Not quite 95 reasons :-)

that I don’t care about Halloween or dress-up for parties suspiciously close to Halloween:

1. Candy is overrated.
2. It encourages churches to lie and have silly things like “Harvest Festivals” that lack any harvest-like fruits and vegetables.
3. Too many carbs
4. Bad memories of all those razor-blades-in-apples myths
5. Not a fan of dress-up
6. Questionable origin of the celebration
7. Overshadows Reformation Day
8. Overshadows All Saints Day
9. It teaches children to beg.
10. Silly games
11. It clumps all the good B horror movies in one season of the year
12. It looks like it glorifies evil (whether it does or not is another issue)
13. It’s overrated.
14. I’ve given up snookering people out of as much candy as possible.
15. I’m a basically boring person.
16. Not a fan of parties
17. I’d rather bake pumpkins than carve them up.
18. Pro-Halloween people annoy me.
19. Trick-or-Treaters annoy me.
20. I’m easily annoyed.
21. Oh, and pro-Halloween people are waaaaay too sensitive, which annoys me.
22. Does anyone even remember that October 31 is Reformation Day?
23. It has a weird place in American culture—not that I’m against weird.
24. I’ve been to San Francisco on Halloween and the images won’t go away.
25. The memory of sticking my hand in slime covered spaghetti noodles is too much to bear.
26. Not celebrating annoys people (I know, it’s evil of me).
27. I’d rather go out to dinner with friends.
28. I don’t like orange.
29. I do like black, but I like irony more.
30. The folks who dress up on the bus frighten me.
31. It happens at a very busy time of the year and distracts me from what I need to do.
32. I don’t need help being distracted, as I’m quite good at it without any outside assistance.
33. I’m just out of the holiday habit.
34. I’m resisting an excuse to consume mass quantities of Farley’s Pumpkins (the best mellocreme pumpkins in existence).
35. Halloween just isn’t that fun: I think fun things should be fun.
36. It puts too much emphasis on black cats and all the other-colored cats feel bad.
37. It’s mostly for kids and I don’t have any.
38. It’s just a strange holiday.
39. I’m working on my Hallo-Scrooge skills.
40. Anti-Halloween people annoy me…oh, wait, wrong argument…
41. It encourages people to wait for an excuse before they can be silly.
42. Too much giggling
43. Gross games like dunking for apples—ew, slobber water!
44. Masks…again with deception.
45. Make up is messy.
46. My father’s stories of adolescent Halloween pranks—like moving the outhouse five feet so the “goer” would fall in…um…yeah—tells me that Halloween encourages youth to no good end.
47. Did I mention carbs?
48. Slasher movies…’nuff said.
49. I think it’s dumb.
50. As a child, I was quite mercenary about the whole thing and, when I got past that, I discovered I didn’t really care.
51. If I had as much time as Luther had to write his 95 Theses, this would be longer.

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Education Theory, Unity, and Intellectual Development

• Blog Thinking: considering Christian education theory contra Burgess' social-science-as-primary model
• Blog Thinking: unity flowing from our relationship in Christ
• Homework Thinking: Intellectual Cultivation Project
  

breadth integration thinking our vertical relationship is logically prior to our horizontal relationships learn from others Creator as central focus theology as queen of the sciences revelation is more important than social science Creator of all all by Creator thinking in my right mind relationship goes beyond cognition relational components character and behavior thinking first, not last

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Unity, Worldview, and Intellectual Development

This post starts a new category on Laura's Writings: tangent matrix. Each weekday morning, in the space between blogging and homework, I run the day's blog-work topics through the topics to be studied in my thinking-writing time for school. Given the difficulty I've had of late coming up with things to blog, I've decided to blog what I've already been doing. I've written about matrix thinking before (Definition: Matrix Thinking), so head over there for a bit of a primer. Anyhow, here goes.

