Tunnel under Dupont Cirle 

Halloween

For anyone mildly curious, I went to a costume party (there, doesn’t that sound better than “house party”?) in New Jersey Saturday. It was right on the border of Philadelphia so I also got to eat authentic Philly cheese steak at Jim’s on 4th and South. It was awesome.

The road trip up there was great as well since I spent part of the time reading a new “periodical” I had just purchased (“Print” for those curious - good magazine) and the other part discussing the nature of Church, the condition of the church today, and the idea of fellowship/community/accountability with Malcolm and Wendell. Also, to update, I met Malcolm McGregor (Molly’s middle brother) a few weeks back at a house warming party (again, better than “house party”, right?) thrown by some people from National Community Church.

Malcolm wasn’t going to wear a costume since he claimed to despise the idea, but when I convinced him that getting in without one might be difficult he reconsidered. Thankfully. We convinced him to go as Malcolm in the Middle, a feat which was accomplished by having him wear a piece of poster board that said Malcolm on both his front and back. As an added benefit there was loads of free space for people to sign their names (or the names of their costumes).

The other guy that I went down there with, Wendell, was originally going to be an “Old School Aviator”. When I told him I wasn’t sure that a pair of jeans, a scarf, and J Lo glasses would necessarily come across as aviator - he decided to go as Lenny Kravitz. He sported only a tight white shirt, partially unbuttoned; said J Lo glasses; spikey hair; and a somewhat fashionable scarf. It doesn’t sound like dead on Lenny, but this guy already had a vaguely similar build and with the glasses it all worked alright. Oh, and not to be racist, but facts are facts, his skin tone didn’t hurt the costume either, though I don’t think Lenny is a Trini.

I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be so I decided to put the green blazer my grandpa passed down to me to good use. I put bandana on my head, wore some torn fabric around my wrist (Nick Devine style), and put the green blazer on. The problem was that every time someone asked me what I was (yes, this happened a lot) I had to reply with the lengthy costume title, “I’m the guy who mugged the guy who just won the masters.”

SOS

I just spent the last half hour sorting emails into project directories. I still have over 700 emails to sort! Darn procrastination.

Mike

Limited Time Only

I don't usually post about sports related items - mostly because I'm not a huge sports fan. However...

I came across a news story about I man who was inspired by the incomparable Larry Bird (who am I kidding, it's probably 50/50 that if you asked me who larry Bird was I'd say I think he hangs out with Oscar the Grouch and Elmo).

Apparently this guy is such a fan of Larry Bird he asked to have an extra 3 years added on to his sentence so he could have his sentence match the number on Larry Bird's jersey. Good thing he wasn't an Isaac Bruce fan.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/basketball/nba/10/20/prison.bird.ap/

Yes. I was like 5 feet from the surgery. Yes, I felt a smidge light headed during the first of two surgeries, but never felt like I would actually get ill or pass out. 

Diagnosis: Confirmed Business Traveller

Well, if there was ever any doubt, I am now a confirmed business traveler.
Wednesday: DC, NY, VA
4:30am Washington, DC
9:00am New York, Laguardia
9:30am New York, 5th Avenue (Cerami NY office)
5:15pm New York, Laguardia
9:30pm STILL AT LAGUARDIA, stupid rain delays.
10:00pm Leave NY
11:30pm Arrive in Charlottesville, VA
12:30pm Check into Hotel

Thursday: VA
That was my schedule Wednesday. Unfortunately, the vibration testing I did Thursday during the day at the University of Virginia was in conclusive. I had to get the hotel for another day and stay for testing Friday.

Friday: VA, DC
5:30am wake up
6:30 “scub-in” and set up testing equipment in Operating Room
10:30 tear down equipment in Operating Room
11:30 leave for Charlottesville airport.
1:10 leave airport for Philadelphia.
-3 hour layover-
5:30 depart Philadelphia for DC
6:50 arrive back home in DC

Whew, hopefully all the rest of the stuff goes smoothly. I’m writing this from the airport in Charlottesville, which is courteous enough to have free wireless. The testing was interesting. I sat in the operating room on both a brain tumor surgery (Thur.) and an aneurism surgery(Friday). It was like a real life version of that Discovery or TLC show where they show the surgery right in front of you. The only difference was that while there were screens everywhere showing what was going on, there was also a patient and surgeon laying/standing 5 feet from me. It was intense, and I’m glad I’m not to squeamish, otherwise this would have been IMPOSSIBLE.

I have to go to catch my flight, I’ll post more including maybe a few photos later.

Peace.

I need...

A girl with a short skirt and a long sweater
A powerbook
A new 60gig ipod
Unlimited gift card to Borders
A Vespa
Autumn Home in Lawrence (others can use it when I'm not there).

I'm not sure about the order, but if anyone is trying to figure out what to get me for Christmas, those are good places to start.

Just for Fun. By the way I was reading my blog where people were like, "Hey you should cut your hair." Then I walked out of the office listening to Wesley Willis's song, "Cut the Mullet" (unintentionally) and I found myself thinking, "Yeah, you should just do it." So I walked into a salon on the way home and told them to cut my hair. It was nice. They shampoo'ed my hair, and dried it, and cut it, all for the (keep in mind I'm in the city) low low price of $25. Not too shabby. My stylist's name was Vincent and he was from Vietnam. He is married, has two kids, and has been doing hair for 8 years. 

There! Is this better? I hope you're all happy. I now officially have no super powers. *Snif* I hope you can love me for who I am. 

'ello Poppets!

Well, it's been awhile. Things here are hectic beyond description. Being one of two acoustical consultants trying to serve an entire market is a little disturbing, especially when you are a Junior Associate and there is no one above the position of Associate in your office for acoustics.

Having said that, I just went on a retreat through the church I'm attending, National Community Church (NCC). That went swimmingly. The conference sessions were good, the time on the beach was good, and meeting lots of people was very good.

I've included below some pictures, mostly from the retreat. Hopefully, even if only for a second, you will all be as jealous of me as I am of you each time I hear that you are all getting together for a barbeque or meal!

Anywhoo, I'm hoping everyone out there that I'm trying to keep up with is doing good.

Much love,

Mike

Myself infront of some guys that were doing New Orleans style jazz by Dupont circle. 

Out front of some really random music store. on the way to ocean city. I was talking to the owner to get directions when I said, "Did you know you have a praying mantis on your shoulder and he said, "No, but I was trying to catch one I found on the floor earlier and take it outside." So I had to tell him he had failed and it was now on his shoulder.

F/stop blues??? Wait, no...I just didn't have the white balance on my camera set (stupid manual mode!). 

A little self portraiture at the beach. 

This permanently set up carnival area was closed, but they didn't exactly have the best security. 

Time Flies

The last couple of weeks have been rather hectic and I apologize for the shortage of updates. Our office has changed locations from 1250 Connecticut to 2025 M street. Thankfully this is only about 2 blocks away. I’m still able to walk to work and have access to most of the cool restaurants I found during the time I worked at 1250 with RTKL.

The move was interesting to say the least. While ostensibly a handful of people from our company were constantly busy with arrangements when the day before our move came it was apparent that many things had been overlooked, little things like what we were going to pack stuff into. All of this was compounded by the fact that each of the groups we contracted with to perform services with us were incompetent. Our furniture did not arrive until after we had been in our office for 3 days and our copier is still not hooked up to the network. Our computers are hacked together because we still don’t have a full scale firewall. The refrigerator is here but we don’t have a microwave. We can’t order new business cards or send out flyers announcing our move because we still don’t have a permanent fax number. Did I mention we moved ourselves?

On the whole though it is very nice to have our own space. It was great to meet the people I got to work with at RTKL and the offices there were spectacular, but it was frustrating not having our own work area. We now have sufficient space though and there is a lot to be said for that. As soon as I have the necessary software installed on this computer I’ll try and get some pictures posted.

