It's been a really busy weekend. But of all the things I did this weekend, it's the Saturday night "Double Nickels" celebration that is causing all the buzz. Double Nickels refers to my cohort who were born in 1955 and who will all turn 55 this year, assuming they survive the year. As one friend who couldn't make it to the celebration observed, high school classmates are "dropping like flies." Well,not quite that bad, but still. Our 40th high school class reunion is still 3 years away.
We did just lose a beloved classmate, Michael Orr. There have been others. It's scary and sad.
So thanks to Facebook, we organized in just a week's time this Double Nickels thing at Brew River. Now, non-Facebook users were kind of left in the cold. A few heard about it by word of mouth, but others did not. And none of us had time to search them out this time. We're planning to get together more frequently.
We invited people from our big cross-town rival, James M. Bennett High School, to join us this time. We'll probably do that again, at least for these more frequent, smaller get-togethers.
Don't you know, though, we still segregated ourselves pretty well. We all said hello to each other, and talked a bit, but generally one side of the bar was Bennett alumuni and the other side, WiHi.
Still, it was really alot of fun. And we started between 4 and 5, so we were done by 9:30 or 10, even the diehards -- in plenty of time for bed.
Now I could overanalyze the reasons why high school friends are so dear, even 40 years and a lifetime later. But I'll leave that for another time. It's late and I've got a busy week ahead.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Post-crash
Not a car crash, but a laptop crash. I thought I'd lost this blog, but when I typed "blogspot.com" into my browser, this came up. Odd, because nothing else from my old computer or browser has been transferred. Nothing at all. I am still trying and hoping (it's fading) that I can retrieve some of my files, if not all. And I've lost applications, too. Very, very frustrating.
I've signed up for online storage. I am pretty sure I had some online storage before, but no idea how to retrieve it. I think this because on the old laptop I used to periodically get a message stating that I'd used up my online storage. I ignored it.
Now I've bought the Geek Squad black tie coverage for this new laptop (hindsight, you know?) and bought online storage from Comcast.
Scary. All those files that seemed so safe because I'd stored them on my laptop were just phantoms. I never printed out most of the pictures, and even though they were stored on Picasa, it was only on my desktop, not online. And don't get me started about iTunes. I lost that library, too. Argh
I've signed up for online storage. I am pretty sure I had some online storage before, but no idea how to retrieve it. I think this because on the old laptop I used to periodically get a message stating that I'd used up my online storage. I ignored it.
Now I've bought the Geek Squad black tie coverage for this new laptop (hindsight, you know?) and bought online storage from Comcast.
Scary. All those files that seemed so safe because I'd stored them on my laptop were just phantoms. I never printed out most of the pictures, and even though they were stored on Picasa, it was only on my desktop, not online. And don't get me started about iTunes. I lost that library, too. Argh
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Farmville and human nature
I confess to anyone reading this that I play Farmville on Facebook. It's a little embarrassing, but I don't have too many vices. I do it as much for the interaction with others as I do for the game itself. But I've learned or affirmed a few things in the process.
For example, when I first started playing, it was really hard to get started. You don't get a lot of "coins" to play around with, and it would take every coin I had to buy seeds to plant crops (by hand, via avatar). I gained a few friends, and some of them helped me by pointing out ways I could improve the bottom line and begin to build a nicer farm. Farmville encourages its farmers to help each other by raking leaves, pullling weeds, fertilizing other people's crops and sharing things. But it places limits on sharing, and while it encourages gift-giving, too, it limits how many items you can give each day and how many you can give to any one individual.
People visit each other's farms, they share gifts and unexpected bonuses, they are pretty much all positive, uplifting, encouraging and helpful.
When the farm got bigger and my coin stash began to grow, it got to be a lot of trouble to wait while that slow avatar plowed and harvested each little square, or harvested animals and trees. So Farmville provided, helpfully, plows, seeders and harvesters for those who could "afford" them. Farmville was learning, too, I think, because things that were once difficult to get became easier. Like fuel for the machinery. They wanted you to buy things from sponsors to get cash to spend. I suspect people resisted this. I know I did not spend real money on virtual cash. And I did not sign up for offers that wanted my credit card number in return for farm cash.
Some people play aggressively, snatching up whatever is shared before other people can get them. In response, some people began to make special "lists" of friends they knew were playing farmville and were not greedy; they only made certain things available to these special friends. I got into that habit, partly to give my good friends a better chance to get things, but also to prevent my other friends from having to see all the posts that farmville generates. I still do this. I don't want to annoy people who don't play the game.
