Chris and I ate pizza and watched Jurassic Park. We picked up the pizza at Papa John’s and saw Monica working the phones, it was really funny. Then we went back to my place and ate pizza on our new dining table, being careful to use plates and coasters for our drinks. Then we pulled up my mom’s folding chairs and watched Jurassic Park. That movie came out when I was in Junior High, and it still rules. Now I have to go to bed so I can wake up early and run the computer at church. Yay.

Tonight I had a great discussion with Paddy about speaking in absolutes, and indeed how dangerous that can be. Speaking in absolutes often assumes a VAST amount of knowledge that the speaker can in no way prove. What the person should be doing is generalizing. Here are some excerpts from various conversations (edited for length):

paddy: more detail is allways more mesmorizing
nathan: not always
nathan: take poetry for example
nathan: most poetry takes only a few lines to say what it wants. but according to your logic, a poem that is 9412840124 pages long would always be better
nathan: or a 4120482048 min long description of a sunset would be better than a 10 min description
paddy: ok
nathan: every baseball player owns a baseball glove
nathan: that’s an absolute. i said EVERY baseball player owns a baseball glove
paddy: ok
nathan: while it sounds correct…..for me to know that, I would then have to account for every baseball player in existence and prove that they have a baseball glove, something I haven’t done
nathan: it’s one thing to say “all christians are good people” (an absolute) and to say “most christians are good people” (a generalization)

Kevin actually said a lot more than that, but if he wants to post what he said he can. Here’s what my sister had to say:

denise: we’re cognitively programmed to generalize-
denise: we absolutely cannot prevent ourselves from generalizing
denise: exactly-wisdom has everything to do with applying generalizations-ie when do they or do they not work in specific instances
denise: cognitively speaking, we are very bad at dealing with many details at once-generalizations are shortcuts for helping us make sense of life

Unfortunately I think Paddy took me to mean that absolutes are NEVER right (which is an absolute in itself, and already wrong).

nathan: absolutes aren’t always dangerous. for example, there is one blue cup on my desk. that’s an absolute that is entirely true haha
amy: you should tell him that
amy: haha

Food for thought. Eat up!

I spent a good couple hours today replacing old plugs and light switches at the townhouse. They were all a gross almond color, and they had to go. I’d never changed one before, but it’s really not that difficult. First you turn off the circuit breakers, then you unscrew it to get at the wires in the back, and then getting the wires OUT is a big pain. That is why my fingers ache, because pushing the “release spring” doesn’t do jack squat. Though my hands hurt, almost the whole upstairs has pretty new white plugs and switches. I think there are 20 altogether, and so far they all work. Pictures will be coming soon…no, I’m sorry I don’t have them now, the camera isn’t here, it’s at the townhouse. What? That matters because the compact flash card is inside the camera….yes it’s important, that’s what the friggin pictures are saved on!

5000. oh wow yay!

Oh dang, one more month. Now you can put away that calendar and see over to the right just how many days are left. Also, if you are unable to count past 20 do to a lack of fingers are toes, this counter will enable you to watch the countdown procede for the next 10 days until you are capable of doing that yourself.

…I am an expert on a few subjects. My site counter can also tell me where people were “referred” from, or what website they were at that led them to mine. Often times I see searches people have made, usually on yahoo.com. Frequent searches that lead people to my site are for “starburst commercial” and “cutting dog nails.” Yahoo is great and will find specific posts, but google is retarded and doesn’t do that.

I believe that title is a reference to the opening song from 227, or posssibly the Jeffersons. I’m sure Denise can correct me.

Hopefully these updates don’t come across as pompous or "oooh look at me!" It’s fun working on our place, and since you all can’t come over every single day to see the transformation, I think it’s entertaining to show you here online. I posted new pictures in the gallery, and if you’ve been keeping up, they start here. Below are a couple highlights.

The backyard cement work is all done, now we just have to do some gardening work! It needs some grass and pretty horticulture, aka plants.

Andrew and I picked up our dining room table too. It’s a trendy counter-height table, or "pub table" as my leprechaun friends call it. It’s actually really comfortable to get in and out of, unless you’re really short. I’m not sure if it’s easier or harder for old people. Maybe good for tall old people, but bad for short old people. Honestly it’s a very important question, because when my elderly friends come over for a night of fun I don’t want them complaining on and on about how they can’t get out of their chair because of their arthritis and meningitis and tuberculosis and all that old person stuff.

I have been stuck in the dark ages. For the last 10 years I have used extended wear contact lenses. Every night I take them out and clean them, using the same pair for over a year. I have tortured myself with the constantly degrading comfort that accompanies this type of lens. However, starting today, I’ve finally moved on to disposables.

Six months ago I had my glasses prescription updated, and ever since my contact prescription has seemed weak. Today I was fitted for new disposables, and I have high hopes for them. My prescription hasn’t changed much in recent years, so I’d like to look into laser eye surgery soon, but for now these will do fine. The doc said I have 20/15 vision now, yay.