Camping
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 6.10.06I’ll be taking off work early today and driving down to Red River Gorge. Jeremy Laughlin and his brother will be setting up camp this afternoon, and I’ll be joining them later this evening.
Packing was not terribly difficult till I started adding cameras… and extra blankets… and now I’m taking my own car. It may turn out I’m simply unable to rough it properly. Though one can’t complain too much, since I’m bringing a bit of the food and supplies. Thus the giant cooler to be placed in my trunk, and the various tea pots, bags of potatoes, and collections of flashlights.
The cell phone will still be on, though I may not be getting very good reception. If anything, leave a message and I’ll get back to you when I can find a good hill.
Oh, and then I’ll be in mid-Ohio Sunday evening, catching up with Arthur Rasco. Seems I’m packing in all the good stuff this weekend!
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Guruhosing
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 27.09.06Used to describe a situation in which one (having obtained by general consensus the title of “guru” in regards to whatever topic is being discussed) lets loose with a torrent of informational knowledge. Generally an unintelligible deluge of “help” on the specific topic at hand.
Can also refer to the cold garden hose used to punish said guru for being a bit too free with the reserve of relatively infinite knowledge.
(thanks to Ben Wolken, as the original source of this post)
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Evolution
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 21.09.06Elihu Ihms has posted a series of articles on his blog regarding arguments against evolution, his own research, and other supporting sources. While I do not easily follow such matters (and certainly not to the point I can easily discourse on possible counterpoints), I think the discussion is both interesting, and of the utmost importance.
Please, do post with relevant comments. My own views not withstanding, nor my current job affiliations, this is something I’m anxious to see brought to people’s attention. I’d like to hear what you think!
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Today
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 12.09.06I let my boss know that I’m looking for another job. Temporarily I would like to transfer to a different department, though long term I’m seeking out a completely different company.
This has been a rough decision, but not short in coming. My second week here I knew it wasn’t going to go well, and each following week has surprised me in some new and horrific way. Gross mismanagement and an oppressive work environment get old after a month, and it’s now been over 7.
I’ve had to redo projects left and right because of misdirection, misinformation, or the plain incompetence of those in charge. The record so far is 7 reshoots for the exact same product photograph. Two or three months have been spent on a project that was shut down because they decided they weren’t ready for video production. Curious, since they’d insisted on hiring me for that very purpose.
I’ve been reprimanded for wearing the wrong texture of cotton dress shirt. I’ve been labeled as a northerner, and since this is the “south” some people are trying to add dress code rules to prevent me from wearing my irish hat. I was even told I shouldn’t laugh, because this is a “workplace” and it meant I wasn’t working.
Sadly, I’m not the only one suffering from periodic nervous breakdowns, and probably not the only one to be leaving. It’ll take a bit of time; I doubt I’ll be leaving AiG till after the museum is open, and who knows, maybe I’ll stay on for a while longer after that. I do have a contract on my apartment down here… guess we’ll see what happens.
As a final note, if you want to hire me, let me know!
Dear Sir,
If you’re up to it, I will hire you to be my personal self-esteem booster, chauffeur, book studier, paper writer, email sender, housekeeper, friend encourager, checkbook balancer, and lunch maker. If you feel you are overqualified for this job description I can easily lengthen the list. Please do consider accepting this rewarding volunteer job. I eagerly await your reply and thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Serkis Werkis
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The greiving
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 7.09.06At the viewing not only were people still arriving after the proposed closing, but the line wound through the entire funeral home and out into the parking lot. There were lots of tears. Lots.
As a general guess, I’d have to say more than 400 people attended Justin’s funeral. A mix of truly stirring eulogies and music that captured Justin’s spirit, it finally seemed to dawn on me what tragedy this life is. To see his girlfriend, his brother… his father and mother. Those he worked with, ministered to, befriended and loved. To watch as his body was carried out by closest friends…
The funeral procession was made up of 150+ cars, and wound through most of Cleveland, it seemed. It was sad to see the traffic moving on, ignoring it… not to be selfish, but the camaraderie of the human race is gone; broken down and uncaring, no longer sharing in another’s grief.
