AWOL Apparel

It has happened to all of us. You fall in love with a particular piece of clothing only to one day realize you have no idea where it is or what happened to it. To quote Warden Samuel Norton from The Shawshank Redemption, it just “up and vanished like a fart in the wind!” This has happened to me too many times to count, but there are three t-shirts of which I was particularly fond that are AWOL to this day.

AWOL T-Shirt #1: Limited Edition Final Fantasy VII Promotional, c. 1997, missing since unknown date (pictured at right). I mentioned in a previous post that I received this shirt as a gift for pre-ordering Final Fantasy VII. Displaying a huge video game character across my chest may have both exposed my geekiness and prevented me from getting any dates, but I loved this shirt nevertheless. I did some digging and saw that one of these shirts recently sold on eBay for $40.

AWOL T-Shirt #2: SparkNotes Promotional, c. 2000, missing since unknown date. Two years before SparkNotes was bought out by Barnes & Noble, the company gave away some 30,000 t-shirts in a promotional campaign. As a junior in high school and established internet nerd, I signed up to receive one of their shirts. It was navy blue with the SparkNotes logo on the front and on the back it said - here’s the kicker - “Taking the F out of ucking up.”

AWOL T-Shirt #3: Iowa Starbase Leadership Camp, c. 1995, missing since 2002. Apparently the Iowa STARBASE Leadership Camp (ISLC) doesn’t exist anymore (so says the omniscient Google). It was a camp sponsored by the Iowa Army National Guard for a hundred 5th grade students who demonstrated leadership traits. My class voted for me and so I got to attend Nerd Camp. I don’t remember much about the week except that I fell in love with another camper and we wrote each other letters for a while after camp was over. Anyway, I had my ISLC shirt forever… I clearly remember still wearing it freshman year of college even though it was a little snug and worn thin. I haven’t seen it since.

I know I am not the only one. Go ahead, tell me about your AWOL apparel.

• Joyce Hatto is a prolific piano plagiarist. “In total she recorded more than 120 CDs — including many of the most difficult piano pieces ever written, played with breathtaking speed and accuracy… Since then, analysis by professional sound engineers and piano enthusiasts across the globe has pushed toward the same conclusion: the entire Joyce Hatto oeuvre recorded after 1989 appears to be stolen from the CDs of other pianists. It is a scandal unparalleled in the annals of classical music.” 02/26/2007
• How to avoid colloquial (informal) writing. “Read! Reading will not only help to improve your vocabulary, but it will also help you to distinguish between formal and informal writing.” 02/26/2007

Twenty three

As I reflect on the 23rd anniversary of my birth, I have been thinking about the significance of the number 23. Besides the new thriller opening tomorrow, The Number 23, a film about a man who becomes obsessed with a book about the number 23, perhaps my favorite album of all time is entitled Twentythree Places by Matt Wertz.

There’s more. 23 was the number worn by baseball Hall-of-Famer and former Cubs second baseman Ryne “Ryno” Sandberg. The number has since been retired by the Cubs.

Here are a few more interesting facts about the number 23:

Although I have no idea what this means, 23 is the smallest number of integer-sided boxes that tile a box so that no two boxes share a common length.

23 is the sixth happy number.

In music, a chord made with all twelve tones is a 23rd chord. The most basic chord is made with a root, third, and fifth. Continual stacking of thirds (seventh, ninth, eleventh) would result in a 23rd when all twelve tones are used.

According to the birthday paradox, a group of 23 randomly selected people is the smallest group where the probability is more than 50% that two people will share a birthday.

23 is one less than one of the greatest television dramas of all time: 24.

Alright, enough with all this 23 nonsense; bring on the Facebook messages, baby!

P.S. You should be reminded that last year I received the greatest birthday present ever from Peter Ilten.

Undeclared in the ICCA (again)

Undeclared is again participating in the International Championships of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) this Saturday at Michigan State University. We competed last year, but did not advance past quarterfinals. ICCA is

the only international tournament that showcases the art of student a cappella singing. [It is] dedicated to providing top-notch collegiate a cappella groups with valuable feedback from our highly qualified judges… Vocalists also have the opportunity to showcase their talent to an international audience and develop relationships with each other, cultivating the art of a cappella singing and a lifelong love of music.

We are competing against seven other groups from six schools:

University of Minnesota 7 Days

Michigan State University Capital Green

University of Michigan Harmonettes

University of Illinois No Strings Attached

Central Michigan University On the Rox

Case Western Reserve University Solstice

University of Illinois Xtension Chords

This year our set consists of three songs. The first is a tune called “One Thing”, originally performed by an a cappella group from Texas called Schrödinger’s Cat. The second song is an arrangement of “Over My Head (Cable Car)” by the Fray. We close our set with the song “Stand Out” from A Goofy Movie. In case you (1) haven’t ever seen A Goofy Movie or (2) have seen it and remember how awesome “Stand Out” is, I have provided the video of the song below.