The more money I amassed in this virtual world, the bigger my farm got and the longer it takes to load the game and manage the farm. And the less I cared about spending coins. I now have close to 2 million coins; I can buy pretty much anything that's available for coins (as opposed to cash, which I have very little of).
In real life, I've never had more coins than I knew what to do with.
The virtual world is not real, and I know that. But it is an interesting way to watch human behavior. I love the way most farmers (and most people on Facebook, for that matter) are so helpful and encouraging to each other. Perhaps it's because there's really nothing at stake -- nothing of substance to gain or lose except friendship and companionship, even if it's not face-to-face presence.
Would we all be so generous, so giving, so encouraging, so helpful in the real world, if we were sharing real treasures? I would like to think so. But I'm not so sure we would.
After all, we do live in the real world. If the persona we present on facebook and in farmville is genuine, why aren't we already behaving that way?
For example, when I first started playing, it was really hard to get started. You don't get a lot of "coins" to play around with, and it would take every coin I had to buy seeds to plant crops (by hand, via avatar). I gained a few friends, and some of them helped me by pointing out ways I could improve the bottom line and begin to build a nicer farm. Farmville encourages its farmers to help each other by raking leaves, pullling weeds, fertilizing other people's crops and sharing things. But it places limits on sharing, and while it encourages gift-giving, too, it limits how many items you can give each day and how many you can give to any one individual.
People visit each other's farms, they share gifts and unexpected bonuses, they are pretty much all positive, uplifting, encouraging and helpful.
When the farm got bigger and my coin stash began to grow, it got to be a lot of trouble to wait while that slow avatar plowed and harvested each little square, or harvested animals and trees. So Farmville provided, helpfully, plows, seeders and harvesters for those who could "afford" them. Farmville was learning, too, I think, because things that were once difficult to get became easier. Like fuel for the machinery. They wanted you to buy things from sponsors to get cash to spend. I suspect people resisted this. I know I did not spend real money on virtual cash. And I did not sign up for offers that wanted my credit card number in return for farm cash.
Some people play aggressively, snatching up whatever is shared before other people can get them. In response, some people began to make special "lists" of friends they knew were playing farmville and were not greedy; they only made certain things available to these special friends. I got into that habit, partly to give my good friends a better chance to get things, but also to prevent my other friends from having to see all the posts that farmville generates. I still do this. I don't want to annoy people who don't play the game.
The more money I amassed in this virtual world, the bigger my farm got and the longer it takes to load the game and manage the farm. And the less I cared about spending coins. I now have close to 2 million coins; I can buy pretty much anything that's available for coins (as opposed to cash, which I have very little of).
In real life, I've never had more coins than I knew what to do with.
The virtual world is not real, and I know that. But it is an interesting way to watch human behavior. I love the way most farmers (and most people on Facebook, for that matter) are so helpful and encouraging to each other. Perhaps it's because there's really nothing at stake -- nothing of substance to gain or lose except friendship and companionship, even if it's not face-to-face presence.
Would we all be so generous, so giving, so encouraging, so helpful in the real world, if we were sharing real treasures? I would like to think so. But I'm not so sure we would.
After all, we do live in the real world. If the persona we present on facebook and in farmville is genuine, why aren't we already behaving that way?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
While reading an edidtorial in my diocesan newspaper about sacrifice and reward, a popular Lenten topic, I came across a new twist on a tired old phrase: "I've got mine" culture of entitlement.
Every day in my work as an editorialist I am bombarded by comments from people, either through online forum comments, anonymous comments for publication, letters to the editor or in mass e-mailing that reach my inbox from special interest groups. A majority of them echo that "I've got mine" sentiment. You know, "If government takes my money and shares it with (you fill in the blank), that's socialism" or "If we give people (again, you fill in the blank) for nothing, they'll start thinking they're entitled to it, or anything else we own" or "I'm tired paying taxes with my hard-earned wages so lazy, good-for-nothing (welfare recipients, illegal immigrants, whatever) can benefit (by attending school, getting health care, clothing, shelter, food, whatever) while I struggle to make ends meet."
That is also an entitlement culture, but I'd never looked at it that way. Community is important but too much of this "rugged individualism" can lead to a fragmenting of community, a fear that someone else might get something they didn't "earn" or that a neighbor might profit from someone else's labor.
