Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
BYU's Administrative Program
As many of you know, I have been avidly seeking entrance into BYU’s Leadership Preparation Program (LPP) to become an administrator. Since the summer of 2006 I have been working towards this goal. I have taken the GRE, applied for BYU’s graduate studies program, and applied to BYU’s LPP program. I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours I have spent over the last five or six months in studying, emailing, composing, researching, typing, etc. to pass the GRE exam and complete the two applications.
Long story short:
About two weeks ago, I received a letter from BYU’s education department, inviting me to the second phase of screening to determine if I get into the LPP program.
Last night (Thu. 1/25/07) at BYU’s Mackay Building I attended that screening. The supervisor, Joe Matthews, met with all of us candidates to give a brief overview of the screening process. He also told us that after the screening we would all be notified by mail in about three weeks if we got in or not.
After a group activity, we were instructed to be interviewed individually by a BYU faculty member and one of the several public school administrators who had been invited to help in the screening.
As I sat in the waiting room with the other candidates awaiting my turn for an interview, Joe Matthews motioned to me and said, “I need to interview you.” This startled and excited me, in that I hadn’t seen him do this to anyone else. I went with him to his office down the hall.
“I want to apologize,” I said, “for having emailed you so much [about the program and the application over the last few months].”
“That’s OK,” he smiled. “You probably emailed three times more than anyone else here.”
After assuring me that it was a good thing, he asked me point blank: “Tim, how serious are you about this program? What if you don’t get the paid sabbatical leave from your district? How will you afford to stay in this program?”
I assured him that my wife and I were more than prepared to take out loans and do whatever would be necessary for the next 15 months of the course if I got accepted, and that we were committed to making it work.
“Good,” he said, “because we want you.”
My jaw dropped and I went into the Kip Dynamite lever pull of joy: “Yesssssssssssss!”
So, my news to you is that I am IN! After 12 years of blood, sweat, tears, and hormonally influenced children, this will most likely be my last year as a teacher. I am on my way to becoming a vice principal!
Just thought I’d let you know.
As a side note, I asked several of the candidates there if they had been interviewed by Joe, and I didn’t speak with any who had. As far as I can tell, I am one the only one I know of who has already been given the thumbs-up for the program.
If enthusiasm were muscle, I’d be Govuhnuh Awnold right now!!!!
Art classes or nursing?
Recently a dear friend of mine emailed me the following, which I am posting with her permission:
Last semester I started taking art classes again. Everyone says I should hurry and get my nursing degree. I know it is the practical thing to do, but for the past few years I feel like my soul has been crying out to create. I have had a difficult time feeling real joy, not that I haven't been happy, but part of me has been suffocating. I finally decided that I didn't really care about being practical. I feel like I can breathe again. I feel free. I wish that I didn't have to keep defending my decision.
I think that's totally sweet.
Some people simply cannot relate to what she said, but I can. Sometimes when I tell people that I have a blog and post on it regularly they look at me incredulously. "Whaddya doin' that for? Does anyone even read it?" Well, I don't really know who reads my blog, other than a few friends and a brother or two, but I don't really worry about that. Blogging is writing is a release valve that I occasionally need. The numerous somber responsibilities of fatherhood, husbandhood, profession, providing, etc. can leave one too serious.
It feels great to write and express and let it out. Like sending a balloon out in the wind. You never know where it'll land or how it will affect someone else.
Friday, January 12, 2007
What's in your bookmarks?
These are my current favorites:
My Church
Mormon Studies
Art Renewal's Museum
The price of silver
Utah Jazz
Live Portuguese radio
BYU Broadcasting. All sorts of (free) downloadable MP3 talks.
LDS Newsroom Search. Incredible source for high-res church pictures.
Trek Earth. Incredible pictures from pretty much all over the world.
Bartleby. On-line literature. Free. Beautiful.
Half.com. Sister company to eBay. Cool, rare, affordable CDs and books.
Dictionary.com. So informative and useful.
Wikipedia. Fun. Always accurate?
Portuguese dictionary.
The origin of words.
Download it. Often free (my operative word).
I hope you enjoy the "site-seeing."
Long live the Diamond.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Medial Meniscus
I went to the doctor today. I tore my medial meniscus (a cartilage shock absorber in the knee, which separates the tibia and the femur). I am in pain. They gave me a leg brace. I will probably be this way for about a month.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Knee, Possessions, Technology
(Go ahead and blog, if you want to.)
