I went back to Ohio at the beginning of May, and since then I’ve read some more books. I thought I’d mark them down on my goal to read 52 ‘new’ books this year.
4/52: Smart & Gets Things Done
5/52: Going Postal
6, 7, 8/52: The Cat Who… Brought Down The House, Talked Turkey, Dropped a Bombshell
9/52: The Tangle Box
I just got my copy of Effective Java: 2nd edition, and I’m hoping to work my way through it by the end of the week. Time permitting, I may even review it on Slashdot.
Here’s an excerpt of a conversation with my friend Jon that I had this morning.
Me: and *then*
Jon : and *then*
Me: God hit me with something else
Which, as an aside, really frustrates me sometimes
Kelly & I have been going back and forth about staying at the journey, etc
and how does it affect the kids, us, blah blah
And I had a realization: That if God *does* keep us at the journey, for WHATEVER reason, that I can’t just sit by and ‘attend’. I have to put enough faith in God that he’s got me here for a reason, and that it’s easy to be a servant, with a servant’s heart when you love or are passionate about the person (or church) that you’re serving, but he calls us (and, unfortunately, that includes me) to serve him and his church EVEN WHEN I’m disgruntled and upset and don’t want to. That I need to get over my pride and serve in the place he brings me, inside the restrictions, despite all the issues and people and frustrations and anger, because otherwise I’m saying that I don’t have enough faith in Him and his plan. I can’t just glide by
Jon:
Me: So.. that’s where I’m at. I’m asking God to let me know where I should be
and to soften my heart enough to serve there, no matter what goes on
Jon: wow
?
Jon: humility SUCKS
Jon: Saint Francis, BITE ME
Me: *sigh*
I feel like God’s really tearing me down
like I had all this hope about what the journey ‘might’ be and that was all mixed up with what *I* wanted and thought a church should be
Jon: oh yes
Me: and when that didn’t materialize, some of that turned into pride, and anger, and then ‘righeousness’
Jon: especially with the relaunch
Me: Exactly
like “THIS ISN’T WHAT GOD WANTS”
but that was coming from my own ideas of what *I* wanted church to be
and He’s trying to tell me: “Tom, I want YOU to serve others. Not push people into serving others. Not push people to change. You. Get down on your knees and wash some feet.”
And…. I don’t know if I can
?
Jon: sucketh, but what you just wrote is beautiful
So this year, I’ve already read *3* books. That’s 3 out of the 52 I’m shooting for. So far:
#1) Anansi Boys – Neil Gaiman
Interesting. Not as good as American Gods, which is what inspired me to buy it. It’s an interesting story about a man who finds out his father was Anansi, the god of trickery.
#2) Generation X – Douglas Coupland
Kept my interest well, but found it pretty disjoint, and certainly not a revolutionary novel. I much preferred Microserfs.
#3) Managing Humans – Micheal Lopp
I’ve read most of this on his blog. Some is very relevant, despite the fact that I’m not a manager. Managing others, and managing upwards can benefit from understanding, and by and large, Rands is trying to say: “Understand where they’re coming from, understand their motivations, and the managing will be much easier.” Well, maybe that’s not what he’s trying to say, but that’s what he said to me. (Note: He has never actually spoken to me.) Recommended to anyone who manages or is managed in Silicon Valley or in any type of tech job.
Carrie Conversation started Thu February 21 09:53:20 2008
Tom 09:53:52AM So I’ve had this thing about how I really don’t ‘hate’ – like, it’s such a strong emotion that I rarely if ever feel real hate. Except for whenever I hear Coldplay
They’re everything that’s wrong with music!
Carrie 09:54:12AM what’s up with that?
Tom 09:54:16AM Ahahaha
Carrie 09:54:17AM why you hate on the coldplay?
Tom 09:54:30AM I don’t know, they just tickle that part of my brain
> Must be like some weird dog-whistle thing
Carrie 09:54:38AM wow
> i really like them
> saw them in concert
> so good!
Tom 09:55:16AM See, that’s like my personal hell. “And now, appearing for the 19,000’th straight time, Coldplay, with their hit song, YELLOW
> *shiver*
Carrie 09:55:26AM omg
> funny
> yeah, they actually only play that ONCE in concert
Tom 09:55:36AM I need to blog this
Carrie 09:55:38AM their last album was seriously so good
Tom 09:55:50AM No, no it was horrific in every sense
Carrie 09:55:56AM okay
> well
> you certainly don’t have to like everything
> that’s for sure
Tom 09:56:04AM Ahahaha
>
Carrie 09:56:10AM i’m sure you like stuff i despise, so we’ll call it even
> for now
There’s a thing that Elke did last year that I thought was really cool – she was going to try and read a book a week (more or less, I think 52 books in 52 weeks was the actual goal.) I thought this was admirable and something I’d like to do, but realized that it’s unlikely I’d do it. Regardless, I decided to make a list of books that I did want to read, and see how many of them I’d get through. Then I started to think about it a bit too much, and did I include books that I already read, but wanted to read again? Finally I decided to just list books that I hadn’t read, and actually wrote down the first few. Then I forgot about it for a month. Then last week I got it out when I was going to the used book store and wrote down a few more, and then afterwards put down some off of my Amazon wish list. Anyways, here’s what I have so far:
I also did read Anansi Boys by Neal Gaiman, which was awesome, but need to write about it in another post.