What I Do

I was recently in San Francisco during WWDC.¹ And, no I wasn’t there as a developer. I’ve considered making a few iOS apps. But, I’ve yet to execute on my ideas. Anyway, that discussion is for another blog post. But I was there to learn some cool stuff and meet some cool people who I only know by their online personality or Twitter handle.² One such fellow was Lex Friedman. Lex is an interesting guy with an interesting background. He’s also hilarious. But, I was deeply touched by an article he wrote for The Magazine a few issues back.³

After reading his touching article I was determined to meet this man in person. Well, my opportunity arrived at AltWWDC this year.⁴ He was giving a talk that I thought would easily apply to matters beyond development. So, I rode the BART into The City. I got throughly lost trying to find the Venue (until the good hearted Moisés Chiullan pointed me in the right direction). I sat down for a couple conferences until Lex got up to speak. He was funny and engaging. It was a good talk. I’m happy I made the time to hear it.

After his talk I introduced myself and thanked him for the aforementioned article. He was gracious. Thankfully he didn’t point out my obvious nervousness and inability to form coherent sentences.⁵ However, he did ask me something I didn’t expect.

It’s not as if he asked me something controversial. He didn’t ask me about one of the profound mysteries of the universe or some obscure philosophical idea. No! Instead he had the audacity to ask, “So, what do you do?” I was stumped. I was stumped! And, I’m still obsessing about it. Why didn’t I know how to answer that question? I’ve been a Dominican long enough to know what I do, who I am. Why did I give him the answer I did? Why did I think of an answer that was really a dodge?

Welcome to the mind of an obsessive personality.

My first response was, “Well I get paid to talk.” And, that’s true as far as it goes. And, it’s an important part of what I do. We are mendicants. My Order survives mostly on the donations. Yeah, there are salaried positions that a few brothers have as Pastors, Professors, and the like. But, donations are primary. In my case, most donations come from free will offerings I collect at speaking venues. Okay, so, the description wasn’t false. However, it’s shallow. It doesn’t, at all, capture what I do as a Dominican Friar.⁶

But what’s a better response? What is an easy way to explain what I do without some protracted explanation. You know, the sort of explanation that cause people to repeatedly glance at their watches. Explaining what one does should be informative and exciting, not eyeball glaze! What would you say? What could you say that would capture who you are as a person in a short but potent response. See, that’s what I’m trying to do. I don’t have a job, properly speaking. I live a peculiar manner of life. I’m consecrated to the Lord. This is what shapes who I am.

My pride wants something witty. I want to articulate what I do in a way that’s inspiring and invites people to ask more questions. But, really my response should be far more simple. Why? My life is no longer my own. My life belongs to Christ and his Church. In short, it’s not about me. It’s about Him.

Next time I get this question I think I’ll simply say: “I try really hard to be an imitator of Christ.”

That should be more than enough. That should be enough for any Christian.

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1. Apple’s major developer conference. If you are a nerd you probably know this. If you are not a nerd you probably don’t care.  ↩

2. It was great meeting all you guys!  ↩

3. Actually, Issue #3. You can read the article here.  ↩

4. This is an alternative developer conference that is held at the same time as WWDC for all those dedicated Mac and iOS developers who didn’t get a ticket to WWDC.  ↩

5. Those who know me will find this fact a little odd and hard to believe. I’m not usually one to be caught flat-footed in a conversation with anyone. But, for some reason this happened to me twice while meeting people during WWDC.  ↩

6. I was tempted to tell him that I was a professional LARPer.  ↩

Death Comes for Google Reader

If you use RSS for anything then you probably know that Google terminated Google Reader yesterday. They tend to do this to services they no longer value (regardless of how much we value them). Google Reader dominated the RSS reader services for a number of years. Their service was so good that they crushed the competition. Heck, it's the only Google service that still use. But, the demise of Google Reader seems like it's both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it will allow for competition in this technology space. It's bad because all of us who were dependent on it for gathering news from around the internet must make some decisions. We either abandon the use of RSS altogether (which I'm sure some people will do), or we find an alternative. I've been looking for an alternative.

