As discussed in the post from two days ago, here are some photos from our trip to Iowa.
We took a bus from Durham to the train station in Boston.
Then we ate pretzels while we waited for our train to leave from Boston. Mmm. Delicious.
Then we rode the train for 28 hours in a row. It snowed most of the way.
Then we sat in the train station in Chicago for two hours waiting for my Mom.
And now we're home and it's great. More pictures to come later as the vacation progresses. I hope everyone is having a good time on vacation or doing whatever it is that you all are doing.
It's now the eve of the 24th and the clock will soon tick over into the morning of the 25th. We've been in Iowa for just about 48 hours now and we're finally settled down a bit and enjoying our vacation. The journey here was less than ideal and certainly could have soured the mood of the trip as a whole if we had let it. Here are the details:
Our train left Boston at Noon on Sunday (the 21st). We were supposed to get into Chicago at roughly 10am on Monday the 22nd. Once there, we were to take a bus from Chicago to Iowa City where Sarah's parents would pick us up and take us to her home in Knoxville. We ended up getting into Chicago six hours past our scheduled time. We missed out bus and would have had to spend the night in Chicago had my mother not volunteered to drive the five hours each way to come get us and bring us home to Denver. Sarah was sick on the train and had a wicked stomach ache most of the way, so that certainly didn't help anything. By the time all was said and done, we had spent nearly 28 hours on the train itself and a grand total of 41 hours traveling. We're optimistic that the train ride back to New England will be less taxing on our sanity.
Because of the mix up in traveling plans, we're spending the first half of the trip in Denver and the second half in Knoxville (when we had originally planned it the other way around). This has thrown a wrench on some of the plans we'd made, but it just had to happen this way. Sorry to anyone that this switch impacts. We'll try to make it up to you sometime in the future...
Iowa is still as wonderful and glorious as ever, in case you were wondering. God's country never sours. I do look forward to moving back here one day, though I'm not necessarily ready to quit my job just yet. For as great as it feels to be home, there's something to be said about the life we have in New Hampshire.
We've been taking some pictures along the way on our vacation, though I think we forgot to bring our camera cable to be able to share them with you all before we get home. I'll check and upload some if we remember to pack the cable, otherwise you're just going to have to wait.
Happy birthday, Jesus. Thanks for seeing something in this mess of humanity.
I read this and it sort of sums up why our God is such a wonderful being.
"To think that our gentle king chose the lowly path, that Jesus came not riding dignified on a mighty horse but on a silly little donkey, came not to be served but to serve, not to overpower but to be overpowered, not to judge but to be judged, not to be lifted up in praise but to be lifted up on a cross in humiliation and rejection and failure - I understand nothing about this holy season ... but I am grateful for the kind and backwards foolish wisdom of our God." - Aaron Weiss, mewithoutYou
I see that it's now officially Christmas morning. Neat.
Enjoy the time with your families and loved ones, eh? Goodwill for all of you.
finally! we have witnessed our first real snowfall in new hampshire! i would estimate our area has about 6-8" of snow on the ground. everything is white and beautiful!
on top of that good news - we leave tomorrow for IOWA! WEEEE! i was able to watch a bit of the news this morning and saw many flights have been canceled or delayed. good thing we decided a few months ago to travel by train! as long as we can make it to the train station, and iowa doesn't get hammered with snow on Monday, we should be good to go!
other news: don't ask me to eat chinese food in the next year or so. my office ordered takeout yesterday, so of course, i couldn't resist either. about an hour after i had finished my meal my stomach was in knots, and i could barely sit still. let's just say my head was in the toilet repeatedly last night, and i was almost convinced i would have to travel out in the blizzard to go to the hospital. thankfully, my husband took extra good care of me, and i was able to get about 12 or so hours of sleep. i am still feeling a little weak today, but i am definitely feeling WAY better! just don't mention chinese food, just those two words make my stomach churn.
marshall and i went to our routine baby checkup yesterday and spread the word - i have gained 6 lbs since our last routine baby checkup! hooray! this is very good news. the midwife also went over the ultrasound results and said everything looks normal! hang in there little baby kole, only 4 months or so to go!
i came home yesterday to a small box placed neatly underneath our christmas tree. inside the box was a ruby ring i have been wanting for quite some time!!! i had been convinced i would not get such thing this year for christmas, since we really shouldn't be spending money on frivolous items. but mk loves me and knows just how to make me smile. pictures coming soon.
love you all...and i am excited to be seeing some of you! blessings ... stay warm!
This is the greatest and best website in the world:
"Since I forswore beardlessness two years ago I have received on all sides and from both sexes such an astonishing increase of courtesy and respect that I have become convinced of the propriety of beards. Shakespeare has, I think, much to say about "beardless boys," and it may be observed that, in his day, when beards were much cultivated and cherished, men were of a frank, courageous, and imaginative sort. Women of to-day, working often side by side with men, profess to dislike beards. I can tell them (for they can give no reason for this) that this is because they fear the authority that goes with a beard; secretly (and naturally, of course) they have a greater respect for the bearded male." - Anonymous, 1935
I am currently sporting a somewhat patchy full beard that has been carried over from my participation in this year's annual celebration of No-Shave November. I have kept the beard this long in brotherly bearded solidarity as Justin is also currently growing a beard. I may shave it off and go back to the goatee after Christmas, but I may decide to keep what I've got. We'll see, I suppose.
I participated in two Yankee Swap/White Elephant gift exchanges today. One was this morning and the other was just a few hours ago this evening. Both involved the same gift. Here's a picture of the thing: WHAT THE F IS THAT THING?!
Apparently it's a wire frame face with braided yarn for hair. You're supposed to hang it in a little girl's room for her to be able to put her hair ties and things on it for storage. Let me ask you, though, who would do that to their child?
So, I got this thing in the first gift exchange and was initially appalled. Then I thought maybe it would be a good conversation starter in my office, so I hung it up on my bulletin board. I couldn't make it through even one day with it hanging there. Every time I looked up, I would feel its wire eyes peering down into my soul. It was terrible and creepy. So, being the benevolent guy that I am, I re-gifted the wire-framed abomination earlier this evening. Good riddance, I say.
We had a friend take some pictures of us recently because she got a new camera and wanted to try it out. Here are a few of those pictures. Things to look for include, but are not limited to: my beard, a bit of a baby bump, the New England flora, how good-looking we are.
In other news, we go to the doctor tomorrow and should be finding out the sex of our current fetus/future child. We're still not going to tell anyone what we find out, but you can be excited for us anyway.
We'll be leaving for Iowa a week from today. We'll get on the train next Sunday morning and spend the next two weeks after that back home enjoying the company of the state and the people we adore. I can't wait.
I broke a ceramic snowman that Sarah had out as a Christmas decoration today. Oops.
We were supposed to have a few people over today to watch football and relax before the last week of school/work, but only one of them decided to come. So it goes. People are busy, I know, but I made dip and now we have a good deal of dip left. Oh well, we had fun watching the games by ourselves regardless.
