Sleeping in for the Cure

May 23rd, 2010

Living in the Washington DC area, there are a few things that you tend to know about happening… for instance WTOP News is your friend with traffic and weather on the 8’s… the Marine Corps Marathon in October is a pretty big deal… the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on the National Mall is also a pretty big deal…

So now imagine the collision of two of these three items – WTOP News and the Susan G. Komen Race for the cure. Over the past couple of years I’ve always chuckled when the radio announcers / broadcasters / news desk folks talk about Sleeping in for the Cure, always wondering if it was just something that WTOP News did or if it was legitimate.

After a little thought and analysis, and a visit to the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure web site, sure enough it’s possible to register for Sleep in For the Cure. Initially I thought, “Maybe I’ll get a group together to go and walk the 3.1 mile hike, that’s a nice hour long walk.” But then I started thinking about it… 45,000 participants on the metro on a Saturday morning in DC… hmmm. Maybe I need to relax a little.

So while everyone else is out for the fun through DC, I’ve registered to sleep in on 5 June, and I intend to :)

Similar to runners, we get race shirts and bibs, but the bib is a little different :)

sleep in for the cure

And if you’re interested in contributing to the Race for the Cure and looking for someone that’s registered, wander on over to:

http://globalrace.info-komen.org/goto/usher

Better yet, sign up and enjoy sleeping in :)

Just one last call…

May 1st, 2010

So what would you say if you had one last call?

Would you remind the person of how much they meant to you or would you merely just mention that you look forward to talking to them soon and leave things open ended? Would you give them a word of encouragement and something uplifting in this world of stress and bad news we live in?

I know for me, I hate goodbyes and in some cases avoid them so as to soften the emotional blow on myself. However, I’m starting to see more and more what Michael Easley meant about being a man and taking the blows rather than ducking – however that’s a discussion for a different day.

Nonetheless, do you wonder at times, when you listen to a message, do you delete it immediately thinking you’ll see the person later in the day or do you just hold onto it and remove it later when your phone becomes full of messages?

I urge you to think when you’re leaving a message for someone, whether a friend, a loved one, your boss or a staff member, if that was the last contact you had with them, how would you be remembered?

My heart still is healing from losing a loved one a year ago, every so often feeling the wounds heal over, only to be torn open again. But I’m fortunate, what started as memories of sorry have turned to smiles, albeit with a tear running down my cheek at times thinking how proud Mom would be. I still listen to the voice message she left for me, a few hours prior to the car accident that took her away from us a month later. The message was uplifting, up beat, encouraging and caring.

It was a model to remind me how to care for others so that they’d know that someone does care about them and for them.

Thanks Mom for the valuable lesson.

Son of Snow…

February 14th, 2010

So just after everyone had the chance to dig out from Snowmageddon and test out their four wheel drive vehicles Son of Snow decided to show up on Tuesday, 9 February 2010. Yes, it’s not an official name, but someone mentioned it on Facebook, so I adopted it promptly and perhaps have overused it or abused it.
Son of Snow swooped in late on Tuesday night, snow falling in heavy fluffy flakes. Thereafter turning into a freezing rain, adding a nice, thin coating of ice onto everything (there are some wicked sweet icicles around here now too). For a few hours there was only a steady wind which then turned over to snow blizzard ground effects and a considerable amount of snow dumping on top of the snow that was already there. As the morning went on, things finally faded out and just became heavy winds blowing snow everywhere, normalizing the layering. Granted, the winds were still fierce.

So once the plows had a chance to push through the area a little, the house mates and I decided it was time to venture out. Fear not – I’m not driving, just in the navigator position.

If you’re interested in the epic adventures after Son of Snow, check it out in the Son of Snow Album on Vimeo.com.

The Bourne Trilogy – Crystal Clear Quality

February 14th, 2010

So I probably should stay away from Amazon.com so as to not have inadvertent spending splurges, but I have to say that I’ve been waiting for the Bourne Trilogy to come out on Blu-Ray and of course procure it through good ole Amazon.com.

At any rate, the trilogy is out, both in a boxed set format and also individually. Now here’s the kicker though, the individuals have a lower price than the entire box set. Not quite sure if the box set comes with anything extra, but to me it would seem that buying the Bourne {Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimate} individually would be the smart thing to do.

Now of course, if you want the real story, pick up a copy of the books from Amazon and read the “true” Bourne Trilogy.  While the movies started off somewhat inline with the books, they quickly diverged and got rid of Carlos (no, I’m not referring to the Hangover) which in my humble opinion was detrimental to the story line – but hey, Hollywood seemed to like the new story line they created…

Recap: Snowmageddon (The Great Blizzard of 2010)

February 7th, 2010

A little over a week ago, 5 February 2010, Snowmageddon descended upon us. Somewhere around 2 PM the snow began to fall, sprinkling the area gently, becoming a slushy foundation that would later freeze into a firm foundation for snow to pile there upon. Every few hours I was going outside and using a large shop broom and brushing away the initial slush and snow. Come nightfall the snow fall picked up and began sticking to the ground.

