bekahcubed

Categories Technology

A Critical Reader

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Google Reader doesn’t trust me.

I can feel its incredulity every time I rapidly scroll through a folder full of blog posts only to click the “Mark all as read” button at the top of the screen.

“Are you sure you want to mark 80 items from News as read?” it says.

It’s a seemingly innocuous screen–just making sure you don’t “virtually delete” something you didn’t intend to delete. But I can hear the undertones:

“You read those? Really? 80 items in 22.3 seconds? I don’t believe you. You can’t have read those so quickly. I can’t believe you’d lie to me like that.”

I return the reader’s criticism with a bit of my own.

“Well, if you’d given me any other option, I wouldn’t have lied to you. Why didn’t you give me the option to ‘Mark as I’m sticking my head in the sand today‘? Why didn’t you give me the option to ‘Ignore all posts’? You’re the one who makes me have to say that I’ve read something in order to make it disappear from my reader. It’s really your own fault. You made me do it.”

And I’m not going to read 80 stupid news articles just because you’re critical. Sorry, I just don’t really care that much what you think of me.

Categories The Week in Words

WiW: Heavy Hearts and Dashed Dreams

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The Week in Words

Recently, three star night posed the following question:

Is it worse to hope that things will stay the same and find that they're different? Or hoping that things will be different to find that nothing's changed?

If you couldn’t read it, the (rather syntaxically awkward) question was:

“Is it worse to hope that things will stay the same and find that they’re different? Or hoping that things will be different to find that nothing’s changed?”

Sure, the question is worded in an awkward manner. But the question resonates. What do we do with hopes that flounder or die? When you want changes but get different ones than you wanted? When you want things to stay the same, but find it impossible to continue on the way things have been?

That’s where I’m at. I’m right here, right there–in two places at once, in two jobs at once, with two hearts at once. I’m here with a heavy heart and dashed dreams.

Justin Buzzard writes from the same place:

“My brother and I are learning that when plans fail and dreams die, God has us right where he wants us.

It’s when plans fail and dreams die that we come to the end of our strength, wisdom, and resources. It’s in these times that we face situations totally beyond ourselves. We can’t fix it! We don’t know what to do! And where do we find ourselves? Flat on our face, ‘bowed down to the dust,’ crying to God for help.”

~Justin Buzzard, from Buzzard Blog

This isn’t an easy road; it’s not a fun path–but it’s a reminder to entrust my heart to the King of the Universe; it’s encouragement to make Him my supreme Dream and Delight. It’s a coming to the end of myself, when I cling to Him.

I need Him, O how I need Him. And O how I know it in those times when my heart is heavy and my dreams are dashed.

Collect more quotes from throughout the week with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”.

Categories Everyday Life

Sunday Snapshot: BET

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Today we’re heading to the lake to have a BET party.

If you’re unfamiliar with the BET concept, it stands for “Burn Evil Things”.

BET parties are a perfect way to close out one season of one’s life (particularly the school season) and to burn anything associated with that season (particularly old school papers.)

Beyond that, it’s an excuse to get together with a few dozen of your closest friends (Hah!) and play with fire.

BET party

This is a shot from last year’s party–perhaps I’ll have shots from this year to share next week :-)

Categories Recap

Recap (October 3-16)

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Thoughts about Thinking:

  • J.P. Moreland on the detrimental effects of “Scientism”:

    “We live in a scientistic culture. When a scientist speaks, he is taken to be an authority irrespective of what the topic is. And that attitude reflects poorly on the educational level of the public….I have long believed that philosophical naturalism, with its unjustified scientism, has helped to create an intellectually unsophisticated culture…”

    HT: Justin Taylor

  • Lisa Robinson on Christian education:

    “…it is incumbent upon the body of Christ to represent Christ through its inward growth that will result in outward application….Moreover, I don’t think it honors the witness of Christ when education concerning Him is not taken seriously….I don’t believe that Sunday sermons alone are sufficient. Whether it be through lay institutes, weekly bible studies (in the true sense of working through books of the bible), or small group sessions there has to be continued instruction in pertinent points of doctrine within the context of community that engages believers in a continual growth process resulting in faithful representation of who they are as the body of Christ….Otherwise, ‘going’ and ‘doing’ will be undermined by not ‘being’, which is the whole point of serving as a witness to Christ to a fallen world.”

