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| Summer evaporates. Actually not. Summer is full of squelching heat and humidity. It seems a long time before we are freed from this oppressing sauna. | | |
| Weakness floods my veins... They won't let me drink coffee. They don't know what they're doing by slapping this prohibition on me. They won't even tell me 'why' I can't have it. Stupid people. But, then, they won't let me have beer either or even a glass of wine. To think, no coffee, no Irish Cream to put in it. Who do they think they are? But, alas this isn't the end, they are going to put a number on me. Probably a really boring number too...like 31 so I will blend in with the other decaffeinated boring numbers in a over air-conditioned room for days. And there is more, but that might sound a tinge bloody for you. Where is this and who are they? Well, if I were to tell you...I'd have to kill you. | | |
| Simply Christian The whole point of Jesus's work was to bring heaven to earth and join them together forever, to bring God's future into the present and make it stick there. But when heaven comes to earth and finds earth unready, when God's future arrives in the present while people are still asleep, there will be explosions. And there were. p. 102 The meaning of the story is found in every detail, as well as in the broad narrative. The pain and tears of all the years were met together on Calvary.The sorrow of heaven joined with the anguish of earth; the forgiving love stored up in God's future was poured out into the present; the voices that echo in a million human hearts, crying for justice, longing for spirituality, eager for relationship, yearning for beauty, drew themselves together into a final scream of desolation. p. 111 As was so often the case, Jesus didn't answer their question directly. Many of the questions we ask God can't be answered directly, not because God doesn't know the answers but because our questions don't make sense. p. 122 (Liturgy) Just as you're insulting a good wine if you drink it from a plastic cup instead of a glass which shows off its color, bouquet, and full flavor, so you're instulting the Bible if, given the opportunity, you don't create a context in which it can be heard and celebrated as what it really is: the rehearsal of the powerful deeds of God the creator and rescuer. p. 151 When we break the bread and drink the wine, we find ourselves joining the disciples in the Upper Room. We are united with Jesus himself as he prays in Gethsemane and stands before Caiaphas and Pilate. We become one with him as he hangs on the cross and rises from the tomb. past and present come together. Events from long ago are fused with the meal we are sharing here and now. 154 Beauty slips through our fingers; the daffodil wilts, the sunset disappears, human beauty decays and dies. 234 The arts are not pretty but irrelevant bits around the border of reality. They are highways into the center of a reality which cannot be glimpsed, let alone grasped, any other way. 235 Well, there's a little bit of N.T Wright...I would put up more, but gobs of quotes become rather irrelevant sometimes. | | |
| I have a bad habit. A desire for a constant connection with time. Whether its looking for clocks or cell phones, or begging people to read their watches for me (I rarely wear one). It makes my sister mad (or rather irked), but mostly because she has little care to know the time. I can't imagine not caring. I mean, how would you get through a day? What would motivate you? This weekend I was aware, as usual, of time. We all took a quick trip to Wisconsin, to our cousins high school graduation party, which made me feel old because, it reminded me that I graduated three years ago. Hannah and I went up a day before the rest of the family to spend time with our Cousin Matt and Aunt Pat from Chicago at Grandma's house. It was a lot of fun. I watched Ultimate Fighting for the first time with Matt. Not something I would do much, don't worry, but it was fun to see what it was about. I knew a little about it from our taekwondo gym master and Matt added a fun addition in my knowledge on the subject. Saturday morning we went out to our cousin's graduation at our Aunt and Uncle's country home, they had company from around 11:00am until 9:00pm. We knew a lot of people, so there was always someone to talk to, and I think I played around 15 games of volleyball. But, if I were to just write about all of our activities it would be droll, so I will just say it was great to be around relatives again, if only to hear all those "wisconsin" accents, which I hardly knew existed before.... :) Living in Moscow is affecting me. Today I got to do a little more "domesticated" work than my usual monday. Yep, ironing is more fun than window installation. Besides there's central air, and listening to stuff, and girls to talk to....but, tomorrow it will be hot, and I will have to don my tool belt again. Last week Gabe was running an errand and Dad was about 45 minutes behind me to the job....so I set up everything and took a look at the windows. They looked like the standard junk we take out so I called up dad and said, "Hey Dad, do you mind if I just start taking out the old windows?" The only catch was that I had a retired farmer peering right over my shoulder and when I took my pry-bar and drill and hammer to the windows they weren't quite as standard as I thought. The screws were all stripped and nothing came out in the usual manner. So, I ended up getting some of it taken apart and just took a little extra time doing it until Dad showed up.  Whew. My life has basically consisted of window installation and some farm work during the day hours since I got home from Moscow. But at night, a good amount of family and reading time. | | |
| In abbreviating my name, I've always written it as Rach. Recently Brad Littlejohn wrote it adding an 'e', I told him that we don't usually write it that way but he thought it needed the 'e' as support against being pronounced in strange or gutteral ways. In the course of conversation he mistook a sarcastic remark when I said "I was wondering if you wouldn't come up with a reason or two to keep the 'e'," as a request. I don't blame him...I almost mistook myself re-reading it. So, here's what I got for miscommunication.  To E or not to E, That is the question.... ...whether 'tis nobler in the name to suffer the
arrows and slings of outrageous spelling, or to take
up arms against a sea of vowels, and by opposing end
them.
