dinglemunch

To us this day, a Savior is born

2009-12-25T08:00:00.003-06:00

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger found Him,
As angel heralds said.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.

O Savior, Child of Mary, who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know;
Bring us at length we pray, to the bright courts of Heaven,
And to the endless day!

15th century carol

15th century carol
image from One Passion One Devotion

No, that's not saliva. It's just, uh, white tea essence

2009-11-04T07:36:00.001-06:00

Here's an activity I would have eventually thought of if I had indefinitely remained ten years old:

Teapot Blowing

Image from Geeks Are Sexy

Sounds like fun, dunnit?

.................S......P......L......O......O......S......H

2009-10-28T18:22:00.001-05:00

There's probably not a future in greeting cards for me

2009-07-28T13:31:00.002-05:00

I got a sympathy card at my desk today.

No, it wasn’t presented to me as the recipient of the sympathy – it was a card that was being routed to everyone in my department to sign for someone else. Our department has between 60 and 75 people, and I only work directly with about 10 of them. The rest are mostly just “say hello in the hall” people, with whom I have no real business or personal relationships. The recipient of the card is one of those folks, and he lost his grandfather recently. I was unaware of his loss until I got the card at my desk.

So, like a good coworker, I wrote, “Sorry for your loss,” just like five or six others had, but I was really wondering what else I could have said that didn’t sound completely awkward. Of course, since I am not from around here, and I am acquainted with very few of the locals, there’s really no chance that I would ever have met this coworker’s grandfather, except by sheer coincidence. There was really nothing else I could have said besides those four words.

Then I began to think of inappropriate things I could have written that would have made future hallway “Hi how are ya” moments much more awkward:

“Terribly sorry for your loss. Pappy was a patient man who helped me out of many a sticky situation down at the track.”

“Coworker: Please accept this handmade coupon for a free hug, no expiration date.”

“So sorry for your loss. Hope you get some good stuff, like a pool table or a classic car.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. Also, I’m sorry I ate your bologna sandwich out of the fridge last week.”

“I’m sorry about your grandfather. I wish I could tell you about his Vegas trip in ’79, but he swore me to secrecy.”

“Happy birthday.”

Theological question

2009-04-01T07:50:00.002-05:00

If Jesus and Moses were on the edge of a lake, and they needed to get across in a hurry, would they walk across the surface, or part the lake and walk on the lake floor?

Update (yawn, I know, more excuses, etc.)

2009-02-27T00:02:00.002-06:00

The blog may seem dead right now, but I assure you, it's not. I'm just really busy every day and evening, and there just hasn't been much time for blogging. Plus, I've been playing with my new iPhone for the last few days, and I'm still in "discovery" mode with it.

For those of you who have been following along, I apologize. There will come a time when my schedule will shift back into a place where I can regularly blog again.

Sorry

2009-02-22T23:29:00.001-06:00

Sorry I've been so absent lately. I'll try to update soon

draw first: update tonight

2009-02-13T07:40:00.002-06:00

I know I haven't been blogging in the last few weeks, and it's because of a drastic decrease in Internet usage, especially at work. But rest assured I am still getting up every morning before work to draw a little bit.

If I get some time tonight or tomorrow, I'll put up an update post with progress photos.

Updated last night's post with video

2009-01-28T22:24:00.002-06:00

Direct link to the post. I give it four out of ~~four~~ five stars.

draw first: 1/28/09

2009-01-28T22:09:00.004-06:00

I tried to build on yesterday's new drawing, but I was just kind of blocked. No inspiration whatsoever. Also, I was distracted because I was also watching the early morning news to see if our company was closed due to weather (it wasn't). I hope that I can pick it back up tomorrow or scrap the isometric drawing in favor of something else. No photos today.

I just knew those deep-fried mayonnaise fritters weren't the healthiest

2009-01-28T09:39:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I had a blood screening done. Yesterday I got the results: High Cholesterol. As in, number-starts-with-a-2 high. So guess what. I have to eat healthier now.