  • Matt Perman on why Christian interested in “social justice” ought to learn economics:

    “Many attempts to help alleviate poverty (whether in Africa, the US, or elsewhere in the world) have often been based on an inaccurate understanding of economics. As a result, they have often failed to have a last impact, and sometimes have hurt more than they have helped.

    Consequently, I would argue that one of the most important things we can do if we are going to make an effective contribution to the solutions for global poverty is gain a correct understanding of economics.”

    HT: Justin Taylor

Read Recently

Laugh out loud funnies:

News to take note of:

  • Large breast cancer trial proves current mammography guidelines insufficient:

    “The landmark breast cancer screening study of women 40-49, published online in Cancer, has proven that annual mammography screening of women in their 40s reduces the breast cancer death rate in these women by nearly 30 percent. The results of this largest study ever conducted on women in this age group confirm that the use of the age of 50 as a threshold for breast cancer screening is scientifically unfounded. Women should begin getting annual mammograms at age 40.”

    Go get those mammograms, ladies–they might just save your life.

  • More Americans are drinking alcohol now than 20 years ago.
    What this study (or perhaps just this summary) fails to mention in its clearly teetotalling bias, is that consumption per person is also decreasing. Despite the increase in total people consuming alcohol, fewer people are consuming it in high-risk ways. Which is actually good news, people!

To Read, to See, to Do

Videos worth seeing:

Recipes to try:

Categories Memes

40 (Not so secret) Secrets

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The instructions on this little meme stolen from my little sis are as follows: “40 Secrets about yourself. Be honest no matter what. Answer these 40 questions. Have fun. DON’T SEND THIS BACK TO ME!!”

Not sure what that last bit was about. But just in case, I won’t be sending this back to Grace :-)

1. Have you ever been asked out?
Yes

2. Where was your profile picture taken?
The photo of me in the sidebar was taken at my internship graduation on the UNL campus.

3. What’s your middle name?
Marie (or Jane or Jo–as in Becky J. Mentner)

5. Does your crush like you back?
N/A

6. What is your current mood?
Thankful

7. What color socks are you wearing?
Not wearing socks

8. What color shirt are you wearing?
Blue (but only ’cause I haven’t dressed for the day–I’ll soon be trying to find my red in order to participate in the Husker “Red Out Around the World”)

9. Missing something?
My voice. It’s a good thing next week is the University’s fall break–because I currently couldn’t lecture.

10. If you could go back in time and change something, what would you do?
Oh man–I’d stop the Holocaust, or rewrite the Constitution to emancipate the slaves from the foundation of our country, or prevent the Twin Towers from falling or… There’s so much in history that I’d LIKE to see changed–but I have to believe that God had a purpose even in these horrific events in the past, and that any attempt of mine to change history would only result in bungling it. However, the pages that are still to be written are currently up for grabs–and I’m willing to let God make me an instrument for affecting how the story turns out from here.

11. If you must be an animal for one day what would you be?
A duck

12. Ever had a near death experience?
Almost falling asleep while driving.

13. Something you do a lot?
Read (Go figure)

14. The song stuck in your head?
None

15. Who did you copy and paste this from?
Gracebug

16. Name someone with the same birthday as you:
Albert Einstein (March 14 is the day for geniuses)

17. When was the last time you cried?
Wednesday night, probably

18. Have you ever sung in front of a large audience?
Depends on how you define large audience. And how you define “sung in front of”. I’ve sung on my church’s worship team in the past–but my church is relatively small (80-120 people over the time I’ve been there).

