Probably the most important fixture in the office is the ergonomic desk chair. I spend several hours a week in my office. During the vast majority of them, my butt is planted in that chair, whether conferencing with students, prepping for class, or grading papers. The ergonomic chair has been very helpful in lessening lower-back strain.

“Several hours a week in my office”?! Really? Even when I wasn’t a full time administrator I spend 30+ hours a week in my office (that is leaving aside the time spent lecturing and walking around). Today I spend over 40 hours a week in my office and much of it with my butt planted in my desk chair. But just “several hours a week”? Wow.

Ok, so the question to you my fellow faculty friends (and non-faculty), how many hours a week do you spend sitting at your desk in your office/cubicle/workspace?

 

Today another excellent edition of the Biblical Studies Carnival came out (thanks Kevin!) and I find myself in NYC realizing I have missed a whole slew of good posts on Genesis from the always brilliant John Hobbins. It is maddening! And that doesn’t even include all the other posts on Genesis this past month (thanks Bob!).

*sigh* I will continue to plug away and look forward to SBL where at least the only thing I am supposed to be doing there is hanging out with you all. Meanwhile, I have to get out of the hotel and over to my morning meeting! Life….

 

Any college basketball fans who’ve been watching the bank failures and consolidations recently will understand and appreciate this September Madness chart. This was reportedly created by a general partner at Sansome Partners named Mark Slavonia.

I wonder if the U.S. Congress will make it to the Final Four. Click for larger view.

 

The good news is, of course, that the city of NOLA received a glancing blow. The reality is, of course, that had a strong storm hit it no levees would have held. They just can’t, nature can be too strong for it. What is most important in preparing for hurricanes on the coast then is not protecting property, but people. So the best news was that the evacuations worked. Most estimates say that 95% of the residents of coastal LA evacuated. This is the best news of all. Sure, they probably would have been fine, as my friend in Covington who today reports simply that “it is warm here.” An understatement I am sure. But most needed to leave and this time they were able to. My most enduring image from Katrina is that of all the school buses flooded in a parking lot. School buses that could have been used for evacuation, but Nagin refused to order it. This time he is being criticized for “scaring” people. Take it as a compliment Nagin. They should be scared.

The clean up has already begun, after all, the bars and casinos need to open as fast as possible. People are being told to wait before returning, and are not happy about it. But it is not safe and until power lines and boats are cleared from roads, sitting tight is just what should be done. For all of us not in the region please give to the charity of your choice that serves in disaster relief. If you are looking for a suggestion I can promise you that the Episcopal Diocese of LA will make sure your donation is used well and for the benefit all those in most need.

Finally a few sites worth visiting if you are looking for news on Gustav and NOLA.

WWL TV – They had constant live video coverage. They radio partners did as well: WWL Radio.

NOLA.COM – This is the website for the Times-Picayune.

Chris Rose – Writer for the TP who is always relevant, humorous, and prescient.

NOLA Blog – The blog from NOLA.COM writers.

 

Our parish is going through a transition, the rector of 14 years has retired and while I am not on any of the transitional committees I am a “resident member of the clergy” so I get to meet with our candidates for interim priest. My wife is on the vestry and so she met with the candidate last night. Last night she and I discussed not so much the candidate but where our church and the ECUSA in general is headed. We have a fairly mixed parish, more on the moderate side than radical activist end of the spectrum (either end of the radicalness, I should add). There are many times when I wonder just why we should stay engaged with the national church.

So, today I read Num. 11. It is the passage where the Israelites in the wilderness are grumbling again, this time because they want meat. Real meat, not this carroway-like wafer stuff. This time not only is God upset, but Moses is pissed and complains to God, saying that it is not like he gave birth to them. Why should he have to deal with them and their whining? Not to put too fine a point on it, Moses asks God

Num. 11:15 “If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once-if I have found favor in your sight-and do not let me see my misery.”

I laughed out loud when I read that. “Kill me now, Lord, kill me now.” Well, I am no Moses, nor is my wife. I won’t pretend to draw any direct line of meaning, but I think a general premise that God will work with and through his people (and its leaders) in spite of their thick heart and headedness is clear.

I certainly believe that one clear lesson from Moses (and Abraham and the psalms and the prophets) is that we are allowed to be honest with God. If you think about it, they all showed incredible chutzpah in talking back to God, challenging why he was asking so much of them or not dealing with an injustice that was so obviously in need of smiting. We should not let our humility before God keep us from being honest with him and therefore ourselves about our frustrations and anger.

So I don’t know what the future holds for our parish or the ECUSA and I don’t even know what is my future in these institutions. For the shortterm much will depend upon who we end up calling. “All politics are local” is a truism in the church as much as in the state. In the meantime, keep us in your prayers.

 

I have not been lazy in this time, however! I was in NYC for 3 days helping to review a college in the City. While there I had dinner with an old college friend of mine, which was a wonderful evening although I still can’t say that I like octopus.

I returned to campus in time for finals, theses, and preparations for graduation. As a college that grants an degree notation (even though not the degree itself) a lot of work goes in to making sure transcripts, GPA, forms, and theses are in order for graduation. The work isn’t done by me, mind you, but it is done. That means that some students inevitably were short on one of those items. It is always the most stressful time of the year for our staff and our students. It is also the time of year when I spend the most time in a "pastoral" role, helping students and parents cope with transition and in some cases severe disappointment that they will not in fact be able to graduate with honors. It is all worth it in the end, however when the students march across the stage to receive their medal. Friday was a wonderful day!

This week our new students are on campus for their testing, class placement, and course scheduling so Tuesday and Wednesday have us hosting over 300 students and their parents. This is always fun, as the students can’t wait for August to be here, but also a bit nerve wracking for some of the parents as they begin to realize their child will be leaving home. The Creamery ice-cream helps the transition.

One bit of fun for me is the acquisition of a new toyl, a 15.4" MacBook Pro. I had a 17" PowerBook before coming to PSU and found the 13" MacBook adequate but I really missed the features of the pro machine and the power. The keyboard is great (and lights up in the dark!) and the self-adjusting LED backlight display is gorgeous. The extra screen real estate is great when working with Accordance.

So now I am ready to get into the summer and get some academic writing done! I will be posting about my research as I go along. It will include more work on Lamentations, Targum Ruth and the Megillot. In the meantime please enjoy John C. Dvorak’s Tech5 which will update every evening M-F and I will be posting more soon!