Tamara's Blog

Fuller Update: 2 Down. 16 To Go.

This is just a quick update on my seminary journey so far. On June 8th, I finished up my second course, Developing Your Learning Plan. The purpose of this learning plan is to fully document where I've been in my life, where I want to go, and how my leadership degree program can help get me there.

What intrigued me the most during this process was developing my Statement of Purpose and personal Rule of Life. For some reason, I took the task seriously.

Could I really define my purpose - in 500 words or less - that I really believed in, as well as develop a "rule" for my life that I would actually follow? Or would I write up something that sounded impressive, but was, in fact, a bunch of empty words?

Time will tell. I will have the opportunity to re-review and update this plan in early 2009. I'll be curious to see how I end up answering these questions.

What Now?

I am now signed up for two courses that primarily take place on the Fuller campus in Pasadena in August: Character, Community and Leadership and Biblical Foundations of Mission.

These courses officially start online this week and finish up in December. In August, in "offline mode," I will gather with my cohort for two solid weeks of class. My virtual world of cohort-mates will be coming to life. I have lots of books to read and lots of book reports to write before then, so I will continue to stay busy.

Don't Believe Everything You Read or See

Okay, so I know we all know this, but in the world of email and the internet, it's hard not to believe those "urban legend" emails we sometimes receive from people we know.

You know which emails I'm talking about: the ones that tell a heart-warming miraculous story or the ones that shock you with a story to get you to do something - even if that something is just to "send this email onto 10 people you know." And the list goes on.

We all love a good story. The power behind a good story that is "true," though, often comes from the fact that the story is indeed true. Most urban legends are not true, even though they often make for a good story and fun reading.

Is This an Urban Legend?

If you suspect the email you have received is an urban legend, check it out. You can figure it out pretty quickly:

• "Send to x People": If the story ends with - "Send this email to [fill in the blank]" - it's highly likely the story is an urban legend.
• Use Search: Copy the story's title or a sentence from the story into your browser's search field. Put quotes around the phrase. See what comes back. If it's an urban legend, there's a good chance it's somewhere on the internet.
• Check Snopes.com: This is a great site that tracks urban legends. It will tell you whether the story is true or not, with the complete "true" story behind the legend. There are other great urban legend sites, but Snopes.com is my favorite.

An Urban Legend: The Hands of God

Like I said, urban legends are often enjoyable to read. Here's a fun one that includes a picture of God's hands in a cloud formation. Check out the "email" story and the "real" story on Snopes.com.

Do You Write Like a Girl?

Me too. Most of the time. At least according to the Gender Genie. This online tool checks out your writing and lets you know whether you write more like a guy or a gal. The analysis is interesting. I don't know if there's any real science behind it, but it's fun. 

My results? When I write about technology, I tend to write more like a guy. With everything else, I'm all girl!

Click here to see what the Gender Genie has to say about your writing.

The Answer is Just 1-Click Away

Have you ever come across a word on your computer screen - either in an email or a document or a blog post or a Web page or whatever - and you didn't know what it meant? It happens to me ALL the time. Yet the idea of taking a moment to look up the word online or (gasp!) actually getting up from my chair to find a dictionary is quite unappealing. I mean, who has the time for that nonsense?

Well, my friends at Answers.com came up with the perfect solution for people like me. By installing their 1-Click Answers code on my computer, any time I come across an unfamiliar word on my computer screen, all I have do is place my cursor on the word and then press Alt-Click. That's it. A small pop-up appears and explains the meaning of this word's life. Brilliant.

Try It Right Now

To prove how brilliant this concept is, I have AnswerTips-enabled my blog so that you can check  it out. Go ahead. Put your cursor on a word, any word in the blog, and then double-click. Voila! The small pop-up appears. It's that simple.

Install 1-Click Answers

Now it's your turn. Click here to download the software. It installs quickly and easily. You'll thank me later.