Call to arms, er...blogs

After being more than mildly disappointed by my very genuine plea for other people’s personal dealings with the Church vs. State blog (I really want to know how others are making these decisions), I have decided to make write another blog. This one has nothing to do with the last blog, I simply wanted to tell anyone who may actually check in here how disappointed by the lack of response I am. (You can email me if you don’t want to post it up for just everyone to see.)

SO, on with the new posting. This blog is where I want to plea to certain people to either start blogging, or blog more.

Molly and Stephen. I know I haven’t kept up very well with you all and I really feel bad about it. Do you both still have the same cell phone numbers? I so I want to call you. However, in addition to that I would love to beg you guys to start you own blog about being newly married, sort of a “Newlyweds” blog where neither of the people are stupid enough to ask questions about Buffalo wings.

Tim and Rochelle. Same as above.

Cory Kramer. I’d love to hear what Cory might be able to come up with to say on a periodic basis. Could be interesting.

Kaleigh. Do I really need to elaborate on this one? Kaleigh is probably my favorite person that I didn’t get to know enough while I was in Lawrence. I blame this on her being an over-achiever and always being busy saving the world. As a result of that vast intelligence though, I imagine she would have some wonderfully entertaining things to say. Could be a lot of fun.

PT. I know Phuong would never do a blog, because he would be above the concept of a blog ;) However, it would be nice to know if he has a newly updated webpage. It does seem like the sort of thing a person who works with computers should have.

So if any of you already have a blog, then send an email my way with the address I can check it at. If not, then seriously consider it.

Church and State

I have started working on a personal or exploratory essay, for my own sake. The impetus for this little essay (essay-ito?) was Missy’s little blog question about homosexuality and women’s suffrage. It certainly isn’t finished yet, however for now I want to hear other people’s opinions on a certain question.

How have you dealt with the issue of religion in your life, the separation of church and state as a policy, and the urge to vote and participate in government? This is a question I have faced the last two elections and I have been so torn I haven’t voted. I fully realize how inappropriate this is as a way to deal with the situation, hence my exploring this issue so I will be better prepared to vote next time around.

So, how have you dealt with this? I would be interested in hearing others contribution about how you have or have not incorporated your religious convictions into your political stances. If you feel it might be too inflammatory a response you are always welcome to just email me. I’m not looking to start a big political argument here, just to hear what your personal take is on this issue. I know that steak, grant and alex will definitely have opinions, and I’m guessing that several others may as well, so please – let me hear.

Technology

I’m puzzled. I don’t know what to make of this article on ipodlounge.com. They have a review for a non apple music player (oddity), they actually recommend it over the shuffle (second oddity), and the actual product itself has me confused. I’ll stop being vague at this point and elaborate.

The product they review is called the cube. Not THAT creative of a name when you find out that it’s a flash based mp3 player 512 or 1 gig, that is shaped like a cube or dice and is the size of quarter on each side. That’s right. It’s tiny. The first thought I had was that this was a joke, along the same lines as the iflea steak posted about a little while back. Then I determined, nope I think this is for real. It gets even funnier when you picture someone actually having a set of headphones plugged into this thing the size of a good sized dice hanging from their neck. It’s a funny image that brings up a good point.

When is technology TOO small? Would I want a camera the size of a postage stamp? How about a cell phone as big as a grain of rice? An mp3 player the size of a quarter? One of the most obvious concerns is interface. But even if I can fully interface with a cell phone the size of a grain of rice, would I want it??? I have a hard enough time finding my cell phone some days as it is. I don’t want to worry about stepping on it because it is slipped under the rug and I couldn’t tell. I don’t want to put my cup down on my digital camera because I couldn’t see it.

For years and years, as long as I’ve been alive the technology race has included two principal factors: 1) Make it Faster and 2) Make it Smaller. Computers have shrunk from the size of a large room, down to a small room, onto desks, into briefcase size packages, onto our laps, and now into our hands. All the while their speeds have increased at a rate that made their shrinking look like it was happening on the same time table as tectonic drift. It really is astounding. But I think we are finally reaching the limit of how small these things can get. I have no doubt that in 5 years the most advanced desk-top computer today could be built, for enough money, to fit in a pda. Maybe that’s stretching it, but I’m not sure.

I don’t really know how to end this post because I’m not sure what the point should be. To a certain extent it all seems like an exercise in futility any way since it’s mostly about making things so people will buy them and keep the economy going. Ah capitalism. But at the same time, many of these miniaturizations have lead to better life saving products. All I know is that the idea of a giant library of records or 8 tracks being able to hang from someone’s neck in a package that could EASILY get lost in a gumball machine just seems almost silly.

changes

I thought due to recent events, that even if I didn’t have time to do a super elaborate entry I should add something. The “recent” event I’m speaking of is my mentor Sara leaving the company I work for. This is relatively significant since 1) She was the last person to be here from when I was hired (Jason moved to London and Dominic opened a restaurant with his wife) and 2) Being the most senior person she was the one who had been managing all of our projects. The end result of all this is that our office has been rather chaotic over the last week and a half. Things are slowly starting to straighten back out but if we don’t get a permanent replacement I’m not really certain what is going to happen.

Word to your Mother.

Specter Getz

If you don't like it, tough. I wrote it at Luna cafe at like 11pm over the best plate of portabella mushrooms and ravioli I have ever had. The sauce alone likely took 2 years off my life, but added in quality what it had to have taken in quantity.

For so long my times of contemplation always had a specter drifting about, sometimes fading in and out, others crystal clear. This specter was birthed by having come across a quote from jazz musician Stan Getz, “My Life is Music…at the cost of everything else.”

So I went on agonizing, “Is my life Christ at the cost of ANYTHING else?” And this one specter haunted me for years always challenging me to identify one thing I had really given up for Christ; it told me I had to flee everything and everyone but Christ to be as devoted as it had been to its master. And as I failed to give up everything I began to fret.

As I sit pondering this conflict again I am brought to look at this question in a new way. I imagine Specter Getz once again walking up to challenge me just as he has successfully done dozens of times before.

I can see the complacent look on his aged face. He wears his devotion to his craft on his lips as the Pharisees wore their devotion around their necks. And so he stops in front of me, not really bothering to look at me, more looking through me, as though he’s already working out the next dissonant progression of notes he’s going to puff out, and he says, “My Life is music at the cost of everything else. Is your Life Christ at the cost of everything else?”

In my mind Getz hesitates for a moment, as if out of courtesy, then starts to walk back into the shadows. Like a nervous school boy, excited to try his hand at answering the teacher yet afraid he is wrong, I finally get out my response, “My Life is Christ to the salvation of everything else.”

In a voice that betrays years of sitting in smoky bars and lounges until too early in the morning he simply says, “Yeah?”

Then in as much an effort to explain myself to him as to work it out for myself I continue, “You always tell me that music cost you everything else and at first I thought Christ was suppose to cost me everything as well, because he says he does. But I never saw how it was different until now.”

“The things I lose to Christ I lose in the same way as trading a painting of a field for a chance to lie in it, to stare up at the clouds and feel the same wind on my skin that is making the clouds above sail slowly by. The things I give up were never really mine, never even real, just phantoms of what they could be, only a hint. But by giving them to Him they are infused with new power, with new significance, true beauty, deeper magic.”

“The master you serve called you to forsake all else, and now your life is occupied by something that can never fulfill you. My Master calls me to forsake all else so that it may be put in its proper place, transformed, and work to bring Him glory and me joy.”

“Yours is about how much you have lost, mine is about how much I give and what I do with what I get in return,” I finish. Stan doesn’t say anything as he starts walking away for what I can only assume is the last time. I want to call after him and ask if this is what he had been waiting for me to say. “Have you been trying to teach me this, or are you just bored with our little game?” “Were you truly trying to torment me, or was this all a big game?”

