Monday, July 25, 2005

What is your political typology?

According to the Pew Research Center, Rachel and Rob should be pigeon-holed into the following categories:

Rachel: "UPBEAT"
Key descriptions & values: Feel positive about the economy and the work of government. Satisfied with their own financial situation. Religious. Has great confidence in the future of humanity. Voted for GW. Likes war in Iraq. Favors preemptive military action.

Rachel says: "yep, that pretty much describes me! er... except the 2nd half."

Robert: "DISAFFECTED"
Key descriptions & values: "Embittered." Cynical about government. Unsatisfied by their economic situation. Oppose immigration & the environment. Alienated from politics. Have little interest in the news and politics. Government is ineffective, but most likely voted for GW.

Rob says: "shoot, I must have pressed the wrong button. Either that or I'm destined to live out my later years in a cabin in Montana."

Want to find out what you are? Visit the Pew Research Center's web site: click here.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

More Cowbell!

Every time we hear that quote, Rachel and I start to chuckle. If you haven't yet seen it, check out this old Will Ferrell SNL skit.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Professor Dykema

Rachel and I are praying for a speedy recovery for our old George Fox professor Professor Dykema. Yesterday he and his wife were walking on a very lovely street in NW Portland. As he was opening the door for his wife at a popular restaurant/pub that everyone in Portland has visited - and this is where it gets bizarre - a man came out of nowhere and stabbed him in the back with a butchers knife. According to reports, he is expected to survive.

He has had a profound impact on our lives ... and he doesn't even know it! As a sardonic sophomore, he was my Microeconomics professor. He may remember me as half devils-advocate and half slacker. He always tied New Testament ethos into the concept of utility, and spoke about "guns and butter" as if it was an economic tug-of-war between the production of civil good and evil. As seniors, Rachel and I took his "Global Political Economy" class where we were deeply moved by his passion towards helping less fortunate populations and peoples. He lectured future business and policy leaders in his classes, and taught us that our lives impact those around us even if we don't know it. Rachel remembers one of his class examples: "If you own two coats, and your neighbor owns none, then you are at worst guilty of steeling from him, and at the least guilty of not being the example that Christ has called us to be." Professor Dykema directly influenced our decisions to volunteer with the Peace Corps, and can thereby be indirectly linked to the current state of our lives.

He is an incredibly altruistic and deeply spiritual man. Which is why this random act is so ironic and tragic. We pray for his wife Rosemary and for his full recovery.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Angela and Nick

As recently as a week ago, uploading an image required 3 programs running in perfect unison - then minutes or hours of editing arcane HTML code to make it all look almost right.

Blogger.com has now made it super easy to upload images, and since our digital camera is (equally super) ancient, I thought I would post a picture from my parents' collection. Angela and Nick are my siblings. Angela was presented with the Cougar Award: the top 8th grade award given to the "whole package" student. Nick has surprised the right-brained family by becoming a math and science wiz. He called me a month ago to exclaim: "Rob, I just weighed myself. I'm getting really big. I'm serious. You should see my muscles." Angela diffidently confirms: "yep, even some of my cool friends think he's cute... it's so embarrassing!"

Friday, July 01, 2005

Google Earth

(TX State Capitol and Mt. St Helens)
Oh my goodness! The coolest program ever is available to download for free. Check this out: earth.google.com. You can pinpoint locations almost anywhere in the USA, and indeed in many places around the world (I just checked out Pyongyang). Just now I'm taking a 360° tour of Mt. St. Helens from a 45° angle. I didn’t know this stuff was legal (or free).