Christy has been working on our family tree, and this is something that the internet has really helped facilitate. She has made it all the way back to the third century in only a couple of weeks! There have been a few interesting finds in her research, but I want to share one of these in particular here today.
Many if not most of you know that I have developed a strong appreciation of craft brewed beer over the last 10 years or so. As it turns out, it's in my blood. My Dad's ancestors in the late sixth century find their way back to Saint Arnulf, Bishop of Metz. The name Arnulf translates to Arnold, and this Saint Arnold is the same one whose name is on beer from Saint Arnold Brewing Company. Ben and I have been down to Houston twice to tour the brewery over the years, but we had no idea.
Small world, huh? Now if I can just figure out how to parlay this into free beer somehow...
Until next time...
PH
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Musical Maturation
As I have gotten older, it is interesting to look at how my taste in music has developed over the years. When I was in high school, I was pretty typical. I tended toward music that my parents really didn't relate to - hard rock and heavy metal for the most part. While this is still great music to listen to while at the gym, I don't seek it out as a matter of course. I've even found myself listening to and liking music that I proclaimed at one point in time or another, "I'll never be caught dead listening to that!"
One such genre is country music. No, I don't really care for what Nashville is touting as "country" these days. However, I have become a very big fan of Johnny Cash over the last ten years. His sessions with Rick Ruben distributed by American Records reached a new fan base that had never had much interest in "The Man in Black". Now some of these recordings - especially American II: Unchained - could be argued to be more rock 'n roll than country, but it I think it roused curiosity about Cash in people that had paid him very little prior attention. No one could argue that Cash had the best voice ever recorded, but he had something to say - and it was usually worth saying. That's one of the big differences I've noticed in what I choose to listen to now. The lyrics are very important. It's not that I completely ignored them in the past, but it was really more about crunching guitars and high energy drums.
Speaking of lyrics, my favorite song these days is one that most of you have probably not heard. Sarah Harmer's last CD has a song called The Ring. It's a very melodic song that is very heavily influenced by bluegrass (my former boss and good friend Mark is now in shock!), as is the entire CD. It's really a simple song about the people who have been there for you in tough times and helped you get through them. Can you read the lyrics and not think about your parents, spouse, or dear friends?
I'm sure there are plenty of other bold proclamations from my teenage years over which I could eat crow, but like all things we'll take this in moderation. :)
Until next time...
PH
One such genre is country music. No, I don't really care for what Nashville is touting as "country" these days. However, I have become a very big fan of Johnny Cash over the last ten years. His sessions with Rick Ruben distributed by American Records reached a new fan base that had never had much interest in "The Man in Black". Now some of these recordings - especially American II: Unchained - could be argued to be more rock 'n roll than country, but it I think it roused curiosity about Cash in people that had paid him very little prior attention. No one could argue that Cash had the best voice ever recorded, but he had something to say - and it was usually worth saying. That's one of the big differences I've noticed in what I choose to listen to now. The lyrics are very important. It's not that I completely ignored them in the past, but it was really more about crunching guitars and high energy drums.
Speaking of lyrics, my favorite song these days is one that most of you have probably not heard. Sarah Harmer's last CD has a song called The Ring. It's a very melodic song that is very heavily influenced by bluegrass (my former boss and good friend Mark is now in shock!), as is the entire CD. It's really a simple song about the people who have been there for you in tough times and helped you get through them. Can you read the lyrics and not think about your parents, spouse, or dear friends?
I'm sure there are plenty of other bold proclamations from my teenage years over which I could eat crow, but like all things we'll take this in moderation. :)
Until next time...
PH
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Unfinished Tales - Part I
I've recently begun reading Tolkien's Unfinished Tales. Since this is a loose collection of semi-related stories, I am going to give my thoughts on them individually rather than comment on the book as a whole.
With that in mind, I finished the first story, "Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin" over the weekend. This story is closely related to the one that follows in this volume and has since been told in its own publication, The Children of Hurin. Tuor is the son of Hurin's brother, Huor. Unlike Turin, the tragic figure of The Children of Hurin, Tuor is a true heroic character with which readers will want to identify. He lacks the rash and brash nature of his kinsman Turin, and this is proved out in his journey that takes him to the hidden city of Gondolin - the secret fortress of Turgon the Elf, one of the lords of the Noldor of the Eldar. While at times the story reads like the King James Bible, I did not find it a major distraction. The only bad thing that I can say about this story is that it is, well, unfinished. The original title was, "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" which is accounted briefly in The Silmarillion. However as Christopher Tolkien indicates in his editorial notes, his father never returned to this story to complete it beyond Tuor's arrival at Gondolin.
