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Some (further) thoughts on change

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

If you follow me on twitter or are my friend on FaceBook, you have probably already seen a thought I tweeted earlier this afternoon.

I wrote: One of few constants in the world is change. I’m beginning to see this as a *great* thing!

I wanted to expound on this ~140 character tweet and give some nuggets of thought behind it, if merely for the fact that I think this is some good stuff that’s taken me some time to figure out, am still figuring out, and is definitely worth sharing!

I really do think change is a great thing.  However, for me, change is not easy.  I feel, sometimes, it is painfully hard and I don’t like it.  A lot.

The change I’m referring to is not the ‘small stuff’ but the big life changes we all experience and grow from as a result.  The type of change that God instills in our lives and pushes us to figure out who He wants us to be.  This type of change is hard, difficult, and is easily pushed aside for the status quo.

Through a lot of prayer, meditation, and counsel I am beginning to see benefits, at least in my own life, that change has brought, is bringing, and can bring if I embrace it:

  • I do not like the status quo.  Not just in my personal life but all around me, within certain thresholds.  Even if I don’t show it all of the time.  Even though there are constants in life and in the world, I treat too many other things as the status quo when they shouldn’t be.  Change or a more ‘evolving’ way of living is the only way to break the status quo.  However, lets not get too much of a post-modern thought process underway…
  • I’m at my best when I’m being stretched.  Change is bringing new variables into my life that is forcing me to stretch my knowledge and understanding of what I know and how I react.  I’m learning new things about myself, life, and the world I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.
  • Living a constant life takes what fun we have on Earth and turns it into a more mundane way of living.  If you’ve seen Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell you know where I’m coming from with this.

I hope you guys enjoyed these thoughts; at the very least, though, this is a plug to get you to follow me on twitter or to friend me Facebook if you haven’t already!

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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That red nosed, cross-eyed guy

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

OK – I’ve been slightly flummoxed lately.  In a span of one week (7 days), two complete strangers that I struck up conversation with pointed out two somewhat overly noticeable physical characteristics that I’m already painfully aware of.

I don’t why but this might possibly the single weirdest thing that has ever happened in my life.  I have never had this happen before.

I mean, I’ve had good friends point these things out to me – sometimes in jest, sometimes in frank seriousness – but never has it been two random strangers adding it to the conversation like that.

Wow – I guess you really never know what you’re going to get in New York City (and that’s probably why I love the City so much!)…

Very Weird.

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Retro Moment: Poetry and Jeeves

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

I’ve been cleaning through some boxes of papers that I have accumulated over the past years and I came across some poetry I wrote during my senior year of high school.  I’m going to post some other poems over the next few weeks but there’s a particular stanza in a personal timeline poem written just days before I graduated about the culmination of my high school years that I wanted to share.  We pick up in the sixth stanza out of ten:

The Four Year Journey
By Tim Bogus

He was an average kid two years ago,
An eager junior, ready to leave.
He had many problems, he wished for one thing:
He wished he really could ask Jeeves.

Loaded with ‘corn’ and ‘cheese’ for sure, but I love what my creative writing teacher had to say, complete in red ink:

“Please . . .   NO . . .”

This poem, albeit the last one I wrote for the class, was definitely not the crowning achievement in that creative writing class.  I’m going to share some other retro poems with you over the next few days and I hope you enjoy them.

Oh – if there’s enough of a popular demand I’ll post the rest of The Four Year Journey. Leave a comment if you want to see the rest of it but like I said it’s good, but definitely nowhere near a crowning achievement – they call it a class for a reason!

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Why I continue to love NYC after four years

Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Each time I go to my hometown in Indiana I’m often asked in one way or another why I live in New York City because the pervasive reality of New York City is that not every type of person would like to live in the City because of the hassles and the questions are numerous as to why I live in New York City.
Oddly enough, I struggle to describe the reason I live New York, in coherent manner, not because of a lack of endearment for the City but because of a lack of words that can correctly embody the sentiment I carry of the opportunities and hope that this City has given to my life and can give to so many.
After four years, almost to the day, I think I may have finally found something that gets closer to what I mean to say each time when I ramble on:
“New York is not a static thing – It’s not ‘New York is…,’ it’s ‘New York is becoming…’”
Kenneth T. Jackson – Historian
The American Experience: New York, Episode Four
For me, New York is where the opportunity is.  Due to the transient nature it is also the most exciting because once you’ve in New York you’ll always take a little bit of that back with you.
This is why I love New York.

Each time I go to my hometown in Indiana I’m often asked in one way or another why I live in New York City because the pervasive reality of New York City is that not every type of person would like to live in the City because of the hassles and the questions are numerous as to why I live in New York City.

Oddly enough, I struggle to describe the reason I live New York, in coherent manner, not because of a lack of endearment for the City but because of a lack of words that can correctly embody the sentiment I carry of the opportunities and hope that this City has given to my life and can give to so many.

After four years, almost to the day, I think I may have finally found something that gets closer to what I mean to say each time when I ramble on:

“New York is not a static thing – It’s not ‘New York is…,’ it’s ‘New York is becoming…‘”

Kenneth T. Jackson – Historian
The American Experience: New York, Episode Four

For me, New York is where the opportunity is.  Due to the transient nature it is also the most exciting because once you’ve in New York you’ll always take a little bit of that back with you.

This is why I love New York.

Rating 4.00 out of 5

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Relationships. Rinse and Repeat.

