And the First Shall Be ..... First
Topic: From a Father
Adam has moved out.

This is very, very strange.

As you no doubt know, Adam graduated from Luther last spring. He came back home to live with us until he found a place. In some sense, we were actively "pushing" him out. It's something Sherry and I decided to do for our kids long ago -- we believe that the analogy of a mother bird pushing her chicks out of the nest to force them to fly is apt. We knew it would be emotionally hard to see one of our kids move out. And, for me at least, it was. But we know it's ultimately for the best.

I expected to miss him immediately -- and I do. Somewhat strange, since I have seen so little of him lately -- his schedule and mine just don't provide much opportunity for seeing one another. Yet, of course, I knew I would have a feeling of nostalgic longing, mixed with parental pride. And I have that. In spades.

But what is unexpectdly working at my mind is how Adam is the one who gets to go through all this stuff first.
I mean, it makes sense, of course, but nevertheless, it's remarkable how many life milestones I reach which are directly connected to my firstborn.

This does not mean I do not mark, or feel, the milestones with the others. Lucas going off to college was a big deal. Sarah -- same thing. Leah getting dressed up for her first formal dance. They all affect me.

But when I first notice a new chapter in my life, it's almost always connected to Adam.

I wish him well, and I am amazingly proud of him.

Now, if I can just deal with the "missing."

Ummm, Going Forward, You?ll be Hearing This
There is a phrase sweeping the nation which is the latest example of corporate-speak infiltrating our daily discourse and providing no value whatsoever. The phrase? “Going Forward.”

How is it used? Every once in a while, it is used to mean “in the future” – and this is perhaps the usage which can be tolerated. Often, when people say “In the future” they are trying to teach a lesson, and the phrase points out that such a lesson is forthcoming, so pay attention. For example, “In the future, we must be more careful not to drop our brother down the well.” Notice that one could insert “Going forward” into that sentence with similar effect. Notice also, however, that neither phrase actually provides any other value. “We must be more careful not to drop our brother down the well” already contains the information that we are talking about a future event. Saying that we must be more careful “in the future” or “going forward” is redundant. Clearly, we are not going to be more careful in the past.

As it is most commonly used, however, “going forward” provides even less. Consider a typical comment from a corporate executive. “We need to work hard, going forward, if we are going to improve our profit picture.” Forget, for a moment about the use of “picture” in the sentence -- What does “going forward” mean in this context?

It means “Ummmm.”

The whole phrase is just a way to stop talking for a second or two without actually shutting down your mouth.

Unfortunately, this is typical of verbiage from the corporate world. Whole speeches are given which purport to contain information, direction or motivation, but which are in effect a collection of vacuous phrases.

If the Universal Translator (from Star Trek – you know what I mean) really exists, and some alien is monitoring the speech of our modern business executives, what they would really be hearing is:

“Ummmmmm. We need, ummmm, better profits. Ummmmm. It’s not my fault. Ummmm. Thank you.”

Oh, I forgot. From the typical executive, the “thank you” doesn’t mean anything either.

Make that “Ummmm.”

Movies we've seen recently

I try to keep track of the movies I've watched, and what I thought of them. I figured I'd post the most recent list, so here is a link to that. These are not all of the movies we've watched lately -- some of the others have entries further up in the main file in which I track these things. For example, we saw The Matrix and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade during this period also, but for movies we see often, I just add another "viewed" date.

As you can see, the number of movies is pretty long. Once school is out (and the network shows are done with their seasons) we hit the DVDs pretty hard. I love the "MVP" membership at Hollywood Video. $15/month gets me all the movies I want to see -- as long as I'm willing to wait until a DVD is 6-8 weeks old before I view it.

This is actually pretty easy to do. There are DVDs I will buy as soon as they come out, so I don't need to rent them. For anything else, I can wait. The only real danger is movies which have their DVD release at the end of the summer. Those I might forget about before we do another stretch of DVD renting.

Oh, in case it's interesting, the "Rating" I use is a 100-point scale. Generally speaking, I will consider buying a movie if I score it 80 or above.

Interested to know what the highest and lowest scores I've ever given are? Ask!

24
Now Playing: "Canon in D" by Pachelbel (of course)
Time for some word association -- or "number association" if you will. What do you think of when I say:

24

I think, these days, may people think of the Keifer Sutherland TV show.

Then there is "hours -- as in 24 hours in a day."

What else?

24 is two dozen. So that is helpful. Two dozen of something is a good amount. And an expensive amount, if you get the right thing. But it could make an impression. I hope it does!

24 karat gold is pure. So 24 can make you think of wealth, or preciousness, or purity.

24 is a cool number in a few ways:

• 24 = 1 * 2 * 3 * 4, which makes it a pure number (I think "pure" is the right term.....)
• 24 = 2 * 12 which is cool because
  • 12 is a completeness number, being the number of months in a complete year
  • 2 people living together year-round might be represented by 2 * 12
  • Or two particular people might have been married on the 12th of the month, and if that happened to be the 6th month, then we have another perfect number.
• 24 happens to be my birthday
• 24 happens to be Christmas Eve, often a highlight day of the year

What else? 24 inches is two feet. I have two feet. So does Sherry. Does that help?

I've been wracking my brain. Aside from the two dozen things, I can't think of anything affordable that represents 24. Believe me, 24 Karat gold is just not affordable, in any meaningful amount. An ounce is, like, $700 or so.

Now it is critical that you not go talking about this blog entry to Sherry -- at least not until after Monday. But if you want to send me an e-mail with some cool idea, feel free!

Back by popular demand
Now Playing: nothing -- why is it so quiet?
So Lucas told me yesterday he checks my blog every time he checks blogs, even though I have not added anything since December.

I know how disheartening that can be -- checking a blog that doesn't update.

