And he's off!

After a bit of a delay, my brother is finally in basic training.

At my mother's suggestion, I got him a small Bible. Nothing quite the thing I was looking for, but a "mere book" works. And that is the remarkable thing about the Bible, the fact that it's a "mere book." The Word of God is not brought to us by some nebulous spiritual experience but rather by ink impressed onto bound paper- matter, physical stuff! God chose to speak to us on our level with things that are familiar to us. Even more so, when God sent his Son it was not as a ghost or in nature as pagan gods may, but as a man in flesh. As a wise man once said, "God likes matter, He invented it."

Anyways, Andrew, make your nation proud, God bless and Godspeed!

Gifts for a newbie soldier?

In a little over a week my brother is shipping off to Army basic training. What would be an appropriate gift would be?

Though I'm open to other ideas, if at all possible I would like to have it be an item of tradition and symbolism, as an engagement ring is to an engagement or pilot's wings are to a pilot. Also, it needs to be something that I can have in hand by the end of the week.

While we are at it, what are appropriate brother to brother gifts (or, more generally, sibling to brother as I have a sister) at other milestones in a soldier's career?

Unless it is otherwise impossible, please do not post your suggestions in the comments as my brother does read this. Rather, if you have my email or phone number contact me that way.

Thanks!

Edit: Another thing to consider is giving something as a brother who is a fellow American verses as a brother who is a fellow Christian.

Huh, really?

Boy, time flies! I have been at my first "real job" for a few days over a year now. Yup, that's a year of making the "big bucks" and a year in the the "big city". Also, my place is finally starting to have some semblance of a home.

Enough of "grasping at straws" for a post and of the "overused" quote marks.

And now a service announcement from Quirky Notions

First, an apology to all of those hoping I had vanished. I am still here. I will reimburse any beer consumed at a he's-finally-gone celebration, just address all receipts to my imaginary blonde secretary. Better luck next time chaps.

Now some of you may have noticed something fishy in the address bar in your browser. Yes, that's right, I now have my own domain, simdan.com. Sometime in the future I'll expand on the simple blog it points to now. You don't have to use blog.simdan.com as www.simdan.com or the plain old vanilla simdan.com will escort you here just as well. The old Blogspot address will still work as will your Blogspot accounts for commenting as the blog is still being hosted by Blogspot. I've just added a nifty chrome boilerplate to how you get here, that's all.

Well, enough with gratuitous links, I'm off to bed soon.

Hopping onto another bandwagon.

Stairwell
Originally uploaded by SimDan.

I have been wanting a place to share photos. Many people I know use Facebook to share photos. However, Facebook requires viewers to have a Facebook account and doesn't support high-resolution versions of photographs.

Thus, to this end, I have opened an account at Flickr recently. You can view my photographs at my Flickr page and follow updates at my Flickr feed.


Update: Apparently you can have people without a Facebook account view your Facebook photos. I still don't care for it though.

A hymn for begining liturgical fasting

This last Sunday was the last Sunday before the season of Lent starts. The service concluded with something that was entirely new to me. The following hymn was sung to celebrate the beginning of our liturgical fast as the Alleluia banner was removed from the sanctuary.

Alleluia, song of sweetness,Voice of joy that cannot die
Alleluia is the anthem Ever dear to choirs on high
In the house of God abiding Thus they sing eternally.

Alleluia thou resoundest, True Jerusalem and free
Alleluia, joyful mother, All thy children sing with thee
But by Babylon's sad waters Mourning exiles now we are.

Alleluia cannot always Be our song while here below
Alleluia our transgressions Make us for awhile forego
For the solemn time is coming When our tears for sin must flow.

Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee Grant us blessed Trinity
At the last to keep Thine Easter in our home beyond the sky
There to Thee forever singing 'Alleluia' joyfully.

Bring in the clowns

Last weekend I got my bassoon back from the shop. I haven't had it in for repairs since I've had it (about five and a half years). As you can see, it's all nice and shiny. Aside from a few dings, it looks like new. Guess this means now I ought to actually play it.

WiiKitty

Here is a website that combines two things I really like: the Wii and Kitties. I'm a sucker for both.

Finding a church

I've been working now for just over two months and I have yet to settle on a church. Perhaps it would help if I stuck around on the weekends more often but that's a side topic. Although I have moved several times throughout my life, the churches that my family attended were rather obvious with a father as a pastor. Thus I have no idea how to evaluate churches once a list has been narrowed down to a handful.

How do you approach selecting a church?

A Weird Al presentation

Ladies and gentlemen, I present my new theme song.