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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Merry Christmas

What says Merry Christmas Better than a Broccoli lute?
Big Broccoli Ocarina:Angels We Have Heard On High (by Heita3)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Division/Never Let Me Go



Nameless guilt
hangs over every lyric.
She acknowledges,
and yet another
would not touch it, living on the cusp
raging wanton lust against a burning front.


All I can think of; peacock feathers, fireflies
proof in my mind.


But his, besides
is the love of his lover, the acceptance, the forgiveness
the conscious-numbing divide.


Perhaps it is all too well
Christmas is a reflection of the fall
a draught of religious fantasy
combined with consumerist orgy.
Failed market systems still sell well.


I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry.
I’m sorry that this brokenness leads to vengeance.
I’m sorry your turning has hardened your heart’s yearning.
I’m sorry that I am a poor ambassador, and the steeple’s door
has clanged shut
Shutting you out.
A love letter of judgment.
Bent,
un-condescendingly,
When the One you ought to know condescended so breathtakingly.
He humbled himself, taking on Flesh.
And, to the point of Death.


He it is, I yearn, for you to know.
This Christmas I pray His love would be shown.
to you.


So your P.h.D. theories
would tremble beneath
the weight of His glory.


So your excuses and bitterness
would melt
from the heat of His brilliance.


So your distance and this divide
would be bridged by His Coming.

Blood-shedding Love rumbling across the centuries
“born for such a time as this” and yet has never heard.

This Christmas I pray for providential hearing.
Not just for him, but for all divided from Him.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Diminishing Returns

I'm struggling not to drink the diet coke next to me right now. Should I just take a nap? The law of diminishing returns says I should... and that through taking breaks, naps, and getting at least 8 hours of sleep, productivity increases (such as reaction time) are measurable. I think I should employ this technique of "renewal" breaks between 90 minutes of work as I start full-time thesis work in the coming weeks! And the renewal part is key- doing something refreshing, like a walk or run outside, jump roping or swimming could potential renewable opportunities... 

From the Harvard Business Review blog (by Tony Schwartz):

How to Accomplish More by Doing Less

Two people of equal skill work in the same office. For the sake of comparison, let's say both arrive at work at 9 am each day, and leave at 7 pm.
Bill works essentially without stopping, juggling tasks at his desk and running between meetings all day long. He even eats lunch at his desk. Sound familiar?

Nick, by contrast, works intensely for approximately 90 minutes at a stretch, and then takes a 15 minute break before resuming work. At 12:15, he goes out for lunch for 45 minutes, or works out in a nearby gym. At 3 pm, he closes his eyes at his desk and takes a rest. Sometimes it turns into a 15 or 20 minute nap. Finally, between 4:30 and 5, Nick takes a 15 minute walk outside.
Bill spends 10 hours on the job. He begins work at about 80 percent of his capacity, instinctively pacing himself rather than pushing all out, because he knows he's got a long day ahead.
By 1 pm, Bill is feeling some fatigue. He's dropped to 60 percent of his capacity and he's inexorably losing steam. Between 4 and 7 pm, he's averaging about 40 percent of his capacity.
It's called the law of diminishing returns. Bill's average over 10 hours is 60 percent of his capacity, which means he effectively delivers 6 hours of work.

Nick puts in the same 10 hours. He feels comfortable working at 90 percent of his capacity, because he knows he's going to have a break before too long. He slows a little as the day wears on, but after a midday lunch or workout, and a midafternoon rest, he's still at 70 percent during the last three hours of the day.
Nick takes off a total of two hours during his 10 at work, so he only puts in 8 hours. During that time, he's working at an average of 80 percent of his capacity, so he's delivering just under 6 ½ hours of work — a half hour more than Bill.

Because Nick is more focused and alert than Bill, he also makes fewer mistakes, and when he returns home at night, he has more energy left for his family.