19. If you could have one super power what would it be?
That’s no secret. To be able to multitask while still gaining maximum in-the-moment-ness with each activity. I have too many goals and not enough time in which to do them. That’s why I plan on living at least to age 120.

20. What’s the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
I don’t really think about it–I guess it depends on the person. Some people have certain attributes or features that demand first notice. (Unusual hair, large nose, pretty eyelashes, whatever)

21. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
If I’m going to go to a coffee shop, Lincoln has plenty of non-chain local shops with lovely ambience that I’d much rather spend time at. Even then, I generally either buy a steamer or an Italian soda. Unless it’s early enough in the day that I can afford the caffeine.

22. What’s your biggest secret?
I once weighed 165 pounds, and thought I was gorgeous at that weight.

23. Favorite color?[s]
Don’t really have one

24. Do you still watch kiddie shows on tv?
That implies that I ever did.

25. What’s on your walls in your room?
Renoir and Monet prints from calendars. Miscellaneous quotes. Framed verses in calligraphy (done by my childhood pastor’s wife). Sticky notes with various passwords on them (I know, I shouldn’t do that.) A cartoon drawn by my roommate’s little brother.

26. What are you?
Physically, I am a collection of organic and inorganic compounds, mostly carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. These make up the many components of thousands of cells, each of which possess my own unique DNA but which express that DNA in hundreds of different ways. But the physical is the least of what I am, for God, in His great love, breathed into this bag of cells, tissues, and organs the breath of life–something of His very self. And though my image-bearing capacity was marred by the fall, God graciously redeemed this thing called myself and is in the process of remaking me to reflect His Self.

27. Do you speak any other languages?
Like Grace said, not really.

28. What’s your favorite smell?
Food.

29. Describe your life in one word.
Blessed

30. Have you ever been kissed in the rain?
No

31. What are you thinking about right now?
Not much

33. What should you be doing?
Not much !!!!

34. Who was the last person that made you upset/angry?
Someone at work. I got over it.

35. How often do you talk to God?
Mmm–sometimes we talk, sometimes we just spend time together. But pretty much constantly.

36. Do you like working in the yard?
Until I start sneezing and my nose starts running and my eyes get itchy. If it weren’t for allergies, I’d adore yard work.

37. If you could have any last name in the world, what would you want?
I don’t know. Perhaps some day I will meet a man whose name I would delight to take as my own and who would invite me to do so. Should that time come, I’ll let you know.

38. Do you act differently around the person you like?
Not sure how to respond to this one.

39. What is your natural hair color?
What you see is what you get. Somewhere between blonde and brown (although I’ve always claimed brown). Depending on the lighting and what else I’m wearing, it may appear to have reddish glints.

40. Who was the last person to make you cry?
God, through His amazing gift of sisters in Christ

Anybody got any other SECRETS to share? I’m ALL about secrets here :-)

Categories Flashback Friday

Flashback: Money Talks

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Yesterday, I collected my pay stub from work and opened it up to see how much had been deposited into my bank account. Let me tell you, it was a far cry from what I earned as a child in my parents’ home. Today Linda’s asking us about money…

Flashback Friday buttonPrompt: How was money handled in your family when you were growing up? …Did you have an allowance? Whether received as an allowance or through other means such as gifts, when you had your “own” money, were there restrictions on how you spent it? … Did your parents tithe or give money to the church on a regular basis?

We children were responsible for doing the dishes in our home (My dad cracked that he had no need for a dishwasher–“Why, I have seven dishwashers,” he’d say.) In return for our work, if well done, we received a dime a day.

Which meant that every week, we could earn a maximum of $0.70. Ten percent was automatically deducted for tithe and ten percent was automatically deducted for savings, leaving us with a net pay of $0.56 per week. If our work performance was unsatisfactory, of course, we would earn less.

