of my most challenging this semester. I enjoy my academic work when I do well. Other people don't care much about school.

Some people were happy because the bears beat the packers or were sad because the packers lost to the bears; I didn't even know they were playing until the game had already started and couldn't care less about who wins (although I was disappointed to find that one of my roommates is a bears' fan).

Sometimes having free time to watch a tv show makes me happy, sometimes lifting weights makes me happy, sometimes it's a phone conversation, or hanging out with some friends, or meeting a new person.

But sometimes hanging out with friends ends up depressing me... kinda weird.

Sometimes blogging seems like a chore (like the last week when I didn't blog) and sometimes it feels great (like now).

I really have no idea what I'm saying, I guess I'm trying to get back to the point that its important to keep everything in perspective: With any luck I'll be dead in 60 years or so, and most of the things that seem so important now will hardly matter.

Theology is in the Air

For the last three consecutive days we've had friendly neighborhood street preachers outside the students center. It makes things pretty interesting. This afternoon there was a crowd of close to 50 people gathered around one of them. Some were there to mock him; others to justify their faith; others to observe. I hung around for a while to see what gospel was being preached and looking for opportunities to start spiritual conversations. All in all I have a very mixed view on the preachers' presence here, but I do know that whatever gospel they preach, it gives me opportunities to communicate the truth. I also realize that there are MANY MANY people who are interested in spiritual things and I should never relax, "Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that you have."

Busy! but not...

I just got hired by tech services here on campus. My job is to do set up, backstage work, and tear down for shows at the theater and other random events on campus. Yesterday we had our scheduling meeting and I somehow ended signing up for 35 hours of work over two weeks. Scream? Actually I have time to write this right now instead of doing homework because I'm fairly sure the only homework I have to do yet this week is study for a test on Thursday, so I think I'll be okay. This morning I worked a few hours setting up lights for a show. It's pretty crazy how heavy power cables are...

I has cell phone (and other stories)

Well I discovered that I and my roommates could save a large quantity of money by changing our internet service to being just internet and no land line phone. Thusly, I was forced into getting a cell phone (tear). I was able to join the Cherney's family plan, so it's a bit cheaper than other national plans and a lot more minutes per month. It would be even cheaper if I could find another person who needs a phone though (hint hint).

I've decided that the book of Psalms is pretty much amazing. My latest rediscovery is Psalm 62, another one of those "safe feeling" Psalms.

This semester is a bit different than others. I'm crazy busy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but I only have one class on Friday. So by 2pm on Thursday, I feel like my weekend has practically started. It good for time to get things done, go disc golfing, take a nap, and other random stuff, but a feeling of impending doom rises on Sunday night.

I changed the title on my blog because I got tired of the old one, but I still haven't thought of anything good so I just did my best to be clever.

I went to see Stardust this afternoon with a new friend and an old one. I didn't expect much, so I enjoyed it quite a bit :). It turned out to be pretty clever and entertaining at bits and the guy got the girl in the end. So aside from the expected crudeness (light for a PG-13 movie, actually), it is a pretty decent film.

My modification of my project from last semester is almost done. I spent a couple hours on Friday soldering and the code is almost done. Just a few minor changes and get the timing down so the clock keeps good time and I'll be all set.

I've had my phone for three days now and I've talked on it for just over 2.5 hours already--glad I didn't get a prepaid phone.

Sorry if you were expecting something deep tonight, I'm too tired to think about anything very hard, I was working on advertising for Cross Training (InterVarsity Fall Conference), so my brain is shot now.

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields ^[b] with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

Tonight Zach, BP and I had our "wing meeting." We talked about a bunch of little things ("why is the fan in the bathroom always on?") and then studied Psalm 46. BP had a different translation that instead of "Be still and know that I am God" said "Cease striving..." That gave me the picture of a drowning person who is desperately struggling to stay afloat while his would-be rescuer tries to save him in spite of his frantic efforts to save himself. When we let go and trust God, things end up getting a lot easier.

Thought number two: After reading the passage together a few times, I said "I wish I was that guy, it sounds so safe!" In truth, I am that guy, I just don't live like it.

Things are Happening

I have to get up at six tomorrow morning, so I have to make this quick, but I need to at least cover a couple things that have been happening that maybe I'll expand on later.