I played Call of Duty 4 for the first time tonight with a few of my residents. It was fun, but I don't know any of the maps so I didn't do as well as I probably could with more familiarity. I'm looking forward to playing more at home with Justin over the break.
The youth group at church had a Christmas party today. We had the kids do a number of activities (most of which we're decently entertaining). There was a time where the kids decorated Christmas cookies and then I read them a Christmas story. I sat in a rocking chair and everything. I felt pretty old, but it was fun none-the-less.
It's supposed to be in the fifties tomorrow so hopefully the work crews about the state will be able to get a good deal of work done towards restoring power to the thousands of people who are still going without in this state. We're pretty blessed, really, to have only been without power and heat for 8 hours or so on Friday.
I want more tattoos so bad lately. I'm trying to get Sarah to let me get one while we're home over break, but we'll see (i.e. probably not). Please, dear?
Okay, that's all. I'm out of things to ramble about.
Stay Gold, everyone! Looking forward to seeing some of you in just over a week...
UNI played Richmond tonight in the semi-final game. overall the game was pretty decent... sadly, UNI lost by one point. sigh. oh well...i'll always and forever be a Panther fan!
So, the state of New Hampshire has been iced over in the past couple of days and a lot of people are still without power/heat throughout the state. It's pretty intense. I'm glad to report, though, that we're doing well and were only without power for a short time yesterday morning/afternoon. A tree snapped in twain because of the ice and fell on of the car parked two spots down from ours, but our car escaped any harm. That's our exciting ice storm news.
In other news, not a lot of anything is going on. The kids have finals this week, so it will hopefully be pretty quiet in the building here. I have quite a bit to do before we leave for Iowa in eight days, so this coming week will be busy. So it goes.
I hope you're all doing well. Wish I had more to report, but I don't... So...
Preliminary Iowa tattoo sketch for my broseph Joseph. The corn will probably be replaced by a better version of the gold finch seen at the bottom of the drawing. I'll work on the font within the banner, too.
We went to Boston this past Saturday. There's no big story beyond that, really. We spent some time walking around on the Freedom Trail and seeing the sights. Then we ate some dinner. Then we hung out in a giant Border's bookstore while we waited for a friend to finish her dinner date with a kid she knows. Then we came home. I had been in downtown Boston before and walked through most of the Freedom Trail, but Sarah had not. I got to play tour guide and explain a bunch of stuff that isn't actually all that interesting if you're not a nerd for history like I am. Oh well, it was nice to get out of Durham for a day, anyway.
Check it out... The Boston skyline from just outside the North End:
A big Christmas tree in Quincy Market: We're adorable, I know.
Also, did you know that the gravestone of Mr. John Hancock looks like a twenty foot tall penis? True story. Feel free to insert your own joke about Hancock having such a large phallus that it could be seen by the King all the way from England, or about his last name being fitting for his gravestone, etc etc etc. I wasn't thinking about any of those things, though, because I was too busy focusing on history and how awesome freedom and America are. Grow up, people.
Anyway, back to the grind tomorrow. Gross. Have a good week, everybody.
The term "man" means nothing when we choose to behave like animals.
Wal-Mart worker dies in Black Friday stampede "Nobody was trying to help him," said shopper Nakea Augustine, who was in the line. "They were rushing in the store, rushing, rushing, rushing."
"They kept shopping. It's not right," Cribbs said.
"Not a tear for those of flesh, not a stayed hand for a world that prostitutes itself. and not a minute more of degeneration. Words cannot express my disappointment. Words cannot express my disapproval. So I hate... I hate a world that's only capable of triumph. Do I stand idly by and let this world disintegrate? This world will pass away, and my emotions with it. Why should I strive for acceptance and peace of mind? A Profound Hatred of Man." -Shai Hulud
It's Thanksgiving in America, so we celebrated the only way we know how: we overate.
This is the first Thanksgiving that neither Sarah or I have been able to be with our families, so it was kind of weird. We were lucky enough to have some good friends to spend the day with, though, so that made things better. There were a few hall directors besides myself who decided to stay on campus for the holiday, so we all got together and cooked a full, traditional Thanksgiving spread. Sarah and I took care of making the desserts (pumpkin pie, banana bread, and a pumpkin pie cake) as well as the dinner rolls. Other people took responsibility for the turkey, the cranberry sauce, the potatoes, the stuffing, and the other side dishes. We had way too much food for the seven of us that sat down together, so there are plenty of leftovers.
I thought maybe of you who are counted amongst our family and friends might like to see some pictures, so here you go:
It turned out to be a pretty awesome day. I did the manly thing and carved the turkey as well as said grace before dinner began. The day wasn't entirely food-based, despite the large meal, though. In total, we spent about 9 hours hanging out with good friends, watching football, playing Mario Kart, and just relaxing. What a nice way to start an extended weekend.
So, there it is. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Now go do your part tomorrow to help keep America strong (or barely afloat)... Exercise your right to spend every last dollar you have between now and Christmas.
hi! marshall mentioned in his last post we had a doctor's appointment today. here is the update: the appointment took about 20 minutes tops. the AFP testing came back negative (which is good, the probably of our baby having some sort of defect/disorder is not likely, whew). the doctor would like me to eat more protein in attempts to gain 1 pound of weight per week. i'm trying! i honestly am! other than that, everything seems to be normal. we have an ultrasound scheduled in two weeks. i'm excited to find out the sex and let it be a surprise for everyone else! i pray the anatomy of the baby turns out to be normal.
anyways, i get pretty tired of baby talk. it still hasn't snowed here, yet. come on snow! i am more than ready for a big heap of the white stuff!!!
My fantasy football team finally played up to its potential today. I'm happy about that.
My best bro Kevin sent me this link and you should all see it, too: http://www.fresh99.com/meat-cake.htm
For those of you who knew, we haven't been getting the best cell phone reception in our apartment since the beginning of the semester. Things turned around in that area this past week, though, and apparently now our reception is fine. We don't have to charge our phones every night anymore and we can actually sit on our couch and talk to people. It's a wonderful thing.
It's supposed to snow here this week. I wonder if anything will stick. We're pretty excited for winter to begin. We're both big fans of the snow (at least until February or so).
My friend just told me this joke: "If women with large breasts work at Hooters, where do women with only one leg work? (wait for it... wait for it...) IHOP. Oh man. That's great stuff.
We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Well, I guess it's not for "us" so much as it is for "it" (aka my unborn child). I'm sure there will be some sort of update to be posted here after the appointment, so check back.
Check out my sweet No-Shave November beard:
I took that picture in my office because my work computer has a webcam. Also, because I'm in my office right now. To prove that point further, take a look at all of the paperwork on my desk.
I've been reading a lot lately about how the world is going to end in 2012. I guess it's getting harder to argue against the idea given the crap that I keep seeing on the news every morning. Our child will be three if that happens. Awesome.
