Archive for April, 2021

Spring Break 2021, Part 1

Apr

28

2021

Like most people in Michigan this year, we took advantage of spring break to leave Michigan for warmer pastures and to find out what it’s like to dine in at restaurants.

Unlike most people in Michigan this year, we went to Texas, not Florida.

Since it was only a week, we chose to fly rather than drive to Texas. Our destination was a VRBO house with a pool. Staying for a week, and with kids that can be loud, we figured renting a house was the way to go. It had 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, which is a good layout for a family of 6. Plus a kitchen, dining room, living room, washer/dryer, and back patio and pool. Better features, less crowded, and a similar price compared to staying in a hotel.

Now on to the chronological recap:

Day 1: Travel Day
We left our home around 10:00am, flew to Austin, got a rental car, and headed out to San Antonio. Direct flight to Austin, that’s why we didn’t fly to San Antonio. The rental car process was easier than I remember. The only mishap was that the Alamo and National counters were manned by only one person so there was only one line, but they didn’t tell you that until you went through the ropes course and got to the front of the empty Alamo line, only to be sent to the back of the National line. How hard would it have been to put a sign at the entrance to the Alamo line saying “Go over there to National” or something?

Anyway, we arrived to San Antonio just before dinner their time. We stopped at the Costco just outside SA to get some supplies for the week, plus a Costco pizza for dinner. The only real traffic we had was getting into SA.

image of traffic around the San Antonio Texas area

All in all though, I’d say Texans weren’t bad drivers. I didn’t have a preconceived notion of Texas drivers, but for the most part they were competent. Which is above average if you check in other states.
(more…)

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Rules, Part 2

Apr

22

2021

One of the sayings that I didn’t understand for a long time was “You have to know the rules in order to break them.”

That and Outback Steakhouse’s slogan “No rules just right”.

But I always thought it was easier to break rules if you didn’t know them, because how are you supposed to obey something if you don’t know what it is. In fact, it seemed more likely to me that you would break the rules if you didn’t know them, and knowing the rules would spur you to follow them. But the phrase was meant for guidelines and I was applying it to laws.

Then I learned something from Picasso. I now get to share my favorite illustration (literally and figuratively) of that concept. Pablo Picasso was an artist who was known to not follow standard rules.

First off – a quiz! Which of these pictures was drawn by Pablo Picasso?

Figure A.

drawing of a bull

Figure B.

abstract drawing of a bull

Figure C.

line drawing of a bull

If you answered B, you are correct.

And if you answered C, you are correct.

Also if you answered A, you are correct.

Those pictures are from a sequence he drew to demonstrate his process for reducing an object to its essential elements. In order for him to draw abstractly, he had to be able to draw the items “correctly” in the first place.

In other words, he had to know the rules and be able to follow them, in order to be able to break them.

But they aren’t rules, so he didn’t break them. He just understood his discipline well enough to know how to change things to accomplish his goals.

When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a bull without blemish and a ram without blemish from the flock.

Ezekiel 43:23

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Rules

Apr

14

2021

Complete this phrase: Rules were made to be ________

Did you think “broken”? If so, no hard feelings, but you’re wrong. I guess most modern Americans would complete that phrase that way, probably without even thinking about it. For some reason that phrase has stuck.

But it isn’t right.

Rules were made to be followed. That’s kind of the point of rules. Rules were made to keep things working well, keep you safe, and prevent problems.

Gee thanks dad, for that life lesson. That’s just the background information; that’s not the whole blog post – stick with me for a bit.

If your first instinct is to try to break the rules, then you’ve been trained wrong and life will be more difficult than it needs to be. Not that rules can never be broken, but now we need to delve into some nuances.

I’d like to remove the word “rules” and use “laws” and “guidelines” instead – split the term into those two general categories. If you think of rules that way, then it helps to understand when you could try to break them.

People have used the term “rule” in such phrases as “rule of thumb” or “unspoken rules”. I would put those into the category of guidelines rather than laws. A rule of thumb is a guideline that you follow if you don’t really know what you’re doing, or you do know what you’re doing and thus you know it’s not worth spending time to do a proper analysis on this minor part of the project.

Also unspoken rules aren’t real rules.

There are other rules that would fit better in the category of laws – things that are prohibited for a reason. Things such as “no glass in the pool area” or “fire door – keep closed”. If you know the reason for the law, you understand that it doesn’t make sense to try to break them because nothing good can come of it.

But guidelines, on the other hand, if you know the reason for the guideline then it helps you to know when not to follow the guidelines. Things such as “don’t go swimming within 30 minutes of eating” are good ideas but once you know it’s to prevent cramps from strenuous exercise with a full stomach, you know you can splash in a pool right after having a snack. Some people might call that breaking a rule, but I don’t like that phrase because it gives people the attitude that they know better than the rules in general, thus it diminishes the law-types of rules.

And I do believe there can be a time for breaking law-types of rules, but that requires a consideration of risk vs. reward (or consequence of breaking the rule vs. consequence of following the rule). An example would be breaking traffic laws in the case of a medical emergency – is that right or wrong?

In summary: if you don’t know what you’re doing and why, then just follow the rules.

The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the treacherous will destroy them.

Proverbs 11:3

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PSALM 8

Apr

7

2021

Now it is time for another PSALM.

Gamma made this one, like last time. This one was titled “Colored Blocks” by him.

Now only 142 more to go.

Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
You who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

Psalm 8:1

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