The reason why I'm not willing to abandon a good RSS service is because of what Google Reader provided me. I'm not keen on allowing any medium or technology consume too much of my time. I've seen the result and I don't like it. Forms of media like newspapers, radio, and television already consume too much time as it is. If you add the internet to your daily routine then it's easy to simply become a consumer of information with no time for actual meaningful work or contemplation. You can easily become a drain drinking in raw data that spirals down into the emptiness of a cluttered soul. Google Reader has always helped me avoid this relationship damaging phenomenon. Instead of spending time seeking out information on the web the information from sites I find important are served to me as they are posted. I can then enjoy them according to my own time schedule. I have a simple workflow to help manage the information I receive:

1. I subscribe to a site's RSS feed thought Google Reader.
2. Google Reader syncs these feeds to all my devices.
3. I curate these feeds using Reeder passing interesting items to Instapaper.
4. I then read them at a convenient time in Instapaper or with ReadQuick.

This simple workflow has allowed me to consume a lot of important information without spending a lot of time online. Instead of going out to the internet, I make the internet come to me. This method of consuming information from online sources has been very efficient. It allows me to spend very little time scanning websites. There's no getting lost down dark rabbit holes constructed of hyperlinks. In real world terms, I spend less time consuming information with this workflow than the average newspaper reader and the information I'm able to consume is broader and more up to date. This allows me more time for study, prayer, and actual human relationships. In fact, this manner of consuming information contributes to the richness of each of these more primary human activities. I can contemplate current events, bring them and the needs of those involved before God in prayers, and share this information and its significance with others. Not having this process would actually impoverish my contemplative life at this point.

However, the foundation of this process has been Google Reader.

I've spent the last month investigating alternatives to Google Reader's service. Fortunately, an acquaintance of mine, Josh Centers has written an exhaustive article at TidBITS on the different options currently available. If you've been wondering what to do now that Google Reader is dead this article is a great place to start.

The alternative to Google Reader that I've chose to use is Feed Wrangler. I think that it will best serve my purposes in the long run. I'm currently unsatisfied with the iOS applications. However, I know that they are in their infancy. Also, if they don't get better my favorite RSS reader Reeder has promised to soon add it as a supported service.

This transition from one RSS syncing service to another has caused me to think a lot about my own use of technology and the internet. I continue to be convinced that the life of holiness can be attained in the midst of technological immersion. However, it is essential that we take the time to discover applications and workflows that allow us to govern the internet instead of being governed by it. It's so easy to let this happen! Yet, through trail and error I feel that I've found a good balance in my online life.

Now, if there was only an app or workflow to get my offline life in order ...

RSS Redirect

I've just added the service uri.lv to help track RSS subscription information (among other things). If you subscribe via RSS and you are having problems receiving the feed please let me know.

I may be tweeking things working in the background of the site little by little in preparation for a new project. So, please be patient if I accidentially break things.

Update: Turns out, uri.lv doesn't currently play nice with Squarespace. I've restored my original configuration. I hope that this changes in the future. I'm hesitent to use Feedburner because I'm pretty sure that it's not long for this world.

Office Notes In Comic Sans

First off, tip o' the hat to Merlin Mann. My title is a reference to an episode of his productivity podcast "Back to Work," cohosted by Dan Benjamin over at the 5by5 Network. It's worth the listen. Well, nearly everything there is worth a listen.

I tend to get really angry when people leave notes in a common space. I'm not talking about posted instructions or reminders. I'm talking about those snarky little notes that say, often in all caps, "YOUR MOTHER DOESN'T LIVE HERE. CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF," and usually end with an advanced ""Thank You"" that acts as a veiled threat. First of all, don't talk about my mother that way! Second, it's one of the worst ways to motivate me, or anyone else, to virtue. On the contrary, it provokes me, or anyone else, to anger.

So, stop!

Exit Word, back away from the PC (because no self-respecting Mac user would write such a note ... or use Comic Sans), and walk away.

Why, you might be asking? "Aren't I being helpful?" you ask. Well, no, actually for starters it's cowardly. It's just one more way to avoid confrontation. It may change behavior a few times at best; but, it will eventually fail to be effective. It's like trying to win a war with land mines. Yeah, they are briefly effective. However, they aren't going to achieve victory. And, just like land mines, they can be left around, only to erupt during times of peace. Because, you see, the problem that caused you to write the note wasn't solved at the root. The resulting resentment will lead to gossip and grudge holding — two of the greatest barriers to a healthy community.

