Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

I am back from a wonderful (although somewhat wet) camping trip with some friends to Tofino, BC on the west coast of Vancouver Island (pictures to follow). Before I post on that (I still need to organize all the photos), I wanted to show a few pictures of a creature I had never seen (or heard of) before: Velella velella or more commonly, by-the-wind sailors. (Not to be confused with the Seattle Band)

We first saw and heard of these Cnidaria while on a whale watching boat when we came to huge amounts of these creatures just floating along together:

We were told that this little things, which are related to Jellyfish, are one of a very few species that have a rigid sail as a means of movement by the wind. Apparently the sail is at 55 degrees to the wind which is a fairly effective angle to sail by. It is also interesting to note that Velella that live on opposite shores (like over in Japan) will have the sail oriented in the opposite direction (so called right and left handed). Like Jellyfish, they have tentacles that hang down to sting and catch their prey (but don’t worry if you come across them, they are not strong enough to pierce human skin). Later, while walking on the beach, we came across thousands and thousands of Valella washed up on shore (it was hard to know if they would die there or if they would be washed back out to sea…), it seems their sails had failed some of them:

And here they are up close:

And here is an image from this site that shows the tentacles hanging down (I never got to see these):

Interesting, eh? I had no idea about these little Valella! There are so many interesting creatures out there!

Resources:
Wikipedia – Valella
Monterey Bay Aquarium – By-the-wind sailor
JelliesZone – Velella
Marine Life Information Network for Britain and Ireland – By-the-wind-sailor – Velella velella
Cornwall Wildlife Trust – By-the-wind sailor (Velella velella)
Oregon State and NOAA – Velella velella (PDF)

PS: Won’t be back till Monday or so because I have an interview at Western tomorrow and then parents are moving on Sunday. Busy weekend!

The Lonely Forest: Eric Sturgeon on bass, Braydn Krueger on drums and backup vocals, John Van Deusen on keys and vocals, and Tony Ruland on electric guitar.

John Van Deusen

Boys and girls, The Lonely Forest knows how to rock! This weekend The Lonely Forest played three CD release shows and I was able to catch them at the Crocodile (pictures below) in Seattle and at the Bakerview in Bellingham. Both shows were great but there was definitely something about the intensity at the Crocodile (although I did want to hear I Blame Us and Now Onto Other News, but I suppose a kickin’ version of God is Dead made up for it…). If you ever have a chance, catch them live. John Van Deusen’s first EP and the band’s new EP are both great and their live shows are a great compliment to both of those releases. Stop by their website or their MySpace for music and show information. You can also check out my review of their EP John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest.

And now for the pictures (clickable for larger versions) and video clips:

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This term in Systematic Theology here at Regent, professor John Stackhouse gave some wonderful lectures. Contained in those lectures were some very quotable statements, some humerous, some serious, all pithy. I didn’t have the presence of mind to write them down myself, but thankfully, classmate Dan did.

Probably his [Paul's] love notes were full of theology, which is probably why he was single.

The authority of the Bible does not reside in the text of the Bible. The authority of the Bible resides in the Author of the Bible who continues to teach us from His book.

The lecture is a transfer of data from the professor’s notes to the notes of the student without it passing through the minds of either.

Faith is not ratcheting up our beliefs so that there are no doubts. Faith is following Jesus, doubts and all.

Some of you could get higher grades if you were just disobedient to God.

One can be strictly just without love, but one cannot be properly loving without holiness.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed the class.

I just got back from my Systematic Theology A with John Stackhouse final. I think it went fairly well, not great, but I am satisfied, probably a B exam. I can live with that. I am officially done in Canada (not with the degree mind you, just with taking classes up here).

The exam consisted of picking three of five propositions and writting an essay response to each one over three hours. Here are the directions:

Respond to the following propositions in the following way:

1. Rephrase them to make sure you understand them.

2. Indicate what about them you can affirm; what is at least partly accurate, well phrased, comprehensive, significant, and helpful.