I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. I love celebrating and being grateful. I also love to celebrate our victory over the indigenous folks who used to have something to be thankful for before we took over their reasons for giving thanks. We celebrate better, anyway, because we're more civilized.
The top two worst things about living in New Hampshire:
1. You have to drive at least an hour outside of the state before you get to the nearest Arby's. Seriously! No Arby's in NH?! They say we should "live free or die," but don't think that we should be free to consume the most delicious of roast beefs.
2. You can't avoid watching the Patriots play on Sunday if you want to watch any football at all. I've never hated regional television markets more than I do when I have to watch the Patriots on a weekly basis.
Honorable mentions include:
Drivers from Massachusetts (totally unsafe wastes of gas); "Where'd you say you're from? Idaho/Ohio?" (the Midwest is inconsequential); and east-coast sporting loyalties altogether (Sox/Celtics/Bruins = I Don't Care)
All told, though, this is still a pretty cool place to live.
Please send us two regular roast beef sandwiches, though. Priority mail.
Sarah's been posting more than I have been recently. I'm alright with that. There's not really a lot to report. Now that the election is over, my interest in things other than work or Sarah has taken a break. It'll come back eventually and I'll get a be in my bonnet about something, but until then I'll be a boring old man.
So here's a general status update...
My iPod died about a week ago and it made me pretty sad. While I use it less now than I used to because I'm no longer walking across campus to class or driving much, I did use it every time that I went to the gym to work out. I can't really lift or do cardio without listening to music. I guess I just need the distraction. Anyway, I'm lucky enough to have a wife who takes care of me. Sarah gave me a new iPod Nano Chromatic as an early Christmas present. It's pretty awesome. It's small, fits easily into the pocket of my gym shorts, and holds more than enough music to get me through a month of more of workouts without me having to update the music it holds. As a bonus, too, it also plays video. The video feature will come in handy for the train ride home over Christmas break and for next semester when I travel for professional conferences and things. All in all, it's an awesome little device. I'm by no means an Apple loyalist, nor do I generally hold any brand allegiances, but the iPod (in all of it's manifestations) is the only mp3/audio player that I've ever really enjoyed using. Thanks, Sarah, for getting me a new one.
Since I have a new player, let's hear what I'm listening to recently:
Alli Rogers - "You and the Evening Sky" (new album from one of my faves) Murs - "Murs for President" (great hip-hop) Pennywise - "Reason to Believe" (new album from punk stalwarts) Humanifesto - "The Infamous" (Canadian anarchists) Murder by Death - "Red of Tooth and Claw" (punk/folk/country/rockabilly/there's a cello involved)
We drove up to Portland, Maine today to spend the afternoon with Sarah's friend Heather. The weather did not cooperate. It rained and was generally crappy all day. We walked around downtown a bit, but ended up back at Heather's place playing Scrabble and messing around with her dog. We had a lot of fun, but wish the weather would have been better so that we could have seen more of the town/area. The good thing about living here, though, is that Portland is only an hour up the road. I'm sure we'll get back up that way soon and that we'll do so on a day when fog isn't limiting visibility to less than 100 yards.
We went to a local potluck dinner in Portsmouth last night. It was called the "100-Mile Potluck" and was put on by local business people invested in sustaining and benefiting local and organic agriculture. Each person who attended had to bring an item to share that had been made using local materials (i.e. foods and things grown within 100 miles). I made a loaf of banana-walnut bread using walnuts that had been grown and packaged in Maine. I can't get enough banana bread lately. Anyway, the potluck was a good time. More people came than were expected, though, so the venue was quite packed. It made actually getting food somewhat of an arduous task. Then we ended up sitting with a woman who made small talk about doing "business" with "photographers" in Ames, IA and Dayton, OH (where one of the other Hall Directors who accompanied us is from). It was odd. I got the feeling that she may be involved in some modeling of the scantily-clad variety, but maybe I'm wrong in assuming so. Regardless, fun was had and the food was good.
I get to start paying my student loans back next month. Awesome.
If Obama really is a socialist and he nationalizes education, would that mean that my federal loans would be forgiven? I guess I can only hope...
Sarah's yelling at me to come to bed. I suppose that means that I'm out of things to say.
you know those cravings you always hear pregnant women having? welp, so far i haven't craved ice cream and pickles at the same time, but i have gone through a few phases.
pregnancy cravings, in order of occurrence...each lasting at most a week: #1 - frozen cheese pizza #2 - McDonald's (if any of you know me well, you know this is SO NOT like me...it lasted for about a day) #3 - air (at this point i couldn't keep anything down, so i barely ate) #4 - starburst (at one point i had consumed a whole pack in a matter of about 5 minutes) #5 - oranges (at least two a day) #6 - red apples (until i threw up one immediately after eating it...let's just say i haven't eaten an apple since) #7 - buttered popcorn (current craving, one WHOLE bag/night)
a bit odd, right? i am sure it will only get worse. oh pregnancy...you're a strange one! i may add to this list as time goes on.
CHRISTMAS MUSIC! it does seem a bit early...BUT i busted out the christmas music today... and despite marshall's protests, our new christmas tree is up. i've started to decorate the tree a bit but will finish most of the decorating tomorrow. i just couldn't help it. we won't be here for most of december, so i wanted to put the tree up so we could actually enjoy it before we head home. i will definitely take a picture of the tree once it is finished! i'm a giddy girl tonight! :o)
i miss my ma. i miss my pops. i miss my sister-in-law. i miss my parents' house. i just miss iowa in general. only a little over a month or so until we go home! yipeee!
I keep messing with the layout and format of our blog because I am a nerd who can't focus on things that actually matter. I'll keep tooling around with this until I think it looks alright. Then I suppose I'll probably tool around some more.
after last night, i can honestly say i am a bit more proud to live in america. i realize i have no clue what lies ahead for our country, but i am so pleased people felt enough responsibility to actually vote. i realize for those who voted mccain, the time right now may not be as joyous. however, i strongly feel there has to be a point where people accept what is and are hopeful for the future. we have the ability to respect ANY individual elected as president even if we don't agree with all of the issues or the choices that may possibly be made. hating and complaining will not move our country out of the trouble we are in. no matter how small it may seem at times, the biggest act of faith and support we can provide is prayer. i will pray for our country as a whole, i will pray for our troops, but overall, i will pray for our leader and the people surrounding him. may god be our power and may our leader listen to his guidance. i will also pray, that when our country goes through difficult times, because we will, may we not point the finger and blame...but humble ourselves and ask god for his love and grace.
"It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." - Obama
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I take no stance on the question of whether homosexuality is a sin. Honestly, I don't care. I think that we're missing the point if the conversation we're having in this country about homosexuality is focused on whether it is or isn't sinful. One side will say it is, the other side will say it isn't, and neither side will budge. There isn't a conversation to be had when the issue is black or white. As far as I know, Jesus never said anything on on the issue of homosexuality as a sin, so neither will I.