I did find it a bit unusual that the number was as high as it was, because I have been using Smart Balance mayo and margarine for years now, and I’ve always had skim milk instead of 2% or whole milk. Still, I guess I have a lot of room for improvement. So I guess I’d better start making some changes. I just finished two slices of whole grain wheat bread for breakfast, and a container of fat-free yogurt (less than 5mg cholesterol). I’m still drinking only water. I’m taking this one meal at a time.

(By the way, I was only kidding about the deep-fried mayonnaise fritters. Yee-uck!)

Someone didn't do a very good job teaching him that a scale from one to five actually goes all the way to five

2009-01-27T22:25:00.007-06:00

Just a few minutes ago on the news, there was a leading story about the ice and snow storms that have hit this whole region in the last couple of days. There was a sound clip from Gary Brooks, emergency manager for the city of Miami, Oklahoma, where he spoke about how his area rated with regard to the allocation of resources to clean up after the winter mess:

"On a scale of disaster from one to five, they look at us as being a two, with about three-quarters of an inch to an inch of frozen ice on the power lines and trees, and that would've been devastating for us. Worst case scenario, they put us at a four."

Yeah, this guy passed math class.

Also, what is the exact distiction between frozen ice and regular ice?

If I can find a link to the video tomorrow, I'l update this post so you can see the new math for yourself.

Update: Here's the video of the story segment. Brooks's brilliance begins at about 0:49. (I cannot vouch for the shelf life of this video. If it's gone, it's gone.)

If that doesn't work, try clicking here.

draw first: New project, 1/27/09

2009-01-27T07:00:00.001-06:00

This morning I decided to put the Stanley Islands drawing on hold and started something new. I penciled out some isometric lines to create some sort of a "rooms" type project, similar to Scott Teplin's Alphaville drawings. Am I copying Teplin? Maybe, maybe not, but who cares. It's not like I'm going to sell it or anything. It's just practice.

No real image today. The cell phone camera didn't really capture the pencil very well.

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/26/09

2009-01-26T06:51:00.001-06:00

All I did was erase my pencil lines today. There were a lot of them! There's no need to post a picture of the eraser leftovers, but if you really want to see them, you can click here.

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/23/09

2009-01-23T06:59:00.002-06:00

I decided that I am going to start adding buildings on most of the "properties" of the islands. Today I started penciling a few, then realized that I had a lot of erasing to do on all of the other lines first. So most of my drawing time was spent doing the opposite of drawing. I have a lot more erasing to do still, so that's probably what the next time block will consist of. I'll try to work on it this weekend.

I couldn't get a good cell-phone picture of the buildings I did draw, and I didn't have time this morning to upload the close-up from the regular camera. I'll try to do that tonight or sometime this weekend.

Would have been nice if there were a couple of Benjamins hidden in there

2009-01-22T19:07:00.003-06:00

I have a pair of North Face pants that I’ve owned for four or five years. I absolutely love these pants – they’re comfortable, loose, and lightweight. The legs zip off above the knees to make shorts, which is very nice in the summer time. They’re also cargo pants, which of course means that there are extra pockets on the thighs.

Today at lunch I was sitting at Nicole’s desk, eating my potatoes or sandwich or whatever, and I looked at my lap and happened to notice something odd. There was a little zipper pull sticking out of a seam in a very unusual place—below the knee on the outside of the left leg. At first I thought it was just the pull for the zipper that turns the pants into shorts. But that one has a little cloth piece attached with an L on it, so that when I reassemble the pants I know which leg zips onto which side.

So I investigated a little further, and that’s when I discovered that I actually have another pocket below the left side convert-to-shorts zipper. It isn’t very big, but it could easily hold my wallet, although it wouldn’t be very practical as I would have my wallet banging against my kneecap as I walked. But there it is, another pocket.

I just want to reiterate that I have had these pants for at least four years.

