Clocks I manually turned back last night: wristwatch, electric range, microwave, bedside alarm clock.
Clocks that self-adjusted: computer, atomic clock, cell phone, GPS.
A clock that is finally almost correct: the time and temperature clock at the corner of Tarentum Bridge Road and Leechburg Road.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
A busier month ahead
It looks like I am booked to preach for six different congregations in the month of November. This will be the first month that I will have preached every Sunday since August 2008.
My schedule, for those of you who are interested, is as follows:
Nov. 1, 11 AM, Presbyterian Church of Mt. Washington, Pittsburgh
Nov. 8, 11:15 AM, Tunnelton Presbyterian Church
Nov. 15, 11 AM, United Presbyterian Church of Freeport
Nov. 22, 11 AM, United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington
Nov. 29, 9:30 AM, Jacksonville Presbyterian Church, Kent; and 11:15 AM, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lewisville
I think this will also be a lifetime record for me, as I don't believe that I have ever preached for six different congregations within a single month.
In honor of this record, I updated the firmware on my nüvi (well, that's something I have to do about monthly anyhow because of changes to the GPS satellites) and I went to the Garmin Garage to download a new vehicle avatar: Giddyup. Now I can feel just like a circuit rider during November.
My schedule, for those of you who are interested, is as follows:
Nov. 1, 11 AM, Presbyterian Church of Mt. Washington, Pittsburgh
Nov. 8, 11:15 AM, Tunnelton Presbyterian Church
Nov. 15, 11 AM, United Presbyterian Church of Freeport
Nov. 22, 11 AM, United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington
Nov. 29, 9:30 AM, Jacksonville Presbyterian Church, Kent; and 11:15 AM, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lewisville
I think this will also be a lifetime record for me, as I don't believe that I have ever preached for six different congregations within a single month.
In honor of this record, I updated the firmware on my nüvi (well, that's something I have to do about monthly anyhow because of changes to the GPS satellites) and I went to the Garmin Garage to download a new vehicle avatar: Giddyup. Now I can feel just like a circuit rider during November.
Friday, October 09, 2009
Some of the cool things I saw in Minneapolis
This past weekend I visited Minneapolis for the first time. I spent most of my time there working on business for the Advisory Committee on the Constitution. But I did have a bit of time to look around at the part of the city near our hotel. I flew in a few hours before my meeting began on Saturday at noon, used the light rail to get close to my hotel, and walked down part of Nicollet Mall; Sunday morning I took a walk before breakfast, and walked around the area for a couple hours after my meeting ended on Monday at noon before I headed back to the airport.I thought the city was very attractive, and I am looking forward to when the PCUSA General Assembly meets there in 2010.
I had researched how to get to from the light rail stop at Nicollet Mall to my hotel. Google Street View helped me orient myself in advance, so that I would recognize what landmarks I would see — as long as I was going in the proper direction. But I chose to use Nicollet Mall as the route to get close to my hotel; Nicollet Mall is a pedestrian mall, so unfortunately the Google Street View vehicles have not captured images of what a beautiful street it is.Of course, I had to stop at the Mary Tyler Moore statue in front of the Macy's at the corner with 7th Street. It's not that I was a big fan of the show, but while the show was in its first run, it was one that I watched, largely because I didn't have cable.
There are lots of larger statues in downtown Minneapolis, and I really appreciated the art being made available to the public everywhere I went.
On Sunday morning I took a walk early to get breakfast and a cup of coffee. While I was walking down 6th St., I saw flashing lights like an emergency vehicle slowly approaching me in the distance. As they got closer I saw that they were three police motorcycles followed by a crowd of something that seemed to be moving low and close to the ground. Then I saw that what was following the police were a group of people in racing wheelchairs. A bystander explained to me that this was the Wheeler division in the Twin Cities Marathon. I saw about 20 participants in this division, and was very impressed.
On Monday I was warned traffic for a football game that day might complicate my trip back to the airport. Everywhere I went that afternoon I was seeing Vikings jerseys and cheesehead hats. This Minneapolis camoflage would not work in Pittsburgh.
Monday afternoon I also hung out a bit at the PCUSA Polity Conference and caught up with a number of old friends. No General Assembly event would be complete without seeing the Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons and Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow, two cool people.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
The difference between "vacant" and "vacancy"
There are things one notices while spending a weekend with a group of people who care intently about choosing the correct word for the purpose. Keith Geckeler pointed this sign out to me on the way to lunch on Saturday.
A parking garage would be "vacant" when it is empty. It would have a "vacancy" when it still has a free space for a car. It would be "full" when there is no more room for any cars to park.
Someone may have saved a letter by not spelling out "VACANCY", but this sign saying that no one is parking in the garage might not encourage a customer considering using it. It might be nice to know there is room, but does one want to be the only or very first customer of the day? (Do the locals know something about why no one else is using the garage?)
On the other hand, the "occupied/vacant" distinction on an airplane restroom door makes a lot of sense. I would not be sure what to do if a sign in that setting said "VACANCY", suggesting that there might be room for more people inside.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
There's no hypocrisy in cashing a paycheck
Dimitri Vassilaros poses the question on Facebook:
This is all about a news event this week in the Pittsburgh area. For a number of years Virginia Montanez had blogged under the anonymous pseudonym "Pittgirl" on "The Burgh Blog" and entertained many with her sharp wit. Last fall she abruptly stopped posting "The Burgh Blog" and I am one who missed being able to read what she had to say. During the last week she revealed her true identity and was fired the next day.
I disagree with Dimitri and think that the reasoning in his charge of hypocrisy is flawed.