A few days ago BP and Zach were going through the drawers in the kitchen (add more here later)

Last night Zach, BP, Megan, Hannah, and myself made a Walmart run for food and other household items. When we got home we realized that we had to clean out the freezer to make room for our food. That led to the Refrigerator as well. An hour and a half later, we had discarded an incredible number of ancient and inedible items including multiple containers of salsa and ketchup, artichoke hearts, and some meat that was dated April.... of 2004. That meat was placed in our freezer before I graduated from high school. I have some sweet pictures that I'll post later.

Tonight Zach and Hannah went to town on the rest of the kitchen, even down to scrubbing the floor with whatever weapons of cleanliness that they could locate. BP tackled the basement and I took on some miscellaneous sweeping jobs. Mega was MIA.

Back in P-Vegas, baby!

Being a Senior is pretty cool. I'm recognizing people all over the place, especially since most underclassmen haven't arrived yet.

1. Four people at the grocery store
2. Guy at the career center desk
3. Guy at the library desk
4. Guy at the computer lab help desk
5. Bunch of people while wandering around campus.

Tuesday when I went to Otts I ended up talking to our lab manager and one of the EP professors about my summer for close to an hour.

Life is crazy at the house I'm living in this year because the three guys who lived there last year are still in the process of moving out and me and my two roommates are moving in, so stuff is everywhere. It is wonderful to be back in the midst of old friends though. I don't have internet at the house yet, but hopefully it will be set up on Friday.

To Cell, or Not to Cell

So I've been looking seriously into getting a cell phone. Yesterday I spent a couple hours on the net and finally found the best bargain prepaid phone I could. I didn't buy it immediately because part of the deal included that the phone is "reconditioned" and until I know what that means I'm not going to pay out a ton of money for it. Last night I was thinking about a number of things, one of them being this cell phone deal. The cost still comes out to approximately 15 cents a minute for calls. So I started thinking, "Is a ten minute phone call really worth $1.50 to me? Is a twenty minute phone call worth $3?" I can make a meal for two or three bucks, is that the same value as a phone call?

The reason I've resurrected this idea is for the sake of staying in touch with people better while I'm living off campus. I'll be spending more time on campus and for the sake of being available to people and getting a hold of new friends and old ones, it's tempting to get a cell phone. Half the convenience is having a digital phone book that you carry with you.

But in another year I will probably be making a lot more money and will be able to afford a cell phone more easily. I've made it three years of college without a cell phone and I'm sure I could survive a fourth.

Preparation

The last few days I've been acquiring furniture and such for living off campus this year. I head down to Platteville in just over a week. Today I procured a desk and a dresser and I have a mattress to get too. I also picked up two old floor speakers and an old receiver at a rummage sale and have been having lots of fun with them. It's a bit exciting to start getting my own furniture and begin the process of moving out of the nest officially (sorry mom). I'm 21 years old and have one year of school left. I may not be a mature fount of wisdom yet, but I'm ready to be independent and it's cool to be moving in that direction.

New Plan

It seems like it'd be easier to blog a little more often in smaller posts than to do a long post every now and then.

Today's thought is about the song "Blessed be the Name."

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

It's easy to bless the name of the Lord when I'm surrounded by Christian friends at church or camp. When the sun is shining. But when you think of this song when times are hard, "when the darkness closes in," it isn't quite as easy. If you sing this song as I have, you have made a promise, as I have, to continue to praise God no matter what your circumstances are. I thought of it today when my mom was talking about how difficult it was to say goodbye to my sister, her husband, and her 6 week old child. She mentioned the importance of believing in God's promises. Many times in the last couple years I've been reminded of this song in a time of duress, and forced myself to respond: My heart will choose to say/Lord, Blessed be your name.

So much for a short post :D

Is this the end?

Well, I've been home now for just over a week, so I guess I can't keep blogging under this title. Although UD is still around and I am still producing thoughts, these thoughts are not emanating from UD anymore, so I'm going to have to either stop blogging or change the name of the blog. Thank you all for reading and the feedback you've given.

Today I met with Kori Cherney, my IV staff worker, to continue planning small group goodness for the fall semester. The time we spent went really well. My excitement (if that is an appropriate word) for the coming semester continues to grow.

I also went through my mail today and discovered that last June the bank changed my savings account terms and has been charging me $4.00 a month for having a low balance for over a year. Two lessons can be learned I suppose.

1. There is a reason to open all those blasted mailings from the bank, they will occasionally have important information.

2. Don't let little mistakes bother you. Do your best to prevent them, but don't spend the rest of the day beating yourself up about it.


And lastly today, an example of clever wordsmithing from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

"Aurther Dent woke up and instantly regretted it."

I'd like to think that I'll change the name of my blog and keep going as my life continues, but I can't say for sure, so check back every now and then if you feel like it, the web address won't change.