Wish us luck!

• “Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream” is the newest ice cream flavor from Ben & Jerry’s. “I’m not afraid to say it. Dessert has a well-known liberal agenda,” Colbert said in a statement. “What I hope to do with this ice cream is bring some balance back to the freezer case.” 02/15/2007
• Andrew Jones (TallSkinnyKiwi) offers his review of the new book Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives (@ Amazon). “Critics who say the emerging church leaders are not clear on their theology should shut the heck up and buy this book.” 02/14/2007

T9 is so book

I have been meaning to post about this for a while. Apparently, people are using the word “book” as a synonym for “cool”.

While in T9 mode for text-messaging (also known as T9word or just Word), which predicts text as you type it on the alphanumeric keypad, “book” is created with the same keystrokes as “cool” - by pressing 2-6-6-5. “Book” comes up first (I think T9 has a programmed hierarchy of which words, arranged by which ones are used more often), and to get to the word “cool”, you simply press “Next”, which is usually the 0 key.

Of course there are many, many of these synonyms, which have been coined “T9onyms”. Sadly, I have many of them memorized. For example, when I am texting and I want to say the word “me” by pressing 6-3, I know that “of” always comes first so I will have to press “Next”. When I fell off a trailer last August, I landed on my phone and broke the screen, but it was still somewhat usable. I had some speed-dials memorized, so I tried to text the phrase “Come home soon” to someone and because of T9onyms I accidentally sent “Come good room”.

I have since added “book” to my personal slang vocabulary and am growing quite fond of it. In fact, while writing this post I discovered T9.com, which is pretty book in its own right.

• Friend and fellow blogger Peter questions Sue Grafton’s novel-writing conundrum. “She’s effed after that 26th book comes out. What will she go to next? Not numbers, surely. And if Microsoft Excel spreadsheet has anything to say about it, her next option would be AA and “AA is for Aardvark” just doesn’t have that same appeal. Sue Grafton, you silly *****. What have you done to your career?” 02/06/2007
• Ever wondered what happens to the shirts and hats that are printed for the Super Bowl losers? “They will be shipped Monday morning to a warehouse in Sewickley, Pa., near Pittsburgh, where they will become property of World Vision, a relief organization that will package the clothing in wooden boxes and send it to a developing nation, usually in Africa.” 02/04/2007
• Uncrate has compiled a detailed list of essential Jack Bauer gear. The messenger bag (or “Jack sack”) used by Jack during season 5 is available on Amazon.com for only $17. As one reviewer says, “If you’re a fan of 24 and Jack Bauer, this bag is a must have.” 02/03/2007

Bitter cold

Decorah is currently under a Wind Chill Advisory as issued by the National Weather Service:

A wind chill advisory means that very cold air and brisk winds will combine to generate bitter cold wind chills. This will result in frost bite and lead to hypothermia if precautions are not taken. If you must venture outdoors… Be sure to dress warmly and wear a hat and gloves.

The forecasted low for the next two nights is -14º and -15º, respectively. According to this wind chill/frostbite chart, that means that during the next two evenings frostbite could set in during a 10-minute walk across campus.

Brrrr.

On writing a book

Many people know that one of my life goals is to write and publish a book. At present I haven’t a clue what the book would be about, but it remains a goal nevertheless. I am fascinated by the writing and publishing process, and until recently I had only ever met one published author - Tony Jones.

On January 23rd Nordic Choir performed at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and my roommate and I were hosted that evening by the president of the Seminary, Michael Cooper-White. Through the course of the evening I learned that Michael had authored a book entitled On a Wing and a Prayer: Faithful Leadership in the 21st Century and is co-author of a book to be released in April entitled Church Administration: Programs, Process, and Purpose. He was gracious enough to give Mike and I both signed copies of On a Wing and a Prayer for free.

When I asked Michael about some of the ins and outs of writing a book, he mentioned that he had recently penned an article for the Seminary website called “On Writing A Book”. He provides a great summary of the publishing process and finishes up the article by offering this:

Probably no book is ever completely perfect. Next month or ten years from now, someone else will write in the same area a better book. But if one has a sense that a worthy contribution can be offered, why not take a stab and try your hand?

Good point.

But there is a small problem: People just aren’t reading as much as they used to. There are some startling statistics about books. Here are a few worth mentioning:

80% of the United States population wants to write a book.

42% of college graduates never read another book after college(!).

70% of books published do not earn back their advance.

A “successful” fiction book sells 5,000 copies.

A “successful” nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.

Statistics aside, I still want to write a book. About fourteen months ago I had a dream of writing and recording an album of original music. The dream has been realized, and Dying Stars now available for download on iTunes. I’ve done music. I can do a book.

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