Community is more than keeping up with the Joneses. Who is my neighbor? someone asked Jesus. He answered with a parable about a good Samaritan. To understand the shock value of that parable, to put it into context, we might substitute "illegal immigrant" or "Arab who might be a terrorist" or other label that is looked down upon or feared in today's culture. Jesus seems to be telling us both how to spot a neighbor and how to be a good neighbor.
If you are caught up in the "got mine" culture of entitlement, however, you are so smug about making sure that you've done a good job of planning, working and providing for yourself, you are blinded to the need to help each other without a need to deem the one in need worthy of our generosity. You are thinking "I work hard for my wages, and it is my right to use it to make my family's life more comfortable. And what would people think if I started just giving away my time and treasure? I'd be eaten alive. I'd be taken advantage of."
No, we are given gifts by God to share. Hence, the parable about the talents. To whom is given more, more is expected in return. That parable is not about investing more in the stock market to earn shareholders or bankers or brokers a greater return. It's about spreading that gift to help more people, using it to the best possible end, which is making sure that if you are aware of suffering in a neighbor and can do something to ease it, you should do so.
Who is your neighbor? It's anyone. It's the homeless, the terminally ill, the working poor, the outcast. It doesn't matter whether you think that person is "worthy" of being helped. It might not even be a fellow American. While we often invoke "God and country," Christianity is not limited to the United States of America, and God certainly has not declared that the USA is his chosen country or people.
Feed my sheep, Jesus tells his apostles. He also tells them that if someone takes the cloak off your back, offer to go home and get another one to give him. If someone slaps you in the cheek, turn the other cheek so he can also slap that one.
That is the kind of humility that Jesus tells us to strive for, so that self does not matter, and pride does not enter into the equation.
It's not easy, it isn't natural for us and it's probably impossible to fully achieve on Earth. But it's what we are called to do. Help those in need, use our gifts and talents for the good of the community, the church, each other.Do not worry about tomorrow. Look at the birds, and the flowers, and see how they do not worry about tomorrow. Our father in heaven takes care of them and he will take care of us.
So simple, and yet so impossible to grasp and embrace.
Yes, community matters, and community means a deep, fundamental concern for others, not just our friends and family, but everyone who is in need.
If we all adopted that attitude, we would not be arguing over how to pass legislation that will benefit us without risking giving something away to someone in need who might not have "earned" it. There would be no need for government safety nets like Social Security or welfare. We'd all be looking out for each other, and so, so much richer because of it. I am the peace the world cannot give, Jesus told us. And Jesus, the God made flesh who was for his entire adult life homeless, who never asked for more than his most basic human needs to be met (food, water, clothing to cover his body, time alone to pray), was a living example for us.
God help us.
Every day in my work as an editorialist I am bombarded by comments from people, either through online forum comments, anonymous comments for publication, letters to the editor or in mass e-mailing that reach my inbox from special interest groups. A majority of them echo that "I've got mine" sentiment. You know, "If government takes my money and shares it with (you fill in the blank), that's socialism" or "If we give people (again, you fill in the blank) for nothing, they'll start thinking they're entitled to it, or anything else we own" or "I'm tired paying taxes with my hard-earned wages so lazy, good-for-nothing (welfare recipients, illegal immigrants, whatever) can benefit (by attending school, getting health care, clothing, shelter, food, whatever) while I struggle to make ends meet."
That is also an entitlement culture, but I'd never looked at it that way. Community is important but too much of this "rugged individualism" can lead to a fragmenting of community, a fear that someone else might get something they didn't "earn" or that a neighbor might profit from someone else's labor.
Community is more than keeping up with the Joneses. Who is my neighbor? someone asked Jesus. He answered with a parable about a good Samaritan. To understand the shock value of that parable, to put it into context, we might substitute "illegal immigrant" or "Arab who might be a terrorist" or other label that is looked down upon or feared in today's culture. Jesus seems to be telling us both how to spot a neighbor and how to be a good neighbor.
If you are caught up in the "got mine" culture of entitlement, however, you are so smug about making sure that you've done a good job of planning, working and providing for yourself, you are blinded to the need to help each other without a need to deem the one in need worthy of our generosity. You are thinking "I work hard for my wages, and it is my right to use it to make my family's life more comfortable. And what would people think if I started just giving away my time and treasure? I'd be eaten alive. I'd be taken advantage of."
