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Athletics (from 1995)

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:25:00 GMT

I often see parallels between interscholastic athletics and life – sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. And the losses are always more instructive than the wins (though the wins are more enjoyable.) Over the years I have won much – and lost much, but the basic love I have to compete has never changed.

One would describe me as a competitive person. And I would admit guilty to that charge. Years of athletics have made me that way. Yet I know this competitive part of me enables me to accomplish a lot. It enables me to reach for goals that many say are unattainable. And it enables me to attain them.

This competitive side does not feed on hate, however. It thrives on love. Aristotle said, “The good man obeys for love, while the evil for fear.” He hit upon a substantial truth in that statement. I believe that a good athlete competes for love. Sometimes that love can be expressed in a fierce, intense manner, but at the heart of every great athlete is a love for his/her sport.

I can honestly say that I have an inbred love for both tennis and cross-country. I think that the same love is found in the bottom of both – a love of competition, or maybe even a deeper love beyond that.

I remember that as soon as I was old enough to stand, I wanted to play tennis. After all my father (my hero) played tennis, so why couldn’t I? I went out with the neighborhood guys and hit in the streets with the wooden rackets that I found in the closet. My father saw me out hitting in the street and decided it was time to travel to the courts with me. Most of my childhood memories involve my father and the tennis court. You could say that my relationship with my father has its roots on the court.

As the years passed, and my game picked up some speed, I learned to see the beauty in playing the game. I learned to channel that love into a competitive machine. These characteristics were easy to apply to other events outside of the athletic arena. I learned to be a fighter.

Running goes the same way. My father was a wonderful runner during my childhood. Running was one more way to be with my father. I remember when he was running a race one day I just decided to start with him (at age 8?). Without his knowing I took a short-cut and was able to get a very competitive time. He was so proud, I just couldn’t tell him what really happened. So I went out and practiced so that I could be a great runner. I became the fulfillment of what my father expected.

Now that my High School athletics are coming to a close I can see that though the actual competition between schools will cease – what I have learned will prove invaluable throughout life. I know that to succeed in anything I (1) need a definition of success, a goal, (2) A plan to achieve that goal and (3) the self-discipline to carry out that plan and achieve the goal. My participation in athletics has taught me much about this process.

Yet athletics have also taught me about myself. They have taught me that I can accomplish my dreams – if I am only willing to make them happen.

David

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:22:00 GMT

Well, we didn't expect this to happen today (Chrissy was scheduled to be induced tomorrow), but we are proud to announce the birth of our baby boy. He was born this morning at 5:15 weighing 8 lb 10 oz. Some initial pictures below, if the link below doesn't work, click the direct link here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23298466@N06/

Static shot of two pics:

pdf rtex

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:59:00 GMT

pdf rtex

Posted by Administrator on February 25, 2009|Comments

I love LaTeX and I love ruby/rails. I want to use rtex, it seems perfect for me. But, I am having trouble and am looking for help -- once i get this working i'll make a blog post for the world. First, do i have what it takes?


tim@polycarp:~/test_rails$ which pdflatex 
/usr/bin/pdflatex
tim@polycarp:~/test_rails$ which latex
/usr/bin/latex
tim@polycarp:~/test_rails$ which rtex
/usr/bin/rtex
tim@polycarp:~/test_rails$ which pdflatex
/usr/bin/pdflatex
tim@polycarp:~/test_rails$ rails -v
Rails 2.2.2
tim@polycarp:~/test_rails$ ruby -v
ruby 1.8.7 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 72) [i486-linux]
tim@polycarp:~/test_rails$ more /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=intrepid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 8.10"

Now I need a rails app to test this with:


rails test_rails/
cd test_rails/
./script/generate controller make_pdf

i was getting a sqlite3 error and I had to


sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby

Now I needed a model to work with, so using the scaffold generator:


./script/generate scaffold Item name:string purpose:string next_step:text
rake db:migrate

in emacs, i created, app/views/layouts/application.pdf.rtex


\documentclass[12pt]{article}
 \begin{document}
    <%= yield %>
 \end{document}

i also created: show_pdf.pdf.rtex in app/views/make_pdf


  \section*{Items}
  \begin{itemize}
    <%#= render :partial => @items %>
  \end{itemize}

now i create the controller:


