Just to Say Hi

I was checking the pages on my bookmarks tab when I realized it had been almost a month since I posted an updated. In an effort to not offend the sea of readers hitting my page every day desperately or hopefully awaiting the next bit of news, I’ll offer the following minutiae. It’s good to go back to the blog’s roots sometimes, otherwise I’d be forced to change that banner catch-line.

Though it’s 3 days early, I’m welcoming emissaries and ambassadors autumn’s already sent our way. Yes, in a few weeks I’m sure you’ll get yet another post about what I love about Fall, until then simply content yourselves with knowing that this year we tried to embrace summer as best we could. No sense in regretting the present season for loyalty to an absent fall.

Things are good at the Colburn house and this summer saw quite a bit of activity. Amon got some serious progress made on her scrap books, which you probably got a chance to see in draft form if you were one of the folks who lived along the route of our summer odyssey. I got new software for our Mac that makes processing/editing photos easier; many thanks to our friend Tom with the hook up at Adobe. We had friends over for meals, got to be guests at friends tables, read some good books, and in general got a lot done. Of course there’s never enough time and Amon continues to have so many ideas of fun and productive things to do, that we should never have an excuse to be bored.

I attended back to school night with Amon yesterday, and once again was confronted with how unfair it is for teachers to get to work by 6:30am, work all day have an hour break, and have to be back at school to start another “day” of open-house-classes at 7:30pm. But they do it, and a few parents come to meet their child’s teacher, see the amazing class room they’ve set up and appreciate things in general. A few more parents come, show up late for the period, skip out early, and in general feel that they don’t have the time to be bothered listening to the teacher’s talk about what their child is going to learn in the class; they need to see all the teachers before the first period is over so they can leave early. I wonder where their kids learn their bad habits. Must be TV.

Well, I’ll leave my ranting to the professionals as there will be enough negativity on the TV, radio, and printed page between now and November to world of blogs into the ground.

I’ll leave you with this thought…pick the more challenging of the two:
“If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.” - George MacDonald
“I do not think that the road to contentment lies in despising what we have not got. Let us acknowledge all good, all delight that the world holds, and be content without it.” - George MacDonald

Amon and Mike with Liberty Bell

Amon and Mike with Liberty Bell
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Just got back from Philly seeing Patti, and the various sights. I think my favorite part was the food. Marathon Grille was a nicer place, Lemon Grass was the best curry I've ever eaten (and at a Prix Fixe $9.95 for appetizer, soup, and entree very reasonable), and the cheesesteak was decent.

Click through HERE to see my 32 favorite photos from the weekend.

Cooking Healthier

Audio quote of the day:
“Because I like to eat, is that such a crime?” – School of Rock (click above for audio)

Yeah, I’m sorta on a diet. I really want to go on a diet, but unfortunately, I’m at this point where I’ve really started loving to cook. I sit at work and when I’m not drafting in Autocad, writing up meeting minutes, or walking around the US Capitol, all I can think about or talk about is cooking. I just read Soul of a Chef, which was probably not the best book to read if you're wanting to stop cooking so much.

For the first time in my life I actually have good things to cook with AND someone to cook for. I had to have the basics of oven cooking and sautéing down from when I cooked for 50 guys every week in college. Now that I’m scaling back the cooking though, I’m learning about pan frying, starting things on the stove and finishing them in the oven, broiling, making pan sauces and gravies, seasoning, and all sorts of other fun activities.

Cooking is actually relaxing for me, assuming I’m not trying a recipe I made up for the first time with 20 people eating. I like that when I’m cooking my brain doesn’t start thinking about work, bills, or any of life’s other little attention grabbers. I’m focused on the done-ness of the meat, whether the water is boiling yet, when I should start steaming the vegetables and making sure the pasta isn’t going past al dente. The kitchen is full of the fragrance of onion, garlic, oregano, chilli powder, or whichever other aromatics are being used in the nights meal.

And absolutely best of all, when it's over I get to enjoy a nice meal and the satisfaction that “I made this.” Honestly, it’s a great feeling knowing that the meal your eating might cost you 20 or 30 bucks in a restaurant.

However, it’s also a great way to NOT lose weight. Originally, I would make too much, and then it would all get eaten because it tasted good and was there. The last few weeks though, I’ve started portioning out the “left overs” before I even plate up the meal, this makes it less tempting to eat too much.

