Virtually Paul

Thinking about churchy stuff

I’ve put a bit of time into some posts on Gush this week.  Here’s a few highlights:

Hype in church

Feeling judged

People getting stuck into Hillsong

The contributions to the threads have been quite good.  Check it out if it’s the kind of thing that you’d have things to say about.

IT Tips: Using Internet Explorer IN firefox

A big cheerio goes out to Dean from work for telling me about my new favourite firefox addon of all time (so far):

If you thought IEview was cool, now there’s IEtab!

Beatboxing Gone Wrong

You’re going to have to just check it out for yourself.  You’ll want sound!  Link below…

(Try the Switchfoot one first)

AUDIO

Warning for cool people:  I had to open it in IE to make it work.

IT Tips: Not annoying me on MSN

Following last summer camp, I established some rules for MSN:  http://members.optusnet.com.au/tredder/MSNrules which work quite effectively on the camp kiddies… some of whom now change their screen names to something sensible just to talk to me.

If it ain’t broke

I was talking ranting about this tonight at a good mate’s 21st…

I have come to the conclusion that as humans we generally ignore problems - serious problems - that have enormous social justice, civil rights or even human rights implications. This may not be new to you. To be honest, it’s probably not new to me… but I’m going to talk about it anyway.

Matt Glover has posted an interesting example: ‘homeless in Vegas‘. Basically they’re trying to make it illegal to feed homeless people in Vegas. Do you think the problem might be somehow related to excessive gambling? Who would have thought that was possible in Las Vegas! Homelessness is obviously a serious problem with a lot of complicated things happening in the background. Trying to deal with the end result won’t solve the problem.

Anyone who has ever been the ‘computer person’ in a social group will identify with this sort of thing. It’s kind of like when someone has a computer problem. A friend might decide, for instance, that they’re not really interested that much in whether or not their antivirus software is working properly. They don’t update their virus definition files (which teach the software how to stop the latest viruses that are floating around). As a result, they get a virus, not because their antivirus program isn’t capable of the task, not because they weren’t capable of configuring it… but because they didn’t bother to find out how.

Now, we all know that viruses are bad. It’s just one of those words that doesn’t sound very appealing… even if you try to smile while you’re saying it. Our hypothetical friend would, I’m quite sure, click “No” if they got a popup saying “Would you like a virus?”. Unfortunately, you don’t really get that kind of courteous warning. However, as long as the virus isn’t stopping them from doing all of their usual computery tasks… like checking their email, watching Strong Bad Emails and installing stupid ’smiley fun’ toolbars into Internet Explorer… then chances are they won’t really care that they have a virus. When it actually does start having an effect, like opening 400 popup windows every 2 minutes, slowing down their internet connection, or stopping good old Windows 98 from starting altogether, then they are quite likely to seek some assistance. They will, however, maintain that they have every right to own and use a computer. As horrible as that reality is in some cases, it’s true. But does it make them a good computer user? I can fix the computer… but that will really only delay the problem from repeating itself unless I educate the user as well.

I picked that analogy because I have some computer skills, so it’s easy for me to throw stones with relatively few consequences… but if I widen the scope a bit, I think that even the blog-savvy have something to learn. If you haven’t already worked out where I’m going, here it is:

It is human nature to pretty much just keep doing something until we are presented with a reason to care enough about the consequences, such that we stop. We use the computer until it does something that makes it hard for us to keep using it. We drive our cars around until they start ‘doing something different’ that might require some attention. A guy I know had a serious alcohol problem but basically didn’t stop drinking until the doctors told him that his liver could no longer handle it and his next binge would quite likely kill him.

The same thing drives our responses to the ‘big picture’ issues. The reason why we don’t care that much about the levels of greenhouse gas emissions that our society produces, is mostly because global warming really hasn’t had any catastrophic consequences yet that would prompt those of us in suburban Melbourne to transformationally change our lifestyles. The reason why homelessness is suddenly on the agenda in Las Vegas has nothing to do with the age-old problem of homelessness. It is most likely because the voting, tax-paying public don’t like “people urinating and defecating in front of their door”. The list of issues doesn’t end there. The problems are real. Poverty. Hunger. Homelessness. Addiction. And anything else that you can put in the same sentence as “broken world”.

