Being older isn't all bad.

While there's a side of me that likes to compete, especially with the younger ones, it's really nice to be able to relax with people and just get on with the job at hand. It's also a sign that I have no interest in career progression any longer, and can just be myself, mostly.

Who said mechanical things are logical?

The clutch on Ben's Guzzi wouldn't release: he'd had it partially apart (flywheel and driven plate out - it's a car type design rather than a typical wet multiplate like most bikes) to check everything, but it still didn't work. Enquiring on a forum, they asked if he'd had it completely apart to check it? So this afternoon we stripped it completely - nothing obvious wrong - reassembled it, and now it works fine.

Great advice, but I wish it was logical.

PB for 5K

Managed a personal best for 5K running tonight despite a twingy knee. Wonder if I'll manage a run on Sunday?


BTW for those who take pictures and process them, Google have released the Nik software collection (a set of plugins designed to work with other software like Lightroom) free of charge to download. If you don't have anything like them then they are very good value for the cost of entry. ;-)  I've installed the suite, and now wonder whether it was a waste of time, since I primarily use On1's Perfect Photo Suite to do many of the same things, although I expect to find the HDR plugin useful.

Sylvia rides again

Sylvia being the name of the bike I collected on Tuesday night, Ben has sorted insurance and tax and taken her for a spin. Apparently the foot brake, linked between front and rear discs, works well, which is good because the front brake operated from the handlebars doesn't really work at all. She's not a thing of beauty at 35 years old, but still handsome in a slightly cobbled together kind of way.

Hopefully I'll get a ride in some time this weekend.

On a slightly different topic, my keyboard skills have really gone down the pan over the last few years, yet tonight I'm tapping away freely for the first time in ages, as though I've got something to write, and up until then without needing to make many corrections.  :p

Feeling a bit Ursa major

Apparently I growled when I entered the office today. Not ideal. :-(

Another of those mornings.....

Where you're in a hurry and leave slightly later than desirable, have to put fuel in the van that was hired the previous night before returning it, bash one's funny bone on the petrol pump, twice, return the van and get it checked in only to discover that you left your own car keys at home, so return home (now late for work) to collect them and the cafetieres that were forgotten in the hurry earlier, and the van will need to be used to drive to the physiotherapy appointment in the afternoon too, so will need more fuel before returning it.

And breathe.

Life will go on. The bike that was collected last night seems OK, and hopefully can be used as transport. Insurance and collection is being sorted for Chris's new car.

Self-inflicted tiredness. :p

This is a good time to pray for Europe

That there would be grace, mercy and forgiveness, rather than hate, anger and persecution.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35869254

The internet was predicted in 1946.

Well, more or less, anyway. Certainly human behaviour in the face of readily available information was.

A little extra vehicular activity

Sorry to disappoint anyone thinking that we had begun learning how to space-walk.

As of tomorrow night, despite some earlier protestations to the contrary, I shall be the owner of a motorcycle. Wether or not I will be the rider of said bike is another matter entirely, but I've just picked up a high-mileage used Guzzi V50 for Ben to use as an example to work from (hopefully not a donor of parts!) and possibly as transport to ride for work until his own is properly running. However it's also really tempting to acquire a lid, insurance, and give it a spin myself.

We've also probably found the replacement for Chris's beetle, and that may well arrive in a few days too, just in time for the easter weekend.

I'm looking forward to stopping the cash-haemorrhage that we're presently experiencing, even though new toys are fun.

The hunt continues

Car salesmen - why do they use so many inappropriate superlatives to your responses to their questions? I've just spoken to 'Alex' who is probably a nice guy outside his job, but left me feeling like I wanted a quick barf.

If one were a child

Being made to sit in a cool, dark room with a continuous rattling noise might have been a  punishment, but since this is work I consider it pleasant. There are 5 minute gaps between the times I need to take readings, so can perform some of the stretches prescribed for me by the physio.

And write short blogposts.

My right knee (the main complainer) is definitely better to run, but still hurts at other times. A quick check after a couple of minutes stretching suggests things are less crunchy-clicky than sometimes, though I suspect tomorrow morning will tell a different story. Whatever, young Caitlin at Pea Green has done a remarkable job getting me to run faster. Plus over time with more running I've been aware of becoming less flexible and with decreased mobility in joints, and her (occasionally bruising) efforts to push things back in place seems to be beneficial to that too.

Had a good Skype conversation with our friends in Bos-herz last night about the trip for the run, and rather looking forwards to it now.

Note to self - DO NOT assume that posts from the phone look the same when live. :p

Public transport is a failure

I need to be in Oxford for a lunchtime meeting, then back in the afternoon. Apparently there are only 2 trains out of Lower Heyford this morning, at 9.09 and 9.49.

