Went home for the holidays as the saying goes. I want to keep this short because I'd like to post something more “reflective” (i.e. longer) shortly. Let it suffice to say that I had a wonderful time getting to see my oh so amazing friends (missy, there’s no way that seeing you all could ever let me down, no way). I missed seeing many of them, but I know I’ll see them all again, hopefully sooner rather than later. I also got to see most of my mom’s side of the family. With over 20 people including many small children in one house it was pretty crazy, but then it usually is.
For those I got to see, it was SOOO AMAAAAAZING to see you again. Thanks for coming out and hanging. For those I missed, I am so utterly sorry and consoled only by the thought that hopefully I’ll see you again soon.
Hope your holiday was either exciting or relaxing…or maybe a bit of both and if I don’t post before Jan1, Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
A Letter
Dear Lawrence,
I have missed you. The ways in which I’ve missed you are so difficult to press into the seemingly cold stamped steel molds that form the majority of my trite thoughts. How does one express the way they feel about the miles that separate them and the months that serve only to drive our paths apart?
The only redeeming quality to all of this distance and time is the edge it has given my nostalgia. When I think back to our shared experiences and all your amazing traits I’m thrown head long into a bitter storm of longing and expectancy for our rapidly approaching reconciliation.
I’ll be there to meet you on Thursday afternoon, December 22nd. We’ll have until December 23rd to embrace each other’s presence before fate cruelly forces us our separate ways once again. Oh how I long to see your magnificient plains and your enticing hills. Your tall proud trees make me want, if only once again, to climb to the tops and see for miles. How I long to stand on the cusp of your look-out and peer at your treasures. You seem so close Lawrence. So close.
With much love and many expectations,
Michael Colburn
I have missed you. The ways in which I’ve missed you are so difficult to press into the seemingly cold stamped steel molds that form the majority of my trite thoughts. How does one express the way they feel about the miles that separate them and the months that serve only to drive our paths apart?
The only redeeming quality to all of this distance and time is the edge it has given my nostalgia. When I think back to our shared experiences and all your amazing traits I’m thrown head long into a bitter storm of longing and expectancy for our rapidly approaching reconciliation.
I’ll be there to meet you on Thursday afternoon, December 22nd. We’ll have until December 23rd to embrace each other’s presence before fate cruelly forces us our separate ways once again. Oh how I long to see your magnificient plains and your enticing hills. Your tall proud trees make me want, if only once again, to climb to the tops and see for miles. How I long to stand on the cusp of your look-out and peer at your treasures. You seem so close Lawrence. So close.
With much love and many expectations,
Michael Colburn
Monday, December 12, 2005
Review :: Lion Witch and Wardrobe
It was a great movie. There were deviations from the book, but fairly minor in consequence. The book was better, but when isn’t that true? In a book everything is exactly as you picture it. For instance I always pictured Susan as a blonde…I’m not sure why. The bottom line though, is in a movie you understand what is going on without having to worry about whether a prop guy made the sword look believable, so those sorts of things don’t get in the way. I know what I think a narnian sword should look like, so when I picture it, it works – no questions. When a movie is released though all of the little things that might get glossed over in your imagination suddenly HAVE to be right or else it jumps out at you.
(Caution, some teeny tiny spoiler information if you’ve never read the books)
The movie was still awesome though, in my humble-ish opinion. Since I'm sure no one will read this I'll go ahead and say that as someone who has read and loved the books and views them as an example of using literature to discuss deep truths (similar to The Lord of the Rings), there were more than a couple points where I was having to try really hard not to cry. The imagery (whether actually present in the movie or brought to it by my own experiences/imagination) was just amazing in so many places. It's entirely possible that in the scene where Lucy and Susan are walking with Aslan in the woods (myself knowing what was coming...) I may have actually shed a couple tears, despite my most earnest efforts. I guess I can’t accurately describe the emotions that welled up in my as Aslan spoke to/mentored Peter, or corrected Edmund, or as they all sat on their thrones.
I think they did a great job of interpreting the book and keeping it true to the original work. I loved Lucy and just thought she was one of the cutest little kid actors I’ve seen recently. If it weren’t for Aslan she TOTALLY would have stolen the movie. Also, I was pleased that it wasn’t totally cartoony, heavy-handed, preachy, or secular. It was a wonderful balance of funny, serious, spiritual, and dramatic. Much koodos and I can only hope you all go see it. I’ll admit I want you to see it for selfish reasons, hopefully it will do amazing at the box office and they will simply have to do the other books in the series. Voyage of the Dawn Treader? The Magicians Nephew? The Final Battle? How cool would these others be with the action sequences, the story lines? Oh man.
