i posted this on my other blog, but i really meant it for you.

"Interesting" Copy Editor Facts of the day:

Well, I'm a little bit of a nerd. And to be honest, I'm a mildly proud of that fact which may make it not so little of a bit. Everyone has their own nerd indulgences--an unhealthy skill-level for video games, profound excitement for prime numbers, freakish knowledge of facts and statistics, a cult-following type of love for certain books or movies, a guilty delight in punning and other forms of narrowly-accepted humor, a tendency to take the long way in order to catch 15 extra minutes of NPR. Sigh, we usually have more than one. (or all of them, quick- who am i thinking of?) My favorite nerd indulgences usually have something to do with either maps or, more often, WORDS.

Therefore, the profession of copy editing has opened me up to a veritable word playground with limitless joys to discover.

So, here's a little joy to share with you today. (all from the Chicago Manual of Style)

My first interesting fact holds particular interest because in less than two months I will have one of these in the modern sense of the word:

in 1220 the noun husband meant one who tilled and cultivated the earth {the husband has worked hard to produce this crop}. About 1420 it became a verb meaning to till, cultivate, and tend crops {you must husband your land thoughtfully}.

The next fun fact is a common mistake. I had no idea until yesterday:

home in. This phrase is frequently misrendered hone in. (Hone means "to sharpen.") Home in refers to what homing pigeons do; the meaning is "to come closer and closer to a target."

And finally, a great misconception. One that my editor called an "evil lie..."

5.169Ending a sentence with a preposition

The traditional caveat of yesteryear against ending sentences with prepositions is, for most writers, an unnecessary and pedantic restriction. As Winston Churchill famously said, "That is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put." A sentence that ends in a preposition may sound more natural than a sentence carefully constructed to avoid a final preposition. Compare Those are the guidelines an author should adhere to with Those are the guidelines to which an author should adhere. The "rule" prohibiting terminal prepositions was an ill-founded superstition.

well, I hope that was fraction as fun for you as it was for me! Back to copy-editor land.

The Internship Castaway...

Hey friends! I am about to write my first serious attempt at a blog. I'm sort of excited. So my internship at a public accounting firm in Birmingham is coming to a close, sort of. I have two and a weeks left without actually going anywhere to work. What this means is that I am chillin at an office and if I'm lucky will get 20 minutes of work each day.

I'm reading this book called "Life of Pi" (thanks Ryan for the recommendation). If you haven't read the book, it's about an indian boy who has to survive on a life raft with a bengal tiger. It gives a detailed account of how he fills his days on the sea. It's really interesting but you get the feel of how monotonous and draining it would be living out on the sea with a tiger. Pi organizes his day giving himself small things to look forward to. He fishes in the morning, checks the raft, feeds Richard Parker, the tiger, journals some, ect.

I sort of feel the same way here on my internship. I altenate between reading internet news articles from NPR, checking my email, drinking the free Yoohoos, and playing solitaire. It's not too bad and it's nice to get paid.

For those outside of Bham who want to know about what's going on with Elaine and I, we put down a deposit on an apartment last Saturday. It's part of a house that was split up. It has lots of window and is fairly spacious. It's near Roho in the highlands. We're busy with wedding stuff but we feel we're making headway and are excited about the showers coming up.

I need encouragement about whether my post was sufficiently informative and interesting. Tell me how I can improve. Elaine you can give me editing suggestions. Matt, the Yoohoo thing was for you.

I love you guys and am thankful for you all.

Looks Like Rain

Not really, but I definitely have 2 wedding showers in the very near future. How crazy is that?

Things in Louisville are going fairly well. I’ve been starving myself for a month or so because it seemed that Brian was backing out on his promise to continue paying rent. Fortunately, I just received a check from him this week for January’s rent and I can now afford to go to Kroger.

In other news, I’ve had some opportunities to see what it’s actually like to be a doctor this semester because I’ve been following an internal medicine doctor around and I’m thinking it might actually turn out to be an interesting job. Who knew? Some how all of the biochemistry and neurophysiology on top of systemic physiology dims the light at the end of the tunnel…so it’s been nice to get a glimpse of it again…even though it is still very distant.

Kimberly and I are getting really excited about the wedding. Pretty much everything is planned and now we’re just anxiously waiting for June to roll around. We hope all of you will be able to make it!

Hey There

So I leave for Etheopia tomorrow (Thursday), so if you all could just keep me and my fellow travelers in your prayers, I come back March 2nd. O and I found out about 30min ago that against all odds I will be meeting up with Kris. I will tell her that you all love and miss her.

No I have not disappeared into a black hole

So....I am attempting to post something exciting in attempts to please Aaron and Matt's claims of boring posts. No guarantees though.
The most exciting news I have to tell everyone is that for those of you in Birmingham, you are invited to my house for dinner on Tuesday, March 26th. Yes, that is right, I have not disappeared into a black hole or a bottomless pit. I am alive and in order to rekindle all of my friendships that have been put on hold, you are invited to my house to enjoy some good food (hopefully). So you better come!! That is all I will say about that.
Um, let's see, something entertaining....nothing is coming to mind. I will get back to everyone on that. I hope all is well. I miss everyone dearly and you are all in my prayers. When is our next big family reunion? We are slowly running out of weddings to use as our reunions. Either people need to keep getting engaged or we need to figure out another way to gather :)

MIKE'S MY MONEY AND I WANT HIM NOW!!!