Guess the car is king.

Off for my second dose of physio today.

Last time I was warned that I might be stiff or sore next day, but she was quite gentle and all was fine. Wonder if that will be different today?

So last night I ran back from Heyford park to home, taking it easyish and into a headwind. It felt comfy (as much as running ever can) and managed a personal best of 25.04 for 5k. Hope that's a sign of good things to come.

*edit*
Well who would have thought such a slender slip of a girl could put so much pressure on a single muscle. So this week I need to do another 5k without tape on the knees, followed by about 13-16k to check whether the quads are better now.

Mobile computing devices AKA

As phones generate curious behaviour.

For example, the standard 'keyboard' generally works well, yet there are dozens of alternatives that look a little different for which one must pay, in cash and in giving access to personal data. Why would anyone give access to their contacts and personal data, just to use something that does the same thing s with a slightly different look?

That was the first example that sprang to mind, but there's plenty of others.

I really don't get the lemming-like rush for more and more apps that do what is already being done with no more than cosmetics as a USP. Blackberry and Windows phones are shunned because they lack a large app store - weird - even though many of the key apps are available for those devices.

Please explain this to me, if you can.

That's sick - put a donk on it.

Apart from wondering whether this phrase will get more hits, it was something that I heard on BBC radio 4 Saturday morning that partly piqued my interest, partly amused me.

The phrase came from a club music form popular around the northern English industrial cities (Mnchester, Leeds, Bradford etc) called donkhouse, with the synth 'donk' sound - played on the back beat (wooden mallet from a Yamaha keyboard) - used to create some "bangin' tunes" (Hello Kevin and Perry). The theory that the radio program presented was that the donk sounded like weaving and other industrial machines at work, and therefore had cultural relevance.

Probably not to be taken too seriously.

Where should I start, after a week away?

In the last week or so I've watched 3 full-length films (on DVD), had physiotherapy for my knee problems, decided it's time to replace Chris's beetle, played guitar in another church celebration, test driven 2 cars with a sniffly wife and possibly found another useful piece in the puzzle for a company for who I'm doing development work. Oh, I also finished reading Eusebius (finally - now I can concentrate a bit more on What's Wrong With Outreach) and have started reaing a criticism/analysis of Origen's refutation of Celsus' The True Word (more interesting than it sounds).

Time flashes past.

I'm tempted to try to review the films (Edge Of Tomorrow was well made with a good story and pleasing characters, The Lady In The Van was a film much better in retrospect that at the time of viewing, Oblivion suffered the 'Hollywood effect' that replaced humanity with CGI) but I won't right now.

As for the cars, we test drove a used new VW Beetle 1.4TSi (great looks, great engine, good ride and handling, high price) and Mini convertible Cooper D (good looks, good engine, good ride and great handling, lower price). The beetle is a more practical car than most convertibles seem to be, with a large boot, folding seats and OK legroom in the rear (I managed an hour in the back without discomfort). The mini is a little less spacious in the back (good headroom still, 2"-3" less legroom) and all-round smaller & more nimble-feeling in other respects. Doing the 'looking back' test, Chris seemed to prefer the Mini, so that's probably where we'll go for her next car.

I'm still digesting Eusebius, with the final chapter not being like the previous text. It has been a very useful read however, and has really helped me understand why the ancient church was so intensely political and inclined to acquire power (protection from brutal persecution initially, though that became self-fulfilling very quickly). Before I began reading, my original impression had been that the church had gone off the rails once it became a state-sponsored, then state-controlling organisation. From this text, it appears the church had quickly become corrupted and fragmented in a way that looks modern long before that, with major heresies and schisms devloping even before the end of the first century. It's also been useful to see that the 'bible as the word of God' that we now have would not have been recognised at all by second and third century Christians, which I had been aware of, but not considered in this way before.

So we're asking the question

Should we get involved with a church plant?

The answer isn't clear yet, but we met together with them for the first time yesterday. There's a side that say "yes, this is the next phase, throw yourself in there, even if it's only for a time" and there's a side that says "Ummm. Not sure this is quite what I expected."

So we're exploring. Of course life is enormously more complicated than that, with all kinds of feelings that muddy the waters and make cooly rational decisions difficult, not least our friendships and the manner in which there appears to be a significant exodus of people from our present church family (all for good reasons, not falling out).

OTOH that might be part of establishing a new pattern of church (yes, seriously) involving multiple communities dispersed across an area instead on one central mass community, but that's another story. When our Austraian friend, Phil Walters came across a couple of years back he was talking about new models of church that were much less congregation-oriented, it it felt like God said "listen to him: you need to hear this".

