Finished Eating 

Brian Climbing atop the Sea of Carts 

Brian walking atop the Sea of Carts 

Not very flattering shot around the campfire (Myself, Robin, Robyn, Juman, Kimberlee, and Brian is in the back) 

The camp fire 

Hanging in front of Amsterdam Falafel House (Adam's Morgan...4 blocks from my house). 

Counter clockwise starting at top left, Amy Goodwin, Malcolm, Amy Doolittle, and Adrienne. 

Closer shot, hence the blur :( 

OTR@Birchmere

Over the Rhine at the Birchmere. Check out my review on the community bookshelf site here.

Hem at the Birchmere. I don't know who any of the band members are. 

Balancing: Not Just For Check Books and Acrobats

Inspired by another blog…

I have been hemming and hawing for some time now about setting time aside specifically devoted to solitude, contemplation, quiet time, call it what you will. If you’ve known me for long enough you’ve probably heard my thoughts on the relationship between solitude and community. For that matter if you’ve read Bonhoeffer’s Life Together or Foster’s Celebration of Discipline you probably already know my thoughts on the subject. If none of the above apply to you, or you just need a quick refresher…

It seems that solitude and community work together as one machine (like a lock and key as Lewis would probably say). Spending all one’s time in solitude is unhealthy, just as the same applies to time spent in community. Time spent in community is made richer and more meaningful when it follows time spent in solitude. Time spent in solitude is dangerous when not balanced with time in community. Lastly, it should be clarified that by solitude I do not mean time in front of a tv or asleep, but time spent reading, praying, writing, and contemplating God and life. Similarly, by time in community I do not mean sitting shoulder to shoulder at a bar starring at the liquor bottles while steadily draining a bourbon on the rocks, but rather time talking to others, sharing with others, learning about others and loving others, serving them where possible.

Since most of my time recently has been spent in community, hopefully more the positive kind of community than the negative, I realize that I need to restore that equilibrium with more time in solitude. As I look at the scripture reading I have not been doing, the conversations I haven't had with Abba, or simply the utter lack of reflective writing I’ve done, I see someone who is seriously drying up. I thank God he has shown me this before the creek is dry, but I know that is the logical destination unless I act.

So for now I’m setting aside Tuesday evenings as a time to go home, get out some good books, a notebook or two, and make sure I meditate on all those things that mean most to me in life. It's a measley way to start, but it's something and hopefully it will lead to an increased appetite for more solitude.

Question for the moment:
What do you value most in life? What do you make sure you set aside time for? If these don’t match up, why and what are you going to do about it?

You Have Redeemed My Soul (100 Portraits & Water Deep, Enter the Worship Circle)

You have redeemed my soul
From the pit of emptiness
You have redeemed my soul
From death

I was a hungry child
A dried up river
I was a burned out forest
And no one could do anything for me

But you put food in my body
Water in my dry bed
And to my blackened branches
you brought the springtime green of new life
And nothing is impossible for you

Memorial Day Weekend - The Post That Wouldn't End

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful and relaxing Memorial Day weekend.

Friday I went and helped Amy, a friend (not just some person), prepare communion kits for all 3 church locations. I think they said in all we made over 600 kits. It was fun sitting around talking with the other 3 people helping put the kits together though. Then Friday night Amon was both free and in town so we went out. We had dinner on U street at Duke’s City (named after Duke Ellington I would imagine since it’s practically across the street from the Lincoln Theater) and dessert a few blocks down at Love Café (run by the same people who own Cake Love). I can heartily recommend the strawberry shortcake, oh so delicious.

Saturday I managed to meet up with Malcolm and Amy to see the Bartok string quartet perform a piece that was commissioned by the Library of Congress in the 40’s. It was the first time this piece has been performed in the Library of Congress’s Auditorium. Afterwards Malcolm helped me lug some furniture around, and then he and I went to Dpont Crcle to get a Krispy Kreme donut and watch some kids do the robot dance quite impressively.

Sunday was fun because I got to go to the 11:00 Union Station church service, then I met up with Wendell, Malcolm, and Amy to go to Wendell’s brother’s house and eat traditional Trini food. It was strongly influenced by (Western?)-Indian food and included Roti (a kind of flat bread), potatoes and chick peas in a curry based sauce, and chicken on the bone stewed in a wonderful blend of seasonings (including brown sugar). It was all cooked by Wendell’s mom who did an excellent job (they are from Trinidad). After dinner Wendell, Malcolm, Amy, Malcolm's sister and I sat around and played Scrabble.