Definitions [1]

• Holistic: emphasizing organic or functional relationships between parts and wholes
• Integrated: separate parts united into complete, harmonious, or coordinated entities
• Deep: marked by complexity, intensity, or a high degree of development of pertinent qualities
  

unity in Christ worldview alignment forming a holistic intellect whole persons in community deep belief- behavior connection forming an integrated intellect submission to the Holy Spirit Cornerstone concept forming a deep intellect thinking for the sake of the Body work with the Creator

[1] All supplied definitions are from Merriam-Webster 7.0 for Windows Mobile, (c) 2004-2007.
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Recipe: Burger Salad

• ~2 cups Mixed spring greens
• 1/2 cup Vinegar-pickled Peppers and Onion (I used red Yellow Onion, Bell Pepper, and a Poblano)
• 1/4 cup Cilantro
• 1/2 lb Burger w/ Goat Cheese
• Oil of your choice to taste

How

Pickled Peppers and Onion

1. Trim and slice peppers and onions into 1/4 inch by 2 inch strips
2. Cover with boiling mixture of vinegar, water, and spices of your choosing
3. Allow to sit at least 12 hours before eating.

Burger (makes 5 burgers)

1. Mix 2 pounds of grass-fed ground beef, 2 eggs, 1 cup of goat cheese (crumbled).
2. Allow to rest.
3. Form five patties
4. Bake at 400 F until done.
   

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Life is a Spiritual Battle

Ephesians 6:10-13

We are surrounded by enemies: the world system, our corrupted human nature, and the demonic powers. We are in a war.

How should we respond?

• Allow ourselves to be strengthened through our connection with God, submitting to God as persons-in-community through specific behaviors.
• Equip ourselves with God's battle gear (ours is useless), again, as persons-in-community.
• Realize the end of it is to remain standing once the battle is over. The ONLY way to do that is with God's strength, God's armor, and our decision to act.

Stuff to keep in mind:

• Demons are real, but they are only part of the story. The corrupt world system and our own corrupt human nature comprise 2/3 of the story.
• The battle is real and, on our own, we cannot prevail (in fact, the situation is worse: we can do nothing). The only way to engage in this battle--let alone prevail--is to pursue Christ passionately, working hard to maintain our connection with God, learning and using his equipment, and deciding to stand.

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Application (Definition)

using learned material in a new situation by making inferences to related practices; using learned material in concrete situations by making a reasoned embodiment through whole person learning

• definition of "tangent" in Merriam-Webster 7.0 for Windows Mobile, (c) 2004-2007.
• definition of "application" on Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain

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Comprehension (Definition)

translating across assumptions, reframing the essence of meanings; interpreting meaning from facts in order to give a detailed account; estimating direction from details, while following logical flows.

• definition of "tangent" in Merriam-Webster 7.0 for Windows Mobile, (c) 2004-2007.
• definition of "comprehension" on Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain

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Knowledge (Definition)

the most basic outcome of learning, consisting of building, recognizing, and reinforcing cognitive structures and connections

• definition of "tangent" in Merriam-Webster 7.0 for Windows Mobile, (c) 2004-2007.
• definition of "knowledge" on Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain
  

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Blog Silence and the Busy Mind

Wow. I've not posted since 10/5, who knew. Being in a Ph.D. program changes the blogging schedule a bit--I'm still getting the kinks out (obviously).

I do have a few things in the hopper (which will be posted some day soon...really).

• New series of terms for the Tangentizing Dictionary, this time from Bloom's Taxonomy
• Health update--the good and the bad (?) of it
• Short pictorial "essay" of Saturday's tooth adventure

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Recipe: Beef Chuck with Brussels Sprouts

• 1 lb beef chuck, cubed
• 1/2 t California paprika powder
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1 T avocado oil
  
• 1 cup Brussels sprouts, trimmed, cleaned, and quartered
• 1 T liquid smoke (the real stuff)
• 2 T Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 C water

How

1. Toss beef in paprika, garlic powder, and avocado oil.
2. Add to hot pan for saute.
3. Combine water, liquid smoke, and Worcestershire Sauce.
4. After the meat begins to brown and release its juices, add the combined liquids and simmer.
5. Place quartered Brussels sprouts on top of the meat and simmer covered until meat and sprouts are tender.
6. Enjoy.

Makes 2 lunch sized servings.

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