Need… to… take… a… break…
Need a break: Yep. I’m in the middle of thesisification. Which, in case you’re wondering, has nothing to do with sisification… and everything to do with my thesis. Starting last Thursday and ending on Wednesday, I’m plowing down on my thesis desperately hoping to get some catching up on the work that doesn’t seem to have “happened” over the summer. It’s going pretty well. Of the five major chapters, I have 1 pretty much done, 2 well on their way, a fourth started and the fifth planned (but I’m not really expecting to get much done with it this week). The way my brain works, I need to take a break once in a while or I can’t get anything done. Hence the blog post that really isn’t substantive.
Bit of substance: I had a weekend! Really. Those of you who don’t work weekends and aren’t ministers might not get this but this is exciting to me. I get five weekends off a year (4 for vacation and 1 for education). This year two of those were spent on Ragbrai which means that I have three weekends this year where I can pretend to have a normal life with my family 
One took place over the past two days (one was spent on a family event last spring and the third is taking place in October). No sermon preparation. No teaching. No preaching. No fretting over whomever I managed to offend or whomever thinks I should have done or said something different. No wondering who’s going to call me this week upset because I offended them. Just a normal, joe-schmoe weekend. Ahh… it’s nice.
(Oh, and if you’re wondering why I don’t take “weekends” during the week - it doesn’t work that way. First, of course, because my wife works and is, therefore, on the “normal” schedule. Equally as importantly, though, because weekends don’t happen during the week. Weekend sales don’t take place on Monday. Weekend trips/events/parties/etc. don’t happen on Thursday. I take “time off” but “time off” isn’t a weekend… does that make sense?)
Less Substance: Some of you may know that I’ve often wondered about “green” issues. For example, obviously the verdict is mixed about cloth baby diapers - sure, they’re not plastic, but when the whole life cycle is taken into consideration, the balance of opinions seems to be that disposables and rewashables have roughly the same environmental impact. It doesn’t necessarily make sense, but it seems to be true nonetheless. Diapers aren’t my point though. I’m really interested in coffee cups. Paper… ceramic… styrofoam. Specifically, I want to know the real green comparison between styrofoam cups and ceramic ones. Both take immense amounts of energy to make. Both sit in landfills for centuries… nay… millennia (seriously… archeologists study pottery shards - ceramic!) So, ignoring the fact that some people think styrofoam is just evil, what’s the real comparison? Nobody seems to be able to answer that for me. Here’s the closest I’ve found. Just thought I’d share.
***The above post was written over the course of several breaks***
***just thought I’d save you the trouble and publish it all togehter.***
Grace and Peace,
`tim
One Response to “Need… to… take… a… break…”
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September 25th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Just getting caught up after being away for a few weeks. The Myers-Briggs Prayers are hilarious (first time seeing them for me), the knitting is always fun, and I am so glad you had a weekend. Now, get back to your writing.