What I will say, though, is that there is a basic human decency and respect that should be afforded to everyone. I favor fair and just treatment for all individuals regardless of their lifestyle choices. We don't deny basic human rights to people who think dirty thoughts, or who masturbate, or who cheat on their spouses. Aren't those all sexual sins? I'm always curious as to why the issue of homosexuality stirs such a passion in some Christians who will otherwise think to raise their voices against adultery or lust. I mean, I know that those Christians would certainly speak against adultery and lust if they were prodded or asked to do so, but why is the issue of homosexuality the issue that gets their blood boiling?
I guess that's a question that we probably won't answer here on a blog.
It's kind of like asking why people feel the need to divide society into easily identified, despised, and dehumanized groups. For poops and goobers, I suppose.
There was a quote in the movie that I really liked:
"Christian fundamentalists can't have a conversation about the Bible because they don't know to interpret the Bible, only to recite it."
True. I'm not opposed to the recitation of God's Word, but I am opposed to the rout memorization of God's Word without thought or reflection. Especially when the latter is being done from a place of hate and divisiveness.
i haven't constructed a blog in quite some time. i apologize. as you may guess i just hadn't been feeling like myself. but now my head is out of the toilet, and i am smiling on a regular basis. this is great progress...or so i am told! :o)
marshall and i had our second baby appointment today. the greatest thing happened: we heard the baby's heartbeat! YAY! i think we were both more excited to hear the heartbeat than we had anticipated. i couldn't stop grinning, and i will stand firm in my observation that the father-to-be had a couple tears in his eyes. ah, priceless.
the doctor seems to think i am doing just fine. i haven't put on any excess weight, but i have finally gained back the weight i lost from being so sick. (in regards to grandpa kole-to-be) we have taken one belly picture a couple of weeks ago, but we are both struggling to notice a "baby bump". i am confident that in the next couple of weeks a baby bump will probably be more noticeable and we will want to document the growth. if you are interested in these pics, let us know, and we can send them to you...but i'd like to avoid posting them on the internet for all to see.
i hope all of you are well. please continue to keep all three of us in your prayers! ah, feels good to be back! :o) miss you and love you all!
There have been times when I've listened to this song for hours on repeat. It's connected to a lot of memories and a lot of what I believe. I don't think I'll ever get sick of hearing it.
We go to the doctor tomorrow for our 14 week check up, check back to see what news we get.
We had some friends from Iowa come and visit us yesterday afternoon. They were visiting some family in Vermont and stopped to spend the evening with us last night before continuing onto NYC today. It was kind of odd at first to see people from back home... Like they were out of place being here in the 'Shire. It wasn't odd for long, though, and we ended up having a great time showing them around and talking for hours.
One of the things we decided to do was drive to the beach so in order to check out the ocean. It's gotten pretty cold here recently and the wind coming off the Atlantic was chilling yesterday. The water was pretty rough, too, and we saw a good number of large waves crashing against the granite breakers just off-shore. There was one large rock about twenty feet out into the water that we were able to walk to because of the tide being low. We took the opportunity to climb the rock and take some pretty awesome pictures of the sea and the waves. After about twenty minutes on the rock, though, we started back to shore and realized that the tide had begun to come back in. Instead of having pebbles and stones to step across on our path back to shore, we had about 8-12" of 53-degree salt water to walk through. It made the short walk back to shore much more difficult than it should have been. Pants were soaked, feet were cut on rocks, and an ankle (mine) was mildly sprained. It makes for a good story, though, so I guess it was all worth it.
We went out to eat after our little ocean adventure, got some dessert, and came back to Durham. We talked about politics and God for the better part of two hours before watching the last couple of innings of Game One in the World Series and going to bed.
Sarah and I have really missed the opportunity to spend quality time with other Christian couples who understand and value the place we're in right now in our lives. Last night was a great chance for us to reconnect with God and with a couple the we truly love and appreciate.
Thanks, Thaddeus and Jenae.
Here's a picture for the rest of you... The sun came out long enough for us to take this one decent picture while out on the rock yesterday.
Sarah and I cleaned the apartment today. Well, one of us did more than the other. It was probably 75% Sarah and 25% me. I guess that's how it goes sometimes. Anyway, it looks nice. We're preparing for company later this week. One of my good friends from Iowa State will be coming through NH with his wife on Wednesday, so we're going to spend the afternoon and evening showing them around the area a little bit. They're absolutely great people, so we're stoked that they'll be here.
It's getting chilly here. I was wearing a hoodie and jeans outside tonight at about 8pm and very well could have had a coat on, too. Everyone keeps telling us just to "wait for the snow." This statement is always accompanied by a sly smile and some snickering. I tend to think that people here don't realize that Iowa is nearly at the same latitude as this part of New Hampshire, and that we get some pretty wicked winters back home. Oh well... I'm not worrying about the winters here, really. We'll survive.
I have MTVU on in the background and they are playing the newest T-Pain video. I just heard him say "I'll put you in a mansion somewhere is Wis-Can-Sin." Really, T-Pain? Really? What a stretch... I guess that's what you get, though, for being a total joke of a musician who lacks any talent whatsoever.
"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." - C.S. Lewis
I'm so ready for the election to be over and done with. I'm growing tired of hearing talking points. I'm done with the slander and the lies.
Oh, snap... It's time for SNL to start. I can't wait to laugh at Sarah Palin.
So, I've been working with the high school youth group at our church during the past few weeks. The kids are pretty cool, so it's enjoyable. I hope to keep working with them throughout the semester.
Anyway, the group took a trip yesterday afternoon up to Mt. Major in central New Hampshire. We hiked up the mountain, cooked some dinner at the summit, and then hiked back down before it started getting dark. There were a lot of people on the mountain, so that kind of took away from the experience a bit, but the view from the top was outstanding. Mt. Major overlooks the largest lake in NH and the leaves on the trees of all of surrounding mountains were vibrantly orange, red, and yellow. It was pretty awesome. Sarah stayed at home, but I'm hoping to take her up the mountain sometime soon. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.
Here are some pictures:
Enjoy! I normally shrink 'em down a bit, but I left these big so that you can see some of the details of the landscape. That last one there is a little look at what it looks like to drive down the highway out here right now. It's pretty crazy...
Anyway... Hope these make you want to come visit. :)
Hey, pregnancy... Thanks for messing with Sarah's hormones or whatever and giving my wife a heightened sense of smell. I never knew it before, but I've recently learned that I apparently smell all of the time and have terrible breath. Who knew? Gross.
It's coming up on Homecoming weekend here at UNH. There's a parade tomorrow night, a football game on Saturday, and a hockey game on Sunday. It's kind of weird being on a campus where the school's hockey team is a bigger deal than the football team, but that's how they do things up here in New England, I suppose. I will be the one Hall Director on duty for the entire campus this weekend, but I'm hoping that the students here don't get too out of control.
