Whoop-de-doo for my Subaru! :D
Well, I'm on a run with actually writing in this thing, so I figured I'd keep it up. 'Course, it helps that it's slow at work for the moment. It leaves me time for writing in this thing...
Anyway, got the company car today. 'S pretty. It's a black 2005 Subaru Outback XLT (Meaning that it's got the ol' turbo engine in it...and they're not kidding when they say "turbo." You put your foot on the gas and zoooooooooooom!). It has 5,400 miles on it. It's totally and completely loaded, including a 6-CD changer with an 8-speaker stereo system and including buttwarmers. (That's "heated driver and front passenger seats" in plain English.)
And it's ALL MINE!! Mine, mine, MIIIIIIIIIIINE!:D :D :D :D :D :D And I don't have to pay for the gas it uses! :D :D :D :D :D :D *dances* I can't wait to drive it home this evening and test it out on the curves and hills. :) And this also means that I've now joined the legions of Colorado Subaru Outback drivers. They're all over the place around here. Which only makes sense, I guess. After all, it's an all-wheel-drive car without the gas-eating tendencies of an SUV or large pickup truck. What's not to love?
Now, to go eat my lunch. :)
EDITY, because I answered seryan's questions while I ate. :)
1) Was the cello the first instrument you learned, or did you progress through various ones before finding one you really liked?
No, cello wasn't my first. My first instrument was the clarinet, which I began to learn when I was 3. It was my father's instrument (He played in a big band.), so it was only natural, I guess, that I picked it up, too. But then when I was about 7 or so, I fell in love with classical music and wanted desperately to learn how to play the cello because I just adored its voice. And my elementary school had a string program which you could start in 3rd grade...but, alas, my parents did not want to pay to rent a cello, which was about three times more money than renting a violin. So, I was stuck playing the violin for about a year-and-a-half and didn't really like it because it wasn't what I really wanted to play. Finally, my half-brother offered to pay the difference between the rental price of a violin and the rental price of a cello. So, I finally got to play cello, and I still play it now. I also still played clarinet throughout high school. I was the ultimate band/orchestra geek. I was in every instrumental music group except marching band, which after a year of doing I discovered that I hated. :)
2) What's your opinion on Richard III's alleged murder of his nephews in order to gain the throne of England?
I think the situation with him is somewhat analogous to the situation with Henry II and Thomas Beckett: I think Richard knew who did it and that on some level he wanted it to be done, but that he did not expressly command it to happen. As for who was responsible for the deed...I switch back and forth between thinking it was the Duke of Buckingham or a supporter (or supporters) of he who became Henry VII. He, after all, had much to gain by attempting to unequivocally end the Plantagenet line, as well, given that he was a usurper. :)
3) Ever spend hours searching through discount bins in order to see if they have any really good old b&w movies?
I have, yes...but I've never really been successful. Usually all I find is stuff that I've never heard of starring people that I've never heard of. That and Three Stooges episodes, for some reason.
4) Ever do the above, then buy something just to have something to show for your effort? :P
*laughs* No, I don't think I have, actually... But maybe I should have...
5) Do you think it possible that, if the cosmos was created by an omnipotent being, said being might have initiated the process of evolution as a tool, somewhat like a software compiler, thus making both sides of the creation/evolution argument valid?
Do I think it's possible? Well, in the sense of "anything is possible," sure. :)
No, seriously, that is certainly the position held by those who consider themselves theistic evolutionists. It's the comfortable have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too position. For me, though, it smacks a bit too much of Deism, the whole "God started everything and then left it all to its own devices" idea of which folks like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were so fond. And that's just...not the God I know, to be completely honest. In fact, to be even more honest, I still don't have a firm stand on the entire issue. I used to, though. When I was an atheist, I was also a die-hard, creationist-scorning supporter of evolutionary theory. Now...it's not nearly so black-and-white to me anymore. And it's not just because there is indeed quite a bit of pressure put upon born-again/evangelical Christians (and I am a born-again Christian now and have been for about 2.5 years) to endorse the creationist "party line." Really, for me personally at this point in time, it's more a matter of now being able to see things from both points of view where once I would only let myself see one side while deliberately putting blinders on toward the other.
But at this very instant in time, I don't fully support either extreme view of the creationist/evolutionist dichotomy. It's one of those things about which I pray for guidance and enlightenment all the time, but I still seem to be stuck somewhere in a grey area in between. That might change tomorrow or ten years from now or never. But for right this very moment, I think that the creationists, both the young-earth and the old-earth variety, have a lot of holes to plug in their assertions -- Most notably, I think they need to concretely define what a "kind" is and to figure out what, exactly, hinders members of one "kind" from starting/becoming another "kind", something beyond "God said so" -- before most non-Christian people, much less the mainstream scientific community, will give them the time of day. On the other hand, since I am intimately familiar with evolutionary theory from years of studying it, I also know of the weaknesses of some aspects of it. And I am beginning to think more critically about it than I used to, when evolutionary theory was, quite frankly, a religion that I took utterly on faith, warts and all.