Don't think about the meaning of that title too deeply, it just gets creepy. Well there's not really much going on in my life, I'm working at starbucks and fox, and waiting for this other job at Fox to open up so I can stop editing and start producing... "Wait Aaron" you might say "isn't this the same situation you've been in for 2 months now... and yes yes it is. "Then why?" you might ask "are you updating a blog with pointless information reiterating facts we already know?" There is only one answer to this question... I can not stand for Matt Francisco to be dissappointed in me, and lets face it, neither can you, so get on the ball and start updating with your slightly more interesting posts. :) .....Big gulps huh.....welp see ya later





I would also like to point out that I have not waked matt in such a disturbing fashion for some time now.

It's My Money and I Want It NOW!!!

It seems that the initial flurry of activity on Thirty Travelers has slowed to a saddening crawl. I, for one, as a full-blooded male who admittedly checks this site at an average of 3.14159 times per day to learn of the glorious tales of his compatriots, am terribly disappointed in each and every one of you… except Elaine, who posts like a champ… and Erin, because she wrote me a fairy tale in which John is an evil centaur.

I’ve got a little bit of news to report, so I figured I’d use Thirty Travelers to broadcast it out to the nations. Let's see if you guys can spread this as fast as the gospel. If it takes you more than 2008 years, I’m going to be rather upset… Well, today I was offered a position as a Campus Minister for Campus Outreach Birmingham, the same crew I spent my summers with the past two years. I’m pretty stoked, but I could certainly use your prayers as I beg God for discernment as to whether or not I should accept.

When they pitched me the idea, they told me that not only would I be a campus minister somewhere (which, in all likelihood, will be at Samford- which would be almost laughably awesome), I would also be able to take two seminary classes a semester (at Beeson perhaps? (cough) John? Will? Et al?), I would have some freedom to write, and I would serve as a “trainer of worship leaders” for campuses across the southeast. All of that seems incredibly intimidating, but freakin’ exciting. It incorporates, like, everything that generally gets me amp'd up about life. It sounds almost too good to be real. Please pray that my excitement won't lead me to impulsiveness. I've been making strangely grown-up decisions recently, like purchasing a 2004 Toyota Corolla to replace the Trooper... whose brakes cut out while I was driving on 280.

Elsewhere about the Magic City- Warden is rockin’ his motorcycle-scooter and dominating PT school; Pat seems to have nothing to do at work and so gets me substitute teaching jobs; Sarah makes a heavenly Devil’s Food/Kahlua cake; Elaine is rocking our worlds with Family Dinners every Tuesday night; Parks is loving the Apple Store and is headed to Brazil with his girlfriend Kathryn for two weeks this summer; Aaron is… well, Aaron... only now people at Starbuck’s and Fox have to deal with him too, instead of just me... who experienced a string of five or six days where I was woken up (either having just fallen asleep or about to wake up) to Aaron's semi-naked body hovering above me; Brian is shakingly-excited to do stuff so nerdy I have a hard time listening to him explain it; Keith is whipping Ryan and I into shape to run this half-marathon and getting ready to share a bed/home/life with a wonderful girl; Money is moving in with Bonham (in Birmingham!); Cliff is waiting to hear back from Regions and going to exhibit all of his musical talents with me on Tuesday nights in Harry's at Campus Outreach meeting; Emily is engaged; Amanda Howes loves Children’s Hospital; and Jamie is... well, my friend, and it’s about damn time. Much love from 1701.

P.S. If you haven't seen There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men, what the hell are you waiting for? What!? And you haven't listened to The Triceratops!? I may put you before the Birmingham Contingent of the Thirty Travelers Convention to see if you can be excommunicated.

Lastly, my friend Comastro, who is student teaching for high school in Keystone, Colorado is using my song "Sail On, Sweet Enola Gay" to open discussion on Hiroshima (insert ashamed laughter).

if i were french or native american i'd be offended right about now.

or maybe i am anyways...

an interesting little tid bit from Romney's withdrawal speech today. anyone else confused?

"As I said to you last year, conservative principles are needed now more than ever. We face a new generation of challenges, challenges which threaten our prosperity, our security and our future. I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st century—still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world, no longer the superpower. And to me, that is unthinkable. Simon Peres, in a visit to Boston, was asked what he thought about the war in Iraq. “First,” he said, “I must put something in context. America is unique in the history of the world. In the history of the world, whenever there has been conflict, the nation that wins takes land from the nation that loses. One nation in history, and this during the last century, laid down hundreds of thousands of lives and took no land. No land from Germany, no land from Japan, no land from Korea. America is unique in the sacrifice it has made for liberty, for itself and for freedom loving people around the world.” The best ally peace has ever known, and will ever know, is a strong America!"

This one's for you JamminJamers

So driving on the other side of the road is not as complicated as I thought it would be...it's driving on the opposite side of the car that's kinda tricky. On my first drive home I hit the curb on the left side of the car...twice. oops. but nothing was broken or flat by the time I got home. Yesterday I ran over a construction cone...it was on the left side as well. I'm still working on my perception...

But my car is an automatic so that makes driving in five lanes of traffic, through five tolls one way (to the college I'm teaching at), and on the opposite side of the car just a little easier. I'm actually enjoying driving here. My friends say I'm becoming an aggressive driver, which is necessary if you want to survive on the road here. I feel a lot more freedom on the road....you should all come and try driving over here.

nuf about that. life here is good. it rains every afternoon...like Kristen. i made pasta on Monday for some girls I'm mentoring. It reminded me of family dinners with you all! Hope everyone's well. much love.
can