january something [the beginnings]
what a crazy month so far. yes, i still have yet to do something with css for this whole site, but yeah, so? i like playing with the pages, making something different each time, though sometimes it is not so different. i wish i had more time to play, to find out how to do rollovers with css and not whatever my apps default to [javascript?]
so i have something to look forward too [as do you]. just let me know if you can't read what i've made, though i do believe i'll have overlapping text if i can pull it off. i've always liked overlapping text.
i will also try to write things that are worth reading, even if only for a handful who know me.
january 4
this is not one of those useful ones. i usually always have great dreams [i must write out my stupid dream, and another that i got bored of and started a dream within my dream]
i dreamt i was on survivor in southern arizona and in a little hilltop home was our next challenge - boxing. there was some coverage of me talking about how i don't dodge well and that in college for volleyball i really had to work on my footwork. so we all get tested and i get ranked at the bottom [beneath all the women, too, though i don't have to fight them]. then we get trained and i'm not too good but i spend all my waking hours doing drills badly. i have to fight the #1 guy and he is cocky and i get hit a bunch but i can take it so he wears down and then i just clock him. he locks his stance and won't fall, and i'm all hyped from them repeatedly telling me to punch whatever is in the ring so i just hammer him. the ref tries to step in and i pound the ref, then the filming crew tries to get in and i'm nailing everyone as they try to drag the unconcious people out [all the while showing footage of the repeated hype of "punch anything in the ring and don't stop"]. i made survivor history.
it is a good thing i don't box.
january 7
an allie-ism:
lemonape [instead of lemonade]
january 20-22
sarah's brother hooked us up for a cabin on mt. lemmon as a christmas present. i think the idea was that it would be a blast with the kids with all the snow, except we've had no rain for 100+ days and there was very little snow.
that didn't mean we didn't have fun. it was a great time. the heater was a bit odd as it was 45 degrees when we showed up before noon on friday, and by the end of the day it was 65. i felt the vents below and they were warm, but something wasn't working right. on saturday i dispelled with the request of only burning 6 to 8 logs a day. when we woke up it was 54, and by the time 3 other families had come up to spend the day, we reached 74. on the drive up spencer had a raging ear ache and he screamed the entire time. he wouldn't take any medicine, either. needless to say, spencer laid on the couch much of friday.
allie was sick on saturday and sarah got lisa hooked on sudoku. the kids watched a fair amount of movies, and rex wants to move to the mountains. we left him out for 45 minutes or so and we believe he had a lot of fun on his own. it was kind of crazy to go past the sides of the road slowly and see that just 2 trees beyond the edge of the road was crisp forest.
from our cabin we could look across to summerhaven and where they are rebuilding it has been stripped clean. the entire mountainside was filled with tall sticks of charcoal. i wonder how long before we see trees again. on the way down the mountain corcor was screaming in pain as she had an ear ache [our cabin was at 8000 feet and our home is at 2,350 or so]. the drive up was only 24 miles, and then another 10 to our house [how rough is that]. spencer was screaming along with corcor and then he threw up between the seats. we had nothing to clean it up with so we rolled the windows down to hopefully keep any of the remaining 5 of us from adding to the gagging.
oh yes, just before that we were playing around at windy point and the kids loved climbing on the rocks, jumping from pillar to pillar. there was also a pretty rugged forest ranger slapping on tickets on cars parked at the pull out that didn't have a tag for stopping. good thing we did. they have done a good job redoing windy point and they are also putting in a bathroom.
january 22
a trevorism on the way down from the mountain:
awe-some! i can breathe backwards!
sarah and i looked at each other and i was the one that had to ask how he did it.
see, normally you breathe in and then out, but i can breathe out and then in. awesome!
yes, very hard to do, but a great way to view it.
january 24
i saw two f-16s last night as i was riding home a wee bit later than i should have. sure, i know there are plenty of planes flying around the tucson sky, but this was a bit more special. we were close to getting rain so the sky was light up with oranges and purples, and the jets were angles up close to 60 degrees. the kicker was the roar of the afterburner kicking out a flame over half the length of the jet. moments later the second plane did the same thing. i was able to enjoy it from less than a mile away. this is somewhat similar to catching the launch from vandenberg air force base last summer, the sky being filled with the sun reflecting in the ammonia[?] cloud.
january 25
the house down the street is selling for 337,000. we bought ours in '98 for 82,000. our next door neighbor almost sold their house to my parents in january of '05 for 125,000 as a special deal for my parents. the world is crazy - i'd say the demand has artificially raised the prices. the house down the street really isn't all that nice. i almost feel like steve jobs buying pixar for a 10m and then selling it years later for 7.4b - that was a good investment.
january 26
i'm taking a hint from the nfl and am growing my hair out, not exactly like plummer but close. i don't believe i'll be mistaken for john the baptist - my hair is getting to thin as well as receding. when i started growing it out a lot of people were surprised. i've gone without hair for so long that i've got a new crowd of people that have never seen me with hair.
i clipped the back and sides yesterday as a coworker said i was nearing «mad scientist» classification. it helps that i do nothing with it. i've been putting a little gunk in my hair to give it some more body, and i do believe i've begun to look like a shaggy tin tin.
