The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: I got an iPhone 3G last Wednesday. I’m now convinced that you can’t fully understand the amazingness of the iPhone until you actually own one. It’s unreal.
Book(s) I’m reading: I started Reading Paul by Michael Gorman this week (in preparation for the Reclaiming Paul conference), and I’m still working on Tom Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America.
Music I’m digging: William Fitzsimmons’ The Sparrow and the Crow (link opens in iTunes) is easily one of the best — if not the best — albums I’ve heard all year. Get it. Now.
Something(s) that blew my mind: The Clovis school board in New Mexico is taking control of the yearbook to make sure that they don’t include lesbian couples in a section of the yearbook on couples at the school.
Ministry update: The high school students started learning about the Lectio Divina this week.
Seminary/ordination update: Once I mail my personal essay into Luther Seminary, I’m done with the application.
Looking forward to: I’m going to Chicago later this week (Thursday through Saturday) to visit my friend Kelly. In addition to having an all-around good time, I’ll be able to catch up on podcasts while I drive.
That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.
- In case you missed it, I was in the Des Moines Register yesterday in an article called A season for the ages for Iowa baseball fans. 10/02/2008
Flickr + God
The photograph below is considered the most interesting image tagged with “god” on Flickr.

God and Automobiles, originally uploaded by g. s. george on flickr.
The photographer, Geoffrey George, writes eloquently of his thoughts about the photo:
This is the memorable and ironic view that greets every motorist traveling south on I-75 towards downtown. Thousands of these motorists are surely suburban GM workers on their way to work every day, and the irony of this chance alignment is hopefully not lost on them. In the background, the Renaissance Center, Detroit’s tallest building and GM World Headquarters. In the foreground, St. Josaphat, a 105-year old still-functioning relic from Detroit’s heyday. Detroit is the Motor City, but the sins committed here cannot be forgotten or forgiven–from the hundreds of murders every year to the construction of a freeway system that divided and destroyed vibrant and working neighborhoods. Hopefully this image will one day have different associations.
For me, it is a powerful view that is quintessentially Detroit. I’m sure it’s been photographed hundreds of times, but the balance and contrast between Detroit’s largest and most infamous glass skyscraper, a struggling community church, and the freeway that cut a swath across the city and acted as a runway for white flighters provides me with endless fascination. I hope you will find it equally stimulating.
Friday linkfest
What better way to celebrate Good Friday?
I am working on something that would allow me to post links to this blog continuously (much like kottke). This would probably mean a couple of things: 1) the end of Friday linkfest, and 2) more total links being posted. Instead of chooring from a constantly growing link list that I select from on Fridays, I could just post ‘em as I find ‘em.
Friday linkfest
It returns (it seems I still have a habit of bookmarking everything I come across that could be considered remotely interesting)…
Library Thing
In my unending ability to find things on the internet to waste hours and hours of my time, I found LibraryThing. The website says “LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. Because everyone catalogs together, you can also use LibraryThing to find people with similar libraries, get suggestions from people with your tastes and so forth.”

I catalogued most of the books I have at school, which totals 63 (that seems like way too many books to have here). You can see which books you have in common with other people, etc.
LibraryThing is another awesome Web 2.0 service. Again, I never would have guessed that I would ever be a bookworm, let alone a bookworm who enjoys casually reading theology.
[Image is a capture of the "graphical view" of my personal library.]
Loose ends
It took me a while, but I finally fixed one of the big visual problems plaguing my site. The comment section. I wasn’t pleased with the way it looked in the new layout, so last night I totally redesigned it. In addition, I created a new header image, which is a picture taken while drving to Luther on Interstate-35 North. Looks like spring is not so far away.
Another thing: I was going to post this a few days ago, but I forgot. I was mentioned in an article in Luther’s weekly newspaper, Chips. You can read it here (don’t mind the huge, atrocious picture of me in the middle).
Thanks, Peter
For the best birthday present ever.
To everyone else who thought of me on my special day: don’t be angry with me, your gifts are wonderful, too.
Friday linkfest
This week’s links:
- Sun Pillars: I don’t think I ever knew that these existed until I was driving home a month ago and I saw a ridiculous one. If I owned a camera other than my cameraphone (which is too sensitive for sunlight) I would have taken a picture. I figured the phenemenon had a name, and I saw this picture on flickr, which led me to Google “sun pillar,” which gives us the aforementioned link. Edit: I think what I witnessed was actually a “lower pillar“.
- Data mining using Google: How to do a ton of cool things with Google search, such as looking up phone numbers.
- Pandora: A really cool music website that looks for and plays music that is very similar to your particular taste. I typed in “Matt Wertz” and listened to a couple of tracks that I would have otherwise never heard. As someone who gets an adrenaline rush every time I discover a new artist, this website is invaluable. You should probably check this one out.
- Slanket: Touts itself as being the “best blanket ever.” It’s an oversized fleece blanket with huge, baggy arms so that you are free to do things like hold a remote, use a laptop, and eat popcorn without having to take your arms out from under the blanket. It sells for a hefty $65, but it could be very worth it.
- The Da Vinci Code: An early trailer for the big-screen adaptation of the controversial novel by Dan Brown. I really hope this means that they make “Angels and Demons” into a film.
Friday Linkfest
After a one week hiatus, here are this week’s links:


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