New home for this blog

hey everyone. check out my new website, www.carlgrulke.com don’t come to this blog anymore. I wont’ update it. well, that’s it.

AWAKEN concepts

Hey, I think I finally figured out what Jon had in mind when he talks about “Matrix style” fighting in AWAKEN. Although as a point of clarity, I think it would accurately be called “Mortal Kombat” or “Star Wars” style fighting, because at no point in the Matrix does anyone throw balls of energy.

Could this actually happen? Derek and Patrick, get on that.

This Sunday

So, this Sunday I will be starting to teach high school Sunday School at Memorial Lutheran Church here in Ames. I originally volunteered for this before Kelsey got her job in Gilbert, so I’m kind of on the hook for it, but I am really excited about it. I am going to have like 12 kids in the group and I am looking forward to teaching them and learning from them this year.

We’re starting off the year by talking about current issues facing the church, beginning with politics. So it should be really easy. *sarcasm* It will be hard, but I know that it will be good and it will probably help me learn a lot about this stuff too. I’m really interested to find out what they have to offer and how they feel about some of this stuff. While trying to prepare for this, I realized how much older I am that these kids and how much I didn’t care about this stuff at their age. So I am really impressed that they actually wanted to learn and talk about this stuff.

Anyway, I am not quite sure what I am wanting to cover while we try to grapple with this stuff. This is where you, the reader, comes in. What do you think I should talk about with these kids? I have the vague guidelines of: 1. it should be about politics and/or the election and 2. the Christian response or responsiblity in these elections. If you have ideas, awesome. Please share them If you don’t, it’s still cool. Just try harder next time.

Thanks a lot for the help. I appreciate it.

A new adventure begins…

Well, I make my announcement the internet: MY WIFE IS PREGNANT! She is due in late March and we are ecstatic to be parents. I am especially excited to see Kelsey as a mom; she will be an incredible mother. We had our first official doctor’s visit this last week and did a bunch of tests and things. We have another appointment in early September and I think that will be the one where we’ll hear the heartbeat. I’m really excited for that. Well, I suppose that’s all. Relatively small news, I guess *sarcasm*. Seriously, we are really excited and are praying for a healthy baby; we hope you’ll join us in that. More updates to come in the adventures of the incredible grulks (soon to be three!)…

So, what do you do?

Funny comic from the internets for your enjoyment. Well, you’ll probably only laugh if you are a designer, but whatever. FYI, this has happened to me.

I agree wholeheartedly

Wow. I just found this article and it blew me away. I have not read a more eloquent description of one of the biggest problems in higher education today. This man really knows what he is talking about; good thing too, he’s publishing a book about the subject.

I think that there is a lot wrong with the modern secondary education system. In my four years at school, I saw a lot of coasting. I was doing some of it, but often I saw my peers sitting back and never participating in classes, putting in the bare minimum and just trying to get by. And the professors didn’t do much about it. It seemed like if the student showed up for class, they were pretty much guaranteed a B. And if they were really fast talkers, they could usually weasel into an A. That is just ridiculous.

The approach suggested in the article of standardized competency exams is excellent. It wouldn’t matter how you learned it; it would only matter if you knew the material. There is no cramming for that kind of exam. You know the material or you don’t. Not only would this be a great leveler (just because someone graduated from Harvard doesn’t make them smarter, I could be just as or more competent in a job, but they were to Harvard, so they are assumed to be more qualified), but it would also hold students to a much higher standard. I alway marvelled at the knowledge of my professors in college; they always seemed to know so much stuff. And it wasn’t like they knew a little bit about it, they were fluent in languages that aren’t spoken anymore, they could recall entire poems from memory, they could perform complex math in their head at a speed to make calculators jealous. Yes, they are professional scholars, but I always felt that they didn’t expect that kind of mastery from us. Even though on more than one occasion they said that they learned this or that when they were an undergrad. I wanted to shout “Well why don’t you make us learn it? Are we not as smart as you? Hold us to higher standard, dang it!” However, this would have resulted in my death by stoning at the hands of my fellow students, so I decided to bite my tongue.

But I wonder what today’s college undergrads would be capable of if they were pushed. If they held a college degree in the same esteem as our parents did, or even our grandparents. There are still plenty of people who don’t go to college; why is it then, that so many undergrads feel that their degree is an inalienable right? Earn your degree, don’t just coast into it.

Maybe  Mr. Murray is correct when he suggests competency exams. It would certainly change the face of modern secondary education, perhaps for the better. But I doubt that the regents of colleges and universities across the country would ever accept such an undermining of their well-established, extremely profitable business. Because regardless of what they say, that’s what college presidents, regents and deans ultimately see students as: dollar signs.

Things falling into place

My wife has a job! After she finishes her summer at Riverside, she will be an interim youth director at Gilbert Lutheran Church in Gilbert, IA. I am so happy that she has foudn a place where she can use the gifts that God has given her and the degree she earned. And this is totally a God thing too; she called on Wednesday, met the pastor on Thursday, went to a church service Sunday (after which she met the whole church council, called together for an emergency meeting to discuss hiring her), and was offered the job on Monday. Things just fell into place; a welcome relief after she had struggled this January finding a job and was entirely unsure of what she was going to do after camp ended. But God had something in mind and I am really happy for her and I know she will do awesome things for God’s kingdom there in Gilbert. Hooray for God!

Also, on a related note, I am going to be heading up some high school youth stuff at Memorial Lutheran Church in Ames, where Kelsey and I have been going to church this year. I’m really excited about it because I love hanging out with kids and I know that God will use me with that group to show them Jesus. Also, I like the pastor there and he seems like he’ll be really supportive. I have high hopes for this and will definitely be covering this prayer.

Okay that’s it; back to work now.

Peace out.

Is it shower time?

Why do people in my building seem to think that 12:00 a.m. is the perfect time to take a shower. This is the third time this week that noise has been my accompaniment as I work. I wonder if they have a job that requires them to shower at ungodly hours of the night. Or maybe it’s a skin condition.

Whatever.

Look what I did!

Today at work, I turned this man into a butter sculpture for an ad. Yes, this man wanted to be a butter sculpture in his business’ ad. I think it is pretty awesome.

 

This man is a butter sculpture. Awesome.

The design ninja strikes again…

Dirty Suds Design

I am really excited about this. My friend Patrick and I have launched a design company called Dirty Suds Design. We’ve done a few websites so far and I’m really excited about the possibilities we’ve got ahead of us. Also, I like working with Patrick. I think we are a good team and I think that we’ll do good work and contribute a little bit to prettying up the Internet. So yeah, if you need a website designed, check us out.