Did that answer the question? Honestly, I'm really not meaning to start a debate here. My beliefs on the subject are far too much in flux for me to be able to debate about it right now. :)
Anyway, got the company car today. 'S pretty. It's a black 2005 Subaru Outback XLT (Meaning that it's got the ol' turbo engine in it...and they're not kidding when they say "turbo." You put your foot on the gas and zoooooooooooom!). It has 5,400 miles on it. It's totally and completely loaded, including a 6-CD changer with an 8-speaker stereo system and including buttwarmers. (That's "heated driver and front passenger seats" in plain English.)
And it's ALL MINE!! Mine, mine, MIIIIIIIIIIINE!:D :D :D :D :D :D And I don't have to pay for the gas it uses! :D :D :D :D :D :D *dances* I can't wait to drive it home this evening and test it out on the curves and hills. :) And this also means that I've now joined the legions of Colorado Subaru Outback drivers. They're all over the place around here. Which only makes sense, I guess. After all, it's an all-wheel-drive car without the gas-eating tendencies of an SUV or large pickup truck. What's not to love?
Now, to go eat my lunch. :)
EDITY, because I answered seryan's questions while I ate. :)
1) Was the cello the first instrument you learned, or did you progress through various ones before finding one you really liked?
No, cello wasn't my first. My first instrument was the clarinet, which I began to learn when I was 3. It was my father's instrument (He played in a big band.), so it was only natural, I guess, that I picked it up, too. But then when I was about 7 or so, I fell in love with classical music and wanted desperately to learn how to play the cello because I just adored its voice. And my elementary school had a string program which you could start in 3rd grade...but, alas, my parents did not want to pay to rent a cello, which was about three times more money than renting a violin. So, I was stuck playing the violin for about a year-and-a-half and didn't really like it because it wasn't what I really wanted to play. Finally, my half-brother offered to pay the difference between the rental price of a violin and the rental price of a cello. So, I finally got to play cello, and I still play it now. I also still played clarinet throughout high school. I was the ultimate band/orchestra geek. I was in every instrumental music group except marching band, which after a year of doing I discovered that I hated. :)
2) What's your opinion on Richard III's alleged murder of his nephews in order to gain the throne of England?
I think the situation with him is somewhat analogous to the situation with Henry II and Thomas Beckett: I think Richard knew who did it and that on some level he wanted it to be done, but that he did not expressly command it to happen. As for who was responsible for the deed...I switch back and forth between thinking it was the Duke of Buckingham or a supporter (or supporters) of he who became Henry VII. He, after all, had much to gain by attempting to unequivocally end the Plantagenet line, as well, given that he was a usurper. :)
3) Ever spend hours searching through discount bins in order to see if they have any really good old b&w movies?
I have, yes...but I've never really been successful. Usually all I find is stuff that I've never heard of starring people that I've never heard of. That and Three Stooges episodes, for some reason.
4) Ever do the above, then buy something just to have something to show for your effort? :P
*laughs* No, I don't think I have, actually... But maybe I should have...
5) Do you think it possible that, if the cosmos was created by an omnipotent being, said being might have initiated the process of evolution as a tool, somewhat like a software compiler, thus making both sides of the creation/evolution argument valid?
Do I think it's possible? Well, in the sense of "anything is possible," sure. :)
No, seriously, that is certainly the position held by those who consider themselves theistic evolutionists. It's the comfortable have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too position. For me, though, it smacks a bit too much of Deism, the whole "God started everything and then left it all to its own devices" idea of which folks like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were so fond. And that's just...not the God I know, to be completely honest. In fact, to be even more honest, I still don't have a firm stand on the entire issue. I used to, though. When I was an atheist, I was also a die-hard, creationist-scorning supporter of evolutionary theory. Now...it's not nearly so black-and-white to me anymore. And it's not just because there is indeed quite a bit of pressure put upon born-again/evangelical Christians (and I am a born-again Christian now and have been for about 2.5 years) to endorse the creationist "party line." Really, for me personally at this point in time, it's more a matter of now being able to see things from both points of view where once I would only let myself see one side while deliberately putting blinders on toward the other.
But at this very instant in time, I don't fully support either extreme view of the creationist/evolutionist dichotomy. It's one of those things about which I pray for guidance and enlightenment all the time, but I still seem to be stuck somewhere in a grey area in between. That might change tomorrow or ten years from now or never. But for right this very moment, I think that the creationists, both the young-earth and the old-earth variety, have a lot of holes to plug in their assertions -- Most notably, I think they need to concretely define what a "kind" is and to figure out what, exactly, hinders members of one "kind" from starting/becoming another "kind", something beyond "God said so" -- before most non-Christian people, much less the mainstream scientific community, will give them the time of day. On the other hand, since I am intimately familiar with evolutionary theory from years of studying it, I also know of the weaknesses of some aspects of it. And I am beginning to think more critically about it than I used to, when evolutionary theory was, quite frankly, a religion that I took utterly on faith, warts and all.
Did that answer the question? Honestly, I'm really not meaning to start a debate here. My beliefs on the subject are far too much in flux for me to be able to debate about it right now. :)