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Resume Writing Tips

June 20, 2009 in Editorial | 1 comment

I’ve spent some time over the last week looking at resumes. I’ve had about 100 or so cross my email inbox from a variety of job posting sites, and I was reminded of a few quirks that people tend to fall into that are not at all helpful for getting yourself a job. I’ve been on both sides of the hiring manager divide, and I thought I would relate some resume writing tips. There are a few examples given below that are IT-centric, so feel free to fill in your own examples as you’re reading.

  1. Do not include an objective section: Objective lines are always generic; they say nothing that differentiates you from others who are applying. I would much rather that a person has an overview section that includes your career highlights or technical capabilities. Telling me that you’re “interested in using your skills in an innovative and challenging environment” says nothing and wastes precious space. Rather, tell me that you “have 5 years experience in data warehousing technologies, including the deployment of 3 large scale data cubes.” The former is a statement that tells me nothing specific. The latter gives me a much better idea of who you are professionally and what you’re capable of accomplishing.
  2. Proofread: Your resume is the first piece of work you’ve created that I see. Do you really expect me to trust your level of conscientiousness if you’re not capable of adequately proofreading your public facing professional document? The answer should be no. This includes not only spelling and grammar, but consistent formatting.
  3. Do not use a generic resume template: Again, when a hiring manager is looking at stacks of resumes, differentiation makes a difference. If your resume blends in with 50 others, it’s a safe bet that I’m not going to remember yours. It’s worth your while to spend some time planning out the formatting of your resume for uniqueness.
  4. Tell me what you’ve done; tell me what it accomplished: Most people do the former, but few do the latter. I oftentimes read resume blurbs like “program effectively in C#.” A sentence like this relates to me your skill set, but it doesn’t tell me what you’ve done with this skill. A blurb like “programmed a replacement CRM system in C#, increasing application performance and saving the company $50K over the previously licensed CRM system” not only relays your skills, but it tells me what your skills have accomplished.
  5. Use white space: White space is capable of focusing the attention of the reader on particular pieces of the resume. More often than not, I receive what I refer to as “machine gun” resumes. These are resumes that use 8 point font, have 0.15in margins, and have full lines of text on every line. The thinking here seems to be that if you’re able to throw every possible thing you’ve ever done or read about (or whatever) at the manager, they’ll be impressed. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. If it’s difficult for me to focus on your resume, and there’s no indication of what pieces of the document you’d like for me to focus on, sensory overload takes over and it’s nearly impossible for me to remember anything about your resume.
  6. Do not refer to yourself in the third person: It sounds ridiculous, but I’ve seen this in a lot of resumes. You cannot vouch for yourself. By referring to yourself in the third person you sound silly. Do not do this.
  7. No images: Please don’t include any images. I’m sure some people will disagree with this one, but I don’t think that it’s appropriate. For tech resumes, I understand that people are sometimes interested in including graphics that represent certain received certifications. While these certifications should certainly be listed in the resume, please exclude the graphics. There have been several times where people have included graphics for certifications that have NOTHING to do with the position they’re applying to. And this tells me that they’re simply blanketing job sites with resumes rather than to tailor their search to specific positions.

There are a lot of other recommendations I could give, but others have already done a great job of this. Please check out these other resume tip sites:

Resume Tips from Taos
44 Resume Writing Tips from Daily Writing Tips
12 Important Resume Tips (YouTube)

Photo by woodleywonderworks

The Consequences of Trusting Computers

May 29, 2009 in Editorial | 1 comment

Computers were created in large measure to solve problems. And the programs that run on computers are designed to solve these problems. And those programs generally run to do exactly what we tell them to do. And much of what we tell them to do is straightforward in the sense that the problems they solve follow the law of non-contradiction, i.e. an answer provided by a computer for a specific problem is either true or not true, but never both simultaneously.

I can program a computer to answer for me the question, “What is three factorial?”
The answer provided, hopefully “six”, is either true or not true, but is quite obviously not both.

I’m ignoring some gray areas here, particularly in the places where problems are solved by computers learning, a la genetic algorithms in the case of Roger Alsing’s EvoLisa program or neural nets in the case of GNU Backgammon. But even in these arenas, computers are programmed to perform specific tasks that solve (or approximate) particular problems. For the rest of this post, I’m generally referring to the simpler class of problems, though I will touch on how decisions made within the financial sector over the last several years have in part caused our current global economic situation based on solutions to incomplete mathematical models.

I really started thinking about this issue in relation to the now famous Verizon Math site and associated videos that show just how hapless humans can be when we depend entirely on computers to return the correct answer. What I’m saying here is that we’ve more or less reached the point where we believe that computers will always return the correct answer, and forget that while computer programmers aim to have their programs answer on the “true” side of the law of non-contradiction, sometimes this unfortunately isn’t the case.

If you’d like a poignant example, please watch this video, where several Verizon employees fail to recognize how their computer system has overcharged the customer on the phone. I don’t bring this video up to pick on Verizon specifically, but this is an issue that has gained a lot of attention over the last several months:

Now, here’s the point: Though Verizon is in the wrong, the employees are not willing to recognize the error. And why is this the case? I can think of several reasons.

  1. Verizon employees are used to hearing customers complain about how they have been mischarged, and generally speaking the customer is wrong.
  2. These Verizon employees do not understand the math being explained to them by the customer.
  3. These Verizon employees are trusting what their computer system is telling them without fail.

And I think that all three issues played a part in the lack of understanding of the employees. But the issue that bothers me the most is the third, that the employees infallibly trust their computer system. What bothers me most about this story is that even in the face of blatant mathematical reasoning, the belief of the employees was to side with the answer provided by the computer. And the computer was incorrect. Due to a variety of circumstances, the math provided by the computer program did not match the price quote delivered by Verizon. And rather than viewing the computer as the product of human intellict, they viewed the computer as the objective arbiter.