I don’t bother to say any of these things, and somehow they don’t seem all that important. Not in light of my new thought to ponder.

Brief Poll

Wow, it's been 9 days since I last posted. Terrible, just terrible. I'll have some fun stuff up here soon, but until then a brief poll...

Should I get a scooter? Why?

Thanks to the Anonymous Dominoes Guy

So Abigail and I were on our way to this site visit to measure the privacy in a board-room, when we realized we were lost; we'd taken a wrong turn when we got off the metro. So Abigail starts walking around trying to orient herself, and at the same time trying to talk to our contact at this company for directions. I on the other hand, start looking around like a lost little preschooler. I know, pathetic. Whatever. It was her contact and I don't know the Alexandria area at all. Plus I was lugging a bunch of equipment around.

Cut to about 10 minutes later.

I see a dominoes delivery car pull up to a stop sign so I wave at him and run over to the car. I'm thinking delivery guy, these people are like a rolling road atlas, right? The guy rolls down the window and I ask him, "Hey, do you know which way to Prince Street?" He responds with some vague hand waving in mostly english words, and I realize this is doing me no good. I smile and thank him for taking the time to give me directions. Turning around quite dejectedly and realizing we are still lost, I begin to walk back to the equipment.

The delivery guy starts to turn the corner (towards us) when he pulls over again and says, "Prince street?" Abigail hears him and tells him the actual address. The delivery guy then says something that I didn't expect, "I'm headed that way, why don't you just jump in. I'll drive you." I was a little hesitant at first, until I realized. Wait a minute, this guy has pizza. He isn't going to take the time to drive us out into the middle of nowhere, take our stuff, dump us off and drive away. He has a delivery time to make! We're safe.

So five minutes later he is dropping us off right at the front door of the office we needed to go to, and I'm taking the pizza bag off my lap and climbing out of the car. It was the most random and crazy work story yet. Wierd, wierd times.

All I want is a worth while story

After church today I was reading some various poems by Linford Detweiler and I realized what my biggest concern is. That my life won't be a good story. Not that I desperately want it told to others, but that there won't be anything in it worth telling others.

Things I haven't done yet that I wish I would have:
1. Learned to play the piano.
2. Learned to play the guitar
3. Visited Europe
4. Saved someone
5. Figured myself out
6. Learned how to be charitable
7. Stopped making lists

P.S. I don't really know if any of this post is true. I just felt like typing it.

Explanation

I have to explain the below post. I had this phrase pop into my mind one morning when I woke up about 4 months ago. It was the first four lines of the following bit of poetry/prose. As I went through my morning routine it just kept going through my mind and it evolved a bit. The imageery for the first section of verse also crept in there. This all happened without much concious thought on my own behalf.

Eventually I decided I should write this down, just for the fun of it. As I was writing it down, pretty much everything else came out in one take. I sat on it for a couple months then, remembering it, went back and re-read it. I started doing some editing until I got to the point where I found I couldn't decide if certain things should be added, removed or changed. That's the point I find myself at now. SO, your job is to tell me what you think of this bit of poetry? verse? I don't know what to call it. As is typical of most things I write it is rather heavy handed, so bear that in mind as you read over it. Also, this is the first thing I've ever workshopped, so be gentle yet constructive.

Gray Bulb

There is no day, there is no night.
There is no darkness, there is no light.
There is no wrong, there is no right.
Seeking the Gray of eternal twilight.

We talk of it as the balance,
that Nature always seeks.
I wonder if we asked her,
if this is what she’d speak.

They came with torches flickering. Casting their ever changing shadows they mobbed the town square, progressing from lamp post to lamp post. As each bulb was changed the town slowly took on a subtely different look. The corners of the benches looked more dull, the various signs were less defined, the white washed fences were more bland but the shadows in the alley didn’t look so menacing in contrast. One by one, as the lamp lenses were replaced the people hurried out of sight. I had recognized a couple of my Professors, the local Bank Manager, the Mayor and several Councilmen, even a Local pastor among the mob.

Throughout history we’ve tried different bulbs. Somehow though, we remain conscious of that first one. We found it in the lamp when we first went searching. We weren’t happy with how bright it was. It made things we wanted look so unflattering. It caused us to see details and differences. There were hideous shadows while it was in.

In a fit of rage we once tried to break it.
When that wouldn’t work we tried to deface it.
All else failing, we removed it, replaced it,
Seeking the Gray of eternal twilight.

So we change the bulb like changing the guard. Looking for the most comfortable light, the most flattering glow. Bulbs of Myth and gods, of emotions and flesh, bulbs of Enlightenment and Reason, and now the Gray Bulb.

There are some who decide to try the original bulb again, either out of confusion or desperation. When they do they find the light so bright as to be stark. Light pours out of cracks in the lantern. It pierces through the few clear spots in the lens, surrounded by dirt and disgust. We couldn’t see the dirt with the other bulbs in. Least ways, not enough to be offended.

What would happen if someone lived their life such that their lantern wasn’t rusted and dirty? What if this same person had the original bulb in as well? It would be a light we would each recognize from before we had displaced it from our own lanterns. We would all react differently. Some would recoil and be bitter, like having someone flip the light switch when you have been in a dark room for too long. Some, the feeling of recognition so strong in them, would hesitate then warm up to him. Others would for whatever reason be inexplicably drawn to him like moths to a lamp.

Odds are we would all recognize something in that light: Something that made us all nostalgic for who can remember what, Something that would enrage the parts of us that have grown to need darkness and ignorance to thrive. We would then have to chose how we’d respond.

This light would remind us of other times we had glimpsed it before: The voice of one calling in the desert, A glowing face descending a mountain, A glow given off by a bush, A city of light on a hill, A million stars pulsing in unison as an absurd covenant is made.

We see in the response of our culture today their method of coping. Abandoning this clarity and connection to all that is their heritage, they once again search for just the right bulb. And for many today it is the Gray Bulb of relativism with its anemic light. By its light black and white turn to so many shades of gray. Colors are subdued. There are no harsh shadows. Apparently the loss of all that is bright and strong and defined, joyful and sharp is acceptable so long as there is no darkness to threaten its shadows.

This bulb is the last resort of a people afraid of the shadows. When one cannot celebrate the idea of shadow, the only recourse is to make them so ill defined, there is no point in pointing them out. Unfortunately now everything is a potential shadow. It is just too hard to stund up to the fear of the shadows. If this attitude is embraced, then the ultimate destination is one without contrasts, no darkness, but also no light. Should we have to sacrifice the light to abolish the dark?

In a fit of rage we once tried to break it.
When that wouldn’t work we tried to deface it.
All else failing, we removed it, replaced it,
Seeking the Gray of eternal twilight.

“There is no day, there is no night.
There is no darkness, there is no light.
There is no wrong, there is no right.
Seeking the Gray of eternal twilight.”

We talk of it as the balance,
that Nature always seeks,
I wonder if we asked her,
if this is what she’d speak.

Please keep letting me know what you think about the below post, but I just wanted to say I have added a new discussion question to the chronicles of narnia forum. We are still talking specifically about the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Terror Level Red

Is it just me or is there a possibility that our culture is becoming more melodramatic as the tendency for hypercaution creates a lack of real drama? I’m not trying to suggest the advent of the safety belt or the push to wear helmets is a bad thing. What I am wondering is if the sense of danger we feel today, and the sense of heroism isn’t, just maybe, due to our lack of real persistent struggle (in main stream, middle class, bourgeois America).

On a friends blog I have heard about a plumber advertising, “Life saving services” a title that is likely bloated just a bit, and the pronouncement of “Hero” upon someone who donated blood. I just wonder if back when people were circumnavigating the globe, slaying dragons(j/k), and strapping on their armor to go to battle, what they would have thought about a plumber as a Life Saver! or a blood donor as a Hero!

