starbucks town

so, to make you all happy, I'll break my silence.

right now we're in seattle with our good friends Ken and Brenda. hoping to drink lots of coffee and get rained on plenty. more stories and maybe pics soon....

-w

ken's links....

here's a really sweet story, courtesy of ken's blog. gosh, are we hurting for community.

while I'm gushing over ken, here's a link he showed me on his blog a while back. it's my new favorite Chris-Tomlin-and-Christian-music-industry-bashing site. okay, I actually really hold Mr Tomlin in high regard. but I do have a few beefs with the quality of his songwriting lately. definitely some issues with the overall quality of christian music these days. and these guys say it so well....

"...writing a heartfelt worship song is no excuse to suck."

weeeeeeeee!

jodi and I have always said we never want a boat. but we DO always want to have *friends* who have a boat.

well the same seems to apply to the nintendo wii. neither of us consider ourselves "gamers." and we never would have considered buying a game system. who has the time? the money? and who wants to push the boundaries of geekdom like that? all this seems to have changed....

this is nicole throwing a mean right hook while beating James' butt in the boxing ring.

this weekend we went to our close friend Alvin's birthday party. it was at James & Bethany's home. a home that was recently blessed with a wii.

we had such a blast! talk about a party in a box. the 6 of us had a hard time putting it down. we were neglecting small children. it's hard to even call it just a video game system because the controls are so stinkin' innovative.

so we're praying about all this. are we to become game nerds? would we be able to get anything else done with a wii in our home?

farewell coach cowher

i know i'm a little late - and i call myself a Steelers fan but....

we'll miss you bill! *sniff*

rocky balboa and bob dylan quotes....

jodi and I went to see rocky balboa the other night. great movie. had a bit of a slow start with rocky giving lots of pep talks that bordered on cheesy/cliche. but he's rocky. that's what we expect. and that's what gets us pumped up when we see him fight.

overall a really good movie though. stick around for the fun closing credits too.

and i've been watching a bob dylan DVD i got for christmas. it's a documentary directed by martin scorcese. really well done. gives a great insight into who he was as an artist. how prolific and new he was at the time. and how much he hated being labeled or pigeon-holed by the press, politics and even his fans.

I didn't realize that he played at the rally where Dr. King gave his "free at last" speech. I also didn't realize that Michael Hutchence was copying Dylan's video for "subterranean homesick blues" when he did the words on the cards for the INXS video!

he was really creative and witty - especially when the press asked stupid questions. check out some of these quotes:

"in those days, artistic success was not dollar-driven. it was whether you had something to say or not."

interviewer: "your songs are supposed to have a subtle message"
bob dylan: "subtle message?"
interviewer: "well they're supposed to"
bob dylan: "where'd you hear that"
interviewer: "in a movie magazine"

interview: "for those of us who are well over 30, would you label yourself and perhaps tell us what your role is?"
bob dylan: "well... I sort of label myself as well under 30."

interviewer: "why do you write surreal songs?"

interviewer: "how many who labor in the same musical vineyard in which you toil, how many are protest singers?"
bob dylan: "how many?" "about 136." "either 136 or 142."

bob dylan: "i'd had it with the whole scene.... I was looking to quit for a while"
interviewer: "what about the scene - what had you 'had it' with? what about the scene were you sick of?
bob dylan: "well, you know, people like you...."

jonathan's blog

hey everyone. my little nephew jonathan has started a blog.

this kid amazes me. he reads so many books it's sick! he'll plow through a 500-page novel in like a week - and he's only 9!

anyhoo, here's the link to his blog for reviewing books and video games.

lessons

so being away from boston for the past 9 days has helped me realize some things. first off, I miss the HECK out of the boy. i've also been learning so much from him.

he's the purest thing I've ever been a part of. he knows no sin whatsoever (though, yes, he may have been born with a tendency to sin, he hasn't yet sinned, therefore, he IS purity). in this sense, he's one of the people closest to Jesus that I've ever been involved with.

and get this: he knows exactly what he needs, but when he gets it, he's totally satisfied. true, he's really needy and dependent at this point. but he doesn't whine or complain, or move on to the next thing he thinks he needs/wants once he gets something. he's totally content until his body actually physically needs something else for him to survive. man, do I wish I could be that way.

boston has helped me learn that there's room in my heart to discover love again. he's shown me a back door to a whole warehouse full of affection that I never knew was in my blueprint. crazy. just crazy.

god - help me to keep learning from him. may I learn to smile back, no matter who smiles at me....

more boston pics

okay. so everyone's been bugging me to see more pictures of the little one. here are some links:

these ones are of his third week of life.
this link takes you to pics of wahba and jodi's parents visit for Thanksgiving.
and these are recent pics since he turned one month old.

daddy mac

so I finally did it. took the plunge. made the switch. battened down the hatches. as of this week yours truly....

... became a mac user.

got me a shiny new macbook pro for christmas. so I'm flailing. trying to figure out all the little nooks and crannies of this thing.

it's already way faster, more intuitive, and more aesthetic than any PC i've ever used. it totally brings back memories of (gasp!) 10 years ago when I was in college and I always used the Mac lab instead of the PC lab. why I didn't switch back then, I'll always wonder.

for now - if any of you have tips (downloads, must-have programs, keyboard shortcuts) that can help with this little transition, please holla at a playa!

happy december

current temperature in tempe, AZ: 42 degrees.
current temperature in new york, NY: 68 degrees.

it's actually chilly out here. got down to the 30's last night. instead of shouting "I'm Full!" like the guy in the taco bell commercial, i feel like shouting "I'm finally cold!"

this is a good thing.

in other news... BOSTON! he's a very cool chap. really mellow at times. he's been giving us his first smiles and coos. yesterday, he met the quite famous Mr. Santa Claus for the first time!

other funny moments have included:

-passing gas while we put lotion on his bottom.
-peeing into his own eye while we're changing him.
-only falling asleep in his grandmothers' arms - not his parents'.

everyone has said - ad nauseum - that having a child would change my life. well it has - but in different ways than what I expected. i'd describe it more like falling head-over-heels in love with a person.

you think about him/her all the time - especially when you're supposed to be doing something else. you want to tell everyone you know about him and show everyone his picture. you want to tell stories about him. and you can't wait to finish whatever it is you're doing so you can hurry back to get him in your arms again.

when I was younger and had a big crush on someone new, I'd drive really ridiculously slowly. I guess because I was totally distracted and in some sort of dream zone.

let's just say that there are reports of slow-moving 4runners spotted across this town lately....