GK Chesterton Quote Of The Day

"It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all."
- Orthodoxy

Why?

The wonderfully named Kate Lord Brown (isn't that a cool name?) asked a great question on her blog recently: Why do you want to write?

Now, I'd already answered that question on this very blog, but it's one of those questions that sort of stuck in my head. It turns out, I had a few more things to add:

I write because I want to be a producer, not just a consumer (I grow vegetables in my garden for the same reason).

I also write because I want to set an example to my kids - I love that they're growing up in a house where it's perfectly natural for Daddy to occasionally get up at 5am to write them a novel. I love that our oldest daughter described me as "a writer" for a school project last year - she didn't mention the Air Force at all.

I write because life is a wonderful mystery, and I am a wonderful mystery to myself, and writing is one way I sort out some of the clues... not to figure out the mystery, but to wrestle with it (I think that's the fun part about mysteries).

Leadership

Even though I'm a professional military officer (i.e. leader), capital-L Leadership is a topic I am DEEPLY disinterested in. So much of what is written about Leadership is pure hooey and a big waste of time. Far better (if you must study something Leadership-related) to study biographies of great leaders than the hypothetical, analytical theories of people who have never actually done any leading... or the war stories of leaders who may or may not really understand why what they did turned out the way it did. Better still, find a flesh and blood mentor, and understand that leadership is a craft to be honed, not simply an academic discipline to be analyzed.

The highly-esteemed John Maxwell is my least favorite of the ubiquitous modern Leadership Experts. His definition of leadership ("influence - nothing more, nothing less") raises my hackles every time I hear it. According to Mr. Maxwell, Leadership is apparently just a fancy word for "getting your own way" (i.e. influencing people).

This evening, I came across a beautiful quote in G.K. Chesterton's novel The Flying Inn, which blows a mile-wide hole in Mr. Maxwell's self-centered control/influence oriented perspective. Captain Dalroy (one of the main characters) says to Mr. Hugby, the baddie and an aspiring Leader: "You are not respected. You are obeyed."

Ah, that's the key, isn't it? John Maxwell, with all his influence, might very well get his own way and be obeyed. He probably is pretty good at compelling people to comply with his wishes and teaching people how to wield influence.

But I don't call that leadership.

Running...

I'm currently training to run in the Air Force Marathon (the half-marathon version, to be precise). My running buddy Steve and I have a training schedule which gradually increases our mileage until the big day (Sept 20th!), and last Friday, we ran 6 miles for the first time.

It was awful.

The weather was hot, humid and painful. We hit the three mile mark and we both wanted to just lay down and cry. I don't recall ever feeling quite that bad during or after a run.

But today we ran 6 miles again and it was amazing. The temperature was a slightly-chilly 60 degrees, and when we hit the half-way point, we just looked at each other and said "Really? Already?" When we finished, we both felt like we could have gone on quite a bit further if necessary. In fact, I think we both were a bit giddy, it felt so good.

Now, I realize it was probably mostly because of the temperature, but I'd like to think we're making some progress in our fitness level. Also, doing 6 miles for the first time is quite a different experience than doing it a second time. Running is so very psychological.

I mention this because lately I'd been thinking about all this running as a way to keep healthy
and avoid being decrepit as I get older. It was very much about the future benefits of today's exercise. But today I was reminded that running has benefits and joys in the here and now.

Define -vs- Defend

I met with my thesis adviser today, bringing along a document that described my proposed research approach, as he'd requested. I thought he wanted me to define and describe my methodology, but it turns out what I really needed to do was defend and justify it. Looking back, that is probably what he asked for, but there was enough ambiguity in the request that I missed it.

As we talked, I discovered that logic is not authority, and reason is not validation. In order for my method to be accepted, it is not sufficient to show it makes sense. Instead, I need to show that the approach is not novel and has been done before, has been accepted by the academic community and constitutes a validated method (note: accepted and validated are not the same as valid).