Of course this tears to bits the traditional church model with significant numbers of paid staff, big building and trying to scrape all the possible attendees together into one place on a Sunday. I had a brief look at the idea of liquid church a few years back and decided that it was just chaos and a route to disorganisation and everyone eventually forgetting what it meant to live as Christian community. This *should* be different, with an emphasis on community as part of something larger too.

Oh the irony

To run out of heating oil on the first day of snow this 'winter' (yes, I know it's spring now).

Thank goodness for wood buring stoves. :-)

*edit*
Apparently we have oil out for delvery today, so if it comes this morning then I'll bleed the pipeline when I get home and we'll have heating again tonight. I just want the tank to have enough time to settle first, so we don't end up drawing water and particulates into the burner, even though there's a couple of inline filters.

Mis-remembered song lyrics

There's a song we sang on Sunday, where the first line of the chorus is "I'm falling on my knees". My head automatically remembers the next 2 lines as:

I'm begging darling please,
Is it me you're looking for?

Not helpful, and it's been an 'ear-worm' all week. :-p

Since I'm posting pics

Here's a couple of the mini in not-so-shiny condition. (Oops, spelling).

The boy has a toy to fix.

Guzzi V50 II / collection of odd bits of Italian engineering.

When I got home tonight he was cutting mudguard mounts from 2mm Ali sheet with an angle grinder. It's that kind of bike.

I'm still grinding away at Eusebius

And I'm inclined to believe it's a useful and quite informative grind, even if that's an unfortunate choice of words, considering how much he writes about martyrs.

This section of the book has been dealing with the period that he personally experienced during the co-reigns of Maximianus, Maxentius, Maximums,  Constantius (father of Constantine) Galerius and Lysinius (names are a little flexible, not least due to the OCR occasionally failing as the book was digitised) when the empire was split into separate regions. He describes a period of heart-rending brutality, though not at all out of character with other times in the history of Rome, when an emperor was able to take whatever he desired without limit or restriction, experiencing insatiable lust and then unlimited fear and superstition.

The church in the period immediately prior to this round of persecution is presented as having gone completely off the rails under benevolent emperors, with bishops building empires, frequent heresy and internal warring. The persecution was described as though it was God's just retribution on the church for failing to worship Him. The need to please God - the word 'appease' God was used in the translation, though I have no idea how accurate this is in terms of Eusebius personal or the common church theology - was seen as the way to get the persecution lifted. One has the feeling of a system of religion not so far removed from Judaism with updated details, and not like a vibrant, Spirit-led 1st century Christianity.

Throughout the book thus far there is a subtext of an increasingly sophisticated system of religion being developed, with significant variations between different geographical locations due to the power and influence of individual bishops. Some of these variations seem honest and of good intent, some because of emotional direction or personal preference, some of mistaken intent that would allow itself to be corrected and some of deliberate malice for the purpose of acquiring power and wealth. Martyrdom was frequent and common, often performed with a breath-taking degree of cruelty, always presented as being desirable and something one should seek in order to obtain a better salvation. Those performing the various tortures were almost always seen as being willingly directed by demons, no longer in control of themselves, and subject to Satan's will. Self-harming and deliberate hardship was also seen as desirable, for example Origen's attempt at self-castration so that he might become a eunuch, in his mind emulating the apostle Paul, was admired.

It's interesting to filter these behaviours through an orthodox 20th century theology, but futile to view them with 21st century secular values.

This book has really opened my eyes to what I formerly saw as rather bizarre, highly superstitious religious paintings that depicted the righteous going to heaven while the ungodly were sent to hell to endure various unspeakable torments. What I first though were the products of a superstitious mind, I now rather suspect is a replication of many of the tortures that early Christians were forced to endure at the hands of those driven by demons. The torturers were being handed over after death to experience the very things that they had inflicted in life, and the experience of those early martyrs created such a strong impression on the church that, more than 1000 years later, the result was still being reproduced in art.

What ever happened to X?

Where X is someone you worked with......

Having spent time on linked In building business contacts over the last week, I've been amazed at how many ex-colleagues have become consultants. Maybe it's because they (we?) have reached the age where kids are grown, mortgages paid etc, but I also wonder if it's a set of attitudes and an independence of thinking. Who knows?

God waits for us.

Yup, really.

Ever do a bit of a stock-take, and I don't mean just counting how many tins of beans or bottles of wine you have in the larder.

Since we were released from Heyford Park my relationship with God has been up & down. Escape came barely in time, and I'd reached the point where I'd seriously wanted to walk away from church and churchy things, not really wanted to carry on, burned out emotionally and plain tired of the politics and religious guff that made us dance round in circles. Our welcome back to BCC and the love shown then amazed me, but at the same time my emotions were in ribbons, and each meeting was a rollercoaster between boredom and tears.

