My Daughter's First Cardinals Game

This past Sunday my wife and I took a trip with Isabelle to see the Cardinals play at Busch Stadium.  It was great to get out and visit Ballpark Village and experience the exciting atmosphere as the Cardinals won 9-2 over the Giants - sweeping the series.

As an added plus, the tickets we bought months ago came with a bonus: an opportunity to actually walk on the field!  It was awesome to be able to walk by the players as they were getting ready to play the game.  Definitely an opportunity I won't forget!

It was also Isabelle's very first Cardinals game!  She made it through the game pretty well cheering on the Cardinals and taking a couple naps.  Overall I think she handled the crowd well for a baby!

This was my second Cardinals game at Busch.  Being a Cardinals fan growing up in Illinois made most of my Cardinals games being seen at Wrigley Field in Chicago.  Not bad to note that so far the Cardinals have only lost one game that I've witnessed in a stadium.

We began the day with Mass at the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales, an absolute must for us every visit to St. Louis!

My Life As An INTJ

So, I'm pretty big on personality theory.  It's one of several things that still makes a lot of sense to me ever since I took the required, and very cerebral and fascinating, Introduction to Psychology course during my time spent in college.

Although we only received a short lesson - as part of our section on Karl Jung - the ideas on personality theory stuck around, like glue, to the neural pathways of my brain.  I discovered after taking a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment[1] (hereafter MBTI) that I scored as INTJ.  After learning what those four letters meant (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging), and reading a description of that personality type, I discovered that there's a clear and concise logic to how I think and perceive the world. In a way I became a sort of convert to studying personality theory in my spare time - enough that I've been able to get scary close to figuring out someone's personality.

So, what does this have to do with my life?

Everything!

Run a Google search for "INTJ personality"[2] and you'll find a plethora of search results and information to look at.  As an INTJ I tend to be enthusiastic about a massive amount of information, because that is what I need for decision making and to make sense of what is going on.  Don't worry if you're not big on a lot of information to sift through though.  However, I would definitely ask that for the sake of INTJs all over the world (estimated ~2.5%) to read up on what makes us tick (and why do we always seem have a death stare going on?).

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[1]  The MBTI assessment I took three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) over a period of four weeks and scored INTJ.  I only had to take it once for class, the rest of the attempts were entirely of my own initiative (I just had to eliminate any subjective bias).

[2]  Went ahead and did the search for you so all you have to do is click on the link to the search results.  You're welcome!

Reminiscence of Social Media Past

Recently, my wife and a couple of friends were discussing social media and how exhausting the internet, with all of its drama, has become.  The conversation eventually became a nostalgic guide through the late 1990s and early 2000s as well as a reminder of the "prehistoric" world that existed before Facebook and Twitter.

My Story...

Back in 1998 I was one of many thousands of people who had a LiveJournal.  LiveJournal was a blogging service filled with everything from the first fan fiction writings to the angst filled verses of amateur poets and song writers trying to express themselves.  Around that same time GeoCities was beginning to take off as the premier FREE website publishing server (now I think it's part of Yahoo! or something).  I had a GeoCities website which functioned as an outlet of my creativity and experimentation with HTML.  With a website or blog you didn't have a comment thread or any of that nonsense; you had this thing called a "guest book."  Across the web you could count on seeing the phrase: "Sign my guestbook!"

(Man it was a simpler time by comparison!)

Also at this time was a phenomenon called a "web ring."  Web rings were the thing that connected your website or blog to other websites or blogs.  To make your website/blog part of a web ring you would paste in an HTML code into your website.  Every time someone would find or visit your page they would be able to scroll to the bottom and click next and would immediately be taken to the next website in the web ring.  Eventually you could make it all the way around - hence the "ring" in web ring.  Web rings proved to be very useful for websites and blogs that had a common topic or interest.  I had a website (GeoCities) that was all about helping people learn HTML and was part of a web ring of the same topic.

All this was short lived though because something was emerging that would be the predecessor of all social networking:  Myspace.

Oh Myspace!  I set up my Myspace in 2003 and immediately noticed I could have a blog and website combined with a continuous comment thread!  It was the birth of the social network, although, at the time, no one I knew called it that.  The world of convenience was at your finger tips.  With Myspace users could "friend" someone and there was such a thing as having your top 8 friends.  It was a way that through blog posts, comments, and who your top 8 was that you could finally compare yourself to your friends.  The race for the most angst filled blog post and most edgy profile (profile songs too!) had begun!

In 2006 I received an invitation to join Facebook.  Since I was working as a college computer lab tech I was able to use my college email to sign up for Facebook.  Back then you could do more than just poke your friends - you could throw a sheep at them or even defenestrate them!  Facebook wasn't serious.  It was that thing you did to keep up with friends and brag about getting enrolled in classes.  When you signed up you had to belong to a "network" which meant that you had to have a valid university email address.

