Awake

Tech Reading List: 2 new articles from Sitepoint

Two recent articles on Sitepoint caught my eye:

Get On Track with Ruby on Rails

and

Improve Usability for Older Users

So tonight...install Ruby and Rails on my pair server...or...read Goblet of Fire until the magic hour? Hmmmm.....a difficult choice indeed. ;-)

Billy Bragg sings about The lonesome death of Rachel Corrie

Guardian Unlimited Arts | | The lonesome death of Rachel Corrie

Elegance in Skill (Defined and Documented)

Got four minutes? Check out this amazing juggling performance: Chris Bliss: Must-See Finale

Coming Up

A few things on the horizon...(some near, some far, some just plain ridiculous...)

Massage school is on.

It's official. I'm enrolled at East West College and I'll be there for the next year and a half. I'm guessing I'll need plenty of bodies to train on, so if you know me and are interested in a free homework massage, let me know. I'll be in a position to get licensed after 1 year and during that time I'll continue school and hopefully start to build a practice.

Being sick does have its literary advantages.

I am currently plagued with Gunky Cold, the symptoms (Excess Gunk and No Sleep) of which convinced me to stay home 3 days last week. In between naps, tea, and soup, I have been practically bingeing on fiction before having to consume kinesiology and massage studies in a few short weeks. After watching the latest screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as well as the mini-series, I decided to read the book as well. I also have been alternating Harry Potter books with the associated movies, averaging 1.3 HP books per day. I'm now on Goblet, however and am back to work, so the average is consequently dropping. ;-) Also sprinkled into the mix are the delightful Spiderwick Chronicles as well as A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle (I've been working my way through all the Time Quartet—four books related to A Wrinkle in Time all with the same core set of characters, who have an affinity for traveling in space in time exploring the mysteries of faith.)

Series commences on Jesus' conversations according to the Gospel of John

Pastor John started us off in John on Saturday and I'm really looking forward to this series. He's seeing the book of John as a series of Jesus' conversations with a variety of people and has consequently picked out 1 conversation per week for us to focus on—with a total of 25 over the course of the series. I'll try to remember to link to the podcasts when they are made available. Or you can just subscribe to his podcast in iTunes by copying and pasting into iTunes' Subscribe to Podcast input this link: http://johnjohnson.typepad.com/blog/rss.xml.

Optimizing the iTunes Living Room Experience

Since getting my powerbook over a year ago, I have barely even touched my G4 tower (really only to move it out of the way in my various spurts of furniture rearranging) but most of my music is actually digitized on that computer, not to mention a lot of photos. However, being so liberated from the shackles of Large Monitor and Desk and into Less Wire and More Comfy Chair Zone, I am loath to bring my G4 tower into the open. I'd rather it remain where it is, not cluttering up my space. So enter Chicken of the VNC. (I just love saying that.) This program will enable me to acces my G4 tower from the comfort of my G4 Powerbook (and purple chair with my feet up on matching chartreuse ottoman covered in my favorite wool blanket...ahhhhhhh). So that installation is slated for this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes. (I know you're dying of suspense. I'll try and be quick about it.)

What Would Chloe Do? (WWCD?)

Yes, I'm totally hooked on 24 this season and my favorite character Chloe is really pulling no punches this season. Her patented Chloe Sass is better than ever and I can hardly wait to hear who or what she will tell off next. Indeed, her performance has nearly inspired me to almost want to make buttons that say What Would Chloe Do? (Or simply, "No!" or "Whatever." —perhaps with a cropped image of her trademark soul piercing glare in the background.) The show has also been a fun source of Dadoo-bonding as I have infinitely preferred watching it in HDTV on a screen literally the size of my adolescent clothes closet (my old bedroom=my parent's home theatre) over the need to be conscientious of my neighbors by watching it at home. So I've been heading over there every Monday night and wait for my dad to come bounding up the stairs after no doubt cutting short my mom's post-life-group conversation. Sadly, Dadoo's enthusiasm for the show plummeted last week upon the supposedly trustworthy information Jack Bauer received about Audrey. (Whatever! As if they could play the Nina card again! No way! I believe you Audrey!!!) And he's been a little bummed about all the people they've killed off this season already. Has J.J. Abrams been ghostwriting this season? That guy will kill off anyone. (And bring them back. Twice.)

So that's all the news that's (un?)fit to print. Or display. Until next time.

Ma.gnolia Social Bookmarking

Ma.gnolia is a new social bookmarking site that I think puts the "social" back in "social bookmarking." It's a very friendly site, still very young and it's already easy to be impressed by it. I've just begun my contribution, but I am already inclined to like it very much and use it well into the future.

Ma.gnolia Social Bookmarking: Search and Find Web Sites & Build Community Online.

Some Good News: Secretary Norton Resigns

Now former Secretary Gale Norton has resigned. This is of some relief, although the notorious legacy of the U.S. Department of the Interior hardly encourages hope in the appointment of a steward that could actually treat the indigenous people of the U.S. not to mention the environment with any dignity, respect or justice. Nevertheless, I am glad to see her go. Among other things, her notorious behaviour and managerial decisions relating to Cobell v. Norton (the individual Indian trust management class action suit) definitely validate, if not summon, her resignation. I just hope the next appointee will not engage in managerial actions that delay proceedings, destroy evidence, or desperately attempt to continue the deny individual Indian trust holders just compensation.

Quoted from this Indian Country article: Interior Secretary Gale Norton resigns (2006-03-10):

Norton has had a slippery relationship with American Indian tribes, especially on the issues of trust reform and the reorganization of the BIA. All tribal leaders in the Great Plains opposed her plan to reorganize the BIA.

Some Alaska Natives will always remember her as the person who led the drive to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.

Norton was also at the heart of the controversial Cobell v. Norton lawsuit over Indian trust management. She was held in contempt of court for not complying with U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth's orders to provide materials and research historic data for the Individual Indian Trust accounts.

Asleep?

Not exactly, though I am exhausted.

Just got through a slew of web design favors, best guesses, and out-of-the-goodness-of-my-heart volunteer work these past 3 months and boy am I tired. (Of it.)

So I took my first step on a path that I've been eyeing for at least 10 years: I took an intro to relaxation massage class last Saturday. Next step? Submit an online FAFSA and an application to East-West College of the Healing Arts. (I'm undecided as yet about July or September enrollment.)

It would mean putting my schedule on the Atkins-South-Beach-Jenny-Craig-Weight-Watchers diet of all time, but that, as everyone around me knows, is long overdue.

Mediation and massage, you say? Well it's all about peacemaking and healing. And that's a good direction for me to take, I think. Good for me, good for others, and honoring the Trinitarian God. You won't find this path in any worship and community book out there, but we all know that what pastors and leaders are reading ain't nearly all of what needs to be known. So when I get on the other side of this or at least heart-deep in it, maybe I'll be the one to write that book. ;-)