Yeah man!

The music curriculum at my (former) high school now includes a new course: the Rock Ensemble.

In the Rock Ensemble, students learn scales and techniques commonly used in rock music. Students pair into smaller groups with other students who are at a similar musical level, and work together to improve musicianship. An article that I read about the class states "...Rock Ensemble is a useful stepping stone to learn to play with others and improve music style. The class plays hard rock songs from bands such as Black Sabbath." Not surprisingly, the class seems to be pretty popular among the students -- there are about 30 students enrolled this semester.

I think that anyone who went to my high school will immediately be able to guess the teacher in charge of this course: that's right, none other than our groovy orchestra director. Yeah man! ;)

The music curriculum at my high school has always rocked, but now it literally rocks! More than anything, I'll venture a guess that this class helps bridge the gap that has always existed between the rock-bandish-type students and the symphonic/orchestral students. Maybe now the more classically trained musicians at the school will actually recognize some of the people that participate in battle of the bands!

All I have to say is: rock on!

In God We Trust?

While searching the web this evening, I stumbled across Amazon's bestseller list. It turns out that the #2 bestseller is Richard Dawkins's new book, The God Delusion. On the NY Times bestseller list, it is currently the #8 bestseller. For the NY Times book review, go here.

I can't really comment because I haven't read the book yet. Yes, I say yet -- I am planning on reading it. I'm pretty intrigued by the concept of the book and the arguments that Dawkins seems to be putting forth.

And I can't get over the overwhelming amount of reviews and comments that this book has generated on the Amazon site. If you read some of the reviews and their accompanying scathing comments, you get the sense that this is an all-out war. Truthfully, it's sortof scary...but I find it to be mostly sad.

The book's existence reminds me, for the seemingly zillioninth time this week, that both religion and science think they have a lot to say about the other. Consequently, when they clash, they really clash -- and I'm never sure quite what the clashing accomplishes for either of the two.

If you're sick of the clashing between science and religion, I recommend checking out the following books -- if for no other reason than to give you a sense that religion and science don't have to be (shouldn't be?) at odds. Admittedly, I am biased. :)

The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
by Francis Collins
Finding Darwin's God
by Kenneth R. Miller
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
by E.O. Wilson (my academic great-grandfather!)

But back to The God Delusion...it will be interesting to see additional reactions that the book generates. And it will be even more interesting to see whether Dawkins -- who labels himself as a 6 out of 7 on the "I'm sure God doesn't exist" scale -- ever changes his mind.

Efficient wisdom

Some really powerful quotes that I have run across in the past week:

In honor of hope:

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
~St. Francis of Assisi

In honor of procrastination:

"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences."
~Winston Churchill

In honor of politics:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
~Upton Sinclair

In honor of singlehood: (Background story: my brother, for years, has insisted that he can't wait until I get married because he wants to pull "the biggest prank EVER" on me on my wedding day)

"You go make my dream come true."
~My brother

Georgia on my mind

I'm currently making travel plans to go visit some relatives later this year, and I'm excited. How long has it been since I've seen these family members? Well...too long, honestly. It seems that we only get together for funerals and (some) weddings. It'll be nice to just visit with them -- just a regular visit, like people do. And it'll be great to see my cousins again, many of whom are going through the always-interesting process called College. Plus, I'm definitely up for a trip to Georgia during the winter. :)

Besides that, I've been toying around with a new project idea: taking one picture every day for a year. Thanks to Tina for the idea/link. I plan to start sometime this weekend (gotta change the batteries in my currently s-l-o-w digital camera first). I'm hoping that this project will help me accomplish the following: pyschologically tricking myself into being mindful of the passage of time, capturing events without me having to necessarily write about them in my journal (a picture says 1000 words, right?), and being more aware of the beauty/detail in my life each day.

Photography is an art; life is an art. Combining the two will definitely be an art.

Two for one, and, how cool is your job?

This morning, snow was falling as I walked across campus to my building. It was a light and powdery snow with fairly large flakes -- the perfect type of snow for a morning walk. It fell onto green grass and brightly colored trees, creating a light white dusting on the gold, orange, and maroon leaves. Apparently winter has come to visit, but autumn is still going strong. It felt like we were getting the best of both seasons.

Here's an amusing side note: one of my compsci friends has a theory that I thought some of you might enjoy. The theory is that any academic discipline can be rated along a "coolness" scale where a discipline receives a higher ranking as the potential for that discipline to be the career choice of an evil villian in a movie/comic book rises. This scale shifts over the years as people adjust their fears about the future.

So, for example, computer scientist? Definite potential for a villian's career...if you're going the robotics/AI route. Geologist? Not so much...at least yet. Nuclear physicist? Uh, yeah. According to this scale, nuclear physics is currently cooler than computer science, which is cooler than geology. To my librarian friends, I apologize on behalf of this ranking system.

For now at least, the scale doesn't allow for my discipline to be ranked at its full potential. But just wait until I obtain funding to train killer bees...:)

Marching through time

I feel like a scummy person...I've been cheating on my own blog! That is to say, lately I've posted more on another person's blog lately than I have on my own. That blog is actually a non-blog for a friend who stubbornly won't create his own blog...so we simply created one for him. :) It's a silly silly blog, but that makes it extra fun.

And for some reason, it's been easier for me to think of posts for that blog than for my own. But alas, time to give my blog some much-needed attention and devotion.

Some random thoughts:

- My awesome roomie and I went to a marching band exhibition last night. Yay for seeing hoards of people that support music and their kids. And yay for watching drumlines (including the Spartan drumline!) do their thang.

- It's difficult for me to focus on only one thing at a time. But it's something that I'm (slowly) working at, with the hope that the skill will come in handy.

- In an effort to create my ideal office space, I bought a chessboard for my office. Who's up for chess via email? ;) Um,occasionally, that is. Next priority item: a marimba! ;)