I am making a slow transition from a collector of collectibles, memorabilia, clothes, and souveniers to a minimalist.
I realized many years ago that I don't like people going through my collections. This broadens pretty quickly to say that I don't like people going through my stuff -- period. I am pretty indiscriminate about this too, so I would be just as unhappy and nervous when a friend or even a girlfriend would rummage through my stuff as I would be if it were my brother Steven (I absolutely hate it when he goes through my stuff because he is nosey and has sticky fingers -- in my mind. He disagrees with this assessment entirely.)
The next problem with all of this is that I really like people. I like to be around people; I like people to like me; I like to cook for people; I just like people in general, but I worried when they were around some of my stuff.
These two mutually exclusive sets of sentiments forced me into a decision every time my love for people would bring someone close to all of my stuff. I had been choosing to just keep my friends and family away from my stuff up until now. Now I have decided to just get rid of all non-essential, non-replaceable stuff that I might have. I've been doing this in waves.
My first wave washed away a bunch of trash from my room in Fort Myers and my room in Gainesville. My next planned wave is meant to carry away all my stuff that has a significant resale value, but no real, non-sentimental purpose. That just happens to be a lot of stuff for me, because I tended to collect things that would hold value. My final wave is to just get rid of everything -- valuable or not, sentimental or not -- that did not have a redeeming value at least once a year.
Wish me luck with all of this!
Well, I decided last night before I went to bed that I was living an extremely eventful 24 hours right now. The Red Sox were in Game 4 of the World Series that they went on to win after 84 years of... being the Red Sox; a lunar eclipse; my first day at Panera; getting Joy's engagement ring set; asking Joy's parents the big question; and an assortment of homework and driving along the way.
Wait! This is is supposed to be about my first day at Panera, so let me get into that...
I got up at 4:20 this morning. Did my morning groove and made it to the bakery-café three minutes early for my start. I was told that I couldn't actually clock in and then I was introduced to Angie, the lady I'd be working with for the rest of the morning.
Uht! Time to get back to class! More to come later. Details! Details!~
UPDATE -- 10/29/2004
OK, where was I? Ah!
Angie talked to me for a little while we set up the shop. She kept on telling me that I was so lucky to have someone around to actually show me how to do it all, because she didn't have that luxury when she was being trained. It took us a little over an hour to set up the pastry display, set up the bread display, and get all the bagels off of the baking trays and into their baskets.
Before we had even finished setting up the store opened and we had our first few customers. I was really excited and hyper that we had customers that early. Angie didn't quite understand my enthusiasm. I attribute it to the fact that I have been in businesses where my earnings were directly related to number of customers and size of orders in so many of my jobs in my life. Anyway, that made my day great, because Panera sold out of these pastry things in the first ten minutes of the day. We were also really, really busy the whole day, which doesn't bother me when I am in the mindset that each customer/order is good for me personally.
By the time we had actually finished setting up everything I was beginning to learn how to use the register. It is insanely easy to use, but my problem is that I don't know what all of the menu items are just yet. I also don't understand the way things are organized in the register's directory. Some of it is alphabetical, which is really cool, but there is no real organizational unity to the directory, so I will have to memorize everything next week.
After roughly a half an hour of that we were swamped so I couldn't handle the learning process and the customer load and Angie took over again. I was quickly moved to getting orders, which was fast paced and fun. We sold close to a thousand bagels that morning.
After doing all of that for a while, I was also sent to the back of the store to get stuff from time to time. That was a good thing because it let me move my legs naturally for a bit and I got to learn more about where things are in the store while it was still my first day.
I like lists, and I was wanting to do this really badly; so here is a list of things that I did on my first day.
Watched the set-up of the pastry display.
Set up the bagel display.
Set up the bread display . (Still learning this)
Manned the register. (Still learning this)
Made café beverages. (Definately still learning this!)
Learned all the bagels and cream cheeses.
Assembled trays for eating in the restaurant.
Refilled Napkins and other things at the coffee counter.
Swept
"Mopped"
That doesn't really seem like all that much, and it definately doesn't seem that hard. I guess that is why I was having so much fun with it all. The only thing that I think will still be a challenge for me after working next week is learning all the café beverages. Luckily, most of the people who order those are pretty helpful when they see me struggling with the process. Also, I think the regulars instantly recognize that I am a new face and take advantage of the situation and get me to do "made to order" drink orders for them. That is fun because it makes them happy.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that I really like my job a lot so far. I like waking up when it is still dark. I like seeing all the caffeine addicts before they get their fix. I like rushing around and getting stuff and putting things together. I love handing people their orders before they've even paid. That is awesome, because it makes me feel like I am ahead of the game. This whole job thing is just a whole lot of fun, which is really good because it doesn't pay all that well.