The rest as they say is history: Facebook eventually opened itself up, so now everyone and their five cousins and their grandma are on Facebook.  Heck, I've heard a rumor that some places have started Facebook classes that teach people how to use it!

What has it all become?

It seems anymore that not just Facebook, but all of social media has become an outlet for the very worst of society.  We have become as the sophists of ancient Greece, neither caring for, or much less interested in, what is true, real, and good.  Even our politicians (i.e. President Trump) have given in to and have enabled a culture of living within the borders of 280 characters.  Social media has indeed become competition what 20 years ago was considered normal social interaction.  And at what cost?  We hate each other!  Rather, we hate what we perceive through our narrow lens of social media.

On the contrary it must be said Facebook and Twitter have been great ways for me to keep up with family and friends who live far off.  I mean, it really brightens my day to know that a former colleague got that job he wanted, or that my niece is enjoying school, or that old acquaintance from class was finally proposed to by the man of her dreams!  All this is absolutely wonderful, and I enjoy all the positive.

If there's one thing I wish social media was more of an outlet for, besides catching up with friends, I wish that it provided a constructive forum where ideas weren't needlessly trolled or savagely shot down with prejudice.  Perhaps I'm just babbling incoherent thought vomit, but could it be that maybe this is something?  At least, I enjoyed a cathartic reflection of a time, not long ago, where things seems - at very least - a bit more civilized.

On The Abuse Crisis Afflicting The Church

My thoughts on the current crisis affecting the Roman Catholic Church in the United States:

It has taken a long while for me to accurately and charitably compile my thoughts in regards to the sex abuse crisis, so please bear with me.

First of all, this is just absolutely tragic. In fact, it is absolutely diabolical and completely inexcusable! What more as the weeks and days go on it seems more and more likely that some of the Bishops, and even those beyond the US borders, have completely forsaken the teachings of the Church; trading them in for depravity and savagery!

I too am greatly disturbed and at times ponder, in anger, how this could have happened. After all, I was once a seminarian (albeit for a brief time) and I never observed or witnessed any of this happening.  The idea of this happening is such a foreign concept to what I know to be true Catholic teaching that I'm left mesmerized. In fact, as part of my interview prior to being accepted it was made explicitly clear that if I was not in good standing with the teachings of the Church, and more so actively following well those teachings, then I would not be admitted to formation towards the Priesthood.

Yet, somehow these Bishops and Priests were accepted into their respective formation programs and were ordained. But how??? It is as Pope Paul VI is quoted as saying, "It is as if from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Church." (emphasis mine) It fills me with anger and dismay that ANY man ordained to the Priesthood would knowingly permit or perpetrate this kind of nonsensical barbarism!

However, I realize something crucial. These men, regardless of everything, clearly had no intent on teaching according to Church teaching or even living according to Church teaching. These men are frauds and DO NOT represent what the Catholic Church actually teaches. These men, in living their grotesque, sinful life were very boldly sinning not just against their victims but also against God and His Church. I also realize that when someone acts AGAINST Church teaching in such a grave manner that they effectively are committing an act of apostasy against the faith. St. Francis de Sales suggests that such a lack of charity (love) prevents God from being able to work through the person, because they are not open to God, but rather only to themselves.

There is much more that can be commented on from every angle, however there is absolutely NOTHING that can possibly undo what has been done. There is nothing that anyone can say that can sooth the absolute and terrifying hurt and devastation clearly felt by those affected. All anyone can really do is pray. Pray for our Bishops and Priests that they have the courage to root out the rot present in the Church today.

From my own perspective I can say that I agree with the article I attached to this post (please read!). In some way, for many, many years, I have held to question many things that appeared after the Second Vatican Council. That is not the same as to say that Vatican II is the root cause, but a lot of things that happened in the Church starting in 1968 were heavily endorsed by people like McCarrick and others who permitted his actions to continue.

As much as McCarrick has attempted to pervert the teachings of the Church, he has failed. The teachings of the Church, independent of the personal opinion of individuals inside her walls, continues to condemn McCarricks actions and calls him and all of us poor sinners to conversion.

Article: The abuse crisis casts doubt on the whole post-Vatican II settlement | CatholicHerald.co.uk 

Guess I Crossed The Line?

As I'm sipping my coffee this morning and looking at my social media this morning I can't help but notice that I think I may have crossed over into a new phase of my life on Twitter.  As of the moment I've reached more followers than pages/people I follow.  So I guess that's something.

I've never kept track of, cared about, or taken notice of how many followers I have.  The way I see things on Twitter is the same way I see things on any web presence I have.  Blogs and social media are just outlets I use to express and give some semblance of life to my thoughts.