Future (eyes wide open)

Yesterday my professor and physics lab manager from UWP flew in. We spent all day today touring labs and talking to people about their research, our research, and plans for the future. I have a stomach full of excellent food, a fridge full of leftovers, and a mind full of an interwoven, interconnected, and unorganized assortment of ideas (try saying that out loud 10x faster).

What does the future hold for me? Do I want to go to University of Central Florida and then work for NASA, North Carolina State University and work for Intel, University of Dayton and work for the Air Force, Urbana-Champagne, Michigan State, Penn State, UW-Madison? Am I interested enough in optics to spend two years of my life and more learning and working in that field? Do I want to head for digital electronics? Do I really even want to go to grad school? How is it that I enjoy chipping paint, breaking old furniture, picking up trash, and washing dishes at the gospel mission as much as I like designing waveguides, filters, and learning about nanofabrication at the university?

There are two worlds and I cannot commit to both of them.

Have I come this far in Engineering merely for the purpose of having a choice? Ten years from now I might be saying "I could have gotten a masters, I could have gotten a job earning six figures, driven a BMW, and joined the ranks of the MENSA-qualified academic elite. But instead I'm doing _____ for the cause of Christ and I don't regret that choice for a second." Or I could plunge into this world of $400k SEMs (scanning electron microscope with 800,000x mag) and multi-million dollar laboratories where the goal is to complete projects, get better equipment, win contracts, and make more money. I respect those who do such things, but I abhor the idea of making it my life. Can my career be engineering and my life be something else? Am I to take this knowledge and go on in my career with my eyes wide open, hating and fearing the possibility of losing sight of what is truly important in life?

One can strive all his life and gain nothing, only to realize that he already had what he was searching for.

In my fatigued and unhealthy (getting a cold again :/ ) condition, I think the best I have for tonight is to keep my eyes open wide. The obvious direction I have is to spread my resume around a little and check out grad schools, so that's what I'll do. I'll also keep looking out for other possibilities, and I know God won't expect me to do anything without showing me first.

The Project

Josh and I have finally started working on Dr. Li's project in earnest now. I'm going to describe the process we'll be going through sometime in the next year.

1. Deposit a um of silver on an SiO2 (glass) substrate.
2. Use an EM field to cause the SiO2 to essentially absorb the silver through ion exchange and "dope" the surface of the glass with silver. This will create a waveguide for light so that a laser shown at the surface will travel along the surface of the substrate.
3. Lithography: Use a photoresist, a mask, and some method of etching to cut away the doped glass to create individual narrow channels. The current mask design will have 24 waveguides, but that may change before it's actually made.
4. Electron-Beam Lithography : Use an electronresist and an E-beam lithographer to Etch different structures into each waveguide. The photo lithography will have features as small as 3 um, With E-Beam lithography we can get down below 100 nm if necessary.
5. Shine different frequency lasers through each waveguide and find out if certain wavelengths have 100% transmission.

The downside to this picking up is that I haven't been able to spend as much time at the mission in the last few days. The upside is that I am more excited about what we're doing than I have been all summer.

Yesterday we toured the Air Force Research Lab where several UD graduates work. It was exciting to see their rather extensive facilities and I was able to understand at least 90% of what the person giving us the tour said to us. I realized that I have learned quite a bit this summer and can picture myself going to grad school for nanofabrication, whether Optics or EE I'm still not sure. I have a few good schools to investigate though. U of Urbana-Champagne in Illinois, North Carolina State University, University of Central Florida, and a Michigan State University all have large clean room facilities and good programs (or so I've been told).

In other news, the rear derailler on my bike needs to be replaced and I'd much rather buy a road bike, so if you know someone who has a decent road bike that they want to get ride of for cheap, let me know :D.

Pictures

Well I haven't blogged in a while so here's some pictures from around the Gospel Mission:
The house we cleaned up: Before and

After

A sideways picture of Mike, the king of the kitchen

Marigold, a semi-offical mission cat

A few guys digging a post hole. Jackie and Jeremy are the two young men there. They are paid by the city to help out and their work ethic is rather lacking, so pray for them.

By my account I just broke the 60 hour mark working there. Today I got to climb around on scaffolding scraping in preparation for painting. It continues to be a blessing to me to be able to help out there and be a part of God's ministry to the poor in Dayton.

I now have less than two weeks left here so it seems like I should have a significant closing thought or two, but I don't (yet).