Monday found me over at Malcolm’s to help with a Barbeque/pool party. Malcolm had invited one of his co-workers to help us cook and it was amazing. This guy brought his own grill and equipment, including real skewers (the flat metal kind you see at places that specialize in kabobs) and probably 15 or 20 pounds of good quality beef that had been marinating in something excellent for quite awhile. It turned out to be some of the best, most tender beef I’ve had in a long time. We supplemented that with barbeque chicken and some fresh fruit. Then of course there were some chips, delicious drinks, good friends, and a wonderful pool. It was a good day.

About the only thing missing from this weekend (Sat. through Monday, yes I realize Monday isn’t the weekend, but it was a holiday) was Amon. She flew back to Michigan to be with her family and should get back in town today. Her grandmother passed away last Monday and the service was Sunday. While it would have been nice to have her around, it is good that she was able to make it back and be with her family. Amon, my prayers are still with you and your family.

Now I’m back at work for today through Thursday. Next Monday I start my new job. I admit to being a bit nervous, but at the same time quite excited. It should be an excellent opportunity to build on the things I’ve learned here, as well as working on developing another skill set, and meeting new people. Wow, less than a week away.

Grillin up some chicken. Mmm...barbeque sauce. (Don't worry the sauce, being sugar based, was going on towards the end of the grilling process so as to avoid burning.) People seemed to be pretty satisfied. 

The Bartok String Quartet performing a work commissioned by the Library of Congress in 1941. This was the first time it had ever been performed in the Library of Congress Auditorium. 

Apologies and Treasures

Huh, so I’ve been chastised for not posting enough. I suppose that is fair. I’ve been doing good recently just to get a post in per week. In my defense though, I hate posting entries that simply read, “I washed my hair today, and I also went to work. I love lamp.” That may work for some people, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I feel like if I’m going to post something there should be a good reason such as keeping people I don’t get to talk to every week updated on events in my life, possibly posting some bit of writing to get feed back on it, commenting on some current event, or sharing newly discovered music or books.

I thought I would remedy my lack of posts by putting up something that was about how I haven’t posted in awhile (smell the silliness of that remark yet?)

Oh, and the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PORTION OF THIS POST!!!

Check out this link:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=58151200

My Goodness!!! Alex, your songs, your voice, it’s just amazing. The range is nice as well, from BrokenPeacefulSleep to the Pumpkin Song, to Pitcher OK. Brilliant (even if The Pumpkin song does remind me of a certain song I heard an impromptu version of sitting in an Irish bar in the French Quarter). Still, Brilliant. Download these before he wises up and puts them on an EP and starts charging $14.99 for it. And then, because he deserves it, you should probably send him some money, just to be nice.

Changes

It's seems that anyone with interest enough to still be reading this blog deserves to have the following bit of information:

Over my lunch hour last Friday I had a follow up interview at another company. The possibilities over there are pretty exciting and after having taken this last weekend to pray, ponder, and repeat - I have decided to make a career change.

Not only will I be switching companies, but I will be altering my career path (if only slightly). I'll discuss in more detail later, but the new job will involve a more varied Architectural Engineering experience. I'll be involved with telecommunications, AV design, possibly security system design, and maybe some occasional in house acoustics jobs. Ultimately I will likely be taking on a project management roll and functioning as a sort of "jack of all trades" AE person. Could be fun. At any rate, I certainly won't be taking a cut in pay, the benefits are better, and the DC office is larger (offices in DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, LA, Miami, London, Madrid, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Seoul-Korea).

As I said, more details will certainly follow.
Mike

New Music Monday

I’ve encountered some new music lately that I wanted to make a quick note of…These aren’t intended to be full reviews (I’ve only heard one album by each of these people), but rather notices to keep your eyes (or ears) open for these artists.

Denison Whitmer:
I’m really enjoying listening to the cd, “Are you a Dreamer”. The cover art seems to indicate he isn’t taking himself too seriously, but not in a, “Hey I think life is a big joke” sort of way, more in a “Hey I realize that life is too short to not enjoy the small things,” sort of way. The instrumental portions of the music remind me, ocassionally, of Sufjan Stephens on Illinoise (who I’m told he’s toured with). Whitmer’s vocals stand up wonderfully among the better singer song writers of today. Despite the fact that Josh Ritter makes a conscious effort to hark back to artists like Dylan, Whitmer pulls the whole package off better, in my humble opinion. I still love Josh Ritter’s sparse work on Bone of Song and other songs on Hello Starling, but that’s another subject.