Normality gradually returned. Sort of.

More recently I've found myself wanting to pray for people again, wanting to spend time with God (but often failing to do so) fasting a little, praying, studying the bible. I realised just now the change that's gradually taken place, and I'm grateful. Both the old Toni who could help lead a church and the old Toni who gets things wrong are still here, but there's new stuff on the horizon too.

Wonder what will happen next?

Back in the lab today.

When everything goes well, is understood and in control, lab life is easy and pleasant. When nothing works repeatably then everyone starts navel-gazing, looking at the most unlikely parameter in the hope of finding a controlling factor. 

Deja vu.

Sometimes it even produces useful information. 29V 560ma. It's just stuff.

Presently enjoying an aldesko* lunch.

Not to self - spell-check phone blog posts more carefully (less carelessly) than usual. 

*It's like having lunch alfresco, but sat at your desk. :p

More than a foot*

Someone described me as fabulous in an email today - I think Aesop would be proud.

*not merely legendary then.

Wednesday morning

Part-way through a coffee, feeling various pulls about what to post, wondering if not posting at all is better than saying anything.

So I finally decided that I cannot continue in a huddle, and that the book I mentioned a while back - Building A Discipling Culture - contains too much that is contrived or simply plain wrong.

And this bothers me.

A lot.

It's one thing to stand back and chuck the odd rock at the Church of England, because it's been built up over generations by some guys that were godly and some that were the opposite, and it's been constructed from parts borrowed from each generation that's passed through it's doors. But it's quite another to see people who I've known and trusted, at least to some degree, picking up something that looks increasingly unhealthy and start building it into a church group that I feel I've had a hand in building.

I mentioned there's a lot of crank stuff out there about Mike Breen and 3DM, and I don't know what truth is behind it (masonic - really??!) but one more sensible review I came across that didn't seem like that was here on The Schooley files.

I never refused to be part of a church initiative before, even when I didn't like it. Guess there's a first time for everything.

*edit* When I was a new-ish Christian and really determined to be radical and 'go for it' as hard as I could, the guys doing the heavy shepherding (as it became known) seemed really good. What could be better than following directions from Godly men who were sensitive to the Holy Spirit and bulding the church. Then I saw some of the effects, and how the guys doing it were just normal Spirit-filled christians who made mistakes, were sometimes self-serving or unable to step out without an OK from the guy they were following. And then I saw the church splits, not first hand, fortunately.

A key difference is that heavy shepherding only really happened in relatively few streams, while this is seeping into many streams that have no natural connection to 3DM.


In other news, I have started running again, and while the knee is reminding me to take it easy, its not bad either.


And my assistant arrives here in 2 weeks. :-)

Differences between north and south

I heard today, about north and south pints and how to pull them. Beer, for ths unfamiliar with the word 'pull' in this context.

Apparently a southern pint needs to be drawn slowly, with just a fine skim of bubbles on top of the beer. Southern beers are often heavy, and need to be made peacefully. A northern pint apparently should be jetted into the glass to create a deeper foamy head.

This started as a rant-ette about Australian bar staff and the serving of beer that was too cold by a morris-man, shortly after a question about the etymology of the word 'coaster'.

After just over 18 months

The keyboard on my Dell is starting to play up, mainly the G and H keys. I have 3 years next business day on-site warranty, so may well invoke that before the business is completely closed.

Talking of fragility and short lifespan, a colleague's iPhone 5 started on the death-spiral of ever-shortening battery life a couple of weeks back at just 13 months old. If it had been a consumer purcase then Apple would have replaced it for him (as required by consumer laws) but because it was a business phone they wanted £199. Eventually this was negotiated down to £60 (the cost of a replacement battery) but his experience of Apple staff over the course of multiple visits to a store many miles away was not encouraging. I wonder if there has been a change in corporate culture?

I have been 'encouraged' by work to have a facebook account in order to operate a business page for raising awareness of the lab here. Friends outside of work will not be able to connect: this is for business only.

I'm also having to resurrect my Linked-In account, and worse than that, will also become a twitter user.

It's a sad day.

Writing with a gift pen.

A local business has sent a mass mailshot to all the businesses in this building. Result: a mass of free pens with a small LED light at one end and a rubber nub at the other.  The point of the light isn't hard to fathom, and I would guess the rubber nub is intended for use as a touch screen pointer.  So let's try it then.

Wkkind of chy CND t a fingip.

Works kind of patchy compared to a fingertip.

What does it say about your business to send out a piece of shiny junk?  What does it say about how you perceive your customers? I need to bear this in mind, since a growing aspect of my job will be generating publicity and business links.

A good lesson to learn.