I need a haircut. We'll see if Sarah feels up to styling my coif this weekend. She's gotten pretty good at it. Having her cut my hair saves us money, too, since she is pretty cool with working for high-fives and a more handsome husband. I don't think I've payed for a haircut (besides for a formal event or something) for almost five years now. Awesome.
Here's what I'm listening to lately, if you care to know: H2O - "Nothing to Prove" (New record from a quality old school sxe band) The Wedding - "The Sound and The Steel" (Jesusy pop-punk) Relient K - "The Birds and The Bee Sides" (More Jesusy pop-punk, but with style) Verse - "Aggression" (The album that taught me to like this band) The Warriors - "Genuine Sense of Outrage" (This album melts my face with its goodness)
Sarah has been feeling better over the past couple of days. She has a head cold that she can't seem to shake, but it seems like her nausea and fatigue has been dying off a bit. I'm hoping that this trend continues. It's pretty shitty to see your wife feeling terrible all the time, yet be personally powerless to really do anything to help. I'm sure that my discomfort pales in comparison to hers, though, so I won't pity myself too much. I just hope that the second trimester is all it's cracked up to be.
We're both looking forward to being back in Iowa over Christmas break. We'd like the time to pass a bit more quickly, but we'll be patient. As quickly as time seems to be going, though, I'm sure that the vacation will be here before we know it. Let us know if you'd like to see us while we're home. If it works out with our travel plans, we'll do our best. I think we're planning on being in Iowa from December 23rd until January 2nd.
That's it for now. I showered earlier tonight, but I might want to get another one in before I go crawl in bed. I'd hate to be kicked out of bed for being too smelly, or something.
Stay Gold!
MMK
P.S. - I've discovered the true explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Also, here's a picture of our house (aka the building for which I'm responsible). It's nothing much... Three stories, 125 residents. But it's a great building overall. I couldn't have asked for a better place to start my career.
In other news, my fantasy football team performed absolutely atrociously this weekend. Not that anyone really cares, but I'm pretty devastated. So it goes.
I baked a couple of loaves of banana bread today. They turned out pretty well, though nothing too special. The apartment smelled great for a couple of hours, though, as the smell of fresh baked goods permeated the air.
Sarah really hasn't been feeling well for the past day or two. She had a fever tonight of just over 100 degrees. Apparently, fevers during pregnancy aren't of much concern until they exceed 102-103 degrees. Who knew? She's drinking a lot of fluids, though, and taking it pretty easy. She'll continue the taking-it-easy trend tomorrow, too, because Sunday in our house means watching roughly nine hours of football. It's good to be an adult.
Here are a couple of answers to a couple of questions which we have been getting quite frequently:
- We are going to find out the sex of the baby, but we're not going to tell anyone outside of our marriage. It's important to us that we know, but we don't think it's important that everyone else share that knowledge. We want to know in order to have a stronger connection to the child before it is born, not in order to buy blue or pink outfits or whatever. Truth be told, we'll probably dress our child in both blue and pink, regardless of the sex. We'll dress our child in whatever is cheapest, actually.
- The kids name will be Isaiah Wiley Kole if it's a boy, or Nora(h) Wiley Kole if it's a girl. The H on Nora(h) is currently under debate. We're set on these names and have been since before we were engaged to be married (October 28th, 2006, to be exact).
I am sure that there are countless other things that I could say or share, but I think that pretty much covers the couple of things that most people seem to care about as far as baby stuff goes. I'm sure we'll have more say about other baby-related issues as the pregnancy progresses.
A little more than a dozen kids from my hall got together today to play some ultimate frisbee. I went to play with them because 1) I love ultimate frisbee, 2) I haven't played in forever, and 3) it's sort of my job to hang out with my students. While I work out on a fairly regular basis, I must admit that an hour and a half of ultimate frisbee really wore me out. I'm sore like I haven't been for awhile. So it goes...
I wish I were here right now... From :55 seconds into it until the end. Amazing.
RIP MLIW. Sad that I'll never get to see another show.
The vice presidential debate wasn't quite the shit storm that I thought it would be. Palin didn't eat her foot too terribly, even if she scripted every line she delivered. It seems that she's taking the "positive" performance (and the "victory" it won her) as a directive to be more of the "pitbull" she was hired to be. She labeled Obama earlier tonight as someone who is "palling around with terrorists" because of some very distant and loose ties he has to a radical activist from the 1960's who engaged then in acts of violent revolution. Ridiculous. Grasping at straws...
First rule of politics: Always answer the question you wish you had been asked during interviews and debates. Palin took care of this on Friday night.
Second rule of politics: Resort to character attacks and destroy the reputation of your opponent if you yourself have no character or reputation of which to speak. Looks like we're headed in that direction...
Third rule of politics: Always call yourself middle-class, even if you hold major office and have personal or familial ties to multi-billion dollar corporations. Yep... Ten-four there, too.
What a fucking joke. What a sad commentary.
I had a doctors appointment this past Wednesday. I'm pretty healthy, I guess, besides having high blood pressure. Also, I'm 6'2" now. I've always been 6'1", but not anymore. That's pretty cool. I've always sort of wished that I was taller. I think 6'6" would be an awesome height. I'll just keep eating my vegetables...
That's all for now. I'm going to adjust my fantasy football line-up for tomorrow, and then I'll be going to bed. Have a good night everyone.
Stay Gold,
MMK
P.S. - If you didn't catch it earlier, I do, in fact, believe that Sarah Palin (and McCain, both independently and by association) are jokes that are being played on the American public. The thought that an angry, bitter, old man and a clueless, irrationally angry, doe-eyed "hockey mom" (like that's more than just an arbitrary title invented to draw voters into a surface-level connection with her politics) might be running our country come January is entirely laughable. Call me angry or rude or out-of-line, if you want, but I'll remind you that they set the rules for how our political discourse should play itself out.
Sarah and I had a doctors appointment on Monday at the women's health center where we'll be going for all of our check-ups, classes, and other things that come along with having a baby. I thought I'd pass along the news that came out of the appointment, even though there isn't that much to tell, really.
Basically, everything seems to be progressing normally. They took blood and did all of the normal tests. Everything pointed to the development of a healthy fetus. They figure we're about 9 weeks and 5 days into the pregnancy, so we'll go back in about a month to get an ultrasound and do some more tests for things like Down's syndrome and any neural tube disorders. They tried to listen for the fetus' heart beat yesterday, but it's a bit early along in the pregnancy for the rhythm to be very pronounced, so we didn't hear anything. So it goes.
The due date we've been given is April 30th, so... Keep that in mind, I guess.
So, that's all, really. Things are going well, for the most part. Sarah is pretty nauseated and fatigued almost all of the time, so we have been taking things pretty easy around here. The new TV we got has been getting a lot of use, so I've got to give a big high-five to pregnancy in general for justifying the amount of money we spent on the TV. Hoorah.