Now, even in my day (which wasn’t THAT long ago), $0.56 didn’t go far. In those days, you could still find off-brand soda for a quarter a can, but that was pretty much all we could have purchased. My parents recognized this and developed a workable solution. They purchased candy and novelties in bulk and resold them to us at cost.

A dark gray toolbox was both the store and the bank. Locked within its dark plastic walls were tubs of candy, an organizer with change, and printed off spreadsheets that itemized who had been paid what when.

We were supposed to be paid every Saturday, but we were far from consistent. Usually we’d beg Dad to open the store after several weeks and he’d open it up and pay out with quarters and dimes and pennies.

Most of the time, I promptly re-spent everything I’d earned on candy. Dum-Dum pops and Nuclear Warheads were three cents each–but the wrapped candy was never my favorite. What I really loved to get was Skittles or Runts or Boston Baked Beans, a bargain at 10 cents per 1/8 cup.

We’d bring out a cup and Dad would scoop our candy in, careful to fill each scoop exactly the same amount, lest any of us cry foul. Then we’d spend the next several hours wandering about with our cups of candy–going about our days as normal, but eating candy while we did it.

When I was in seventh grade and my sister was in eighth we asked for a raise. Actually, we wanted an allowance like the other kids we knew. My parents acquiesced and asked us to write up a budget of our needs and to submit a proposal for an allowance to them.

Anna and I carefully worked up our budget, considering the cost of makeup and movies and the occasional fast food splurge. We settled on $25 a month. 25% was for short term savings, 25% for long term savings, 10% for tithe, 5% for offerings, 35% for immediate expenses.

Mom and Dad accepted our proposal and, from then on out until we graduated high school, Anna and I received $12.50 direct deposited into our (interest bearing) checking accounts and $12.50 in cash.

Of course, we liberally supplemented our allowance all the way through with jobs done for friends and neighbors: babysitting, washing dishes, mowing lawns, cleaning houses. We actually ended up having plenty of money, considering that we really had very few expenses.

Wanna hear how other families handled money? Visit Linda and follow the links to hear some more money talk.

Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: A day at a time

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Remember how I said today was going to be a long day? If I’d only known how long…

I probably would have just rolled over and died right there.

But I didn’t–and here I am at the end still alive.

Today I’m thankful…

…for a joyful encounter with an elderly resident who supposed me to be his sister–but who was unfortunately shocked when he got a closer look at me to discover that I was going to the office dressed like THIS (THIS being in a “man’s” suit–i.e. a pantsuit)

…for a relatively uninterrupted workday, something that I haven’t had yet since my hire–and have been desperately craving

…for trail mix and cold water, absolutely necessary to keep sane during an everlasting day of work

…for a painless shot and a direct-deposited check

…for lots of new admissions–even when they mean a busy day for me!

…for families that care, even when it makes my job as a dietitian difficult

…for a faithful God who grants grace for every day, one moment at a time

…for the wonderful advice a dear sister gave me yesterday–to take the next couple of months one day at a time

Thankful Thursday banner

Categories None

I Got Nothin’

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When someone doesn’t have anything to say (or has something to say but not the time to say it) do you prefer that they tell you via a blog post that they have nothing to say (or no time in which to say it), or would you prefer that they just remain silent?

Discuss.

(I should be back with a Thankful Thursday for later on today. But today is my long day and I’ll soon be leaving for a 12 hour work day.)

Categories Book Notes

The Heretic Hunter Strikes Again

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I’ve told you my book club is reading Leo Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You, right? I mentioned how interesting the conversation was likely to be given our group’s differing political viewpoints.

What I didn’t realize was how interesting the discussion would end up being due to our shared religious viewpoint.

And how Tolstoy is clearly a heretic.

We had hints that Tolstoy’s beliefs might be less than orthodox from the very beginning–but none of us would have guessed at the revelation that would be unfolded in chapter 3.

Tolstoy denies the inspiration of the Old Testament.

