The 626

So I was in Birmingham on Saturday and Kimberly and I decided to stop and Samford to walk around for a while. I avoided the house for a while, but in the end I couldn't keep myself from making a quick visit. You all should see what the new guys have done to our house. Sadly it kinda puts us to shame what with the ping pong table, the plasma screen TV, XBox 360 with Halo 3, legit artwork on the walls, the mini recording studio in the room where we killed people. Yeah, they kinda turned the place around.

Even with all their new stuff though I couldn't help but wish we were back to the old days with 4 of us around the TV with Aaron yelling "bugger" every time he was killed, and Jen and Will in the other room singing "Rain"...good times.

Studying for test....need three minute break.

Who would imagine humor in the problem section of a textbook. This is word for word.

From Hecht: Problem 5.8) Locate the image of an object 1.2m from the vertex of a gypsy's crystal ball, which has a 20-cm diameter (n=1.5). Make a sketch(of the rays, not the gypsy).

So I was kinda in the hospital

I'm not sure how many of you knew that i had spent the last three and a half days in th hospital but for those of you who didnt this is what happened. Last tuesday morning i woke up and my heart was beating really quickly, and I went to the doctor to see what the problem was. My doctor said that the problem was that my heart was in an irregular rythm and that was thy it was beating so rapidly. The doctors said that there was no real way to know what had caused it, but they though that it might be a combination of my allergy medicine (which had ephedrine in it). The same stuff that was in all of those diet pills. Anyways they got my heart back into rythm and were going to release me after one more test, an echo cardiogram which is sorta like a sonogram of your heart. Well when the did this test, they found out that I was born with only two leaflets in one of my heart valves instead of three. This means that one of my heart valves leaks slightly. What this means is that for a while I have to take some medicine and for the next week I have to give myself shots. But really this won't change my life and I will be able to live a full life. Honestly I', ok. The reason I didnt tell ya'll is because I wasnt sure exactly what was wrong, and I was just really tired and didn't want to answer the phone alot. Its not that I don't love you people because I do, anyways I am at home now doing fine and feel free to call me if you want.

[cricket]

Well, it sure is quiet around here since thirty travelers took off... Is that good or bad? It's not like we were posting big secrets or boy only stuff anyway ... But we could start. I mean we could let "Thirty Travelers" be our public mouthpiece, and let this be kind of private. What do you guys think?

Do we even want anything private?

ok, but seriously...

just got off the phone w/ the director of the dual-degree program at UAB, and she said she'd be happy if i got at least a 19 on the DAT tomorrow. so if you like specifics when you pray... that's pretty specific. 19 or higher. thanks yall.

you can all do your part

Here's the deal-- I'm finally taking the DAT, saturday at 1:00 (pm, not am... eastern, not cenral). I could use some help. Here's what I need from each of you:

eric- some post-test Scotch

steven- a few newly-Reformed prayers (you're Reformed now, right?)

john- a copy of a Piper sermon dealing with test-day anxiety

pat- some post-test Beer

will- two Ryan Adams mix cd's... a pump-up one for pre-test, and a party one for post-test

david- a wake-up call when i sleep through my alarm

mike- written notice on official letterhead (get some) for the test to "get in line"

ryan- at exactly 12:55pm, i need you to walk in with your shirt off so i can sneak a cheat-sheet in

cheese- some input on how the reading comprehension section might "borrow from French New Wave cinema"

sims- a pre-release copy of the test from Bit Torrent

miss you dudes.

Look at David Dancing away.

Osiris, Horus, Attis, Mithras, Jesus?

A recent topic of interest:
Was Jesus just another zodiacal god-man myth? Doubt it.

http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/copycathub.html
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/topix.html

I guess i've been hanging out with too many atheists, but this kinda stuff is on my mind alot. My tendency is to try and have more "faith" when these doubts come up, but maybe that is a misnomer. Learning about stuff really helped... maybe that is faith. I duno. thoughts anyone? I still don't get the role of apologetics, esp in evangelism, i mean Peter, Paul and Stephen used it in Acts, but nowadays they kinda tell you that its a waste of time. I guess it only works on jews.

So me, Eric, Brian, and David skyped last night, which felt like a house reunion, everyone get skype and we can go for all 9 or so of us. Things are good here, gota go.
johnny

it's hard not to just start your post on this line

i started a blog, because i think my head will explode. and my parents will like it.

willweir.blogspot.com

so i miss you guys and all of us together. i hope that everyone's new things are turning out well, and i can't wait to catch up with everybody.

peace

So this goes without saying but I though I would post it anyways.