I’m not sure what that means for me in terms of a response yet. If I try to think too much about solving the big problems of the world, I tend to get overwhelmed by their unsolveableness. I’d like to start by having an awareness of the world around me that doesn’t primarily revolve around how much I am going to pay for petrol this week.

Moving Day

I am exhausted.

I set the alarm for 8am this morning which doesn’t impress me on a Saturday. My dad and Warren’s (housemate) dad both rocked up with trailers to help us do the move. It has taken us all day, including doing two trips on my own that filled my 5dr hatch with the seats down twice… and that was just for little junky stuff, although I admit I did a lousy job of packing.

One thing I will say, is how good it is when a bunch of blokes get into a big job and get it done with a minimum of fuss… including steak sandwiches with the lot and chips for lunch all round.

I’m up at my folks’ place for dinner now (which explains how I managed to get internet access). At the time of leaving the house, it was quite well set up already. Well, my room’s a bit of a mess but it will get there in the end.

Things I like about this house compared to the old one:

• Bigger kitchen with more bench space.
• Not having to dance around the kitchen table to get from the kitchen bench to the sink.
• The door to bathroom is not in the kitchen
• Bigger loungeroom which is actually separate to the kitchen and will fit a good number of people for whatever reason we come up with.
• My bedroom has a big window that gets the afternoon sun, instead of being a dingy little porthole that looks out onto a concrete backyard and a dilapidated old corrugated iron ‘fence’.
• The back gate works without lifting it into its hinges to pivot it properly.
• The bathroom has a little wall-mounted heater that might actually work.

Potential downsides:

• Lawnmowing

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Moving up in the world

I’m moving house tomorrow!  Yes, after 1 year and 11 months in a little cubby in Brunswick that doesn’t really have a loungeroom (more of a “waiting room” with doors at either end), I’ve finally got my act together and secured a house for myself and housemates in a much nicer suburb.  The house itself is much nicer as well.  If we set things up right, we’ll have not one… but two living areas!  The loungeroom is quite tolerably large, although it has a lino floor for the time being.  The one thing I wish I had done yesterday… make the phone call to get the electricity connected!  It’s going on sometime on Monday now… so that will make for an interesting weekend.

I was going to have a “house cooling” at the old place (ie. empty out all the furniture and get everyone to bring a folding camping chair).  My housemate Nathan said it was a terrible idea and it wouldn’t catch on… so I was kind of determined to do it… but having seen this house today and how good the space is, I’d have to say I’m thinking about just having a housewarming in a few weeks like a normal person would.  Such a shame… the idea of trotting everyone in to the old place with their own seat amuses me greatly.  We’ll see what happens.

Becs and Bookshops

all said and done: Real study

You really can’t take Bec anywhere. Yesterday, as her post suggests, a few of the good old Gush
crew (Sam as well) took to the streets of Melbourne for a bit of dagging around before Jas headed back to Perth where he belongs.

Anyway… we stopped off at a Christian bookshop that shall remain nameless. Inside, there was, as Bec said, an advertisement along the lines of:

Don’t have time to read the Bible? Get a verse a day delivered to your mobile for only $X per month! Sign up here!

Now, from the theology student’s point of view, I totally understand that such a consumerist approach to the Bible really sucks. Pulling ‘feel good’ verses out of the bible sometimes works. Sometimes the overall context is pretty obvious and it works. Other times you can actually really get the wrong end of the stick as to what it’s saying. That’s not surprising considering that the book’s age is easier to count in millennia and it was originally written in ancient hebrew and greek. Anyway, I had no problem being on Bec’s side for the “gee that’s yuck” thing… not because I want to judge anyone for liking a one-liner out of the Bible. I hope that people really do like it… but because other people having an understanding of its message is also important to me, a retailer seemingly trading it as a commodity somehow detracts from that in my mind.

