Five Topics and Responses

I normally refuse to participate in memes because most of them are self-centered. This one is different because of the subject matter.

The meme is this:

Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ/Blog and elaborate on the subjects given.

You can ask questions about the post without me giving you 5 subjects.  If you do want topics, please ask for them.

I’ll do the same for anyone who comments here. Pastor Charles Lehmann assigned me these topics:

1. Autism
2. Halliburton
3. Hymnody
4. Living on the road
5. Teaching

Autism

Lutheran/orthodox Christian theology provides hope for those with special needs where other “Christian” theologies can fail. Where a parent might wonder what he did to deserve a child with special needs, you have two answers: everything and nothing.  You have everything to do with it because this child is human and came from humans and thus is sinful and unclean. You also have nothing to do with it because we do not choose what gifts and infirmities our children have. What you cannot say is that God is specifically punishing you for something you have done. There is no scripture to back up a charge that you didn’t pray enough or do something sufficient to please God.

I also think there is a special utility for liturgy for those with autism spectrum disorders. Regularity and routine in our lives reduces our need to analyze an action to see whether it is a good thing to do. When something is already learned, there’s less effort in execution. With many who have autism spectrum disorders, the more that can be made ordinary, the more comfortable they are. They will participate, so long as you resist the temptation to “make all things new” Sunday to Sunday.

Autism like any medical care provides possible vocations for people. We hire people to do most of the therapy our girl needs. Doctors do research to find causes and cures. Other people make puzzles and special games. There is something for people to do because of these disorders.

What we know through science is guaranteed to change. Think germ theory, or Einstein vs. Newton on gravity. Later on we may find out that something we were doing wasn’t the best thing to do or at the very least was wasteful. I dread that day, but when it comes, I pray that I may be forgiven and that I can forgive.

Halliburton

Cementing Pump and Bulk Truck

Halliburton was founded as an oilfield services company and recently has come back to being just an oilfield services company. We used to have government contracting and logistics as one of our businesses, and that much maligned department has been spun off to form its own company. The Halliburton of today tries to make money by being the best at properly diagnosing oilfield problems, proposing options with respect to cost and effectiveness, and executing our proposals without fail. There are those in our company who seem to act as though we are the low-cost provider, and for some unknown reason they always land in Business Development. That’s not a HAL-specific problem, I’m sure.

Some of you may have missed the Life of the Well series I published in 2006. That series has more detailed information about our core businesses.

People ask if I like my job. It would be perfect if I could just travel instantly. Meeting new people, seeing new locations, being a proven problem solver, and feeling confident in what I do are all good things about the job.

Hymnody

Sometimes I think it would have been fun to be a music major, but then I remember how I plateaued in my piano playing at about seventh grade. To be a Kantor/choir director type has some appeal to me.

The brain is a fascinating thing. Some people who can’t recite Psalm 23 can sing “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want” without any problems. Music is strong mortar for things we are supposed to know. It conveys additional information through major and minor keys, melodies and harmonies, and even rhythms. For example, in Faure’s Requiem, you have “In Paradisium” sung with long, angelic notes and soft arpeggios and “Dies Irae” with its trumpets, gong, and staccato syncopation.

But what shall this magical mortar of music hold? Do you actually learn something about God when you sing, “Classrooms and labs! Loud boiling test tubes! Sing to the Lord a new song!”? Or is it better to have information like “Salvation unto us has come by God’s free grace and favor; Good works cannot avert our doom, They help and save us never.”?

I had a discussion with a pastor who used more generic songs, using the context of the whole service to give meaning to the words in the songs. I suppose that’s ok, but how many of us sing a whole worship service when we entertain ourselves? We usually pick a song and hum or sing it. We take the song out of context. Thus, we need explicit hymnody. We remember hymns better than we remember sermons. Sorry, pastors.

Living on the Road

Marriott Houston Westchase, Houston, TX

Is not a “perk” of the job, no matter how nice the hotel is. It’s worse if you don’t have a refrigerator and a microwave. You can send laundry away to be done and not have it come back the same day, as happened to me on Tuesday. The rental car can have expired tags, and you’re not even in the same state as the rental car agency to get legitimate stickers put on it. Your cell phone may not work at your destination. All those things happened on this current trip to Virginia. Driving time or flight time is fairly useless, unless you have a lot of podcasts racked up on the iPod.

I would give up my frequent hotel and airline points to be able to do this job and come home every evening. My kids would be mad at me, though, because the only time they get to swim is when we take them on the road and use the hotel pool.

Teaching

One Chemical Engineering professor at University of Missouri-Rolla used to say that he learned more by teaching than by being a student. I thought that was crazy then, but I see his point. Some questions are frequently asked, but as I get more and more students, I can get a variety of questions. Even after 9 years teaching, once in a while I have to say, “Let me find out for you at the break.” I get to keep all those questions and answers in my head, and I know more about what I’m teaching.

The nature of my material changes as well. Bugs are fixed. New features are implemented. Sometimes, bugs are introduced. It happens.

I don’t teach to get an authority rush. I like helping people do their jobs better. The fact that they have a job gives me a foot in the door with them, because they already have an interest in doing their job faster or easier. If I don’t get buy-in, it’s because the product had a massive failure, and the people have no confidence in the project or me. Fortunately I have a good boss who’s willing to deliver the butt-chewing that the software department needs when they fail me. They haven’t failed me in a while.

Similar Posts:

• The Value of a Good Communion Hymn
• World Autism Awareness Day
• Teaching a Variety of Students in Faraway Places