I miss ya'll If any of ya'll wanna chill in the Ghetto. Please stop by you're welcome anytime.

duuuudes (and dudettes who read this)... a prayer request

so i got a call from dr. mary macdougall the other day... who is dr. mary macdougall? well, she's the director of the DMD/PhD program at UAB... and a professor in the oral/maxillofacial surgery department. i emailed her at the beginning of the summer with a few questions... talked to her a little right before i moved to louisville... but haven't heard from her since-- until she called the other day.

she wants me to consider moving back to birmingham (yeah, i know) and start in a PhD program... then transition into their DMD/PhD program after a year. i can choose any health-related science department for the PhD... but apparently she's already been talking to the Biomedical Engineering department about me-- so that's what she really wants me to consider. i'd be doing research on tissue engineering in conjunction with professors from the PhD department and professors from the Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery department. really cool stuff.... and it would set me up perfectly to do an oral/maxillofacial surgery residency after dental school. and dental school would be free. so basically, it's the ideal set-up... i'd end up (by the end of the residency) with a PhD, a DMD, and an MD (built in to the oral/maxillofacial surgery residencies)...

it seems like it would be perfect. i'd end up w/ a career in academic surgery... plus a ton of opportunities for overseas relief work because of having both dentistry and medical degrees.

so... please be praying about this for me. i would really love for it to work out.

Heads up

Just a heads up to all of you all who are still considering med school...it's no walk in the park.

Sorry just a little venting there...first test is Monday so I'm a little overwhelmed. Hope everyone is doing well!

Whoops.

strapped for cash and calories?

okay... not sure how many of us are on super-tight budgets, but for anyone who is...

my aunt told me about this, and it turns out she's not full of crap. For anyone who's trying to figure out how to hit 2000 calories a day without eating only ramen, take a look at http://www.angelfoodministries.com/ It's not a charity thing-- it's for anyone who wants to order a month of food from participating churches. $25 gets you a crap-ton of legit food each month. There aren't churches everywhere that do it... but there are a lot of places, so check it out if you're as strapped for cash and calories as I am.

Greetings from Orlando

Well, I've been here for a little over a week and quickly learning my around. I've already found a local produce and meat place. Where I live is on the east side of Orlando and the best way I can describe it is like grid of roads like 280 (in front of the summit) crossing every mile or so with smaller roads which run parallel to the east west roads. I am about a quarter of a mile from walmart and about 2 miles from strip mall hell. The university is 5 miles away.

This past week we completed orientation on Wedensday and Thursday, the incoming class is about 30 people big where I am the closest out of state person, geographically. Our class is composed of people from Taiwan, China, Mexico, Italy, Iran, and the States, so it has a nice international cross section. On the first day we played a game where we were divided into groups and built boats out aluminum foil to see which group could hold the most pennies. Then, sat in a classroom and learned about CREOL, filled out paperwork, lunch, and then advising in the afternoon. The next orientation we started by playing an equally nerdy mixer game which failed miserably because all the groups were able to do it, so I won't explain it. After that many professors came and talked about research that we could be apart of. Then lunch. Then done and went to get my Florida drivers license. It's been a quiet weekend. Class starts tomorrow with Wave Optics and Fundamentals of Applied Optics then Tuesday I have Fundamentals of Optical Sciences. Should be fun.

Prayer Request

Guys, I have a prayer request I move into my house tomorrow (friday0. just prayer that this move goes well, and that I am able to adjust to my new job. Also, I'm kinda freaking out about being an adult so pray for that too please.

New Josh Ritter

So, Josh Ritter's new album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, comes out August 21. Paste gave it a 4.5/5.0. I like what I've heard. It's much "rock"-ier, but without losing his emphasis on lyrics. Here's a song:


Oh, and William will like this little clip from his tour page:
"October 09, 2007, Washington DC, 9:30 Club
Old School Freight Train supports. Show being broadcast live on Npr.org."

Some of the rest of us will prefer:
"October 31, 2007 Birmingham AL, Workplay Theatre
Eric Bachmann (of Crooked Fingers) supports."

While Brian and David might like:
"November 03, 2007 Louisville KY Headliners
Eric Bachmann (of Crooked Fingers) supports."