Now, I’m trying to come up with recipes that are fun to cook (lots of chopping, cooking, seasoning, etc.) but are healthier. Amon isn’t a big fan of fish, which would be one easy method for making things healthier, but she does like quite a few vegetables so I’m going to start trying to feature the vegetables more prominently with the carbs as more of an accent and make sure to use chicken and turkey more than fatty cuts of beef. I noticed that ground turkey seems to be much cheaper than ground beef so we’ve been using more of that recently.

So now you all know, my evil secret’s out. I like to cook, is that such a crime? Now I just need to balance loving to cook, with cooking healthier.

True Confessions

For the first time in my life I'm really, truely excited about a season premier. True, I was looking forward to the Season 2 premier of Project Runway, but that was nothing compared to how excited I am for Lost Season 4 to premier tonight.

There, I've confessed it and you can all judge me. Or not judge me. Whatever, I can feel myself NOT being judged right now.

In a somewhat redeeming turn of events, I went to the National Community Church annual retreat last weekend. It was the second time I've been to this particular event and it was great. I've posted some new pictures on my Flickr account, a couple taken from that weekend and many that weren't.

Head over and check out the new pictures.
-Flickr Account-

Mike

A-B-C, 1-2-3

Inklings Reloaded is multiplying. Hopefully this means I won’t have to use the phrase, “Inklings Reloaded” again. For those that don’t know, Inklings Reloaded is the official name of the C.S. Lewis book discussion formed by Aaron Mercer and Heather Newman through NCC (the Church I attend). It’s the group that Amon and I met at, and I also happen to be co-leading with Heather now so that Aaron can get to some other group ideas he’s been led to.

After a series of semesters when we’ve had anywhere from 14 to 20+ people at the discussions, we decided it would be in everyone’s best interest to multiply and form two groups. After several semesters of discussing it, we’re finally there. This semester has two more meetings, and next semester (February) we begin operating under the model of “One Group, Two Locations”, a concept familiar to all our NCC friends.

Three wonderful and fitting people have stepped up to co-lead the Capitol Hill location, while Heather and I will continue to co-lead together in Silver Spring at La Casa de Amon and Mike. In a completely unrelated note, it’ll be nice not having to go anywhere to get to small group, or travel home each time. I’m curious to see how things will be different meeting in a home in lieu of above a building.

It’s really exciting to think about the new people we might get to meet at the new locations, the opportunities for people to share who might have thought it a bit much to get a word in edgewise among such a large group, and just see what God has in store generally speaking. Our goal really is to stay one group by sharing leadership with the new co-leaders and by scheduling things like group dinners and other activities that combine the two groups.

It’s exciting getting to dicuss Lewis with so many other people, but it’s even more wonderful how discussing Lewis, without fail, leads to discussing our lives. That’s where the real meaning is so far as I can tell, letting our lives rub against others, recognizing that we’re all in this together. It’s a wonderful way to exercise what Christ said over and over about Loving one another.

I’m really excited about this and just wanted to share with you all. If you’re inclined, I’d love to have people praising God, as well as praying for these two groups with us.

Thanks!
Mike

Cold Weather, Hot Turkey

Amon and I spent Thanksgiving at her Aunt and Uncle’s house in Omena (Michigan), and had a really wonderful time. We both took Wednesday off so we could leisurely drive up to the Detroit area and stay with her cousin Jenny and family. Thursday morning we ate cinnamon rolls at Jenny and Dustin’s house before heading out for Omena.

By 2:30pm we were in Omena and ready to eat Turkey. Amon’s Aunt Julie and other relatives did not disappoint with a beautifully set table and delicious foods. I couldn’t decide between turkey and duck so I had a bit of each. After Thanksgiving proper we sat around the table and talked. All told it was a pretty nice evening talking with various aunts, uncles, cousins, and even Amon’s Grandma Krist. I forgot to get the recipe for the sweet potato rolls.

Amon had agreed to show me around the area so on Friday Amon, her cousin Shannon, and I went out for some site seeing. There was a light snow the entire time we were there so the ground had a pretty even cover of snow, though not too deep. We saw a light house, the world’s largest pop bottle collection, bought some heirloom apples, went wine tasting and bought some great cheese.

Saturday we drove back to Ypsilani to stay with some of Amon’s friends who graciously put us up for the night. Sunday we drove back home along with the rest of the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard. It was a long slow drive about which I won’t speak.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday weekend with much good food, great company, and wonderful scenery. Pictures will be posted soon, hopefully.