Using the computer as an objective arbiter is a dangerous business for a variety of reasons, including most notably that the program returning the answer can be incomplete or incorrect. In the case of the recent financial meltodown, at least part of the blame can be placed on mathematical models that viewed sets of risk transactions (e.g. credit default swaps) as indepdent events. As it turns out, these events were NOT independent. Here’s an article about this. But an assumption of the program was to treat them independently. So was the computer wrong? Practically speaking, in retrospect, yes. But I don’t think that’s the right way of looking at it. The computer was answering the question based upon the programmer’s intent. And it was answering the question correctly in that sense.

What’s the moral of the story? Basically, it’s that computers answer problem in EXACTLY the ways they are programmed to do so. No more and no less. Computers are designed to be “right”, but it doesn’t mean that it will always pan out this way. Treating them as flawless objective arbiters is farming out your intellect. And while I’m certainly not saying that computers and their programs can’t be trusted (hell, it’s what I do for a living), I’m also saying that it’s a good idea to treat them as if they’re a product of humanity.

G-20 in Pittsburgh and Hockey

May 28, 2009 in Editorial | No comments

It’s not very often that I blog about my hometown of Pittsburgh, but today is one of those days. Congratulations to Pittsburgh, which will be hosting the G-20 summit this coming September. Good stuff. You can read the AP version of the story here. Of course, when the White House made the announcement today the media’s response was along the lines of “Whaaaaaat?!” But as a person whose lived in Pittsburgh for a long time, I’m very excited for this positive attention. We have a lot to offer in this city, and I’m glad that to show that to the world.

In addition, I must say that I’m ridiculously excited to see the Pittsburgh Penguins back in the Stanley Cup finals for the second year in a row. Sports, of course, are one of the major reasons people know about Pittsburgh, and between the Steelers and the Penguins, the city has had a good run as of late. The Pens didn’t pull it out last year, but I’m feeling good for this year.

LET’S GO PENS!

Reflections on the Anniversary of Kurt Gödel’s Death

January 14, 2009 in Editorial, Logic/Math | No comments

Kurt Gödel died 31 years ago today. From the little I’ve read of his life, and from the even smaller amount that I truly grasp from his work, I believe that only in reality could such a fantastic and somewhat lamentable figure come to be. He was included in the infamous Vienna Circle, but was himself a Platonist. He was shy, reclusive, and prone to illnesses both physical and mental. He was a friend to Albert Einstein. And he shook the world of mathematics in a way that destroyed the Hilbert program. In simple terms, he showed that the mechanization of mathematics could not be fully automated, or that mathematics was not something that could be neatly placed in a box and tied up with a bow.

John W Dawson Jr. explains the first of Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems by saying, “In his 1931 paper Gödel showed that, no matter how you formulate the axioms for number theory, there will always be some statement that is true of the natural numbers, but that can’t be proved. (That is, objects that obey the axioms of number theory but fail to behave like the natural numbers in some other respects do exist.)”

John Von Neumann, certainly one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, had the following to say in a letter shortly after the publication of the Incompleteness theorems:

Thus today I am of the opinion that 1. Gödel has shown the unrealizability of Hilbert’s program. 2. There is no more reason to reject intuitionism (if one disregards the aesthetic issue, which in practice will also for me be the decisive factor). Therefore I consider the state of the foundational discussion in Königsberg to be outdated, for Gödel’s fundamental discoveries have brought the question to a completely different level.

Another way of summing this up is to say, “this work has changed the way we must view mathematics.” I have to imagine that the fame of the majority of famous people peaks in the prime of life, only to wane with time and death. Only the smallest number of people see their influence grow with time, as reflection shows their achievements to be truly monumental. Gödel, I believe, sits comfortably in the latter group.

Obviously, I have a bit of a crush.

Basic Calculators and Overkill

September 29, 2008 in Editorial | 2 comments

I really enjoyed reading this post about the physicality of a calculator over at Social Mathematics. The idea of having a simple calculator available to you in your workplace or home office setting is intriguing to me. I must admit that I do enjoy having a basic little calculator at my disposal. I know that I can open up a spreadsheet on my computer to take care of some maths, or that I can simply use my brain, but there’s something about using a calculator for basic arithmetic that is appealing to me. I tend to use the calculator as a sort of extension to my short term memory.

Of course, it’s quite possible to take this idea to the extreme. Many moons ago at a previous job, there was an individual who worked there that was not the sharpest crayon in the box. We’ll call this individual “Slowbe”, and we will assume for this story that Slowbe was a man.

Slowbe was well known for his occasional mental lapses, and I remember hearing a story about him sitting in a meeting with several others, going over various numbers in a spreadsheet. This was a spreadsheet that Slowbe had created himself. As the group was looking at the numbers, Slowbe decided that he wanted to add up several numbers in the spreadsheet. So he left the conference room, walked around 300 meters round trip to his desk, and returned with a pocket calculator.

Now, I’m not sure if you, the reader, are familar with Excel. But when you have a spreadsheet open, and there are several numbers within this spreadsheet which you’d like to add up, doing this requires about 0.4 seconds worth of work. In essence, Excel can act quite easily as a really stinkin’ powerful calculator. Everyone in the meeting (most of whom were IT people), sort of looked at one another with “What just happened?” kind of faces.

This, my friends, is overkill.

Picture by draggin of a Little Professor Calculator created by Texas Instruments in 1976.

Midnight Due Dates

March 23, 2008 in Editorial | 1 comment

I’ve always hated when professors have midnight due dates for assignments. This is because there doesn’t seem to be a grand understanding of what a midnight due date actually means. For instance, consider that I’m taking two courses, and that each of them has an assignment due at midnight on April 1. For Professor X, midnight on April 1 actually corresponds to 00:00:01 on April 1, i.e. the very first moment after midnight on April 1. For Professor Z, midnight on April 1 corresponds to 23:59:59 on April 1, i.e. the very last moment before midnight on April 2. This has bothered me so much that I’ve done a small amount of research, and have come to realize that Professor X is actually correct.