KTHXBIE

King's Island

Yesterday I went to King's Island, an amusement park just east of Cincinnati with a bunch of international students. I spent the day with eight French-speaking students (mostly from France, one from Morocco and one from Nigeria). I knew six of them pretty well, so I was very much a part of the group despite knowing very little French. There was one point where Marlene said something in French and I said "What?" and she repeated it in French a little more loudly as if the problem was that I hadn't heard it the first time :D. I take that as a complement that they don't necessarily remember that I don't have their language in common with them. In case you're wondering, I took that picture from the park's mini Eiffel Tower and that is the Vortex, one of their largest roller coasters and one that we rode and enjoyed.

Before yesterday I'd been on a grand total of one (1) roller coaster, and that was a solid twelve (12) or more (+) years ago, so in addition to spending the whole day with non-Americans, the whole death-defying speed thing was a pretty new experience. I went on five roller coasters and four watery dealies, and... yeah. I took a couple videos, but they were on the two wooden roller coasters, so the vids are really bumpy. Fun day though.

Today I spent a lot of time thinking about how relatively isolated from the body of Christ I've been this summer. I've found more friendship at parties where underage drinking, flirting, and smoking abound than at some churches. Part of my reaction is frustration with the body of Christ, and I believe rightly so. But I also know that God allowed this to happen, and it has required me to "fly solo" in my walk with Christ more than I ever have before. I don't recommend doing that by choice, but it has unique opportunities for growth.

Working at The Gospel Mission...

Is pretty much amazing. TGM is a soup kitchen/other ministries center for the Dayton Area. I helped out there a week ago Saturday and last Saturday and today I went in for the morning. I wash dishes, mow, weed wack (today), and pick up food donations from a nearby hospital. Reasons it's awesome:

1. They're located about two miles from UD, so it's only a short bike ride to get there.
2. It's an opportunity to aid an important ministry--helping others in the name of Christ.
3. I get to work hard, something that I enjoy doing but only do when I have tasks given to me.
4. I get a free lunch that is usually quite tasty and is always healthy... and did I mention that it's free?
5. I can be blessed and bless others with fellowship with other believers.

When I remember to get my camera out of the clean room I'll take it along and take pictures, so for now my verbal description will have to do.

I'm an Uncle

As of 7:00 am Friday morning, Christian Knauss has arrived. He got a steroid shot about six weeks ago because there was a possibility of premature birth, so he's already quite developed as you can see from the picture.On a more serious note, his arrival is a reminder that I'm getting older. You know all the family reunion pictures from when I was little? Okay, so maybe you don't. Work with me! Soon I'm going to be the uncle in those pictures instead of one of the little kids (Hopefully the cool, fun uncle, or one of two cool, fun uncles :). Life moves on, and here is another step away from being a kid and towards being an adult.

"What's Another Way of putting it?"

So last night I went to a drive-in movie theater. Another new experience for me while here in Dayton. On the way pretty much out of the blue someone in the car asked me a question.

"So are you really into your faith?"
"I guess that's one way of putting it, yeah."
"Well what's another way of putting it?"

I really didn't know how to respond. This is part of the issue that I've been thinking about for a couple years now. What is it that separates me from those who say they believe the same thing but live their lives differently? I stalled for time and we were interrupted so I had a bit more time to think about it. When we got back to the conversation I just gave her the whole deal. In brief, I said that I believe that I'm saved by my belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and in response to God's love towards me, I strive to serve him (In retrospect, I unfortunately left the work of the Holy Spirit completely out).

How would you answer that question?

Subtle Racism

Check out this Link for an interesting story about an unjust criticism of a black Supreme Court Judge.

Happy Independence Day

Hey everyone, happy 4th! I took this picture on Sunday night, which is when the Dayton fireworks were. One of my thoughts about this summer was that I might end up with nothing to do and feel lonely on the 4th. Well... last night I went to a 21st birthday party for one of the guys I play ultimate with. Today I went "Cabrewing," a canoe trip on which some people bring beer. It started pouring rain towards the end, which made it quite an adventure. I also could have hung out with friends from a Bible study I'm in. Later today we may go see the fireworks in Centerville (a nearby town), but for now I'm going to get a little r & r.

It's Me

So I haven't blogged in a while. My life has settled down into a bit of routine now. I still have quite a bit of free time and I'm gradually figuring out how to fill it. Yesterday I got a Java textbook so hopefully I'll stay motivated to crack that open and take some time to learn Java this summer. On Monday I heard about a soup kitchen call the The Gospel Mission that is quite close to UD that needs volunteers, so I'm going to go over there tomorrow and help out and possibly set up more times that I can assist. I now have all of I John 1 memorized and about half of chapter 2, making a little progress every day.

