New Dev Blog Up!

If you happen to have made it here from one of my posts about Ruby on Rails or programming in general, my new Dev Blog is up. This is an attempt to get a bit more organized, as it's fairly clear that the people who come here to read the religion posts are not the ones who come here to read the programming posts. I've imported my relevant posts from this blog into that one.

http://devblog.bernerbits.com/

Priorities

(From successfuloffice.com)

...A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions--things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.

"The sand is everything else--the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. "Take care of the golf
balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

Don't sweat the small stuff, and there's always room for beer. I usually don't like these kinds of inspirational stories (footprints, anyone??), but what a great lesson.

More Obama e-Swag

You heard the man. RELAX!

President Obama

From The Onion:

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

Awesome.

Also, an excerpt from an apropos song:

Sting - Brand New Day

It could happen to you - just like it happened to me
Theres simply no immunity - theres no guarantee
I say love's such a force - if you find yourself in it
And sometimes no reflection is there

Baby wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute

Turn the clock to zero, honey
I'll sell the stock, well spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day

Yeah, I'm still alive.

Seems that, after getting married, picking up homebrew as a hobby, and resolving to spend less time at work goofing off, I haven't found much time for blogging as of late. Not to mention, my thought processes also haven't been too focused on the stuff I normally blog about, and I've been spending less time reading (books or blogs) so I've had less opportunity to mull over my reaction to things, let alone set aside enough time to type up a full blog post.

Many apologies to my frequent readers, whoever you may be. Perhaps one day I shall return, more blogtastic than you can possibly imagine. Or not.

Meanwhile, I did stumble across the fabulous poem "IF" by Rudyard Kipling today, and--while I've read it before--since I've been more concerned lately with personal growth than cultural commentary/theological inquiry, I found it extremely relevant in the face of all that's going on. So, for now, I leave you with that.

If you can keep your head when all about you
  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
  But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
  Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
  And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
  If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;
If your can meet with Triumph and Disaster
  And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
  And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
  And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
  And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
  To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
  Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can walk with crowds and keep your virtue,
  Or walk with Kings — nor lose your common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
  If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
  With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
  And — which is more — you'll be a Man, my son!

Biden vs. Palin

For me the defining moment last night was when Biden defused Palin's appeals to single parenthood with a painful, moving story about losing a wife and daughter and nearly losing his two sons all in one fell swoop, and she didn't show an ounce of compassion in response, choosing instead to ignore him and talk about energy for the fiftieth time that night.

I know her talking points were scripted and she had been briefed extensively, but come on. You have to be either a frigid bitch or a total moron not to know the appropriate response there.

The times

Millions of people are dying and losing their jobs. It's more expensive to travel now than any time in recent history. The most staunchly conservative, chauvinistic, anti-egalitarian, anti-constitution, fiscally irresponsible politician yet is barely a cardiac arrest away from becoming the President of the United States... because she's a modestly attractive female.

But, dammit, at least the CUBS ARE DOMINATING!!!!!!!!