So I just discovered Pandora internet radio while writing my paper today (page count: 28) and it is awesome!  I created some bluegrass-based stations and they are really what I'm digging.  What a world we live in!

Well unfortunately Purdue just lost in the Sweet Sixteen to UConn.  They are a very big team.  But I think we played with a lot of heart, even if we didn't play with a lot of finesse.

In other news my visit to UND yesterday was so cool!  I had a lot of fun with my high school friend Kate and her boyfriend, who is going to be a comrade of mine in our program.  Everyone was very nice and the campus glowed in the more beautiful side of March weather.  While on campus, the well-meaning director of admissions at Duke called me and tried to convince me to sign up.  I may or may not get funding to go there, but either way I feel as though Notre Dame has been able to make a better offer.

The Duke director's ace in the hole, however, was to appeal to my Methodist sympathies to try and pull me to North Carolina.  I'm sympathetic to the attempt, but I don't think I can turn UND down.  It looks like I'll be in South Bend next year, hanging out with the Pope and God's mom.  They'll let me in to their school but they won't let me take Communion.  That's a joke, I think they're all right.

Also, I get to stay on the banks of the Wabash this summer, an opportunity for which I am very thankful.  It will be a financial boon and let me spend time with my Purdue friends for a little while longer before I move.  Most of all, however, it lets me stay home for just a few more months, which is precious to me.

Page Count on my thesis: 22.

Look at this!  I think it's really funny.

It's from cartoonchurch.com, a very funny website for people who think cartoons about Anglican churches are funny.

There was an article in the Toledo Blade (America's coolest-named newspaper) a week ago about the compliment guys at Purdue.  I think it's really cool that they're getting some recognition!  The article said they'll be on Oprah and everything!

You may be asking yourself, hey Sam, how do you know what's in the Toledo Blade?  Well my parents live there now.  It's actually kind of a touchy subject.  Thanks a lot for bringing it up, jagoff.

Just kidding.

Today I spent several hours just to get a page and a half of material on my big paper.  Jeez.

In other news the weather is really nice and Spring is officially here!  The weather in West Central Indiana in springtime is without comparison.  And I just bought some Wavy Lays, so we're pretty much set gang!

Camping was awesome!  The weather was pretty wet, so we were often miserable, and the going was very tough.  But the sense of accomplishment makes everything worthwhile.

I recently confirmed, in a sadder line of thinking, that my big paper is due on April first.  That gives me 13 days to write 45 pages.  Let's get to it!

Before I leave with my good friends Mike and Ian for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, I post these words of wisdom that will change your outlook on life.

WORDS AND PHRASES YOUNG WOMEN SAY TOO MUCH:

- "Random"

- "Awkward"

- "Hi, my name is Maddie."

- "Led Zeppelin?  Yes, I love him."

- "I'm kind of a big deal."

- "Creeper"

- "I just threw up in my mouth."

Now go and sin no more.  Have a nice Spring Break too!

Pat's birthday yesterday was a lot of fun!  Six of us went to a really nice Italian restaurant in Indianapolis, which, if you know Pat, is the sort of thing very much up his alley.  Then we came back to his favorite place on Earth, O'Bryan's Nine Irish Brothers pub, for some merrymaking.  Our group about doubled and we were joking around and having a great time.  I come from a family that doesn't really stress the importance of birthdays, but after that one, I feel as though it's possible to inject some significance into birthday celebrations!

Why Shrek is a Bad Movie

There are several reasons why Shrek is a bad movie.  First, Eddie Murphy reprises his role as the quirky and cowardly dragon from Mulan line-for-line as Donkey, who is quirky and cowardly.  Second, the graphics on the movie are a little less quality than the movies Pixar puts out, which means that there's no reason to see the movie when you could just watch The Incredibles or Monsters, Inc. or Toy Story or Finding Nemo or any of the other way way better Pixar movies instead.  Third, the dialogue and gags try very hard to remind you that Shrek is PG and not G, with fart jokes and the it-got-old-quick interrupting-a-swear-word trick (like when the singing marionettes tell you to wash your.... face); the effect is that Shrek screams in your face "I'M EDGY, BUT NOT GOOD EDGY.... JEFF DUNHAM EDGY (that guy also tries too hard)."

I write this because some people my age like that movie.  It's not like enjoying Dirty Work, which was a bad movie that one can like without being embarrassed.  It's like choosing Harry Potter over Lord of the Rings.  You know, John Wayne Gacy liked Harry Potter too.

Today I got accepted to Notre Dame!  I also went to the Grad Fair to order my cap and gown and stuff like that.  Between the two, and my already significant senioritis, I feel as though I am completely checked out from school.  That's bad news for everyone eagerly waiting for my fifty-page masterpiece, Welsh Calvinistic Methodism in the Eighteenth Century, since I probably just won't write it at all now.  Or if I write it, I'll just do a bad job.

Well in life there are lots of times to take certain things up, and times to give things up.  For Lent people who choose to do so usually give something personally significant up; for example, I gave up sweetened things.  You guys, let me make it clear just how significant it is to me that I drink two glasses of root beer and eat four Snickers every morning.  

It's very important to take things up too!  I took up learning how to play the banjo last year.  I also took up eating healthier and working out more.  These "take-ups" and "give-ups" are the corpus of a person's process of character development.  We ought to take up behaviors and beliefs that contribute to the fulfillment of our duty and happiness, and give up behaviors and beliefs that do the opposite.

And what else is there to being a good person than that?  We all come across moments where we think we've gone astray and need to improve.  And I think the only ingredient to a happy life is that resolve to set out and improve--by taking up the right beliefs, and giving up the wrong ones; by doing the right thing, and not doing the wrong thing.  Some people call that "being born again."  I think that's about right.

Evangelicals, Alcoholics Anonymous members, and C.S. Lewis, don't confuse my position with Pelagianism.  Jeez.

Today I was reading some interesting articles online about Christianity, just like I do every day.  And I put off writing my senior honors history thesis, like I do every day, at least seven times a day.

In the articles about Christianity, there were some discussions about whether human beings have free will or not.  Some Christians think that there's no such thing as human free will, since God foreknows and predestines all things.  Some Christians think that God foreknows all things, but doesn't predestine them, so human beings still have free choices that God knew we'd choose ahead of time.  Some Christians think that it isn't logically possible for God to know the future with certainty or predestine things to happen, so human beings have free will in a way that's easy to see.

Well what a chestnut we have on our hands here, guys.

The First Entry

This is the first entry on my new blog! Which I have spelled wrong on purpose! Keep looking at this blog all the time, you guys.