It's not just the number of hours we sit at a desk in that determines the value we generate. It's the energy we bring to the hours we work. Human beings are designed to pulse rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. That's how we operate at our best. Maintaining a steady reservoir of energy — physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually — requires refueling it intermittently.
Work the way Nick does, and you'll get more done, in less time, at a higher level of quality, more sustainably.
Create a workplace that truly values a balanced relationship between intense work and real renewal, and you'll not only get greater productivity from employees, but also higher engagement and job satisfaction.
There's plenty of evidence that increased rest and renewal serve performance.
Consider a study conducted by NASA, in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration, of pilots on long haul flights. One group of pilots was given an opportunity to take 40 minute naps mid-flight, and ended up getting an average of 26 minutes of actual sleep. Their median reaction time improved by 16 percent following their naps.

Non-napping pilots, tested at a similar halfway point in the flight, experienced a 34 percent deterioration in reaction time. They also experienced 22 micro sleeps of 2-10 seconds during the last 30 minutes of the flight. The pilots who took naps experienced none.
Or consider the study that performance expert Anders Ericcson did of violinists at the Berlin Academy of Music. The best of the violinists practiced in sessions no longer than 90 minutes, and took a break in between each one. They almost never practiced more than 4 ½ hours over a day. What they instinctively understood was the law of diminishing returns.

The top violinists also got an average of more than 8 hours of sleep a night, and took a 20-30 minute nap every afternoon. Over a week, they slept 16 hours more than the average American does.
During my 30s and 40s, I wrote three books. I sat at my desk each day from 7 am to 7 pm, struggling to stay focused. Each book took me at least a year to write. For my most recent books, I wrote in a schedule that matched the great violinists — three 90 minute sessions with a renewal break in between each one.
I wrote both those books in six months — investing less than half the number of hours I had for each of my first three books. When I was working, I was truly working. When I was recharging — whether by getting something to eat, or meditating, or taking a run — I was truly refueling.
Stress isn't the enemy in the workplace. Indeed, stress is the only means by which we can expand capacity. Just think about weightlifting. By stressing your muscles, and then recovering, you gradually build strength. Our real enemy is the absence of intermittent renewal.

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

On Hydrology and Expectant News

Lord, to unload the load
that is lording over me
weight of weight
I see less clearly
I see confusion, joy
it’s clear water mixed with clay, you know that turns murky
when you’ve got the current’s velocity
pushing, pulling, transporting sediment
what it’s meant
to do, of course, but
the roots are too few
to hold the particles together
there’s only inches of bluegrass
and a lot of melting weather

so we’ve got a flood on our hands

(our stained hands)

we need a flood from our hearts

(river of Living Water impart)

we need to be washed in wisdom

(not conformed but transformed)

we need to be overlowing in love
(Your bloody love)
.

Apart from You, woe.
I am lost.
I am undone.
Tossed in confusion, shifting tides;
springs of salt and freshwater combined.

Apart from You, whoah.
I don’t know what to think.
I’m excited for her, doubled in joy.
I’m broken for her, soul destroy.

Oh, my brokeness
I share it with You
to You it’s nothing new
And I lay it down.
And I lay down her’s too.
Not in apathetic resignation, not in giving up

Not in condemnation, shutting up
But in resolution,
on You I will not doubt
For You can make ALL THINGS NEW.
You can do the impossible.
With You it is not done until it’s done.

Friday, December 02, 2011

Living on the edge of a darkness

He.                                          (We call you He but what pronoun will suffice?)
He uses.                                   (What can defy Him to be used?)
He uses weak vessels.              (What design, beyond comprehension.)

This I can feebly proclaim.
This I can verily say.
He just did it again today,
and I marvel.

Laying a burden heavy on my heart,
that was not lifted until I prayed aloud with a dear sister,
and then getting a note that confirms and thanks me for my petitions!

He knew I needed a note of encouragement, to keep walking in this darkness.
It has felt so dark lately. Constant ups and downs. Weariness. 

And now tears spring as His ways seem so much higher than my ways,
His plans so much vaster than my pains.
And it is in weakness I walk and constantly tripping over cracks and sidewalk doubts
Slip and ice and slothfulness,
Oh, but,
This I know,
He uses weak vessels,
Though He doesn't have to, He chooses to.
He chose me.
Not based on anything I've done or do.
Or ever will do. 

Rest in this, refresh in this.
Be still.
I will, by His grace, I will.