3. Indicate what about them you cannot affirm; what is at least partly inaccurate, badly phrased, truncated, trivial, and unhelpful.

4. Conclude briefly with your overall evaluation.

And here are the three that I choose to write on:

Theology is a waste of time. We need to be out there, helping people.

If God can do anything, then can he create a rock so big he can’t lift it? Can he do evil?

Time and space began with the Big Bang. As Creator, God therefore transcends time and space.

You have three hours beginning… now!

Google has finally come out with Google Calendar! MS Outlook has been ok to use, but I have been waiting for Google Calendar for a long time. Now we have access to our calendar from anywhere we have a net connection. It is extremely easy to add events, invite guests, and have reminders sent. I am really excited about this! (Is that sad?)

Also, there are a few shows this weekend to check out. Friday the 21st you will have to choose between Tara Ward (of Late Tuesday) and Joe Day (of Mindhead) playing @ the Q Cafe at 8:00pm (doors at 7:30, $6) OR The Lonely Forest CD release show @ the Crocodile Cafe at 9:00pm ($7) along with Shim, Mooncalf, and David Bavas & The Down Comforter. VERY tough decision. Lonely Forest at the Croc will rock for sure and I think I will probably end up there. It sounds like they will be playing right at 9:00pm, if they play later (say 10ish) I will probably try and catch some of Tara and Joe’s show. If you do want to hear both of the shows, you could catch Tara and Joe Friday night and then see The Lonely Forest on Saturday night up in Bellingham @ The Bakerview (I think that is at Christ the King church) at 8:00pm ($10door/$8adv) along with Mates of State and Viva Voce. Good music folks, check it out!

Just a short update for now (I will be pretty busy over the next few days… or weeks… month?). I went over to MEC (for all your folks from Seattle, MEC is like REI… well REI when it first started anyway) to see if they had any cheap sleeping pads and lanterns. I wasn’t in any hurry and browsed the store and finally got up to the registers. I glanced at the back of the head in front of me and it sure looked a lot like MacGyver but didn’t really think much of it. The chap got to the register and his $700+ of merchandise was rung up and I glanced at the computer screen which states the name of the co-op member and sure enough it was Richard Dean Anderson, Mr. MacGuyver himself! The next ten minutes was spent waiting for the cashier to figure out how Mac’s payment would go through… eventually another “helper” came along and they were able to take his $700 (Canadian mind you). He apologized to me for all the problems (yes, I was actually spoken to by MacGuyver!) and went about his way. After he left I asked the cashier if she had ever watched MacGyver and after explaining that she knew she recognized him from somewhere, I told her that next time she had better take MacGyver’s credit card, no questions asked.

I expected him to buy more toothpicks, dental floss, toothpaste, and nylons or duct tape… maybe that will be his next stop…

I have been spending time with family this weekend so won’t really be posting for Easter. If you want to catch my wisdom from last year you can see my posts: The Resurrection, or The Passion of Jesus Christ or Triumphal Entry.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and realize the full force of the Gospel: Christ truly died for all your sins, there is nothing you can do to match what He has already done for you. Accepting His loving grace is a good place to start on a journey towards Him, or even if you are in the middle of your journey.

Blessings and all Glory be to God!

My classes are coming to an end here at Regent. It is kinda said. Yeah, I will be back from time to time because I still have credits to finish up. But I will be moving away and won’t be there consistently any more. Tuesday saw my last chapel service, my last community group, and my last community group soup (pictured above). My last Stackhouse class was today. My last group study session was tonight. Lots of lasts. This is pretty sad! I really will be sad to leave here. I know it is time and I need to move on to other things, but the people and classes here will be greatly missed. I know I will have to make trips up to visit. Life moves on…

One thing that I will miss seeing is the completion of the new library. But, again, I know I will come back up to enjoy it from time to time. Here are a few images (clickable) of the development thus far: Webcam Jan 10th, 2006 – Webcam Feb 7th, 2006 – April 11th, 2006:

Sigh… I just hope I get in to Western and/or SPU…