From the official Greenwich Mean Time website, “Every day starts precisely at midnight and A.M. starts immediately after that point in time e.g. 00:00:01 A.M.” This may seem to be obvious, but there’s a remarkable amount of confusion over the issue. Professors who understand this call for due dates of 11:59:59 PM on a particular day. The airline industry always rounds similarly so as to not confuse customers. So if you ever have an assignment due at midnight, it may be in your best interest to check with your professor about what she or he really means!

Here are a few links other than the official one above that will give you more information about noon and midnight:

Math that Doesn’t Stick

April 27, 2007 in Editorial | No comments

Glue!Memory is a strange thing. I was thinking about this the other night in the context of a few simple math facts that have somehow always alluded my memory. For instance, whenever I have to mentally compute either 7+5 or 8+5 I really have to think about it. I’m not quite sure why. My conjecture is that I was absent from primary school on that particular day, and simply never recovered. I had a similar experience with the lower-case cursive letter “k”.

Does anyone else out there have a similar experience? I’m sure that this phenomenon is fairly universal. Science is teaching us some amazing and unexpected stuff about how the mind works, and so I suppose that it’s not surprising that sometimes “easy” facts escape us.

Let’s Go Pens!

March 13, 2007 in Editorial | No comments

As a lifetime resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I’d like to take this moment to express my happiness at learning that the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey organization will be staying in the city. Thank you to Mario Lemieux and the countless others who put forth both effort and patience in making this deal a reality. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read a little bit about the outcome of this long ordeal here. I grew up in a family that followed hockey closely, and I loved watching Lemieux and company win two Stanley Cup championships for the city of Pittsburgh in the early 90s. I’m glad that I’ll be able to see more hockey in this city! Let’s go Pens!

Is America Too Damn Religious?

March 8, 2007 in Editorial, Theology | No comments

NPR. Yesterday I listened to a fantastic podcast from the NPR program Intelligence Squared U.S.. From the website, “Intelligence Squared U.S. brings Oxford-style debating to America – one motion, one moderator, three panelists for the motion and against.” The specific program I listened to examines the question, “Is America Too Damn Religious?”, which is a particularly fascinating question to me. The panelists present a scope of different opinions on this issue, and most of the comments are well thought out. Everyone is generally respectful, which is a trait I find important in this type of programming. The reflections are at times theological, political, and practical, which was an interesting mixture to listen to. The entire program can be found here. It’s possible to download a free MP3 version of the program on this page. For those of you with iTunes, you can also find an abbreviated version of the debate by looking for the Intelligence Squared U.S. podcast (which is also free). The entire debate runs about 1.5 hours (the abbreviated podcast is about 1 hour), but I think it’s worth it. For those familiar with the issues surrounding this debate I wouldn’t expect to find too much new information, but what I thought was interesting was the particular representation of viewpoints associated with the panelists.

Pigs and Vegetarianism

February 1, 2007 in Editorial | 4 comments

The pigs are driving!If you haven’t read this article written by Jeff Tietz for Rolling Stone magazine, I highly suggest reading it. The piece presents the pork industry through the business of Smithfield Foods, which is the largest pork producer in America. The article suggests that one of every four pigs in America is slaughtered by this company. There’s a lot of familiar ground covered for those who know about industrial food production, such as the living conditions of the pigs, unsanitary excrement levels, and animal antibiotic consumption. The article paints a bleak picture, but manages to do so while giving the reader a fair amount of readable statistics. There’s also a historical portion that tells of the story of Joseph Luter III, the chairman of Smithfield Foods. It’s interesting to read the economic implications of the growth of such a large company. The keyword of the entire article is pollution. This specific company (and others like it) exposes nearby people and land to a copious amount of pollution. One statistic relayed is that Smithfield’s largest processing plant “dumps more toxic waste into the nation’s water each year than all but three other industrial facilities in America.” Yikes.

Part of what I like about this writing is its focus on the impact on humanity. Oftentimes these types of stories are sad stories only from the perspective of the animal (which is still true), but doesn’t measure the ways that businesses like Smithfield Foods are adversely influencing human lives. Tietz focuses on the ways that pollution generated on the farms sickens people and keeps them from leading normal lives. Fish who used to live in the areas waterways are now dead, ending the employment of countless local fishermen. Workers in the hog plants die while becoming overwhelmed with the toxic fumes they breathe. People living in the area have contaminated drinking and bath water. The list goes on.

I’ve never been the type of vegetarian who gets angry with omnivores. But articles like this one give me reason to keep up my chosen eating habits. Our current methods of food production are not sustainable. When millions of gallons of pig shit per year are dumped into our rivers, that is NOT sustainable. When pigs are pumped full of drugs that breed antibiotic resistant germs that make people sick, that is NOT sustainable. And on and on. Okay, my rant is over. Read the article, it’s full of information that people should know.

Google and Port Authority in Pittsburgh?

December 6, 2006 in Editorial, Technology | No comments

One of the major gripes I’ve heard people make about the Port Authority transit system in Pittsburgh is that it’s impossible to plan trips. The best method is generally to talk with people who have been using public transportation for longer than you have. Port Authority set up a route search engine through its website about a year ago, but it was downright terrible. I know this system can still be accessed, but I’ve been disillusioned enough by it to forget about its existence. Well, it looks like Google has taken a step in the right direction and created Google Transit, which is a product currently available in 8 U.S. cities, including Pittsburgh. It’s exactly what it sounds like it would be: a way to search public transportation lines in the city of Pittsburgh. I haven’t thoroughly tested it yet, but the interface is basically an extension of Google Maps. Good stuff. I suppose that having Google in Pittsburgh will lead to this type of perk. I’m sure there are some kinks to be worked out, but I’m EXTREMELY happy about this development. I generally think that public transportation is a great way to travel, and one of the hindrances has definitely been route planning, at least for this city. This type of online aid should help with this problem. Now if we can only work on this price system…

Eat N’ Park Says Happy Holidays

December 2, 2006 in Editorial | 2 comments

If you grew up in Pittsburgh you always knew that it was officially the holiday season when you saw this commercial. Seriously, I know it’s dumb, but this 30 second TV spot always makes me feel a bit sentimental. I thought I would post it here since I know quite a few Pittsburgh folks who read this site. Enjoy!