(Caution, some teeny tiny spoiler information if you’ve never read the books)
The movie was still awesome though, in my humble-ish opinion. Since I'm sure no one will read this I'll go ahead and say that as someone who has read and loved the books and views them as an example of using literature to discuss deep truths (similar to The Lord of the Rings), there were more than a couple points where I was having to try really hard not to cry. The imagery (whether actually present in the movie or brought to it by my own experiences/imagination) was just amazing in so many places. It's entirely possible that in the scene where Lucy and Susan are walking with Aslan in the woods (myself knowing what was coming...) I may have actually shed a couple tears, despite my most earnest efforts. I guess I can’t accurately describe the emotions that welled up in my as Aslan spoke to/mentored Peter, or corrected Edmund, or as they all sat on their thrones.
I think they did a great job of interpreting the book and keeping it true to the original work. I loved Lucy and just thought she was one of the cutest little kid actors I’ve seen recently. If it weren’t for Aslan she TOTALLY would have stolen the movie. Also, I was pleased that it wasn’t totally cartoony, heavy-handed, preachy, or secular. It was a wonderful balance of funny, serious, spiritual, and dramatic. Much koodos and I can only hope you all go see it. I’ll admit I want you to see it for selfish reasons, hopefully it will do amazing at the box office and they will simply have to do the other books in the series. Voyage of the Dawn Treader? The Magicians Nephew? The Final Battle? How cool would these others be with the action sequences, the story lines? Oh man.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Blessing and a Curse
So it’s a blessing and a curse living within walking distance to work. It was nice that with all the snow on the ground my only adjustment to commuting was wearing a pair of shoes better suited to the slush that occasionally covered the sidewalks. I didn’t see a single pileup on the sidewalk, or get caught behind a single snow plow. Indeed, traffic delays seemed isolated completely to the roads and affected the cars alone. Walking on the side walk I was exempt from all of that drama. I was slowed down by getting half way to work and realizing I had forgotten my cell phone however.
On the downside, I am currently the only one in my office and that includes people from the other company we share office space with. Sigh. Everyone else has yet to even get to work, and here I am. I admit I’m taking a 5 minute break to update the blog, but none the less – I’m here.
To end on the upside, I get to go to the Kennedy Center tonight to see the NPR Christmas Jazz Piano special. That should be terribly exciting. Good times.
On the downside, I am currently the only one in my office and that includes people from the other company we share office space with. Sigh. Everyone else has yet to even get to work, and here I am. I admit I’m taking a 5 minute break to update the blog, but none the less – I’m here.
To end on the upside, I get to go to the Kennedy Center tonight to see the NPR Christmas Jazz Piano special. That should be terribly exciting. Good times.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Oh Glorious of Days
Project Runway Season II:
10:00pm Easter 9:00pm Central / Bravo
-Are you in or are you out?
10:00pm Easter 9:00pm Central / Bravo
-Are you in or are you out?
Monday, December 05, 2005
Hippy in the Work Force
Jobs Hippies should not be allowed to hold:
-Phamaceutical Research - I just don't trust hippies with all those drugs, and think of all the new drugs they might invent. Hmmm, actually - who better to head up programs than hippies. If the FDA wouldn't let them test it on others, they'd probably test on themselves. They certainly wouldn't do animal testing.
-Zookeeper - I know hippies really like animals, but I don't want them freeing any lions into my neighborhood. You know they'd do it too.
-Policeman - I like the idea of having a police officer who is a hippy if I'm being pulled over, but that's about the ending point of where it seems like a good idea. They wouldn't enforce the laws, and instead of confiscating drugs they found they'd just sit down in a cirlce and just smoke it, THEN think about how many cups of coffee and donuts they'd go through. Not good.
-Pirate - Hippies are too peace loving to be good pirates. They wouldn't have the cruelty necessary to instil fear in the hearts of other sea-goers.
-Brain Surgeon - I don't know all the studies, but I don't think I want someone cutting on my brain who just sat down with a couple janiotrs and the anestesteologist and smoked a dime sack.
Jobs Hippies should be encouraged to hold:
-Trash person - Love the planet? Great, why don't you haul the trash off my drive way to make it a cleaner lawn.
-Pharmaceutical Research - Based on my conclussions above I've added this to the enourage list.
-Lawyer - Might make the profession a little bit more laidback and less like a bunch of sharks.
-Meter Maid- I'm not entirely certain what the masculine form of Meter maid is (meter Butler), but if hippies were doing this job, I bet a lot fewer people would owe the city money.
Thoughts or comments?
