I spent last night hanging out with some people from work. The group is cliquey, but I don't always think that's a bad thing. Jesus had a clique. Sure he'd do all that preaching, but at the end of the day he'd say "Peter, James, John, come with me." Like I said, I don't have a problem with cliques in general. People tend to hang out with the people they like and are comfortable with. This just makes sense to me.
Anyway, I have somehow managed to find myself becoming more involved with this group. They extend me invitations to various things and I'm now on some email distribution list they use when they want to communicate with each other. This is just odd to me. I'm not complaining, I just find it interesting. One particular invite was for dinner yesterday evening, which I decided to attend. It was a nice evening and I got to know some of the people from work a little better. They are fun people.
High school seems to get a bad reputation for being cliquey, but this doesn't seem fair since it happens everywhere. Perhaps the difference is that high school students don't often work at being outgoing. Not that I'm much better. I'm very happy with my GuMP clique. Inviting others would just seem like work, because then I would have to get to know them. Suppose I don't really like hanging out with them, then I'd have to find ways of hanging out with my current clique and excluding them. See, I haven't grown up yet. I'm still as sophomoric as ever. My friends who I got to know last night are better people, hands down.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Why is it...
A clean house keeps me on a good spiritual path. I find that if my house is not clean, I tend to wander. But if my house is clean, I am eager to spend time reading my Bible. I don't understand this.
I got home today and I was actually bored for the first time in a long while. My wife had cleaned the house and I felt like there was nothing to do. She did the laundry too so I've got nothing to do tomorrow.
Hmmm...
That is all.
I got home today and I was actually bored for the first time in a long while. My wife had cleaned the house and I felt like there was nothing to do. She did the laundry too so I've got nothing to do tomorrow.
Hmmm...
That is all.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Letter to Congress
I found this the other day and I felt like passing it on.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I am Janet Contreras, a concerned, home-grown American citizen. I am 53, and I have been a registered Democrat all of my adult life. Before the last Presidential election, I registered Republican because I no longer feel the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. I now no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me.
There must be someone, please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me you are there and are willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please do it now.
You might ask yourselves what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me? These are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:
* Illegal Immigration—I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S. I am not a racist. This not to be confused with legal immigration.
* TARP Bill—I want it repealed and no further funding supplied to it. We told you “NO!” but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze! Repeal!
* Czars—I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the Czars. No more Czars. Government officials answer to the process not the President. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.
* Cap & Trade—the debate on global warming is NOT over, there IS more to say.
* Universal Health Care—I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don’t you dare pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!
* Growing Government Control—I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Please mind your own business; you have enough to do with your REAL obligations. Let’s start there.
* ACORN—I do not want ACORN or its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them on every real estate deal that closes. Stop all funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audit and investigation. I do not trust them with the taking of the census or with taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before the taxpayers get any further involved with them. It walks like a duck and talks like a duck—hello… stop protecting political buddies. You work for the people. Investigate.
* Redistribution of Wealth—No. If I work for it, it is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth I support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do want me to hate my employers? What do your have against shareholders making a profit?
* Charitable Contributions—although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities where we know our needs best and can use local talent and resources. Butt out, please. We want to do this ourselves.
* Corporate Bail Outs—knock it off! Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we will be better off just getting to it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful, like ripping off a band aid. We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us a chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
* Transparency and Accountability—how about it? No really, let’s have it. Let’s say we give the “buzz” words a rest and have some straight, honest talk. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with cleaver wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
* Unprecedented Quick Spending—stop it, now. Take a breath. Listen to “The People.”
Let’s just slow down and get some more input from some “non-politicians” on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law.
I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant nor a violent person. I am a mother and grandmother. I am a working woman. I am busy, busy, busy and tired, tired, tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawns and wash our cars on weekends, and be responsible, contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same, all the while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding our Constitution and believed in the checks and balances to keep you from getting too far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think that I find humor in hiring a speed reader to unintelligibly ramble through a bill you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not! It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face! I am not laughing—the arrogance!
Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it, but you expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children? We did not want that TARP bill. We said “NO!” We would repeal it if we could. I am not sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all the recent spending. From my perspective, it seems that you have all gone insane.
I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back!
You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington.
Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I am Janet Contreras, a concerned, home-grown American citizen. I am 53, and I have been a registered Democrat all of my adult life. Before the last Presidential election, I registered Republican because I no longer feel the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. I now no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me.
There must be someone, please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me you are there and are willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please do it now.
You might ask yourselves what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me? These are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:
* Illegal Immigration—I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S. I am not a racist. This not to be confused with legal immigration.
* TARP Bill—I want it repealed and no further funding supplied to it. We told you “NO!” but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze! Repeal!
* Czars—I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the Czars. No more Czars. Government officials answer to the process not the President. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.