Rosie Thomas:
Someone I know has called Rosie Thomas the match to Denison Whitmer. Lyrics from the song October on “When We Were Small”, “Some days when she is slightly down, tell her it is ok to frown, it makes you just fall more in love with her.” I lack the proper music library to discuss Rosie’s voice, but the ambience her music creates is undeniable. When you listen to her songs you feel like you’re alternately wearing your most comfortable sweater watching it rain outside, or sipping tea on a sun covered leather couch rereading your favorite book.

Brandi Carlile:
Ah Brandi Carlile. I first heard about Brandi Carlile when she opened for Jamie Cullum. I was so satisfied after hearing her that if Jamie had pulled a no show, I would have still felt great about the concert (he did play though and his energy was INSANE). Have you ever watched someone who is excellent at something? It could be as simple as watching an expert chef cut an onion, the sort of thing that happens in kitchens all over the world every night. But the way they do it reveals how many thousands of times they have used that knife, how well they understand the entire process they are involved in, and how supremely competent they are. Listening to Brandi sing Hallelujah was like that. Her combination of youth and talent (hey, she started EARLY in life) result in someone with an already well developed skill presenting life in a very fresh way.

Put some water on the Kettle...

...Let's just sit here and talk a little while.

Job update: Not much to report that I can mention on the internet. My company keeps on keepin' on. Supposedly I'm getting a promotion in June, so that will be interesting. They just hired someone to work on Audio Visual (AV) projects in DC. So at least there's another body in the office. Helps with the not slacking when there are other people around - no matter how well intentioned you are.

Church update: I've been switching services alot lately. I had been going to the 11:00 Union Station service, but I’ve also gone to the Saturday night Coffee shop service which is cool. Then last Sunday I went to the 10:30 Union Station service. I need to pick a service and keep going. The good news though, is that the reason I’ve been going to the different services is that I know people at each of them, which means I’m getting more plugged into the important part of the Church – Relationships. I owe most of that to the Small Groups I’ve been attending.

Small Groups: The Church History group is over, but I was glad to have been a part of that, and now I have an excellent book to go back and reread more thoroughly (you could say peruse if you wanted to use the correct definition). Narnia is going excellently. We are taking a “month off” but enjoyed discussing the books so much we are still going to meet twice this month to go over the two books we weren’t able to cover in the semester long group (Voyage and Silver Chair). In June we start Mere Christianity, officially making us Inklings Reloaded, Beyond the Lamp Post (Amazingly enough, I did not come up with that name). I’ve meet some great people at the Narnia group.

Meeting People: Yes, buried in the middle of this post is in fact the most exciting news…I met this really cool girl at the Narnia group. I don’t know how she feels about having her name on the internet, so I’ll just say that I’ve been extremely happy to spend time with her recently. Call me sometime and I can fill you in on a few more details, but only the details a gentleman can be expected to share.

Conclusion: Busy, check. Learning, check. Having fun, check. Challenging myself, check. Missing Lawrence and all those friends back in KS, sigh…triple check.

Update

I am now officially, as of today, the only full time acoustical consultant in the DC office. Hmm...hopefully this won't last too long.

Cool well outside the Museum of the Native American (you can see the Capital in the background). Kids seem to think this is just the coolest thing...and are then apparently compelled to lunge towards it. All my pictures of this with kids in the frame involve their parents having to hold them back.

Front shot of the Smithsonian Museum of the Native American. I guess the deal is there aren't supposed to be any right angles or something...? Allyn, do know anything about this? Do you file all the corners off your furniture? 

Perspective shot of the Smithsonian Museum of the Native American. I heard a few people just calling it "Allyn's House". 

Loved this side by side shot (yes they actually sit there like this) of the US Capital next to the US Botanical Gardens. 

Small Groups

I have now attended two different small groups that are sponsored by my church. The first is one you have already heard about, the Chronicles of Narnia small group. The second is a new one for me, Church History.

The Chronicles of Narnia group is an great fit for me for many reasons, it’s main topic being the most obvious reason. It has been quite fun though to get to know the other people in this discussion group, and I’m quite looking forward to getting together more with them. There have been murmurs of doing a general Lewis group next “semester”. That could be a fun way to continue the thread we’re on right now.

