Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Flooring pics for Isaac & one new addition

The nephew has been quite curious about the thing that caused "da-ey" to travel to Kentucky to see Uncle Sam. Isaac also inquired as to when sam could come play. Just another month and change buddy. Home improvement is fun...
Kyle and Sam getting their groove on and showing off their fine hind-ends in the freshly laid living room.

The new guardian of Sam's computer - The BA fan company burro. Nobody's messin' with me now...


The living room still in progress



The dust that formed during the process.



Jon revels in his glory after doing some smooth saw work - especially on that beveled edge.






The threshhold between rooms





Kyle and Sam once again exhibiting the skills that made them famous. Or whatever...

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

It's Miller Time




And now he's entered the blogosphere... Tim, ladies and gentlemen.




Enjoy.






Friday, February 23, 2007

Decaf..good for the soul


So about a month ago, I got off the caffeine. I now sleep better, take more time to relax, have more energy at work, and generally enjoy my life more. I'm just saying: think about it.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Hope battles back...


Ever struggle with a feeling of fading away? Ever wonder if you can and will make the changes in life that define the kind of person you are and are becoming? Ever feel like you close things off because you're more afraid of being hurt than you are hopeful of something reaching its good and right culmination?
What do we do when hope that was once so strong gets broken on the rocks of poor timing, missed opportunity, a bad decision, or sometimes just reality? How do we change for the better if we don't truly believe it will make a difference. What do we do when we're not sure how we'd act even if opportunity were staring us right in the face? We have to dare to hope again. Dare to live again. Dare to be a real person again. We must step out of the world of theory and conversation and into the world of risk, effort, and consequence. We must decide now the people we want to be and go about the task of figuring out how that should be accomplished. That makes me think of something I read lately...
"To know others is intelligence, to know yourself is wisdom."
It seems one of the most difficult things for most people to be is that which should be the easiest: honest with themselves. The next post will touch on this too. A little bit about writing and honesty. But back to hope. We all need it. Some of us need to take other things out to make room for hope to re-enter the picture. Most importantly, the hope needs to become a real part of our thinking, belief and action. To have this hope, we must know who we are.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Further In and Further Up


If you've ever read C.S. Lewis, you've likely encountered this thought through a fictional media.
On the surface, it would seem that Lewis was referring to higher, deeper, and more core truths (and he likely was). However, the idea can be translated over to another aspect of life and spirituality that is oft misunderstood in western thought (it might be in eastern as well, but a westerner has trouble elaborating on such a point with any sort of validity). The idea is that of holding things in tension and under examination, but still living a life seeking joy, peace, contentment and hope.
This noble-sounding idea encounters its difficulty in the actual practice of life where one encounters pain, chaos, discontent, and despair. So what is one to do? Throw up their hands in disgust and begin to live for themselves? Continue trudging through, and hoping against hope?
C.S. Lewis or the author of Hebrews might say that there is a separation between those who engage this idea with themselves as a god and those who engage it as ones with a high priest who has been made perfect. There is a new contract with a new high priest who strives on our behalf. This should give us hope. Hope for life, hope for the realization of a world where things are not as they are now. In order to truly encounter God and His Kingdom, we must be willing to let the things of this world that are not eternal be shaken off so the Unshakable Kingdom can move to the forefront.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Sharing some Photos




From Thanksgiving: I'm hoping to get back on posting more regularly

Monday, October 02, 2006

Like Children.


It's difficult to go very long in the work world without realizing that it often is just killing the soul. "Grow up and act like an adult", is something often uttered in a silent voice in the mind. But doesn't it seem that things are just wrong? That the real person you used to be is being replaced by a robotic unit working for the bottom line.
Another example is in how we relate to others. Many people, myself most guilty among them often live and "love" in ways so as to keep people at a distance. It's not that we don't care, or aren't transparent. It's simply that we've been hurt and just can't really handle it anymore, so we despair and deal with it by denying risk. I don't mean to say whenever somebody doesn't pursue a relationship, it's because they're scared. Often, that gut feeling early on is a pretty good indicator.

