Ministry plans and petition for prayer for the Outer Banks this summer:

I will be moving down to Frisco, NC on Hatteras island (just past buxton, the town with the black and white spiraled lighthouse you always see) this summer with two other guys, PJ Terranova and Charlie Blakeley. PJ and Charlie both graduated from Norfolk Academy and were discipled by Josh Shaw. PJ goes to UNCW and Charlie goes to UGA, both are rising sophomores and a year younger than me. The three of us will be living in a warehouse, above 316 Skatepark. The vision for the warehouse is for it to become the hub for youth ministry on Hatteras Island. Currently however, the warehouse consists of a skatepark, a meeting room upstairs where a house-church meets, and two semi-finished bedrooms upstairs where PJ, Charlie, and I will be staying. The three of us will be working alongside a guy named Doyle, who is the fruit of the ministry Shaw began on the island almost 10 years ago. Doyle grew up on the island, graduated from Appalachian State a few years ago, and has since moved back with a heart and a vision for the lost kids down there.

The house church that meets in the warehouse, spurred on by Doyle, will essentially be sponsoring our stay down there for the summer, providing us with a free place to stay in exchange for opening and running the skate park four nights a week. PJ, Charlie, and I will attend the house church and meet with (and hopefully be discipled by!) the elders. The three of us also plan on working part-time jobs to make some sort of money this summer (we are college students after all) and also be available to kids by not working full time. I'll be making a trip back to Blacksburg for our camp trip to Rockbridge in July, staying in touch with Blacksburg High School guys that I'm running after, and also making sure guys from Blacksburg and Chesapeake make it down during several trips for a couple days throughout the summer

We will be entering the Hatteras community with the heart, goal, and vision to love lost teenagers for the sake of Christ. According to Shaw, the Buxton/Frisco area is the epitome of small town life. Everyone knows everyone and what they are about. This is both a little scary and also encouraging. This means, for the three of us, that we will be doing "full-time" ministry in a very real way. Within a few weeks the entire community will know who we are and why we came down for the summer. Everywhere we go, from grocery shopping to surfing, and even at our jobs, we will be given the opportunity to actively live out the Gospel. We will essentially be doing Young Life style ministry, though no one down there knows anything about Young Life (I have the most YL experience, although PJ and Charlie were a part of Young Life in high school and Doyle took Hatteras kids to Shaw's Tidewater Independent Schools Young Life Winter Weekend) The three of us, partnered with Doyle as well as the local house church, will go forth into darkness meeting kids where they're at, earning the right to be heard, and hoping and praying for a chance to share with them the story of Grace. We will be using our knowledge of and passion for the skateboarding and surfing scene as a medium for reaching teenage kids, gaining credibility in their eyes simply by being present in the surf line-up and at the skatepark.


Specific prayer requests for this summer/future of ministry on Hatteras Island:
-that PJ, Charlie, and I would go all out for the sake of Christ
-that we would be provided with jobs that set us up well
-that the warehouse and 316 Skatepark become a vibrant image of Christ centered community and the hub of ministry on the island
-that projects, including a finished kitchen, guest room, game room, movie room, and refinished skate ramps, would be funded and completed
-and especially, that leaders from all over our region who plan on taking discipleship trips down to 316 Skatepark would feel loved, welcomed, and most importantly be a window into authentic fellowship and the grandeur of Christ for local kids who have limited perspective on Christian community


Thanks so much,
For our King,
John Carr

Math 1016

It is finished.

I am done with math.

Forever.

Today I took my last math class for the rest of my life (hopefully). Math 1016 Calculus is an course required for liberal arts majors at Virginia Tech. It is taught in the emporium, which I will describe soon. I hated every minute of it. After a brief description of the emporium, I will describe some of the things math has taught me, that I will never use.