(A Manifesto Regarding the Proper Spelling of Rach(e))
The following general principles regarding the use of
diminutive nicknames may be observed.
1) First, the preeminent concern in such nicknames is
that they reduce the number of syllables in the name
under consideration. Reduction of letters is of only
secondary importance. Hence "Katie" is often
preferred to "Katy," "Lizzie" to "Lizzy" and the like.
2) Such nicknames take two forms: the true diminutive,
where merely a portion of the name is knocked off to
shorten it, hence "Beth" for "Elizabeth" or "Rob" for
Robert. The second form is the derivative diminutive,
in which precise equivalence is de-emphasized in favor
of obtaining a name that sounds familiar or young, or
whatever the case may be. Examples would be "Betty"
for Elizabeth for "Maggie" for Margaret...or, for
males, the substitution of the "B," as in "Bob," and
"Bill" (instead of Rob and Will). The focus here will
be on the former sort, the true diminutives.
3) With such diminutives, however, a precise imitation
of spelling is not necessarily in view. The important
thing is that the new form, having lopped off a
syllable, remain very clear about pronunciation, so
that, by not introducing unnecessary ambiguity as
regards sound, it may be pleasing and smooth to the
eye. Hence we find "Jake" rather than "Jac" (the
latter would be an actually reduction of "Jacob" but
risks being pronounced "Jack"). Likewise, "Jackie"
usually shortens "Jacqueline" rather than the "Jacque"
that spelling would dictate (though some, as you know,
are pugnacious about this). "Joe" shortens "Joseph,"
rather than "Jo" to avoid ambiguity with "Joanna."
So, we see, that clarity is the key quality of the
diminutive form, rather than brevity of spelling or
closeness to original spelling.
This last principle would seem to lead us to the
conclusion that Rache is preferable to Rach. This is
despite the fact that Rach would seem a more thorough
diminution, whereas Rache only gets rid of one letter.
As we have said, however, spelling diminution is not
the primary criterion.
Though both spellings are not entirely unambiguous as
to pronunciation (Rache risks being pronounced "rake,"
like "ache"), Rach seems much worse. Rach could be
confused both with an ahk sound, as in "Bach" (though
this does not occur naturally in English), or with an
"atch" sound, as in "attach." This latter is of
greater concern, even though there are hardly any
words in English that actually do use the "ach" for
the "atch." The issue is that, commonly in English,
the "a" sound is presumed to be short preceding a
terminal consonant unless there is an "e" after that
consonant to make it long. Thus, the presumption of
"Rach," according to normal English usage, would be
"ratch." Not that any would actually pronounce it
that way; however, the disambiguation that the eye has
to perform upon seeing this spelling tends to throw
off the reader, and make the name feel somewhat
awkward. Better to add the extra letter in order to
ensure a smoother read.
However, against this it might be pointed out that
"Rach"s outnumber "Rache"s at least 4 to 1, based on a
random internet sweep. However, against this it might
be pointed out that one doesn't necessarily want to go
with the flow.
In the end, it must come down to a matter of personal
preference, and unfortunately, not only the preference
of the nominee, but of the nominer. If a particular
acquaintance finds the lack of "e" troublesome to the
eye, while another finds the presence of the "e"
troublesome, perhaps it is best to allow each to use
his own preferred nickname for oneself.
---
end manifesto
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