Not much else to say for now... I think we'll be taking some more pictures around here soon, so maybe we'll be sharing those on here. I sort of feel bad for not taking more pictures since we moved here. I forget sometimes that most of you all have no real idea what it looks like out here or what we see on a daily basis. Hopefully we can help to change that soon.
This is an interesting time in my life. In our lives. In America. There's too much going on right now for me to coherently compose my thoughts. Others have already said it more eloquently than I ever could, anyway.
HAVE HEART - "The Same Sun"
"Son, did you stare too long in front of that mirror? Did it break when your conscience didn't get any clearer because of the stomach you'll fill with all the food you eat and the lack of pain you feel for the eyes that weep outside of the windowsill in the castle where you sleep?"
Has the sun stopped shining upon the crown you hang? Has your love and your hate begun to feel the same? Did that leave you feeling empty, feeling sick, feeling as empty as a poor child's stomach?
As alone and forsaken as you'd like to be, there are shoreless miseries of oceans, not seas. While you wallow and wait in your tower of ivory, your sister is starving, your brother is begging.
Your sisters are starving, your brothers are begging. Your mothers are mourning, your fathers are folding. Unseen, unsung -- under the same sun.
Wake up, look up, there's a warmth up there. A reminder of peace and a reason to care. A reason to care. Wake up, look up, that's something you share. There's more to life than the boy in that mirror... Wake up, wake up, wake up."
...From the depths of this hell - where the free are slaves, no difference between the cowards and brave, where our love and hate have become the same - it's time that we "unbecame"...
Where the ears are deaf, and tongues too dry, where the arms don't hold, and seeing eyes go blind. Where nothing is everything and everything is nothing...
I used to think that I knew who I was and that I would always be the person I knew.
"By the Sea" by Modern Life is War
We were young, numb, and violent all at once. We were always smashing glass but it was never enough to make us feel OK. Are we normal boys? Is this the normal way? We've been dragging dead weight across Midwest towns. Killing our times with our frowns. Alone in the crowd four years down feeling torn and beaten down. Alone in the crowd four years down, our hearts were beating to this sound. Me and you, we never got much sleep those nights. There was too much turmoil too deep inside. Lost in the dark without our pride... There was a light at the end of that tunnel, but we chose to shield our eyes.
Could It be? Are we seeing clearly for the very first time? We've been to the edge and we know what it's like to want to die...and that's something we won't glorify. We'll leave those miserable times behind. How far can I go? I'm rising from the depths of my own hell. I don't need another tragic tale. I need the strength to walk the other way. I found conviction in my ever changing mind. I grew up tied down and bleeding on the inside, but I know I was a victim of my own device, and I want to live to see a brand new life.
So, it's taken a little while to get this done, but here you go. I made a short little video walk through of our apartment so that you, our friends and family back home, can see where it is that we're living here in the 'Shire. Check it out.
It's started raining outside. This is my first ever tropical storm experience... Hooray Hanna.
We got up early this morning and hosted a pancake breakfast at our place with a bunch of other hall directors. Durham was having a city-wide garage sale this morning, so we hit that up after the pancake breakfast. I bought an antique looking picture of Mary and a blond-haired baby Jesus. It's historical accuracy was its most appealing feature. I can't get behind a savior with dark skin and features... Everyone knows that Jesus was American.
I was thinking about it earlier today, and I've come to realize why I'm so invested in this election business. It's not a partisan issue, really. It's not an issue of liberals vs. conservatives.
I simply can't remember a point in my life where I've been able to be proud of my government. I've never had a president to look up to. Clinton did great things economically, but turned out to be morally vapid. Bush did his thing and ended up murdering hundreds of thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians alike because of the lies he told.
Maybe I don't hate America. Maybe I don't hate Republicans. Maybe I just want people to live up to their potential. Maybe I don't want to be defined by a government who can't ever seem to get things right.
I truly believe that there are issues being discussed in this election which have the potential, if realized and acted upon, to make us proud again.
I can't help but get a sinking feeling in my stomach, though, when I play out in my mind the next few months. I'm hoping for something more while preparing myself for the emptiness of what I've always experienced.
I looked at this just now and realized that I haven't written on here in, like, forever. I've been pretty busy lately, though, so I suppose that the silence is somewhat justified. Having a career takes up a lot of one's time and energy. So it goes.
I'm in the midst of hall director training right now ans so I'm learning all about running a residence hall here at the University of New Hampshire. I wouldn't say that the training is too difficult or that it's been frightening at all. On the other hand, it's served to affirm the choice I made to work on this campus. It's nothing revolutionary or unknown to me. I've done this work before. I am pleased to be learning, though, that it seems that I'll be working for a department and with people who reflect the type of professional I would like to be.
Sarah wrote in her last entry that we moved into our apartment last week. I promise that we will take some pictures and upload them soon. I know that there are those of you amongst our readership who would love to see the place that we call home. We're still waiting on a couple of maintenance projects to be completed before our place is "done," so we will get pictures up once those projects are finished.
I bought a 42" TV last week and it's glorious. High definition television makes me want to be a better person. I wish high definition television was my dad, that's how much I love it. (Just kidding, actual Dad, I'm just trying to prove a point.)
I am going to be participating in a fantasy football pool with a couple of other hall directors this fall, so I've been doing research lately about which players I'd like to draft for my team. This is my first real excursion into the realm of fantasy football, so I hope it goes well. And by "well" I mean that I hope I don't suck it up big time.
Albums I've been listening to lately: Public Enemy - "Power to the People and The Beats" The Warriors - "Genuine Sense of Outrage" Alli Rogers - "The Day of Small Things"
The Olympics have been fun to watch this past week, though I feel kind of dirty for cheering so heartily for America. There's nothing like a little blind nationalism every couple of years to keep you feeling like you're better than the rest of the world.
"Hey, I wonder what's the story behind that athlete from Zimbabwe..." "Who cares! Stars and stripes and white people, fuck yeaaaaaaa!"
So it goes!
I think maybe I will go to bed now. I've decided to put a temporary gag order on myself from talking too much about politics here. I don't think Sarah always appreciates how, um, passionate (some might say "angry") I get when I'm discussing my hopes for the future of our nation. I think some other people might agree with her.
"If you're not angry, you're not paying attention." "Anger is a gift."
We are in our new apartment!!! The apartment is still a mess, but being in our home feels great. My friend Adrienne visited this past weekend. YAY! The female American gymnasts aren't doing so hot. Sad. But........ Marshall has his big screen TV...perfect for watching the Olympics! We've been looking at plane tickets for the holiday trip home... and they are extremely expensive...I'm not sure how we are going to swing it. Also sad. I love soda and eating a crap ton of cereal... I am in love my husband. We both have been rather stressed and at times take our emotions out on each other. We need to stop that...well, probably me, more than him. I'll work on it dear. I love you husband, I do, I do, I doooohooooo.