The Prestige and Tesla

October 28, 2006 in Editorial, Entertainment | 1 comment

Tesla.This evening I went to the theater to see the movie The Prestige, which was a fantastic. I highly recommend it. The acting was superb and the subject matter was intriguing. And hell, David Bowie was in it! Magic, and ultimately its relationship to science, were key themes in the story. Though there were a few minor holes in the plot it was definitely the type of movie that spurred some discussion after the viewing.

I don’t want to spoil anything with this post, but I will say that Nikola Tesla plays an important role in the story. When I got home I immediately turned to Tesla’s Wikipedia entry where I learned that three pieces of information played up in the movie were at least partially true:

1. There was some bad blood between Edison and Tesla, not least of which because Edison seems to have screwed Tesla out of a large chunk of change for some brilliant work he did for Edison.

2. Tesla did move his base of operations for a time to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he did some work on “wireless telegraphy”.

3. Especially later in life Tesla held some fantastic theories regarding subjects such as UFOs and the like. It seems to be the case that some of these beliefs came out of an untreated psychiatric disorder (probably OCD).

Interesting. Feel free to read more about Tesla at the link above. And I’d highly recommend seeing the movie. It’s one of the best I’ve seen this year.

Hot Dog Insanity

October 27, 2006 in Editorial | 1 comment

Hot Dog Buddies.I thought I should let everyone know that my friends over at Hot Dogma, which happens to be the best hot dog shop in the city of Pittsburgh, have recently had a syndicated news story come across from the AP. You can read that article here. Also, there’s another local news article here and some local news video of the story here (link may not be Mac friendly). I don’t understand the situation fully, but Hot Dogma is being legally forced to relinquish its name due to a certain type of copyright infringement with another restaurant located in Miami, FL. The so-called Dogma Grill believes that it’s necessary to squash the name of a business located hundreds and hundreds of miles away. Okay. Good for you. At any rate, Hot Dogma won’t be closing its doors, but will be born again under a different name. If you’re curious about what that new name may be, click on the link above!

Windmill

October 3, 2006 in Editorial | 3 comments

I saw this photo over on Boing Boing this morning and just had to put it up here. I’m not well versed in the specifics of windmill driven energy, but damn these things are good looking. It’s a great merger of technology and nature in my opinion.

Beautiful Technology.

Engage Pittsburgh

October 2, 2006 in Editorial | No comments

Busways to Bikeways.I’ve been meaning to write out my thoughts on the Engage Pittsburgh event that Emily and I attended a few weeks back. This event, sponsored by The Sprout Fund, was meant to serve as an idea-roundup for ways that individuals wanted to change the city of Pittsburgh. There were ideas fitting many categories, including transportation, economic development, housing, arts & culture, etc. Based upon the ideas that came out of the event The Sprout Fund will be issuing around $100,000 to help with the implementation of some of these initiatives. If you’d like to see one of the ideas I helped to conceive you can link to it here. The idea centers around changing the Pittsburgh busways so that bikers could use them as well. Though there would definitely be some infrastructure issues I think an idea along these lines would be extremely beneficial for the city.

The whole event, though noble in intent, was lacking in several ways. First, Emily and I were immediately split up. Though we came to the event to experience and brainstorm ideas together the staff separated parties that came together. Though I could understand the intent of this procedure there was no advance warning that such a split would occur. This was surprise one of the day.

Though I was really hoping to engage personally with individuals there wasn’t much time for such interactions. The whole event was extremely structured, and we were meant to keep a stringent schedule. In that sense the event felt extremely inorganic. While there was a large contingent of people who knew one another (the “in” crowd), I was not one of these people. It seemed that both the staff and “in” individuals weren’t interested in getting to know me. I was saddened by this reality. But toward the end of the day I did get to interact with a few people a bit more fully, so I wouldn’t call the day a relational waste.

I commend The Sprout Fund for their initiative on this event, but I thought that the details could’ve been carried out in a friendlier and more efficient manner. As a silly example, though there was a lunch provided only about 25% of them were vegetarian. But this was an event for the GRANOLA crowd of Pittsburgh. I’m being a bit facetious but you get my point. By the time Emily and I got there the vegetarian option had vanished. And I know that a lot of other folks experienced the same problem.

I’m hoping that the event actually advances change in the city. I’m weary that there was a lot energy generated that will vanish into the ether. Hopefully I’ll be proved wrong on that point.

Remembering.

September 6, 2006 in Editorial | No comments

Five years ago I heard the news while sitting in Harbison Chapel at Grove City College. I was recently watching a bunch of Daily Show clips on YouTube and hadn’t seen the following segment for a long time. I thought it would be good to share today. It’s Jon Stewart’s monolugue from the first show on air after 9/11/2001. Watch it here.

Logic Nest

August 23, 2006 in Editorial | No comments

Logic Nest.Since I’ve been getting more and more traffic as of late I’ve decided to change over the site to its own dedicated domain name. Logic Nest was the first phrase that came to mind, so I went with it. Please take a moment to update your RSS feeds for this site if you use them, and if you’re here from StumbleUpon I would appreciate a thumbs up! Thanks everyone.

Also, I’ve added a Contact Me page so that you’re able to get in touch with me easily if interested. If you have any news/questions that you’d like for me to address on this site please shoot me a message.

During My Drive

June 4, 2006 in Editorial, Theology | 1 comment

1, 5, 4, 9, ...While driving home from Bethel Park today I saw two somewhat “interesting”, if not troubling, sites:

1. On a church marquee I saw the following: “Roadmap to heaven: turn right and go straight.” There are so many ways to disagree with this assertion that I don’t even know where to start. So I won’t. I relate it merely for your possible amusement.