The next story as previously mentioned is "Narn i Chîn Húrin (The Tale of the Children of Húrin)". My next post on Unfinished Tales will include a comparison of this to The Children of Hurin.
Until next time...
PH
With that in mind, I finished the first story, "Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin" over the weekend. This story is closely related to the one that follows in this volume and has since been told in its own publication, The Children of Hurin. Tuor is the son of Hurin's brother, Huor. Unlike Turin, the tragic figure of The Children of Hurin, Tuor is a true heroic character with which readers will want to identify. He lacks the rash and brash nature of his kinsman Turin, and this is proved out in his journey that takes him to the hidden city of Gondolin - the secret fortress of Turgon the Elf, one of the lords of the Noldor of the Eldar. While at times the story reads like the King James Bible, I did not find it a major distraction. The only bad thing that I can say about this story is that it is, well, unfinished. The original title was, "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" which is accounted briefly in The Silmarillion. However as Christopher Tolkien indicates in his editorial notes, his father never returned to this story to complete it beyond Tuor's arrival at Gondolin.
The next story as previously mentioned is "Narn i Chîn Húrin (The Tale of the Children of Húrin)". My next post on Unfinished Tales will include a comparison of this to The Children of Hurin.
Until next time...
PH
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Fire Update III
Well, things are slowly coming together in restoring order after the fire. We have had the sheet rock and baseboard replaced where the fire was, and Tuesday-Thursday this past week we had painters out to put fresh paint in the upstairs and downstairs living rooms. We sent Rocket and Kassie to the "doggie hotel" until they were done. They were glad to come home yesterday, and we were glad to have them back. The only thing that remains is replacing the carpet in the upstairs living room and on the stairs themselves. However, they are going to have to order the carpet so it is going to be one to three weeks before they have it to install for us. We are going to go ahead and put the house back on the market with an note that the carpet is on order and will be replaced by the end of this month or early next month. It is good to have most of it behind us and be getting back to normal.
Until next time...
PH
Until next time...
PH
Monday, June 4, 2007
A New Game Of Tag
My friend Amy got me involved in a high tech game of tag where it is now my duty to give eight factoids of interest that you may or may not already know. Limiting this to eight might be a challenge...
1. After my freshman year in college, I spent eight weeks working at Camp Discovery Space Camp at Northwestern State University. Each week on Sunday afternoon, a new group of kids came in and spent the week through Thursday evening when we had "graduation". The Director, Mike Hawkins, started his address to the parents and family with the same phrase, "We are officially tired." This has since evolved into a much larger program.
2. Staying with this theme, after my first senior year in college, I spent a total of five weeks (one three week and one two week session) as a resident adviser for the Investigation of Talented Students at the University of North Texas. This was what you would call a different kind of summer camp. Highly intelligent and motivated middle school and high school students came for either a two or three week intensive match course that would advance them one year in their math studies. I can't imagine taking Algebra II in a three week period as a high school student, but there were about 40-50 students at each session. I was the RA for the Precalculus students, and it was one of the best experiences that I had up to that point. For five weeks being a math major made me a hero. This program has also progressed to a new form in the last eleven years.
3. As the previous two items imply, I split my undergraduate work between two universities. I also changed majors from physics to math during my five year journey. Unfortunately, I didn't decide to make the change until I had already invested enough hours in physics that I had to make it my minor. While graduating was a huge cause for celebration, there are few times that I've been as relieved as I was when I finished that last physics class - Statistical and Thermal Physics. Yuck!
4. When I started my career search during my fifth year of college, I only interviewed with three companies. I had what was probably the worst interview in the history of IBM. To say that I was ill-prepared would be an understatement. I tried to sell myself on problem solving abilities and good smile. It didn't work out.
5. My second interview was with Usability Sciences Corporation in Irving. I thought I had this one in the bag, and they even called me out for a second interview. The only problem was the "Dear John" letter that I got in the mail about a week later.
6. I guess you've figured out that the third interview went better than the other two. Raytheon was actually looking for math and physics majors to work on their high performance algorithm software. It's really nothing other than the providence of God that got me this job, truth be told. I can remember being in my apartment and getting a call from their recruiter after submitting my resume. I'm not sure if it was the way that she described it to me, but it just didn't really sound all that interesting to me. She offered (thankfully) to have the Director of my future department call me and give me a sales pitch. After talking to him, I decided to go in for an interview. I interviewed with three different groups, and I actually got offers from two of them. Most of you know that I joined the Software Algorithms Group, and that launched my career in the world of Information Technology.