january 27
an im with a friend about choich [i respond]:
honestly, i'm growing tired of hearing the same old stuff. its like we're beating around the bush or something. we're still trying to get everyone into the kiddie pool.... still holding everyone's hands and easing into whatever we're about. we just to BE and quit trying to describe what we want to be. make people decide whether they are going to be in (and have to push themselves) or be lazy and opt out. maybe i'm too harsh/cynical
i think you do a good job of tossing down thought provoking concepts and vision. you don't just repeat the same basic crap that EVERYONE in a church has heard a thousand times
if they've heard it and its not clicking, then hearing it obviously isn't enough... they have to be challenged in new ways
i think it is mostly because people think that crap IS church. the bare bones, the basics
like fighting over pennies but not having a clue on how to earn money
yeah,... i'm about done with church. w/out your tues. night group i'd feel so far on the fringe in terms of theology that i wouldn't bother with community. actually,... i don't bother with community, just stay in my small circle
that is the way it goes. i think a lot of the mature xians are no longer involved with church as they don't get past their cynicism [and the church body of stage 1-3 folk don't get them]. the only problem is that out there, they are often alone, and it becomes 300,000 political parties and the kingdom doesn't move as a huge wave. then again, plenty of those on the outside that get beyond the cynicism are huge catalysts for change, what the current church only wishes it could be
there is a reason to be the body. we can't reject everyone else for not seeing there is more. if that was really true, we'd be rejected by those beyond us
by pandering to the lowest common denomenators the church stunts its own growth and alienates the people who could come alongside others and share from experience
i could send you plenty of email from friends saying the exact same thing
so then its all up to the "leader" trying to put out a dozen fires and move a mass of 10yr old first graders through the same first grade curriculum
or get a bunch of mature folks leading from within, not just from up front. we've all got a place to push
i like running within the pack - you can get people to move from the inside vs. just running off by yourself or yelling at people to come follow
january 29
i had more great dreams, one about badmitton and one about busses.
the badmitton [how is it spelled? do i care?] was fun as somehow it was at the badmitton worlds in the finals. i'm not sure who was on my team, but we were playing two asian girls and there were two asian judges [am i being racist here? back off, it was my subconcious - it has dreamt dumber things, like the tracing dream]. so we are getting beat up on and i'm getting steamed as they serve when we aren't on the court, there is no whistle to serve, etc etc. it seems so sneaky. turns out the refs are also sisters to our competitors and they frequently say, «but that is how [so & so] always plays» and they get the point. i've had it. i start jumping from the end line, tossing the birdy just before i get to the net and serving it there. i start beaning them. i use a paddle that is really more like a flat bladed shovel, swinging it sideways so it goes really fast and turning it at the last moment for the most power. i start breaking birdys on them and i do believe we end up winning, but by then i don't care. i'm just pissed.
the other is that we were staying on a large city bus, mildly retrofitted with beds and other items. we are parked on one of the angled streets that butt up to market street in san francisco, in super busy downtown. it is quiet in the bus, and nobody looks in the windows. the girls sleep on the front right and the boys are near the back. every few days 2 or 3 people get on to drive us to where we are supposed to be doing something [i forget] and then they take us back and park it. very pretty dream, lots of sunlight and shadows and reflections off windows all through downtown.
january 30
i got to ride my bike on the new paths today which was a little bit longer but a lotta bit safer. i'm not sure if the ride was any quicker, but i maintained a much higher speed - nice big bike lanes [aka large marked shoulders]. very very nice. that means my entire ride [sans residential sections] are now marked. now if i could just get a new bike and turn this one into a fixie....
january 30
spencer has been picking up more and more words, though he frequently leaves off the first sound so we aren't quite sure what he is saying. the past few days he has been saying «fuk» and «fuk air» which we are presuming to not be the words they sound like. nothing could be much more surprising to see spencer come out with a helicopter to greet a neighbor and smile and say «fuk air!» to them. i think next month i will start keeping track of all his words. his «pine cone» comes out «keen kone», and he is very good at responding with yes/no/my turn [sometimes as «mine turn»]
january 31
this is cool - a «help us find out who this guy is» email went out and by the evening, this was out. people helping people:
Our cyclist who is unconscious at UMC has been identified. At this time we cannot issue his name due to the family not being notified yet. We will let you know his identity and condition after family and friends have been contacted. We will release any information we have on the Perimeter Message Board tomorrow.
Special thanks to Scott, who took the initiative in informing the community to help in finding the identity of our injured cyclist. Also, thanks goes to Alicia for sending out an e-mail asking everyone's assistance. Todd of Epic Rides also helped in learning that a name was on the cyclists' waterbottle. Once that was learned, Barbara Franklin, Registration Director for Perimeter Bicycling, placed the name in our computer. Three names came up. These three names were given to the Tucson Police. The Police put the names into their data base and pulled up photos of all three people from their driver's license photo. The Photos were given to the officer at scene of accident and the officer immediately identified the cyclist from the driver's license photo.
Thanks to everyone. The police were impressed om how fast our cycling community responded to helping identify the injured cyclist.
Our prayers and throughts are with the cyclist and his family as he begings to get through this.
Thanks again everyone!
and then at about the same time, i got this, which is the very opposite:
One of my very good friends was severely injured in a SECOND hit-from-behind accident 10 days ago on what I think was Ajo Highway. He is also in UMC with a severe brain injury and probably won't recover. In his FIRST near-fatal accident 6 years ago, he was the victim of a high-speed hit-and-run. Shattered hip, concussion, etc., etc. Many months of rehab later, he was back on the bike. He's a good and careful rider. This time he was hit at 55 mph while in the bike lane. This time there was a witness. But no charges.
My friend's name is Jay. He's 62 years old and in a severe coma.