2. I saw a PA license plate with the specialized message “GCC GRAD”, which I’m assuming stood for “Grove City College Graduate”. Grove City College, my undergraduate alma mater, is a fairly right-wing Christian school. The car which the license plate was attached to was a large SUV. Inconsistent? Sheesh…

Aldo Coffee Company Barista

April 6, 2006 in Editorial | 1 comment

Hmmm Good.Aldo Coffee Company is probably responsible for brewing the best coffee in Pittsburgh. It’s located in Mt. Lebanon, and is less than a five minute walk from the Mt. Lebanon trolley stop. They take coffee quite seriously in this cozy place, and they also happen to serve some scrumptous Panini sandwiches as well. The owners are friendly, the decor is inviting, and the drinks are just plain good (my favorite so far is the Cappuccino Aldo).

Also, it just so happens that the establishment boasts as a barista Ms. Belle Battista, who will be traveling to Charlotte this weekend to compete in the United States Barista Championship. In other words, she makes some dang good coffee. Actually, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper wrote an article about her yesterday. You can read that article here. So if you’re looking for some good coffee, I highly suggest checking this place out.

Good luck and happy brewing this weekend Belle!

Six Billion and Counting Fast

March 28, 2006 in Editorial | No comments

Hello earth. I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that there are well over 6 BILLION people living on the planet this very day. In fact, we’re now closer to 7 billion than we are to 6 billion. Soak in the thought…

6 billion. The most people I’ve probably ever seen in person at one time is about 94,000 (at a home Penn State football game in Beaver Stadium). In the metropolitan Pittsburgh area there is a little over 1 million. Utterly ridiculous.

6 billion people. As a “math person” I’m inclined to think about large things. Some of them are countably large and some of them are uncountably large. When I think about abstract hugeness, like the amount of real numbers (an uncountably large thing), it doesn’t faze me. But 6 billion people?! Surely you must be joking…

Also, over half of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day. Think for a moment, on an average month, about how much you live on a day when factoring in rent/mortgage, utilities, internet, phone, pets, food, entertainment, healthcare, etc. It’s staggering.

Too be honest, I’m at a loss. I’ll let the thought end here, though my brain is swimming.

A Caricature on TV

March 20, 2006 in Editorial, Technology | 2 comments

Oh the wonders of TV While Emily and I are in the process of totally remaking our downstairs space we’ve moved all of our belongings to other parts of the house. This includes our television, which has made its way upstairs to our “guest room”, which is now serving as our dorm living headquarters. It’s basically the only living space in the entire house right now, so it’s grand central station for the time we’re spending in the house and not sanding, stripping paint, or whatever. Since the TV is upstairs we currently don’t have it hooked up to cable. On Saturday evening, while Em was out with some old friends, I was bored and tried to check out what could be found on the television. Amidst the static I found three channels which offered actual content. The content was distressing. Rather, the content was a reminder of some of the worst parts of the American condition. Here’s what I found on the stations:

1. A generic home shopping network program, i.e. the worst possible caricature of American consumerism, where the watcher is asked to consume mostly worthless cultural artifacts. I believe when I was flipping through that the fare of the moment was some sort of terribly ugly fake jewelry.

2. An infomercial, sponsored by GM, for their OnStar system, i.e. the most blatant and strange type of marketing message that exists. While the show tried to pawn itself off as a source of safety information in reality it was just a long commercial for GM vehicles.

3. Christian religious programming of the worst kind. I made myself watch it for about a quarter hour. I was sickened. I’m so sorry to all of you who believe that this is what Christianity either is, or what it has been reduced to. The message of the show was that (for the price of a lofty sum of money) God would give you success, whether it be in occupation, finances, or whatever. Sigh…

Needless to say I turned off the television quite soon after turning it on. But I still can’t quite shake the message that the three programs sent to me. It’s disturbing. But what shall I say, is this not America? At least in some of its worst forms surely it is.

Bringing Hurling to the Masses

March 17, 2006 in Editorial | No comments

A County Cork Hurling Jersey On this St. Patrick’s Day I’d like to take a moment to let everyone out there know about the wonderful sport of Irish hurling. It’s the national sport of Ireland, and if you haven’t heard of it then you’re in for a treat. It’s often described as the fastest field game in the world. If you’d like a terse explanation of the game think field hockey on a rugby field. It’d actually be much easier for you to watch some video clips of the game in action, so if you’re interested check out some clips here and here. These snippets are from the All Ireland Hurling Finals of the years 2005 and 2004, respectively. Cork, the county in which I once lived for a summer, now stands as the All-Ireland hurling champions. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! Anyone caught today drinking light beers will be punished most severely!

The Price of My Sanity

February 14, 2006 in Editorial | No comments

For those of you who have at any point imagined that I was in some way intelligent- you may question that appraisal after reading this post. This past week I made one of the harder decisions I’ve had to make over the past two years, and I’d like to share a bit about the experience.

If you’ve either read the “About Me” section of this website or know me personally you’re aware of the different jobs/environments that fill a typical day for me. Like so many others I juggle multiple roles simultaneously, such as husband, son, brother, employee, graduate student, pilgrim, friend, homeowner, etc. Most of the time I manage to travel through life holding the (apparent) ability to manage the varying demands of these various roles. It’s no surprise for me to say that sometimes certain roles are elevated over others, whether because of the amount of time spent in one environment, the amount of importance placed upon a role in a given time, or whatever. It’s also no surprise to say that when you find yourself focusing exclusively on only a few life roles that the others lose a position of prominence. In other words, you forget about them or ignore them.

This is simple fact. I suppose this is just another way of saying that we can’t do everything. But I tell you reader, I wish that I could do everything. I wish that I could be an exemplary example of each of my life roles. I wish I could fit everything in. I put so much pressure on myself to do everything well. Some would call this perfectionism. I would call it not only that, but an intense desire to live a balanced life. Historically I carry too heavy of a burden, but hopefully the conclusion of this story will convince you of my desire for change.

