Misc

Yes, RadioShack is back in Canada [Edit: Actually, now it’s gone again!].  Yesterday I walked in and made a purchase, and this bag is proof.  What did I buy?  I’ll leave you to imagine.  It set me back about $6 or so.

Today I wrapped up a poll here at CottrillCompass.com.  It was a poll about technology.  What technology would the world be better off without?  Here are the answers, and my comments:

At almost 72.73% was TVs/VCRs/DVD players.  No surprise there, I suppose.  So why would the world be better off without these?  Arguably the most common criticism concerns the inappropriate content.  It’s been argued that the medium itself tends to lend itself to the whole sex and violence thing.  There’s also the complaint that TV is a rather non-interactive medium, causing more people to sit and absorb rather than engage and think and be active.  There’s a lot of good that’s come from TV, but the negatives put it at the top of the list.

At 18.18% was computers.  Perhaps the number would have been higher if the poll had not been conducted via computer!  So what’s up with computers?  Well, a lot could be said.  There’s the negatives of content, of course.  The addictive nature of certain things like games and the internet.  And perhaps the fact that computers again are less social that other forms of interaction.  As much as people interact via computer, that personal contact is always lacking.

Finally, at 9.09% came cars.  If you’re now staring at your screen with shock and amazement, just calm down for a moment and consider the controversy that erupted when cars first started to appear on the scene.  They completely transformed society, and it could be argued it wasn’t in a good way.  While we often think of cars as bringing people together today, in the early days the concern was that they took people away from one another.  For thousands of years, society was strongly based on community.  It was not easy to get away from your family and friends.  With cars, you could easily get away.  You could get some privacy with your boy/girl friend.  You could gain new independence.  You can see how it could be a mixed blessing.  In many cases, the only reason that cars bring us together today is because they made our society more travel-oriented and moved us apart.  Now our families are often only the people we see on TV (they’re everywhere we go), and we get advice from books and talk shows rather than our own community.

Of course, technology has its positives – this was a negative poll.  Every once in a while it’s good to consider the effect technology has had on our lives.  It’s not always neutral or good.

But on a more positive and fun note, check out our new poll and tell us what your favourite ethnic food is.  I tried to include some ethnic foods that are most popular around here, but you can always choose "other" if your favourite isn’t listed (or you can leave a comment and complain!). 😉

If you have children you will probably appreciate this little quote from G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy.  The quote was in my reading for the course I’m taking right now.

He’s saying that he believes God loves routine – regularity and predictability.  Of course, God likes to surprise us too; but in context Chesterton is suggesting that the predictability of the universe (which makes it understandable through science) should not surprise us:

The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy.  A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life.  Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.  It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.  It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.  It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

Did you discover that some things just aren’t working right on this website?  So did I!  Normally I would ask you to email me right away, but in this case I’m already working on it.  Lord willing the glitches will be ironed out today and everything will be working smoothly again.

I think this blog is functioning fairly well now, and so is the poll on the home page.  The photo gallery is the main problem right now, so I’m working on the repairs right now.

Speaking of the poll, not too many people have weighed in on this topic!  I realize this is a tough one, and you may not want to pick any of the options.  But if you had to pick one, which one would it be?  Zip on over to the home page and take the poll.  At least it’s working right.  I think.

As you may have noticed, our blog has a new name.

I would like to say that it’s a deep reflection of the angst of Generation X, a probing honest searchlight into our souls.  But in actual fact, the old name was just way too long and clunky, and had no character whatsoever.

Besides, most people have catchy names for their blogs nowadays.  Perhaps way back in October 2002, when this blog was started, there were a lot more had brilliant names like,”My blog”.  But now even missionaries have cool names for their blogs, like Voice In The Desert, Vessel of Mercy or Knightly News Update.

This is not to say the new name has no meaning.  Obviously, it fits in with our website theme.  It’s not “finding directions“, which sounds like somebody stopping at the gas station to pour over maps with the attendant.  Why would anyone want to stop to ask for directions anyway?

No, we’re thinking more about life directions here.  God leads in many different ways, and at times it seems to be in many different directions.  But in the end, the ministry takes one direction – make disciples.  And in the end, our lives must take one direction – to become more like Jesus.  And when all is said and done, our eyes must be on the Author and Finisher of our Faith.  It reminds me of the song by Rich Mullins:

It was a paper that had been slid under our front door.  We picked it up and took a look.

It was an invitation to renew the lease on our apartment.  We get those every once in a while.  The rules have changed over the years, though.  Now we have the option of going month to month, or signing a 1 year or 6 month lease.

The problem is, the shorter the period of time, the more expensive it gets.  Shari and I kinda gave each other that “look” that says,”Well, what can we do?”

It’s a common problem really.  We have just enough of this to last until our move to Mexico.  We hope our van will last just long enough.  We won’t bother buying one of these because we’ll just have to get rid of it again…

The problem is that sometimes things get expensive.  As is the case with leases.  Do you sign a lease and save a considerable amount a month, but then get stuck paying extra at the end to try to get out of it?  Or do you go month to month, pay a considerably higher rent, in hopes that in a few more weeks we’ll be on our way to Mexico?

The good news is that we still have a while to figure it out.  Hopefully we won’t have to sign a lease until the fall, and hopefully by that time we’ll be a lot closer to moving.  Keep praying!  We’re trying to save money, not spend it.

The bad news?  Either way, our rent has gone up.  The sooner we can stop paying rent here and start paying it in pesos, the better.  Meanwhile, this paper will sit ominously on the “to do” stack…