* Cap & Trade—the debate on global warming is NOT over, there IS more to say.
* Universal Health Care—I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don’t you dare pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!
* Growing Government Control—I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Please mind your own business; you have enough to do with your REAL obligations. Let’s start there.
* ACORN—I do not want ACORN or its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them on every real estate deal that closes. Stop all funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audit and investigation. I do not trust them with the taking of the census or with taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before the taxpayers get any further involved with them. It walks like a duck and talks like a duck—hello… stop protecting political buddies. You work for the people. Investigate.
* Redistribution of Wealth—No. If I work for it, it is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth I support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do want me to hate my employers? What do your have against shareholders making a profit?
* Charitable Contributions—although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities where we know our needs best and can use local talent and resources. Butt out, please. We want to do this ourselves.
* Corporate Bail Outs—knock it off! Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we will be better off just getting to it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful, like ripping off a band aid. We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us a chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
* Transparency and Accountability—how about it? No really, let’s have it. Let’s say we give the “buzz” words a rest and have some straight, honest talk. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with cleaver wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
* Unprecedented Quick Spending—stop it, now. Take a breath. Listen to “The People.”
Let’s just slow down and get some more input from some “non-politicians” on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law.
I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant nor a violent person. I am a mother and grandmother. I am a working woman. I am busy, busy, busy and tired, tired, tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawns and wash our cars on weekends, and be responsible, contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same, all the while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding our Constitution and believed in the checks and balances to keep you from getting too far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think that I find humor in hiring a speed reader to unintelligibly ramble through a bill you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not! It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face! I am not laughing—the arrogance!
Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it, but you expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children? We did not want that TARP bill. We said “NO!” We would repeal it if we could. I am not sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all the recent spending. From my perspective, it seems that you have all gone insane.
I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back!
You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington.
Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
My Amazing Wife
My wife is amazing. I've never met anyone who works so hard at loving their spouse. I am blessed beyond belief, and I take it for granted. Words don't do a good job at capturing how awesome she is. I'd need ten blogs, a thousand entries, and a google of words each to begin...
I would devote my life to trying to chronicle how awesome, but then I would miss too much. Besides, my efforts are better spent on loving her, then talking about her.
I would devote my life to trying to chronicle how awesome, but then I would miss too much. Besides, my efforts are better spent on loving her, then talking about her.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Back to math
I've taken a hiatus from posting here for a brief period. That's ok though since no one reads this anyway. However I haven't just been laying on my couch and watching television. I've been working a on problem presented by a friend of mine. He has a (currently nine part) description of the problem that you can read here:
http://toomai.wordpress.com/
called "Partitions of a Graph." I've been spending my free time trying to write a formal description of the problem and present some of the things we've proved so far. I just this morning found a class of graphs that allows me to say this:
Theorem: For every positive even integer n = 2m, there exists a Q1 graph G of order n such that \delta(G) = m-1.
Proof: The graph K_{(m+1),(m-1)} is Q1 and prohibits the partition (2, 2, ..., 2).
That's as much detail as I'm going to give here, because as you can tell above, I much prefer doing my formal writing in LaTeX. I will however try and figure a way to upload a pdf for those of you that are interested, (all zero of you).
The great thing about the theorem though, is that it allows me to say this.
Corollary: For any given positive integer n, there exist Q1 graphs with minimum degree greater than or equal to n.
and
Corollary: For any given positive integer n, there exist Q1 graphs with connectivity of degree greater than or equal to n.
These two facts seem rather counterintuitive, even though the example presented is fairly simple. It just adds to my interest in the problem.
http://toomai.wordpress.com/
called "Partitions of a Graph." I've been spending my free time trying to write a formal description of the problem and present some of the things we've proved so far. I just this morning found a class of graphs that allows me to say this:
Theorem: For every positive even integer n = 2m, there exists a Q1 graph G of order n such that \delta(G) = m-1.
Proof: The graph K_{(m+1),(m-1)} is Q1 and prohibits the partition (2, 2, ..., 2).
That's as much detail as I'm going to give here, because as you can tell above, I much prefer doing my formal writing in LaTeX. I will however try and figure a way to upload a pdf for those of you that are interested, (all zero of you).
The great thing about the theorem though, is that it allows me to say this.
Corollary: For any given positive integer n, there exist Q1 graphs with minimum degree greater than or equal to n.
and
Corollary: For any given positive integer n, there exist Q1 graphs with connectivity of degree greater than or equal to n.
These two facts seem rather counterintuitive, even though the example presented is fairly simple. It just adds to my interest in the problem.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Today's Gospel
The Gospel for today was from Mark 1:40-45, The Cleansing of a Leper.
"A leper came to him [and kneeling down] begged him and said, 'If you wish, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, 'I do will it. Be made clean.' The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, 'See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.' The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere."
