GCC speech and debate came in 1st in the small school category and 4th overall. We had Sean break in ADS on his first try and Jamie came in her traditional first place! Hopefully I'll get pictures soon, but I need to know the address of a website first apparently. Now if I only knew the address of the website!
Unfortunately, my trip to WPSD and the ASL meeting tonight was canceled. Instead, I'll go to a meeting with my Intro to Christian Ministry group at 6:00 and then homework. Afterwards, it's off to beautiful, home sweet home.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Late nights
Right now, I'm pretty impressed with the Hampton Inn. It has a lot of drawers, a chest, microwave, and a fridge with a very fast LAN connection. This wonderfully fast LAN connection gives me the chance to tell the rest of the world how hard speech and debate is. I stayed up until 12:15 last night working on a debate case. I would have stayed up later, but I decided to take a small break and lay down. I woke up half an hour later and decided to go to bed. We had a 8:00 wake up call so I knew I wasn't going to get enough sleep. As it was, both Sean and I were up around 7:00 and mostly ready by the time our wake up call came through. That wouldn't be too bad, except that we didn't have to be ready until 10:00.
At this tournament, I'm running a completely new debate case. The old case on prison privatization just had so many unknown variables that I really couldn't defend it as well as I would like, even though I believe it is a good case. My current plan is to give ex-felons the right to vote. So far, it seems like a good case and I'll probably decide tomorrow whether or not I like it and can get behind it. I think most people decide before they run a case whether they like the case or not, but that takes away some of the thrill being aff and having the neg find a huge hole you never thought of before!
As a final note on the craziness of speech and debate, I brought a single suit of clothes for this weekend. Yesterday morning I tried to iron my pants and some dirt came off on my off-white pants. That didn't look too good so I go to find the second pair of pants I brought for an emergency and I find I didn't bring them. I am now forced into wearing some pants with a dark streak or two in them. After that I go to iron my shirt and find that I brought the wrong shirt. I get everything put on right and I get ready to leave the room and I remember that I brought no 3x5 cards. I think knitting would be a much better pastime - no late hours and I don't have to worry about how well my suit is matching.
At this tournament, I'm running a completely new debate case. The old case on prison privatization just had so many unknown variables that I really couldn't defend it as well as I would like, even though I believe it is a good case. My current plan is to give ex-felons the right to vote. So far, it seems like a good case and I'll probably decide tomorrow whether or not I like it and can get behind it. I think most people decide before they run a case whether they like the case or not, but that takes away some of the thrill being aff and having the neg find a huge hole you never thought of before!
As a final note on the craziness of speech and debate, I brought a single suit of clothes for this weekend. Yesterday morning I tried to iron my pants and some dirt came off on my off-white pants. That didn't look too good so I go to find the second pair of pants I brought for an emergency and I find I didn't bring them. I am now forced into wearing some pants with a dark streak or two in them. After that I go to iron my shirt and find that I brought the wrong shirt. I get everything put on right and I get ready to leave the room and I remember that I brought no 3x5 cards. I think knitting would be a much better pastime - no late hours and I don't have to worry about how well my suit is matching.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
New takes on old ideas
I just tried to post and lost everything when I tried to post while not logged in! Oh well, here goes a second try!
I was taught to read the Bible in context and to be open with new ideas the Bible presents. I've always heard the example of the Bible verse that partially says, "There is no God." Of course, the rest of the verse says only a fool would say that. Dr. Stringer, in his Intro to Christian Ministry, had an example I had never heard before in 2 Co 5:17, " Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Taking it out of context and using the thinking of a Buddhist (which is a huge population of the world), one could reasonably conclude that Christ was espousing reincarnation.
I also read a great article in the WSJ addressing assumptions and how people handle them. Mr. Mann's hockey stick graph is THE graph for 'proving' global warming and how it is linked to man's activity. The article in the WSJ showed what happens when assumptions and old idea are challenged. Just a few years ago, people thought a new ice age was upon us. It would nice to be know what's really happening, but uncertainty is what makes life interesting - unless one is wondering whether one passed a test or not!
I was taught to read the Bible in context and to be open with new ideas the Bible presents. I've always heard the example of the Bible verse that partially says, "There is no God." Of course, the rest of the verse says only a fool would say that. Dr. Stringer, in his Intro to Christian Ministry, had an example I had never heard before in 2 Co 5:17, " Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Taking it out of context and using the thinking of a Buddhist (which is a huge population of the world), one could reasonably conclude that Christ was espousing reincarnation.
I also read a great article in the WSJ addressing assumptions and how people handle them. Mr. Mann's hockey stick graph is THE graph for 'proving' global warming and how it is linked to man's activity. The article in the WSJ showed what happens when assumptions and old idea are challenged. Just a few years ago, people thought a new ice age was upon us. It would nice to be know what's really happening, but uncertainty is what makes life interesting - unless one is wondering whether one passed a test or not!
Politics and weather - both unpredictable
I'm on the way to school and I'm listening to 89.5. Eventually, they have a news come on and I almost laughed out loud when I heard one of the reports. France, who opposes the war in Iraq, is sending more troops to Afghanistan to train the troops there. What shocked me was that France also made the offer to train more native Iraqi troops, as long as the training takes place outside of Iraq! It sounds as though a few politicians want to "support" the war but also want to point to their official stand of opposing the war.
On other fronts, the GCC weather has gotten worse. What was wet, slushy snow has turned into a sheet of solid ice on the walkways. This by itself isn't bad, but while playing racquetball with Eric and Duddy (I won all three rounds by 2 points each time!) I locked my leg. Now, however, walking on the ice seems to make the one leg slip more easily. I guess I'll need to play more racquetball and stretch the leg a bit so it heals up properly.
On other fronts, the GCC weather has gotten worse. What was wet, slushy snow has turned into a sheet of solid ice on the walkways. This by itself isn't bad, but while playing racquetball with Eric and Duddy (I won all three rounds by 2 points each time!) I locked my leg. Now, however, walking on the ice seems to make the one leg slip more easily. I guess I'll need to play more racquetball and stretch the leg a bit so it heals up properly.
Monday, February 21, 2005
The final confession starts here
I'm watching my brother's blog slowly morph into something interesting and fun, and I thought, "Hey! why don't I do the same!" I figure I can blog as well as Jesse does, except for the interesting and fun part, so why not start now?
What a way to start a blog - peer pressure - that and boredom. I'm supposed to be studying for a Shakespeare test tomorrow, but I decided to do something useful with my time. Blog! I'm know that blogging can shake the world and get CBS anchors fired, but mostly, it's where I can talk piffle. :-)
What a way to start a blog - peer pressure - that and boredom. I'm supposed to be studying for a Shakespeare test tomorrow, but I decided to do something useful with my time. Blog! I'm know that blogging can shake the world and get CBS anchors fired, but mostly, it's where I can talk piffle. :-)
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