Tessellated Geek

For Justice in Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:30:00 +0000

It is with great sadness and much prayer and discernment, that my Wife, with My Full Support, has formally placed charges of gender discrimination before the Consistory of our church against senior staff.
We have prayed about this, and have determined that once said staff decided to target my wife in her call as Minister of Word and Sacrament, that effectively she was already gone, it was just a matter of time.

My wife has endured gender discrimination since she was a young girl growing up in a fundamentalist denomination. She has fought on the front lines of Women's Rights in the church.
For years we had been in churches that upheld a Woman's right as Minister of Word and Sacrament... until this last call.

It is painful when a call ends, but you find Christ calling you to a new beginning. For the time being our call is to stand up and be counted. To sit in the front of the bus.
We have determined that it is our right, and responsibility as Christians, to demand a full investigation by denominational authorities of the gender discrimination and abuse .

We ask you to hold us in your prayers as we journey down this troubled road.

May God be with us All
Our Wives as the Minister
The Husbands as we Support
Our Children as they Suffer the Witness of Our Pain

And may the Holy Spirit rest on those who must make decisions arising from this situation.

Amen

Listening to the Spirit of the Text

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Mimi Haddad from Christians for Biblical Equality
http://www.cbeinternational.org/
has written a wonderful review of Listening to the Spirit of the Text by Gordon D. Fee.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802847579?ie=UTF8&tag=cbebooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0802847579

Well worth the read.

Girls Can't What?

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:21:00 +0000

I recently bumped into this cool website and noticed they had a lot of great T-shirts with women in non-traditional careers... But NO ministers.

So I requested one.

Then I found out that they prioritize by voting.

http://www.girlscantwhat.com/request-a-girls-cant-what-design/

Lets see if we can get a design made cause I'm buying at least 3!

And We Survive

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:41:00 +0000

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted last. My wife survived the layoffs at her church which brings us a certain amount of stability to our income, but my business has tanked. I've had to lay off 2 people, cut 2 more to part time, have everyone take a 5% pay cut, and I make sure everyone else gets paid before I cash my paycheck. Its depressing, having to cut the jobs of some of my people in order to save those of others. And it kills moral in the workplace.

It was easier when I could look at the macroeconomic data and say "things will start to look up 3rd quarter", but now it looks more like 4th or first of next year. Sales were awful in Dec and Jan, but I expected that. They picked up in Feb somewhat and were actually almost back to a sustainable level in March. Then April just tanked. Actually April and March will average out to what Feb was but I was hoping for an improvement in the trend lines.

I have so many quotes out now on projects that are on hold, some due to customers financing problems and some just waiting for things to turn around. A major job that was to hit in June has been put off till next year.

I know the economy is turning around, I see the numbers and how the pace of decline has slowed. I know we either are or are almost at bottom baring some new collapse. But GM and Chrysler are right on the edge, and while I have only one small job that is effected by that, it was 10% of my monthly sales for a few months there, and I REALLY need to get paid for that work.

I know the economy moves more like a big ship than a jet ski. And that when the Fed and Treasury try to change its direction it takes months to start seeing the effects. I also know that some sectors get hit harder faster while others don't see its effects till later.

I just want to know when things will start looking up for me and for my people.
I live in Michigan where 1 in 5 people are unemployed and unemployment is a lagging indicator. The number of people using the church's food pantry has more than doubled.
For us this isn't a recession, its a Depression.

I used to be really good about putting my worry in God's hands, and while I know things will get better, I don't know if I, or the people I feel responsible for, will still have jobs between now and then. All I can do is keep working, selling, praying and hope that the orders come in and the company stays afloat.

Financial Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:15:00 +0000

As a small businessman, I personally started seeing the effects of the current financial crisis this past January when we had an opportunity to buy about $35,000 worth of used equipment at fire sale prices. The catch was that the deal had to be pulled together in 3 weeks. Regardless of the fact that I was able to show that the equipment would have paid for itself in energy savings alone within 2 years, and that the machines had a significantly increased capacity allowing us to expand our business, the banks were reluctant to go along on such short notice.
The bankers said that they just didn't have as much money, and they were tightening the standards all around. Even GOOD plans that were well collateralized were taking longer to process and were no longer sure things. You may not have noticed it, but last Christmas season, the retailers had less stock on their shelves. This was because they couldn't afford to carry as much merchandise. Most retailers get what it called "postdating" where they essentially get loans from banks or sometimes their suppliers to pack the stores to the gills for the busiest time of the year.
We were able to buy the equipment however by going to a leasing company for the machines, but at a significantly higher rate of interest. The math showed it still was a good deal, but its cost me a couple thousand more than it could have.