The second group I alluded to, the Church History group is lead by my friend Keelan. He has his doctorate in Church History, and as such has more than a bit of background in the area. I need to get the book we are using as our “text”, but that should be more of a delight than a chore. It looks like an interesting book.

I haven’t done a stellar job of putting myself out there and making zillions of new friends here in DC, but looking back on my life thus far – that doesn’t seem to be my modus operandi. In the past I have focused on developing deep friendships in lieu of broad reaching acquaintances. Whether this is a good thing, a bad thing, or a thing completely lacking in moral or ethical value, I don’t know. I also don’t intend to delve into that, at least not at this juncture. All that is simply to say that I see this happening again and find it interesting and that it is hard to change things that are a deep part of you. I’ve thought about intentionally making more friends and it just isn’t how I’m “wired”.

That would be a good topic for another blog, the subject of friendship. I think I’ll stop here and continue on with that later.

PS. Go read some of the Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis is a genius at British humor. So freakin hilarious. I just can’t stop laughing at some of the lines in Magicians Nephew (it helps if you read them out loud and see for yourself how absurd they sound).

That Minutia I Mentioned in the Header...

As indicated by the title, I just wanted to update with a few things that are going on in my life. Consequently, today’s post should be skipped by anyone wishing only to cull the fine strands of wisdom that are ever so carefully woven about this page.

JOB:

First announcement: I’m going to go ahead and let the cat out of the bag: I’m getting a promotion in June. My superiors have been telling me they appreciate what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, and the situation I’m in; and at my review I found out they are going to show me their appreciation as well. Certainly this makes my decision about what to do about my job just that much more complicated, though it is nice to see they can act when it is called for.

Every time I talk to people I get asked how my job is going, so to help minimize the frequency of this question…As far as the WORK itself goes, things are going swimmingly. I can look back on where I was when I started in January 2005 and am astounded by how much I have grown – in technical acumen, comfort in front of clients, and ability to manage projects. As far as the environment goes, things are a bit more gray. We are down to 2 full time people in my branch office, Abigail and myself, with the president of the company, Victoria, coming down to triage the situation until a more stable solution is secured.

Additionally our Marketing Assistant, Jen, has moved on to a larger company where she can focus less on administrative tasks and more on marketing. At this job she will have people to work with on marketing matters in her office. It was definitely a good choice for her. However, we had gotten to be really good friends and not seeing her every day at work is quite a downer. It hasn’t really hit me fully since this week (first week she has been gone) has been absurdly busy.

I co-led a presentation to the DC chapter of the American institute of Architects last night. It was part of a continuing education series designed to give AIA member the credits they need and educate them on the impact of acoustics in learning environments (classrooms mostly). Apparently it was one of the best attended lectures they have had recently. It was pretty exciting to be standing in front of all of them going through this presentation. Good times.

HOME:

I’m seriously considering vacationing in Lawrence again this summer. The only question right now is if I take a week in May or a Week in June. Any thoughts?

I was up until 2:00am Monday morning doing laundry, and putting together more IKEA shelving and storage. My room has been a disaster area, and the main culprit is clothes. I just have too many clothes. Oddly enough, I can never find what I really wish I had. Sigh…consumerism.

I’m attending a book discussion my church is sponsoring; it’s part of their small group program. We are studying the Chronicles of Narnia which has been immensely fun. Unfortunately I have missed the last two weeks, but I’m back full force tonight.

The Kennedy Center is putting on performances of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and I’m desperately trying to find people to go with.

One of my acquaintances/friends, Beth, is going to see an improve act in Gallery Place/Chinatown Friday and I think I’m going to check that out with some of her friends.

I still haven’t bought a laptop computer.

I still owe 10 billion dollars to the IRS (it’s close enough to 10 billion given the amount of money I have).

I still love where I live - so close to Adam’s Morgan, U Street, Dupont Circle, and Work.

If you made it thus far, congratulations. Any questions I didn’t answer or areas I didn’t update feel free to ask about in the comments section and I might answer them.

Faded Black and White

Previously written at the Hirshorn while contemplating ,”Plastic Construction of Noise and Speed”

She wants me to live like there is no absolute truth. He wants me to accept that our view of right and wrong is just evolved conditioning to promote survival of my species. They want me to cast aside the concept of Holiness and Evil, black and white in favor of their comfortable gray sweaters. I have to admit the idea of curling up on the couch in a well worn faded sweater is very appealing.