But, John, sadly, missed his chance:
"September 05, 2007 Galway Ireland Roisin Dubh - SOLD OUT"
"September 08, 2007 Dublin Ireland Tripod - SOLD OUT"

In any case, I just bought tickets. That show is going to be awesome.


In other news, I just started a new job. I'm taking Trip's job at KPS, an architecture firm, and so far, it's good. It's just me an Parks at Wardo's now, but he goes in to work a little before I get off so I haven't seen him much. He did, however, bring an Xbox 360, and I'm going to download Catan for it. Seeing Will, Cheese, and Ryan this weekend was awesome.

I had a little interview with some Red Mountain elders to join the church. One of them told me that God is like Tyler Durden.

"The first rule of Red Mountain is - you do not talk about Red Mountain."

I think they're going to let me in.

Right now I'm eating Ramen noodles and blowing my money on concert tickets. I feel pretty good about life.

So I just figured out how to post on this

So I guess I should lat ya'll know what is going on in my life. Summer camps have ended and I could not be happier or sadder at the same time. it was a really stressful summer, but I was able to get two seperate houses finished. But I terribly miss all of the people that I worked with they were incredible. Right now I am just trying to pack up my stuff because I move into my new house on the 17th. It gonna be awesome, I can't wait to live with the other two guys in my house. But there are also some prayer requests for ya'll. I kinda have some sketchy neighbors in the form of some weird sorta-butchers who are currently being evicted by health services. So just prayer for my relationship with my neighbors and the kids in the neighborhood, also pray for just my ability to make my support last for the entire yaer, bc I like to eat and I'm not too sure how that's gonna work out. Finally just pray that God will reveal his plan for my future bc I have absolutely no plan after this year. Also, I meant to tell ya'll I'm gonn be goin through the Perspectives course so I'm stoked about that too.

Kangaroo in Bay St. Louis

Are people in Bay St. Louis seeing things or is there really a "kangaroo" running wild through town? The Mississippi town's animal control officer says he's been flooded with calls.

"We've had about five calls this week," says Dorty Necaise. "We're taking it seriously, but it has brought some fun and giggles to our job lately. And we've needed the laughs lately."

Bay St. Louis is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The "marsupial mystery" has many people tickled.

"Some people are going to think we're crazy here in Hancock County," says Corky Hadden. "Did the kangaroo was ashore with Katrina? All we know is that people are seeing something!"

"This isn't my typical dog and cat call," says Necaise. "I've had calls about dogs, cats, river otters and even alligators. But never a kangaroo!"

News 5 will stay on top of the mystery.

classic

Music Video #4

this is definitely for real

so i took my last test in organic chemistry today (got a 98... everybody say a prayer for dr. cameron because he's probably feeling pretty inadequate about that). and thursday i have my final. and then-- my samford days are over. i'm loading my stuff in a uhaul saturday evening and moving to louisville sunday morning.

and for anyone who doesn't know this yet (can't remember who i have and haven't told... everything's kindof a blur these days)... i start my M.S. in Physiology & Biophysics on monday. the grad program up there that i turned down earlier this year e-mailed me back and said they had a spot open up in the master's program if i wanted it. since i'm gonna have to lay out at least a year (probably 2) before dental school, i figured i might as well pick up a master's along the way. plus, learning all that stuff ahead of time will help me make dental school "get in line" (that's for all the money mikes out there). and help me get into a DMD/PhD dual-degree track if i want to (thereby making dental school cost $0.00).

so there's that.

i guess it's my turn now to go ahead and ask for your prayers (in addition to the one for dr. cameron)... about all the same things eric and david have mentioned in their posts (excluding, of course, eric's marriage-related prayer requests). also, please be praying for my work ethic (seriously, although it should be easier with john thousands of miles away. no offense. love you, dude), because i only get a whopping 3 days off of school before i start my master's courses, and i'm feeling pretty exhausted at this point.

it's really strange finally leaving birmingham. new city, new school, new people, new church. it's kindof scary and exciting at the same time. but i'm trying to embrace it, hope for the best, and trust God with it all... because I did the leg work to double-check, and this is definitely for real.

Is this for real?

Sadly, I haven't talked to many of you in a while, so I figured I would give you an update on my life. I'm officially a Louisville resident now and a doctor in training at U of L. This week is orientation and next Monday I am turning my life over to studying. So far Louisville is pretty cool. The apartment that Brian and I are sharing is in a really good location close to pretty much everything other than the school. We'll have to drive about 20 minutes every day to get there, but this morning traffic wasn't bad at all so hopefully that's a pretty good indication of how it usually is. The med school class is pretty big...145 or so, but I've already started to get to know several people, and hopefully it won't be long before I make some good friends to study with and such.

Anyway, I'll keep you all up to date on things as they come along. I'd just ask for a lot of the same prayer that Eric did... Meet good friends, find a good church, confidence that this isn't going to kill me, things like that. Hope you all are doing well!

Weekly Video (3)...Enjoy

I guess it is appropriate that I post this article

http://starbulletin.com/2007/07/26/business/engle.html

Weekly Video...because Eric is leaving...don't watch the whole thing, it gets a little sensual if you know what I mean...I'll miss you bud

so most may know that....

emily and i are moving to jackson, ms at the end of the month. its pretty sad and exciting at the same time. bham is really cool, but i couldn't find any teaching jobs here. but this school is actually in clinton and it's called mt. salus christian school. it's a small private school, but there are a lot of cool people teaching there. the place we found to live is close to the hospital that emily will work at. so this is exciting and new and we'll get to start in a new place on our own and all that, blah, blah.

things you can pray for: emily finds cool people at her work, instead of douchebags; that we find friends there who are at least as cool as you guys; that we would find a decent church there; that a either smoke the mcat or bomb it so at least i'll know what to do with my life.

you guys rule. also i smoked my pipe this week while in athens visiting tom, and i missed the briary.

Blogger to the next level

Two posts in a row, I am awesome. So I took it upon myself to add new functionality to what we can do with this blog. I found a site where one can upload pictures, video, or music. I did this especially for the music upload. So in the process I started a new gmail account

Name: thee626
password: the street we lived on?

Notice "thee" as the spelling I felt we needed a little olde english spelling in our daily vocabulary...and 'the' was taken. So when you log into imeem you use that email and whatever the password is(same as gmail).

To show it works here is a satirical song from the mid 60's by Tom Lehrer, satirical musician and math professor from Harvard.

Carlsberg + Mentos != Diet coke + Mentos

another fun picture i found on my phone... i will have to make it on the will weir fan club.

Steven's Weekly Top Music Video

Just so you know...

All 3 seasons of Arrested Development are on sell at Best Buy for 15 bucks (a piece). With tax, that is all seasons for under $50. Not bad.

 

hahaha... i found this picture as i was transfering all emily's pictures to our new computer... i thought i would post it for your viewing pleasure :)

Will some one check and see that this doesn't happen to me?

This one his close to home. I'm concerned:

Wild, Unattached Twenties Spent At Work

SEATTLE-Frank Anderton, 24, spends his freewheeling, consequence-free post-college years working late at the office.

I liked this

http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/design_evidences/200404_probabilities_for_life_on_earth.shtml
as long as you don't buy MWI.


And Ireland is good.

i just called pat, and i bet he pooped when i told him...

what could i possibly have said on the phone just now that would make pat poop his pants? i'm not sure. maybe it was saying that i'll see him after work... but i doubt that was it. no, in hindsight, it was probably when i told him that i just got off the phone with Highlands Latin School in louisville-- they might want me to come teach chemistry, calculus, and geography..... and here's the catch-- WENDELL FREAKIN' BERRY IS THEIR SENIOR ENGLISH TEACHER.

so there's that. dunno if the job will work out or not. either way, i thought that was pretty awesome.

later duuudes.

federer what?

i broke my first racquet string!

and i'm coming to birmingham tomorrow! 

till monday or tuesday!

Proof that the Goo Goo Dolls are the Best band in the world

no real reason. it's just funny.

Ron Paul, Ron Paul, Ron Paul

Not sure if you guys have noticed, but there's a little link over on the right hand side of this page to a Ron Paul website. I'm assuming that Eric put that there, since I introduced him, and since Eric coops all of my political positions ("GET THE F OUT OF MY HEAD!!!"). But you should check him out. He's a Republican presidential candidate, and he's Libertarian. The man is principled. He's a Republican Congressman from Texas who has consistenly opposed the death penatly, the PATRIOT act, and the Iraq War. He supports lots of Libertarian things, like eliminating the IRS and returning to the Gold Standard, etc, etc.

So why should you care about Libertarian things? Because what we need, my friends, is a return to things on a small scale. We need LOCAL economy and LOCAL centers of power, not National ones. Local economies encourage strong communities and strong places. They help out lives remain coherent. They help us know our neighbors. They cause us to see the poor on a more personal level, so that we understand their problems and are more willing to help them.

Some might say that Libertarianism only supports the Corporations. It may help them to an extent, but big government often helps them even more through ill-advised policies. Libertarianism means small government. Also, it might mean legalized pot. I'm just throwing that out there. You can take it or leave it.

So, go Libertarian with me (and now Eric). It's cool. Trust me.



P. S. I feel better than I did my last post. Just in case you were worried.

Guitar Hero taken to a new level

So I went to a see David Crowder Band in concert here in Paducah last night and saw pretty much the most amazing thing ever. Crowder ended a song and went to switch guitars and definitely came back wearing a guitar hero guitar. Apparently the drummer has made a hobby of transforming toys into musical instrumets, so he took apart the guitar and rewired it so that it would actually play chords when it was hooked up to an amp. So Crowder took it out on stage and rocked out for a whole song with it.

I thought some of you might appreciate that.

I hear the jury's still out on science

Things are different now.... Tonite Eric, Brian, and I drank beers (well, Brian had a bitch beer) and watched no less than five Arrested Developments. It was a nice way to spend a Monday evening. But without a large, changing group of people sitting around the living room in 626, it felt more like we were passing time. I guess we were always just passing time when we sat around and watched TV, but it felt more social back then.

So, the first few weeks of summer weren't a good representation of the rest of the summer. They were punctuated with weddings and vacations and you guys. Now all we have to look forward to is the occasional high school Christian Rock band staying over (They were moderately cool, and they bought lots of Dr. Pepper), and the weekend. Remember how I told you guys how I had existential crises every weekend? Well, chances are I still will, but now without so much decent time in between.

I have to iron before I go to bed at night. College did not prepare me for that. Then I go to to work at 8 AM, eat my bag lunch at noon, hit a wall around 1:30 and try my hardest to keep going until 5. Then I drop by O'Henry's for 30 minutes before going to tutor. This is way more work than college.

But I still think I'll like all this once I get used to the routine. Really, its just a slower pace. And the pace of relationship is much slower too. So I guess we can savor what we get. It was more difficult to savor the moment while we were in school because the next moment came so quickly behind it. It'll be nice to have a more contemplative life. Just so long as being lonely is only temporary.

This posted is scattered because I'm tired, and maybe buzzed. I have to go iron.

So I'm actually moving to Orlando

I went down on Wednesday apartment shopping and by lunch time on Thursday had decided where I would live. The place is about four miles from the University of Central Florida and on somewhat of a back road, so that seems good. Now all I need is a roommate.

Now I found the attraction everybody needs to go to when visiting Orlando. Forget The Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, and whatever else there are. You need to visit the Holy Land Experience. Driving down the road it looked like a fabricated Holy Land with Jerusalem, temples, and climbing walls. I wasn't sure if there was ways to train to suicide bomb or practicing firing AK-47s or RPG's, but I'm sure it can be accommodated.

Anyways I am scheduled to be in Orlando on August 10 so I will be around Huntsville until then. I will probably make a trip to Birmingham in July after Jury duty next week.
Later

Eric's Wedding

So ya I like this blog idea.

it could be worse

the next time you start fretting about the diaspora (diaspora...jew joke- nailed it) of our group of friends... just think about how this guy feels.

warning: there's some mild profanity in this, so don't listen to it in mixed company.

The Onion RadioNews
Frat Brother Forced to Find New Friends

bill dance, or i wish you had been there to see me laugh

some of you may have seen the other bill dance blooper video but i just found this one and thought i'd put it here. absolutely hilarious.

holy friendship

went to red mountain with pat today. pretty cool quote in the worship guide...

Holy friendship truly is of God, that amid the wretchedness of this exile, we be comforted with the counsel of friends until we come to him.
- Richard Rolle (14th century)

i liked it.
see y'all in a couple days.

the end of the beginning

This is the first post on the new 626 blog. i hope that everyone participates, as i think this is the best way for us to all keep up, and write not only about news in our various lives but also to discuss whatever is happening. i think we all have good things to say and i think we all need to hear what others have to say and this is a good forum to do that. one of my favorite parts of "the house" was the range of ideas and thoughts and the willingness to share those (even though we know john is right anyway). so with that said let us begin and keep close all the friendships we have developed.