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Northside Associated Ministries
Cooperating in
Ministry
Office Phone: 734-663-5503
Administrative
Assistant:
Ellen Magee
St. Aidan's Officers
Senior Warden
Fran Board
Junior Warden
Alan Vayda
Recording
Secretary
Cindy Pierson
Secretary
Len
Coombs
Treasurer
Shirley Coombs
Financial Secretary
Gail
Graham
Liturgical Readers
Len Coombs
Acolytes
Susan
McGarry
Choir
Noel McRobbie, director; Susan Wyman,
coordinator
Evangelism
Michael Earl
Collar
Industry
Finance
Alan Vayda
Altar
Guild
Susan Pfoutz
Vestry
Fran Board
Len
Coombs
Alan Vayda
Marian Kummerl
Jim Pierson
Shirley
Coombs
Northside Officers
Clerk of Session
Brian Spolarich
Financial Secretary
Mary Ann Wilson
Treasurer
Nancy Renner
Session Members
Joan Penner-Hahn
Debra Davies
Kristin Klevering
Bruce Westlake
Caroline Richardson
Don Wilson
Tom Weeks
Ministry Contacts
Choir
Joseph Kozma-Cruz
Membership/Nuture
Joan Penner-Hahn
Social Justice
Matt Keefe
Nominating
Kristen Klevering
Personnel
Tom Weeks
Prayer Group
Jean Loup
Stewardship
Joan Penner-Hahn
Worship
Pat Hodges
NAM Officers
President
John Board
Vice President
Brian Spolarich
Secretary
Joan Penner-Hahn
Treasurer
Dill Howarth
Children and Youth Ministries
Marian Laughlin
B>Bldgs. and Grounds
Jim Pierson
Communications and Publicity
Adult Education
Debra Davies
Social Stewardship
Ann Grosse
Reehill Gallery
Sue Stanton
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Editor's Pigeonhole:
And why do we have an Editor's Pigeonhole instead of the usual Pastor's Corner?
The plain fact is that Susan (who currently is the only pastor available) is backed up with more pressing pastoral
issues. The other fact is that there is too much other news which has to get out. Since it happens that there is
an important personal story to tell, I am exerting my Editor's Privilege (for the second time in my long and
otherwise undistinguished career) and filling this space with my story. When the print version goes to press,
I am sure that there will be a real Pastor's Corner on the front page, and this will be religated to the interior
where is belongs.
As some of you have heard, Mary has started a teaching job in Riverdale, MD. As we are still speaking to each other, I will eventually be moving there as well. The immediate concern, however, is to find a new caretaker for this Newsletter. NAM is currently discussing possible new directions; should anyone be interested in stepping up, here is the current job description:
- Collect news. This is not as easy as it sounds. Many folks send in announcements of upcoming events; if this
were the only purpose for the Newsletter I would have long ago changed the name to the NAM GoodAnnouncementLetter.
Fortunately, I have set the bar quite low as far as being a reporter is concerned, so this should be no obstacle to
would-be editors.
- Compose the Newsletters. This is trickier that it may seem. There are two editions: the electronic edition and
the print edition. The simple solution is to just publish a print edition and distribute it electronically as a .pdf
file. There are two problems with that:
- Folks (more precisely, some folks) don't like .pdf files.
- There are too many things one can do with HTML that one cannot do with .pdf. At least, the quick and dirty .pdf generators.
- Publish the newsletters. Again, there are complications
- We have a great variety of mail clients "out there." Some of them roll over and play dead when given CSS. Others accept CSS and then render it poorly. The format I have been using tries to be nice to everyone.
- We need a good mailing list service. The requirements are that it beat spam filters, let us know who has been rejected, and be as cheap as possible.
- The print version just gets sent to Ellen as a .pdf file. Not everyone has a problem with .pdf files.
- Finally, I have been publishing the HTML version on the St. Aidan's website. This can stay the same, or it could be hosted somewhere else.
- The email address (which you can find in the lower left hand corner) is part of my ATT account and will go away when that goes away, so whoever replaces me will have to manage a new email account.
There are some other issues (such as getting a Pastor's Corner submitted on time; I tried to get Chuck to leave me 27 spare columns before he left and I don't think he ever want's to see me again), but these can be discussed by whoever takes this over.
As far as the future, I do have some ideas as to what will help:
- Get a decent photo archive up, probably on the St. Aidan's web site (I don't have many Northside photos).
- Get a link to some archived articles.
- Add some links to some national and local sites. The PCUSA website in particular seems to have some good
resources.
- Add a reader feedback column.
- Better yet, turn this newsletter into a blog site, but I don't have the spare time to do that.
- Add the Konami code to the newsletter website.
Although I expect to put out another issue or two, this seems like a good time to state that it has been my honor to serve all of you for more years than I can remember, and I will always remember my time as Ye Editor.
Phil Singer
In the News this month:
We finally have made it to Shocktober. The more important month-long celebrations are
National Shelter Dog Month ,
Pastor Appreciation Month ,
and National Pizza Month .
For those who find the notion of celebrating for an entire month too daunting, there is
Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 4 - 10), and
Pastoral Care Week (Oct. 19 - 25).
The most memorable days this month are
Those of you on the official e-mail lists (which mean, most of you) will have already received the
note, reprinted here, about the Rev. Ellen Acton, the Interim Pastor for Northside. Everyone will have
an opportunity to meet her on October 25th, when we will have a joint service.
Question of the Month: What is the difference between a paranoid schizophreniac and someone walking
down the street talking to his Bluetooth earpiece?
Answer to Last Month's Question: How many PhD's does it take to remove a Lazy Susan from a cabinet?
I have performed the experiment, and can assert that the answer is '2'.
Now back to the news.