The problem is – as good as that sounds, I can’t accept that the idea of that gray sweater solves all my problems. Without a black and a white, all the grays are lost. What does it mean to say one is “darker” than another, or “lighter” than another. There is chaos.

I want to embrace the idea of grays because I look around me and they seem real. Every day people are faced with decisions that do not easily break down into an embracing of Right or a Denial of it. It seems that the problem is not in the existence of the grays, but in the banishing of black and white.

And so I ask myself which system seems more honest. A system that acknowledges a black and a white but scoffs at and derides the grays that appear everywhere? A system that sees the multitude of varying valued grays and disallows the ordering of them because to do so would be to recognize a black and a white? Or a system that recognizes a black and white as the organizing scheme by which we make sense of all the grays we see in this foggy world?

It is written that some day we will see Him even as He has seen us. I wonder if on that day we won’t say, “This is the white I have always seen hinted at but now realize I never saw. And that over there is the black I always felt pressing in but, Thank God, realize I never truly saw.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 (NKJV) For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (MSG) We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

I went to a wizards game on Wednesday evening. My friend Malcolm had access to some extra ticketes. I don't think I'd ever buy a ticket to go see them but going once off a free ticket was a worth while experience. If nothing else I got to try my hand at being a sports photographer. And our seats were on the 2nd row, I was seat B-06. 

More Narnia?

Just a little note, there’s a new post on the Narnia blog I started. Anyone still interested in doing a discussion on the Chronicles of Narnia series should check it out. The short of it is that I’m attending a weekly book study here in DC and at the very least will post some of the stuff we talk about for further discussion with anyone else who’s interested. If this sounds appealing to you, leave a comment on the most recent post at:

http://friendsofnarnia.blogspot.com

I’ll probably make up my mind by next Friday, so try and add a comment by then even if you’re just curious.

Mike

But then when it rains...

6:00 PM Tuesday night: Did my taxes.
9:00 AM Wednesday Morning: Shredded my passport application.

I guess if I'm to look on the bright side...at least I hadn't already bought my plane tickets or payed for my passport yet. My only remaining hope is that my friends going to europe will take lots of pictures and I can once again see europe through someone else's eyes.

Sometimes life sucks. Here's to living in the real world, Cheers.

Random Rays

Have you ever had one of those days where:
You wake up and you aren’t really tired. Eh, you could roll over and snooze for another 6 hours, sure, but today…something just feels different. Despite your most sincere attempts at squeezing every last minute of sleep out of that juicy, juicy pillow your body just keeps telling you, “Nope, I’m ready to get up now.” So you roll out of bed, make your way to the bathroom, find the usual cloud of grogginess parted even before the scent of the soap tickles your nose. Huh, that’s odd. After your shower you find that while you haven’t done laundry in about a week and a half you somehow have just the right outfit starring you in the face.

You step out of your door only to be greeted by a brilliant sky and even though it’s the middle of February you’d swear you can hear birds chirping. To silence those nagging reminders of spring you plug into your favorite mp3 player and let loss a tidal wave of cheerful upbeat music (Beastie Boys…Girls?) instead of the sad bastard music you’d usually listen to in an effort to pump up for the day ahead.

When you get on the elevator to go up to your office you are followed by 3 girls in their mid twenties who look like they just stepped off a run way in Milan, and they are all going to the floor above yours. So wearing your positive attitude on your sleeve you uncharacteristically find yourself talking to them. You'd ask them if they all worked at the same office and, when they said yes you’d actually be so on your game you’d come up with the reply, “Man, I’ve got to change jobs!” delivered right as your getting off the elevator. If that happened to you I’m sure you’d hear them giggling pleasantly as the doors shut, and I’m sure it would feel wonderful.

Unfortunately I can’t remember the last time I had a day like that. Well, the last time before this morning anyway. It’s nice sometimes, to get a great beginning to the day in the midst of all the crappy ones.

Asthmatic Kitty

As sort of an in-between-posts post, I'd just like to say I've been listening to the Sufjan Stevens album "Come on Feel the Illinoise"

Pretty good album. I first saw it on a couple of Best Album's of 2005 lists on NPR, then I saw it in a couple of magazine reviews, then a friend (Malcolm, thank you very much!) loaned it to me. So I guess you could say it’s getting a bit of buzz, though I still think your average person has no clue who Sufjan Stevens is, let alone how to pronounce his name. The label he's on is called Asthmatic Kitty. That's great.