The Virginia Tech Math Emporium is a dimly-lit former warehouse in the University Mall. Located off campus, parking is always a hassle at the emporium, what with there being thousands of students enrolled in the same classes, all with deadlines on the same day. You can usually expect a line to get into the math emporium (over an hour was the longest I have waited) and once you get in you are greeted by two girls drinking slurpees and playing computer solitaire who snatch your Hokie ID, scan it, and grumpily ask if you need a computer. These employees always act as if I am ruining their day by checking in, when in reality I'm consigning myself to hours of torture and their getting paid $8.50 an hour to sit in a comfy chair and move their arm up and down once a minute. Once you get pass these wenches, you move onto your assigned computer, usually next to an extremely tan girl talking very loudly on her phone, or an engineer snoring and his pod next to you. You log in and then slowly read the poorly worded explanations of problems, and look at the examples which are nothing like the actual quizzes. You have the option of putting up a red solo cup to request help, but that process can mean a thirty minute wait in between answers. The employee/student ratio is roughly 1/1,000. You are not allowed to have food or drink in the emporium.

This is where I have been enrolled in my math class. Calculus. I'm not bad at calculus to be honest, and I took pretty much this exact course my junior year of high school. But when I know that I'm going to have to go to the emporium to do work, something inside me dies a little every time. Especially because of the negative mindset I have about calculus in general. It is completely pointless for me to know. Am I an engineer? no. Am I an architect? no. Am I a history major? yes. Here are some examples of what I worked on this semester.

Deriving Functions- As a history major it is imperative that I know how to figure out at what point a tangent line touches a parabola.

Rate of Change- Everyone knows snowmen melt. But why not have the ability to figure out how fast the snowman is melting?! Well an imaginary snowman, unless you want to get a ruler and go out in the snow to discover the original size.

Derivative Graphs- If knowing the how to figure out what point the lines were touching at wasn't enough, it is now time to be able to graph said lines.

That's it pretty much. The entire course was more and more advanced derivatives with tons of signs that I don't care about (ln, e, sine, cosine, secant, cosecant, tangent,cotangent, log, a^x etc...). In other words stuff I am never going to use.

So here's to you pointless mathematics course, I will never use any of the methods I learned. But thank you for the patience I built while waiting in that line.

Sorry for the extreme cynicism throughout this article. Now it is time for me to study much more relevant things, like Alexander the Great.

Easter Weekend Update

My friends the year is slowly coming to a close. The weather is getting warmer, classes are getting stressful, and Jackson's been sleeping upwards of 14 hours a day. As I sit here procrastinating on my homework, I felt that it is a prime time to look back on the Men of Willard's weekend.

Sam J. Bowman- Living only a short drive away from his hometown of Fishersville, VA; Sam made the trip home for the holiday with his girlfriend Eliza. Their weekend was laid back and joyful, spending lots of time with Bruce and Nancy (naturally). Additionally, Sam came back to Willard loaded up with goodies that I'm sure he will be quite generous with.

Jackson Strawn- One of two members to stay at Willard this weekend, Jackson's parents did a role reversal and came to see him. Jackson's weekend consisted of hanging out with the rents and elder brother Tyler Strawn (known for his six-sided die tattoo on his left shoulder). After a lovely dinner on Friday, the Strawns joined some of Dad's old Fraternity brothers on Sunday morning. Mr. Strawn's outfit consisted of pink pants, a light colored dress shirt, and a baby blue vest. As Jeremy Mateyk said so boldly, "Now I see where you get your fashion sense from, Jack."

John Carr- John got back like 2 hours ago. Not really sure how his weekend went specifically, but he did mention that he was defeated in ping-pong, which "pissed" him off. This then started the discussion of why we didn't play ping-pong more, seeing we had a table. Then Jackson noted that we had screwed it into our basement ceiling. After a brief debate, we voted to not ride our bikes to campus to play a quick game or 10.

Jeremy Mateyk- The only Northerner currently resided in the house, Jeremy did not return home for Easter, saying, "I hate cars, I hate driving, I hate family get-togethers, I hate weekends. Long live the Union." He said he hated cars. I know right? Weird.... Jeremy did spend his weekend playing a 99 life game of super smash (284 kills) and watching the Jack Black bust "Nacho Libre"

Joe Danehower- This family man headed back to Chantilly to spend time with the Family on this glorious holiday to begin passover. Consisting on a traditional Jewish diet of unleavened bread and no pork, Joe participated in a men's league basketball game and played baseball with his brothers. He also went to church, saw his grandma and made a scrumptious Easter Brunch for relatives. "James, that's a lie. I'm Not Jewish! Don't write that! I eat ham sandwiches almost everyday. I love bread and pork. Don't make me hit you. I don't care if you say funny things about me, they just need to be true."