Today is volleyball day. Every Friday a bunch of Arab students play volleyball all evening with whoever else shows up. Last week it was 10-15 Arabs, a French student, a Puerto Rican, a Chinese student, and half a dozen or so Americans. We divide into roughly four teams and rotate. Last week someone brought a rather ornate Hookah, which I now know is a method of smoking tobacco that is healthier than cigarettes and smells quite sweet (My asthma served as an easy way to avoid trying it myself). It's great fun, so I'm looking forward to it again this evening, assuming it doesn't rain.

My inspiration for blogging today was a random thought that I had. When someone I'm with calls someone on the phone and they start the conversation with "Hi, it's me" or just "It's me" and then go right into what they were calling about, I know that they know the person they are calling well. Often it's a spouse or girlfriend. Sometimes it's just someone they've been talking to a lot lately. Whoever it is, I know that those two have a strong relationship. When they talk, they have no need to identify themselves explicitly because those two words are enough for the hearer to know who is calling. God knows us so well that all we have to say is "Hi God, it's me" and he knows who's calling.

Rereading this, I'm afraid that what I was trying to communicate was lost in the words that I used, but I hope you understand at least partially my attempt to illustrate God's intimate knowledge of who we are and his eagerness to have a close enough relationship with us that all we have to say is

"Hey, it's me..."

Pictures

A while ago I had a request from my mother for a few pictures of UD so here's a few that I've taken from around and about. There are more on Facebook if you're interested.

The view from my window


Josh and I by the fancy entrance


Julio and I looking thoughtful

The exact photo requested: Me with the big UD sign


The view as we come out of the science building


This is part of the hill we bike up every day after work/class


Emily and Josh in the clean room

Locked Doors Bug Me (when my keys are on the other side)

So when that little switch at the bottom is flipped my door locks. That's fine with me except that when I unlock my door the switch doesn't flip back...

That lead me to the situation of the morning. Last night when I got back I unlocked my door and went to bed. This morning I got up and went outside for a minute. The wind blew the door shut and there I was, no keys. It cost me ten bucks to get my door unlocked so my immediate resolution was to make sure that this was never going to happen again. First I removed the panel over the switch and tryed using duct tape to fasten it down. That worked exceeding well. So well in fact, that the door wouldn't even lock. Next I decided to try to make a jimmy out of a coat hanger. I stepped outside and closed the door to test if the coat hanger would fit in between and lo and behold! The door was locked, I was on the outside, and my keys were on the inside, again.

I had three choices.
1. Make the jimmy and hope it works. My pliers were inside my room, dang it!
2. See if by random luck (or blessing) Josh's key happened to open my door.
3. Go pay another ten dollars five minutes after I locked myself out the first time.

I went to see if Josh had pliers, nope. I tried bending the coat hanger using my knife (that I somehow had even though I didn't have my keys), didn't quite work. So I borrowed Josh's key and my door opened right up, I guess God does have a sense of humor. After that, I put my keys in my pocket and made and tested my jimmy, shown below. It works pretty well so I hid it outside my room so that I will NOT get locked out of my room again this summer.

Jon showed us some bike trails (for better or for worse :)

In the last two days I biked about 55 miles. That isn't far for hardcore bicyclists, but I hadn't ridden my bike much since college started, so my legs are a bit sore today. On Sunday morning I ended up riding quite a ways (13 miles) to get to church. Then that evening Josh, Jon, Jon's roommate and I rode around a bit. Jon showed us a trail that starts about a half-mile from campus and connects to a network of trails that go all different directions. In addition to being a fairly well maintained bike trail, there's some really nice woodsy parts around and much of the path goes along a river, so it's a nice ride. Sunday night I had a blast riding around and talking and stopping at picturesque spots (+14 miles). So yesterday Josh and I decided to go out again to get some exercise. This time we went hard and fast for miles, 27.5 miles in just over two hours. Now in high school once I rode just over 30 miles in one day, but that included a break for lunch and a much slower pace, so I'd call this my most challenging bike trip yet. In July there's a bike trip to raise money for some good cause that I can't remember at the moment that I may participate in. That trip is about 150 miles in two days. So I have a long ways to go if I'm going to get in shape.

