*really, completely, stomach-turningly, disgusted*

I don't use MSN.com as a homepage (and, I'd suggest you don't, either). However, I do keep a few copies of IE around for browser testing. And since I use them a few times a month, I haven't bothered to change the homepage.

So, I see a headline, "Should newlyweds buy a house?" It's not a bad article (basically, suggests you take care of debt first, don't buy a ton of shiny toys like cars/motorcycles before trying to get a mortgage, really just common sense advice). However, there are other "related article" links. And a few layers in, poking through the links, I realize that a lot of the articles have titles such as "Should you get a prenup?" (yes, because that way things are cleaner when you get divorced), "How to get a cheap divorce!" (didn't read), "The Non-divorce" (on couples who no longer have fluttery feelings for each other, but remain best friends and continue living together), and a bunch of other articles talking about how to plan for divorce, why you should do certain things in your marriage in case of divorce, and a bunch of other related things.

It just shows how far entrenched divorce is in this culture. It's no longer a last resort, it's just another stage in life - you've got your "trial marriage" when you're young, your "kids marriage" when you're a bit older, and then maybe your "old age marriage" - cycle through them, hey, it's normal!

Fortunately, marriage is one place that we, as the church, can shine. I've seen so many wonderful marriages within GCM, and it does stand out to others. It also gives us a leg to stand on in discussion - "We do it this way. Yes, it's weird. And the divorce rate is 0.5%. Care to explain why your way, with 50% divorce rates, is better?"

-=Russ=-

Current Balance	 $0.00

Visa card:

Current Balance	 $0.00

Now it's onto the debt that's not charging interest.

-=Russ=-

I'm now an official Graduate Assistant, which means I'm getting paid to go to school and work on interesting projects with ISEAGE. My time is flexible, my projects are interesting, and my work environment includes, literally, 200+ computers available for use when they're not being used for other things.

Continuing, my thoughts on fuel economy/bicycling/etc.

Car fuel economy, especially in short, around-town trips, sort of sucks. 15-20mpg is normal for knocking around Ames. This means you're paying $0.20/mile in gas, more or less. Take a 5 mile trip, it's $1. That adds up quickly, especially if you're taking a lot of short trips (even worse fuel economy).

However, there's a great solution. Two wheeled vehicles.

Bicycles are wonderful in Ames. Take it from someone who bikes around a lot, and has lived in several different cities: Ames is bikeable. There are wide sidewalks/bike paths, there are bike paths creating wonderful shortcuts, and you can get anywhere you want in Ames, safely, on a bicycle. Plus, the exercise is good - and it beats doing cardio in a gym, staring at a TV. The wind, the scenery, etc.

A cheap-but-serviceable bicycle can be had for $50. A good commuter bike can be had, new, for $400.

Figure out how much you pay in gas/oil/tires/etc for your car. If you drive a newer vehicle, the government figures fair reimbursement is almost $0.50/mile. Older vehicles are lower, but it's still a good bit per mile. A bicycle pays for itsself FAST.

Another option for getting around town is a motorcycle or scooter. An older motorcycle (late 70s to mid 80s) with a 500cc-750cc motor can easily get 40mpg in-town, and most can do better. Or, a scooter can do 70+mpg. Either one will, again, pay for itsself quickly.

Beyond changing vehicles, there are other things you can do to help with fuel economy/cost:
1. Keep your tires inflated. If you don't know how to check them, learn. If you haven't checked them, check them. Underinflated tires wear out quickly, and take significantly more gas to move around. If you don't believe me on this, ride a bicycle with properly inflated tires. Then remove half the air from them and ride again. The difference will be immediately obvious.

2. Do a tuneup. Just because your car runs doesn't mean it's running well. When was the last time the spark plugs were changed? How about the oxygen sensor? If it has more than 60k miles on it, it's probably not performing terribly well. The car runs fine, but fuel economy suffers.

3. Combine trips. A warm car gets better mileage than a cold one. Make loops with your trips to avoid doubling back.

Anyway, hopefully this helps some. The best option, IMO, is a bicycle. No fuel costs, insanely low maintenance costs (even being maintained at a shop, $20/mo is reasonable to budget for bike maintenance), and exercise.

... and, my bicycle isn't lonely when parked outside Stonebrook.

