I'm in the midst of a study using God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life as a reference. It is an excellent book. Though the basic premise (explained below) is not new to me, the book expands on it in ways that I hadn't fully considered before.
Thinking of life in terms of vocation uncovers a lot about how God serves us. He gives me my daily bread through farmers, truck drivers, bakers, food scientists, and the person who makes those little plastic sleeves. He could make manna appear in my yard, but He doesn't. He works through other people. He clothes me through factory workers, cotton growers, and sales clerks. He keeps me safe through lawyers, judges, and the police officer who gives me a speeding ticket (not that that happens...). He provides recreation and enjoyment through authors and actors, camera operators and artists.
It also changes the tenor of what I do. Instead of simply doing a job, I'm serving as a mask of God. He uses me serve others in my vocations as a daughter, sister, youth group leader, church member, renter, employee (at least He did when I was employed), and friend. I may go help a friend pack, but really it is God who is preparing her for a move. In this way, everything I do has a hidden spiritual dimension.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Thursday, April 03, 2008
I pulled this off of another blog I read. It is based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. (If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.)
Directions: Bold the statements that apply to you.
1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher social class than your high school teachers. (Since my mom *is* a high school teacher, I suppose this applies, but in actuality, I think we were probably slightly lower income-wise than most of my teachers. Definitely we lived in a less expensive area.)
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. (Probably not, not that I ever counted. I'm guessing we had around 200. But we had library cards and weren't afraid to use them.)
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp. (If day camp for girl scouts counts.)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels. (nope, camping usually, or staying with relatives)
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them. (Not even a hand me down; bought my own at age 22.)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parents owned their own house or apartment before you left home. (Discounting that portion that the bank technically owns...)
25. You had your own room as a child. (Some of the time. Like for the last 3 years of high school. Before that I shared. Except when I was a baby before the siblings were born.)
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course. (Taught one though when I was in college.)
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. (To a gymnastics meet in Idaho. And I think one in Arizona.)
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up. (Stuttgart, AR has a small museum which we did go to - http://www.stuttgartmuseum.org/ - but not art galleries, and no museums that I can think of once we moved to CA. Except for school field trips.)
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. (Technically, this is true. But also we lived in CA from when I was 11. And while I couldn't say what our cooling bills were, I definitely knew that the AC wasn't going on unless outside temperatures hit 100. So I'm not bolding this as, in general, I *was* aware of utility costs and of the family efforts to keep them low.)
Directions: Bold the statements that apply to you.
1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher social class than your high school teachers. (Since my mom *is* a high school teacher, I suppose this applies, but in actuality, I think we were probably slightly lower income-wise than most of my teachers. Definitely we lived in a less expensive area.)
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. (Probably not, not that I ever counted. I'm guessing we had around 200. But we had library cards and weren't afraid to use them.)
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp. (If day camp for girl scouts counts.)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels. (nope, camping usually, or staying with relatives)
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them. (Not even a hand me down; bought my own at age 22.)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parents owned their own house or apartment before you left home. (Discounting that portion that the bank technically owns...)
25. You had your own room as a child. (Some of the time. Like for the last 3 years of high school. Before that I shared. Except when I was a baby before the siblings were born.)
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course. (Taught one though when I was in college.)
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. (To a gymnastics meet in Idaho. And I think one in Arizona.)
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up. (Stuttgart, AR has a small museum which we did go to - http://www.stuttgartmuseum.org/ - but not art galleries, and no museums that I can think of once we moved to CA. Except for school field trips.)
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. (Technically, this is true. But also we lived in CA from when I was 11. And while I couldn't say what our cooling bills were, I definitely knew that the AC wasn't going on unless outside temperatures hit 100. So I'm not bolding this as, in general, I *was* aware of utility costs and of the family efforts to keep them low.)
Friday, February 01, 2008
New International Scoring System for Women's Gymnastics, part 3 (vault)
The A-panel judges record which vault was done and what its Difficulty Value is. For example, a simple front handspring vault has a value of 2.40. The hardest vault (in the materials that I'm consulting) would be a handspring double front in tucked position which has a value of 7.10. Some of the men do this vault, but it is pretty rare.
The B-panel judges start their scores from 10.0 and deduct from that based on the execution -how well the vault is performed. Deductions could come from legs being apart, legs being bent when they aren't supposed to be, turns being incomplete, landing too close to the vaulting table, stepping or hopping on the landing, etc.
The two scores are added together for the score on a vault.
After the score is calculated, there is one more judge who has input. The line judge says whether the gymnast landed within the "corridor" - or the space between the two lines on the mat. If a gymnast lands with both feet between the lines, there is no deduction. If one foot is over the line, there is a 0.1 deduction and if both feet are outside the lines it is 0.3 off. The only thing that counts is where the gymnast first lands, so if you land in and then go out on a hop or a step, you don't get this deduction.
Those are the basics.