Church Adventure

I decided to go to Apex Community Church this Sunday because it had been recommended to me by a couple of people and I briefly met two student age people who go there. It's a five mile bike ride to get there, which is a bit long for a Sunday morning, but I figured I'd do it once and hopefully meet someone who lives in my area that I'd be able to mooch rides from in the future. Another factor was that they have an 11:15 am service, which is conducive to sleeping in after a late night. So I set out this morning on my bike with a map in my head including the street the building is on, major streets I'd cross, and the big street before it and the one after. After riding 6.5 miles, I concluded that I had somehow missed it and so I went back about a mile to another church I had passed that looked friendly. (It turned out I had ridden right past it and that it was just down the street from the one I went to)

So I went in and managed to catch most of the sermon. After the sermon the teaching pastor spent quite a bit of time talking about their new building project. The pastor was responding to a possible lack of commitment of the congregation to supporting the project financially. Part of what the pastor shared indicated that he saw the new building as an evangelism project.

Afterwards, I seriously considered walking up to him and asking "How will the new building aid/improve/strengthen your church's efforts at evangelism?" From my perspective there was nothing wrong with their current building (which is probably incorrect to some degree), and in my humble opinion American Christians spend too much on building temples unto themselves instead of treasures in heaven. The other interesting aspect was that after the service I waited around for a few minutes. I managed to make eye contact with less than half a dozen people, and two people greeted me verbally in passing. I could see that the people in that church have excellent families, good relationships with one another, and from all appearances are a growing body of believers. I really don't mean to knock them because I imagine that if I attended the college Sunday school I would have met some people and gotten rooted in a little better. I also might have been greeted had I been on time. But if the only welcoming thing about that church that I experienced is the big banner by the door proclaiming "Welcome" to all who enter (actually I didn't notice it until my way out. Irony, anyone?), I don't see how getting a new building is going to turn the church into a bunch of evangelists. The next question that I ask myself is would I be any different from these people at a church that I was a regular attender? And to be honest I would probably be no different.

What if instead of building a new building they took that 6.5 million dollar project and used it to send medicine, Bibles, and food to needy churches in Africa? What if they used it to support native missionaries in India? What if they sent it to Russia, where instead of one hundred and seventy-five baptist churches in Dayton, Ohio there are less than one hundred churches in a province larger than the state of Ohio?

I'm reminded of a (true) story I heard from someone I personally know who visited a church in Russia. The small body of 100 or so believers have no plumbing in their church. The bathrooms are quite literally a small outside building with a dirt floor and a hole in the ground. Quite uncomfortable, to say nothing of the bitter cold in the winter. A few women of the church asked the elders if they could get indoor plumbing and install proper toilets. They did some research and found that they could do so for the same amount of money it takes for them to send one missionary to another city to start another church. They concluded that before God they COULD NOT spend money on indoor plumbing instead of sending another missionary. 80% of their annual budget is spend on sending missionaries and so they pee in a hole in the ground for the cause of Christ.

I'm not saying that it's wrong for churches here to have indoor plumbing, but sometimes it almost disgusts me how nice churches are. Is God glorified by a beautiful building with a state-of-the-art sound system with subwoofers built into the stage? Perhaps. But God IS glorified by people who sacrifice earthly comforts for the sake of reaching the lost. Yes, there is a balance, but it seems to me that in America we err on the side of comfort all too often. I'm not positive what I'm even saying here. But it seems to me that there is a problem with the church in America and the experience that I had this morning is a good example of that problem.

Let me try a summary statement: American Christians are too concerned about themselves and about having nice things and should be more focused on reaching out to those around them and using their finances to further Christ's kingdom.

A Wild Weekend (well, at least for me:)

This weekend I hung out with Josh, Julio, and a couple other people they knew. On Friday night, I went to what could probably be called a stereotypical party. Ten or twelve of us ended up chilling at someone's apartment where the main activity was ingesting alcoholic beverages and the goal of at least some of those present was to get wasted. This however, was not my goal, so I limited my intake and watched events unfold. In retrospect, I don't think it was a bad thing for me to do. I had a good conversation with a guy from Kenya, discovered that I don't like cheap red wine (at all), strengthened a few relationships, and had some fun while I was at it.

Saturday night Josh, Julio (a cool guy on our floor), and Jon (a cool guy in our building), went to see two independent band play at a bar. I didn't drink anything stronger than water in part because things were expensive and in part because I just didn't feel like it, so I drove home :D. This night I had a really in-depth conversation with Jon that started because he has been to Africa and I am hoping to go next summer.