Writing a note like this in Comic Sans just adds insult to injury. It's a feeble attempt to mask the underlying anger. It's the written equivalent of sarcasm. One of my Dominican brothers wisely noted that sarcasm is "anger with a smile." The results of both sarcasm and "helpful" Comic Sans notes are the same. And the vice at the root of the problem is the same, viz., cowardice.

I think sometimes the problem is that confrontation is often confused with being uncharitable. But, in reality, it's uncharitable to not confront bad behavior directly. The common term for this sort of uncharitable behavior is passive aggressiveness. Acting in a passive agressive way reveals a lack of mature emotional integration. In other words, put on your big kid pants and act like a mature adult.

The opposite of passive aggressive behavior is not aggressive behavior. The opposite behavior is fraternal correction. But, you can't just go around confronting people and call it fraternal correction. The practice of this virtue requires a number of things to be in place first. It isn't simply confronting someone in a nice way. It isn't simply confronting someone in a kind way. It's confronting someone in a charitable way.

In order to do this properly we must first be willing to bear the wrong that we've received patiently. It's natural to be angry when we experience a wrong. But, that anger should not control us. It should simply move us to correct the injustice we've experienced. Feelings of anger should quickly give way to pity. Pity should ignite in us a desire to be both merciful and helpful. Remember what Gandalf told Frodo about pity? In mercy we understand the words of St. Augustine, "But for the grace of God, there go I." Thus, the help offered should be born out of Charity. We should desire the good of the person who did harm more than our own relief from the injustice inflicted. We must truly desire the greatest good of the other for his own sake. It's also necessary to realize, and this is tough, that even if you do all of this perfectly your efforts may still fail. Fraternal correction can happen only after all of these have taken place.

Yep. It's hard; but, it's the right thing to do. It's called loving your enemies. It's one of the most difficult things in the Christian life.

The Magazine

Do you have an iOS device? Have you ever wondered what to do with the Newsstand App? Well, even as The Daily is being shuttered by News Corp there are other options. There is hope that there is viable content that is being produced for the Newsstand App. Marco Arment, the creator of the indispensable iOS app Instapaper and host of the podcast Build & Analyze on the 5by5 network, has entered into the publishing venture with his relatively new venture simply titled The Magazine.

I'm a fan of Marco even when he is wrong. This sentiment has perfectly translated over to The Magazine. I don't, in fact I cannot, agree with all the articles. However, each article is excellent. As a Dominican friar it provides me an opportunity to step into ideas and concerns that I don't always share. It's a pleasant way to encounter a way of living life that is radically different than my own. Yet, the readers share many of my interests, dare I say obsessions. They are nerdy superstars. As a fellow nerd I appreciate the opportunity to share in these common concerns.

If you too are a nerd or even an aspiring nerd I would recommend subscribing to The Magazine. It is only $1.99 a month. If you don't like it you can always unsubscribe. Don't expect to agree with every article. You can, however, expect well written content from people who care just a little too much about the intersection of technology and culture.

Just search The Magazine in the iOS Newsstand Store. If you don't know how to do that, this magazine is probably not for you.

Apple's Earpods

I'm not an audiophile but I like good clean clear sound. I also don't have a lot of money because the allowance that I receive is really small. So, if I'm going to purchase headphones they need to be inexpensive and good quality. I've looked high and low, I've tried various brands. I've tried earbud style headphones, in-ear headphones, over the ear headphones, etc. The new Apple Ear Pods are the best I have ever used.

The sound is clean. This is the most important part for me. I listen to a lot of Podcasts and I'm neurotic about the audio quality for talk programs (because I'm a nerd). The difference between the previous in-ear headphones and the Ear Pods are like night and day. The richness they add to the recorded human voice is nothing short of amazing.

I also listen to music. When I purchase music I'm really selective because of the whole money thing. So, when I listen to it I really want it to sound good. The dynamic range of the Ear Pods is also amazing. The design shape is what allows for this. They spent 3 years in development and it shows.

Their design is strange. But, they are extremely comfortable. It is as if they float in your ear. while still being secure. I'm really impressed with the way that they feel. It is necessary to be a little more careful when putting them in your ears. This isn't because of anything bad. Rather, the shape requires that they can't just be placed in any ear. The right must go in the right ear and the left must go in the left ear. 

