Annie and I have been slowly preparing for the day when we have children (probably not for another five years). This preparation involves whining at each other in the most annoying, petulant, childish voices possible: “WHY?!?!?!! … NO MOMMY NO!!” It never fails to crack us up. That way, when we finally see (and hear) this firsthand, we can laugh about it all over again.

Some celebrants have a hard time acknowledging the sex of certain deities and beings. For instance, some priests at my church modify parts of the Eucharistic prayer. Some change “…through Him, with Him, in Him. In the unity of the Holy Spirit…” to “…through Christ, with Christ, in Christ. In the unity of the Holy Spirit…” It’s a subtle change, but people notice. I even heard one priest modify part of the Baptismal vows: Instead of the usual “Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?”, he said “Do you reject Satan, master of sin and ruler of darkness?” The next thing you, they’ll start saying “In the name of the Parent, the Offspring, and the Holy Spirit.” :-)

Yesterday I went to the Montgomery County Waste Transfer Station and recycled an old computer of mine. Old as in 1992. It held some sentimental value to me, as it was the first computer on which I connected to the Internet. *Sniff* It had a 2400 baud modem, a 200mb hard drive and a 33mhz processor. Excuse me while I go get a tissue.

There was a huge pile of old computers and accessories. I was scavenging around for PC100 memory when Annie noticed a sign that said “Scavenging is strictly prohibited.” Hrmph. Too bad. This afternoon, I noticed a computer outside one of my condominium complex’s trash rooms. The tower must have been about two feet high. A monster. I opened the case to find that someone had already cannibalized the memory. Hmm. There was another smaller tower next to it and a 64mb PC100 memory chip was still intact! I took it out, brought it home, and installed it. Bingo! I now have 160mb, a 66% improvement over the embarrassingly low 96mb I had previously.

One should make a clear distinction between grace-based and works-based salvation: “If you stress the numinous, you stress that our salvation or liberation (our being holy) must flow from God the Other… If, on the other hand, you stress the mystical and the non-dual, you tend to stress how we attain salvation or liberation through our own efforts at meditation, not by the intervention of the Other.” It’s an age-old argument, really — one of the reasons for the current rifts between Christian denominations. Protestants tend to stress God’s grace as the impetus of our salvation (“…by grace are we saved…”; Ephesians 2:8-9). Catholics tend to stress grace (“…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…”; Romans 5:8) and works (“…unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, there can be no life within you.”; John 6:53). I find Protestant and Catholic services equally experiential, but in different ways. The typical Catholic experience is: “…the soaring columns of a great European cathedral, the dim religious light, the high flying solemn choral music, the sanctity of slow procession…” The Protestant experience is more spirit-filled. There’s more emphasis on praise and doing what comes naturally. The experience is the emotional connection one has with Christ.

I recently started a six-credit-hour class called The Religious Quest, and as such, have had even less time to blog or update my site. :-( When I get a free evening, I’ll put up some new content, including a picture of an elephant!

Quite possibly the best damn cheesesteak I’ve ever had. Annie happens to be a former Jerry’s employee and knows how to make a mean sub. It borders on the too-good-to-be-true. I don’t want to know how many calories it has — however, I do know that she spread mayo on the bread after toasting.

My obligatory post-Rush afternoon snack: chamomile green tea and Italian dark chocolate — a winning combination!

I opened my mail today and discovered something from my phone company. They were offering a five-cent/minute long distance deal, but something wasn’t quite right about the nickel they depicted on the ad. Sure enough, I got a real nickel and compared the text. A real nickel says “IN GOD WE TRUST” left of Jefferson’s image. Verizon’s nickel says “FIVE CENTS”, as if a true depiction of US currency is somehow offensive. I also find it strange that they didn’t just put the word “Liberty” to the left of Jefferson’s image, as it appears on his right side on the real nickel. Maybe Verizon thought its customers wouldn’t get the connection between a round coin with Jefferson’s face on it and the “five cents/minute deal”, thus the explicit mention of “FIVE CENTS.”

Freaked me out: I got home from the latest and final Star Wars installment to find a message from Verizon spokesman James Earl Jones on my answering machine. :-)

I left work today with the intention of seeing David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion fame) perform with his new side project, Headphones. With three hours to spare, I killed time by walking what seemed to be like half-way across the city. Navigating DC can be treacherous, but to me, there is still a novelty of exploring the old neighborhoods and wondering about the histories of the row houses and businesses.

I arrived at the club on time, and asked one of the bouncers when Headphones would play. “11pm.” I was expecting 9:00 or 10:00. I left, knowing that I’d have time for only 1/3 of his set before I’d have to leave and catch the last Metro train out of the city.

I thought that, while I’m down here, I may as well walk around some more. I proceeded to walk west, toward the nearest Red Line station. Despite the downer of not being able to see David Bazan and Co., the evening wasn’t completely lost. I found a Day Pass ticket on the sidewalk and got to ride home for free! Such is life.