-=Russ=-

It's Pi day!

To be specific, Pi second is 3.14.15.92.65, or 4:33:05 in the afternoon. Or, in a more sane reading: 1:59:26 (AM).

In celebration, I'll let people here in on a bit of a secret from my past... I used to be a bit of a dork. I had pi memorized to around 150 places in high school. I printed it out, laminated it in the bookstore, and memorized it while swimming laps for swim team.

Also, it's getting to be summer. I'm quite aware that my preferred two wheel forms of transportation make it quite evident who/where I am. However, if a bunch of cars are going by, and someone honks, or yells "RUSS!" out the window, the chances of me figuring out who you are are roughly zero. By the time I figure out which vehicle made the noise, it's usually too far away for me to recognize any of the people in it, and I don't have a solid car->person map for everyone in the church yet. So please, feel free to tell me later that you saw me, but don't honk or yell as you go past. Thanks!

-=Russ=-

So, I clicked it to see what this new link did. And it told me. Emphesis added by me.

U.S. Bank's Checking Account Advance allows you to request an advance on your next direct deposit.

Key Features:
* Advance cash immediately into your checking account.
* Payoff of advance and finance charge is automatic. Payments will be deducted from your checking account with your next direct desposit(s) of $100 or more, or, if not fully paid, on the final payment date, which is the 35th day after your advance.
* Finance charge is $1 for every $10 advanced (120% APR).
* Advance between $20 and your limit. If your checking account is overdrawn, you must advance enough to bring your account to a $0 balance.

Wow. $1 for each $10 advanced. 120% APR. And here I was thinking a credit card with 19.99% APR was awful.

It seems the "instant loan" service industry is so lucrative, even the banks are getting in on it now. The profits on these loans are definitely impressive, and it seems as though "Instant Loan! Payday Loan!" places are springing up like weeds all around the country.

It's a fairly sad commentary on the financial state of so many people in our country today - in order for a business to survive, people must use it. And, people who are reasonably financially responsible aren't very likely to be using the cash advance places.

Proverbs has much wisdom on finances, and the series of messages from several weeks ago at Stonebrook was wonderful - check out the messages online if you weren't able to make it.

If you do have an emergency fund and some money tucked away, it's worth considering what kind of interest rate you're earning on it. Most banks pay VERY little interest on savings accounts - under 1% is normal for most brick & mortar banks. It might be worth looking at putting that in a bank that's giving somewhat higher rates (such as 4.5%). I won't make a shameless plug here, but if you're interested in a higher interest rate and a $25 bonus for creating an account, get in touch with me & I'll send you an invite.

-=Russ=-

However, due to the strangness of the current [holiday/day/event/sameness], there will soon be a flood of incredibly cheap candy on the market. Stock up!

Also, I've now been to the Mall of America (I went with some people while I was up that way last weekend). It's... huge. And very overloading. And disturbingly "All Hail Capitalism."

-=Russ=-

We've all been there. Staring at the wall, knowing something was missing.

Lines deep in the middle of a MySQL query, using keywords we didn't even know existed when we started.

How could we ever express our mastery of the SQL? How could we let our coworkers know that we had just successfully used over 27 different keywords in a single SQL query?

Well, the wait is over. I give you...

MySQL Bingo

Click, print, put it on your wall or desk.

Or, for those bored nights, play MySQL Bingo Darts. Put the page up on a wall, throw 5 darts at it. Write a query using all the keywords indicated.

... I'm going to bed now. *ducks off*

-=Russ=-

This is something that's been increasingly on my heart the past two months or so. After Craig's comment on Friday ("I'm told you don't take notes because you're college students. There are sheets of paper for taking notes on available."), I decided it was time to comment on this publically.

Why don't people take notes at The Rock or Stonebrook? More pointedly, why don't YOU take notes?

I've heard a number of reasons/excuses/justifications for not taking notes. Most of them, in my opinion, are junk.

1. "The messages are available online." Yes, they are. And they're a great resource. Now, how often do you actually download the message & listen to it again? Also, notes can be flipped through during a quiet time or Bible study. It's hard to pull up a 40 minute message to catch a verse reference and your thoughts on it.