No one knows the true motivations of the individuals and organizations that support the Negro Educational Emergency Drive. A charitable view would be that they approved of the good purposes and mission of NEED, and were glad to be able to support its work. A less charitable view would be that they wanted the positive public regard that derived from others knowing that they supported NEED. A totally uncharitable view would be that these supporters couldn't care less about the mission of NEED but wanted their thumbs in every pie in order to gain power. I personally take the charitable view, but whatever the truth is, the supporters got what they paid for.
I don't see any hypocrisy in cashing paychecks that one earned by doing the work assigned by one's employer. Where one's employer gets its funds is irrelevant.
Moreover, a charge of hypocrisy would require some evidence that Virginia Montanez was using her anonymous persona to say things she did not really believe. Where is the evidence? As far as I can tell, she believed what she was saying.
Dimitri's radio show is on 1020 KDKA tonight from 6 to 9, and he plans to talk about his question. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to listen in.
Has anyone else noticed that PittGirl was a shameless hypocrite?
Virginia "PittGirl" Montanez apparently had no problem cashing her paychecks from an organization that is dependent on the support of the VERY people she trashed - anonymously ...- on her blog.
This is all about a news event this week in the Pittsburgh area. For a number of years Virginia Montanez had blogged under the anonymous pseudonym "Pittgirl" on "The Burgh Blog" and entertained many with her sharp wit. Last fall she abruptly stopped posting "The Burgh Blog" and I am one who missed being able to read what she had to say. During the last week she revealed her true identity and was fired the next day.
I disagree with Dimitri and think that the reasoning in his charge of hypocrisy is flawed.
No one knows the true motivations of the individuals and organizations that support the Negro Educational Emergency Drive. A charitable view would be that they approved of the good purposes and mission of NEED, and were glad to be able to support its work. A less charitable view would be that they wanted the positive public regard that derived from others knowing that they supported NEED. A totally uncharitable view would be that these supporters couldn't care less about the mission of NEED but wanted their thumbs in every pie in order to gain power. I personally take the charitable view, but whatever the truth is, the supporters got what they paid for.
I don't see any hypocrisy in cashing paychecks that one earned by doing the work assigned by one's employer. Where one's employer gets its funds is irrelevant.
Moreover, a charge of hypocrisy would require some evidence that Virginia Montanez was using her anonymous persona to say things she did not really believe. Where is the evidence? As far as I can tell, she believed what she was saying.
Dimitri's radio show is on 1020 KDKA tonight from 6 to 9, and he plans to talk about his question. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to listen in.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
When I was ordained
Just some random recollections of myself and the church at the time I was ordained in 1980:
I needed to wear running shoes because during the previous month my youth group had talked me into trying to water ski and I had injured my ankle. (My ankle returned to normal size in a matter of weeks, but it has never been the same.)
The church in which I was ordained was the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
The denominational headquarters was at 475 Riverside Drive in New York City.
The terminology of 'teaching elder' and 'ruling elder' was very much in use and well-understood in the Presbyterian Church.
There was a position called Assistant Pastor. (That was my first position in the first church I served as a teaching elder.)
Assistant Pastors and Associate Pastors were not members of the Session. (Soon after I was ordained the church would vote on changing this rule. At the time, I thought the change was a bad idea. I was wrong.)
The session of the first church I served had recently studied the blue book report on Homosexuality and the Church. But they were uncomfortable even talking about the experience of studying the issue.
The General Assembly (the church's most inclusive governing body) met annually.
The Book of Order was published annually and was an inexpensive paperback with a non-glossy cover.
The Presbyterian alphabet soup of organizations and committees was populated with acronyms I have not seen in a long time, such as COWAC.
The UPCUSA was in conversations with the Presbyterian Church in the United States about reunion. Someone showed me a copy of the PCUS Book of Order and I could tell by the much smaller size of their book that the two churches had markedly different cultures and ways of relating to their constitutions.
There was no Committee on Representation. (I would later chair one of those for a couple years.)
The General Assembly had no Advisory Committee on the Constitution. (As the church considered reunion, I thought the addition of the ACC as part of a second way for the General Assembly to render constitutional interpretations was a bad idea. I was wrong.)
I needed to wear running shoes because during the previous month my youth group had talked me into trying to water ski and I had injured my ankle. (My ankle returned to normal size in a matter of weeks, but it has never been the same.)
The church in which I was ordained was the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
The denominational headquarters was at 475 Riverside Drive in New York City.
The terminology of 'teaching elder' and 'ruling elder' was very much in use and well-understood in the Presbyterian Church.
There was a position called Assistant Pastor. (That was my first position in the first church I served as a teaching elder.)
Assistant Pastors and Associate Pastors were not members of the Session. (Soon after I was ordained the church would vote on changing this rule. At the time, I thought the change was a bad idea. I was wrong.)
The session of the first church I served had recently studied the blue book report on Homosexuality and the Church. But they were uncomfortable even talking about the experience of studying the issue.
The General Assembly (the church's most inclusive governing body) met annually.
The Book of Order was published annually and was an inexpensive paperback with a non-glossy cover.
The Presbyterian alphabet soup of organizations and committees was populated with acronyms I have not seen in a long time, such as COWAC.
The UPCUSA was in conversations with the Presbyterian Church in the United States about reunion. Someone showed me a copy of the PCUS Book of Order and I could tell by the much smaller size of their book that the two churches had markedly different cultures and ways of relating to their constitutions.
There was no Committee on Representation. (I would later chair one of those for a couple years.)
The General Assembly had no Advisory Committee on the Constitution. (As the church considered reunion, I thought the addition of the ACC as part of a second way for the General Assembly to render constitutional interpretations was a bad idea. I was wrong.)
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