Cheers!

Camping on Cloud 9

Just a short post today to celebrate the news I got yesterday. While working furiously on some drawings, an Outlook window popped up temporarily blocking my view. In annoyance at all the incoming emails, my cursor darted down to close the window. Before I could click though, something caught my eye and I opened the message.

It's official. I passed my CTS-D certification. For those that didn't know back in September (23-29), I took a week long course followed by a take home test on a Friday night, and a10 hour (straight, no break for lunch) test on a Saturday that involves creating an entire Audiovisual design package (plan views, device locations, elevations, reflected ceiling plans, device wiring, heat load calculations, equipment rack layouts, siteline calculations, sound level calculations, brightness calculations, and more) as well as an oral evaluation where you get interegated for ten to thirty minutes depending on how well you're answering the questions.

You then wait over a month not knowing how you did. So after over a month I know, I passed. Not too shabby either, 80 on the practical (giant design package); 92% on the take home and 95% on the oral. Considering how short a time I've really been doing AV (as distinct from acoustics) I felt really good about those numbers.

Oh, and I FINALLY ordered my digital SLR I've been drooling over for 3 years. Amon told me to, and I found a good deal on an entry level SLR from Nikon (D40) that I've read excellent reviews about. It isn't a cadillac, but it should do everything I need it to, it's a huge step up from a point and shoot, and it's in my budget. I'm very happy about that.

So I'm a happy camper right now. And I get to go to small group tonight and be with all my fellow Narnians.

Mike

Flying Eggs (or Gregarious Gargoyles)

“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” - Lewis

Very odd imagery to start my morning with…flying eggs.

So much to do and so little time, not that this time of year is really known for slowing down and reflecting. I’m overjoyed that fall is finally here. Sure, it may warm back up for brief periods, but there is no denying that it is here.

I have been put on notice that some people that read this blog would like to here more of what is going on. Writing in the few free minutes at work before I really get to working doesn’t allow for too much elaboration, but such time as I have I will spend.

Amon continues to work furiously at teaching 10^th graders what Holden means when he asks where the ducks go during the winter, and she has new technology to aid her. She was able to talk her department into letting her use a spare projector and a document camera for her classroom. This means skipping the step of transferring things she prints at home to over head; she can now simply put the printout under the document camera and project that onto the screen. As an added benefit, she can supplement the reading with relevant movie clips projected onto the screen, much better than trying to see a 29” screen from across the room.

For my part, I just completed a rigorous class and testing where I had to be away from work and home for 7 days. The end result of this, hopefully I’m not being too premature, will be an internationally recognized certification saying that I’m a good Audiovisual design engineer. I’d have to change my business cards to add CTS-D to the end of my name. Not as prestigious as P.E. (Professional Engineer) but acceptable for now. Technically I have E.I.T (Engineer in Training) after my initials, but don’t really bother with that.

Aside from work related matters, we’ve spent limited bits of free time over the last few weeks being entertained and entertaining friends both from in town as well as out of town. One of Amon’s friend from MI, Kimber, was in town for a conference so we got to spend some good times with her. Then we’ve hosted brunch for a couple of our friends Malcolm and Mary, and been hosted by our dear friend Adrienne (Canadian Thanksgiving party!), and by Oh-So-Generous Tom and Alana. Entirely too much food was eaten, and as always it felt like time went too quickly for all the talking, laughing, and hugging that felt appropriate.

This weekend we’ll fly out to Michigan to spend time with Amon’s mom and Allen as well as both of Amon’s brother’s. We’ll be back there for Thanksgiving, but further north near Traverse City, in Omeena, at her Uncle’s Bed and Breakfast for a family Thanksgiving tradition. It’s such a happy and sad occasion. I’m looking forward being a part of Amon’s traditions (and I’m certainly not dreading spending time at a Bed and Breakfast in Michigan!) and having Amon be a part of my traditions, but there is also that bit of sadness at not being able to be able to celebrate both of our traditions at all times. It’s just not possible to spread ourselves out that much, and neither would it be healthy. So, we feel good in the decisions we’re making, but I wish that there was some way to clone ourselves!

I hope that helps bring people up to date, and tune in soon for more photos. Some day, maybe I’ll get around to setting up my Flickr account better then I can just provide you all with a link to that.

Prost