-Phamaceutical Research - I just don't trust hippies with all those drugs, and think of all the new drugs they might invent. Hmmm, actually - who better to head up programs than hippies. If the FDA wouldn't let them test it on others, they'd probably test on themselves. They certainly wouldn't do animal testing.
-Zookeeper - I know hippies really like animals, but I don't want them freeing any lions into my neighborhood. You know they'd do it too.
-Policeman - I like the idea of having a police officer who is a hippy if I'm being pulled over, but that's about the ending point of where it seems like a good idea. They wouldn't enforce the laws, and instead of confiscating drugs they found they'd just sit down in a cirlce and just smoke it, THEN think about how many cups of coffee and donuts they'd go through. Not good.
-Pirate - Hippies are too peace loving to be good pirates. They wouldn't have the cruelty necessary to instil fear in the hearts of other sea-goers.
-Brain Surgeon - I don't know all the studies, but I don't think I want someone cutting on my brain who just sat down with a couple janiotrs and the anestesteologist and smoked a dime sack.
Jobs Hippies should be encouraged to hold:
-Trash person - Love the planet? Great, why don't you haul the trash off my drive way to make it a cleaner lawn.
-Pharmaceutical Research - Based on my conclussions above I've added this to the enourage list.
-Lawyer - Might make the profession a little bit more laidback and less like a bunch of sharks.
-Meter Maid- I'm not entirely certain what the masculine form of Meter maid is (meter Butler), but if hippies were doing this job, I bet a lot fewer people would owe the city money.
Thoughts or comments?
Monday, November 28, 2005
Therapy
There is something therapeutic about using an airports own wireless to complain about how much an airline sucks. I don't use that phrase lightly, but when the shoe fits... I must say that hearing the people complain about Delta causes me to feel that much more justified in my own feelings. They have been sitting here since 1:00pm this afternoon and are waiting for a flight that has been delayed (yet again), this time from 7:45pm until 8:40pm.
I am slightly less hot headed in light of these people's situation, however the feelings I have left seem even more justified. This industry is such a scam. I payed to fly from St. Louis to BWI. My flight out of St. Louis was delayed an hour, ok, no big deal - right? But this delay caused me to miss my connecting flight by 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES! They couldn't hold the aircraft for 5 minutes for me to connect. Now I'm on standby and may not even get to take this flight.
I am frustrated. So very frustrated.
That is all.
I am slightly less hot headed in light of these people's situation, however the feelings I have left seem even more justified. This industry is such a scam. I payed to fly from St. Louis to BWI. My flight out of St. Louis was delayed an hour, ok, no big deal - right? But this delay caused me to miss my connecting flight by 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES! They couldn't hold the aircraft for 5 minutes for me to connect. Now I'm on standby and may not even get to take this flight.
I am frustrated. So very frustrated.
That is all.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Thanksgiving Travel
Well, I'm headed home for Thanksgiving, which should be loads of fun. I haven't seen most of the people from St. Charles for going on a year and a half. Wow. It will be wonderful to see how things have changed, hopefully all for the better. I'm a little hesitant to go back to a place where there is no mass transit to usher you around everywhere, but I'm hoping I'll cope.
Holiday travel. I'm planning to get to the airport 2 hours early. I want to get there earlier than I would for a typical flight to NY, which I usually show up about 45 minutes early for, but I can't squeeze any more than 2 hours early out simply because I can't get to the airport any earlier. Hopefully it's enough. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun comments about the holiday traveling when I update next.
Cheers.
Holiday travel. I'm planning to get to the airport 2 hours early. I want to get there earlier than I would for a typical flight to NY, which I usually show up about 45 minutes early for, but I can't squeeze any more than 2 hours early out simply because I can't get to the airport any earlier. Hopefully it's enough. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun comments about the holiday traveling when I update next.
Cheers.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Broken Questions in an Old Brick Hall
What do you do when the things you’re telling her are about to make her cry? At least you deduce she is from the expression on her face, her inability to speak anything back, and the tears behind her eyes.
As you share these truths with her on a bench in the ancient brick corridor of some candy store turned bar and music hall on that forgotten street in Brooklyn, earthy strands of bluegrass meander by, squeezing between the crowds of people who carry their glasses to their seat.
What do you say when the truth about how valuable, and worthwhile, and special she is has been driven so far from her thoughts that even the fleeting glimpse of it in your words is enough to cause her normally brash facade to crack?
Would the tragedy of it all be enough to bring you to tears? Would you have the courage that I didn’t, to spill the tear, right there in front of whom ever might have passed down that hallway? What words are there, truly, for a moment that holy? How do you tell her about the one Love that won’t make her feel used, abused, objectified, lesser - that never leaves?