The best part about them is that they are really, really, inexpensive. These puppies are about $30 which is a steal. If you need a set or want a set of headphones I highly recommend them ... even if you are a non-Apple-fan.

Go Go Go

One of the strongest pulls in the United States is work. Technology hasn't made this any better like it promised. We are always working. One of the professors at our school says that this is a direct result of the implicit atheism of the modern age. She says that the depression of the modern era effected Europe by sending them into a state of helpless immobility. However, in the United States, she said, we just became really busy. This is definitely my experience. As the years have gone on it has only gotten worse. We are so busy that we have become obsessed with productivity methods. Just look at the plethora of productivity apps available for your electronic devices, the books, podcasts, etc. litter the ethos of current American culture. Literally, we are so busy we can't keep up with our work, so we develop methods so that we can do even more work. It's insanity!

Make no mistake. This is a symptom of a society that lacks true Hope. When we expend so much energy on earthly tasks, how concerned are we with heavenly tasks? We need to reject this cultural trend. Busyness does not lead to holiness. Rather, silence is necessary. Peace is necessary. Contemplation is necessary. Yet, underneath each of these things is something else. In order to live out this call toward contemplation must have leisure.

Leisure?

Yes, leisure. I love how this goes against our American mentality.

Leisure does not mean having the time to sit around and do nothing. It's time that should be used for pursuing virtue and contemplation. It is only in the context of leisure that we can attain to our highest happiness. It could be said that heaven is a perpetual state of leisure.  

But we can't wait to attain to the life of contemplation in the next life. We must start that life now in this earthly state.This goes for all of us. Both the layman and the monk must make time for leisure. Yes, even monks get caught in a sort of "rat race" mentality. The monastery isn't a complete refuge from the world. Each monk brings a little bit of the world into the monastery. This is even more true with those of us Religious that have a vocation that takes us frequently into the public square.

Sometimes, as Religious we forget that we need leisure. Often we mistake our Regular Observances for leisure. This is a false understanding of Regular Observance. Public acts of worship like the chanting of the Divine Office or the Celebration of the Mass are not leisurely activities. Rather, they are our most profound work. They are our Opus Dei. Our first job is to fulfill these public obligations of worship with and for the Church. The graces that stem from these are more powerful and effective than any apostolic work or internal ministry we can do. To believe the contrary is to fall into the American sense of usefulness which is fundamentally a form of Utilitarianism. Worse, it could be a type of Pelagianism. Either way it at least looks like either some sort of Messiah complex or a convenient way to avoid intimacy. We must always remember the saying, "there is only one Savior and I am not he."

The activities of leisure are not necessarily bound up with public works. Study, Holy Reading, personal prayer and devotions, communal recreation, these are activities of leisure. These are essential. if we do not take a significant time to embrace silence and enter into these sort of activities then we will never be able to attain to the habit of contemplation. Without contemplation we will never be able to live a properly balanced, happy and holy life.

Our daily labors are not unimportant. I don't want to create a false dichotomy. i just want to point out the current pressing problem. We as a people are currently work oriented. We don't really need to learn how to work more or work harder. Rather, we need to learn how to slow down and make time for leisure. It will make our life more fulfilling and our work more fruitful. We need to learn how to properly balance time for work, refreshment, and leisure. We ought not spend too much time in any of these categories of life. We must learn to enter into each as completely and intensely as possible. For me, as a Dominican, these life categories will be filled with different content than the average layman. However, the common human need is to have a balance between the three.

I would challenge everyone to regularly evaluate their life and see if each of these areas are properly balanced. If not, rearrange what needs to be rearranged. If you can't rearrange then it is probably time to cut something out of your daily life.

Techno-nightmare

I really hate when technology gets in the way.

I've spent the better part of two days getting my techno-self back in order. First it started with Wordpress. I was pretty happy with it as far as a free service goes. Then it started including obnoxious adds into my posts. Now, I have nothing against ads on free sites or services. The problem is with how it is done. I abandoned Google over a year ago because their Privacy Policy became creepy. Well, yesterday, I left Wordpress because they started including video ads in my posts in such a way that it appeared like I was linking to some random video. It was dishonest. Creepy Google & sneaky Wordpress. Then, this morning I couldn't use my iPod Touch with headphones. Somehow, while I was sleeping, a large piece of pocket lint crept into the headphone jack. It was small enough to get in but it was large enough to deny access. It was pressed so far in that it was unremovable. Honestly, I was having a few other problems with the iPod so it occasioned an opportunity to drop by one of the local Apple Stores.

