Author Archives: luke

Apple Mighty Mouse

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Mighty Mouse that comes with Apple machines these days. When we got the iMac, I was actually prepared to throw it in a drawer and buy a real mouse from Microsoft or Logitech or somebody.

After several days, I pretty much like the mighty mouse. The lack of buttons is only slightly irritating. If my desktop were flat, I’d be fine. But the non-button buttons require you to click the entire mouse, and if the surface isn’t utterly planar, you’re out of luck. Or so I find it. Supposedly it’s touch sensitive, but it seems to be push-down-to-the-floor sensitive. Your mileage may vary. Certain exclusions apply.

On the other hand, the scrolling nub is awesome. As much better than the scroll wheel as the wheel was than not having one.

On the other hand, I still prefer my Wacom tablet.

Thunderbird

I moved all my Mail.app files from the iBook to my Linux machine, and imported them into Thunderbird.

So far, my reaction is “Feh.” Say what you will about Apple’s i-Apps, but they look pretty. Which is pretty important when most of what you do is look at it. Firefox isn’t as pretty as Safari, but its advantages are obvious. (To me. By “obvious” I mean I won’t explain — at least, not hear and now. Write me off as a troll if you wish.) But Thunderbird isn’t obviously better than Mail.app (mbox-format storage notwithstanding) and it is fabulously uglier.

So now I’m thinking about going to Mutt, which I used for years (1997-2003) on Linux. And that was in the fetchmail era. I remember how much better its message-threading was even then than Mail.app’s is today. Nowadays, it would appear that mutt can do POP and IMAP all by itself, and there are a variety of SMTP-pretenders suitable for sending stuff off your machine to someplace with a a real SMTP server. Plus, I suppose, spam-filtering of some kind or another.

(Maybe instead of Mutt I should use Sylpheed. It’s supposed to be like Mutt but with a GUI like Thunderbird. (Note I didn’t say a GUI like Mail.app.)

(Mail is step 237 of the ongoing migration. When I get this step done, there will only be two steps left: getting sound working, and being able to read and write DVDs. Then I can dump the iBook. Then I can buy a larger hard drive, and begin backing up the eMac.)

(Update: while writing the next post, I remembered that I need to configure my Wacom tablet to work under Linux. I’m not looking forward to it.)

UPDATE: Mail.app apparently speeds up a lot when you do this.

New PC at work.

My beautiful new 17″ iMac arrived this afternoon. Demonstrating a fine grasp of priorities, I immediately quit writing my sermon and set it up. Unfortunately, it didn’t take too long, because (in my experience) Macs “just work.” It found the wireless network without being asked, and the drivers for my printer were installed with the part of the OS.

I installed Xcode so I could compile macports (nee darwinports), neither of which took very long, so within an hour I was all out of excuses and had to get back to work on my sermon.

Tomorrow I have to install Office and Accordance. (I’m bringing them in from home. No, I’m not pirating software. I’m discontinuing the iBook, since my linux box has become the main home machine.)

Fire-Hunter (Book Review)

When I was a kid I had the good fortune to read Jim Kjelgard’s Fire-Hunter. After we had almost given up hope, the San Bernadino County Library located its copy and lent it to us via inter-library loan. So I had the good fortune to read it again. Wow. What a great book.

Fire-Hunter is the story of Hawk, a sort of “stone-age Tom Swift,” and his main squeeze Willow. Hawk is banished from his tribe for a crime he didn’t commit (more or less; I’ll breeze past details like that so as not to spoil it). You might think Willow is along for romantic interest, but you’d be wrong. None of that mushy Clan of the Cave Bear stuff in this book. (Although she is, to the very limited extent that Willow factors in the book at all, a sort of a strong role-model for any girls who might inexplicably find themselves reading this book.))

Left alone to die in the paleolithic wilderness, Hawk turns the tables on fate. Instead of dying, he invents the throwing stick, the domesticated dog, and much much more. He also fends off the bad guys (and bad animals, like dire wolves and sabertoothed cats) and generally demonstrates that Bill Gates wasn’t the first high-tech entrepreneur to become rich and famous in their own time.

Of course it’s all fiction. But it’s fun. My kid joins me in giving it two thumbs up.

World Communion Sunday

As you know, I was ordained a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) eight days ago, on Rosh Hashana. This morning I officiated in my church’s celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This was the first time, since in the Presbyterian Church, you can’t administer sacraments until you’re ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament. Until today, the closest I ever got was to stand up next to my field ed supervisor when she officiated at the Lord’s Table.

Since today was also World Communion Sunday, this first-ever time officiating at Communion was particularly special. The lectionary passage was Mark 9:38-50, a passage that certainly lends itself to ecumenical application. As a result, I had no trouble putting together a sermon, despite the hectic (travel-packed) schedule last week.