What does this even mean?  Have I accomplished something?

From my perspective all I think I can really say is, cheers to all those fine individuals who somehow find my rubbish in some way useful or tolerable in your day to day lives.  I'll try to keep things interesting.

To all those who find my rubbish nauseating at best or intolerable I ask, why do you keep watching on?  What have you come to see?

My Daughter Is 3 Months Old & Other Updates

My Baby Girl

How time flies!  It seems like yesterday she was born.

I'm impressed every day at how she's growing and developing.  Already she is sitting up (with assistance), grabbing and lifting toward her mouth, and babbling.  Speaking of babbling; her babbles sound more and more like language than just little coos.  Could she be an early talker?

Parenting - at least for the moment - is relatively easy.  Sometimes I get caught up thinking that my child is just the most perfect person to ever walk the Earth (of courseI'm sure every parent thinks this).  To an extent though it does seem at times that my little girl is becoming an overachiever like her dad.

But enough about her - I could go on about child development theory and what milestones she's getting close to, and how quickly she's achieving them.

Work v. Life Balance

Still working as an Optician, however it has become apparent to me that those above my boss won't open up my position to be full time.  While I have enough hours it's unfortunate that it's just enough.  In a manner of speaking I've come to a crossroad.  I can try to move elsewhere within a company I've worked at prior (in college) and apply my previous experience as a cashier and negotiate a full time position as a supervisor.  The other option I have is to keep looking around and applying for jobs, many of which are either in the medical field or in manufacturing.

Most of the opportunities for work that relate to my experience and tenure of my resume unfortunately don't pay very well, and leaping into another field of work inevitably means facing the unknown and risking not knowing anything about a job.  Most who know me well know that I prefer to expand within my academic goals and experience.  With most of my experience in typical white collar jobs it would be quite a transition to accept a blue collar position.

Plans To Continue My Education?

Since I left the Chicago suburbs - due to financial aid difficulties and inability to fund my own education - I've discovered through colleagues and others that there's a very slim job market for Meteorologists.  This of course I've taken into account, and after a couple years of thought and reflection on my academic career I've decided to make a slight adjustment to my academic plans.

During my time studying in the suburbs of Chicago I thought very seriously about a double major in Computer Science, given my enjoyment of computer programming and ability to work with computers on more than a basic level.  As I've discussed my interests and knowledge with my wife and friends it's apparent to me that perhaps I should consider well pursuing a career in IT.  The more I look into it the more I see a promising job market.  So this is definitely an option I'm greatly considering!

"But what of Meteorology?  Chasing storms?  Aren't you throwing all your learning and work away?"

Goodness no!  The weather will always be an interest, and I'd never carelessly throw away a piece of information on a whim.  I'll continue my interest as precisely that, an interest.  I'll still make observations and give reports via social networks to the National Weather Service.  It's just that I've decided to step back from a childhood dream and pursue something different, that's still an interest I've had since childhood.

So for now I've decided to teach myself the Python programming language.  After that probably Java as it seems knowing C and Java are good starting points and Python is a good bonus.  There's also certification sequences I can learn that can give me a start in IT related work.

So... long update!  There's been a lot on my mind and I've been itching to write and get my thoughts out, so... yeah.  You should probably know I can be long winded anyway 😜.

Utilitarian Relationships Refuted

This is something I wrote on Facebook a few years ago that I think is very much true today as it was when I originally wrote it.

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What's wrong with society nowadays is that we no longer really care about anything other than our egos. There is a trend whereby we love others so long as they remain perfect or at best beneficial to us. This is what makes most relationships one way. Essentially society has slowly led us to accepting utilitarian means as a normal part of relationships. Now this isn't to say that a business, or professional, relationship with an employer or a restaurant that one may frequent is bad, or somehow wrong. It is clear that there is an appropriate place for every kind of relationship. However here I focus on those relationships where no transactions of goods and services occur.

So what happens when we deem someone a "disservice" to us, or they come into some hardship, or perceive that someone has done some "irreparable wrong" to us? We typically react in one of two ways.

The first way is passive aggressive wherein we cower away from said person. We seem to develop an irrational fear which over the long haul prevents us from ever really having closure, or even seeking out opportunities to really reconcile or repair the break in the relationship. We choose to dehumanize that person and see them as a potential enemy, because that makes coping with the situation immediately easy. Thus we continue on our way never really attaining understanding. We just simply cut them off, because how could someone ever really be capable of good decisions when they made a less than perfect decision? In our minds we rationalize that every good decision really was not a good decision, and therefore was a lie disguised through whatever rose-colored lens we chose to see them in.