If due to some freakish event in the time-space continuum I run into the 19 or 20 year old me. the younger version of me will react "you did WHAT? Bars and parties are bad places to go. People get drunk there." But now I'm realizing that there really isn't anything wrong about going into a bar or to a party (now that I'm legal). This is what my friends here do for fun. If I refuse to enter a bar on moral grounds, that damages our relationship. And if I go and drink responsibly and "be good" it strengthens our friendships and I even have a bit of fun. Its an environment that I'll never fully embrace or seek out, but if that's what my friends do... Paul said to be all things to all people, and if I'm afraid to reach out to people in their own environment I'm not doing much good. The people I met and hung out with are pretty cool people. Even if I don't like drinking as much as they do I can have fun with them, I can learn from their different perspective on life, and I can show Christ to them.

Leave Comments!

Just a side note: I'd like to encourage you to leave comments if you have anything to say, agreeing, adding, disagreeing, whatever. It's nice just to know that people are reading this :D

Update on my life (in case you care:)

Yesterday Josh was riding his bike to the garage to pick up his fixed car when he hit a manhole cover that was a couple inches lower than the road at high speeds and took a big digger into the pavement. He's doing pretty well, hopped up on Vicodin he can walk around without much pain and is showing every sign of a quick recovery. Today we had our first lecture on nano fabrication which was quite interesting. Then we went adventuring in his now-healthy car and found a Walmart with no food and a grocery store that had lots of food.

This evening I played Ultimate Frisbee with some people who are here for the summer. It was really fun, but now reminds me that almost everyone here has a solidified circle of friends. It's easy for me to go and hang out and be friendly and they be friendly to me. But the relationship just isn't there and the only thing that will change that is time. I think this is a good experience for me in light of preparing for new student outreach next fall at Platteville, but I'd much rather be able to have the perspective without going through the frustrating stage of having only a few shallow relationships. I know from talking to other friends who are now far away that I'm not the only one going through this, which is comforting to some degree. I think the main thing that I'm realizing is how important it is in the beginning for an insider to "adopt" the outsider and help them with whatever they need until they become an insider. That hasn't happened for me here yet. Maybe it will, and maybe I'll end up making do with a bit of determination and courage instead. Only time will tell.

The Existence of God

I was listening to Ravi Zacharias today, and he said something as an aside that I found fascinating. take the person who says "God does not exist." "Well, why do you say that?" They say "I know God does not exist."

If I say "I know that no black rock with white spots exists in the universe," I presuppose that I have infinite knowledge of the universe.

To claim that you know that God does not exist is also a claim of infinite knowledge of the universe, a truly God-like quality. So the statement in itself is self-contradictory.

I'm explaining this poorly, so you should really go to rzim.org and listen to him yourself.

Movie Comments

This evening I went to go see "Waitress" at an independent film theater. Apparently it's also made it into main theaters now too. I really liked it and feel like recommending it, except that I can't really think of any particular reason that it's a good movie. So I guess I'll start writing my thoughts and see what happens.

Basic premise: A waitress who makes amazing pies works with two other waitresses and a horrible boss. One thing that I found interesting was that both of her coworkers find "love" during the course of the movie. One says the equivalent of "Well, he loves me and no one else does, so I guess I'll take him." The other has an affair with their boss because, as she puts it, she has someone to look pretty for and it's exciting, even though the guy is a jerk and married to a nice woman and she doesn't love him.

Two women who both are involved in relationships for two very wrong reasons. The stories do end up happier than the part I told (for those of us who are romantics at heart), but these stories provoke thought about what a good reason to enter into a relationship is. I think that's why I like this movie, there are interesting people with interesting relationships in it. The part that I described is just a subplot, so don't expect the whole movie to be about those things. Some characters you hate, others you just can't make up your mind about, and some you root for all along. The end is a bit unexpected but it was happy enough to leave me with a warm feeling.

One of the best parts about it was that Nathan Fillion has a large role in it. He is the main actor from the tv show Firefly and the movie Serenity. I really enjoy his ability to work with good dialog. He had quite a few clever interchanges with the lead actress.

Why do people go to church to pray?

This morning as I was waking up, I thought about the challenge that I and many others have in spending meaningful time with God regularly. One of the things that makes it hard for me is that I have only one room, so almost everything that is in my life that could distract me is less than ten feet away. Here in Dayton I have my own room and it has two desks, so simply sitting at the desk that my computer isn't at helps a lot.

So I was thinking about this this morning, and I remember how some people have a little area of their room or house set up as a "prayer corner" of sorts--A special place where they can go to remove distractions and put their focus on God. The Romans in ancient times had "household gods" in a special room where they could make offerings.