“The man who believes in the inspiration of the Old Testament and the sacred character of David, who commanded on his deathbed the murder of an old man who had cursed him…and similar atrocities of which the Old Testament is full, cannot believe in the holy love of Christ.”

Tolstoy denies the Nicene Creed.

“The Sermon on the Mount, or the Creed. One cannot believe in both….The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the Mount or the Nicene Creed–the one excludes the other.”

He denies that the basic doctrines of Christianity have any utility for men nowadays.

“Truly, we need only imagine ourselves in the position of any grown-up man…who has picked up the ideas…of geology, physics, chemistry…when he…consciously compares them with the articles of belief instilled into him in childhood, and maintained by the churches–that God created the world in six days, and light before the sun; that Noah shut up all the animals in his ark, and so on; that Jesus is also God the Son, who created all before time was; that this God came down upon earth to atone for Adam’s sin; that he rose again, ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and will come in the clouds to judge the world, and so on. All these propositions, elaborated by men of the fourth century, had a certain meaning for men of that time, but for men of today they have no meaning whatever.“

Tolstoy consider the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith to be a profane doctrine.

“And what is most important of all–the man who believes in salvation through faith in the redemption or the sacraments cannot devote all his powers to realizing Christ’s moral teaching in his life. The man who has been instructed by the church in the profane doctrine that a man cannot be saved by his own powers, but that there is another means of salvation, will infallibly rely upon this means and not on his own powers, which, they assure him, it is sinful to trust in.”

In short, Tolstoy is a heretic.

One of those within our discussion posed the question, “Is Tolstoy even a Christian?” My answer was, “No. He’s not. He has denied every essential doctrine of the orthodox Christian faith. He is not a Christian. He’s a heretic.”

Am I too harsh? I think not.

Then comes the dilemma we faced last night. Should we continue to read the work of a clearly heretical man? Is it worth our time or glorifying to God that we read and discuss Tolstoy’s ideas on nonresistance to evil by force as articulated in the Sermon on the Mount, knowing that Tolstoy rejects the divinity of Christ and every other central tenet of the Christian faith?

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “Dreaming of Dior” by Charlotte Smith

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Clothes horse. Fashion plate. Trendy. Style watcher.

Words you won’t hear used to describe me.

I’m a classic dresser, a fairly formal sort, with just a touch of whimsy. Unlike many women, I don’t generally take pleasure in clothes shopping and couldn’t care less about the latest styles.

But vintage clothing is one of my weaknesses.

I have dozens of dresses culled from used stores that I proudly wear. A 1940s gown, which I rarely have occasion to wear, not being used to formal dinners. A 1950s housewife’s dress. A 1960s Jackie O sheath. A shirt dress from the fifties or sixties. A maxi (that doesn’t quite make maxi status on me and is therefore slated for conversion to a modest “mini”) from the sixties/seventies. I just adore vintage.

So when I read Bermuda Onion’s review of Dreaming of Dior, I knew I wanted to take a look. Thankfully, my library had a copy and I snatched it right up.

The book contains illustrations of the stunning gowns from Doris Darnell’s collection–along with anecdotes about the former owners of each outfit. The illustrations alone are worth looking at–but the stories only make it better.

The stories feature a jet-setting crowd, traveling the world, meeting foreign dignitaries, dropping names left and right. It’s a world completely foreign to me, but one that I enjoy reading about nonetheless.

Many of the anecdotes reminded me of a favorite memoir of mine–Letitia Baldridge’s A Lady, First. I love those stories of diplomacy and etiquette and dinners that require fancy dress. Dreaming of Dior is just the sort of book for a story-loving, vintage-clothes-obsessed dreamer like myself.

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Fashion History
Synopsis: Charlotte Smith displays the fabulous collection of vintage outfits she inherited from her godmother–and tells the stories that go along with the gowns.
Recommendation: Lovely illustrations of lovely gowns with entertaining anecdotes to go along. This was a beautiful little book.

Visit my books page for more reviews and notes.