But what happened to that kid? That kid with a heart of gold, that kid who cried "daddy", the kid who was willing to throw down with someone twice his size for messing with his brother, and the kid who's not at all ashamed to say, "that's wrong. Here's an idea: in the midst of growing up, the kid felt like he had to change and become fully independent, and to do that, she had to deny other parts of herself. What to do now, when the independence is all that's left?

My only answer is to cry out to God for mercy. To ask for renewal and rebirth. For Humility and grace. It's going to be a long road, but "There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere..." Here's to a different kind of freedom, a different kind of kingdom; one where the heart of a child is honored and longed for.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Better Late than Never...



Let's keep showing up. Check out Ephesians 2:10 and the link below.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060812/23668.htm

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Gabriel's 2nd B-day Party

Pizza and 4 straight hours of Gabe play-time makes for a good night.


Ya, and Gabe was sporting the Caveman look all night. Showing off the baby-guns.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

It's easier to go to work when work is cool...



No we didn't design this bridge (Newcastle upon Tyne Millenium bike/pedestrian bridge), but this thing is sweet. The bridge pieces stay in position relative to each other, but the whole thing rotates to allow waterway traffic to pass underneath (see the picture on the left). How nice is that?

Monday, August 14, 2006

Vacation Pics 2

Tris (a good man) taking us sailing. You know you love that shirt.

View from the stern of our fine vessel as we come about


View from the San Bernadino Mountains Near Big Bear (Xterra triathlon)

Sunset in La Jolla Cove


Back to Snow Valley, Swim Portion


Portion of bike on the terribly long (and steep) hill. We're talking a solid mile hill at insane grade.

My foot after running into some tie wire on the mountain. Mmm, tasty.


Dream spot in the cove I ran around (ask for the story if you talk to me).


Sunrise in Monterrey

Some Vacation Pics 1

Jumping Porpoise. Great stuff.

Stanford Chapel

Little moon shot of the San Francisco Skyline.

The mountain creatures are a bit more brazen than the flatlanders.

Big PartyWorking his way down the non-trail side of Lembert Dome. He called it "Grandma's Cake walk."

Volcanic Ash Desert wasteland, saltwater lake, and Negit Island (old volcano)
This was all east of Yosemite. Great stuff.

Shua educating the peeps on the finer points of respecting nature

Sailing in San Diego

Nice Cool water and Malibu, beautiful
The boys enjoying the view at the Heroes Garden, Pepperdine University

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

note the truck sitting on the deck


West Virginia takes a lot of crap from the rest of the nation for being hillbillies, dating your sister and stuff. But in all truth, it's a really beautiful place with some sweet hiking and pretty good people, all in all...

However, when things like this happen; it reminds us of why the jokes are told. http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/3227076.html

Let's start with dude in the truck. You drive over this bridge all the time. You know your truck is close to the clearance limit, and you have some contraption in the bed of said truck. You should probably make sure it's all the way down and that you'll be underneath the top chord of the truss. (Yes, I know the bridge was twice the legal weight limit, but the failure was caused by collision with the truss). C'mon dude.

Next let's go to the responsibility of the state. I know the bridge is old, but let's take the sign off of a load-bearing member. That's about it.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

The TRI

Check out the new blog, dedicated to training of the physical, you can read my first race report there.

http://www.torchdefitness.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Give to Whom it Belongs...


A tale is recounted in my mind recently where a man is asked if people should pay taxes to the authority. The man asks for a coin, and asks whose face is on it. The people respond with the name of the current political leader and the man replies, "Give to the Leader what is his..."

A slightly different take: If belonging is denoted by what face is on something, and we presume that man is made in the image of God, what does this say about what we belong to and should be given to?

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Shoes and pedals



I'm using the X/2 stainless pedal. I've already got my one tip-over out of the way, so there shouldn't be too many more falls. ;-)

The New Bike



Contributing to my new hippie "ride your bike to work" attitude, as well as breaking up the monotony and banging on the knees, this little fella promises hours upon hours and miles upon miles of enjoyment. See above for Pedals and shoes.