In the near future, I will have more banking needs. Our lease is up in April, and manufacturing space is really cheap right now. A building I looked at 5 years ago is going for significantly less, and I really need the space to expand the business. And I have several projects in the works that would double our size and add up to 4 new jobs. But if I can't get the capital, I have no space to put the work stations, and no money to invest in new equipment. While I can cash flow growth of about 10%, some of these projects are so big, I would need start up capital to carry the costs the 90 days from purchase order to receipt of payment.

This is what Bernanke is worrying about, mistakes of the past coming back to haunt us in the present and future. And with the way the loans have been sold, repackaged into bonds, and resold, combined with the drop in the value of the housing marked, nobody really knows how bad it is. FDIC insured banks are required to hold a certain ratio's of assets vs loans vs cash on hand. The 5 non-insured gigantic investment banks were supposed to hold to good business practice which would reflect similar numbers. Goldmen-Sachs did for the most part, Lehmann Bros. did not. Guess who is still in business. And now the banks are tightening lending, trying to get their balance sheets back into proper alignment.

There is a lot of blame to go around on the current crisis.
Predatory lenders, greedy and/or ignorant home owners, fraudulent and/or stupid financial services brokers. And nobody is happy being left with the bill. Some banks did the due diligence when authorizing loans, and came out of this all right. Many didn't.

Free Market Theory would say to let the banks fail. Free Market theory works very well for unregulated commodity markets, where you are comparing the same grades of raw material and are just looking for the lowest price. The further you get away from commodities the less well it works. The more complex a resource is, the greater the uncertainty of its value, and the more information is required to assess it. On top of that, its value will be different from one potential customer to another based on which attributes the customer needs. And some resources are needed by the community as a whole more than that of the individual investors involved. Lets take an electrical line for example. To a thief its worth the value of the copper. To the electric company its the value of the wire(more expensive than just the raw material), the cost of installation, and the loss of revenue while it is down. To us, the end user, it is worth major inconvenience, the possible loss of the contents of your freezer depending on how long it lasts, and maybe days and dollars of eating without an electric range or microwave. To a company like mine, its thousands of dollars of lost revenue, and possible irate customers.

When it comes to money flow in the economy, banks are like the power company. You can loose a few power sources and the others will take up the slack. If you loose a bunch more, especially big ones, you start getting "brown outs", the economy slows. The economy, like the power grid, can only support so many collapses. When a bank fails, businesses that borrowed money from them must quickly refinance, often at higher interest rates, or face going out of business themselves. This happens, and it costs people jobs, resulting in more foreclosures, resulting in more stress on the remaining banks etc... This is what happened in the Great Depression.

My point is this, whether or not there is a "bailout" of some sort, we are all paying the costs already. Some is seen in the devaluation of our homes or retirement assets. Some is seen in the increase in cost in unemployment on both the government and non-profit sectors and loss of tax base.

If I remember correctly, the rate of mortgage defaults has gone from 3% to about 7%. Back when I got my first mortgage in '94, banks would only make a loan that the housing costs(mortgage, property tax, homeowners insurance) would not exceed 30% of your household income. Any higher, and the family would be considered under "financial strain."
That number of homeowners who would fall under the description of "financial strain" are currently estimated at about 40% of the home owners out there. My guess is that many of these people will actually not default, but they may need to be refinanced, especially those with adjustable rate mortgages. But with the devaluation of their assets banks will be reluctant to do so.

One of my friends, Larry, works for a small regional bank. His job is to renegotiate with homeowners who are in trouble. He told me that if the homeowner works with him, and is up front right away, that they can usually work something out. Banks do not want to reposess unless they absolutely have to. But if the mortgage had been bought up by the big investment banks and bundled into one of these exotic bonds as had been done, and resold to someone else, who is the person on the ground to talk to and try and salvage the account? Do those managing the account have the authority to renegotiate?