I know so many people who are doing so much more than they can handle. At least on paper. And while I do believe in a God that sometimes calls us into apparently impossible situations, I also believe that sometimes humans place themselves in unrealistic situations. Some of us are just doing too much. And even though I think we each know it, we keep pushing into the future, believing that the unwelcome intensity will one day end. Lies, I say, lies. Let’s pick up the story from here…

So last fall I took one graduate level logic class at Carnegie Mellon. The class work took up much of the free time that I didn’t have anyways. There were many days (especially Wednesdays and Thursdays) where I either didn’t really sleep or couldn’t really focus on other life roles because the graduate student role took on an urgent quality. Notice that I said urgent, not necessarily important. And while I do believe that the class was important as a whole, there was so much happening outside of class that I was missing. I wasn’t able to spend nearly enough time with certain friends. I didn’t put much emphasis on spending time with my family, especially my brother and sister whom I’d like to see more. I had no time to read or really relax. I just kept on doing. And you know what, I made it through. I finished the class while earning a fantastic grade. And yet…

During the holidays, after the semester had ended, I actually had some unbudgeted time. I had time to think again. Time to read and relax and to see a few people. And I really started to realize that I was missing something in my intense scheduling of life. In my constant doing I lost sight of both being and becoming. I could no longer ignore the ever-present voice within me whispering, “Too much.”

So although I again started another graduate class at Carnegie Mellon this spring, I won’t be finishing it. I’ve decided to wait until the fall to start full-time, when I will no longer be working a 40 hour work week along with the demands of life’s maintenance and the general joys of my existence.

I dropped the class a few days after the official grace period for taking a leave of absence ended. The financial price of my error for Emily and I: $1200, give or take. Let me state this plainly: I am paying money not to be a student this semester. So today I can conclusively state that I’ve put a price tag on the sanity of my life. Insane, isn’t it? Or maybe not. Sometimes something must break. My time for such a break is now.

Also, on this February 14, I would like to say that I have the most unbelievable wife there has ever been. She understands so much of what is truly important, and has been so supportive of me in these past several weeks where I’ve had so much happening in my brain.

Finally, I would like to publicly thank the philosophy department of Carnegie Mellon for being so supportive of me in my decision. In my experience they truly care for their students. So if anyone is checking out CMU, here’s another positive note for you to think about.

To Be Responsible (Insert Intentional Action Here)

January 15, 2006 in Editorial | 3 comments

I have about 3 posts that are about 75% complete, but that aren’t quite there. Since I don’t feel like dealing with any of them at the given moment I’ll just say a few words about one of the books I’ve recently read.

First I should say that Emily and I have been vegetarians for about 6 months now. We had talked about making the change for a long while before we did it, but once we bought our house we thought it would be a natural time to institute a new diet. So far we’ve had a few days of “cheating” (such as Thanksgiving), but for the most part we’ve been extremely consistent. Generally speaking I’ve felt healthier, both physically and spiritually. I can’t say that its changed my life dramatically, but I can say that I believe it to be a step in a positive direction.

Having said this I just read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, which is a book that surveys the history of the fast food industry, and how it has changed American (and worldwide) views on vegetable farming, cattle farming, marketing, meatpacking, health, cultural identity, and more. I first heard of this book in one of the special features of the great documentary Supersize Me, which chronicles a man’s month long eating binge exclusively of McDonald’s food. All in all the book is filled with relevant facts, and though the content openly opposes the Bush administration I would say that underlying political nature of the book is fair and well researched. It’s a good read, and not only if you’re a vegetarian. The book is a snapshot of current culture. It helps to shed light on some of the reasons we all now stand in the culture that surrounds us. Having read the book mostly on this cultural angle I must say that I truly appreciate Schlosser’s work. In summary, here’s why:

I realized after reading this book how disconnected I am from my food supply. I take it for granted (much like my kitchen sink). I grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, so though I grew up near to farms, I never had much exposure to the following:

1. Growing vegetables or grains.
2. Raising animals for milk, eggs, or meat.
3. Slaughtering animals for meat.

Like most of us I only ever see the end products of the many layered process of food production while shopping at my local grocery store. In fact, if I couldn’t gather food from a grocery store, I really don’t know what I would do. Mostly, I would be in huge trouble. But since I only ever see the end products of processed food, I never have to think about the methods of production.

I am not the type of vegetarian who damns all meat eaters to hell. In fact, if I could always have local meat produced with what I deemed responsible methods I would take up meat eating again (granted that the food is also affordable). But when I think about the lengths that McDonald’s goes through to stock their restaurants, I am mostly appalled. As the largest buyer of beef in the world, the second largest of chicken, and as an extremely profitable industry, McDonald’s (and other fast food companies) has employed many harmful methods to rake in the dough. If you’re curious in further details I recommend reading the book.

What I’d like to get at here is how many decisions in life that I passively make. I don’t often think of the consequences of my simple everyday decisions. But a question like “What will I eat today?” has far reaching consequences not only for myself, but also for both a myriad of other people as well as the environment. All of humanity is in this together. And each of our decisions influences someone else. When I try to wrap my mind around this I get dizzy. Whether it’s where I put my spare money or what I clean my house with or what I wear or what I buy, or whatever, my decision is not just for me. My decision reverberates through countless others. What does it mean to love my neighbor? I believe that it’s more than buying food for the homeless guy down the street or watching my friend’s kids when they need a babysitter. I believe that it means being intentional and responsible with simple everyday decisions. And that’s my point for today.

Sink Tail Pipe

January 8, 2006 in Editorial | 1 comment

Until today, I did not know what a sink tail pipe was. If I didn’t own a house I would probably never know what a sink tail pipe is. A sink tail pipe is the piece of pipe that fits directly to the base of a sink. It is different from a normal piece of pipe in that it has a lip on it. The reason it has the lip is so that when it is screwed into place that it doesn’t slip away from the sink, causing the water from your faucet to end up all over the floor. I learned what a sink tail pipe is the hard way.

I’m not sure what to make of this. Spending part of my Sunday fixing my kitchen sink wasn’t something that I thought would ever be on my agenda. In fact, I take things like kitchen sinks for granted. I think that they will always work, and that I will always be able to use them. In reality this is not the case.

Owning a house has been both rewarding and frustrating. It isn’t just about the sink spilling water all over the place. It’s about having to constantly deal with fixing things up and making things better and replacing broken stuff. Generally I don’t put a ton of value on taking care of this type of stuff. Then again I’ve never owned a house before.