Evan Underwood- Whereabouts currently unknown. Went to Fishersville for the weekend.

James Harris- Went to NOVA for the weekend, had a good time, I'm tired of writing now, if you wanna hear more you can ask me in person or over text messaging.

<3's
James C. Harris

I Started Out With Nothin' and I Still Got Most Of It Left

Steve Wold (Seasick Steve) is an American bluesman, but would rather would be called “a song and dance man.” He plays broken guitars and sings the blues. When asked about his nickname, Steve said: “because it’s just true: I always get seasick.” Lately Evan and I have been really into blues, along with other members of the Blacksburg community, we've become regulars at "Blues Night" downtown at The Cellar (Norton and Bobby even play sometimes.) Seasick Steve is a genuine trainhopping, jailbirding, cowboying, carnival working, migrant farm picking, occassional tramping, near-fatal heart attack surviving, old hobo. He's legit. And hes 69 years old.

Seasick Steve's 2008 album "I Started Out With Nothin' and I Still Got Most Of It Left" is fantastic. The opening song "I Started Out With Nothin' " and "Thunderbird" hit hard, and "Fly By Night" is a slow heartbreaker. Seasick Steve's voice is raspy and soulful, his first album "Dog House Music" was recorded in his kitchen on a microphone from the 1930's and "I Started Out With Nothin' " was recorded in a actual studio. The songs are new and fresh, narrative gems, deeply personal yet universal, howls or whispers of joy and despair, and they are always blues songs. Steve loses none of the grittiness that makes his music unique. He even commentates at the beginning of most of his songs explaining what they're about (chiggers for example) or how he should have thrown the guitar he's playing with away a long time ago haha, it has given Evan and I great joy to quote him the past few days.

Point is, its a great blues album, check it out. Listen to it while: cooking soul food, driving on a nice day with the windows down, or washing dishes in a sudsy sink

Here's the track listings:

1. Started Out With Nothing
2. Walking Man
3. St Louis Slim
4. Happy Man
5. Prospect Lane
6. Thunderbird
7. Fly By Night
8. Just Like A King
9. One True
10. Chiggers
11. My Youth

The Marvelous Magic of Matthew Hypes

Yes my friends, tonight was glorious.

As many of you know, a good friend of ours, (Matthew Hypes) is a professional chef (no joke), and has a passion for the men of Willard. As many of you also know, I have a passion for food rivaled by almost no one (see Big Man Club post, circa November 2010). (And yes I notice that i am using a lot of parentheses). Anyway, today Hypes joined us in Blacksburg for fellowship and freedom. Hypes loves this blog, and we love Hypes, so I figured I would describe our time with him today.

He arrived at approximately 4:52 p.m. at Willard, from where he immediately jumped in Jackson's Mazda and joined us in YL Leadership, held in beautiful Squires hall. Much has changed in Blacksburg since Hypes was last here (last year for the Lupe Fiasco concert). Anyway, leadership tonight was senior reflections (Col. 3:17), which we all enjoyed immensely, especially Hypes being able to hear Mark Richardson's (Hypes was his leader in high school.) After that, we headed back to Willard, where Hypes started cooking and we started playing SuperSmash (Joe beat me twice, but both were cheap victories, no honor there). After a few quick smash sessions, we went up stairs and chatted with Isaac, Hypes, and Caleb (HS senior from Towson, MD, who will be coming to Tech next year after visiting this weekend.) (Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, HI..) Then came the most miraculous portion of the day. Hypes' roasted chicken.

The master chef held nothing back tonight, with Roasted Chicken, Orza salad, and Bread pudding. My mouth is watering now thinking about what a good meal it was. Afterwards we sat around the table in a Willard tradition and shared our struggles and encouragements. After dinner, Hypes left to make the long trip home, and we retired to our various activities, (I went on campus to write a paper, which is going horribly.) So in closing, thanks Hypes for a lovely time. We miss you already, and eagerly anticipate your next visit, which will hopefully be longer.