My cell phone broke about a week ago. This means that I need a new one. I told my parents that I could get one for free from Sprint since it has been over a year and a half since I got the LG5350, but they don't want to sign another contract. This means that I get to pick out whatever phone I want (under $100) and they'll pay for it.
I mention all of this because I am waiting on a Treo 300 that I am bidding on at Ebay. I have a pretty good feeling about winning it this time, and only need to wait another fifteen minutes. I'll post an update if I win.
UPDATE -- 10/27/2004 @ 5:23:30PM
OK, seven and a half minutes left and I am still the current high bidder at an insanely low price. I am excited! I really want to win this one and get this bidding madness over and done with, but I'd also like to get a nice, low price.
UPDATE -- 10/27/2004 @ 5:33PM
Woohoo! I won! That's the good news. The bad news is that the phone ended up costing an extra $10, because someone else was trying to win the phone. Well, now I am going to have a new Treo 300 for Sprint and my parents only have to pay $80 (after shipping.)
Well, I guess it has finally happen. Zook is officially fired. I don't know if we'll take Spurrier back or not, but hopefully we find a coach that does better than this one has. I'd like to see us get a coach that we can build a decade or more upon so we don't have to go through things like this anymore.
I have never had much faith in my memory, because it fails me all too often. So, in the past few years I have been doing a number of different things to make my way through the world without using my memory as much. That wasn't really on purpose though. My purpose behind my actions was to allow me to rely on my memory less. It just so happened that I didn't even use my memory, because I rarely had to rely on it.
Now, I think that my memory has atrophied like a muscle. I guess it is true that if you don't use it -- you lose it...
Time for a new plan. No reliance on memory, but still striving to develop it with inessential activities.
I was just reading a blog that recently dipped into politics and felt the urge to write about it. The quote that got me started was actually from a comment. Here it is...
"Unfortunately, the left paints corporations and wealthy Americans as "evil" because they "have more" and paint the picture that corporations are unfairly profiting off the backs of the unfortunate American worker toiling away for less than the Mendoza line in minumum wage."
I agree with the statement. I have heard people time and again talk about ideas along these same lines such as "Wealthy people are rich because they steal from the poor." and "Corporate America plunders the working class."
These type of statements are quite faulted, but more disturbing than their errancy is their huge base of believers. I have sat through a lecture (by a TA trying to get his PhD in English Literature) at University of Florida which was entirely about the evils of people with wealth.
The thought rests entirely on a few ideas. The main one is obvious -- wealth is static and cannot be created. So, for one person to be wealthy another must be poor. This is obviously wrong. We have all seen wealth creation in our lives. The evidence of this is looking around you and noticing that you have more things and use more services of value. We have better cars, computers, higher quality health care, nicer buildings, more variety in entertainment choices, the option of being entertain, etc. etc.
The next idea is that it is evil to have more than someone else. This is absurd as well. I know of people who have more strength, beauty, age, wisdom, experience, talent, skills, sense (thought that would be fun to throw in too), etc than I do. Many of those things are extremely valuable. Also, many of those things are things that a person is either born with (meaning that it should not be considered evil) or can develop without taking anything away from me at all. If it is wrong for someone to have more money than me than why isn't it wrong for another guy to be smarter than me or even older than me and thereby have more experiences than me. That is my argument by analogy for why having more of something is not inherently wrong. I have never heard an argument for differences in wealth as being inherently wrong, but I have heard claims to that position many times.
I think that these false ideas and attitudes about money are foundational to the way that many large groups of people see money and subsequently... taxation, government, and politics.
If you don't recognize that wealth can be created you will likely (and naturally) feel that wealth should be distributed somewhat evenly. However, if you do recognize that wealth and value can be created you will likely want to empower those who are best able to create goods and services of value and ultimately wealth.
Now, I want to address the evil corporation vs. average American worker picture that is often painted. This picture is really hilarious to me, because right now I am that average American worker. I work two jobs under one corporation and two Limited Liability companies. (Franchise = 1 Corp + 1LLC) However, I also managed to control myself when making purchases and using services for the last seven years, which has given me a savings. I used that savings to buy little pieces of major corporations. So, now I am BOTH the corporation and the "unfortunate American worker" working under a corporation and other companies.
This is something that any American can (and should) do, and it is something that many of the "unfortunate American workers" do whether knowingly or not through pension plans, 401(k)s, and other investments.