I love the Apple Store

Anyway, I hate when technology gets in the way. Good technology should get out of the way so you can create awesome stuff. Fortunately, in this case, technology getting in the way is providing an opportunity for me to do some awesome stuff. My frustration with Wordpress got me to make my transition to SquareSpace. I love SquareSpace. Not only are their hosting and creation tools wonderful, the folks who run the place are heroic. You should have heard what they did to keep things running in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. I had wanted to make this move for a while but I was worried about the cost. Fortunately a benefactor came forward to help with a portion of the cost. Also, my overheating (yes ... overheating!!!), plugged up iPod Touch was replaced by a new pristine iPod Touch.

So, two parts of my techno-life are in reboot. I'm pretty happy with the site, I'm pretty happy to have a new iPod Touch. I'm happy that someone has offered their charity to help me continue this ministry. So, I guess this is the modern world equivalent of God writing straight with crooked lines. It really is amazing. Yes, my time is in the can, but God can do some pretty cool things with otherwise useless frustrations. I guess we need to be like good technology too. We should get out of the way so God can make awesome stuff.

Now that the new site is live, take some time to look around. I've organized some things a little better than on my Wordpress site. I've also added a web form for contacting me. You will also notice that I added a donate page. Currently there is only a link to the main Donation page for my Province. Over time I will add other benefactor opportunities. I have a few things that need to be funded that I have permission to do but have yet to move forward on them. I always beg for the Order when I speak, it probably good that I do so when I write.

I hope you enjoy experiencing the new site as much as I enjoy creating it.

I Love the Apple Store

Tuesday is my day off from ministerial responsibilities. Usually I'll spend the day at home listening to podcasts, watching Stargate SG-1, going to the dollar movie theater, scoping out a new eatery, and hiding at the Mall. I thoroughly enjoy hiding at the mall. It's one of the few places I feel solitude (but that's for another post). But lately I've been taking advantage of the classes at the Apple Store. Some of you may be surprised. I can hear a cacophony of voices raised in incredulity, "why don't you spend your day before the Blessed Sacrament in contemplation!" (<— no question mark because when people ask this "question" it isn't really a question. It tends to be a passive aggressive accusation). My only response to these people is an attempt at education. They may not understand the human requirements of holiness. Holiness is achieved differently in each person. It is not necessarily achieved by spending hours upon hours in prayer. Holiness is achieved, however, by integrating prayer and contemplation into the mundane activities of life. Holiness is achieved through becoming an integrated and balanced human person infused by God's sanctifying, transformative grace. Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Reading, and other acts of piety have their place and shouldn't be neglected. However, watching movies, golfing, weaving, painting, and other leisure activities do have a place. We should strive for a life that is balanced in it's activities but intensely Christocentric in each activity.

I think Americans have a hard time understanding this. We are taught at a young age that activities that don't produce a tangible product are superfluous. Because of this we have a hard time understanding why leisure is a necessary component to holiness. This is why the life of the priest is not understood (even by priests). This is why the life of the religious, or monk is scorned in a production based society. The monk should make something. The friar should get a job. We privilege what we perceive to be productive over what we perceive to be unproductive. As American Catholics we perceive prayer to be productive and reading Robert Jordan to be unproductive. Prayer is in, art is out. When reduced this way, it's easy to see the Puritan influence on our thinking.

I'm reminded of the second Master of my Order, Blessed Jordan of Saxony, when I speak about this topic. On a certain occasion, the nuns asked him how much time he spent in prayer each day. His response was striking. He said that he didn't spend any time in prayer, he was too busy preaching. I'm sure the nuns were scandalized.

I wonder how many people take advantage of the Apple Store classes? More people should. The beauty of the architecture, and the products are enough reason to be there. I'm a Mac nerd so I love spending time at the Apple Store. But, to learn about new apps and product functionality that can help my workflow (the salvation of souls) defines my flavor of nerdy bliss. As long as Apple continues to offer classes that aren't simply introductory level I'll be there. I highly recommend you do the same. Don't have a Mac? No iDevice? I'll pray for you ... when I find the time.