SteveJamieson.com

When I woke up yesterday, it seemed like a regular day. The alarm went off, I did some snoozing, and when I finally dragged myself out of bed I hopped into the nice warm shower. Nothing like a gloriously warm shower to wake you up. I got dressed, and went into the living room. I walked over to the deck door, pulled the vertical blind chain, and peered out into the morning.

“What the… Snow?!?”

I guess I really ought to pay better attention to the weather report now that winter is upon us. I only vaguely remember hearing something about the possibility of snow coming at some point in time, or something like that, so I was completely surprised when I saw the white blanket over everything yesterday morning. On the one hand I was worried, because, a few minutes later, I had to venture out into it to drive to school. On the other hand, I was happy, because I like snow. It’s good for skiing, and other forms of wintery fun.

The driving wasn’t fun at all. Lots of cars (rush hour) + a highway that showed no signs of having been plowed = driving at 5-10 mph = 45 minutes to make a trip that usually only takes 12-15. Driving aside, however, the snow was so beautiful, and after class was over, I was able to go home and enjoy a hot cup of hot chocolate. Today is even better, because the snow is still here and the roads are all clear. Perfect!

As I looked over my calendar during my Thanksgiving break, I realized that the semester will be over in just three weeks. That’s two weeks of class, and one week of finals. It really caught me by surprise that the semester has gone so fast. I guess the good news is that my last few weeks don’t seem to be too packed with assignments coming due. My workload was fairly evenly spread out over the whole semester. I still need to do an annotated translation for Hebrew and a five page paper for Christ-Centered Preaching, but other than that, I just have a few things to wrap up and then study a lot.

However, the remaining weeks won’t be all work and no play. This Friday I will be going to see the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for the Christmas concert. I can’t say that I recognize the names of any of the pieces on the program, but I’m sure I’ll recognize them once I hear them. It will be good to put some titles to the sounds. As of this moment I haven’t figured out who I’m going to take with me to the concert, but I’ll try to take care of that very soon.

According to the Swedish Chef, how do you make chocolate mousse?

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Zee oozeer dey, I recelled thet vhee I ves a keed, oone-a ooff my fefureete-a segments ooff “Zee Mooppet Shoo” ves zee Svedeesh Cheff. Noo, I hefen’t seee “Zee Mooppet Shoo” in eges, su I deceeded tu see-a vhet zee internet cuoold toorn up in oorder tu teke-a a treep doon memury lune-a. Vhet I fuoond is foorzeer pruuff thet zee internet is joost a geeunt repuseetury ooff useless theengs. Speceefficelly, I fuoond zee Incheffereezer. Thees prugrem, vheech is efeeeleble-a oon a fereeety ooff cumpooteeng pletffurms, veell cunfert Ingleesh text intu Muck Svedeesh sooeeteble-a fur zee Svedeesh Cheff heemselff. I elsu fuoond a seete-a veet leenks tu luts ooff cleeps ooff zee Svedeesh Cheff frum “Zee Mooppet Shoo”. Bork Bork Bork!

Translation:

The other day, I recalled that when I was a kid, one of my favorite segments of “The Muppet Show” was the Swedish Chef. Now, I haven’t seen “The Muppet Show” in ages, so I decided to see what the internet could turn up in order to take a trip down memory lane. What I found is further proof that the internet is just a giant repository of useless things. Specifically, I found the Encheferizer. This program, which is available on a variety of computing platforms, will convert English text into Mock Swedish suitable for the Swedish Chef himself. I also found a site with links to lots of clips of the Swedish Chef from “The Muppet Show”.

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After class today, I went to Office Depot to pick up some supplies, including some bookends. I found everything I needed and checked out using my credit card. While checking out, however, I noticed that the total seemed a little low. When I checked the receipt, I noticed that the cashier had only charged me for 1 of the 3 pairs of bookends that I had. It was an easy enough mistake. Due to their “L” shape, they stacked together so well that they seemed like one item. I waited for the cashier to finish checking out the next customer, and then I brought the mistake to her attention so that the situation could be rectified. The cashier and the other person in line were very impressed at my honesty. The other person in line suggested that I should get one of the bookend pairs for free. The cashier responded that she wished that she could, and then told me that she hoped that someone would do something nice for me today. I paid for the other two bookend pairs, and left feeling good about having been honest like a good Christian and Boy Scout.

While driving home, however, I realized that the reactions I got to my honesty make a statement about our view of human nature. In a world saturated by sin, we have learned to expect the worst from our fellow man. Many people, if they were to find themselves in the situation I encountered, would have just walked out of the store and counted it their lucky day. I was tempted to do the same. After all, I could have rationalized such an action by noting that I was willing to pay for the other two pairs of bookends. I handed them to the cashier, and she handed me a bag of stuff for which she simply charged me less than I expected. However, such rationalization would be nothing but a vain attempt to placate my conscience. It wouldn’t change the fact that I would have walked out of the store with two pairs of bookends for which I hadn’t paid. Since we’ve become so accustomed to people taking advantage of others in such situations, we’re surprised when people act honestly, and we feel like we ought to reward them for their good deeds. The guy in line thought I should be rewarded with a free pair of bookends. The cashier thought I should be rewarded through some sort of cosmic system of karma.
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