It never fails that every time I hear a reading like this, I can't help but marvel at what I hear. I don't mean to trivialize the healing power of Jesus, what he does is awesome. It is what happens afterward that perplexes me. Jesus warns the man "sternly" to tell no one and what is the first thing the man does? He goes blabbing it to the whole town. Am I the only one in the world that finds this strange?
First of all, why does Jesus warn the man to tell no one? To me this is not so clear. Some dismiss it as a desire for people to not swarm him, which is what happened as word got out. I don't find this likely. This story is at the beginning of his public ministry. The same story appears in Matthew's Gospel, but it is preceded by the Sermon on the Mount, and in Luke's Gospel prior to the Sermon on the Plain. While the order of events is in question, the same warning is given by Jesus, "Tell no one." Jesus is beginning his preaching. If he wants to get a message out, wouldn't it be a good thing for people to be there to hear the message? Wouldn't he want people to come and listen? Would not a miracle have the effect drawing attention to his ministry? I am aware that my argument sounds like Jesus is playing more the role of a politician than a savior. That's not what I mean. I just think Jesus would know this kind of miracle would get a reaction.
I've had others tell me that it is human nature to not do what you are told. So if you're told not to eat a cookie, all you want is to eat the cookie. Thus, Jesus told him not to tell people so that he would immediately want to. This is just absurd to me. If you believe in the Trinity, Jesus is God. When Jesus speaks, he is speaking truth. Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus do anything like this kind of manipulation. This can't be what he meant. If that were true, the 10 Commandments would read. "Don't love me, worship other gods, kill people, steal whatever you can get, covet your neighbors wife." This is just ridiculous. So, no, Jesus really meant don't tell anyone.
The second question I have is why the guy didn't listen. What an ungrateful little jerk. Jesus is moved with pity and heals him, then makes one simple request, and the guy totally blows him off. "Whatever Jesus, I'm tellin' people." I can't imagine this. I know I'm not completely obedient to the words of Christ all the time, but if Jesus just healed me of a disease and I had no doubt about it, I'd be on my best behavior for at least a little while. If the guy told me to walk around like a chicken, I'd probably do it. He just did something amazing, miraculous, for me. But this guy goes and tells everyone publicly. I suppose he's excited, and I can't blame him for that. But still I'm left scratching my head.
"A leper came to him [and kneeling down] begged him and said, 'If you wish, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, 'I do will it. Be made clean.' The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, 'See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.' The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere."
It never fails that every time I hear a reading like this, I can't help but marvel at what I hear. I don't mean to trivialize the healing power of Jesus, what he does is awesome. It is what happens afterward that perplexes me. Jesus warns the man "sternly" to tell no one and what is the first thing the man does? He goes blabbing it to the whole town. Am I the only one in the world that finds this strange?
First of all, why does Jesus warn the man to tell no one? To me this is not so clear. Some dismiss it as a desire for people to not swarm him, which is what happened as word got out. I don't find this likely. This story is at the beginning of his public ministry. The same story appears in Matthew's Gospel, but it is preceded by the Sermon on the Mount, and in Luke's Gospel prior to the Sermon on the Plain. While the order of events is in question, the same warning is given by Jesus, "Tell no one." Jesus is beginning his preaching. If he wants to get a message out, wouldn't it be a good thing for people to be there to hear the message? Wouldn't he want people to come and listen? Would not a miracle have the effect drawing attention to his ministry? I am aware that my argument sounds like Jesus is playing more the role of a politician than a savior. That's not what I mean. I just think Jesus would know this kind of miracle would get a reaction.
I've had others tell me that it is human nature to not do what you are told. So if you're told not to eat a cookie, all you want is to eat the cookie. Thus, Jesus told him not to tell people so that he would immediately want to. This is just absurd to me. If you believe in the Trinity, Jesus is God. When Jesus speaks, he is speaking truth. Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus do anything like this kind of manipulation. This can't be what he meant. If that were true, the 10 Commandments would read. "Don't love me, worship other gods, kill people, steal whatever you can get, covet your neighbors wife." This is just ridiculous. So, no, Jesus really meant don't tell anyone.
The second question I have is why the guy didn't listen. What an ungrateful little jerk. Jesus is moved with pity and heals him, then makes one simple request, and the guy totally blows him off. "Whatever Jesus, I'm tellin' people." I can't imagine this. I know I'm not completely obedient to the words of Christ all the time, but if Jesus just healed me of a disease and I had no doubt about it, I'd be on my best behavior for at least a little while. If the guy told me to walk around like a chicken, I'd probably do it. He just did something amazing, miraculous, for me. But this guy goes and tells everyone publicly. I suppose he's excited, and I can't blame him for that. But still I'm left scratching my head.
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