One of the big problems that Wall street is dealing with is that nobody knows how to value these Mortgage backed securities. Batches of individual mortgages with differing terms on differing values of real estate that has all been falling at different rates depending on region, with homeowners in different states of financial health or distress, all bundled together, its enough to give any accountant a headache. Wall street looks at a security like that and says, "what is it worth?" and its book value is based on their confidence and what they are willing to pay. Guesses right now are anywhere from 22 to 60 cents on the dollar.

The problem is complex, and BIG, and will have repercussions for years to come.
I'll deal with proposes to fix it later.

As We Pray for First Frost

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:11:00 +0000

If you are allergic to ragweed, this is the time of year you dread. Itchy eyes and sinuses, stuffy & miserable, Sneezing uncontrollably. For me, many of the over the counter drugs only take the edge off, or they make you so drowsy that you might as well just stay in bed.

The only real relief comes with the first hard frost. Kill it off until next year.

So if you are like me, the prayers started last month. And sometime between now and mid October, the prayer might actually be answered.

Sara Palin

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:25:00 +0000

I'm going to jump on to the dangerous field of politics, but I'm going to first preface it with something.

I'm a rabid independent, in collage, I majored in political science and history, and worked on the Perot campaign. As such I'm a fiscal conservative, but everything else I take issue by issue and you can't peg me socially. Also, with a wife as a pastor, I will admit that a) I like strong women and b)I've seen my wife overcome a lot of sexism.

So here goes.

John McCain's choice of Sara Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his VP raises the question of what is a legitimate questioning of qualification and what is just pure sexism or other form of discrimination. Since the announcement, we've been finding out just who she is and the scandals she is involved in, which seem to be rolling out 1 to 2 a day.
I'm going to hit the headlines point by point.

1) Experience.

This is a legitimate question, with only a year and a half as governor and being mayor of a small town(Wasilla pop. 6715 from '96-'02) that isn't much executive experience compared to others candidates. To top that off, the experience hasn't been scandal free... more on that in other points.

2) She has 5 children, the youngest is 4 months old and has downs syndrome.

This is not a legitimate point of discussion, and in fact has sexist overtones. The implication from the social conservative perspective is that she should be staying at home with the children, especially the baby. Hey, what about the father staying at home? In fact, one could argue that she and her husband have lots of experience juggling things. The problem for social conservatives is that Dobson has been slamming working mothers for so long that his about face on Sara Palin is just looking like political expediency.

This is going to reignite the "mommy wars" in a way that Hillary Clinton, whose only child is long out of the house, couldn't.

3) She was a runner up for Ms. Alaska.

This again is not a legitimate issue. This plays on the dumb beauty pageant stereotype, which in itself is sexist.

4) She is a woman, and it was a tactical move by McCain to get disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters.

If it wasn't for the contentious nature of the Democratic primary, and the statement by some of the Clinton supporters that they might vote for McCain, I'd say it was an illegitimate question. But, the simple fact is that people do have prejudices which are then exploited for political gain. This is a legitimate point of discussion, but it reflects on McCain, not on Pallin. She should stand on her own merits, not her gender.

5)Troopergate.

This, as in all abuse of power accusations, are valid points of discussion, and gender doesn't come into play at all.

We don't have all the facts yet, but Pallin stands accused for abuse of power in trying to get her ex brother in law, a state trooper, fired during her sisters contentious divorce and custody battle. The Public Safety Commissioner was fired, allegedly for not firing the brother in law. There are audio tapes of Palin's assistant talking to him about it, which lends the accusation some serious credibility.

Then, to top it off, the replacement resigned in disgrace only two weeks on the job after a sexual harassment reprimand came to light(which Pallin admitted to knowing about). She then arranged a $10,000 severance package. Very suspicious.

The state legislature has contracted a private investigator to look into it so as they can recommend or reject impeachment proceedings. The report is due out October 31.

6) Her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant.

Who are we criticizing? The daughter or the parent?

One could reference 1 Timothy 3:5 "For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?"
Titus 1:6 is similar.
But I think that is unfair, at 17, the daughter is ultimately responsible for her own actions, and that goes for the boy involved as well.

Any person in public view, and their families under go intense scrutiny, and they are still only human. While this is a good starting point for difficult discussions with our teenage daughters and sons. I personally feel that it should have no bearing on the election, but sadly I think it will.

7) The Bridge to Nowhere.

This questions her honesty, it's fair game.
Apparently, she supported the bridge before congress refused the funds, then she retroactively was always against it.