Other interesting facts about vault scoring:
* The gymnast does indicate which vault she will be attempting by flashing an identifying number before she goes. However, there is no deduction for doing a different vault from the one you indicated. So, for example, if you indicate that you plan to do a layout but it feels off in the air so you decide to tuck, you will have a lower start value, but no additional deduction for changing your mind. However, if you do not flash any vault identifier at all, there is a 0.3 deduction.
*Depending on what phase of the competition one is in, either one or two vaults are performed. In cases where two are performed, the second one must have either no flip off the horse (oh, fine, vaulting table), or a flip in the opposite direction of the flip in the first vault. Direction in this case being backwards or forwards.
* If you ignore that rule, they average your two vault scores and then subtract 2.00 to get your final score. That's a pretty hefty deduction.
* If you fall on your vault such that your feet are not the first things that hit the mat, your vault will get a zero.
* Falls are now 0.8 off instead of the previous 0.5.
*Vaults are divided up into 5 groups for classification purposes. They are:
- No flips (but there can be twists onto and/or off of the horse)
- Handspring (with or without full twist) on, forward flip (with or without twist) off
- Tsukahara - quarter to half turn onto the horse, back flip (with or without twist) off
- Round-off onto the spring board, back handspring onto the horse (with or without a full twist), back flip (with or without twist) off the horse
- Round-off onto the board, back handspring with half twist onto the horse, front flip (with or without twist) off the horse
The A-panel judges record which vault was done and what its Difficulty Value is. For example, a simple front handspring vault has a value of 2.40. The hardest vault (in the materials that I'm consulting) would be a handspring double front in tucked position which has a value of 7.10. Some of the men do this vault, but it is pretty rare.
The B-panel judges start their scores from 10.0 and deduct from that based on the execution -how well the vault is performed. Deductions could come from legs being apart, legs being bent when they aren't supposed to be, turns being incomplete, landing too close to the vaulting table, stepping or hopping on the landing, etc.
The two scores are added together for the score on a vault.
After the score is calculated, there is one more judge who has input. The line judge says whether the gymnast landed within the "corridor" - or the space between the two lines on the mat. If a gymnast lands with both feet between the lines, there is no deduction. If one foot is over the line, there is a 0.1 deduction and if both feet are outside the lines it is 0.3 off. The only thing that counts is where the gymnast first lands, so if you land in and then go out on a hop or a step, you don't get this deduction.
Those are the basics.
Other interesting facts about vault scoring:
* The gymnast does indicate which vault she will be attempting by flashing an identifying number before she goes. However, there is no deduction for doing a different vault from the one you indicated. So, for example, if you indicate that you plan to do a layout but it feels off in the air so you decide to tuck, you will have a lower start value, but no additional deduction for changing your mind. However, if you do not flash any vault identifier at all, there is a 0.3 deduction.
*Depending on what phase of the competition one is in, either one or two vaults are performed. In cases where two are performed, the second one must have either no flip off the horse (oh, fine, vaulting table), or a flip in the opposite direction of the flip in the first vault. Direction in this case being backwards or forwards.
* If you ignore that rule, they average your two vault scores and then subtract 2.00 to get your final score. That's a pretty hefty deduction.
* If you fall on your vault such that your feet are not the first things that hit the mat, your vault will get a zero.
* Falls are now 0.8 off instead of the previous 0.5.
*Vaults are divided up into 5 groups for classification purposes. They are:
- No flips (but there can be twists onto and/or off of the horse)
- Handspring (with or without full twist) on, forward flip (with or without twist) off
- Tsukahara - quarter to half turn onto the horse, back flip (with or without twist) off
- Round-off onto the spring board, back handspring onto the horse (with or without a full twist), back flip (with or without twist) off the horse
- Round-off onto the board, back handspring with half twist onto the horse, front flip (with or without twist) off the horse
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Hi 2008!
Hee. NaBloPoMo finishes and not another entry for a month. Not that I managed every day in November either.
Blogs I plan to write:
* what I did in NYC.
* possibly something about Grandpa K.
* finish off the explanation of the new gymnastics scioring system
* possibly a 108 in 2008 list. Although, technically, my 101 in 1001 (days) isn't done. Neither the list nor the time period. But I might just start over anyway. Keeping some of the items from that list. The ones I didn't accomplish anyway. Of which there are many.
* what kind of job do I want and how do I get it.
Hee. NaBloPoMo finishes and not another entry for a month. Not that I managed every day in November either.
Blogs I plan to write:
* what I did in NYC.
* possibly something about Grandpa K.
* finish off the explanation of the new gymnastics scioring system
* possibly a 108 in 2008 list. Although, technically, my 101 in 1001 (days) isn't done. Neither the list nor the time period. But I might just start over anyway. Keeping some of the items from that list. The ones I didn't accomplish anyway. Of which there are many.
* what kind of job do I want and how do I get it.
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