Is it enough that for a brief moment she brushed up against some little piece of the truth in your words? What if He tried to reach through you and touch one of His most beloved sheep, and you got in the way, only allowing a brief glimpse of His redeeming love?
Why can’t you tell her what is going on? Could she possibly come, through it all, to understand how much she is loved, that the truth she can feel in your words is only a glimpse of the impact of the full reality?
How? What? Who? Why?
Is there any hope she picked up on any of this? The answers are difficult enough to find, why must the questions be so hard to bear.
As you share these truths with her on a bench in the ancient brick corridor of some candy store turned bar and music hall on that forgotten street in Brooklyn, earthy strands of bluegrass meander by, squeezing between the crowds of people who carry their glasses to their seat.
What do you say when the truth about how valuable, and worthwhile, and special she is has been driven so far from her thoughts that even the fleeting glimpse of it in your words is enough to cause her normally brash facade to crack?
Would the tragedy of it all be enough to bring you to tears? Would you have the courage that I didn’t, to spill the tear, right there in front of whom ever might have passed down that hallway? What words are there, truly, for a moment that holy? How do you tell her about the one Love that won’t make her feel used, abused, objectified, lesser - that never leaves?
Is it enough that for a brief moment she brushed up against some little piece of the truth in your words? What if He tried to reach through you and touch one of His most beloved sheep, and you got in the way, only allowing a brief glimpse of His redeeming love?
Why can’t you tell her what is going on? Could she possibly come, through it all, to understand how much she is loved, that the truth she can feel in your words is only a glimpse of the impact of the full reality?
How? What? Who? Why?
Is there any hope she picked up on any of this? The answers are difficult enough to find, why must the questions be so hard to bear.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
okkkkk
Clearly some of my friends can't handle me posting pictures of myself taken with work friends without turning it into something goofy, so I guess I'll have to remove those. Sorry. Oh well, Jen didn't seem too thrilled that they were up there anyway so now everyone is happy. Yay!
Mike
Mike
Monday, November 14, 2005
Oy, now that was a lot of uploading
Remind me to never take so many pictures again. I took 124 photos on Saturday, and 142 on Thursday evening. I didn’t take any at central park, though if the amount of photos taken was in proportion to the amazingness of the scene, I would have needed at least 142 if not more.
The people in these pictures are: Jen (from CeramiDC, all around great person and also our Marketing person), Seamus (IT guy from CeramiNY, also a great musician with enough stories to fill many an evening of hanging out after work), Sara Opperman (Marketing coordinator from CeramiNY, very cool), Kurt (probably spelled wrong, the guy with the shaved head who’s Sara’s boyfriend), Fil (Old Sara friend from college - I’m not entirely certain what he does for a day job but he had a killer digital camera which you can see in one or two of the shots, he was born in Latvia and moved here like…8 years ago, I’m not sure?)
The photos down to where it says “Just a Quickie” are all from Saturday at Connie Island on the board walk/pier/nathans. As usual, I haven’t done any editing save to resize them. So the contrast/brightness on some of them won’t be perfect, but it gets the pictures to you quicker and you’ll get the general idea.
The people in these pictures are: Jen (from CeramiDC, all around great person and also our Marketing person), Seamus (IT guy from CeramiNY, also a great musician with enough stories to fill many an evening of hanging out after work), Sara Opperman (Marketing coordinator from CeramiNY, very cool), Kurt (probably spelled wrong, the guy with the shaved head who’s Sara’s boyfriend), Fil (Old Sara friend from college - I’m not entirely certain what he does for a day job but he had a killer digital camera which you can see in one or two of the shots, he was born in Latvia and moved here like…8 years ago, I’m not sure?)
The photos down to where it says “Just a Quickie” are all from Saturday at Connie Island on the board walk/pier/nathans. As usual, I haven’t done any editing save to resize them. So the contrast/brightness on some of them won’t be perfect, but it gets the pictures to you quicker and you’ll get the general idea.
The day started off at First and First a little restaurant at the intersection of 1st avenue and 1st street in Manhattan. We had breakfast there, however Seamus was thinking he would have a liquid breakfast and continued the trend to trying drink the bacon. In case anyone was curious, he was NOT successful.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Just A Quickie
Just a quick not to say hey and explain the photos a little better. I was in NY the second half of this week (still am actually) for a 40th anniversary party for Cerami & Associates. The pictures below are from the dinner party cruise we went on through the Hudson river, around the tip of Manhattan, up the East river around the Statue of Liberty, and back. Quite fun. So there you go.
Friday, November 11, 2005
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