The Gum Tree for 2005 February

It has been difficult to write because of all the activities that we have been cramming into our schedules. Friday we came here to Washington D.C., and it being my birthday, we went to cheesecake factory. I do love that place. I got the white chocolate rasberry truffle cheesecake. Sunday was a day to go to the monuments. We saw the new WW2 memorial, and went with a friend to the vietnam war memorial to etch his uncle's name from the stone. Then it was meetings, meetings, meetings. Today was spent with Congressman Matheson, as well as Senators Orrin Hatch, and Bob Bennet. Hatch was on the Senate floor earlier speaking on the confirmation of A.G. Alberto Gonzales. While we were in his office, he had to go and watch, on the senate Closed Circuit TV, his good friend Teddy Kennedy give his speech so that he could go back on the floor and "rip him" or something like that. We also saw the president pass by in his motorcade. It must have been about 12 motorcycle policemen, three identical bulletproof limos, and about eight large Vans filled with Secret Service guys, an armored special forces truck, an ambulance, and three Washington D.C. police cars. It took about 2 min for all of them to pass by. Tommorrow we will tour the Capital building before we finish up with meetings and fly home before the State of the Union address. Louise is having a good time as well.

Well, it was a long flight on a tiny airplane from Houston and a big hassle from Washington, but Louise and I are back home. Yesterday we had a special treat of taking a guided tour of the Capitol building provided by congressman Matheson and led by one of his staff. Part of the fun was not only looking at the beautiful artwork but also trying to recognize the people in the buildings. On the transport train to the Capitol, we saw Dennis Kusinich (sp?) of Ohio. In the capitol I saw Rick Santorum, and then we had the pleasure to be able to go to the House chambers and watch live house debate. There, Fred Barns of Massachusets was speaking on the Solomon Amendment and Discrimination against Sexual Orientation in the military. It was neat to see the very room where the President would give his State of the Union Address hours later. The media were laying down their power and communication lines through the capitol building. We weren't able to go to statuary hall because of the preparations for the State of the Union. Funny thing about that hall is that people around would always mistakenly call it statutory hall. I guess that it is difficult differentiating between a statute and a statue. The trip was an educational experience, and perhaps I will get my very own office in Washington someday as well. I could see Dave Matkin working in Government there and I would be sure to visit often if he did. (hint hint)

Today we awoke to a nice 3 inches of snow. I like the snow, and it was nice to see it give us some more water. Busy is the way I would describe our lives right about now. Studying for tests every weekend and doing schoolwork all week long with other things such as callings, etc. takes all of that leisure time away. Nothing special was done for Valentines Day except that we went out to dinner and the Temple on Saturday. That was good enough for us. We felt good about that. We are also excited about Michelle comming to town for a college, "what will I do with my life" tour. I think that she will really like Utah, and hopefully she will stay. Anyways, thats us for now.

Last friday we had a special guest come to our lab meeting. He was a scientist from India, (New Delhi) and he talked about proton pumps in the chloroplasts. It has been a while since I have seen somebody so enthusiastic about his work in such an overt way. He also had an interesting training in which he went to Princeton for his graduate work, and germany for his post-doctrate work. I went to dinner with family memebers including Kristen, Aaron, David, Julie, and Michelle at the Macaroni Grill. That was nice. Saturday Louise bought some "new" running shoes (at the DI thriftstore), and we went running together today. There is not much more to our boring life than that. We are having a very good time right now just enjoying our life in Provo.

Louise and I got an email yesterday that was from a certain Anne-Marie who is a recruiter for an English school out in Japan. We have been applying for work there and she is getting back with us about times for interviews.

Here’s the situation: Louise wants to go to this training program at the school of the blind at Louisiana State University, but that program is for 5-6 months. The English school will be looking for people to teach in August, and there might be a chance for flexibility but we don’t know exactly how much of a chance. The training program costs $20,000 and we could get funding here in Utah, but it might be more difficult to get funding for the program in Texas after we move there.

I also have Medical School Interviews in August through October, and being in Japan will make it inconvenient to fly back and forth to and from Japan, but not impossible. We would like to go to Japan, but we will see if this all pans out the way we want it. Ideally we would go from October to July.

These are exciting plans for us. We have a little bit of time before we start really getting into work and family, and I think that taking this little bit of time to work in Japan will be nice for both of us to learn and experience a different culture and identity. Besides, after Louise has had her adventure, maybe I can settle her down and we can start having kids. We are looking at going to the island of Shikoku and our home base will be out of the city of Takamatsu. It is a nice rural area with minimal westernization, I am told. We are interested to see the peace park at Hiroshima as well as the historical parts of Kyoto.

In the end, I figure that we will be plenty well off in the future. I don’t need to rush to be a doctor because it is just as important enjoying the journey as enjoying the destination. Anyway, that is what I tell myself, and being with Louise, I think that is true.

So, yesterday I was talking with a couple of friends about The Da Vinci Code and I mentiond that it was anti-christian. I got the same response that it was anti-catholic but not anti-christian. This is the probably the forth time that I have gotten that response from different people.

Perhaps it is just me, but wasn't the book saying that Jesus's divinity was created for political purposes by Constantine in order to pacify the pagan citizenry? (To name just one instance in the book.)

Also, we had a lively debate in my english class about bias in writing. The assignment is for us to write a <i>review of literature</i> (I will write on Affirmative Action) and that I am supposed to inject a little bit of subtle bias. The reasoning is that everybody has bias anyways, and the trick is to disguise the bias in a cleverly sophisticated analysis of weaknesses of the research of the opponent. These social scientist think thay have a handle on the hard truths, but how can they be credible when they claim cultural relativism from a universally objective pedestal. Their conclusions are contradicted by the very premises of those conclusions.

I almost think that this is almost dishonest. I want to do a fair review of all the research that has been done on the topic, (mainly because I myself am torn because of the great merit of both arguments and the supporting research of both sides). Furthermore, there are some things that I believe which will not be borne out by scientific research (i.e. resurrection of the body).

Furthermore, I am not a "randroid" objectivist, but I do think that it is possible to come to the truth in at least some areas. To say "everybody is biased" to me is like the abusive husband saying "well, nobody's perfect" in excusing his ill-temper. Both true, but the newtonian bias that the NASA scientist had when they sent a man to the moon was only centimeters away in the end from the Einsteinian relativistic ideal. If you are going to the grocery store, thinking in terms of relativity is hardly worth the time because the Newtonian paradigm is a far more useable tool.

I think we can reach a certain degree of objectivity and impariallity. The world isn't perfect, and everybody does have some sort of prejudice, but should we not make an attempt to eliminate those personal impartialities? Can we ever attain a just society? Is the rule of law just some nice idea that we will never actually attain, or justice another opiate handed down from those who happen to be the strongest and nothing more?

As for me, I would like to think, along with Keplar, Newton, and Einstein, that we can in some way come to know the mind of God. In terms of religion, I think that this desire is even more attainable.

Well, I am not going to edit this, so hopefully I was clear and didn't make too many mistakes in putting my thoughts down.