Author Archives: Brandon

Old words

2 Replies

Six years ago, she meant a lot to me. I’ve never been in love, but at the time it was the closest that I’d ever been to being in love. We talked for hours on the phone about everything and nothing at all. I went over to her house often. We’d talk over there, sometimes walking hand in hand up and down the street that she lived on. I’d never experienced that before.

But I was just about to start my life at college, and I had to go. I told her that I’d write her when I got there so she’d have my address to write back. She promised that she would.

The first semester that I was at college was filled with letters. Even though I came home often, her words were always a source of comfort when I was here. And apparently mine to her were as well; she once mentioned falling off the couch laughing at my description of a bad day that I’d had. She’d had one the day she’d received that letter, but my words put it out of her mind, she wrote. I wonder what I wrote.

But of course time passes on, and distance is a hard thing to overcome. The feelings between us changed to that of good friends, and then to friends with time and distance between them.

Tonight while sorting through my life, I came upon all the letters that she wrote me. Old words that meant so much to me back then. And they still do today, because they give me hope that one day there will once again be someone out there that will think thoughts about me like those that she wrote six years ago.

Bin packing problem

2 Replies

I think that I’m fighting a losing battle.

I’m attempting to pack my stuff up in preparation for moving day, which will probably happen this Saturday. The problem is, every time I think I have enough boxes, something else pops up that needs to be packed.

I’ve already made two trips to Wal-Mart, and while admittedly I didn’t get many storage bins either time, I chalk that up to foolish optimism. I’ve already decided that if I go back again, I’m buying the entire storage bin section out.

You’d think that someone who once researched algorithms for the “bin packing problem” would be better at something like this, but no… 🙂

Welcome to version 7.3!

Leave a reply

Welcome to version 7.3 of pressing on! The big change here is the addition of greymatter to the site. This is software that allows, among other things, commenting on entries and searchable archives! There will be some wrinkles to iron out, of course, but hopefully everything will be running smoothly soon enough.

As a consequence of this change, I had to move all the entries that were on this front page to the updates section a little early. But they’re there. 🙂

Enjoy! And if you find something that doesn’t seem to be working properly or that doesn’t look right, please e-mail me.

lousy false advertising

Leave a reply

You remember all those milk commercials where the shrimpy little guy is talking to the “cool girl” who doesn’t know that he exists, and while he drinks milk and talks about all of its benefits, morphs into some model-type guy?

Well, I’ve been drinking milk all my life, and I haven’t seen that happen. The American Dairy Association will hear from my lawyers about this…

“the death and taxes special”

2 Replies

Passage: “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” I Corinthians 15:54-55

Someone once said that the only two things that can be counted on in life are death and taxes. I wholeheartedly agree as far as taxes are concerned, but I don’t really agree as far as death is concerned. Now, I’m not disillusioned; I don’t think that we don’t die. I just don’t think that death is what a lot of people believe that it is. Read on, and you’ll see why.

First, the taxes. As we all know, tomorrow is the big day! I attempted to figure mine out. You’d think that a college student who made a pittance compared to practically anyone in the real world would not have a hard time filling out his tax returns. You couldn’t be further from the truth.

I had to start by filling out a 1040 (and some schedules thereunto appertaining), because of a couple of forms that I got from school and my place of employment from my summer internship. I should have known that that would be a bad sign.

A couple of hours later, I found myself staring at a number that, frankly, scares me. I do not get a refund. I do not even come close to one. The solution? Let my family’s accountant worry about it, because I’m sure that I probably messed up somewhere along the line. I’ll try again next year, when I should just get W-2s and nothing else…

Now I can see why everyone hates taxes so.

However, death is another story. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that death is not a part of our lives. What I’m saying is that death doesn’t have to hold the pull over us that it does for most.

As a child, I was really afraid of death. Like most people, I didn’t like the idea of death at all. And I still don’t like the idea of the physical dying…but that’s very different from death as a whole. Why?

I Corinthians 15:54-55 provides the answer. Death is not a final act, as I once thought. It is a transition from mortality to immortality, from imperfection to being made perfect in Christ. And why is that?

Because, almost 2000 years ago, there was one who was perfect. He committed no sin, but He died for our sins. Then He did the unthinkable: He showed that death had no power over Him! He arose from the grave, and He lives, even today! He was the one that took the sting from death and victory from the grave. He suffered in death so that when that time comes for us (if the Rapture doesn’t occur first), we don’t have to worry about death! It’s not the end. It’s the beginning!

Today is Resurrection Sunday. Christians all over the world are celebrating Jesus’ victory over death and the fact that because of Him, we have victory as well!