At the grave site we gathered around as a short message was given by his pastor, a prayer was said, and his body lowered into the ground. You couldn’t really see it happening, but the churning of the gears and the squeaking of the machine served as story tellers. It’s rough, a friend being lowered into the ground. While he was a Christian and thus his passing glorious, a sobering sadness lays in all our hearts, and open sobbing is heard amongst the throngs of people.
I feel at a loss… how do I cope? How do I comfort those around me? We hug, and cry on each other’s shoulders. For now, that’s what I can do, for my grief, and for the grief of those surrounding me.
... but prayers are with us all, as we lift up hands in worship to God, for He sustains.
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Justin Vanderburg
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 5.09.06July 13, 1982 – September 2, 2006
(excerpts from an article published at his death)
Justin loved his God, his family, his friends, and his life…
Justin planned to serve God as a Christian lawyer, practicing with his father; however, he did not wait to practice his Christian faith. Justin was active in church, home Bible study, fellowship, Christian Ministry, and lived his faith in a real and personal manner as abundantly evident from the many lives he touched.
Describing himself in his Vitamin J’s Blurbs on Myspace.com, Justin encouraged his readers to send him a message and said, “You can probably learn more about me in one conversation than you can by reading… my perspective on myself.” Justin seldom complained. He always had a positive attitude – he was a musician and all of his beats were up – and he was a giver and a good listener…
Justin loved to travel and enjoyed adventure… sports, cars, motorcycles… Justin was a vibrant dancer, acted in plays, and loved being a stagehand. He didn’t demand the center of attention, but he was comfortable in it.
... He faithfully and joyfully led music and played for services at Calvary Community Church. He graduated from Lutheran West High School, Indiana Wesleyan University, and was currently enrolled in this third year at Cleveland Marshall School of Law. Justin had been preparing for his future in law by working at the firm of Wegman, Hessler and Vanderburg as a legal intern…
Justin was precious to his family – a “light” in their lives. He will be so very missed.
“Lord, you catch me when I’m falling.
And you’ve told me who I am.
I am yours, I am yours.”
(Who I am by Casting Crowns)
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A friend died today
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 2.09.06I’ll be gone for the viewing and funeral this week. His friends and family could really use your prayers.
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Indiana
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 1.09.06Going “back home” for the weekend. God bless the north… I can’t wait. Some people say that hell is near texas. It’s not, it’s here in Kentucky. Where else can you be snubbed and insulted because you grew up 3 or 4 hours away? I long for the day I move to a different country. This sucks.
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Oh man...
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 31.08.06So my car has been troubling lately. It started about a week and a half ago… I’d turn the key, and it’d click around a bit, start messing with all the lights, then quit out. (clearly my language is more familiar with photoshop than with cars)
All week it was getting worse and worse, till today it took at least 5 minutes to get started. After lunch it wouldn’t start at all, and I got a little worried. I took a pair of pliers and a brass brush to the battery terminals, only to find that the red one was about to fall off. I tightened the bolt, and things are back quite right now.
Needless to say, I’m extremely relieved.
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I'm tired
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 27.08.06It’s 6 in the morning, on a Sunday, and I should be sleeping before church. The design, CSS, and even some of the underlaying PHP is all online. Whew. My first attempt at using TextPattern (you’ll notice that the logo isn’t centered at the bottom of the page… it should be, but simply won’t). And all in one day, more or less (I uploaded and set up the Textpattern installation yesterday, along with some extensions and plugins).
And with that, I’m off for a few hours of sleep before going to church. If… um… I attend church in the physical sense of the word “attend.”
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I was actually pretty torn about posting the AiG-bashing article.
However, it had several so fundamentally flawed arguments (on top of simple scientific errors), that I felt it necessary to cover them. And these are the people trying to convince scientists that evolution doesn’t exist?
Considering some of your difficulties at AiG, I also thought it best if you knew that there were additional problems within the establishment as well.
I wish you luck in making an informed decision about AiG.