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I just remembered that I came up with a “great” idea for a post tonight while Laura and I were eating supper. Ok, so maybe not really a great idea, but something to keep me in the blogging mode.

With technology like it is, there are not many people today without cellphones, save for the elderly, most infants, and just a select few individuals, nearly everyone, at least in America, has one. Or there is at least one in the immediate family. The fact that there are 1st graders with cellphones is best left for another blog, but in the meantime, the popularity of cellphones has lead to something that really annoys me: the bluetooth headset. (Before you get upset with me because you own one, please keep reading.)

There is definitely a place for headsets. Maybe a place and a circumstance. The place being while driving in a car, and the circumstance being a mother with young children. In both of these situations, attention must be given to other things that require the use of both hands, one being driving a car, and the other herding children while multitasking.

That being said, there are no other places, circumstances, exceptions, whatever to using a bluetooth headset. No exceptions.

We were having supper tonight at Henry’s, and I look over at a table of people, and a man has on a headset. Is this really the place to have one on? Are you really expecting a phone call so important that you must wear an unsightly beast of a contraption on your ear? Do you think that other patrons will automatically view you as more important because you have something sticking onto your ear that flashes a blue light every five seconds? Seriously people. Where has etiquette gone?

Maybe I am old fashioned, or slow to adopt, but surely I am not the only one that feels this way. Please tell me that these headsets grate on the nerves of someone out there. Surely someone gets the urge to rip them off of an ear and smash them under foot.

Leave it to me to make a mountain out of an ant hill….

Seems like the last couple of posts, besides the wonderful picture of Coach Dawson, have been annoyances. Well, yet again, I was confronted by one this afternoon.

After forgetting to upgrade my wife’s phone of two years, I finally called Sprint this afternoon to take care of that. Sounds pretty simple right? Wrong.

I call in, and go through about 7 different phone menus, only to get a customer service representative who is barely audible, or to me at least. Maybe I am just going deaf, but as soon as I get put on hold, the music almost makes me deaf, so I don’t think that was the case.

Anyways, after asking for the upgrade, I am then asked if I want to add a phone line to my account. I am pretty sure that we are not going to have anyone else that needs a phone in our family anytime soon, so I had to reluctantly decline. Then, after asking if I own any computers, I am given the option to purchase an a wireless internet plan. While tempting, I had to decline.

Thinking the sales pitch was complete, I exhaled, only to be asked again if I wanted to add an extra line! No. I do not need another phone number. Laura does not need another phone number. Our unborn children do not need a cell phone, and won’t until they are old enough to pay for it. Just please upgrade the phone like I requested and let me on my way.

I think I am getting impatient/grumpy in my old age…

You know those news websites that are free, but still require you to register? Yeah, they are annoying. Sure you can do things to get around it, such as install Firefox and the BugMeNot plugin, but seriously, if you are going to make it free, why require the registration?

First off, let me apologize for the title of this post. I was going to put something like “Playing the Smallest Violin Ever” or “Slade’s Pity-party Post,” but they didn’t quite capture the mood, so I made an obscure reference to a Justin Timberlake song. I know, call me dirty names if you would like, or make fun of me, but that is the title and I’m sticking to it.

But before I get to the pity-party, let me say “Congratulations” to Jamie and Dustin! They got hitched this past weekend in the happening town of Gatesville. Some dark/poorly taken photographs can be found here. (If anyone would like to buy me a flash, it would be greatly appreciated. Or a new lens. Or both. Whatever floats your boat.) Speaking of weddings, if you haven’t figured it out, thats what the countdown is for at the top of the page.

Now onto the pity-party:

1. I woke up on Monday morning to find my pickup window busted in and my ipod stolen. Laura decided to do her best Vanna White impression and show off the patch job that we did:3878
2. I locked myself out of my apartment last night. And by locked out, I mean that Chad took both of my apartment keys to Robert Lee with him, and before I realized this I closed the door behind me. A special thanks to Jay for letting me crash on his couch!
3. Meetings at 13:00 on Tuesday/Thursday interrupt my ever-important basketball schedule. Seriously. Who schedules meetings for right after lunch? Don’t they know that is the best napping time of the day.

Oh, and if anyone wants to buy me a new ipod, that would be great!

It was brought to my attention this weekend that I have not blogged in a while, so hopefully I can make up for it today. Much to the surprise of some people, I actually do have to do some work while at work, and cannot afford to waste the day away blogging. However, if anyone wants to give me a job blogging, I would be more than happy to do that!