Oddly enough, due to the rampant amount of disease and the condition of the water supply, a plumber may have been saving lives back then, and a blood donor could have in fact been a hero if the technology existed. In a society where we buy our prepackaged food, cook it properly in our microwave or electric oven, climb in our air bag ladened cars, take our flu shot and keep antibiotics on hand, has there has been both a loss of real danger, and a heightened awareness of any perceived danger?

In a post 9/11 world I’m not trying to insinuate that we are all safe and the color indexed terror-ometer is a hoax, but rather I’m trying to draw attention to part of the cause for our fear obsession. Is it possible we need some sense of danger, of foreboding to keep us motivated? If so, where does this need for danger and fear come from? Certainly there is precedent for the adrenaline junky out for a quick sense of danger, but what could cause a need for a dangling sense of dread or fear?

As someone with absolutely no qualifications to make such a postulate, I will simply continue my “wondering out loud” here. Could it be that we sense there is something wrong with the world around us, that unless we see vivid signs of this we feel as if we are going crazy? Most honest people will admit the world isn’t perfect. Many of the motivations people have are broken. If all we see around us is safe and good, how can we explain this? However, if we find traces of evil, drama, and impending danger it validates our emotional reaction to what we feel is going on.

What am I really trying to say? We can feel deep down that the world is screwed up. With all of the technological advances, and even political and moral “advances”, we feel we still haven’t fixed, “the problem”. Instead of admitting there is some underlying problem we won’t be able to fix, we just point to more superficial problems and say, “No, that is still wrong, which is why I fell bad,” all the while refusing to accept some underlying problem. If we admit the human race is intrinsically fallen, or bent as Lewis put it in Out of the Silent Planet, it means there is something we can’t fix ourselves.

Until we acknowledge our sin, we will always be searching for a reason everything seems broken.

Knight Ryder, Wonka, and Apologies

I have finally come to the conclusion that until I get internet at my house, this blog updating thing is going to be very sporadic. Initially it seemed that whenever I had time to post something, I could think of something that I wanted to say (whether it was actually worth saying or not). Unfortunately, now the precious little nuggets of gooey goodness are spread out enough I’m running into the dilemma of 1. Not having stuff I want to say when I have time to post. 2. Not having time to post/internet access when I come across one of the aforementioned gooey nuggets. As such, this is my formal apology for not updating more. (Also I think that I maybe just wanted a quasi-reasonable framework within which to use the phrase “gooey nugget”.)

I saw Willy Wonka and: 1. Johnny Depp is a excellent. Those who thought his performance in Pirates underwhelming will be glad to see him as wonderful again. 2. Tim Burton is a genius. 3. The remake is stupendous and I never once found myself saying, “Ah man, why did they change that!” 4. In the remake I believe the squirrels will overtake the umpa lumpas as the most frightening part of the movie (though the charred small-world-esque dolls will be a close runner up. This is the darkest movie that I have seen ultimately be happy and cheerful,

P.S. That fabulous fellow Andrew Ryder (the Knight Rider) will be arriving in DC Thursday evening, so that ought to make for a wonderful weekend. Yes.

Sun Bear in the Billionaire's Board Room

Why have I just posted an I.D. badge from a certain cable network? Well, let it suffice to say that although I can’t give away too many details, hush-hush, I was doing sound level testing and got to sit in a certain CEO’s office, the office of the first black billionaire in the United States. He has a pretty sweet office set up. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet him, but the pictures of people he has met that he had hanging up were quite impressive and included such people as Nelson Mandela and Hillary Clinton, among others.

I don’t think that if I was working in KC I would be working on jobs of this caliber. It is certainly a trade off. By being out in DC I have had to move away from much that I am familiar with and many friends that I truly cannot say too many good things about. However there is no doubt that as far as pursuing my career goals go this was the best thing I could have done. If at some time in the future I chose to pursue some other career path I will know that I have given this as much of a chance as is possible; no doubt will exist as to what potential I could have had on that path. That is something that I couldn’t have really said if I had stayed in KC. I would have spent probably the first 3 years doing very basic calculations and simple reports about office spaces that had air conditioners outside their windows.

See Post Above

5 Minute Madness

OK. In 5 minutes I leave for my second ever "solo" meeting. No big deal, just helping an architect select windows that will effectively limit the site noise (highway and train) that would make the interior of their condos not meet code.

4th of July, was good. The fireworks on the mall were good while they lasted but the whole display lasted maybe 15 minutes. The thing that redeemed it however was the back drop. The fireworks were shot off behind the Washington Memorial. So that was pretty sweet. It was a long walk back home however because the nearest metro stop was mobbed and literally thousands of people were trying to go down the escalators.

This week has been a short week which is nice. It was the first week that my new boss(?) was here for a full work week, even though it was only 4 days. I'll blog more about that later.

Book wise, I finished Pilgrims Progress, so I'll have to blog about that later as well. Now I'm trying to finish The Little Flowers of St. Francis, and I'll blog about that as well. Crap, out of time, off to my meeting.

MikeyC>

Bear Fish?

We all know that bears are bigger than fish, right? At least larger than fresh water fish anyway. We’d feel safe saying that the king of the Sun bears (your’s truly) would vastly outweigh the largest catfish, right. I mean that blog a few back was about the largest blue catfish caught and it was 124 lb, so that should be a safe bet.

Well you’re all WRONG! On the elevator at 6:30 this morning when my eyes were still blurry I saw on the news updater thingy that some in May some men caught a, get this, 646 lb fresh water catfish in the Mekong river in Thailand. 646 lb. That is flippin’ huge. So to all those people that were like, “Oh noodling is so cool. You aren’t cool unless you have noodled, all the cool people do it,” I say, “Yeah, just keep doing that and wait until some you stick your arm in some hole and a catfish swallows you without even chewing. Have fun with that.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/photogalleries/giantcatfish/

Rant-astic Four

1. OK. I wasn’t going to post today, but WOW. I don’t know how many people know what real estate prices in Manhattan are, but just for an idea they are more expensive than DC and a “hypothetical” 2 bedroom in DC is in excess of $1,800/month for rent. Then I hear that Cyndi Lauper, yes the Cyndi Lauper, is suing her management company because she’s upset her apartment costs $1,000 – she only wants to pay $500. What the heck? Admittedly the apartments in NY are under a system of rent control that is supposed to regulate how much rent can go up under a strict set of regulations; believe me, I really understand this. But come on! Who in there right mind complains about $1,000 for an apartment in NY? If you don’t like how much the rent is move somewhere cheaper, like out of NY.

(This is where the link to the story would have gone, but it was so long it screwed up the formatting. Sorry. Find a link, for now, at relevant magazine or google it.)

2. On a separate note, if you’re planning on being in the District in October you should go check out Lennon’s stamp collection. Yeah, that’s right. Apparently it’s so big it’s going to be on display at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. I’m waiting for the National Gum museum, or maybe the National Water-Gun museum. I guess if you put Smithsonian National… in front of it and capitalize it all people will go see it. I mean, seriously I probably will and I don’t have any great interest in stamps. It just seems kind of cool. Sad, huh.

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/collection/3a2i_acquis2005.html

For more interesting news blurbs check out:
http://www.relevantmag.com/

3. While you are there check out some of the articles also. They have an interesting review of the new TV show, “Rescue Me” which I have not seen yet.

4?. P.S. Yes I really posted this at 7:40pm because I just got back from meetings in Baltimore an let me just tell you, when you have a penny pinching client who insists there must be someway to do stuff that pushes the limits of the code minimums, you know you are in for a good time.