2. "I've heard it before." So you could give the entire message, with all it's verse references and points, from memory. Even if the bulk of the message is something you've heard before, chances are good that the Holy Spirit will bring different things to mind. The same message may strike you at very different points as you mature.

3. "I take notes all day long in class." This is the one that bothers me the most. This is, in essence, saying "I consider my classes to be more important than my relationship with God." If a general ed class totally unrelated to your major is important enough to justify taking notes, how much more so is wisdom about how to live your entire life?

Another somewhat related point is that I don't very often see Bibles out and being paged through. I'm guilty of this myself. "Well, the verses are all on the Powerpoint, so I don't need to bring my Bible." True, but there are other advantages to having a Bible with you & using it during a message.

First, being actively finding verses in your Bible improves your skill in finding verses quickly. Knowing your Bible better is never a bad thing. This also is beneficial when sharing verses with someone to back up an argument or point with scripture.

"Well, according to 1 Timothy 3, the church should be led by elders raised from within the church, not pastors 'hired' from outside the congregation. See, ... uh, hold on a sec. *flip flip flip* *page page* It's here somewhere... *flip flip* *search page flip* Uh, around here... uh... *page flip turn search* Here."

"Well, according to 1 Timothy 3, the church should be led by elders raised from within the church, not pastors 'hired' from outside the congregation. *flip flip* Here, 1 Timothy 3:1-7."

Another benefit is that the Holy Spirit can (and does) use the Bible to speak truth, even when it may not be related to the message. If the passage being discussed is in John 4, and you're reading the screen, all you see is the relevant passage. However, if you're turning through your own Bible, not only do you have instant context, the Holy Spirit can very easily direct you to something else, perhaps in John 6, that is relevant to your specific circumstances at the moment. By not having a Bible with you, this opportunity is lost.

Part of the problem currently is that note taking/Bible paging tends to be defined by the actions of the group as a whole. I've observed (through an admittedly small sample size) that churches tend to be at one of two extremes. Almost everyone has a notebook/Bible out, or almost nobody does. This means that "flipping" to the other extreme is not likely to happen on it's own. It requires a directed effort.

The good news is that peer pressure is fairly effective. Try attending a service full of notebooks without a notebook sometime if you don't believe me. It's uncomfortable, and makes one feel unprepared.

And, things can change at The Rock. It doesn't require an elder standing up front and saying "Bring notebooks next week to take notes" (though being called to this wouldn't be a bad thing) - it can be changed from a grassroots level. If the leaders and people who have been around The Rock for a while simply start to bring notebooks/Bibles and USE them, and encourage others around to bring/use them, including being prepared with multiple Bibles to loan out and spare paper/pencils for people, it should be very effective at encouraging others to be prepared & take the message out in a form that lasts longer than the evening's activities.

So bring your notebook & Bible Friday.

-=Russ=-

For those who haven't heard, I'm moving to Ames in a week for grad school.

Unfortunately, I'm still looking for someone to take over my lease. It's on Boston Way, right near Coral Ridge Mall (it's the Windham's old place).

It's a nice two bedroom, pets allowed, covered parking, washer/dryer/dishwasher in the unit, and I'm fully negotiable on rent at this point (I'll even rent just one room & leave the other one empty).

Does anyone know of someone looking for housing for the spring? Please, send them my way.

515.460.0436

-=Russ=-

'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual Yuletide celebration and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including the species of diminuitive rodent known as Mus musculus. Hosiery was meticulously suspended from the forward edge of the wood-burning caloric apparatus, pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an imminent visitation from an eccentric philanthropist among whose folkloric apellations is the honorific title of Saint Nick.

Hastening to the casement, I forthwith opened the barriers sealing this fenestration, noting thereupon the lunar brilliance without, reflecting as it was upon the surface of a recent crystalline aqueous precipitation, might be said to rival that of the solar meridian itself - thus permitting my incredulous optical sensory organs to behold a miniature airborne runnered conveyance, drawn by an octet of the diminuitive specimens of the genus Rangifer, piloted by a miniscule, aged chauffeur so ebullient and nimble that it became instantly apparent to me that he was indeed our anticipated beatified caller. With this ungulate motive travelling at greater vertiginous velocity than patriotic alar predators, he vociferated loudly, expelled breath musically through contracted labia, and addressed each of the octet by his or her cognomen: "Now Dasher, now Dancer", et al, guiding them to the uppermost exterior level of our abode, through which structure I could readily distinguish the concatenations of each of the sum of the total of the 32 cloven pedal extremeties.