No, we are given gifts by God to share. Hence, the parable about the talents. To whom is given more, more is expected in return. That parable is not about investing more in the stock market to earn shareholders or bankers or brokers a greater return. It's about spreading that gift to help more people, using it to the best possible end, which is making sure that if you are aware of suffering in a neighbor and can do something to ease it, you should do so.
Who is your neighbor? It's anyone. It's the homeless, the terminally ill, the working poor, the outcast. It doesn't matter whether you think that person is "worthy" of being helped. It might not even be a fellow American. While we often invoke "God and country," Christianity is not limited to the United States of America, and God certainly has not declared that the USA is his chosen country or people.
Feed my sheep, Jesus tells his apostles. He also tells them that if someone takes the cloak off your back, offer to go home and get another one to give him. If someone slaps you in the cheek, turn the other cheek so he can also slap that one.
That is the kind of humility that Jesus tells us to strive for, so that self does not matter, and pride does not enter into the equation.
It's not easy, it isn't natural for us and it's probably impossible to fully achieve on Earth. But it's what we are called to do. Help those in need, use our gifts and talents for the good of the community, the church, each other.Do not worry about tomorrow. Look at the birds, and the flowers, and see how they do not worry about tomorrow. Our father in heaven takes care of them and he will take care of us.
So simple, and yet so impossible to grasp and embrace.
Yes, community matters, and community means a deep, fundamental concern for others, not just our friends and family, but everyone who is in need.
If we all adopted that attitude, we would not be arguing over how to pass legislation that will benefit us without risking giving something away to someone in need who might not have "earned" it. There would be no need for government safety nets like Social Security or welfare. We'd all be looking out for each other, and so, so much richer because of it. I am the peace the world cannot give, Jesus told us. And Jesus, the God made flesh who was for his entire adult life homeless, who never asked for more than his most basic human needs to be met (food, water, clothing to cover his body, time alone to pray), was a living example for us.
God help us.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Fast forward
It's been nearly three years. I'd forgotten about this blog, actually. But now I am going to try to post a little bit now and then.
Everyone has gone to bed and I should, too. I'm pretty tired, actually, and of course I have to get up in the morning and go to work, as always.
So this will be short and sweet, but there will be more, I promise.
There's a promise of spring in the air now. Even when it's chilly, it's not the icy chill of winter, more the brisk snap with a hint of warmth. I didn't have to wear a coat to work today, that was a real novelty. I kept thinking I'd forgotten something all day. Oh, yeah, my coat. No, it's at home. I hoped all day it wouldn't rain, even though it did look threatening for awhile.
I also enjoyed lunch with a friend, and my son happened to wander in to the same place. Great minds and all that. Every time I go into Viva Espresso, I see someone I know. Or they see me, which is embarrassing if I don't see them. It's a great place, though, seriously. Good food, great environment and lots of familiar faces.
But this isn't an ad for Viva. It's more an ad for the entrepreneur, the locally owned gathering spot, which Viva is. Not a chain like Starbucks or Panera. Not that there's anything wrong with those places. But Viva is so comfortable and welcoming. So is Rise Up Coffee, where they know you by name and always have time to chat with customers.
These are important to a sense of community, belonging. Is that something that's missing in America today, to a disturbingly large degree?
Everyone has gone to bed and I should, too. I'm pretty tired, actually, and of course I have to get up in the morning and go to work, as always.
So this will be short and sweet, but there will be more, I promise.
There's a promise of spring in the air now. Even when it's chilly, it's not the icy chill of winter, more the brisk snap with a hint of warmth. I didn't have to wear a coat to work today, that was a real novelty. I kept thinking I'd forgotten something all day. Oh, yeah, my coat. No, it's at home. I hoped all day it wouldn't rain, even though it did look threatening for awhile.
I also enjoyed lunch with a friend, and my son happened to wander in to the same place. Great minds and all that. Every time I go into Viva Espresso, I see someone I know. Or they see me, which is embarrassing if I don't see them. It's a great place, though, seriously. Good food, great environment and lots of familiar faces.
But this isn't an ad for Viva. It's more an ad for the entrepreneur, the locally owned gathering spot, which Viva is. Not a chain like Starbucks or Panera. Not that there's anything wrong with those places. But Viva is so comfortable and welcoming. So is Rise Up Coffee, where they know you by name and always have time to chat with customers.
These are important to a sense of community, belonging. Is that something that's missing in America today, to a disturbingly large degree?
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