Last Wednesday afternoon, I flew to Little Rock to meet up with my old friend Mike (affectionately spelled "Miek"). Miek's stuff was mostly packed, but we hung out a few blocks away at Clay and Patria's house. Miek, something of a chef (and beer brewer), had marinated some pork in a scrumptious-smelling sweet cinnamon sauce. The plan was to take ( Read more... )

This semester, I had the privilege of teaching COMP 524, Programming Language Concepts. Each computer science Ph.D. student in the department is required to teach a course. I was happy to get this one, because this was my favorite college class. Overall, it was a great experience ( Read more... )

I've been helping out with the 6th-8th grade youth group at church. I wasn't looking forward to it at first, but it's proved to be quite enjoyable. Last Sunday was no exception ( Read more... )

Last Friday afternoon, some of the guys at church gathered at Matt's homestead, which is kinda out in the country. We had a blast. It was the perfect setting, great company, and plentiful adventure. Here are some of the things we did ( Read more... )

A couple nights ago, I dropped a friend off at a UNC dorm after a church event. To drop him off, I have to go down a narrow lane, drop him off, and continue down the lane to a small parking lot behind another dorm, where I can then turn the car around and leave. Well, I dropped him off and drove down the lane. As I did, I passed by a group of ( Read more... )

Last Sunday, I carted some of the youth group kids from church to the pastor's house for an event we were having. Apparently, one of them didn't quite close the back left door all the way. It's understandable: the door doesn't hang quite right, so you have to throw it shut kinda hard ( Read more... )

I've been to an eye doctor several times in the past month or so. I'm trying to find some contacts that work for me. First, I got an exam and discovered that my eyes have deteriorated a bit since 10th grade (when I got my glasses). Then, I tried some contacts that you wear continuously (night and day) for a couple of weeks. I hate sticking ( Read more... )

My church has been talking about "margin" lately. It's the current sermon series. I've heard some gold nuggets of wisdom, and I figured I'd record them for posterity ( Read more... )

The conference I so desperately wanted to attend last month is called onething. The tagline is, "One desire. One pursuit. One answer. God alone." The whole point of the conference is the why and the how of making God (or Jesus) the one thing of importance in life. Somewhere around 15,000 people attended. Bonus: it was free ( Read more... )

After finishing up the semester, I hung around town for a few days, staying to run some errands that I had been putting off and also going to Courtney's birthday celebration. The celebration included kickball, Courtneyball (a variant of Calvinball), and 4-square (or boxball as Courtney called it), as well as grilled cheese and tomato soup on a ( Read more... )