I wonder if I will ever put more value on doing this type of thing. I suppose that growing up in a house that was brand new didn’t lend itself to dealing with the issues that one would face by owning a 100 year old home. I just don’t know what to expect. Hopefully I’ll have a better attitude as time goes on. I have to admit though that I sometimes believe that I’ll always find these type of home improvement tasks less full of meaning than a myriad of other things.

Here’s to either “being an adult” or furthering the process of figuring out what parts of “being an adult” are worth embracing.

The Year of Deeper Newness

January 4, 2006 in Editorial | 2 comments

Enter 2006. I’m always a bit weary of even years. There’s something unsettling about it. At least I’ll turn 25 (a fantastic odd number, though not prime, and yet still a perfect square) in July. Generally speaking I don’t usually consider January 1 as the New Year. Having been raised in a country where the school year begins in the late August or early September I’ve always considered the advent of fall as the New Year.

As far as 2006 goes, I must say that I have high expectations. I’ve dubbed this year “The Year of Deeper Newness”. I’m not even sure what I mean by this exactly. The feelings I have when I hear the phrase are akin to the feelings one gets while listening to a song which embodies a fantastic amount of meaning.

The past several years of my life have been like setting up a chess board. It seems that all the pieces are now in place. In fact they may have been set for some time now. But I’ve been afraid to move a piece. Moving a piece means commitment. Moving a piece means embracing the adulthood (read “summer of life”) that my existence now embodies. Moving a piece means moving forward, not back. And sometimes, just sometimes, I’m afraid how the game will play out.

I think that both Emily and I will have made some big decisions come the end of next December. I hate to speculate on the possibilities, but I know that when it all plays out it will be both totally different and utterly fuller than we could both imagine.

A toast to 2006, prime factorization 2*17*59.

My Songs of 2005

December 12, 2005 in Editorial | No comments

What follows is a list of the most influentual songs to my life in 2005 with a short commentary of each song. Some of them are newer, some are older. Some are well known and some are not. Hopefully there will be something good in here.

“This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)” – Peter Gabriel

This is definitely the strangest song on the list. If I were to make a movie I think this would be my closing song. I love Peter Gabriel. Ever time I hear this song I inexplicably start bobbing my head.

“Suitcase” – Over the Rhine

Karin Bergquist. That’s all I have to say. Her voice is a weapon. I remember when I saw them play live. When she wasn’t singing she just leaned up against the pillar on the stage, cool as anything, like she could just kick your ass at a moments notice.

“Somebody’s Gotta Do It” – The Roots

“The Tipping Point” from The Roots is probably my personal album of the year. The beats on the album are so above and beyond most other hip-hop that it’s unfair. The hook on this song pretty much sums of what I’ve concluded in 2005. Check this one out.

“Holiday”-“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”-“Are We the Waiting” – Green Day

The first time I really listened to Green Day’s “American Idiot” album was on a long car ride to New York for a wedding. It was night, I was driving, and the rest of the car was sleeping. There aren’t many times when I remember truly hearing a song for the first time, but when I heard the guitar at the beginning of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” bleeding in from “Holiday” I was just in awe. And then “Are We the Waiting” to end the triad. Amazing. An incredible record that was in no way over-hyped.

“Lovers in a Dangerous Time” – Bruce Cockburn

I always really loved the Barenaked Lady’s cover of this song. For a long time in fact I thought they wrote it. This song contains one of the greatest lines I can remember hearing in a song for a long time. “Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, got to kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight”. This line was also sung by U2 on the song “God Part II” on Rattle and Hum, which is why many people know about it. If you haven’t heard this one I highly recommend it. The production on the recording is terrible, but the beauty of the song shines through.

“City of Blinding Lights” – U2

One of those U2 songs that gives you hope. I wish I could’ve experienced this song live. It was meant to be played live. I remember the first time I heard Bono sing the climactic line in this song, “Time won’t leave me as I am, but time won’t take the boy out of this man”. Shivers went up my spine.

“Brand New Colony” – The Postal Service

I discovered this one earlier in the year and loved it. It’s a unique album with all the best elements of electronic music. The tempo changes in this song are stellar, and the words are like good milk chocolate. Just strong enough and smooth.

Harry Potter and the 12:50am Showing, etc.

November 18, 2005 in Editorial | No comments

Last night, mostly on a whim, Emily and I decided to try to see a midnight showing of the new Harry Potter flick. When we arrived at the theatre we found that our only unsold-out option was the 12:50am showing. So we went for it, and I’m glad we did. My body is slowly shutting down due to having only 8 hours of sleep in the past two nights (dang I’m getting old!), but I must say that I’m in fairly good spirits.

As far as content on this blog is concerned I’m working on several posts right now that I want to mesh through a bit more before I post them. I haven’t forgotten my promise to post a paper on the problem of esse in Christianity, and I’m working on something about induction and another something on the cardinal numbers. Next week there should be some sizeable content to enjoy here.

In the meantime, here is my response to being “tagged” by k flanagan (in other words, 5 random facts about myself):

1. At the age of 9 it was discovered that I had a third misshapen front tooth that needed to be removed via oral surgery before my two normal front teeth could grow in correctly. I think my mom still has it somewhere…

2. I attended Penn State University for the fall semester of my freshman year of undergraduate study before transferring to Grove City College. At PSU I was a math/philosophy major before changing to math/theology at Grove City.

3. For the most part I believe that paper books should be replaced by digital books.

4. One day I would like to open up a philosophical/theological think tank with my wife, Emily. We would tend the house and grounds while helping to shape the conversation that occurred on the premises.

5. I consider one of my intellectual flaws to be my memory.

Where do you get your News?

November 3, 2005 in Editorial | 5 comments

It’s a slower day at work today so I’m trying to reorganize some small stuff around the office. Since I spend a lot of the day on my computer(s) here, the reorganization process usually involves changing my desktop pictures and deleting\reorganizing files and what not.