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Relationships have been on my mind lately — partly due to my experiences over the past few months – trying to adapt to my new environment as part student/part adult professional/part New York City dweller (more on that later) – and also partly due to a very deep and ongoing Summer sermon series at Forefront called Ancestry, ‘exploring our past and shaping our future’.

Over the past couple of weeks my friend, Brian Moll, who’s the lead pastor at FF, has started this series by delving into intimacy and relationships (among other topics) pulling context from the Old Testament and relating to and incorporating teachings from the New Testament.

While a lot of profound of thoughts have been presented and I’d encourage you to head over to the church’s website and checkout the vod/podcasts, I’ve had a lot of thoughts swirly around my head in regards to my own relational condition.

The one thought that keeps coming up but that I keep fighting is that I don’t have this thing (meaning relationships) figured out and never will.  Deep down, there is a part of me that wants to master friendship and perfect the art form of relationships and I see this as a black and white situation rather than in shades of gray that it really is.  At the end of the day I’m yet a novice in the world of friendships and relationships, continually learning and honing.

I’m at a place where I’m having to (painfully) admit this to myself.

You may wonder why I’m sharing this with you.  Often times, I think all of us, either in practicality or in our spirituality, at one time or another think we’ve mastered a skill or honed an ability to the point and we forget to take care of it and keep it tuned.

I’ve come a long way from my early college days – six years ago – of being jokingly called an ‘anti-social butterfly’ but just because I’ve made great leaps and bounds (in my opinion) shouldn’t mean that I should want to accept the status quo and say that there aren’t areas of my social fiber I wouldn’t like to change.

I believe that while we can never master the friendships or relationships in our life it doesn’t mean we should stop trying.  Not everything will work to your or my advantage but the human condition provide an infinite opportunity for improving one’s personal and relational life.  This is something I’ve realized I need to take advantage more of in my own life.

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Free* College Text Books

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

As I mentioned on Saturday I was cleaning my room and I am now starting to get a rid of a lot of stuff that I no longer have use for. I have a lot of text books from my past college years that I don’t need (or want anymore).  A lot of these books cover more of the basic learning and overall theory on the topics and are not that perfect for reference.

Take a look over the list below and shoot me an email or post in the comments below if you’re interested! A lot of these books would be good for teaching someone who needs to learn the basics!

I’ll have more books when I go home and clean my room at parent’s house in July – so stay tuned!

  • Web Security for Network and System Administrators – 5 Discs (Red Hat Linux 5.0)
  • Murach’s ASP.NET – web programming with VB.NET
  • Access 2002 – Complete Concepts and Techniques
  • Introduction to Java Programming (covers Java 1.5)
    - basic theory; old concepts but probably still good for a beginner
  • Concepts of Database Management
  • Programming in Visual Basic .NET – 1 disc, which I believe is VB.NET
  • Flash MX – Graphics, Animation & Interactivity – with learning CD
  • Creating Web Pages with HTML and Dynamic HTML – great learning guide
  • Arguing Through Literature – A Thematic Anthology and Guide to Academic Writing
  • World History – Volume II – Since 11550: The Age of Global Integration

* I’ll be offering these for free – so grab them while they’re hot! I’ll be in Indiana in July if you want to grab them from me then – let me know ahead of time!

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Sifting Through Memories

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Today was Spring Cleaning + Day for me (I still have a couple of days to go!). I made a commitment at the beginning of this year to downsize my possessions (or at least filter the clutter) in my life. Moving for the 3rd time in almost as many years last October I realized that I had accumulated a lot of stuff that I don’t need. Coupled with the fact that my parents are ‘itching’ for me to move the last of my stuff from our home in Indiana I figured needed to create some room!

As I was going through everything I uncovered a lot of lost relics that brought up memories of the past four years and beyond. As I was deciding what to do with the stuff (whether to throw, keep, or donate) I was just struck with an odd sense of placing values on my memories and deciding which items to keep and which ones to throw. I was very quick to think of throwing away photos and objects that reminded me of the less than pleasant periods of my life.

I’m a very sentimental person and am a strong believer in remembering the entire past because of the lessons learned from the good and bad situations. However, today I was caught with the thought how much weight we place on our memories and how given life’s roller coaster mentality we should never completely let go of the past, lest we choose to not forge a different and hopefully better future.

Never deliberately and quickly choose to ignore (or forget) the not so pleasant memories of your past because, if my life is any indication of yours, the greatest moments of my life have been built upon on the weakest moments on which I chose to forge a better future.

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Is it sad when hotel music rem…

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Is it sad when hotel music reminds you of a kids movie?

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Food Delivery in Harlem 10027

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

It doesn’t exist and it makes me really upset!

I moved to Manhattan 1 month ago expecting the beautiful pleasures of Delivery.com, Fresh Direct and countless others.

Nada. Zilch. Nada.

OK. It’s no that bad but the delivery options from delivery.com are so incredibly horrible and I have to ask: “Where is that ‘Manhattan touch’ that I was expecting? Where is the incredible feeling of being able to be Sandra Bullock in ‘The Net’ and not have to leave my apartment?”

Seriously – people.

While I surely won’t suffer, I do have to wonder really where is technology leading us in today’s society? Will it be able to stand the test of time?

Rating 4.00 out of 5

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if I can hear your cell phone …

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

if I can hear your cell phone through my apartment window – you need to get your hearing checked.

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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