For example, every time I view my blog, it doesn't have anything new in it.

So, you see, I know exactly how it feels.

So, this entry marks a new start. Let's see if I can come up with anything to say.

"Think" Fridays
Now Playing: "Can't Fight This Feeling" - REO Speedwagon
Where I work, we have been told to use Friday afternoons for thinking. "Think Fridays" they are called.

This actually has been very helpful, for me. You see, my job involves many meetings. Many. Really.
LOTS.

Well, the rules of "Think Fridays" say that you can't call meetings on Friday afternoons.
There are exceptions, but they involve customers or executives. So, some Fridays, I do end up with meetings.

But most Fridays, like today, I have no meetings scheduled in the afternoon. Now, for many people that allows them to think big thoughts, or work on programming projects. For me, it usually just means I get to catch up on the things I'm supposed to be doing but can't accomplish because of...

..... yep -- all those meetings.

So here it is, a "Think Friday" and a perfect time to just do some thinking, maybe some writing.

Writing such as this, for example. Happy Friday!

Religious World View quiz
Lucas had link to a quiz, and his results. Here are mine:

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 82% Neo orthodox 50% Reformed Evangelical 50% Classical Liberal 46% Roman Catholic 39% Emergent/Postmodern 39% Modern Liberal 36% Charismatic/Pentecostal 29% Fundamentalist 25% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this case.

It's interesting, but not too surprising, that the author of the quiz does not seem to have "Lutheranism" in the mix. I suppose there are some differences between Lutherans and Methodists, but I've always felt we had a lot in common. In any case, while I know I am an evnagelical in the Lutheran tradition, I never thought of myself as "Wesleyan."

Thanks for the pointer, Lucas.

Bleh
Mood:  down
I think that's how Lucas says it....

Bleh...

Not happy. Bummed, in fact. "Depressed" is too strong a word.

My theasaurical mind won't supply the word I need.

Which kinda shows my mood, and my circumstances right there, don't it?

Bleh.

That's a good word.




It's too bad, too -- because the weekend was really quite great.



But then work hit me in the face.

"Bleh happens."

Start from the top: "Batman Begins"
Now Playing: "Christmas Lullaby"
Topic: Movies
No one said anything -- which is not surprising, since I only asked yesterday, and I had not posted for two months before that -- so I will start at the top of the list with "Batman Begins." Starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and directed by Christopher Nolan.

Just a spoiler warning -- if you haven't seen it yet, I will be spoiling some things. Don't read any more of this.

Really.

You'll be upset.

Don't go any further.

I mean it.

OK, this should be far enough.

Why do I bother with such a long spoiler warning?

Because no one spoiled it for ME! And I thank all of you who could have. Sincerely.

You see, when "Batman Begins" first came out, I knew I would want to see it. But I didn't get to it. And then lots of people I knew went to it, and I still didn't go. And almost to a person, those people told me they not only thought it was a really good movie, but also that they knew I would like it a lot!

And still, I didn't get to the theater.

So, when it came out on DVD, I had my family buy it (I was away on business that week). And finally, about two weeks ago, I saw it!

Can you tell I liked it?

Look folks, the "Batman" conceived of by Tim Burton was great, and Michael Keaton surprised me along with many other Batman fans by pulling off a believable Caped Crusader. Burton set a great atmosphere and put together a tight story. Keaton and Burton together chose to do a very somber Bruce Wayne, and it worked. I loved that movie, too -- though certainly some of the credit goes to Jack Nicholson, who did justice to the Joker.

But here, in "Batman Begins" we get to delve into the creation of this masked hero in ways that we haven't in other versions of the story. The origin was so much more complete, and tying it to one of Batman's most sinister and believable foes, Ra's Al Ghul, was an act of storytelling genius. (Credit Nolan and David S. Goyer) And, when the Bale/Nolan Bruce Wayne is faced with creating a secret identity, he does what the comics had him do -- he takes on the persona of a rude, spoiled playboy!

Folks, I don't mean to sound like a snobbish purist, but the "playboy" secret identity was a key component of Bruce Wayne for years and years in the comics. The simple fact is that the TV and movie versions of the story simply chose to go other directions.
So Nolan went back to the roots, and pulled it off well.

More "roots" showed up in the appearance of the second foe -- who seemed to be the primary villain for a good portion of the film -- Scarecrow! How excellent! Batman was always the hero who struck fear into the hearts of evil-doers. So Scarecrow was conceived as an opponent who would do the same to Batman. Cillian Murphy, whom I had never seen before, was insidiously wonderful in the role. That Scarecrow and his schemes were the catalyst for all the future supervillains in Gotham City was fantastic!

But the very best part of the story was the twist -- the revealing of Ra's Al Ghul and Wayne/Batman having to face him again. I loved this! And it all fit! Why get Liam Neeson in the movie otherwise?

So, I think this is enough. I didn't talk about Michael Caine's Alfred (not as stuffy as others have played him, but a great fit) or the inclusion of Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox (now the world knows where Batman got all those gadgets!) or Gary Oldman as (the future Commissioner) Gordon.

A sequel might have a tough time living up to the bar set by this movie, but with characters and actors like these, I think it's inevitable.

And maybe we'll see a little more of Katie Holmes?

Topics
I have not blogged for a while. I probably don't have time to blog now. Maybe not for a while. But here are topics I wanted to blog about recently.

• "Batman Begins"
• "Santos vs Vinick"
• The Three Pitfalls - Why the LCMS is shrinking and will continue to do so
• I'm not butting in, or judging -- I'm just interested!
• Understanding the appeal of chemicals
• My job: It's like hosting a barbeque party -- but without the party.
• Examples of Hypocrisy: Respecting Each Other's Time

Now, I wonder if anyone cares to let me know which one I should blog about? If you do, e-mail me.