I was looking through my Firefox bookmarks and started to think about the sources that I use daily on the web to hear about “the news”. As far as technical news goes I have several really great resources, but I currently don’t have many fantastic sources outside of the mainstream ones for finding national or world news (ABC News, Fox News, Drudge report (shudder…), etc.)

So my question is this: Where do you go online to find news that isn’t gossip or consumer based? I hate wasting time on the Internet, and want to try to find some informational news sources. Anyone have any opinions?

Rare Books in the Walls

October 20, 2005 in Editorial | No comments

Emily and I bought a nearly 100 year old arts and crafts (verging on modern) house several months ago in Edgewood (the East side of Pittsburgh). It’s a beautiful house that was designed by Frederick Scheibler, who was a fairly well-known Pittsburgh architect around the turn into the 20th century. He has many spaces in Pittsburgh, and they’re all gorgeous. If you’ve been around the area you’ve probably seen some. For instance, one of his buildings is the Shadyside Variety Store building in Shadyside, which has gorgeous apartments on the higher floors.

Somewhere between the time that our house was built and the present there have been some substantial changes to the space, and not all of them have been for the better. For instance, several built-in bookcases and window seats have been removed and sold off. It sucks, but I suppose that’s the economics of a 100 year old home.

One of the changes to the space was that a coat closet was created on the lefthand side of the entryway. It is ugly. So ugly, in fact, that Em and I decided that it needed to go. So on Monday night I decided that I was going to begin to rip this sucker down. So I did. I started at the bottom and worked toward the ceiling, removing wood and nails and spraying dust around into the air.

There was a piece os wood paneling covering the space between the top of the closet and the ceiling, which a started to knock out with a hammer. But after several swipes I immediately noticed that there was something behind the covering. What I found was books. OLD books. There were about 30 of them and many of them were over 100 years old. Several of them still have the inscriptions inside the covers, indicating where they came from whose they were. Cool. Very cool.

Neither Em or I has any idea of how or why they got there. It’s extremely random. It’s helping us to uncover a bit more history about this house, and we might even be able to donate or sell some of them. So here’s a reason to live in an old house: it may be full of wonderful and inexplicable old stuff!

My Tripolar Nature as a Blog Writer

October 20, 2005 in Editorial, Logic/Math, Theology | 2 comments

I’m not sure what to do with this website ultimately. I feel tripolar about it. First, I have all these random “state-of-the-union in-Ian’s-life” stuff, comprised of dreams and musings and incoherent nonsense. Some of the posts in this category are probably better off somewhere else, but I know that there’s probably someone out there that likes to read them.

Next I have the logic and math stuff, which I’m currently pursuing educationally. I love this stuff, but when I post about it I realize that just about no one is going to read it or understand it (unless they expressly came here to check out what I’m doing at Carnegie Mellon, which is a possibility). I do recommend that even if you don’t have any desire to learn anything about math/logic that you try to read one or two papers/posts anyway. Some of the ideas behind the papers are easily grasped and philosophically extensive. It’s good stuff, and wherever I end up in life I’ll always respect these disciplines.

Lastly, I have all this theology stuff everywhere, which is something I’m passionate about. But the people who are coming here to read about logic/math are probably not at all interested in reading about Christian concepts of absolute truth in the postmodern age. Alas, for now they’ll just have to sift through the muck, although from a philosophical and cultural point of view some of the theology writings and website links are extremely informative even for thos who hold no faith.

So there it is. My tripolar nature. And I don’t apologize about it. It’s just not externally consistent. I hesitate to split this up into three separate blogs, but I may have to do it. Any suggestions from anyone out there?

A Dream I’ve Had for Years

October 20, 2005 in Editorial | 2 comments

So I just read Brad Wray’s explanation of both what he does and what he wants to do. Ultimately, Brad wants to teach social studies. I think this is a noble and wonderful pursuit, and his dreams have got me thinking. Its got me thinking on something that I’ve had in my head for several years but haven’t articulated much verbally because I’m half-scared to death that it just might happen if I start talking about it.

Here’s the dream: I’d like to start a school. I’m not sure if it would be a classical high school or a liberal arts college. It would be a place where kids learn to think. I think about this a lot because so many of my friends (you are probably one of them if you’re reading this) are so damn talented. Most of them would be fantastic teachers. I wouldn’t require anyone to have a Ph.D. if it were a college, although that would be great; and I wouldn’t even care if people didn’t have their secondary education teaching certificates, cause I think that’s all a bunch of bullshit anyway. Seriously folks, how many people do you know who aren’t “educated” to the maximum are absolutely brilliant in comparison to those who have all sorts of meaningless degrees? I know several.

So I just wanted to put that out there. I have a mental list of people who I’ll ask to teach if this ever goes down, but if you’re interested just let me know and I’ll put you on the list.

The Busy Boat

October 3, 2005 in Editorial | 1 comment

The next time someone asks me how I am, I am resolved to not give the following reply:

“Busy.”

I am resolved not to whine about what I’ve chosen for myself. I have chosen to be married, a homeowner, a full-time employee, a part-time graduate student, a dog owner, a member of the vestry for my church, a member of my church, and so forth. And I have also chosen to do all of this as a 24 year old. I have no room to bitch about being busy. If I didn’t like what I was doing, I could change it. No one held a gun to my temple and demanded for me to enter graduate school or to buy a house. I chose it all.

Nor will I answer: “Tired.” Same issue. If I were so flipping tired, I could change my routine.

I am not a victim, and I have lost this kind of patience for myself. So if you ever hear me whining, please smack me.

24 Come and Gone

July 27, 2005 in Editorial | No comments

I remember on my 18th birthday walking into a tobacco shop and buying my first legal pack of cloves. It was a liberating moment. I had also earlier that buy bought a journal. I went to a nearby pastry/coffee shop and smoked and wrote to my heart’s contentment. So today at year marker 24 I’m starting, for serious, this webspace. We’ll leave it at that. I’ll be reposting some writing I’ve done other places, so I’ll most likely just be throwing that stuff in at some point soon. One step at a time. So in the meantime I’ll try to spend at least a few moments of my 24th birthday smoking, and perhaps writing a bit more as well.