This evening I went to play in a church basketball game. I went up pretty strongly off my left leg and felt something crunch/snap. I would equate it to the feeling you get when you bite off a piece of chicken from the bone and sink your teeth into a piece of gristle. I suspect that I’ve done something very grave to my left knee. I wonder if I’ll need surgery. I wonder if I’ll need crutches. I am in pain. It hurt. I’m done for the season. I’m getting older. I’m 39. I’m about half way there. Oh well. What can be done?
A pet peeve: possessions. I feel absolutely burdened by possessions. We are constantly worrying about our budget, yet I look around my house and all I see are piles of things to arrange, dusty CDs, food that’s gone bad, parts of dolls, old clothes, broken toys, and bla bla bla bla. Bla. It’s enough to drive one crazy. We are rich Americans. Enough is enough. Let’s give some of this stuff away. Let’s spend our money conservatively. But then tomorrow I’ll see something else I want to buy. It’s quite pathetic.
And technology is a two-edged sword as well. I love the Internet and cable TV, yet at the same time hate it, in that it obsesses my attention, consumes my peaceful renewal time, and turns me into less of a human and more of a robot. I swear.
This evening I went to play in a church basketball game. I went up pretty strongly off my left leg and felt something crunch/snap. I would equate it to the feeling you get when you bite off a piece of chicken from the bone and sink your teeth into a piece of gristle. I suspect that I’ve done something very grave to my left knee. I wonder if I’ll need surgery. I wonder if I’ll need crutches. I am in pain. It hurt. I’m done for the season. I’m getting older. I’m 39. I’m about half way there. Oh well. What can be done?
A pet peeve: possessions. I feel absolutely burdened by possessions. We are constantly worrying about our budget, yet I look around my house and all I see are piles of things to arrange, dusty CDs, food that’s gone bad, parts of dolls, old clothes, broken toys, and bla bla bla bla. Bla. It’s enough to drive one crazy. We are rich Americans. Enough is enough. Let’s give some of this stuff away. Let’s spend our money conservatively. But then tomorrow I’ll see something else I want to buy. It’s quite pathetic.
And technology is a two-edged sword as well. I love the Internet and cable TV, yet at the same time hate it, in that it obsesses my attention, consumes my peaceful renewal time, and turns me into less of a human and more of a robot. I swear.
Judging
This topic is nagging me, and I have to flush it out of my system by writing about it. I have rewritten my thoughts a ton in an effort to sort things out in my mind.
The topic is judging.
This issue hits close to home for me living in Utah. Living here as a Mormon is like walking a tightrope. We pretty much know who is/n’t a Mormon. Expectations are high for conformity and activity. If you publicly break a commandment people will notice and remember and gossip. (I guess we love to see people fall....)
And the judging problem is also present between members and nonmembers. It’s particularly ugly here in the Salt Lake Valley. It seems we don’t know how to get along. The non-Mormons slam the Mormons, talk trash about them, and belittle. We draw political lines. We exclude. We’re the narrow-minded, self-righteous conservatives and they’re the left-wing liberals.
It has caused my wife and me to talk about moving to another state where Mormonism isn’t dominant. Maybe there we could live our life more peacefully and seek to practice our religion a little less stressfully; maybe wards would be more united and less gossipy; maybe friendships would be more long lasting. And maybe our own imperfections would be a little less glaring in the eyes of our non-Mormon neighbors.
I pretty much hate it all --- the contention, the division, the petty back-and-forth bickering, the ignorance, the gossiping, the hostility, and the judging. Yet sadly I must confess that I have engaged in it.
But it is so monstrously difficult not to judge when you yourself have been judged. It’s hard not to judge others when your own friends in the Gospel make fun of you and act like you’re a clueless, narrow-minded idiot because you’re an extremely conservative movie watcher. It’s hard not to judge others when you’re slammed by fellow Mormons because you don’t drink caffeine. It’s hard not to retaliate when you get ostracizing, puzzled looks because you’re not addicted to a TV series laden with sex, profanity, violence, and everything that contradicts our beliefs. It’s hard not to judge others after having been endlessly poked and dissected by members for being single until 31. Simply put, it’s hard not to judge others when you yourself feel mercilessly, unfairly judged --- even while you are doing your best to be good.
So what would Jesus do? I think he’d adhere to the following:
1) JUDGING MUST BE DONE RIGHTEOUSLY (with good, pure intentions, and in a spirit of love and charity (definitely never with contention)), even if nowadays it is so taboo and un-PC to do so. Two scriptures clarify things:
“Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment.” (JST Matt. 7: 1-2)
And
“15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.” (Moroni 7:15-16)
2) JUDGE QUALITIES, or characteristics --- NOT PEOPLE. Separate the sin from the sinner (easier said than done though, no?).
3) DON’T FORCE YOUR JUDGMENT on others, yet don’t hide it either. To do so leads to falsity (compartmentalized ethics) and gossiping. My rule of thumb is this: if I wouldn’t be comfortable saying it in their presence, I shouldn’t say it out of their presence either.
That’s what I want to do.
The topic is judging.
This issue hits close to home for me living in Utah. Living here as a Mormon is like walking a tightrope. We pretty much know who is/n’t a Mormon. Expectations are high for conformity and activity. If you publicly break a commandment people will notice and remember and gossip. (I guess we love to see people fall....)
And the judging problem is also present between members and nonmembers. It’s particularly ugly here in the Salt Lake Valley. It seems we don’t know how to get along. The non-Mormons slam the Mormons, talk trash about them, and belittle. We draw political lines. We exclude. We’re the narrow-minded, self-righteous conservatives and they’re the left-wing liberals.
It has caused my wife and me to talk about moving to another state where Mormonism isn’t dominant. Maybe there we could live our life more peacefully and seek to practice our religion a little less stressfully; maybe wards would be more united and less gossipy; maybe friendships would be more long lasting. And maybe our own imperfections would be a little less glaring in the eyes of our non-Mormon neighbors.
I pretty much hate it all --- the contention, the division, the petty back-and-forth bickering, the ignorance, the gossiping, the hostility, and the judging. Yet sadly I must confess that I have engaged in it.
But it is so monstrously difficult not to judge when you yourself have been judged. It’s hard not to judge others when your own friends in the Gospel make fun of you and act like you’re a clueless, narrow-minded idiot because you’re an extremely conservative movie watcher. It’s hard not to judge others when you’re slammed by fellow Mormons because you don’t drink caffeine. It’s hard not to retaliate when you get ostracizing, puzzled looks because you’re not addicted to a TV series laden with sex, profanity, violence, and everything that contradicts our beliefs. It’s hard not to judge others after having been endlessly poked and dissected by members for being single until 31. Simply put, it’s hard not to judge others when you yourself feel mercilessly, unfairly judged --- even while you are doing your best to be good.
So what would Jesus do? I think he’d adhere to the following:
1) JUDGING MUST BE DONE RIGHTEOUSLY (with good, pure intentions, and in a spirit of love and charity (definitely never with contention)), even if nowadays it is so taboo and un-PC to do so. Two scriptures clarify things:
“Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment.” (JST Matt. 7: 1-2)
And
“15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.” (Moroni 7:15-16)
2) JUDGE QUALITIES, or characteristics --- NOT PEOPLE. Separate the sin from the sinner (easier said than done though, no?).
3) DON’T FORCE YOUR JUDGMENT on others, yet don’t hide it either. To do so leads to falsity (compartmentalized ethics) and gossiping. My rule of thumb is this: if I wouldn’t be comfortable saying it in their presence, I shouldn’t say it out of their presence either.
That’s what I want to do.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Dote Real Eye Sew Munch Awn Yore Spell Czech
This is humor.
For the past month or so, I have had my students work on composing a research paper. A couple of days ago I had them bring in their rough drafts for a group editing session. Unfortunately, too many students nowadays rely almost exclusively on spell check, instead of their own knowledge of spelling. One of the kids had a sentence in his paper like this:
"George Washington Carver is defiantly very important in U.S. history." (supposed to be "definitely")
And from another student:
"Abraham Lincoln helped the slaves by bringing about the Mastication Proclamation." (From dictionary.com: "Masticate: To reduce to a pulp by crushing or kneading, as rubber.") That's interesting. I didn't know the slaves wanted to masticate. You'd think that being in slavery and all they'd want to be emancipated....
For the past month or so, I have had my students work on composing a research paper. A couple of days ago I had them bring in their rough drafts for a group editing session. Unfortunately, too many students nowadays rely almost exclusively on spell check, instead of their own knowledge of spelling. One of the kids had a sentence in his paper like this:
"George Washington Carver is defiantly very important in U.S. history." (supposed to be "definitely")
And from another student:
"Abraham Lincoln helped the slaves by bringing about the Mastication Proclamation." (From dictionary.com: "Masticate: To reduce to a pulp by crushing or kneading, as rubber.") That's interesting. I didn't know the slaves wanted to masticate. You'd think that being in slavery and all they'd want to be emancipated....
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