In light of all of this, I am really at a loss when I try to understand the view that corporations are evil and are keeping the average worker down. Many, many corporations are publicly held! The average worker can own a part of that corporation, and "get rich" too. There is nothing stopping these people, but ignorance of the options that they have in front of them or an unwillingness and lack of discipline to exercise their options.
I wish this view had some sort of name though, because I'd really like a nice, short title for this entry.
This week I stayed in Gainesville with Nate and Conor at The Boardwalk. It was really cool that they invited me to spend the evenings at their place. They have a really cool place that is HUGE for a college student's apartment. It was like a playground.
They had just about every game system you could want to play, and they were all interconnected and in different rooms, so Halo parties would be a blast. They had three or four computers connected to the Internet, tons of DVDs, chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, or eggos for breakfast, and a water filter! A water filter! I need to get one of those babies for my place.
I felt kind of weird there from time to time though. I was invited to come for a week, but it was initially through Joy because they see her at homegroup all the time and she probably gets exited when she knows I am coming. I was wanting to be polite, not bother them much, and generally stay out of everyone's way, but then I got the feeling that maybe I was being too much of a ghost -- coming in only after they were asleep. So, I decided to start coming home earlier and hang out, but I don't know if that was cool or not.
Aye de mi! I hate it when I get all paranoid like this. I just wish there were house rules that I could follow or something. I think I figured out onw or two, but I am betting I messed up a few too. Oh well, it was fun, and I hope that they enjoyed having me.
Oh, another thing that made things akward was that Jordan was wanting me to spend the night there a few different nights. I didn't know what to do with that! I ended up deciding to just stay with Conor and Nate, but I felt bad for Jordan because his wife was gone all week. I get so confused about these type of things.
Today I went with Joy to her Chiropractor and Massage Therapist. I didn't really do much but sit and read news magazines at the therapist, but I went to see the chiropractor and got a complete work-up.
I got to meet both Chiropractor guys, had an x-ray done of my neck, got my back probed by something that beeped, got an evaluation and a first timer's adjustment. I don't really know much about Chiropractic, but I know much more now than I did before today. The whole thing was very interesting. I'd like to know more, and I'd also like to know what the deal is between MDs and Chiropractors.
Anyone with knowledge can contribute what they know, because I'd love to know more.
Kerry's stance on the UN seems naive to me. He and others want more UN involvement. Fine. Let the UN spend their money on this too, such a large percentage of that is money straight from US it doesn't really make much of a difference. He also wants the UN to give a thumbs up to any military action in Iraq and elsewhere. This seems unlikely because the UN is predominantly Arab/Muslim.
There are 189 to 191 nations in the UN, depending on how you count it. Of these nations, forty-six are decidedly Muslim nations. They are either well over 60% Muslim or dominated by Sharia Law and Arab political systems. The other three in this list (the ones with question marks) are about half muslim and half every thing else, but still bare that strong Islamic presense. So, Islamic nations make up between 24% to 26% of the United Nations depending on which numbers you want to use. Many, many more nations than the ones listed below or included in these numbers are also strongly influenced by Islam.
I mention all of this because I feel that it is pretty silly to ask for world opinion or UN opinion when roughly a quarter of the nations probably feel a bit of a brotherhood with the country you are seeking to sanction, conduct weapons inspections, or attack.
Here's that list of Nations I was telling you about. It is pretty much in chronological order of admission to the UN: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Afghanistan, 10. Pakistan, Yemen, Indonesia, Jordan, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Burkina Faso?, Chad?, 20. Mali, Cyprus, Somalia, Mauritania, Algeria, Burundi, Kuwait, Maldives, Democratic Yemen, Bahrain, 30. Bhutan, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Comoros, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola, Djibouti, 40. Brunei Darussalam, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina?, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Eritrea
There are things that I dislike about both presidential candidates. Despite the gross negativity of what I am about to do I think it might be worthwhile for me to list what I dislike about both sides for a quick comparison.
Note: Some of this stuff may actually be inaccurate. I am realizing more and more that I read and hear things that turn out to be untrue -- even from the candidates themselves! I just want to say that I am not intending to distort anything here. If I am grossly inaccurate about some claim I probably just had a bad source somewhere.
Bush/Cheney:
1. They are operating a closed government.
It really is sick how little information their administration is letting out -- or in! Bush has a nasty habit of keeping his grass roots, picket sign holding critics from getting anywhere near him. That's just not cool with me.
