This and That

How easily time can disappear. I know that my schedule seems to stay completely packed, and it seems that I'm not alone. Americans in general hardly take any time out for rest, relaxation, family, community, long meals, volunteering, recreation, or any of hundreds of other ways to spend their time outside of work. This urgently needs to change. So much of culture is defined by how time is spent and what is deemed valuable. In this country time is spent working and the dollar is esteemed as the only standard of value. It's no wonder we're losing much of our identity as a nation and, even more regrettably, as God's ambassadors on earth.

Take Back Your Time is an organization that I stumbled upon tonight. Perhaps some of their efforts and media attention will pay off. At any rate I think I desperately need to try harder to not get swallowed by school.

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On a quick and unrelated note, Marvin and Judith Crowson from Harding visited our team this past weekend. Marvin has been a mentor to our team and the instigator of much of the domestic church planting efforts coming out of Harding. Outreach America is his organization on campus.

We spend a very short weekend going through a ton of useful stuff, but most of our time was spent in rediscovering who we are as a team, verbalizing what is and isn't working for us up here, and trying to discover solutions. Spending time refocusing was invaluable, especially since much of the newness of having moved here has worn off during the three months since we moved.

As always, notes and prayers from those we love are indescribably helpful. Thank you for letting us know that you care about what we're here to do.

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One last thing before I go to sleep: My mom flew up this past Wednesday to spend some time with us, and she'll be around until Tuesday. Unfortunately I had class all day Thursday and Jen had to work, so I dropped mom off in downtown Boston to let her explore. Somehow she hooked up with a couple of ladies from Australia. It sounds like the three of them had fun.

Today (and most of the past week) I spent trying to get our cars (yes, both of them) back into drivable condition. When I say that I did that what I really mean is that I took them to people who undoubtedly know worlds more about cars than I do (it wouldn't take a lot of knowledge to qualify). It's taken time at any rate to deal with Jen's car (new battery, replacement alternator and ac belts, a flat tire--twice--resulting in a new full set of tires, and an oil change) and mine (one of my brake pads somehow disintegrated and it sure sounds like we've been destroying the rotor while continuing to use the car while Jen's was unavailable). But as of today Jen's car should be good to go and mine is at the shop. All that to say that we didn't get much done or seen today, or last Wednesday, or the Friday before that, or the Wednesday before that.

I'm very glad that we have a working car now because tomorrow we're going apple picking in Stow, MA. The Honey-Pot Hill Orchards is a farm about an hour away that Jen's boss highly recommended for this favorite New England fall family activity. So by tomorrow night I imagine that we will have obtained a couple pumpkins and a 13lb bag of personally picked apples, enjoyed a hay ride through the beautiful countryside as it's changing colors, and have gotten ourselves completely lost in a hedge maze. I know you wish you were here.

Sunday plans include a Duck Tour. And Monday I'll take mom up to see Tufts. At some point I might even try to make a dent in my homework--or then again . . . maybe not.

A Possible Definition of Education

The continual progression and realization of one's ignorance concerning the true nature of reality.

And So It Begins (again)

Tuesday was the first day of class at Tufts, and an exhausting day it was. Four two hour Biomedical Engineering (BME) classes (from noon to 8pm) and as many syllabi later I still haven't decided what classes to take this term. Generally schools consider three grad classes as full time, and two of my classes have been predetermined for me (Analytical Tools for BME and Intro to BME). So my question is, do I take the other class that is requited for the PhD students (I'm just masters) or do I take something else. Here are my options:

• BME – 0162 Molecular Biotechnology (the one the PhD students have to take)

• BME – 0100 Design of Medical Instrumentation

• BME – 0121 Engineering Challenges in Physiology I

Any of those sound like they'd be interesting? I think they all sound good, so I'm just going to the first few classes of each to decide based on professor/assignment/and schedule.

I think I'll let you know a little about the BME program here:

• There are about 40-50 grad students with ~10 of those being new this year (there is an undergrad program also)
• The faculty seems great, as do the other students
• We students have a wide variety of background (from purely biology to purely engineering, some with a masters already, some already working for engineering companies). I'm excited by this. Since BME is such an interdisciplinary field no one coming in (or perhaps ever) feels like they know everything they should. So I foresee quite a bit of (perhaps forced) interdependence and cooperation. We'll have to help each other along--that can only be good. Right?
• Research here is segmented into 2 areas: Tissue engineering and instrumentation/optics. I'll be more on the optics side (especially since I haven't had any real biology since high school), but there seems to be a good amount of cross over between the two. I couldn't ask for more appealing research areas as far as I'm concerned.
• We have a department retreat at Tufts Loj in New Hampshire this weekend--I'm very excited.

Well, I need to go grab some lunch before my next class. I'll try to update a little more regularly, but with grad school having started I make no promises. Shalom.