As I retracted my cranium from its erstwhile location and was performing a pi radians pivot, our distinguished visitant achieved, with utmost celerity, via a downward salutation, entry by way of the ceramic smoke passage. he was clad entirely in animal integuents, soiled by the ebony residue from the partial oxidation of carboniferous fuels. His resemblance to a street vendor I attributed to the plethora of assorted playthings which he bore dorsally in a commodius cloth receptacle. His orbs were scintillant with reflected luminosity, while his submaxillary dermal indentations gave every evidence of engaging amiability. The capillaries of his malar regions and nasal appurtenances were engorged with crimson circulatory fluid which, its chroma suffusing the dermal layers, approximated the retinal sensation reflected by the Prunus avium, or sweet cherry. His amusing sub- and supralabials resembled nothing so much as a flexible, curved strip of wood associated with the American aboriginies and their ambient, hirsute, facial adornment had an absence of coloring comparable to crystalline hydrogen oxide vapor. Clenched firmly between his incisors was the posterior projection of acalumet whose gray colloidal aerosol fumes, forming a tenuous ellipticaltorus about his occipet, were suggestive of a decorative seasonal circlet known as holly. His visage was wider than it was high, and when he waxed mirthful, his corpulent abdominal region undulated in the manner of inpectinated fruit syrup in a collidal gel state within a hemispherical container. He was of Napolenoic stature, neither more nor less than obese, jocund, multigenrian gnome, the optical perception of whom rendered me visibly frolicsome despite every effort to refrain from being so affected by this risibilty. By rapidly lowering then elevating one eyelid and rotating his head slightly eccentricly, he indicated tha trepidation on my part was superfluous. Without utterance, but with noticeable dispatch, he commenced filling the aforementioned appended hoisery with various of the articles of merchandise from his aforementioned previously dorsally transported commodious cloth receptacle.

Upon completion he executed an abrupt pi radian rotation about the vertical axis, placed a single manual digit in lateral juxtaposition to his olfactory organ, inclined his cranium forward in a gesture of leave taking, and effected his egress by salutation up the smoke passage through which he made ingress. He then propelled himself in a short vector onto his rustic winter conveyance. Contracting his oral sphincter, he emitted a shrill series of notes to the antlered quadrupeds of burden and proceeded to soar aloft in a movement hitherto observed cheifly among the seed-bearing portions of a common weed. But I overheard his parting exclamation, audible immediately prior to his vehiculation beyond the limits of visibility: "Ecstatic Yuletide to the planetary constituency, and to the selfsame assemblage, my sincerest wishes for a salubriously beneficial and gratifyingly pleasureable period between sunset and dawn."

-=Russ=-

*ducks & runs*

-=Russ=-

Yes. There is.

And it's about as awesome as you might expect - which is to say, completely & totally terrible.

Warning: Comic may cause brain damage. Do not operate heavy machinery for at least three hours after reading the comic.

-=Russ=-

I've been really working through a number of things lately, and this passage really hits the nail on the head.

In this context, "asset management" refers to the management of stuff, money, credit, and other related "things". Looking back on it, I don't think I've managed my assets much differently than the world. I've got a lot of credit, I've used it for various things, I owe assorted places/people money, I have a lot of stuff, and more importantly I have a lot of stuff I never use.

When I was in the dorms, I was a packrat - no question about it. If a computer came across my path with three usable parts, I stripped them and stored them. They might come in useful later, and if I needed a part, or someone else needed a part, I had it. And I didn't get rid of them - I never knew when I might need a Type 14 Class B widget (revision 3.1) to fix some obscure computer.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work so well when you move regularly. Since the summer of 2000, I've moved (all my stuff) 11 times. And each time there's been more stuff, and more junk. And it gets old moving all of it.

So, for the past few years, I haven't lived any differently. I've subscribed to the world's view of finances, worked for a paycheck, collected "stuff", accumulated debt, consume lots of resources, and generally not live very differently.

Through a variety of sources & reasons, I've become convinced that I need to change how I manage my worldly assets. A few of my changes follow, with explanation as needed.