Infrequent Updates

You can all blame the recent dearth of posts (7 days between posts, what the heck is that?) on me being in NY and having way too much work to do. If you really want to you can also blame it on the lack of internet access at my house. Either way though I realize a week lapse is lame. So another sweet and low week recap:

Sunday evening I arrived in NY and checked into my hotel. It was a nice place, but not great, located a block south of central park. I never managed to go for a real walk in central park although I walked along the edge of it on my way to Borders on Wednesday evening.

Monday decided that taking a taxi to work would be much more efficient than walking, so I did. It took a little while to get everything set up at the office but I finally managed. The project that I was up there to work on, primarily, was the Ritz Carlton project in Baltimore. One of the partners in the NY office is coordinating it, hence me being in NY for a week. After work I went out with a couple of the people from the NY office and spent too much money.

Tuesday was pretty tame. More work, and after work I really just felt like going back to the hotel. I picked up food on the way back Ray’s pizza and that was that.

Wednesday was pretty similar to Tuesday.

Thursday we had our monthly technical meeting so they provided pizza for lunch. Who has ever heard of lasagna pizza? Not me, but they had it anyway, along with a lot of other weird flavors. What ever. The Hawaiian was good and it had whole pineapple rings and whole sandwich size slices of ham. Yum. After work I went out with the same people I had hung out with Monday, plus Sara from the DC office (who had to come up for the technical meeting).

Friday I worked all day and took the train home from Penn station, which is only a couple blocks from the office. I have mixed feelings about the train although in general I think it’s cool. It would be much less mixed if it were a later train or less crowded.

I spent the weekend recuperating from the week in NY and dreading everything I am going to have to get done this week. I also went to the National Community Church again. The people there seem really nice although the format is still a little bizarre. In truth it feels like it’s halfway between XA and a “regular” church service. There are a lot of parallels to both. Meeting in a church requires that they set up and tear down after each service and the worship so far has been acoustic guitars, a violin, and hand drums. Pretty cool. The messages have also been quite interesting, although I secretly wish there was a little bit more just reading and expounding on scripture, and a little less – “let’s apply this to life and take examples from other sources”. I don’t mean to say there isn’t scripture involved or that the sermon isn’t derived from and based on scripture, because it is. I guess I don’t know what I’m saying, so I’ll stop talking until I do.

That was my week in a nutshell. That was the sweet and low. I need to start updating more so these don’t have to be so flaming long and scattered. Sorry about that. I have done some writing lately that I’d like to post but recently I have become more frustrated with my writing. Whenever I take a look at what I’ve written all I can think is, “My, somebody is melodramatic and heavy handed.” It’s gotten worse, to the point where I stop writing half way through something because I’m so frustrated by it. I wish I could have taken more writing classes in college. If I go back to school (when I go back to school?) I would like for it to be for either English or literature. Sigh.

Until then:

MikeyC>

Short and Sweet

Sometimes when people just want the quick version of something they will say, “Give it to me short and sweet.” I wonder if I could get away with telling people to “Give me the sweet and low?” Furthermore, if I did this could I get sued by the Sweet and Low people, or how does that work? Any lawyers out there?

I will have to keep this Sweet and Low since I am at the NY office today, but here is a little recap:

1. Commerce Bank Situation. I haven’t gotten a new card, but I have put a stop on the old one. Since I have a bank in DC now, Wachovia, I am planning to wait another week or so, write a letter to close my Commerce account, and consolidate. I can’t think of any real reason to keep that account open, especially now that I can’t deposit OR withdraw money.

2. The mini-vacation was really great. I went to the Holocaust Memorial and it was really intense. After only the first exhibit I was so overwhelmed that I kept looking for the exit door and thinking, “I don’t really need to see the rest of this do I?” Despite this urge to turn my head, I made myself keep going through the exhibits until I ran out of time. It was a very sobering opportunity, and one that I think would have been best if immediately followed by reflection with others. Alas, I was by myself so I was forced to merely ponder the images by myself.

I also went to the Lincoln Memorial, and sitting on the steps with hundreds of others was forced to write very melodramatic, pseudo-philosophical notions in my notebook by the oppressive forces being exuded from the memorial. Some day, if you are bad, I will unleash these writings on the world. Pray that this never happens.

3. I went to the National Community Church Sunday. I'll have to do a whole write up on that, maybe after I go next Sunday.

4. NY. I remember Christmas in the blistering cold in a church on the upper west side. Man, those were good times. Wait come to think of it, I’ve never been in NY at Christmas time, my hotel this week is a block south of central park, and I have yet to be in any of the churches NW of there. Other than that though, I know exactly how Ryan Adams feels when he writes:

“…But I tried to keep the overhead low. Farewell to the city and the love of my life - at least we left before we had to go…” Ah, yes…keeping the overhead low. Turns out, that is nigh impossible to do in NY.

Well, that’s the sweet and low.

Oh, if you would be interested in taking part in an online discussion of: The Chronicles of Narnia, hit me up with an email. I think that could be pretty saweet.

C. Foo!

Meditations on Friday

These aren’t really meditations but when writing the subject line I decided it was catchier than saying, “I’m thinking about Friday”.

I find it interesting that each time a friend or family member comes out to DC I get asked the same question about what they should do, what things they should see. I find it depressing that each time I have to answer the same thing, “Uhm, I don’t know. After this week you will have done more touristy things than I have in 7 months.” That is one disadvantage to having lived so far outside DC for the first 3 months; I never wanted to come back here on the weekend. Now that I live closer you would think I might have done more. The problem however is that after work I don’t usually want to spend the remaining few hours of free time out exploring DC. “Why?” you might very reasonably ask. In which case I would answer you, “Because I am quite bad at doing things that involve me breaking out of routine.”

I realize how incredibly horrible this answer is, and what it says about my personality. In an effort to fight this, I will be dedicating this Friday to getting out of the house and doing stuff. I have Friday off work because it is the summer and it is my rotation to have Friday off. This means I’ve had to work extra M-Th, but not much more than I usually do. I’m calling this Friday my Vacation in DC. One day isn’t much of a vacation, but I’m hoping to ride my bike around the mall (area with all the monuments), and hopefully even go to the Holocaust memorial.

So if any of my family can think of things I should do on my “vacation” they should let me know. I’ll keep you posted on how things went.

Also worth noting:
-This weekend will be Ana’s graduation party (daughter of the friends I stayed with in LaPlata),
-Next week I will be in NY all week so if anyone has some cool places I should try to go, other than the usual tourist places I have already been to, tell me what they are.
-In two weeks Grant is in town for a few days. Good times.

I'm thinking I may incorporate this as a banner in a new website design. I like it. It's a shame the heart isn't more defined. 

This breaks the "rules" of the post about Color, but what the hey, it's cool. 

Domino Sugars...Final? 

Probably my favorite shot of the night, I would crop the bright foreground out to just maintain the water's edge up to the top of the picture. I even like the billowy smoke to the left of the sign. The orange glow on the water makes for an intersting effect as well. 

Again, I thought this was kind of a neat image, although if I could do it over again (or take it into photoshop) I would crop the car out of it, just keeping the words straight down to the neat reflections on the wet pavement. I wish that darn street light was somewhere else. 

This seemed like kind of a cool picture. If I had a manual camera I would have exposed it slightly less to get more definition in the lights, but...it was the office digital camera. 

Future site of the Ritz Carlton Residences on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. 

Throw Me a Bone Here!