However, I learned that it’s hard to maneuver around the Table while wearing a 16th-century robe and a whatever-century-it-was stole, today being also the first time I wore the official get-up. I also learned that practicing the liturgy isn’t enough: you also need to work out with the servers who will stand where, and when, and whether the pastor is served first or last, and other practical matters of that sort. But most of all, I learned not to misplace the last page of your sermon.

Truly moved in.

We have definitely moved in. I spent the morning assembling my new elliptical trainer (a close relative of this). The Tony Little Gazelle was giving me calluses on my feet, and it was always meant to be a stop-gap. Now that we’re in our permanent home, I could get a true elliptical again. It’s been about 10 weeks since I did any exercise (not counting loading and unloading moving vans) but I was able to do 25 minutes tonight.

We also got NetFlix. The first set of discs to arrive were:

  1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2, disc 6. I’d seen all the rest of that season, courtesy of the Mercer County Library, but that final disc (a 2-part season finale, go figure) was scratched beyond the ability of my DVD player to play.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back original theatrical release on DVD. I thought about buying these, so all my other Star Wars discs could have company on the shelf, but I came to my senses in time. They don’t pay pastors enough for that kind of foolishness, but now I have it on DVD temporarily. Then, hypothetically speaking, counsellor, I suppose I might have used Wiretap to record for my own fair-use rip/mix/burn purposes the instructions Darth Vader gives to his flunkies 1:53:07 into the movie.
  3. Walking With Dinosaurs. A bone thrown to the next generation. Actually, I like these too.

The next thing in my queue is Back to the Future. I’d have a copy of my own already, except it appears to come only in a three-pack. The other two movies are watchable, but nothing I have to own.

Back in the office

Well, Colorado was swell. The ordination went swimmingly, and it was truly wonderful to see so many friends from my old church. My pastor invited me to assist in worship the next day. Since the paperwork hadn’t gone out yet, my membership had not yet been transferred to my new Presbytery. I didn’t have to get permission to labor outside my Presbytery, since I was still in it.

I got back to California on Tuesday, and was back in the office on Thursday and Friday, working on a sermon. (“At Dunkin Donuts, it’s always time to make the donuts.”) I also located and began practicing a litany ((?) church terminology always confuses me) for the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper. My seminary PBUI didn’t offer a Word and Act class the semester I wanted to take it, and frankly I probably wouldn’t have taken it if they did. All I needed to do was to run through the litany about 45 times and I might have it down well enough to get through the service. And if I’m wrong and I don’t, well, I can console myself with the thought that Martin Luther nearly spilled the wine the first time he celebrated Communion.

I have pictures. But I haven’t learned yet how to post them. There’s a way that I’ve used in the past, but I can’t believe it’s the right way. I want to look for a better way to do it, and only fall back on the kludge when I’m convinced that there’s nothing better.

Ten days on the job. Time for a break.

I started pastoring on the September 10, and worked all last week except Friday and Saturday, my days off, except that I secretly worked some then too so I would have a sermon to preach on the 17th. (Not the whole time: we also went to Joshua Tree National Park.) It’s been a pretty good week or 10 days. Lots of surprises but only a handful were unpleasant.

But now it’s time for a well-deserved break. I’m off this weekend, so I can be ordained. You see, this past week I wasn’t officially a Pastor, because Pastors are Ministers of Word and Sacrament. I’ve been some kind of stated supply layperson. (I have no idea what “stated” means in terms like that, but Presbyterians use “stated” all over the place, whenever we start talking about our polity.) Anyway, this weekend I’ll be ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. No raise in pay comes with this change, but I will be entitled to use the title “Reverend.”

Unexpected danger at the office

Prior to going to seminary I’d never worked in a church. I mean, I’d been an adult volunteer who participated in the various ministries of the church, but I’d never been on the church staff. So I never “worked” in the church. But I do work in a church now.

(In fact, I’m the only one in the building for much of the day, depending on what committees are meeting and so forth. (And in case you’re planning a robbery, I will point out that the only cash in the building is what I have on my person. So run that through a cost-benefit analysis first.))

Anyway, I’m discovering things I wouldn’t have guessed. Like for example, it turns out that freezer in the kitchen has about 10 partly-full half-gallon packs of ice cream. I discovered that today when I was looking to see if the freezer had an ice-maker. (It does.) Temptation being just as prevalent on church grounds as elsewhere, I immediately started hearing the whispering voice inside my head point out how this is the perfect crime. Who could remember how much each of TEN ice-cream cartons had in them? The only way I’d be caught is if someone weighed me. On the other hand, you have to figure that with 10 packages in there, some of them probably date from 2003. (“An excellent year.”)