web space

if you’re like me you need a little storage space on the web every now and then. i usually use a directory on the tapestry website for doing this. not everyone has that option. today lifehacker posted about windows sky drive that allows you 5 gigs of space for data. i’m not usually the biggest micro$oft fan but i am trying this out. i’ve tried box.net, another data storage facility, but i decided that i preferred my directory on the tapestry website. i’m intrigued by the rss option that sky drive offers and thus i’m going to give it a shot (in spite of it being micro$oft). the rss feature could come in handy with digital stuff for tapestry.

of course, i’ll probably swap to google’s version once they have one.

d.min

after searching through my options i have finally started applying to new orleans seminary to be a part of their d.min program. i would actually prefer to work on a ph.d because of it’s focus on research rather than the d.min’s focus on practicality but i simply can’t find an option that is viable with the amount of work required to plant tapestry. the closest ph.d program is two hours one way, would require me driving down to madison at least twice a week, and would cost us $10,000 a year for a minimum of two years. all the other ph.d programs i have looked into are completely on site and to far away. that’s not very realistic for for the reasons that i am wanting to further my education. i really enjoyed my seminary education. my years at southwestern seminary were wonderful. if you wanted it there was always an opportunity to go deeper. i don’t have any desire to try and teach at a school (for that i would need a ph.d) because it would take me away from doing what i really feel called to do – planting and pastoring tapestry. i just want a little more education and the d.min’s nature of 24/7 class for a solid week.

i have to admit that this has actually been a bit of a struggle for me because my pride is such that i actually want the harder more prestigious degree. plain and simple a ph.d. is viewed more favorably than a d.min. in truth it should be. my problem has been that i have a tendency to view professional degrees as “ego” degrees. yes, i know this is my problem. my masters is a professional degree (an m.div). my issue with professional degrees is that they are usually not as academic as their mainly teaching/research focused counterpart degrees (m.th). professional degrees are obviously focused on practice rather than theory. an example of this are the m.d’s and ph.d’s found at medical schools. the m.d.’s are for people who want to practice medicine while the ph.d’s are focused more on research (though m.d’s are involved in a great deal of research also). of course, the purpose of professional degrees is to help practice and therefore they should be inherently more practical. i know this but it’s always been a little bit of an issue for me. those of you who know me know that i can be a prideful guy. this is one stupid example of that pride.

i’ve finally reached the point where i’ve realized that my pride on this issue is stupid. my desire to study in a theological environment again is more important to me than the abbreviation of the degree. so i’m now in the process of applying to new orleans seminary to be a student in the fall trimester.

if some of y’all are interested i may try something different during my application process. i love the collaborative of so much of what happens on the net. i have to write a couple of things for my application. i haven’t read everything yet so i can’t say i can really do anything with the help of others but if i can i think it would be fun to try. so be ready, i may ask some of you to join me on google documents in writing some stuff together. it would be fun to try something new.