I recommend that you put in a Pat Matheney CD while you view these photos Cate and I took as we drove across country.
Yea, we missed New Mexico.
Art
Archived Posts from this Category
February 26, 2006
I stole this from my friend Stephanie’s page. A great example with what is wrong w/ the Evangelical subculture. Oh, it takes a while to load but be patient…it is a virtue after all…
January 24, 2006
I knew this was coming. It was just a matter of time. I just didn’t know how bad it is.
Tonight I walked into a Blockbuster Video for the first time in a long time. Maybe a year – at the least, six months. It was incredibly depressing.
The movies on the shelf were just terrible. There was sex: homosexuality, lesbianism, obsession, and just plain raunch. There was violence: stories of gang warfare, ulitmate fighting, weapons. And there was horror.
The horror films were the ones I couldn’t believe had actually been made into movies. There were some about blood thirsty insect variants. One about a man turned into a mosquito called Mosquito Man who slashes people up and drinks their blood. Another about a crazy strain of larva who develop a taste for human flesh.
There were a lot of movies about vampires and crazy occult type of mosters. One was called Satan’s Little Helper and featured on the cover the face of some evil looking obviously fake – I dunno – demented boney big toothed wispy haired something or other. (Why is he smiling? Is this supposed to persuade me to rent this movie – a smiling skull?)
There was a couple of different movies about possessed evil toys. I didn’t know that Chucky got together w/ some evil female doll and had an evil child doll, but there is a movie about it. One even about how a possessed evil clown was pitted against a possessed evil marionette.
The one that took the cake – or should I say – cookie – was called The Gingerdead Man about an evil Christams-time treat. Note the subtitle. Oh, and you know how low Gary Busey has sunk – at least he didn’t have to compete for which star’s name appears first.
I just don’t get this stuff. Hello Netflix.
January 23, 2006
As football fans, my Dad and I watched the playoffs today between the Steelers and Broncos (poor Jake the Snake) and the Seahawks and Panthers (Let’s here it for the Seahawks even thought they beat the Redskins).
These games are commercial heaven. I totally love that commercial for Nextel where they guys are dancing to Push It and the co-worker comes in and asks about the routers.
So today, as Seattle beat the snot out of Carolina, I half notice a new ad for the H3 Hummer. I started thinking about this ad and just shook my head at how stupid it is. The Ad is called Safe To Park and you can find it here. Click on H3, then Hummer World, then TV Ads.
So here is what frosts me about this lame ad: They are promoting this vehicle by saying that you can drive it into parking structures. Really?! I can actually purchase a vehicle that will fit into parking structures?! Gosh, I’m not sure if other cars can do that.
You gotta be kidding me!! Buy this car so you can park it in a structure. It makes me so irritated I’m unable to type out all of the sarcastic comments that this evokes.
January 14, 2006
Part of my new job is building relationships and it is something that I truly enjoy. This week has been full of new friends, work associates and people I need to know. In fact, I have eaten out every night this week: a wonderful deli in Seaport Village, a beautiful ocean view prime rib dinner in Oceanside, a cozy italian place in Vista, a casual bar-b-que in Newport, and an intimate family dinner with new friends in Escondido.
I love food – maybe too much. As the son of a naval officer, I was taught to clean my plate and I do. But all that food makes me feel like a stuffed pig.
I would usually go to the gym or run or something. This time I went for a walk. Yea, I know, really athletic. But my bad back prevents me from running.
My walk allowed me to discover a nearby treasure: Mission Trails Park. In 1976, when we moved, my dad bought a brand new house in a brand new neighborhood amidst the canyons of San Diego.
My friends and I would venture into the canyons from time to time but the community was always warned of things like unexploded military ordinance, snakes, and coyotes.
Since that time, San Diego cleaned up the canyons and created a beautiful dirt trail park for walkers, mountain bikers, and nature lovers. With a mountain bike, you can ride from Tierrasanta to Santee on dirt singletrack through sage, cactus, and other desert life.
I took my ipod and listened to Jars of Clay, Chris Tomlin, U2, and Eisley. Chris Tomlin’s album Arriving was perfect as many of the tracks celebrate the Lord’s creation. You Do All Things Well speaks to God’s might in speaking our world into being. And Arriving reminds us that the wind, the sunrise and the storm announce the presence of God Himself.
But it was Jars of Clay’s 11th Hour that really spoke to me as I treked up hills, down canyons, across hillsides and welcomed the sun as it rose over the hills. The 11th Hour asks God to meet me and change my heart. It is an expectant prayer for God to “blow our minds.”
He did.
January 13, 2006
Today I had lunch with my friend Drew. Drew plays guitar for the band Switchfoot. We ate at In N Out Burger – the best burger place in the planet. I told Drew he and the whole band are now my constituents. That means that if something bugs them about the State of California, they can beef to me. Drew liked that idea. But we mostly talked about music and real estate.
OK, I’m really upset because I tried to upload the photo of Drew and I in front of In N Out and it says that file is too big…I realize many of you think that my relationship with Switchfoot is imaginary, but it’s not. So imagine a picture of Drew and I in front of In N Out…
Finally got the photo up!!
December 30, 2005
I finished reading Michka Assayas’ book Bono in conversation…. It’s a good read.
As a true 80s new wave/punk, I was totally hooked by U2 in 1978. The energy, the vision, the thoughtfulness were addictive to my idealistic adolescent soul. But U2 explored different things, got huge, “sold out” and left me behind. I had a negative attitude about U2 and Bono in particular in the late 80s and 90s because they seemed to have strayed from their idealistic faithful beginnings into politics, lecturing, and stupid stuff (Russian cars spinning around overhead at a concert?).
But I got invited to the latest tour and went. Hey, U2 is very good in concert. It made me long for their shows twenty years ago. They are just good musicians and are very professional.
Except for Bono’s lecturing about you name it…I kept thinking about how many more songs they could play if he just shut up.
One of the reasons that I had a bad taste in my mouth about Bono is how he had always carefully danced around his faith. Was he or wasn’t he a Believer? I heard Edge is pretty faithful. How do we know for sure? (more…)
December 29, 2005
Desert sky, dream beneath the desert sky.
The rivers run but soon run dry.
We need new dreams tonight.
Desert rose, dreamed I saw a desert rose
Dress torn in ribbons and bows
Like a siren she calls (to me).
Sleep comes like a drug in God’s country
Sad eyes, crooked crosses, in God’s country
Set me alight, we’ll punch a hole right through the night.
Every day the dreamers die to see what’s on the other side.
She is liberty, and she comes to rescue me.
Hope, faith, her vanity
The greatest gift is gold.
Sleep comes like a drug in God’s country
Sad eyes, crooked crosses, in God’s country
Naked flame, she stands with a naked flame
I stand with the sons of Cain
Burned by the fire of love
Burned by the fire of love.