class MakePdfController < ApplicationController

def index
end

def show_pdf
    @items = Item.find(:all)
end

end

but from ./script/server and went to http://localhost:3000/make_pdf/show_pdf.pdf


Routing Error

No route matches "/make_pdf/show_pdf.pdf" with {:method=>:get}

I thought i might need to initialize the gem as a plugin


test_rails$ rtex -i .
Installed at ./vendor/plugins/rtex

but i still get the same error after restarting mongrel after adding config.gem "rtex" to my environment.rb and getting a nasty stack error (caused because i enabled a gem and a plugin). i realized that i can't use both together and commented out the config.gem "rtex". in discussions with August Lilleaas on IRC, it became clear that I needed to add:

map.connect ":controller/:action.:format"

to my routes.rb. Now, this is very close to working -- when i load: http://localhost:3000/make_pdf/show_pdf.pdf in firefox, I can open or save. If I save, all I get is simple text:


\documentclass[12pt]{article}
 \begin{document}
      \section*{Items}
  \begin{itemize}
    
  \end{itemize}

 \end{document}

if I try to open (in ubuntu using document viewer) I get:


File type TeX document (text/x-tex) is not supported

As an interesting aside, I wanted to test that rtex was actually working. Creating a textile file test.textile with some basic textile.


rtex -o output.pdf -f textile test.textile

generates output.pdf, which is a true pdf formatted file. After some excellent help from Bruce Williams, I was able to get it working just fine -- just download the new gem (rtex 2.1.0, and you should be fine)

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Another day older

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:08:00 GMT

Another day older

Posted by Administrator on July 22, 2008|Comments

Wow. Today was truly a great day. Perhaps the best day. other than being tired, totally exhausted, I can imagine how could they would’ve played out better. We started the morning with some wonderful glorious time with Lauren and Ellie; hugging them and spending time with them — they were so happy and joyful and their joy was contagious.

My first blog post

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:14:00 GMT

My first blog post

Posted by Administrator on June 20, 2008|Comments

Today was a sad day. Sad because a friend left. This friend gave me much and I feel that I gave so little in return. The whole day seemed so surreal. There were many who stood up and said things and I sat there stuffing my face with food. I was aware that I was utterly and totally selfish and there didn’t seem to be a thing that I can do about it. I seem to be an outside observer and I felt very lonely. I seemed to be standing still while the world rushed by. And not just lonely, but I also felt ashamed, ashamed because I invested my time in so many things that are of lesser importance.

In my life I seek to gain for myself and this drives and fuels my motivations. I just feel so obligated to improve myself. This in itself is not true problem. The true problem is that I wish to improve myself in order to impress others. The sad thing to be seeking my own improvement for the benefit of phantom individuals who I can’t pin down. It is amazing how very linear time as. Each moment creeps by and there’s nothing you can do to get it back. Thinking about life in this way can make someone paranoid in a very short period of time. It’s not that life moves so fast — it is that it just moves so incessantly forward. The inability to redo the past impacts how we should act and live now. Some of the reason in this particular case is helpful because it teaches me to be a better person, but this reason is at war with my insides and my very being which cries to be recognized, to be exalted, for glory.

I know that I want to be a better person, a better husband, a better father. I want to be a more moral person. I want to be someone who’s more open to friendships push more happy to invest in others, who is willing and able to love. I had such a hard time today making small talk with people in the office. I just can’t stand to invest time in a way that is not going to produce something. I feel so totally, completely, overwhelmed. Next week I’ve got a right to final trip report for the homeland air and cruise missile defense study and I have to write this statement will work for the new money that we’ve received for the model that I’m managing. I’m dictating this and I can write fairly quickly when I’m dictating. However, I cannot write that quickly as subject that I know so little about and that, in particular, is the statement of work with which I am now concerned. This is going to be very difficult to work through and I have got to cure up for a very difficult week. At least I trained myself today to get some exercise and enjoy some things. However, I know that there is much more balanced needed in my life and much more place is needed for God to speak into my heart and into my reason. This is the most difficult thing because I see very little value in studying God and giving God a place to speak in my life. Yes, this appalls me and shocks me to my core. It shocks me to my core because it reveals what my heart really is. My heart is obsessed with myself and this makes no sense and results in no goodness. This is my first blog entry and perhaps this represents the nadir of my spiritual, and personal, life. I truly hope to move on to a better mindset. Perhaps the only place from here is a. All is not lost. I still have my family, most of my external integrity, and my wonderful daughters. There’s a lot more that I could mess up and a lot that could happen if this selfishness continues unabated. I know that I can reign it in, but it’s going to take a lot of work. I’ll try my best to document on this blog and hopefully these words will be useful to others who are struggling with the same issues and perhaps are in the same place.