I was checking out a link I got in my most recent email from Apple (that Siren company that continues to do everything in its powers to worm its way into my wallet - DIABOLICAL!!! NO I WILL NOT buy another computer yet, so stop taunting me with your beautiful colors, your sleek designs, your suave operating systems, and your scrumptious ad. campaigns!) about a new site/service they are offering to professionals dealing with color concepts. In this link there was a more-than-vaguely interesting article by this dude named Bilbao. Anyway, his thoughts on color vs. black and white do a good job of approximating my own, so in lieu of actually posting them, I'll just point you towards his short little article; it's worth reading.

http://www.apple.com/pro/color/palettes/bilbao.html

MikeyC>

Grumble Cakes...breakfast of champions

Sorry I haven’t been updating my blog much lately. This week has been rather hectic. It was my first week back from vacation. I’m having to work on some stuff that sort of piled up; we had back to back meetings that lasted half a day Wednesday; my parents have been in town; and now I’m trying to schedule a helicopter flyover/24 hour sound observation in Baltimore that I’m going to have to rent a car for and go set up. This weekend, however, will be thoroughly enjoyed. That I promise you. Also, depending on where I’m at (my place or the Milster’s) I may even have a blog update for you!

MikeyC>

Ketchup or Catsup?

Whew.

This is one of those blogs where I get to play catch-up since I slacked over vacation.

I just got back from Lawrence for Tim and Rachelle’s wedding. It was a fabulous outdoor ceremony and the rain held off until everyone had moved inside. Then, once everyone was safe there was a massive lightning storm that, in the flat Kansas landscape was, to quote a wonderful friend, amazing. In addition to the actual wedding, I had the preceeding week to see old friends, eat at the best Lawrence restaurants, have a memorial day barbeque, play some football, visit Clinton Lake, and even a few moments of rest and relaxation. It was about everything that could be hoped for in a vacation, and more than could be hoped for in seeing good friends. I may post a sort of post facto entry from something I wrote while chilling on Tim and Rachelle’s new deck.

Also, I just got back from lunch with my parents. It felt to good seeing both of them, and they even came bearing presents. I am now the proud owner of my very own tea infuser and a wonderful tin of “Hand Blended Cranberry Orange Herbal Tea” from The Tao of Tea (complete with rose hip, hibiscus, chamomile, orange peel and cranberries). I’m sipping some as I write this and it is splendid. Mom, Dad – If you’re reading this, good choice (oh, and thanks for the lunch as well, I hope you enjoyed the restaurant!).

Although I have tried my hardest to call my parents at least once a week I have occasionally failed and it felt really, really good to see them. It was a little odd to see them in DC since I associate them with St. Charles, but it was really nice. Now I can think of them being in DC as well as St. Charles.

Last things last. While in Lawrence I had a few moments to think and reflect which I don’t get as frequently here in DC. As a result of those moments of silence, the people I was privileged to be around, and the situations I got to be a part of, you may be subjected to a few rambling blogs in the near future that aren’t at all practical, sensible, or even interesting to large quantities of people. Should this happen, I apologize.

MikeyC>

I hate to Blog and Run, but...

I have to keep this quick as it is fairly late (which means it is fairly late + 1 hour for me, being on East coast time in a central time zone). Also I’m on a friends pc. It is pretty swanky. He has the SyncMaster 150MP flat panel monitor, oh yeah…and his cpu case has glowing lights. Pretty saweet.

Anyhoo, I did in fact get into Lawrence safely and was able to have dinner with some friends who were in town. I love Free State. Great burgers, amazing Cheddar Ale soup, and great beers brewed at the restaurant. Good Times.

I’m glad Tim and Rachelle decided to get married, otherwise I don’t know when the next time would have been that I made it back to Lawrence. I’ll let you know how my first paid vacation goes as it progresses. Also, I’ll try to have pictures up as soon as I can get people with digital cameras to give me copie.

Please forgive any sentence fragments or cliché sayings, it is late and I’m tired.
MikeyC>

Memorial Day Barbeque

First some facts for those unfamiliar with motorcades:

1. It is required that a motorcade close down as many roads as possible to avoid waiting in traffic. It’s kind of like the cops using their siren to get to lunch faster.

2. Motorcade drivers must cycle their sirens on and off rapidly to produce a very annoying partial chirp that definitely gets people’s attention – then makes them want run up and punch the siren.

3. Apparently the motorcades that include an ambulance are often for the President or Vice-President.

4. Did I mention that motorcades are required to disrupt traffic to get their certification as an official motorcade?

I guess that is all for now. I understand when you are eating lunch in front of the White House that you are going to see a motorcade or two. What frustrates me is why they have to go through the rest of town. I think they should build below ground walkways so the very important people can get from A-B without disturbing everyone else.

I realize this was incredibly unproductive and probably boring to read so to make up for that, here's this:
Monday, Memorial Day - Barbeque at Clinton Lake for anyone in Lville not working?

What The Heck?

It is official, "Village of Kansas City Finally Added to World’s Maps". That’s right, the once obscure small town of Kansas City is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Kansas City has served as a major industrial hub of the Mid-West, has contributed to the development of Jazz and Blues, and is known in the cult world of Barbeque for it’s unique flavor. It’s history as a “place to be” however has been sketchy at best. It even lost out to Topeka, a city NOT named after the state, as the capital.

All of that is about to change as the eyes of the world finally give KC the attention it deserves. In the quiet hours of the morning Sunday, before the harsh sun had risen to apply it’s mediocrity to the western hemisphere, when man and beast are most at harmony, one man was laboring against all of nature to accomplish what, until now, had never been done. May 22nd the Two Thousand and Fifth year of our Lord, Tim Pruitt made contact with a being that has never been equaled in the recorded history of any known peoples.

In true Kansas City form, this spectacular entity may now be witnessed by the masses, aristocrat and proletariat, theologian and lay-person, vegetarian and omnivore, at the Cabelas Outfitter Store in Kansas City, Kansas. What should one prepare themselves to see if they make this pilgrimage? No less than the 124 Lb. catfish that Tim caught in the Mississippi river. That makes it the world record blue catfish. Take that NY and Tokyo!

Link:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14583155&BRD=1719&PAG=461&dept_id=25271&rfi=6

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052401128.html

Thomas Perryman Gilmore

I knew some day an end to the honeymoon must arrive. Today was the day. The rosy glow of enjoyment at being able to walk to worked survived through several days of waking up more tired than usual, a couple of gloomy mornings, and even one monsoon where walking to work involved crossing the narrow land bridges remaining above the growing ponds. It was put to the most extreme text today though as I had to walk to work with a sore ankle.

I’m uncertain how it happened but last night as I was standing up I noticed my ankle was really sore. So sore in fact, it hurt to walk to my bedroom. I was quite worried it might not be better when I got up in the morning and was faced with walking the 15 or 20 minutes to work. This morning I was somewhat relieved to find it was slightly better, but not all better. Walking to work didn’t feel great, but I didn’t die either, so that’s good.

I’m hoping by the time I have one more night of sleep it will be all better, but we’ll see. I have to admit though, a walk to work with a sore foot is still better than an hour and a half commute, so I will restrain myself from complaining in excess.

I’m re-reading Seven Storey Mountain again. Merton is such a good writer, and it doesn’t hurt that traveling around Europe and America that he describes arouse already present desires in me to do the same.

I’ve listened to one song probably 30 times in the last 2 weeks. I don’t know the name of it because it was on a mix cd given to me by a good friend, but it is by Matthew Perryman Jones.

This weekend I watched the first season of Gilmore girls on DVD, which I had on loan from the Milsters, the people I stayed with when I first moved to DC. I remembered again why I enjoy that show so much. The amazing dialog, the wonderful writing, and the impressive ability to banter exhibited by the actors is so different from anything else out there right now.

<>

What do a bald spot, a grey wife beater, wild back hair, a big gold chain, and a play station pocket have in common. Nothing. Well, normally nothing, except that they all describe the guy who sat in front of me for the duration of this movie. Too my immediate right and left were people from my office, and a few people from RTKL, all dressed to go to the office after the 8:30am showing of Episode III.

This gives you a good idea of the variety of people this movie drew. Wow. It was certainly an experience.