7. I almost moved to Southern California toward the end of my time with Raytheon. I had been traveling to the Los Angeles Area to work on a project with one of our sister sites in El Segundo. My first trip out there was at the end of July. My boss had commandeered a convertible for our rental car, and it was great riding on the Pacific Coast Highway at 8 p.m. with temperatures in the mid 80s. I can remember my boss saying, "It's 10 p.m. in Dallas, and it's still 100 degrees!" Then he burst into an evil laughter that those of you that know him are too familiar with. Luckily, the cost of living difference was a deal breaker because...
8. Toward the very end of my time at Raytheon, I met my future wife, Christy. What you may or may not know is that we met through an online Christian singles web site. While bored at my apartment one night, I created a profile on this site on a whim. A couple of months had gone by, and I had forgotten about it. Then one day, I was checking my e-mail (in El Segundo) before my boss and I were going to dinner, and I noticed that I had a reply to my profile that I had posted. Pressed for time, I didn't respond right then, but I did so after getting back into town. However, the web site was not the best, and it took me three tries to get it to allow me to respond to Christy's inquiry. The third time's a charm, right? And the rest, as they say, is history.
Since I got tagged by one of the two other bloggers that I know, that leaves Mark as my one and only lucky victim.
Until next time...
PH
1. After my freshman year in college, I spent eight weeks working at Camp Discovery Space Camp at Northwestern State University. Each week on Sunday afternoon, a new group of kids came in and spent the week through Thursday evening when we had "graduation". The Director, Mike Hawkins, started his address to the parents and family with the same phrase, "We are officially tired." This has since evolved into a much larger program.
2. Staying with this theme, after my first senior year in college, I spent a total of five weeks (one three week and one two week session) as a resident adviser for the Investigation of Talented Students at the University of North Texas. This was what you would call a different kind of summer camp. Highly intelligent and motivated middle school and high school students came for either a two or three week intensive match course that would advance them one year in their math studies. I can't imagine taking Algebra II in a three week period as a high school student, but there were about 40-50 students at each session. I was the RA for the Precalculus students, and it was one of the best experiences that I had up to that point. For five weeks being a math major made me a hero. This program has also progressed to a new form in the last eleven years.
3. As the previous two items imply, I split my undergraduate work between two universities. I also changed majors from physics to math during my five year journey. Unfortunately, I didn't decide to make the change until I had already invested enough hours in physics that I had to make it my minor. While graduating was a huge cause for celebration, there are few times that I've been as relieved as I was when I finished that last physics class - Statistical and Thermal Physics. Yuck!
4. When I started my career search during my fifth year of college, I only interviewed with three companies. I had what was probably the worst interview in the history of IBM. To say that I was ill-prepared would be an understatement. I tried to sell myself on problem solving abilities and good smile. It didn't work out.
5. My second interview was with Usability Sciences Corporation in Irving. I thought I had this one in the bag, and they even called me out for a second interview. The only problem was the "Dear John" letter that I got in the mail about a week later.
6. I guess you've figured out that the third interview went better than the other two. Raytheon was actually looking for math and physics majors to work on their high performance algorithm software. It's really nothing other than the providence of God that got me this job, truth be told. I can remember being in my apartment and getting a call from their recruiter after submitting my resume. I'm not sure if it was the way that she described it to me, but it just didn't really sound all that interesting to me. She offered (thankfully) to have the Director of my future department call me and give me a sales pitch. After talking to him, I decided to go in for an interview. I interviewed with three different groups, and I actually got offers from two of them. Most of you know that I joined the Software Algorithms Group, and that launched my career in the world of Information Technology.
7. I almost moved to Southern California toward the end of my time with Raytheon. I had been traveling to the Los Angeles Area to work on a project with one of our sister sites in El Segundo. My first trip out there was at the end of July. My boss had commandeered a convertible for our rental car, and it was great riding on the Pacific Coast Highway at 8 p.m. with temperatures in the mid 80s. I can remember my boss saying, "It's 10 p.m. in Dallas, and it's still 100 degrees!" Then he burst into an evil laughter that those of you that know him are too familiar with. Luckily, the cost of living difference was a deal breaker because...
8. Toward the very end of my time at Raytheon, I met my future wife, Christy. What you may or may not know is that we met through an online Christian singles web site. While bored at my apartment one night, I created a profile on this site on a whim. A couple of months had gone by, and I had forgotten about it. Then one day, I was checking my e-mail (in El Segundo) before my boss and I were going to dinner, and I noticed that I had a reply to my profile that I had posted. Pressed for time, I didn't respond right then, but I did so after getting back into town. However, the web site was not the best, and it took me three tries to get it to allow me to respond to Christy's inquiry. The third time's a charm, right? And the rest, as they say, is history.
Since I got tagged by one of the two other bloggers that I know, that leaves Mark as my one and only lucky victim.
Until next time...
PH
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