8) Any comments on her wardrobe.

This is just plain sexist. As long as she is dressing appropriately for the venue, any micro analysis of how the color of her pantsuit works with her complexion is just plain obnoxious.

9) Her religion/church.

A candidates values are legitimate, but a persons religion should prompt clarifying questions, not be an assumption of their values.
I've known many church going people of differing faiths who do not subscribe to everything their denomination or pastor teaches, Joe Biden is a pro-choice Catholic. Also, people may say one thing, but do another. I would argue that we should look at how people live their lives, not what door they go in on Sunday morning.

There are other accusations just breaking, but I'm going to give them a day or two for confirmation purposes.

Why McCain picked her is a mystery.
There are many more qualified politicians out there, even Republican women(Kay Bailey Hutchinson comes to mind.)

How this all plays out is sure to effect the election, I personally know one vote he lost already.
In some ways she does galvanize support amongst some religious conservatives, but those that don't believe in women in authority are sure to be turned off even more.

Tactically I think it was a mistake trying to target disaffected Clinton voters. Most of them have already lined up behind Obama, and the 12% left are unlikely to share Palin's ideology. I realize its shaving percentages, but the risk of loosing core Republican base is high.

Does this all reflect on McCain's judgement? You bet. Any major decision he makes is going to reflect on him for good or ill. While you could blame those responsible for vetting Palin, the McCain campaign has already admitted that he knew about the major scandals that are now unfolding.

While McCain has picked her, it remains for the Republican party to validate her status in convention this week, but from the sound of it, the party faithful will fall in line behind their candidate. To do anything else would admit that McCain made a colossal blunder, thereby damaging him.

I guess we will see how this all blows up in the following weeks of polling and finally the election.

"Death's Door" Challenge Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:10:00 +0000

Exhausting and exhilarating is the way I would describe long distance sailboat racing.
We finished the race but out of a fleet of 45 boats, 22 didn't, and I don't blame them. The race started Saturday in a misty rain and by that night we found ourselves in bad weather with a major storm system to the South of us, and another one to the North. A number of boats were caught in them, and many dropped out then and there. Thank God nobody was hurt.

We experienced every kind of weather you could imagine, fog, rain, gusts, storms, and sitting with no wind, a hot sun, and biting flys.

But sunrise off the Door peninsula is a beautiful thing whether you've had 2-3 hours of sleep or a full night. And making it though Death's Door and knowing that our destination was only a few hours away really lifted our spirits.

We finished 2nd in our division, 13th over all. But more important was knowing that we had done it.

Bill

The Hook- Deaths Door Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:03:00 +0000

While the big sailboat race this weekend on Lake Michigan is the 100th running of the Chicago-Mackinaw race, a shorter but more technically difficult race is running at the same time.

The Hook, also know as the "Death's Door Challenge" sails from Racine, Wisconsin, just south of Milwaukee up to the "Death's Door" passage at the tip of the Door county peninsula, into Green Bay and across to Menomenee in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

While it is shorter than the Chicago-Mack, the navigational hazards are greater. The Death's Door passage's name fits with the fact that the area has one of the largest concentrations of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes.

I'm crewing on the Alchemist, a Catalina 380T, skippered by Steve Magennis. There are 8 of us total on the crew, and the plan is for 4 hour watches, just like tall ship navies of old.

We will leave Racine around 10am Saturday morning and be hitting the straight some time around Sunday evening or night, and hopefully pulling into Menomenee Monday morning.

Prayers would be appreciated as a stationary front is sitting over the north end of Lake Michigan and both fleets will be sailing into what could be foul weather.

I've linked the post to the Wikipedia entry on the passage for those who would like to know more.

Bill

So busy I can't get anything done

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:27:00 +0000

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. A series of June storms hit causing record high water on our lake and some minor flooding in our basement. Which was the perfect excuse to rip out the scary 1970's carpet. The question was what to do then, and the answer was... TILE.

I picked up a tile saw off Craig's List, and we bought 400sq ft of clearance tile from Lowes. That weighs about 2400lbs, and we had to rent a truck to get it to the house. Hey, our Lowes doesn't rent trucks, but Home Depot does!!! I wish we had gotten a picture.

So after a short vacation to Chicago where we spent 2 days at the Museum of Science an Industry, we spent the rest of our vacation learning to tile.

