Massive Road Trip

This past Sunday night we returned from a 3-week cross country road trip.

About 2 months ago we bought a used Ford Conversion van in preparation for our trip. We put in around $1000 of repairs to get it trip ready, I wired a brake control module in so it could legally tow our camper and I did some maintenance on our camper because we were going to camp rather than stay in hotels.

Here is a link to a photo gallery of our trip. I am still going through it, and will be adding more photos and captioning, but there is a lot in here already.

We had planned on stopping in Nebraska and my cousins' ranch first for a Daharsh get-together, but the day we left they were exposed to Chicken Pox, so we opted to pass up the ranch and went straight to Ogallala, NE and camped our first night there.

Day 2 we drove to Des Moines, IA and camped at the Iowa state fair grounds overnight. Since our kids were out of school early, relatively few people were traveling, so for this and all the other places we camped we just showed up and didn't bother to make reservations. We had no trouble finding spots.

We spent a few days driving across Illinois and Wisconsin. We weren't able to see most of our friends, but we were able to catch a few folks along the way, including stopping by Studio North in Chicago, where I used to work. I saw all of the folks that were still there from when I worked there and was able to meet some of the new people I have worked with in recent months. Studio North is one of our clients so we stay in close contact with them.

From Chicago we buzzed rapidly across Indiana and camped in Sandusky, OH. This was the only rotten night of camping on the trip, as the bugs were horrible during set up, and there were trains running right by the KOA we stayed in. We were up early the next day and headed straight across PA, through New Jersey, around New York, across Conneticut and arrived in Westerly, RI around 10 PM local time.

My brother David and his family are in RI for the summer to try to start up some new vending operations for his employer, Jay Vending.

We popped up the camper in the driveway and spent the next week or so with them. During this time David and I did a lot of fishing at night and caught some incredible Striped Bass (also called Stripers or Rock Fish). This was one of the most fun fishing experiences of my life to this point. The fish were averaging 6-10 pounds and were a blast to try and land. David caught one 35.5 inches long. We didn't have a scale but I'd say it was in the 20 pound range.

While in RI, we spent most days on the beach at a state part, which the kids really enjoyed. We went to Newport twice, which was really cool. We could have spent a lot more time exploring, but we really wanted to spend time with family.
My other brother Andrew and his family joined us in RI near the end of our stay, and it was fun to have all the brothers and family together.

We headed out from RI and Nancy wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. We used Sprint's navigation feature to get us through New York, which went OK right up until we reached the Holland Tunnel and saw the sign saying no campers or propane. The cops immediately flagged us and pulled out a barricade to head us somewhere else. We were told to get to the Lincoln Tunnel and we could cross into New Jersey there. Our goal was to get to Liberty State Park which was the closest to the statue.

We spent another hour or so looking for the Lincoln tunnel, and once there ran into the same "No camper, no propane" sign. But the police had told me to go through previously, and there was no one there to stop us so we went through.

We spent another 2-3 hours lost in New Jersey because Sprint Navigation said that the State Park was right in the middle of some residential neighborhood.

Finally, after around 5 hours in the New York City Area we arrived at the state park and were able to see the statue at night, illuminated by spotlights. It was cold and rainy so we snapped a few pics and got out of there.



We drove late into the night until we finally stopped at a state park outside Chambersburg, PA. We met my parents the next day at my Uncle Mel and Aunt Shirley's house.

I'll continue the saga in a coming post...

Seriously?

In my attempt to not alienate or exclude anyone, it is difficult to know when to remain silent and when to share my opinion. Yeah I just can't keep my mouth shut on this one. I tried.

Boing Boing's guest blogger nailed it: "No agency left behind" (I'm thinking about making tshirts)

To quote a WSJ opinion column "This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years." 

This bill is being proposed with exactly Zero GOP support. To the 46-47% of the country who didn't vote blue: Nancy Pelosi says "We won the election. We wrote the bill." (in other words, "Get Bent") 

So much for bringing us together. How are any of us with any sanity supposed to support total B.S. like this? I feel like with one hand, we were boing sold "Hope, Change, Unity" and in the past week or so that hand keeps waving with a barrage of quick successes, keeping everyone looking at that hand.

Here comes the other hand.