The Father accepts us where we are, not where we'd like to be. What we are and what we are not.
God is an agent of change, though He is also fundamentally unfailingly static and permanent. He does not change, but He makes it possible for us to change.
If the purpose of life is to gain knowledge of the Father, then life can be simply described as a process of growing in god. We live to change for Him in a way that brings His essence to the forefront of our personality.
If we trust God, we also need to trust in the process that is knowing God. If we fail or fall short in life, it is because we have neglected this trust. The process of knowing God begins and ends in every moment in which we choose Him before all other things.
We can have no self-agency free from the influence of the agency of God the Father in and from whom all things are made possible.
I've been drawing and painting lately in all of this free time I have until August 7th. Here's something I painted last week. The words come from a song by Have Heart .
This is really my first serious attempt at anything with watercolors. I like some things about it, and I don't like others. Yes, I know that the right wing is neither dimensionally or proportionately correct. So it goes.
Anyway. Just thought I'd share. I will post more as I finish them.
yes. a tornado in new hampshire... if that isn't enough (on top of everything else) to convince me the world is turning into total shit... then i'm not sure what could.
this week has been long. it took me 2 1/2 hours to get home today. i'm not sure if i'm cut out for this whole commuter deal. sigh.
please lord, don't listen to my complaints and grumpy attitude. i have food, a dry bed to sleep in, and a husband to snuggle against.
please...just be with the people who are struggling to find peace in the midst of all the disaster.
Looks like Marshall has been bloggin' up a storm while I have been MIA. I guess I haven't really felt like writing a blog...but regardless, here is quick update.
I went to Philadelphia last week for Pre-Service Orientation (PSO). The actual content of the program was pretty basic and included much of the skills and knowledge I obtained through undergrad. Regardless, our training was held in the historic district of Philly. On the off-time provided I was able to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Chinatown, and even Benjamin Franklin's grave! I also really enjoyed meeting other VISTA candidates who are working throughout the East Coast area. I connected with one lady, Adrienne...and we spent much of the four days just talking and hanging out. Unfortunately, her placement is in Providence, RI and being able to see each other on a regular basis will be a bit difficult. However, we have already called each other to vent about the first couple of days of work.
So the first couple of days at PlusTime NH have been going...slowly. My supervisor has been EXTREMELY busy with a conference..and today his son developed a fever so he had to stay home. With that being said, no one has directed me in what I am going to be doing...or rather, what I should be doing. My days have basically consisted of me researching all I can about wellness and after school programs. Most of the information I am aware of...sigh.....shrug. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with my supervisor tomorrow and will receive a little bit more guidance.
Other random updates: I still love my husband 8 billion. Politicians don't give a shit about youth. I still want universal health care. Yes, I'm willing to pay for it. I still think America sucks. Yes, the quality of life for some has remained the same or even improved since Bush has been our president, but those people aren't family of a solider. Our country is clearly not the best it has ever been. I'm still pro-life. Yes, I'm highly offended when the lady at works calls pro-lifers stupid and ignorant. I still believe drinking fucking sucks. I hate when people feel they need to defend their drinking' habits to me... BUT I still highly value developmental conversations. I still love ice cream. I still need more Jesus in my life. I still think Iowa is the best state ever. I am still excited for Miss Julia Pond to arrive in New Hampshire. I am still working out! Whoohoo...and having a routine still feels amazing! I still try to read the news...I still find the news scary and depressing. I still want a best friend in New Hampshire.
Ok, so I'm tired of hearing about this on the news. McCain says the troop surge in Iraq worked. Obama says that the surge failed. I'm prone to agree with the latter (of course), but here's why.
The troop surge worked insofar as the objective of the surge was to interrupt and deter the attacks and combative actions of the Iraqi insurgency. With violence at it's lowest point in Iraq since the beginning of the American occupation, McCain is technically correct in saying that the surge has "worked." Hooray. Less people are dying.
Except for the fact that the real and true front in the war on terror is in Afghanistan, where nine US soldiers were killed and fifteen were injured just last week. Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror. Hussein's regime had no ties to Al Queda, nor did Hussein fund or support Bin Laden, or have any part in 9/11. We are in Iraq because the President and his pals chose (long before 9/11) to take us there, not because we're justified in being there because of any terrorist attacks on the United States. The insurgency in Iraq existd because we chose to occupy Iraq. We created the insurgency.
How would you react if another country invaded the United States and began murdering innocent civilians?
On the other hand, the Taliban and Afghanistan supported and sheltered Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda before 9/11 and has since. They have direct ties to the terrorism which we're now fighting to end. We are justified in our presence in Afghanistan. The troop surge in Iraq took troops and resources from the Afghani front in the war on terror and displaced them in Iraq.
This is why Obama voted against the troop surge. McCain claims that the troop surge in Iraq will help us "win" the war on terror, but how can you win a war when you're taking troops and supplies away from the front upon which the war is being fought?
The troop surge in Iraq is, I believe, an attempt to stabilize the country enough to have it stand independently on it's own once the US pulls out. That's a noble thing, right? It makes sense to support that kind of thing.
Let's learn from history though, shall we? Let's look at Vietnam. McCain fought in that war, by the way. He talks about it a lot. He's proud to tell you he's a veteran and that he was a prisoner of war who faced some terrible conditions at the hands of people who hated America. That sounds convincing. He really must have learned a thing or two about war, right?
The United States was in Vietnam for roughly fourteen years. At first, we sent military advisors to Vietnam in order to help contain the spread of Communism from North Vietnam into South Vietnam. When this failed, we began sending full combat units to the country in 1965. For the next eight years, we were continuously engaged in warfare with the North Vietnamese army. As it turned out, both sides realized that the war was ultimately a stalemate. We met, drew up some peace accords, and cut and run. Most US combat troops left South Vietnam in 1973. This leaving process was called "Vietnamization" and enacted into order to transfer more autonomy to the South Vietnamese government in running their own political and military affairs.
Two years after the US left Vietnam, the South collapsed to the North and the two were unified under one Communist government. It's important to realize that the failure of South Vietnam was directly related to American activities in the country during the war. Our presence there and the money we provided established a government in South Vietnam which was dependent on financial aide and the presence of a large number of US military troops to keep the peace. When those things left, the country collapsed.
This was called "Peace with Honor." Once it was realized that the war couldn't be won, the US started looking for exit strategies which wouldn't appear to be an absolute and complete failure. We poured in more troops and resources in order to build up the South enough that it wouldn't collapse immediately after we left. The South stood on it's own for two years after we withdrew most of our troops. We kept our "honor."
So, Mr. McCain. Keep arguing that the troop surge worked. You're technically correct. It has. But will it continue to work? Will it accomplish that which needs to be done in order to build a strong and stable Iraq?