The thing that has been the worst about this project is that the carpet was adhesive backed, and you need to have enough of a porous surface for the tile cement to adhere. After trying various combinations of scrapers, chemical strippers, and floor sanders, I finally hit on the right tools.
An angle grinder and 6" diameter wire cup brush. Keep the area you are working on wet to minimize the sparks and dust. Unfortunately I didn't discover this until the first room was done.

The rest of the project is languishing while I get caught up on other things.

Of course if you are going to take a week off work in my case, it just means I have to work extra before and extra after I get back. So one week after getting back from vacation, I was scheduled for 4 days of intensive CAD training. You see, a few months ago I had what I like to call my "Middle Age Computer Comeuppance Moment." Nothing like getting $10k worth of new computer design software and discovering I couldn't even draw a line. However my 19yr old assistant made the software sing.

Time to go back to school.

So after 4 days of cramming my brain so full that I was useless at home, its been a week playing catchup at work again.

And tomorrow, I leave work early for a long weekend of sailing.

More on that to come....

Bill

Sailing Season.... WooT

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:49:00 +0000

Its summer and time for sailing. Of all my hobbies, this is the one I look forward to the most. The sun, wind, and waves are relaxing, and harnessing the elements to race through the waters is such an exilerating feeling.

This is the 5th season I've crewed for Steve Magennis on the Alchemist, and this year, its a bigger boat. We race every Wednesday night in the Bayshore Summer Series.

I kept an extensive blog on the 2004 season at the Revnants' 7th Sea forum years ago if anybody wants to read it.

http://revenants7thsea.aimoo.com/Chapter-2-Artistic-Guilds-of-T/A-sailing-journal-The-Alchemes-1-910796.html

This was mostly so a bunch of land lubber pirate RPGers would have a clue what sailing was really like.

I have no intention of getting that detailed on sailing again in this blog, but I will say that after 9 months of a desk job, my muscles ache. It didn't help that we were short 2 crew for the first week.

Bill

Phoenix Mars Mission

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:01:00 +0000

I was really annoyed to find out that Nasa was defunding the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars. The little machines well outlasted their projected life, and continue to run.

I knew that there were other landers in process, but with the travel time being between 9 months and 2 years, you tend to forget what's in the cue and and when its expected. Which is why I was glad to hear that Phoenix successfully landed.

I'm expecting we will see a bunch of cool new images over the next few days.
Check out the link.

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/05_26_pr.php

B

My Wife's Sermons are powered by chocolate

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:52:00 +0000

As the associate pastor, my wife only preaches 6-8 times a year, but when she does, it means one thing, make sure there is a stash of chocolate somewhere. It was like this with papers in college too. Caffeine and Chocolate. I also have the distinct pleasure of proofreading the work. This is also where chocolate comes in. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your point. Here, have some chocolate." Both as a peace offering and as fuel for the work that needs to be done.

Critiquing your wife's work is a bit like being asked "does this make me look fat?" The proper response is, "you are Beautiful, but that is just not you."
Its a mine field but it can be navigated with a little wisdom.

Rule #1. Be Honest. Don't tell her its great, if its not just to have it done with.

Rule #2. Ask questions. What is she trying to convey? does the sermon do that or does it get off track. What do you mean by X? If you don't get the point, most of the congregation won't either.

Rule #3. Be specific. I love the highlighter function in the word processor. I can highlight a section and make a note of just the area I'm having a problem with, like "explain" or "I think you are getting off topic."

Rule #4. Note areas that you like as well as dislike. Praise is powerful.

Rule #5. Don't wait till Saturday night. Everybody suffers if the minister is going on short sleep.

Bill

Welcome to Tessellated Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:51:00 +0000

While I've been planning on setting up a blog for about a year now, it was Mitch Ross asking me if I had one that kicked me in the behind.

The problem has been that while I like writing, I'm easily distracted and have a bad habit of starting projects that I don't finish. Hopefully this will provide some accountability :).

Topics that you will find on this blog include:
Aspects of my life including being a parent, and a pastor's husband, and renovating our house.
My hobbies including Sailing, Games, and art.
Work projects that amuse me.
Other opinions and musings on society, economics, politics, and history as they might occur to me.

Why Tessellated Geek? I'm a geek and proud of it, but like most geeks, fitting in to society is a puzzle. Hence the reference to tessellations.