fare thee well Ken

Ken Jennings’ ends his Jeopardy reign after surpassing $2.5M in winnings in 74 episodes. My son and I watched it as a part of our daily tradition. We’re not sure what we’ll do starting tomorrow.

The audience gasped in amazement, and I felt a small sinking feeling as well. He took it in good spirit, and gave the new lady champion a congratulatory hug. Wow, what a run! I did not pick up any intentional throwing-of-the-game as some bloggers speculated. And yet, if this show was indeed taped in September as kottke.org had been tipped off, the timing by Sony was impeccable to put the Seinfeld-themed of first round of Jeopardy with the Seinfeld DVD release promotional, and to have that happen to match the end of Ken’s run. A small added bonus for its marketing.

2 thoughts I’ll go on record for: my life-impacting decision that I alluded to thinking about got mostly resolved during my weekend in Dallas, that’ll save a lot of agonizing for me, chalk it up to a God-thing. Will share that with you all later.

And now that I don’t have to expend extra effort sorting through my career track planning matters for a while, I’ll have a little space to start writing autobiographically. I’ve had an inkling that I want (and need) to tell my story some time along the way, and rather than waiting to carve out a time and space to focus on that, which isn’t the best way that I do my work anyways, I’ll go ahead and say that I can start doing that here on my blog. Whether it’s pubishworthy doesn’t matter so much. But it’s gotta be blogworthy, and since I write for me and not necessarily for my readers, it is what it is.

To approach it in a non-linear fashion, I’ll not put the pressure on myself to have to chart out my outline first, nor to do it chronologically. I think I’ll just start with the 4 episodes I’d briefly talked about at TYF in September. I might get one in before Christmas. Stay tuned.

Dallas friends from a decade ago

Hangin’ out tonight at a friend’s house, authentic Chinese takeout, and heavy theological discussion after dinner for dessert. 2 of my seminary classmates from way back, and their young families. (I’m here in Dallas for an all-day business meeting tomorrow) Sorta funny how some people don’t change much, whereas in my own life, I’m sorta on a constant process of change and development as a late bloomer, as I’d describe it.

So this after-dinner conversation becomes a friendly debate about the concerns they had about Brian McLaren’s books, and what he was saying. I tried to navigate the conversation fairly, and my reading of McLaren is that he is not making specific assertions or propositional statements, and not particularly definitive, but rather he is asking thought-provoking questions in a gentle and deconstructing manner, in an effort to open the conversation for a re-examination of Christianity. We concluded our debate cordially, acknowledging some of their concerns for where McLaren might be taking this, and also acknowledging that he isn’t specifically, purposefully, intentionally charting a theological road map (my sense of it all).

long holiday weekend

Thanksgiving weekend is here, and we’ve kept it smaller and manageable on this go around. Thursday was dimsumming with my parents and brothers in nearby Rockville, and then Thursday dinner was a small traditional set with turkey breast (no bones!), gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce. Not being a traditional type, nor a reminescing type, I simply took in the warmth of being a cordial family member. Better than being alone, you know?

Now it’s only Saturday, and since we don’t get into the Black Friday shopping frenzy, it feels like having lots of time on my hands, and I’d resisted for the most part staying offline for Thursday and Friday. I’ve got a big life-impacting decision that is brewing and stewing on the back burner, and hope to reveal that to my readers here before the year’s out.

I’ll be in Dallas tomorrow (Sunday) through Tuesday morning. I’m tempted to cram in lots of networking meetups, but have kept myself to just 3 pre-arranged ones for Sunday, and Monday is an all-day meeting – the primary raison d’etre for the trip. Send me a text message to say hello and add to my meetup roster.

defacing U2?

I got it on the day after, it referring to the new U2 cd, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Opted for the physical CD instead of an iTunes download. On sale for $13.99 at FYE, with $3 mail-in rebate. My (very small) dilemma: do I deface my U2 CD packaging to cut out the original UPC code for a $3 rebate after 10-12 weeks of waiting? I’ll weigh in with a “NO”.

For those of you who’d like the video clips to U2 on SNL (Saturday Night Live), download them at urbanonramps.com here and here.

And now I just see that it’s online for $9.99 with $3 rebate at fye.com. Not worth the wait. Do I sound impatient to you?