The second way is much more vicious. We attack them. We deliberately make them feel as though they are not capable of being good. We kick them when they are down. We say things that while to our perception seems good are actually negative things that bring the person down. We trap the person in a box with a label be it liar, thief, cheater, stupid, worthless... it's all negative. When that other person moves on with their life and in our eyes attempts to get out of the box we are quick to shove them back in. We make demands and bargains for the person to obey that are so ridiculous and impossible for the person that we give them no choice but to stay in the box. Because that is what we want. We want revenge! We want blood! And we want it two weeks ago!

While it feels good at the moment, because we get to be the one to make a stand, dispense discipline and punishment, be the one who wins, we miss out on an opportunity to really make peace and reach a common understanding. Because a juicy, vivid lie is much better than the dry, seemingly uninteresting truth.

If I may propose an alternative. What if we stopped crucifying every person who crosses us in some way? What if we stopped scapegoating someone just because we don't like them or don't like what they have to say. The next time someone crosses us, let us aim to understand. Come to understand what is going on in the person's life. Yeah, it's the hard way. Yeah, it doesn't make us feel good. But let's take a moment and realize that it's not about us or even the other person. It's about the dignity of the human person. It's about the fact that whether we like it or not that person is going to exist and keep existing on the same planet as us, and we might as well actually put in the effort to actually reach the peace we so often claim we desire - without seeking blood or revenge.

However, this is difficult. It requires we have to put aside how we feel about the person or situation and actually take the time to extend the olive branch and bury the hatchet. And for many, many people this seems like such an impossible task. Who knows, maybe the other person is offering the olive branch and you have your head jammed so far up your own butt that right now you can't see that.

Why I Left LinkedIn

Those who know me won't be surprised to learn that after several years of inactivity I have left LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a social network where you can post your resume and connect with others on the job market.

So, why did I leave?

Well, just as in other postings I've made, I'm cutting down on my social network usage.  With LinkedIn I had a profile set up with my work history and resume, and for a while it was cool to check in and see what new connections I was suggested.  Sure it was great when I received an endorsement on my skills ranging from public speaking to various tenets of computer knowledge, however I never actually used the site, and overall I was dissatisfied.

With all the jobs out there I've applied to - that give the option to apply with LinkedIn - it seemed redundant to import my information, and then fill out the exact same information that was on my profile.

Okay, okay, okay, I probably didn't take full advantage of LinkedIn.  You're right, I didn't.  I just didn't have the drive.  Overall, I've found better usage on job sites such as Indeed.com.  Also, I have a tendency to prefer the old fashioned way of applying for jobs: in person or directly through a company's website!

So, while you won't see me on LinkedIn there are a couple of ways to connect with me via a social network:

Twitter:  @noherp2012
My Twitter handle is used more often than even my Facebook*.  I've been on Twitter since 2009 and pretty much don't take it as seriously (although I've been known to post anything interesting or remotely controversial 😏).  So pretty much I just use it as an outlet for the random happenings of life (hmm, kind of like a 240 character blog post...) what in common parlance is called shitposting.  Seriously, if you're into that sort of thing I'm not going to stop you from following me on Twitter.

Google+:  Link to profile towards top
Pretty much the entire point of my G+ is to utilize a GSuite service that comes free with my email account (like Blogger, YouTube, Drive, Docs, Groups, Photos, Sites, Maps, Keep, Calendar...).  But over the years I've kept it geared more towards sharing and posting stuff relevant to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and connecting with other people who share that common interest.

*Disclaimer: I only accept friend requests on Facebook from people I have actually met in the real world.

I do occasionally pop in and out of Goodreads, but only when I'm updating my reading progress.  Quite frankly I find Goodreads a mere convenient interface to share with others what I'm reading.  Aside from that don't expect me to be on there frequently.

Alright, so I do enjoy a good tangent every now and again, and given that my blog here is more about free writing and life updates I don't feel ashamed for my endless tangents or rants (probably followed by some family and a couple of friends than a random stranger).

That's all for now!  Now to get back to taking care of that pesky laundry that never actually goes away.

Surprise Birthday Weekend!

My wife had been planning something for a few weeks - and it totally surprised me!

I had planned to take the family to Illinois to visit my parents over my birthday weekend (turned 34... I think...) and that, of course, became the main focal point of the trip.  It was great to give Isabelle time to spend with her grandparents and her uncles, aunts, and cousins who came to join in the fun.  After all, family is important, and it's good to make sure children are exposed to their family members - no matter how odd they may be.

That turned out to not be the only fun that happened, as my dear wife invited my best friends - a few who I haven't seen since the wedding - into town to surprise me with their presence.  I had a fantastic time catching up with everyone, and I was incredibly honored by the event.

So, to all my friends, and especially my dearest wife: Thank you!

Review: The Gods Themselves

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews