Barber Shop

Since moving away also meant that I no longer have my sisters/father/mother to give me haircuts periodically, it also necessitated finding somewhere to get my hair cut. As I do with most things, I turned to google to ade me in my search. One of the first results it brought up was this:

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/20/rediscovering-the-barbershop/

I highly recommend reading the entire article as it is very well written and explains the barber shop experience FAR better than I will ever be able to. But needless to say, this article inspired me to find a real barber shop, and not just a hair cuttery. My search yielded the following.

http://alroosters.com/

This traditionally styled barber shop is set up in the very quaint and attractive shops on Providence Main Street. I intend to visit this area more in the future...but more on that another time.

When you first walk in, the first thing that strikes you is the smell. It smells like man. A pleasant mixture of aftershave, shaving cream and even a touch of alcohol. (they serve you drinks while you wait) The next thing you realize is that all the people waiting are men. Pretty cool. Give them your name, and they'll give you a time slot. Once you're in the chair, the experience begins. After a brief consultation on what you would like done, the cut begins. Using a combination of scissors, combs, and clippers, your hair is slowly tamed and shaped into a respectable state of being once more. But that is only the beginning, my friend. next a hot, lightly scented towel is brought and wrapped around your face and neck while your hair receives a thorough washing, followed by a complete scalp massage. ooo, life is good. After the wash and scalp massage the towel is removed and you sit back up feeling quite refreshed. But wait, theres more. Using a traditional straight blade razor, your neck and sideburns are trimmed into tip-top shape, followed by a neck and shoulder massage. You pay the smiling clerk and walk out of the barber shop feeling like a new man.

All in all it was completely worth the 24 dollars of my hard earned money. I feel fairly confident that the next time I am in need of a haircut, I'll find my way back to Providence and Roosters.

The First Two weeks

I gave it some thought, and determined that, since I am now a long ways from all my friends and family, it seems more likely that this blog will actually be read by at least a few people. It's also as good a way as any to keep people updated on how my life is going.

So the first two weeks have been pretty good. The first week was very slow at work. My NASA contact was out all week, so /TJ (another new hire) and I didn't have much to do. However the second week things began to pick up.

For the time being I'll be working largely with hands on fabrication. We are making test panels from different types that will then be broken to determine material properties. I'm encouraged so far, I think that once I get into the swing of things I will have a lot of opportunities to get invovled with very interesting projects. For the time I'll stick it out while I get through all the boring initiation stuff.

After much thought and consideration, I've reached a decision. And i know I will probly be ridiculed for this, but I shall stand firm and say with Benedick, "Does not man love the meat in his youth which he can not endure in his age?" and, even though it's completely irrelevant, "No! The world must be peopled!!"

I've decided it's high time I invested some time and money in my wardrobe, especially now that I'm working. I've realized that when i dress nicely, I simply feel more productive and inspired at work. Thus, with Suzanne's help (though she doesn't know it yet) I'll be making an attempt at updating my wardrobe. Clothes are depressingly expensive, but such is life.

Meals...so far I have only eaten out once. I'm pretty happy with that. Hamburger helper and hotdogs have been my friends. Tonight it's lasagna hamburger helper w/ some corn mixed in. woot. :-)

I'd love phone calls, messages, e-mails...whatever. hope everyone is doing well.

Epic Fail

Once again I have demonstrated my inability to handle the level of commitment it requires to keep up a blog. *ashamed* In other news, I'm writing this when I should be studying for an econ exam and writing a review paper.

Lesson of the day. I actually feel GOOD after I run if I focus on running/walking at a pace such that I can continue to carry on a conversation the entire time rather than running til I'm dead. I went about a mile and a half or two miles (haven't measured it yet) this morning with a couple brisk walks mixed in. It felt great. :-)

All things together for good

You know...I think God knows what he's doing. :-)

Getting to Know me

God uses the most unexpected situations to teach us more about ourselves. There's no fun way to put this. I got layed off today. It wasn't unexpected really, given the state of the economy and my status as an intern. But that didn't make it any easier. Needless to say, it sort of throws my world into a tizzy. But let's start at the beginning.

I went into work today with a very large agenda for the day. Jumped right in and was making good headway. About 10 oclock I went over to the stock room to get a part number, only to find Rachelle (the woman who does inventory) crying. She said the company had layed off 17 people this morning. Right around 11:55 I tell Christian what's going down, and how I'm surprised I'm not one of them. 12:00, I notice Linda (HR lady) heads into John's (Engineering Director) office. (Very unusual.) 12:05 John knocks on my door and asks me to come to his office for a minute. Fifteen minutes later I had said goodbye to the few people who weren't already at lunch, and was driving away.

Things I learned today:
1. Sometimes (maybe most of the time) what happens to you has nothing to do with how well or poorly you perform individually. Company policy is that whenever there are layoffs, interns have to be the first to go. No exceptions.

2. I have not yet mastered the art of completely sperating business from personal feelings. Despite being assured that they could not have been happier with how I have performed, and that it has nothing to do with me, it's still hard not to feel a bit insulted.

3. I don't like leaving things unfinished. One of the hardest things was that I was not allowed to tie up loose ends, hand off my projects to someone else, or even say goodbye to a lot of people.

4. I still haven't reconciled myself to the fact that I'm not in control. God is in control, I'm not...and that's really hard for me to fully accept.

I don't feel like spell checking...

Love

This post is partially in response to Peter's recent musings.  But I think it merits a discussion on it's own.  Love is much talked of, and nearly as often misunderstood.  I do not claim expertise, but I would like to present what I see as a Biblical view of love.  I confess I will not have nearly as many scripture references as this discussion merits, partially due to my own inadequacy, and partially due to time constraints.  I hope this will be beneficial to all of us as I'm sure it will be to me.  Just one clarification.  I am dealing with love as it is manifested in interpersonal relationships, not between the mortal and the divine.  

I would like to suggest that love is a three pronged thing.  As I thought on it, I thought it was strange that should be the case at first, but I decided that it made sense based on a variety of things.  The easiest being that (according to the most widely held view) we are three parts.  Spirit, Mind, and Body.  You'll see what that makes sense later.  

Emotional (Relational) Love
The best way I could think to define this is "the warm fuzzies".  Hopefully everyone knows what I mean by this.  Emotional love is very much a feeling which we experience towards another person.  It is often described as being "In love", and such things.  This is what the world thinks of when it thinks of love.  I would argue, however, that it is not always a romantic love.  We have the same love in a sense for our close friends and family.  It is fundamentally a love based in emotion and relation.  We all know the term "soul mates".  I believe this type of love is in a very real sense an intertwining of souls, one with another.  

Sacrificial Love
I debated over what to label this one, but I decided on the above.  Sacrificial love is an attitude, or a state of mind.  It is an attitude which places the well being of another above our own, that they are more important than we are.  It has nothing to do with feelings, or even with actions.  it is an attitude.  I am willing to give up myself for this person's benefit.  Think of Christ dying for the church as a picture of how a husband is to love his wife.  

Active Love
This is love in a physical, tangible way.  It is speaking a kind word, or opening one's home to someone in need.  It is being patient, kind, not envying, not boasting, not being proud, rude, etc.  And yet I think it is something deeper: living our lives towards one another in a way that is consistent with who we really are, bearers of God's image.  This is perhaps the most mystical and difficult thing to understand in the whole matter. Practicing active love, not separate from, but as a part of Sacrificial and even emotional love, is part of glorifying and enjoying God because it is recognizing, and respecting God's image in our neighbor.  Somehow our actions towards one another have absolute moral significance.  There are words I could say that would be absolutely unloving, and those I could say that would be loving.  It is an outworking of our sacrificial and emotional love, but it stands on its own as well.  I may speak a word to you with every good attitude and emotion in my heart, and yet, because I am a fallible creature, my words may be taken by you in another way entirely.  My words were not loving.  

So what does all this mean?  Let me use an analogy.  The thing that immediately comes mind...  Love is like a tree.  The root of the tree is our attitude.  If the tree is to be healthy the roots must be strong, and if the roots are compromised, the whole tree will fall very easily.  Our actions are the trunk and branches.  What others see and experience of our love is our works.  If the branches are strong, we know that the roots must be as well.  And emotional love is like the fruit.  As far as the structure of the tree, the fruit is quite unimportant, and yet it is the sweet product of strong roots and well tended branches.  If we are not bearing good fruit, the solution is not to try to squeeze more fruit out of ourselves, but to look to the state of our roots and branches, and see where the problem is.  To take the analogy one step further, the branches also produce leaves, which strengthen and nourish the roots and help grow the fruit.  So too we often find that even when our attitude is bad, and our emotions are in the gutter, being faithful to keep actively loving helps us to correct our attitudes and emotions.  

I could go on for much longer, and I realize that I need to look up proof texts etc, but that will be for another time.  I guess the point of the whole thing, is to say that loving one another is not a single dimensional thing.  It involves every bit of us, including our emotions, our attitudes, and our actions.  

I just remembered what question I was actually trying to answer when i started.  What type of love do we owe to whom?  

I would say that we owe to all men both active love.  (clear from the scriptures)  We are to treat all men with the dignity and respect that their position of image bearers of God dictates.  I am undecided on sacrificial love.  Certainly we do not owe it equally to all men.  But I would have to say that to a degree we are to show it to all men, and particularly to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  (Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.)  I think the ultimate obligation we have to show sacrificial love is to our spouse.  Emotional love I think it would be absurd to say we owe to all people.  You can not have your soul intertwined with all people equally, and not at all with people you have not met or do not know personally.  

So to deal specifically with what Peter said, " In heaven, we will feel that same emotional devotion toward everyone. Why would we not be called to start that now?"  (see the context...it might be helpful)  :-)  I don't know that we will feel the same emotional devotion in heaven towards all men.  In fact, I tend to think we won't.  In a sense that would take away from the individuality which we have as image bearers.  But if what you say is correct, [I believe] it will be because we have a full knowledge of all people, which we certainly do not have, and cannot have in this life.  As I said, certain types of love, I do believe we owe to all men, though it may be to varying degrees, but others we do not.

I hope this has been helpful.  I certainly found it encouraging to dwell on these things.  comments would be just dandy.  I certainly don't have this all figured out, and if you have good proof texts to suggest, that would be great as well!  God bless!