So my name is actually Nicholas Muenks (I go by Nick). AIX is a Stupid College Nickname of mine which simply means 'goat' (in Greek). This one was
handed me the summer I took intensive Greek with two of my friends—and our portly,
bearded, former Berkeleyite classics prof, who liked to break things up a bit by telling odd
stories of his former life as a Californian. One of the more memorable of these was the
tale of his attempts to be organic by raising and milking his very own goats. Along with
learning that goats quite dislike paper napkins (even with ice cream on them), we were informed
of the creatures' uncomplicated lifestyles—eat, excrete, and make little goats. Especially that last one:
It was at this point that I opened my mouth and said that, for weeks now, we'd all done little
but eat, excrete, and—study Greek. It being an intensive course, that was pretty much true, too. And so, by an analogy of
questionable character, I at once became aixhellen—the Grecian Goat. The Grecian
part has since slipped off, mostly, but the aix stuck. And, no, I don't like paper
napkins, either. Not even with ice cream.
ah, the boring stuff: Well, I have lived all my life near St. Louis, Missouri, excepting
college, which I attended in lovely Steubenville Ohio, where I spent five years and almost got a
Masters in Philosophy. I've been very blessed, though, by two semesters spent in the classroom
of Europe (while pretending to study in classrooms of the more conventional sort), and a jaunt
through Turkey I was able to take a few years back. I'm now 27 years old and have been in
preparation to become a Roman Catholic priest for eight years; I have one year still to go.
Just now, I am dividing my time between the seminary and St. Patrick's Church in Wentzville, where I serve on weekends as a Deacon.
I've a brother who looks exactly like me and a sister who,
thankfully, doesn't. They and our parents are well, and living in a new house west of St.
Louis.
too many things for my own good. I've got more hobbies than I can ever reasonably pursue.
Right now, the highlights include: web development (but you knew that), eating, camping,
watching anime, enjoying beer that is either very expensive or nasty-cheap (but never
in between), writing poems, hiking, english literature, buying electronics, cycling, eating
cheese, studying languages (dabbled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Akkadian, German and Arabic),
travelling, fragging aliens on the X-Box and wondering how I can get my hands on a '360.
someday having to account for all the time I waste doing all of the stuff above. Being unable
to share all the wonders that I have experienced. The Fall of Western
Civilization. That I'll only amount to something by dint of giving up all I treasure and enjoy. Death by Water (but only while reading T. S. Eliot).
two words: Seminary. Microsoft. This unholy union forced me to become web-savvy. Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, where I am a student, is the leader among U.S. theological schools in the
implementation of instructional technology. Thus, my experience with the wrong end of the
internet began with the web-based class presentations we are all required to build—on Frontpage (eww...). That's where Microsoft came in. Frontpage proved so difficult
and counterintuitive that I found it simpler to teach myself HTML, then CSS, then
JavaScript... And here I am, with one more hobby! I'm just glad I got started in this
whole business as recently as I did, with the major browsers finally all sitting down together
and doing things the same way. A few years ago, someone like me could have gotten discouraged
pretty easily the first time he opened his page in Netscape and found nothing worked anymore...
Webmonkey—old, funky, but still the monkey. My friends, who make me look normal. My faith. People who have nothing better to do than write software and give it away free. My health. All my opportunities to meet with the elderly and hear How It Used To Be. The outdoors. My folks. Sushi.
Nicholas Muenks. That's my name, but if you spent some time with my friends, you might conclude
it was: Barisnykov. Batman. FindTheMint. Garden Gnome. Homey Claus. Homey Clown. Ilpalazzo. Kabapu. Monkey. Nickles. N-MOC. North Ballas. Pickles. Pony. Wroppenmatsulewski.
Schlatzvana. Schnozz. Tuba. or TYLAFJ.
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Nabe says: Arrgh! This is a whole page of Nothing! Check back again soon! |
| Nabeshin is licensed in the US to ADV Films; Nabeshin is used without permission. Yeah, yeah, yeah... | |
All text and images on this site are Copyright 2002-2004 Nicholas Muenks (that's me), unless otherwise noted. Please do not use without attribution. And I'd really appreciate it if you contacted me first, too.
because it's there...
I've always been interested in writing and, since high school, publishing. So, the internet is paradise. The current site has been in the works (if by 'work' you mean conceptual stages and practice pages that link to nothing) for around three years now, but this is the first that everything's been gathered into one place on the net. So if you are reading this, you can be safely said to be in on the ground floor.