As far as a movie review, see my comments in the Cold Roses post about reviewing things. Let it suffice it say that I felt it was better than Episodes I or II, and that I don’t remember much of IV-VI. I’ll admit there were some pretty freakin’ sweet scenes with Yoda in this movie. Slight spoiler: If you like the Yoda light saber fight scene in the second movie, you’ll love this movie. Dislike: The whole transformation into Darth Vader thing, somewhat cheesy. Also the scene where you see Darth Vader for the first time, as such, is a little anti-climactic.

MMM...delicious opiates

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=754258

Are parents going to take credit for anything anymore? Apparently HBO is starting a new series called Classical Baby, programming for babies involving animation and classical music. Are parents so lazy they can’t put some classical music on the radio and interact with their kids themselves? Come on. We already have parents using tv as a babysitter for the kids they don’t have time to interact with, what is next? And yet, many early cartoons were set to classical music. Honestly, I've layed on the couch before, turned to cartoon network and watched/napped to classic tom and jerry cartoons just to have the music in the background. Sorry.

“Secure attachment between parent and child is the foundation for healthy intellectual, emotional, social and moral development," said Dr. Eugene Beresin.

Great, so read to your kid, play with them, have classical music on in the background. I realize that some people are so bored/boring that tv is the entirety of their cultural/relational experience, but do we really want to raise yet another generation this way from birth through adulthood?

“capitalizing on the growing $100 million-a-year baby video industry”

$100 million a years is being spent on programming for babies? I don’t know which is worse, this or the infomercial I saw for videos for your cat. The cat kept swatting at the crazy butterfly flying around the screen. Ha, stupid cats.

I know, I’ll bring my baby up to the same intellectual level as a cat, then I’ll cut it off and replace it with crude humor and unrealistic situations to finish completely skewing their perspective of the world.

Perfect.

Also,
<new deal with Nickelodeon and MTV in hopes to make kids' movies edgier. "I've noticed that kids, they're looking up to the Jay-Zs, they're looking up to OutKasts," Andre 3000 said. "So kids' movies and cartoons, they're getting smarter ... because it seems like kids are cooler." Cooler + Smarter = Looking up to Jay-Z and OutKast ...>>>read this on:
www.relevantmagazine.com

(er...opiates as in TV, the opiate for the masses...famous quote, yeah.)

MikeyC>

Decidedly Official

It is officially final, or finally official. Whichever way sounds better. I’ve scheduled my vacation with the NY office, and have bought the tickets. Now I just have to convince Tim and Rachelle to let me stay at their place a couple nights so I’m within walking distance to Mass. St. Good times. I also have my flight times if anyone is curious for any reason. I’ll be flying into MCI Saturday May 28th.

MikeyC>

Squeaky Pup & the Built Ballerina

As I was walking home from work yesterday I saw this built guy approaching me walking his tiny dog. He was wearing somewhat baggy jeans, a white undershirt (I just can’t bring myself to call them “wife-beaters”), and a pair of big ol’ Timberland boots. Mind you I didn’t notice this all right away as there was nothing to really call my attention to him.

Then right as we were passing the dog let out this shrill little yelp and my eyes snapped down to the sidewalk. This big dude with his bigger boots had stepped on this little tiny dog’s foot. Now, let me preface the following by saying that my very first reaction when I heard the dog yelp was to be concerned for it, definitely not a reaction of amusement.

Having said that, this guys reaction as the dog yelped was hysterical. He stopped short and jumped as though he had just stumbled across a rattle snake. I realize that blogging about this may be futile as it was such a visual thing, but I mean come on, just picture this big tough dude strutting down the street with a tiny dog, when suddenly…YELP, and he’s jumping like a ballerina.

Maybe I’m sick, but I was able to control myself until we had safely passed, and then I almost burst out laughing. For the sake of decency, and incase anyone around me saw the same thing and would have been offended by my laughing at a dog’s injury, I let a huge smirk/grin suffice. It stayed on my face the whole way home though as that scene replayed through my mind.

Cold Roses

I promised a review of the new Ryan Adams album Cold Roses, and who better to give you this review than the sunbear himself? I don't have quite the music exposure that many of my friends do, I'm partial to the guys previous work, and I like most music I listen to. What could possibly make for a more critical review? And, we're off...

My review: Uhm, it’s good.

I actually started writing a review of this album, honestly – I did. You can see part of it at the end of this blog. Here’s the thing. I don’t like reviewing albums. I’ll tell you what I thought about a song, or even whether I particularly care for a certain artist. The thing is though you are much more likely to get this information out of me over a cup of tea or walking down the street. It just feels less like I'm trying to be authoritative that way; who am I to review his work? I just don’t feel I am particularly qualified.

If I had to predict anything about tonight, it would be that I’m going to end up spending the evening reading and hopefully doing some writing. I haven’t really felt like doing either of those lately, but I don’t know. It just seems like a good idea tonight. I do love to wallow in pools of romantic ideals, letting the shimmering light of nostalgia (past and future) just bath me in the knowledge of the way things ought to be, the way things will hopefully someday be. It feels good to remember what we are all struggling towards sometimes.

MikeyC>




Cold Roses:
"I've heard a lot of Adams fans say, "Eh, it was ok, but heartbreaker was soo much better." In fact the salesman said this when I purchased my first Adams cd, Love is Hell pt. 1 at Hastings. So apparently Roses had a pretty rich heritage to live up to. I won’t even attempt to answer whether he has in fact bested his earlier work, but I will go so far as to say it harkens back to it. I will say that.

“I think I understand why Adams chose Magnolia Mountain to be the greeting at the threshold of the album. It has the kind of beat that makes you want to just close your eyes and listen to the song, combined with the same vaguely ghostly back up vocals found on Carolina. In fact these back up vocals seem to follow him around the album. It’s kind of, nice.

As far as "

Promiscuous Ponderings over Much Minutiae

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=promiscuous

I guess I haven’t written about work in awhile. Things are going well. I like what I do. The time in the office is broken up by going on site visits and attending meetings, and just when I get tired of hauling speakers and sound level meters around DC, I get a break to stay in the office for a few days working on reports and going over drawings. We just got a new handheld gizmo that measures wind speed and temp. It will help us know how much air is coming through vents.

I’m becoming much more comfortable in front of architects and other engineers at project meetings. A week ago I had to attend a rather high level meeting solo. The client is a law firm (that shall remain nameless) who is in the 100 most profitable privately owned businesses in the DC area. It's in the running with companies like Mars (the candy folk), and other big names. Any-who, around the table were: this company’s director of operations, the project manager from the architecture firm, one of the principals from the architecture firm, several admin people from the law firm, the construction manager, several other engineers, and a few people who I was never introduced to. All in all about 15 people. I had to sit there and advise them about the project. That was interesting, all these people (none of them under 40), listening to me. ok.

Our office moves mid-June into the new office space. It should be nice. The details are still a bit foggy, but I know for sure that we will have a roof deck, so saweet. More updates on that as they are available.

I have decided to make Lawrence my summer vacation this year, so I’ll be in town, tentatively, from May 29th through June 5th.

Lastly, I’ll try and write a brief uninformed review of Cold Roses tomorrow, so look forward to that.

Peace out all…
MikeyC>

Decisions, decisions

Ok, so I broke my own rule and started typing this directly into the text window, and lost about 4 paragraphs. To make things short:

Who is going to be in Lawrence the week leading up to Tim’s wedding? Anyone, Bueller?

Updates

Hmmm…what to say.

It’s been over a week since I last updated. That isn’t good. As I had said in previous posts, I’m all moved into the new place. In the long tradition of the places I’ve lived either having names or giving them names myself, I’m going to take suggestions, on what to name this new place. You’ve seen pictures, but other than that…it’s a basement apartment in a brick building somewhere on T street in Washington, DC. In college I lived in Stephenson, then at Quail Creek. After college I moved in with some guys at the Lake House…sometimes the Lake House Resort. Leave some ideas in the comments section. Until I hear anything that makes me change my mind, I’m going to call it Tea House.