Let's all put our brains back in our heads, stop looking for deliverance from a savior, and keep trying to do what we all can - work hard, make good financial decisions, help each other out. Meanwhile can we *try* to stop or at least slow the federal spending and encourage tax breaks? We can't spend our way out of financial crisis.

Let the comments fly and the Facebook un-friending commence.

Here are my political inclinations if you must know:

• I do not affiliate myself with a political party. 
• I tend to be a financial conservative. 
• If I would have voted the way I wanted to in the last election I would have voted for Ron Paul. 
• I think the greatest value our nation has ever held is individual freedom and I hate (hate) big government and the idea that there is some group or an individual out there who is better and smarter than all of the rest of us; that can take care of us, protect us, meet all our needs and save us from ourselves.
  
• I think legislation that promises equality always translates into a government with more power, a nation with fewer freedoms, and the only thing equal is that everyone has less.
• I think that all people are created equal and in a free society all people have a chance to make whatever of their life they want.
• I think we need not worry so much about those that have more, we should let greed and corruption bear their own fruit, similarly we should let generosity and responsibility bear their own fruit.

Fun view of our office

The second floor, 2 windows that are visible is the west side of our office (moved in this summer)

View Larger Map

We have a great view and a good amount of space. 

A view of the sunset from my desk:

Old Lady Ring Tones

(Cross posted from my Facebook account)

WARNING: Some may be offended by this post, but if you are offended, it is probably important for you to read.

So this Sunday in church, an older woman sitting in front of me suddenly started rummaging through her purse looking for the cell phone that was the source of the sound that caused dozens of glances. She made the noise stop, then 3 or 4 minutes later the whole episode was repeated.

Several things struck me:

1. I was irritated that her phone wasn't silenced during a church service.
2. I was even more irritated that she didn't bother to turn off the phone after the first incident and that it happened again
3. The volume on the ring was extremely high
4. The ring tone had to be one of the most annoying musical ring tones a person could select
5. This has happened with a host of older women over the past few years. Not only in church, but in a number of different gatherings. It is not limited to older women, but it seems that the vast majority of these sorts of interruptions (loud annoying music playing as the ring tone on an un-silenced cell phone at a very inappropriate time) happen to older women.

Whether or not you are an older woman, if you are ever going to be in a situation where your cell phone ring would cause distraction, please follow this advice (least important to most important):

1. turn your cell phone ring volume down to a comfortable level
2. while musical ring tones may sound cute in theory, do you really want "when the saints go marching in" blasting from your purse or pocket during a church service? a wedding? a funeral? - select a simple, subtle ring tone that isn't a song. If you have to have a song, at least go for something soothing. Think of it in the terms your mother gave you as advice when you went off to college: "always wear clean underwear, in case you are in a car accident". I'll give you my version: if you are in a car accident and are knocked unconscoius, do you want the hospital staff to see you in your "super freak" battery-powered light-up musical thong?
3. set your phone to silent or at least vibrate if you have to have it on during interruptable activities.
4. if you don't have to have your phone on, turn it off, or better yet don't bring it.

Thanks for listening!

Mexico Mission

Last week I went to Cabo San Lucas for the second time to help friends Kathy and Keith with a mission trip. I was on the operations team and lead worship.

Before the day started I would head to the beach to try and take some photos of the sunrise.

The days started with all the groups (7 groups in all, about 130 people) having breakfast over the pool in the restaurant. I led a short worship set each morning in the outdoor dining area.

Next I ran up the many flights of stairs to the lobby area where we prepped lunches and water for all the groups going out into the barrios surrounding Cabo to help with Kidsgames and compassion projects.

Once the groups were off, we went to Costco and Wal Mart and got all the supplies for the remainder of the day and the next morning. This generally took several hours.

Most of the days we would return and have enough time to make some cold gatorade for the returning groups and get some of the dinner items ready then I would set up on the beach for evening worship. Once the sound system was ready if I had time before dinner I would comb the beach looking for some of the spectacularly colored shells or take a dip in the pool.

After dinner everyone headed out onto the beach for an evening worship set which was great for everyone. I really enjoyed being able to lead worship on the beach with just a guitar - looking at the group with the Sea of Cortez in the background and the sunset glowing overhead.