So, what's here? Stuff that's been around a while, mostly—but was impossible to get to before: Mind of my Madness takes you to my Academic pages, formerly buried in the server at Kenrick School of Theology. These pages are mostly concerned with biblical scholarship. (That's different than bible study, btw. Bible study is where you sit in a circle and hold hands and make stuff up. Biblical scholarship is where you spend weeks researching twenty lines of scripture.) I recommend looking into the Jeremiah section.
To Rising Sun takes you to my Turkey pages, formerly buried in my Academic pages which are buried....you get the idea. These grew out of study tour of Turkey that I took with my school, in summer of 2002. There are some nice photos, and a lot of commentary (so I won't feel wounded if you don't read it all, promise).
Looking ahead, I'm going to get that links page in, I hope soon, and after that some poems—but the highlight here will (eventually) be the reviews: where I sniff us out some good, clean fun. Well, what I think is fun, anyway. Also, at some point, I'll be replacing that moody tree with an animation which will take you through the 'origin of my thoughts' (so to speak) and end with the moody tree.
There's space for a couple more links around the tree, too—I may dream up something interesting. (09-16-05) Minor stuff, not so you'd notice.
Writups changed to reflect my changing ideas of the site. Degrades a little more gracefully on non-CSS user agents.
(04-14-04) You're lookin' at it, yo.
All new page, svelte white-on-black design, and a new bio. The fruit of literally months of fiddling around with GIMP and masochistic leisure-reading of W3C recommendations. If I were paid for this, I'd have starved by now. (04-30-05) nickaix is Deacon!
I was ordained a Transitional Deacon for the Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis, MO on April 30, along with 3 classmates. A Deacon, if you are wondering, is a 'lower level' priest. As a deacon, I proclaim the Gospel, preach, teach when the occassion presents itself, and strive to be solicitous toward the poor. I also assist the priest at mass. But I can't say mass myself, hear confessions, or give last rites. I am a 'Transitional' Deacon because I am preparing to become a 'full service' priest (hopefully this time next year!). There are some married men who become Permanent Deacons; they have the same duties as I, but they are not going to become priests later on. Because I am going to become a priest eventually, I cannot marry (or date, of course). I'd love to hear from you. I'm not just saying that. Really.
Just .
I've always been interested in writing and, since high school, publishing. So, the internet is paradise. The current site has been in the works (if by 'work' you mean conceptual stages and practice pages that link to nothing) for around three years now, but this is the first that everything's been gathered into one place on the net. So if you are reading this, you can be safely said to be in on the ground floor.
So, what's here? Stuff that's been around a while, mostly—but was impossible to get to before: Mind of my Madness takes you to my Academic pages, formerly buried in the server at Kenrick School of Theology. These pages are mostly concerned with biblical scholarship. (That's different than bible study, btw. Bible study is where you sit in a circle and hold hands and make stuff up. Biblical scholarship is where you spend weeks researching twenty lines of scripture.) I recommend looking into the Jeremiah section.
To Rising Sun takes you to my Turkey pages, formerly buried in my Academic pages which are buried....you get the idea. These grew out of study tour of Turkey that I took with my school, in summer of 2002. There are some nice photos, and a lot of commentary (so I won't feel wounded if you don't read it all, promise).
Looking ahead, I'm going to get that links page in, I hope soon, and after that some poems—but the highlight here will (eventually) be the reviews: where I sniff us out some good, clean fun. Well, what I think is fun, anyway. Also, at some point, I'll be replacing that moody tree with an animation which will take you through the 'origin of my thoughts' (so to speak) and end with the moody tree.
There's space for a couple more links around the tree, too—I may dream up something interesting. (09-16-05) Minor stuff, not so you'd notice.
Writups changed to reflect my changing ideas of the site. Degrades a little more gracefully on non-CSS user agents.
(04-14-04) You're lookin' at it, yo.
All new page, svelte white-on-black design, and a new bio. The fruit of literally months of fiddling around with GIMP and masochistic leisure-reading of W3C recommendations. If I were paid for this, I'd have starved by now. (04-30-05) nickaix is Deacon!
I was ordained a Transitional Deacon for the Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis, MO on April 30, along with 3 classmates. A Deacon, if you are wondering, is a 'lower level' priest. As a deacon, I proclaim the Gospel, preach, teach when the occassion presents itself, and strive to be solicitous toward the poor. I also assist the priest at mass. But I can't say mass myself, hear confessions, or give last rites. I am a 'Transitional' Deacon because I am preparing to become a 'full service' priest (hopefully this time next year!). There are some married men who become Permanent Deacons; they have the same duties as I, but they are not going to become priests later on. Because I am going to become a priest eventually, I cannot marry (or date, of course). I'd love to hear from you. I'm not just saying that. Really.
Just .