A quick, albeit non-scientific, survey showed something I sort of knew already: the research community (not just the physical sciences) has a strong affinity for endless tables of statistics and calculations, preferably stretching out to three or four significant digits, however dubious looking they are to me. Give a big, quantifiable survey to a large group of people, crunch the numbers into columns and rows, and you’ve got a very impressive looking table. Never mind that for the type of question I'm working on, that questioning method would virtually guarantee the answers won't be particularly insightful or accurate. But the method, ah, that would be a validated method.

There's so much to learn about this academia thing.

I Still Got It...

One of the projects I tackled while Kim & the girls were out of the house was replacing the wireless card on our desktop computer. HP had kindly mailed us a new card when the original one failed, but it was up to me to crack the case, find out where that little guy goes, and do the swap.

I was excited! It'd been a while since I'd opened up a computer like this, but as you can tell by the photo above, I managed to open the case. After a little poking around, I figured out where the card was housed. I'd expected it to plug into a stationary slot - imagine my surprise to discover not one, but three wires leading into the card. Two were quite tiny, and I was wishing someone with smaller hands was around to assist.

But, I'm happy to say I got the broken one out, put the new one in, and put the whole thing back together. There was a tense moment or two after I pressed the power button and prayed I hadn't inadvertently done any serious damage. Seeing the monitor flicker back on after the operation was a HUGE relief. Here's a photo of the offending card, compliments of my ever-present, ever-fuzzy cellphone camera.

Movie Binge

While Kim and the girls were out of town, I went on a bit of a movie binge, including seeing two movies in a theater in one day (it was a cheap theater, $3.50 per ticket). I watched:

10,000 BC
The 13th Warrior
The Good Shepherd
Tank Girl
Iron Man
Prince Caspian
Matrix Reloaded
Matrix Revolutions
Semi Pro

Yeah, that's a lot of movies, and I really enjoyed them all. As I've mentioned before, I generally don't take movies seriously enough to dislike them, although I didn't think 10,000 BC, The 13th Warrior and The Good Shepherd were all that terrific. But Tank Girl was even more fun than I expected, and Iron Man blew my socks off. The Matrix movies, well, they were amazing.

Jib Jab Video

I'm probably late to the party on this one, but if you haven't seen the latest Jib Jab video ("It's Time For Some Campaignin'"), go check it out. Some of the funniest, most pointed and completely bi-partisan political comedy you'll find anywhere. Even Bill Clinton makes a reappearance - he's got one of the funniest lines in the whole song.

All By Myself

After a fun, whirlwind trip to NY to attend my father-in-law's wedding, I've been flying solo this week, as the kiddo's enjoy a week with my folks and my lovely wife spends some time with a variety of family members (including our new niece, Ivy!). Kim and the girls are driving from NY back here to OH today & tomorrow (accompanied by Kim's dad and his new bride!), so I'm happy to say my bachelor days are just about over.

Part way through the week, I was reminded of something Jim Gaffigan said on My Boys. It's from an episode where Andy (Gaffigan) has hired a very attractive nanny, and is feeling uncomfortable in his own house. He's out at a bar with some friends when he discovers the nanny is out for the evening. He jumps up and heads for the door, announcing "My house just became pants-optional!"

Well, I didn't exactly run around in my boxers, but I must admit there were a few moments this week when I didn't have a shirt on. Like today, after going up and down the stairs to clean all the bathrooms, make all the beds, and do several loads of laundry, I was getting kinda warm (and despite a shower, I hadn't quite cooled down from mowing the grass earlier in the morning). Plus, I baked a few loaves of Irish soda bread (yum!), to be ready for when everyone shows up tomorrow, so the kitchen was warm.

As I stood there in the warm kitchen, I heard Jim Gaffigan's voice in my head, saying "My house just became pants-optional!" and I took my t-shirt off, mostly because it made me laugh.

Tomorrow, I'm back to wearing a shirt all the time.