You know how much I like lists/bullets, so here goes:

• Reformation Day was celebrated in full force this past weekend here in San Angelo. Pope Leo X, Luther, a monk, and a priest all showed up to celebrate, along with some other offending costumes. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera (still stuck in Fort Worth), so I will have to try and get the pictures from someone who was taking pictures.
• Ok, this was going to wait until the last bullet, so this list would be in some sort of order, but I just got another email, so I feel that I must blog about it now. Each month I am required to file a security report with the State of Texas about intrusions, infections, inflammations, and the like (Note: Free shout-out to whoever can pick out the non-computer term out of that list), and each month I wait until the last minute. Have to double check all my reports, just to make sure I don’t miss anything. So anyways, each month I get an email from the person in charge of the DIR Security Office about filing this report. Its a routine, and routines are good. For some reason, everyone that gets a copy of the email here feels that they need to send it to me as a reminder or something. So in my inbox right now I have 4 copies of the same email for the month of October, and I just looked in my archives and found 4 emails for each month. I GET THE EMAIL! Don’t send me copies! Sheesh.
• Speaking of work, I am now officially a Network Engineer NG Internal Sys2! Sounds important huh?!
• We celebrated Granny’s 80th birthday this weekend. I wish the Lamesa Press Reporter was online so that I could post the Birthday announcement, but alas, they are still stuck in the 90’s.
• Speaking of Granny’s party, I got to see my cousin from London, who was chastised for the lack of updates on their blog. In the process I learned that cousin Kate also has a blog! In addition, I also learned that Uncle Val had a blog until a faithful commenter of mine decided to get rid of it. Hopefully the Patricia Country Club will return shortly after much prodding from me.
• TAMU lost again this weekend. To Tech. Tear.
• Toothaches suck.
• We tried to watch this version of “The Amittyville Horror” this weekend but instead rented the original. Do not repeat this mistake. I thought it was supposed to be a horror show.
• It still does not pay to forward emails. Please discontinue this process as soon as possible.

I did it! I finished a complete book! If you remember from a previous post that I have just been starting books lately and not finishing them, I made a resolution to correct this. So last night I sat down and finished up the last 47 pages of Exodus. I must say that it was worth it.

The author presents first a look at Episcopalians, dedicating one chapter to the more liberal views of mainline Episcopalian churches, then using the second chapter to discuss what the titles “The Departing Episcopalians.” These are members of the Episcopalian church that are leaving the Episcopal Church USA for the more conservative Anglican Communion. Using interviews with priests/bishops from both sides, the author gives the reader first-hand accounts of both sides.

It was the next three chapters that really spurred me on to read this book: The Roman Catholics, The Orthodox Church, and the Southern Baptists. While I may not agree with all the Catholics or Orthodox believers theologically believe or practice, it was somewhat encouraging to read of their commitment to the traditional teachings of the church. As for the chapter on Southern Baptists, the author showed how a group of conservative believers, through the grace of God, brought their denomination from the brink of liberalism back to its traditional beliefs, summarized best by saying that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. I guess I should note that I have a soft spot in my heart for the Southern Baptist denomination as I was brought up in an SBC church, and have lately become somewhat of an Albert Mohler fan. (As if you couldn’t tell from previous posts)

Overall, I’d probably suggest this book to most people I know. It is definitely not a book on theology, but it does present some of the core beliefs of each of the denominations. It was a definite encouragement to see that believers are seeing that they are not being fed by these conforming churches, but instead God is drawing them to churches that remain focused on Him and his Word.

If you have any suggestions for books I should read in the future, definitely leave me some comments. Next up: 9 Marks of a Healthy Church

Onto more personal things:

1. Personally, I think that xanga needs some work. I go from a wordpress site to an xanga site and am disappointed everytime. I understand that not everyone has their own domain, but they should. Or does someone offer wordpress hosting? Thats a thought…

2. Hotlinkers beware! I’ve noticed that a number of people have been hotlinking to my lightning image. While it is flattering that they are using the image that I took, hotlinkers suck. So sometime soon, be prepared for that image to be changed…

3. Did anyone notice how bad the html is on the pages above? See what I mean about xanga… Note: Not all xanga users destroy html like this, so don’t think that I am attacking all users of xanga…

4. Donations for a late birthday present to me are now being taken! Paypal welcome. Contact me at slade at cozart d0t org for more information.

5. Comments are welcome…so DO IT!

Albert Mohler posted an interesting commentary today about today’s business schools and their practice of hiring professors that are more concerned with research than actually teaching practical knowledge that will help business students in the real world. “Practitioners in the field…are not likely to be impressed with much of what business professors write and produce…” How many times have you had a class with a professor that has had no applicable real-world experience, be it in business, CS, or hairdressing? While it is true that the academics and theory is important in a college education, it is just as important to train individuals in practical applications of these theories, if any.

Mohler then goes on to show how it is just as important for seminaries to look at their same practice of hiring faculty. “Theological seminaries…should be unembarrassed to hold the stewardship of a primary mission that is irreducibly directed to the practice of ministry…of course, there is a vital and non-negotiable scholarly dimension…and the training of ministers requires nothing less than the highest standards of academic excellence.”

Schools of higher education everywhere, especially those educating individuals that will be entering the workforce at some point, need to ensure that they employ individuals that can apply their experience with academic knowledge in order to provide the best education possible for the emerging workforce, be it in the church or in the business world.

Caleb, you can have your soapbox back…