Overnight, we continued to shovel the snow every few hours. It seemed though that with every time we would go out that we had not dented the snow with any of our previous efforts.

By Saturday morning, the snow was deep and any previous efforts to clear snow were disturbed by wind blowing snow into drifts. Wandering about the neighborhood took precedent :-)

After much shoveling and digging, the snow had finally died down, but my car still seemed to be weighted down by a significant amount of snow. I decided I would submit my thoughts to the world by drawing a little something in the snow.

All in all, by my car was finally freed from the snow by Sunday night.

Unfortunately more snow is on the way…

An unexpected snow storm…

January 31st, 2010

For those of you that live in the Northern Virginia area, you might have been startled to wake up on Saturday morning, 30 January 2010 to find your front porch covered in snow and the roads a unplowed with a few inches of snow piling up.  It was to be a weekend like any other that we’ve had recently… bitterly cold and overcast. Weather forecasters had stated all week long that there was a very minute chance of snow but that the air masses would drive the snow south toward Richmond and that we would only get a dusting.

Well, there was definitely a little more than a dusting by mid-day and it would seem as though Northern Virginia got caught with their pants on the ground.

Fortunately the snow seems to be melting and it wasn’t too hard to plow since it was light and fluffy… next time we may not be so lucky ;-)

Now Playing: Joe SatrianiG3 – Live In ConcertFlying In A Blue Dream (Live)

Tomorrow…

January 19th, 2010

Why is it that we stress about the future? Why do we not just sit back and relax knowing that the Lord is in control? I know for me it’s more being anxious that things will turn out a particular way… putting that aside and just realizing I don’t have to be in control is actually extremely comforting.

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34

Are we getting cooked by Wifi?

January 10th, 2010

So over the past few weeks I’ve been taking more time for me. Not a bad thing right? Getting a balance back in place of sorts. One of my guilty pleasures is to read. Whether news feeds or books, it’s a guilty pleasure. Go ahead and book’em Dan-o (pun intended).
One of these news feeds is that of Gizmodo which showcases, you guessed it, gadgets and gizmos :-) Recently an article caught my eye dealing with a device to charge USB devices using Wifi signals. The charging device is made by RCA, more can be read here.

The question of course that this poses to me is whether or not this is a warning sign for those of us that live in neighborhoods that have several wireless running, colliding and interfering with one another. Are we getting cooked or is the power contained within the 802.11 spectrum harmless to humans because the wavelengths do not interact with the genetic and cellular makeup of the human body. Just sayin…

A New Year…

January 8th, 2010

It’s Twenty Ten.

It’s been more than a year since I last gave my Mom a hug.
So the first is still on my mind fairly often, but with time, memories turn to smiles rather than gnashing of teeth. I still want to pick up the phone from time to time to say hi and see how things are going on at Immanuel, but I stop myself and just breath, realizing that life will never be the same.

It’s been more than a year since I’ve seen close friends.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen several close friends. Relating to my first though, several folks clammed up and weren’t certain what to do when Mom passed away. Several didn’t know what to say. Understandably, but just swinging by the house to say hello or calling would have been something that would have blown me away. Instead, while there seemed to be a ridiculous outpouring of sorrow on Facebook, I can’t say that there was one person that dropped by the house to share a meal or to say hello and see how I was doing. Granted, in some respects, I can’t blame them since I was over taking care of my dad through sometime part way into December.
Now that’s not to say that all friends have wandered disregarded me, but I guess it seems like “most” did. As time has gone by, some folks have come out of the woodwork to hang out – the “some” is relatively small. If anything I turn to my colleagues at work – some of them knew the full extent as to what had transpired, others just thought that there was an accident (hello, awkward!). These folks, while some not knowing Christ, were utilized by Him, providing care and friendship I would have suspected my Christian brothers would have rushed forward to provide – and people wonder why it’s hard to trust “christians” when they’re not true to the character of “Christians”.

It’s been more than a year since I’ve had the opportunity to really just be me.
Maybe I’m a little off on timelines, but it’s been a while since I feel I”ve had the opportunity to actually just be the kid that I like to be. In some respects I was able to be a kid in Nashville, TN over the past year, but not to just kick back and relax.

What’s that? You’ve got a vacation coming up?
If only. Though I suppose a trip to Hawaii would be acceptable to get away and just kick back, relax and breath.

So what are you looking to do this January of 2010?

Holy Guacamole Batman, it’s Christmas!!!

December 25th, 2009

Surprise, surprise, Christmas seems to have caught us all off guard once again – how it seems to do this every year I’m not quite certain.  This year of course we experienced a significantly large amount of snowfall this past weekend effectively closing the local school systems and the federal government for a day as well.

Looking back over the past years, I’ve noticed little by little that presents don’t have much meaning but rather the closeness of family and realizing what Christ’s means for all of us.  Now, is that to say that gifts and presents shouldn’t be exchanged and given, by no means! The gleaming joy in the eyes of my nephews is priceless and something that I would not trade for the world.

For those of you like myself, single but with family nearby, chin up and draw close to your friends and family and celebrate Christmas.

Now Playing: Extreme – The Best Of Extreme – An Accidental Collision Of Atoms – More Than Words