Lasting Impressions

As I was walking on the beach last week, it was amazing to see the effect the waves had on the sand.  Fisherman, pedestrians, birds, trucks, and all sorts of other traffic passed along the beach within reach of the waves, and within minutes all evidence of their passing was gone.  The waves just kept coming and coming, whittling away the marks in the sand until it was like brand new.

When you're looking over your shoulder and can barely see evidence of your progress down the beach, it's hard not to think about life and the 'impressions' you're making on the world around you.  In the grand scheme of history, wave after wave of folks come and go...but what will be the evidence that I've been here?

As I look to creating a theme for my next year, it's been good to be reminded that of all the things that are good to do, not everything lasts past the next wave....

From Out of the Darkness...

As I've never lived anywhere (in my adult life) where I could own a pet (and frankly, my lifestyle of travel wouldn't be a good situation for any animal), the only item I've had over the years for which I've been primary caregiver is a little shamrock plant I've had since college. Well...the truth is I've had other plants, but none that were able to give me the feedback I needed to properly care for them; consequently, many didn't last a semester. My shamrock, on the other hand, stood proudly when it was being taken care of and wilted or didn't open its little leaves when it needed water. Pretty cool.

Since I was traveling a lot over this past summer, I left my little shamrock with Mom to babysit. (This plant came from a bulb of my Mom's shamrock plant, so it's cute to think of it going home to sit beside 'mama' for the summer.)

It must have succumbed to separation anxiety, because not long after I retrieved it from my parents the last of the shamrocks fell of, leaving me with a vacant pot of dirt. I was a bit taken back by how much this affected me; I'd had the plant so long that I really hated that I'd let it die. Seriously, I spent many a minute reflecting on the permanent nature of my little mistakes in not taking care of it--neglecting to check if it needed water and leaving it in a very exposed, sunny spot on my desk. If it's possible to mourn the loss of something so small, I don't think I'm exaggerating in saying I mourned--both my actions and the consequences that this little guy suffered as a result.

I placed the empty pot on a shelf under my desk behind some books and figured someday I'd find something else to plant in it. But a few weeks later, as I was looking under my table for a book, I noticed something that made me grin from ear to ear....

Two little sprigs were poking their heads out from behind my books, leaning up to the window to get some sun! Here's what it looked like when I pulled the pot from its premature grave and set it in a place of honor in the precious few square inches of desk space I have.


Barrett must have thought I was going crazy, because I got really excited. The spiritual analogies were not lost on me: mourning and burying a loved one--regretful of decisions that contributed to his death--and the subsequent joy of realizing that there is life where there had once been no hope of life. This may seem silly to you, but I really think I got a glimpse of the real hope that resurrection brings with it.

I'm happy to report that my little guy is doing very well--I found a better spot on my desk that allows it to hide from the most severe sun during the hot parts of the day and peek around the window to get sun when it needs it. I've also assigned a special shot glass for watering it, making sure I give it exactly 1 oz of water every few days. Here's what it looked like a few weeks ago.

A Beautiful Sight

There was a time when being in a room with a huge dance floor like this would have freaked me out, but now I cherish seeing a sight like this; only now do I realize how hard it is to find an opportunity to dance on a great big dance floor with a group of people who love to dance and know how to dance well--or at least are past being too self-conscious to try.

It saddens me that dancing--rather than being a regular community social event as it has been in generations past--has now been mostly relegated to something drunk people do badly.

The self-confidence, life lessons, and relationships I've gained in my almost 4 years of dancing are something I cherish, and I hope to be able to do this in some capacity as long as I live and hopefully pass the love on to the next generation.

I'll post some of the life lessons learned in a future post.

Photography is Really Hard

Today was the 20th Annual Dancing Illini Ballroom contest in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. I've never been to this contest, and since Chrysa and I haven't practiced hardly at all this semester, we definitely weren't going to compete. I decided to go and spend the day cheering everyone on and helping out in any way I can.

One thing that is always needed is for someone to take pictures, and I'm happy to oblige. I often stop when I see groups taking photos on vacation and offer to take a picture with everyone (normal camera man included) and the offer is often accepted. Today I sat with a couple of point-and-shoot cameras from other teammates, a video camera from another, and my own Fuji. The newer cameras are easy to operate, but that doesn't mean the pictures turn out well...

Theses photo have a dark band because my shoe flash wasn't properly adjusted.


This has red-eye...and you can't control what goes on in the background, so the timing is critical.


This would have been the best picture of the day, except at the last minute, Angelo's hand moved right between me and his face.


These are too 'hot'...


While these are too dark...

And remember that I have a digital camera, and I could see the photos instantly and make adjustments as I went along... I can't imagine burning a whole roll of film, sending it off to be processed (or worse, spending hours processing the negatives myself) only to see how screwed up they are....

Occasionally, though, a few good ones come out...




I burned over 225 shots today, and I'm guessing a couple dozen are worth posting. My hat is off to folks who make a living doing this such that someone wants to pay for them, and even more so to the old school folks who still use film.

From the TrueFaced Blog

I can add nothing to what John says in this recounting of a trip with the family dog and the faith lessons learned... Enjoy.

Danger...Please Be Advised...

Recent reports have linked Barney & Friends (tm) videos with runny noses and trance-like states in some toddlers. Mylar blankets have *NOT* been proven effective in prevention.

You have been warned.

Mission Accomplished

We finished! The weather was quite chilly, but it made for a great day after the race got started and the sun came up. I finished in 1:57:16, under the 9 minute pace we set, and Brian was just a few seconds behind me.

More details and pics to follow, but as of now I seem to be recovering well. I'm glad to have set--and be finished--with this goal.

Now on to North Carolina and beach-side recovery...