I was invited and able to lead worship the first Sunday at the Cabo English Church, which was very enjoyable. I was warmly welcomed and everyone seemed to engage in the worship time.

One of the evenings was a free night and I was able to hang out with Kathy and Paul and their oldest 2 kids in downtown Cabo. We were invited to eat at Cascatas resort on the beach and had a great time enjoying a delicious meal.

We were able to go out and go see several of the sites where the teams were working with the local churches to connect kids from the community to some caring adult relationships that can be life changing as they are given an alternative to hanging out all day while their parents both work. The teams were all also working on compassion projects, helping the local churches complete work projects to add on, update or remodel their facilities.

The week was a whirlwind. I wish I could have spent more time visiting with Kathy and Keith, but I had a great time.

I am already planning on returning next summer, we'll see how it all plays out but I can't wait to get back.

Great week.

Pics on facebook, I'll try to post some here. you can see some in my flickr widget on this page or on my Flickr page.

Farewells

This week several friends of ours are moving. It is strange that these friends - who are unconnected to one another except that we know each of them - would be leaving at the same time.

First is my friend John, shown here on the left (also shown are Bob, Roger and I, left to right)

John is an artist and we have become friends over the past several years as part of the life drawing group at our art coop in Fort Collins. I will miss our weekly conversations over a beer at Avo's, our occasional breakfast meetings and his general presence. He is moving back to England after 30-odd years here in the U.S. I now have a close friend in England that I plan on visiting as often as I am able.


Next, the Cunningham family, who we know from our church - and whose sons (Mike and Ryan) were both in the youth group while I was the youth pastor - are moving to Florida for Mark's new job. We love this family and have really enjoyed having them as part of our lives. Again, though - we plan on visiting as often as we can.

At this stage of my life I generally don't feel the deep sadness I have in the past over departing friends. I will miss John and the Cunningham's, but with technology where it is, staying in touch is so easy and it feels like I can carry on a constant conversation with friends I have met all over the world. The trick will be actually seeing these friends - email is no substitute for a handshake and a hug.

The ongoing tyranny of self-employment

So this year marks 4 years in self-employment. To be accurate, in July I will have been employed for either myself or my company for 4 years.

I actually incorporated last summer, so I think technically I am no longer self-employed but am an employee of my corporation. I'm the CEO though, so I'll say I work for myself.

We had several large projects lined up for March. For different reasons both of these projects were put on hold by the client and we were left with little to do. I had to lay off one employee and everyone else went into really low hours mode. I shifted into full-time proposal writing and after a really slow March and April have emerged with a ton of work.

So now I'm very busy again. I am at work now (on a Sunday - just taking a break to update my blog). I've been working a lot with a very cool technology called Flex from Adobe. We had a bit of a rough go with a Flex project over the winter, but the work we are doing now is really solid and I am enjoying it a lot.

So here's the tyranny: it seems as if there is no consistent way to traffic the amount of work that comes in. We are either really slow and I am living with no paycheck so we can keep the business going, or we are buried and I am working all-nighters and Sundays to try to keep up.

Poor Nancy is very supportive but all this is really tough for her too. When I am slow she likes it because I am home and helping with the kids and working on the house, but money gets really tight.

When I am busy, we can eat out, but I am rarely around during the day and not often home to help with bed time.

I keep hoping that by investing in my employees I can create a team and a process that will somewhat insulate me from the wild swings - maybe we are still too small - but this doesn't seem to help much, or as much as I'd like.

We'll claw our way through the next several weeks and come out with some nice projects completed and some money in the bank, then we'll see what happens.

For those who know our family, we are all well. Emma is a bright, beautiful second-grader. Corben is a handsome, playful preschooler. Abby is as "two year old" as they come, but very sweet. Matthew is a very pleasant infant who makes us all smile. Nancy is working resource now (one day a week) and you can see what I'm up to.

I am still running the drawing class, and trying new media which is always fun. I've been playing a lot more guitar. I play in the church band and will be going with Sports Outreach (Kathy, Keith and hopefully Jill) back to Cabo where I will lead worship again this summer. Also this summer our whole family will be going to camp. I'll be a counsellor and photographer for the camp. Nancy will be the nurse and hopefully the kids can have a great time hanging out.

Leave a comment to say hi.