Brief Biography of Ellen Acton (Northside Interim Pastor)
I begin my service as Interim Pastor at Northside Presbyterian Church on October 11th, fresh from the first week of interim training at Princeton Theological Seminary, which is also one of my alma maters, the others being the University of Cincinnati and San Francisco Theological Seminary.
I bring experience as a professional French horn player, an office worker, an instrumental music teacher (read "band & orchestra director"), a single mother, and, for the past 21 years, a pastor in the PC(USA).
I am the proud mother of a wondrous lesbian daughter, who is currently living in Rhode Island.
I retired from the ministry in February of this year, but have returned to active service for several reasons. The opportunity at Northside made the decision much easier. I am excited to be partnering with you and look forward to getting to know you as a church, as families, and as individuals, as well as working side-by-side in sharing the good news with others. May Godde's face shine on us all during the oncoming months (including St. Aidan's of course). Oh, and did I forget to tell you I am an unashamed feminist theologian? This explains my spelling. It's not a typo.
To reach me please call either 248-354-3240 (home) or 248-722-3240 (cell)
Come to the Opera
The University of Michigan Concert Band, with faculty and student singers,
will perform Scenes from "Why I Live at the P.O." an opera by Stephen
Eddins, based on the short story by Eudora Welty. The concert is Monday,
October, at 8 pm in Hill Auditorium. Come and bring your friends!
In the Future for St. Aidan's
Fall is here and so is your chance to be a member of three productive groups.
Reply only to me, please, call 663-1670, or talk to me in person if you are interested.
1 The Parish Events Committee (The Fun Committee): we help plan and carry out a variety of events between now and June. The most important right now is a belated 30th Anniversary celebration of Susan's ordination to take place this fall. At her request, we plan to have an evening of fun and games, all for charity. We will invite all our most lively friends and enjoy competing at a variety of sedentary or more active games for all ages. Beware if you play Stephen Uche in Scrabble: he is world-class! We will plan some other events later for the winter doldrums.
2 The Retreat Committee: after Rachel's wonderful retreat in August, the committee wants very much to proceed with several more with different topics. One possible retreat will focus on the recession and those trying to find work, and like the retreat in August we will offer a warm spiritual dimension along with solid real-life help. Another possibility is a Coping with Life retreat with a variety of techniques for dealing with the challenges of life. We will also actively publicize our facilities so others can have their own retreats in our wooded space. A meeting to start planning our next retreats will be Tuesday October 6th at 7pm in the Library).
3 The Choir: some of you have good voices and could help the choir which consisted of 5 loyal singers last year plus a pianist who could sing in a pinch. How about you? We rehearse 2-3 times before each performance and try to sing once a month, but certainly for Christmas Eve. Did you sing in high school and can either kind of read music or else catch on pretty quickly? We will start rehearsing in early October and sing late in the month and need to see who will be singing. Rehearsals will **tentatively** be Wednesday at 6pm starting Oct 7th. Please let me know ASAP if you want to sing or if the time is not convenient when would be better.
Thanks and I certainly hope you get involved in these and other ways to make St. Aidan's an even more welcoming home for all of us.
Sue (Susan) Wyman
Reehill Gallery Opening
There will be a reception, Sunday, October 18th, following the 11:00 AM services. Bruce Westlake of Northside Presbyterian will display his wooden carvings and St. Aidanite Dill Howarth will have a variety of oil paintings, including portraits, seascapes & landscapes, and animals. Come by the lounge and have some refreshments and view this combined effort
St. Aidan's Needs Prayers!
Please sign up for a prayer time! There is a chart in the back of the sanctuary for you to choose one of the four times on one day (Monday - Saturday) each week that you commit to pray for St. Aidan's. Sr. Warden Fran Board will begin each week with the Morning Prayer every Monday AM, and the Rector, Susan McGarry, will finish up on Saturday evening with Compline. There are 22 slots still available so sign up today for your favorite. Prayers and approximate times and length are:
Morning Prayer (any time between 6-11 AM, approx. 45 min.-1 hr.)
Noon Day Prayer (around noon, about 12 minutes)
Evening Prayer (any time between 3 and 8 PM, 45 min.-1 hr.)
Compline (at bedtime, approx. 10 minutes)
Technical Talk
For some reason I am fascinated how-they-done-it stories. A few months ago it was announced that Twitter
had been (quite) successfully hacked. Here is a summary of how it was done (by someone denoted as "HC"):
1. HC accessed Gmail for a Twitter employee by using the password recovery feature that sends a reset link to a
secondary email. In this case the secondary email was an expired Hotmail account, he simply registered it, clicked the
link and reset the password. Gmail was then owned.
2. HC then read emails to guess what the original Gmail password was successfully and reset the password so the
Twitter employee would not notice the account had changed.
3. HC then used the same password to access the employee's Twitter email on Google Apps for your domain, getting
access to a gold mine of sensitive company information from emails and, particularly, email attachments.
4. HC then used this information along with additional password guesses and resets to take control of other Twitter
employee personal and work emails.
5. HC then used the same username/password combinations and password reset features to access AT&T, MobileMe, Amazon
and iTunes, among other services. A security hole in iTunes gave HC access to full credit card information in clear
text. HC now also had control of Twitter's domain names at GoDaddy.
6. Even at this point, Twitter had absolutely no idea they had been compromised.
The full story is available here
Wild and Wacky Videos
Once again, I was unable to come with a suitable video. Instead, I offer up to all the women in my readership
(both of you) a chance to confirm what you have always suspected went on in Men's Restrooms:
the International Urinal Protocol
and an analysis of of vulerability therin, complete with full mathematics.
The Usual Suspects
Lectionary Readings for October
Calendar for October
Worship Schedule for October
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