So, we disagree. Fine. Jas actually noticed it sitting on the counter near the cash register first and pointed it out subtly so that we could all have a good old snigger quietly. But with about 12 people in the shop including the four of us, Bec said quite loudly “I can’t believe that!”. I thought she’d stop there… but I was highly amused as the scandalised look on her face intensified and she piped up with a few more indignant comments like “That’s really, really terrible!”. It was a tense 45 seconds. It’s not exactly a bustling bookshop… so the eight people in the immediate vaccinity, including the two sales staff, would have been well aware of the assertions… and equally powerless to stop the raving, ranting Rebecca.

I was extremely amused by it. It’s the kind of thing that I’d do.

After a good walk around some of the better cheapo things to see in our fair city, saying “cheerio” outside the Melbourne Town Hall was a fitting end to a great day. I thought so anyway.
Jas got his money’s worth on the tour, perhaps with the exception of the unfortunate detour into Starbucks. The word is that he made it back to Perth in one piece.

re: the ad in Bec’s post… it was “Real Living, Real Returns, Real Value” on the side of a building somewhere near the corner of Russell & Bourke Sts.

A bit far east for everyone

I find the amount of coincidence amazing. There are so many Western Australians who have popped up on the radar, particularly in the last year or so. For a start, there’s my Old Testament lecturer, who made a big difference to my experience of bible college last semester in a good way. There’s my youth pastor, Mark, who checks in here now and then (Hi Mark). Then there’s Jas and Paul from WA, who have been staying with me for the bookends of their annual pilgrimmage to mecca hillsong conference. Anyway, the highlight of their visit for me was most definitely yesterday.

We had arranged to head out to Ringwood to meet with someone who is interested in some of the things we’re doing with Gush. I didn’t feel like driving, so we decided to head out on public transport. For those who aren’t familiar with the Melbourne public transport system, basically there are three zones which extend out radially from the city. The further out you go, the higher zone number you need. Anyway, assuming you live in Zone 1 like I do and you want to go to Zone 3 (ie. Ringwood) you would buy a Zone 1+2+3 ticket. Since Jas is either too stubborn or lazy to use cash instead of his credit card to buy things, we ended up buying our tickets from the local milkbar… but they didn’t have enough 1+2+3s in stock. Jas bought one… and I got my student concession one but Paul missed out. We decided to jump on a tram to the city. Paul used his Zone 1 ticket from earlier in the week to get to Flinders St station.

We arrive at Flinders St station (in Zone 1) and Paul ventures up to the ticket vending machine and asks it for a Zone 2+3 ticket, insisting that he’d already purchased a Zone 1 ticket and need not buy another. The machine, of course, having been programmed by someone who he is probably quite alike, promptly refused his request. At this point, I observed that he might have more luck purchasing the ticket from a real person at the ticket window but that it probably wasn’t worth the effort for the sake of a few bucks. He was, however, determined… and despite their reluctance, he managed to talk the person on the window into breaking the rules and letting him have a Zone 2+3 ticket (which wouldn’t have been valid but he didn’t seem to mind that).

“Finally!”, I think to myself as he finishes at the window and hands me one of his purchases. He had generously bought a ticket for me as well… that I didn’t need. The look of horror on his face at the thought of having wasted the full price of a second ticket to save a couple of bucks was quite amusing. Feeling slightly sorry for him, I said that they’d probably give him a refund. Anyway, after a much more heated discussion with the obliging salesperson, he obtained his money back on one of the tickets. Assured that the refund was in progress, Jas and I validated our tickets and entered the station, assuming Paul wasn’t far behind. At this point, the express train to Ringwood was sitting on the platform ready to go.

I would have been really annoyed that we ended up missing it… but what came next was one of the funniest examples of poetic justice that I’ve seen for some time. Jas and I turned around to watch as Paul put his ticket into the validator/barrier. We laughed quite unashamedly when he got stuck on the outside. It had rejected his “wrong zone” ticket for Zone 2+3. By the time he’d fumbled his original Zone 1 ticket out of his wallet to successfully get in, our train was well on the way towards Ringwood, leaving us standing on Platform 2 for a nice leisurely 18 minute wait.

The second highlight of my day was returning once again to Bec’s loungeroom and enjoying the hospitality of Bec, Laura, Hannah, and Em (with the company of Samantha and Reinhard). I haven’t enjoyed that kind of light-hearted community atmosphere for a while.