<3's
James Harris

Man's Best Friend

at approximately noon last saturday the willard house began to plot and plan on bringing in a new member to the household. we had been toying with the idea of getting a dog for a long time, but we had never been serious. then for some unknown reason, could have been extreme boredom on a rainy saturday, the thought became serious, fast. within ten minutes a majority of us were on our computers looking at craigslist and the humane society websites. james was the most serious about this idea, we caught him multiple times day dreaming about cuddling with a puppy by the fire while he read. none of these things actually happen but james claimed that if we had a dog they would. we found multiple dogs on craigslist that fit our needs and sent out emails telling the people we would come pick the dog up immediately. our one and only returned email was concerning this mut by the name of toby. the current owners did not know what kind of dog he was or how old, but he looked so adorable in the pictures it was impossible to resist. during some more day dreaming and discussing we realized that on our lease in bold lettering it states no pets. this would be out biggest obstacle. our loving landlord michael powell has been very gracious and helpful to us over the past year we figured he would just say yes. however, we were all nervous and none of us actually wanted to call and pop the question to him. after an hour of annoying and persuading james he finally made the call. james was apprehensive but had this excited tone in his voice as he made the call. james politely asked mr. powell if we could have a dog, with no hesitation mr. powell said no... we could not hear the response as bystanders but the tone in james' voice dropped and he may have shed a tear. we all sat in silence for about 3 seconds and then decided to go on with our rainy boring saturday. so next time youre over at willard, dont bring up dogs, its still a sensitive subject for some. attached is a picture of toby.

Google Adsense...more like Google Scamsense

Bamboozled.

Its the name of a movie, an onomatopoeia, and also what happened to the writers of the blog.

As most of you probably knew, for the past 7 weeks or so, we have had ads for dumb companies on the side of the blog, which we were told we were going to be "paid" for when people looked at/clicked on the ads.

The first sign that something was wrong was with the process to sign up for this nonsense. It was a long process, one where you needed to enter a four digit PIN number in order to receive your money. They said this number would be sent in the mail in 2 weeks. However, on that page, it said if the number didn't arrive, you could request another after 4 weeks. The United States Postal Service has been around since 1775 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usps). 236 years. After all that time, they've gotten pretty good at the routine of taking a piece of paper (or cardstock) and transporting it from one place to another. So the question is, why was Google assuming that we wouldn't get this piece of mail? The tools never sent it to me is my prognosis. However, being the good natured individual that I am, I naturally let this pass and re-ordered the PIN number. Unfortunately, the other day I received the following email from Google saying that we were the ones cheating...

Hello,

After reviewing our records, we've determined that your AdSense account poses a risk of generating invalid activity. Because we have a responsibility to protect our AdWords advertisers from inflated costs due to invalid activity, we've found it necessary to disable your AdSense account. Your outstanding balance and Google's share of the revenue will both be fully refunded back to the affected advertisers.

Please understand that we need to take such steps to maintain the effectiveness of Google's advertising system, particularly the advertiser-publisher relationship. We understand the inconvenience that this may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

If you have any questions or concerns about the actions we've taken, how you can appeal this decision, or invalid activity in general, you can find more information by visiting http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Yes, I did appeal. In it, I had a few scathing words, and called them cheaters and liars. They have yet to respond. After doing a bit of internet research, (on a Yahoo search engine...) I found numerous reports of other people being cheated out of their hard-earned money as well, right at the time we did, when were about to hit a hundred dollars in earnings. Additionally, the advertisers are also cheated out of their money in multiple cases, and the supposed refund to them is never enacted.

I'm writing this email in order to start a boycott of Google in all ways. This is the last time I will use Google Chrome to browse the internet. Go ahead, call shenanigans. I will use Yahoo search from now on. Those are the only viable options I have of boycotting, but please join me in this. We need to stick it to the G-man. This is not a joke, though it is funny.

Here are some more articles about this scam...

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/united_states/article703023.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=520875

<3's
James Crockett Harris III

P.S. I hate Google.