Then I realized with greater clarity than before why people go to a church to pray. It isn't that God is any nearer to us at church. It isn't that he cares more about people who pray from a church. Out of all the places there are to pray, a church is one with very few distractions. It is a place where you don't have to worry about other people thinking you're strange. Everything in that place is designed to aid one's focus on Christ, so prayer can be far more meaningful and effective. So if you're in the Dayton area this summer, don't be too surprised if you notice some crazy person going into a church during the middle of the week and realize that it's me.

LOLCODE

Zach IMed me this link a few minutes ago and I thought it was worth sharing. Apparently the programmers are at it again, developing a new code that "has no practical or educational value, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun." The geeks and nerds among us will probably get a big kick out of it, and a few minutes of time from a non-geek/nerd would probably enable said person to understand at least some of the humor.

http://programming.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/06/07/1654251&from=rss

See Me

I will be spending quite a bit of my time this summer in the clean room here. If you want to see it and what's going on inside live, check out http://homepages.udayton.edu/~sarangam/nanofab/ It's usually pretty boring though (come watch us wait for the turbomolecular pump to depressurize the sputterer!). Okay, so that SOUNDS cool (minus the waiting part), but it does involve a lot of fussing with details (and waiting). We are currently in the process of building a light filter that will transmit 100% of a certain range of Infrared light and reflect 100% at a different wavelength range, or at least the computer model says that it will.

Tonight I attended a local college/young adult Bible study. I was quieter for that study than I have been in any Bible study in I don't know how long :). I guess it was because I wanted to get a feeling for how the group interacted so that I would fit in. It seems that most of the people there had at least an undergrad degree, a few had jobs and others were going for a masters or PhD. There were plenty of engineers present, so that was a nice bonus.

I got the feeling that something wasn't quite right, but nothing that I can describe well. It was a feeling that while we were gathered with the best of intentions and desires to follow Christ, we weren't going about it the right way, or something like that. Whatever it is, I think I've seen it before and will probably see it again. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just that it was different from what I'm used to, I probably need to think about it when I'm not tired.

"Disc Golf" or "Adventures in a new city"

On Tuesday evening Josh and I set out to find a disc golf course. This was a difficult undertaking because of a few complications. I don't have a car and Josh's car was parked a half mile away, so taking our bikes seemed much easier. We had no internet in the dorms because we didn't have login names. We do have a lappy with us, courtesy of Dr. Li, so we biked to Panero's, a sandwich place, for dinner and used their wireless internet to look up Belmont Park and memorize the map so we could bike there. We stopped off at Josh's car to leave the lappy and procure his discs and then we realized we had made a mistake: We knew how to get to Belmont from the dorm, not from his car. But Josh said he thought he knew how to get us there so off we went...

3 miles later we had found the road that we knew ran N-S just west of the park, but not the park. We rode south about a half mile and didn't find it, so we asked a couple that was waiting at the bus stop:
"Belmont Park, I don't know where that is, but it's probably in Dayton."
Cue dramatic music! I thought we were in Dayton! How far had we veered from our intended path?
"Um, where are we now?"
"You're in Kettering."
"Oh, well, I guess we need to go back north then."

North we did go, and found the park maybe a mile in the other direction. I had been told that while Dayton itself isn't that big, the cities just run into each other so that the Dayton area goes for miles. Josh and I now have first hand experience with that.

The disc golf course was quite nice. A good mix of hills, trees, long and short holes. It was a good time. I am definitely going to get buff from riding up all the hills around here though.

Background

So last December I heard that Wei Li, one of the physics professors, was looking for two students to help him on an optoelectronics research project that he was working on. I applied for the job and found out early in the Spring semester that Josh Duran, a classmate and good friend of mine, and I had been selected. It was part time over the semester (about 3 hours a week) and full time over the sumer. Josh mentioned during the semester that we'd like to do some hands-on research in addition to the theoretical stuff we were working on. So Dr. Li arranged for us to spend two months this summer at the University of Dayton, home of a class-100 clean room (which is really good) and an accomplished electro-optics program. WAY MORE than either of us expected, but its looking like it'll be a great learning experience and will be a leg up to get my masters if that's the way I want to go next year. 

Trying this out

Well, I made it to Dayton, on Monday the 4th of June, 2007.  I've had a lot of new experiences and a lot of free time lately, so it seemed to me that this would be a good way to remember some of the things that happen as well as telling a few friends about it.  However, it is now quite late, so I will have to resume this mighty undertaking at a later time.  If I get ambitious, I'll try to post some pictures as well.