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/21/09 - 1/22/09

2009-01-22T07:03:00.004-06:00

I wasn't able to post yesterday, because I got really busy at work, and I'm already trying to cut down or eliminate my intnerweb usage there. So it's a catch-up two-fer today:

January 21: Started the A names, ran out of time.

January 22: Finished the A, which means I finished all of the naming (unless I name the bodies of water later on).

So, what's next?

I think I am going to add things llike water ripples around the coastlines, maybe put in some boats and docks. I could probably add a few more tiny islands along the sides or even in the big open areas. I'm not sure. I may decide to do top-view buildings and properties, which would be a bit of an undertaking, but nothing I'm afraid of. After all, I'm doing this slowly, a little at a time. No need to rush or be impatient.

Let's just see what tomorrow has in store!

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/20/09

2009-01-20T20:07:00.003-06:00

Yes, that's right, I didn't get up early to work on any art today. I was up extremely late last night to finish a Chapter Exam for one of my classes; and since it was the night after I stayed up really late to draw, I decided that my time was better spent trying to salvage as much rest as possible.

Tonight, after I get home from the college (I'm in the library while Nicole is in her class), I hope that I can get straight to bed and sleep hard. I really need a good, deep sleep - my back and shoulders are in pain from the lack of rest. Tomorrow morning I'll be right back in the swing of things. I'll try to finish labeling the A streets, unless I run out of names and have to find a bunch more (this does take time).

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/19/09

2009-01-19T07:54:00.003-06:00

The hardest part about the Y wasn't the curvy streets. That part was easy. No, it was trying to find enough Y names! I had to consult my huge, unabridged dictionary. And I was still running dry!

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/16/09

2009-01-16T08:34:00.004-06:00

Done with the T streets and bridges...only A, N and Y to go! (Y will be the hardest, with its all-curved streets. I'm saving it for last.)

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/15/09

2009-01-15T08:30:00.003-06:00

Finished the S streets this morning. Although now I wish I'd seen Matt and Lori's blog post about the new Oregon postage stamp before I finished - I could have made a Sesquicentennial Street!

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/14/09

2009-01-14T08:44:00.004-06:00

As I noted on the Flickr page, I have made two "mistakes" with naming the E streets. The first one was that I accidentally duplicated a street name (with a slight variation). But seeing as how the streets are Existence and Existential, I think it's kind of a funny error. I almost added Exist and Existing, but decided against it.

The second, more obvious, blunder was that I have two different street types for the same named street. On the longer streets, like the ones that define the borders of the letters, I often repeat the street name, just like it's done on an atlas. However, this time, I accidentally turned a Parkway into a Boulevard. Again, the name of the street itself is ironic: Equality.

Yes, I'm that weird guy who always likes to find the half-popped kernals of popcorn at the bottom of the bag

2009-01-13T15:03:00.003-06:00

...but I'm not extreme enough to want to eat fully unpopped ones.

A few minutes ago I was trying to remember the name of this snack that I had shared a few times with then-roommate Scott back in the 90's, and then I remembered it (which means I eventually found it on Google): PopNots!

This is a snack that consists only of those half-popped kernals, salted or seasoned, and they are obviously way crunchier than regular popcorn. Admittedly, they did have a slightly burnt aftertaste, but they were still one of my favorite snacks of the past. Unfortunately, the closest place I can buy them, according to their website, is more than 60 miles away in Springfield.

I want some PopNots!

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/13/09

2009-01-13T09:05:00.005-06:00

I began naming E streets today. I had made a list of names that I could use, but have already used all of those - and I still need about 65 more! So I will be coming up with a bunch more today.

By the way, did anyone notice the "red circle d" icon I added to the blog last night? Look in the address bar. If you don't see it there, try adding this blog to your Favorites or Bookmarks.

draw first: Stanley Islands, 1/12/09

2009-01-12T09:43:00.004-06:00

I just finished the street naming for L today.