The move was an adventure. Two Saturdays ago was the actual move date. I got everything into the place, but spent the night at the Milster’s house so I could go to church with them one more time.

The following week was pretty hectic. I managed to get a few things put away, but with work it was slow going. Also that week (last week) I went to IKEA for the first time, and to Trader Joe’s grocery store for the first time. Other than that, it was mostly working and slowly unpacking.

This last weekend I had the place to myself, as Jen was out of town. Saturday I got up and went for a bike ride down to the Mall (where all the memorials are), and walked around a bit. Sunday I met up with the Milsters for burgers at their place and to drop my jeep off at their house. It will be nice not to have to worry about a car, but I’m a little nervous about not having a vehicle for the first time in almost 8 years.

Yesterday we had a bunch of people from the office over to the place to get rid of some beverages Jen had left over from her roommates Napoleon Dynamite/Going Away party. We grilled some burgers and hotdogs, and Sara my boss brought some chips and a great Mexican layer dip.

It’s kind of tiring trying to get all this out at once. I’m going to have to start blogging more often.

IKEA

I had never really known much about IKEA other than that they manufacture furniture. Outside of that, I was clueless. What I have come to discover is that they are the kings of modular furniture. It is what it is, cheap – well designed furniture. I went to the IKEA store Sunday with my roommate Jen, and got to experience this Swedish sensation first hand. I was amazed by the sheer quantity of stuff they had available. There were roughly 1 million different shelving units, each coming in a variety of dimensions, and each in varying finishes. Then there were accessories, bookshelf lights, desk lights, floor lamps and ceiling mount lamps. They had an entire department for kitchen accessories. Many areas were broken up into little mini display rooms that showed rooms created with different pieces coordinated together. In the middle of it all they had a cafeteria where I ordered an open face egg and shrimp salad, and Jen was able to order Swedish meatballs. One confusing thing was that each item was labeled in English, Spanish, as well as given a Swedish product name.

All in all it was a very overwhelming experience and by the time I got home from shopping I was exhausted. Unfortunately we still had shelving and what-not to assemble. It is very smartly designed but when you are trying to get 6 pairs of pegs to align perfectly with holes predrilled on another board, THEN hold it still while you screw something else together…you stand the chance of getting very upset, and sweaty, and being already exhausted, you may be prone to take many breaks.

I’m so tired from just thinking about it that I’m going to stop typing now.

Commute

Today was the first day of my life that I have been able to walk to work...and it was everything I dreamed it would be.

That is all for now.

.gibran.

The sunbear painting said bedroom. Uhm...such a flattering shot. 

My bedroom, soon. 

Kitchen 

Uhm...It's a little messy. Hey, I'm moving! 

Living Room...(the door you came in through is on your right, and that closet you saw is on your left) 

Come inside... 

It's a downstairs apartment. 

My new (basement) apartment

I'm Wide Awake, It's Mourning?

Would that be a more apt title? When looking up the correct spelling of Mourning (YES, I know the album is titled morning), I found that one use is to murmur mournfully -- used especially of doves (see Merriam Webster). Just thought that was an interesting contrast. Most people see doves as signs of joy (like weddings) and peace, so to have a common usage of the word mournful associated with them was, I thought, interesting. Possibly because they are so solemn?

The real point of this post was to ask a question. If you've listened to this particular Bright Eyes album, what is your favorite song on it? Sub-question, what is your favorite Bright Eyes album if you've listened to multiple?

I've really only listened to I'm Wide Awake, and Digital Ashes, so my favorite album is Wide Awake. My favorite song is Lua. I don't really know why (correction, I don't know how to explain it succinctly) but it is mournfully beautiful. My second place pick would be At the Bottom of Everything. That's all.

.gibran.

Intro to a Really Long Blog

(See previous blog for list of why I love Lawrence)

Recently my friend Grant wrote in his blog about how nice it was in Lawrence, which made me sad. Thanks alot Grant. However this made me stop and think about some things.

I have moved. A lot. For those that don’t know, and as a recap for those that do, my “map” would look something like: Topeka, KS (born); Dayton, OH (First years); Omaha, NS (next 4); Louisville, CO (next 4); Prattville, AL (yup); St. Charles, MO (High School); Lawrence, KS (College); Washington, DC (current). Maybe it’s just me, but that’s a bunch of moving.

I never bothered to say where I was from before college but once there, you get asked a lot. Since I went to high school in MO, and my parents were still there, MO became my default answer when I didn’t feel like reiterating the entire list. However, I have made a decision.

When people ask me where I’m from for now on (unless of course they are talking about where I currently live) I’m saying Kansas. It just makes the most sense. I was born there, and I lived there as long as anywhere else. The majority of my family is still there, including my grandma on my dad’s side, and my grandpa on my mom’s side. Not to mention that I have officially decided that Lawrence is my favorite city…ever.

What I Love About Lawrence

Mass Street. Seriously the best place to just walk around. Great restaurants, great music scene, and for a city the size of Lawrence, a respectable arts scene.

Coffee Shops. I overheard a couple people talking who had each spent extensive amounts of time in Europe and they were both agreeing that Lawrence reminded them very much of a European town in many ways. Their prime reasoning? The number of coffee shops. Ok, I know this is kind of silly, but it is true. Downtown Lawrence has something like 6 coffee shops just along Mass St. S-I-X! And only one of these is a Starbucks. I’m sorry, but that’s just awesome.

Think Local. Lawrence is actually concerned with promoting local businesses. Now I’m not really ready to say that Corporations are evil, my friend Grant works for Starbucks and says that there are actually quite a few things they do that are commendable. Fine, but there is something to be said for a population that is interested in maintaining a local owned section of Lawrence. Go you guys.

Clinton Lake. I Love Clinton Lake. Why? Number 1, Bumming rides on people’s boats (If you’re out there thank you so much Chris Bauer and Tom’s Dad). Number 2, Driving out to the docks to have dangling conversations with good friends. Number 3, Hiking to Sanders Look Out. Number 4, parking by the levy and thinking about stuff way to esoteric for my own good. Number 5, sand volley ball, barbeques, Frisbee, and anything else outdoors.

The Locals. Lawrence has been home to some of the best friends I’ve ever had. These are people that have challenged me to be a better person, and have been the source of so many great memories.

2215 Ohio. Wow, the legend and lore of this place could fill many volumes, but the pieces I was personally involved in include the Yeti Couch, The Possessed Furnace, witnessing Darth Garfunkel, Cash Money Bible study, meeting Alex, Steak, and Allyn. So many memories.

The Lake House. Jasper, Tyler, Cameron, Andrew, Nick, Charlie dog, possibly the largest backyard in Lawrence, Jesus Birthday party, listening to Tyler and Jasper argue over what record to play next and screen prints laying around everywhere. Trying to cram 6 guys cars everyday into a single driveway. Watching High Fidelity like 12 times, and drinking guiness on front porch, or back porch, or in the tv room, or…

KU. Oh yeah, KU is a great school and it’s in Lawrence also.

New or news, or, uhm...yeah.

It's spring which means life, and abundance, and uhm...a few tweaks to the blog. I have added an honorable mentions heading to the sidebar which will let me reward (or punish?) people's comments on other blogs. I don't know, could be fun - for me at least. I especially like my first choice. I've also added actual working links to the links section, you can thank Steak for being a pain. Other than that, there is the huge change in that I'm now going to be posting a picture every day. Wait. No, that's a lie. Sorry. It's not good to lie.

.gibran.

P.S. I'm typing this over lunch break, and my boss (Sara) is out of the office sick. I just received a call from the Architect of the Capitol, yes...that's THE capitol. Kind of cool. Oh yeah, and I need to call the architect that I'm workin on the White House Visitor center with as well. (What's the fun of having cool projects if you can't name drop?)