As far as the album itself goes, I must say I love his track titles, such as “A Conjunction Of Drones Simulating The Way In Which Sufjan Stevens Has An Existential Crisis In The Great Godfrey Maze” (a 19 second track). Sure, MAYBE it's sort of gimmicky, maybe if every artist on every album was as verbose about their song names I would want to burn all of my cd's. However, for a single album by a single artist, it works.

I started to review the album from a musical standpoint and realized after getting 3 paragraphs in, that this wasn’t what I wanted to do. I just wanted to tell you I’m listening to this album and enjoying it. THAT IS ALL. You are dismissed.

Interesting Job Situations

Well the principal at our DC office (yes, my boss) had his last day today, so it is official and I can talk about it so what am I going to do? I guess not talk about it. I don't really know what to say right now. This has been a rather interesting first job.

Mike

View down an Alley towards a cool building. 

Neat (church?) building around where I work. Just kind of nestled in among other buildings. 

A building. It has a shadow on it. 

New Years Resolutions

No, actually I didn't make any of those. I probably should have though.

Things I didn't do last year:
1. Kill anyone.
2. Go bancrupt.
3. Get in a wreck.
4. Lose a limb.

Things I did last year:
1. Move half way across the country
2. Start a new job
3. Start exploring our nations capital
4. Pay my OWN bills
5. Make some new friends
6. Eat at some great restaurants
7. Read quite a few books (but not enough)

I think the only thing more depressing than not accomplishing much is seeing how much others have accomplished. Some times I wonder, though, if other people aren't just better at "telling their story".

100 days of reading

I don't know for a fact that it took me 100 days to finish 100 Years of Solitude, but it was close. Sometimes you read a book and it just does NOT suck you in. Usually that's when you decide not to finish the book and just say, "Well, at least I tried". I'm glad I didn't give up on this one. And I'm now going to have to re-read this book.

The rest of this (hopefully not too long) post will be about why, exactly, I'm going to have to re-read this book. As I read through the book I kept getting bogged down by trying to remember who they were talking about at any given time. 90% of the characters have some derivation of 1 of two names, either Ursula or Aurelino, the matriarch and patriarch of the family. Additionally they timeline gets switched around quite a few times. Also, there are long stretches where the only thing happening is character development (that very important task of bringing your flat characters into the third dimension so to speak), without any Hollywood-esque action sequences. No single one of these things would have put me off the book, however the frequent overlapping of each of these characteristics was enough to make the book a chore at several intervals.

So why re-read a book like this? That is a question easily answered by a reading of the last page of the book. In my humble opinion, the genius of this book is that it takes the story of many generations of a family, essentially from its genesis to its quite literal extinction, and uses the lives of these characters to reveal the story of an entire village and its people. The way in which he combines figurative with literal is nothing short of magnificent. I'm left wondering if there actually was a cloud of yellow butterflies that constantly followed one character around, even marking his death, or if that single drop of blood really did navigate an entire city all the way to the room in which the victim's mother was sitting just to announce his death?

Any one of the reasons I liked this book could possibly (I said possibly) be considered gimmicky. However, having all of them in one place and tied together by masterful narration, it's impossible for it to be a fluke, or beginner's luck. No, the reason I wish to read this book again is that now I understand how to view it. When I first started reading it I had no idea what to look for, no idea where certain things were going. And if this book has a fault (from my perspective) it's that it is hard to read until you know what to expect. Sort of like that uncle that is hard to appreciate until you really get to know him - at which time you realize just how well intentioned he really was and can finally appreciate his actions and words.

Also, I completely understand why there is a family tree at the front of the book. More useful even than the maps in the Lord of the Rings books.

Mike

Holiday Wrapup and Seasons Greetings

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!

Shooting... 

Down at the Farm 

My second cousin Carly enjoying some music. 

At Freestate having finished dinner. I had cheddar ale soup, of course and sample sizes of several of their beers. My favorite two are still Oatmeal stout and Ad Astra ale.

A picture of a pair of mittens. Well, I guess it's a picture of both a single "mittens" as well as a pair of mittens. 

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

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.

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.

Oh Glorious of Days

Project Runway Season II:
10:00pm Easter 9:00pm Central / Bravo
-Are you in or are you out?

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?