I don't think so. The violence has ended because their are more troops on the ground. That doesn't mean that it won't start again once those troops are withdrawn.
Bottom Line: Don't paint Obama as unpatriotic or as a weakling simply because he won't admit that the surge has worked. It's far less patriotic to continue to vote to support an immoral and illegal war than it is to vote against it. It takes far more strength to stand against the red, white, and blue propaganda machine than it does to wave your military record in our faces and rely on the politics of fear and divisiveness.
While Sarah was away in Philadelphia this past week, I decided to format the hard drive on our laptop and reinstall Windows from scratch. I use to do this yearly on my desktop in order to keep things from getting bogged down, and to keep it running quickly and smoothly. I saved all of our media and data onto my external hard drive before starting in on the laptop. Once I had reinstalled Windows, though, I realized that the drivers for the laptop's networking and video cards had been erased and were not reinstalled with the rest of the operating system. So, we had no internet for a couple of days until I was able to hook up my desktop and download the drivers on a working machine. I just got them all installed here on the laptop, though, and it seems like everything is working fine again.
Hooray.
Sarah is at the beach right now with a couple of the other hall director's. I'm not really a beach going sort of guy, so I decided to stay home and work on the computer.
Anyway, so that's what's going on today. We'll probably take it easy this evening and spend some time together or just relaxing with a couple of friends. Sarah starts working on Monday, so today and tomorrow will be our last couple of days together before she's gone everyday between breakfast and dinner. So it goes.
I'm reading a book right now called "Why the Christian Right is Wrong." It's written by a UCC congregational minister from Oklahoma. The ideas he's discussing are fairly thought provoking. I've been pulling out little sections here and there so far that I think are particularly important. I will probably post a couple of quotes here later, so check back if you're into that sort of thing.
I was watching the news earlier tonight and I was reminded of why I try to avoid watching the news. What a waste of time. In case you haven't been paying attention, let me catch you up: people are dying, the dollar isn't worth anything anymore, our consumption is catching up with us, the rest of humanity despises us, and gas is still super expensive.
"The paper says the whole world's on fire, but this street is quiet." - Modern Life is War
That's the glory of America, isn't it? At least it has been in the past. The world is wasting away, but it always seems to waste more quickly somewhere else. It's never us. Give it time, though... Let's see where this recession and potential bank crisis takes us.
I'd like to think that we will bond together as a people and turn things around. I'd like to believe that things will get better. I'm hard pressed to be too hopeful, though. I have faith in the Father. I don't have too much faith right now in His people.
"Ernest Hemingway once wrote 'the world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." - Morgan Freeman, Se7en
So it goes, I suppose.
The Bible refers to the earth as a creation of God and, essentially, God's kingdom. The Garden of Eden was His kingdom and glory. The Word tells us that His kingdom will come again to the earth.
I am glad that I trust in a God who is loving and merciful beyond our understanding because I have absolutely no idea how this could have been, or could be again, any sort of kingdom in which any sort of God would take pride. As I've said before, I have resigned myself to the fact that I will most likely live the rest of my life without ever fully understanding how He could ever rationalize that any of this would be worth His one and only Son.
Anyway, so here's to the world and the fact that it's been driving itself downward more and more quickly every day since the day it was created.
This may be a couple of days old, but it's still worth mentioning:
We went to Vermont earlier this week to tour the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory. It was simultaneously educational, entertaining, and delicious. Here's a picture:
How delightful.
Besides that, the week has been fairly routine. We've worked out most days, read more books, watched some DVD's, and really just took it easy. Friday evening was spent in Portsmouth. We decided to have our anniversary dinner a couple of days early, so we went to a Japanese restaurant where we ordered sushi and edamame. It was my first time actually ordering sushi and deciding to eat it as a meal, but it turned out well and I actually enjoyed the meal. I'm sure we'll go back again in the future.
Our actual anniversary is tomorrow. I don't think we're planning on doing anything special. We might go see a movie and get some ice cream.
My grandpa Mabon called me yesterday morning to let me know that he had sold my car for me. While it was a good car, I am glad to have it sold. It was one of the few things leftover from the move that had yet to be resolved. Having it sold now takes a little bit of a weight off of our shoulders. The sale means, too, that I will be able to go out and make the very masculine purchase of a large TV. I have had my eye on 42" LCD flat panels for some time, but I think we will end up getting a 37" screen. It will still be plenty big and will serve our purposes. Five inches less never hurt anyone.
That's what she said?
Anyway. I don't really have a lot more to write about for this afternoon. We are going to go pick some blueberries and fruit with some other hall directors in about an hour. It should be a good time. I hope they have raspberries, too. Or green beans.
Let us know how you're doing if we haven't talked in awhile, eh?
Personal liberty is not personal license. I dare not exercise personal liberty if it infringes on the liberty of others. Our forefathers did not fight and die for personal license but for personal liberty bounded by laws. Personal liberty is the liberty of a murderer, a burglar, a seducer, or a wolf that wants to remain in a sheep fold, or the weasel in a hen roost. You have no right to vote for an institution that is going to drag your sons and daughters to hell.
If you were the only persons in this city you would have a perfect right to drive your horse down the street at breakneck speed; you would have a right to make a race track out of the streets for your auto; you could build a slaughter house in the public square; you could build a glue factory in the public square. But when the population increases from one to 600,000 you can't do it. You say, "Why can't I run my auto? I own it. Why can't I run my horse? I own it. Why can't I build the slaughter house? I own the lot." Yes, but there are 600,000 people here now and other people have rights.
So law stands between you and personal liberty, you miserable dog. You can't build a slaughter house in your front yard, because the law says you can't. As long as I am standing here on this platform I have personal liberty. I can swing my arms at will. But the minute any one else steps on the platform my personal liberty ceases. It stops just one inch from the other fellow's nose.
When you come staggering home, cussing right and left and spewing and spitting, your wife suffers, your children suffer. Don't think that you are the only one that suffers. A man that goes to the penitentiary makes his wife and children suffer just as much as he does. You're placing a shame on your wife and children. If you're a dirty, low-down, filthy, drunken, whisky-soaked bum you'll affect all with whom you come in contact. If you're a God-fearing man you will influence all with whom you come in contact. You can't live by yourself with my business?"
If I heard a man beating his wife and heard her shrieks and the children's cries and my wife would tell me to go and see what was the matter, and I went in and found a great big, broad-shouldered, whisky-soaked, hog-jowled, weasel-eyed brute dragging a little woman around by the hair, and two children in the comer unconscious from his kicks and the others yelling in abject terror, and he said, "What are you coming in to interfere with my personal liberty for? Isn't this my wife, didn't I pay for the license to wed her?" You ought, or you're a bigamist. "Aren't these my children; didn't I pay the doctor to bring them into the world?" You ought to, or you're a thief. "If I want to beat them, what is that your business, aren't they mine?" Would I apologize? Never! I'd knock seven kinds of pork out of that old hog.