2. Deficit spending.
I hate this sort of thing. While it is important for the US to have a slight debt so that people have a safe place to invest their money (people lease their money to the US in the form of T-Notes, T-Bills, etc.) I don't think that the government needs to be increasing this debt.
3. Bush.
He's overconfident and at times arrogant. I also feel that his bad moments are marked by his childishness. On the overconfidence note... I have never heard this president admit to any personal errors during a time after he took office as the governor of Texas. I think that is a bad witness as a Christian. We all mess up. Surely he should see that he has at times too and be willing to humble himself before the nation. Clinton did a better job of showing this side of his Christian beliefs than Bush has.
Kerry/Edwards:
1. Their Voting/Attendance records suck.
This is something that they have never denied. They don't admit it or deny this fact because it is the truth and they want it to just disappear somehow. Anyone can look this up for herself on Thomas.
2. They are crazy ambitious.
I like a little ambition, because a little bit of it is a good thing, but these two are nuts. Edwards, as the moderator mentioned last night, has less governmental experience than any previous Vice Presidential candidate. That is crazy ambition. To think that you could win the presidency with just one term of public service -- just one election win under your belt -- is just crazy ambitious. That kind of hopeful ambition always leads to greatness -- great victories and great failures.
Kerry's ambition is transparent. He is the kind of person that I never like as a politician. He's the pol who just wants to be a pol. He has been working on being a politician for the larger part of his life. Everything he has ever done was obviously done with the thought of looking good to the public. That, to me, is insincerity.
3. Their political philosophies.
I don't like much of what I've heard them say or read on thier site aobut their political philosophies. What I do like, I could also get from Bush or any of a number of politicians.
4. I don't trust Kerry.
I don't think I could ever really know Kerry. I think that he is one of those people who could look me right in the eyes and lie to me. Then lie to me again after I call him on it. Then lie again after I have evidence in front of him that he had lied. I hate people like this. He really does pander to whatever is best for his political agenda at the time and that bothers me even though I see how that can also be a strength. I don't think that will get his fresh credibility to last very long.
MORE TO COME ON BOTH OF THESE PAIRS
How do you face your fears when your two most dominant fears are the fear of success and the fear of disapproval from your friends?
For me the Vice Presidential Debates are the most exciting and anticipated of the Election: 2004 debates. These two candidates are the ones that actually have the brains and the speaking ability. These two candidates are people that had actually done something significant on their own before having a political career. (lol, I love my biases)
I think it is unfortunate that most people don't care too much about the vice president, because this year's vice presidential candidates are the part of the election that interests me the most. I've been thinking for a while that Edwards would probably be a better candidate for president than Kerry. I know that I would likely vote for Edwards if he was running against Bush, but as it is now I'd prefer Bush over Kerry.
Anyway, try to make room in your schedule to watch this debate. It is going to a be a good one for sure! It's on at 9PM Eastern time on pretty much any network channel you'll be able to get as well as certain cable channels.
I am pretty excited that the X-Prize has been won. It is neat that these insanely wealthy people are working hard on making their dreams of space flight a reality. I am betting that their hard work and risky investments will eventually pay off for regular people too. Perhaps I too will be able to travel up and out to the edges of space and even beyond that.
Mad props to all involved especially Paul Allen, Burt Rutan, Anousheh and Amir Ansari, Brian Binnie, Richard Branson and the other teams striving to win the prize.
I am trying to start something new... again. Now my blog will be featuring a new post every month dedicated to prayer. The point of the post will be for friends and strangers alike to post prayer requests of all kinds. If you'd like me to include you and your whims, desires, and needs in my prayers just leave a post.
The imputus for this new project is my new vigor to become a more disciplined and habitual prayer. My Principles of Sanctification class has something to do with this, and so do the experiences of my life in the last year. In fact, one of my most persistant prayers is the request to be forged into a more dedicated prayer.
In the extended entry I will type up a list of things that I will be praying for throughout the month. I don't know if I will add to this via the comments or by just editing the post -- we'll see.
So, without further explanations here is a list of some of the things that I will be praying for in the month of October.
Discipline in prayer
Success on my mid-terms
A new job or two
Safe travel to Naples with my friends
Megan Arnold and Tonio Bianca
300 & 301 girls
Repentance from my habitual sins
Getting to class on time
Maintaining a good sleep schedule
Discipline with my work-outs
Smooth time asking Joy's parents for Joy's hand in marriage
Perseverance
OK, now this reminds me of what this list is also about. I haven't developed my ability to remember all the things that are important to me when I am praying or even considering my prayer requests. Having a list may help with that.