(Art by Gil Elvgren)

For almost two weeks prior to the RIP V announcement I had virtually disappeared from the blogosphere. Though not a singular phenomenon, this time it was for something completely unrelated to work stress: I developed and fed a singular obsession. That obsession…

Get our basement cleaned out and organized ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!

The wife began discussing when I arrived back from my July conference in DC and I found myself in the same situation I am in every year in August, which is wanting to get certain less than pleasant projects taken care of so that I can enjoy the Sept-Dec. period, my favorite time of year. Something about this year was obviously different. Her desire for it to be done and my desire to do it clicked, we did some planning, and away we went.

I warn you, this post is image intensive, my apologies. The sense of relief at having it done makes me want to talk about it, and the pictures are as much to show you all as it is a visual thank you to my father, who took the time to help me build shelves to store items on, and to my wife and daughter who pitched in to help sort and pack and clean.

Continue reading Cleaning House: The Kick Ass, Take Names Version →

(Image found here)

Umm…”hello?”….is this thing on?

Okay then, let’s begin.

Despite evidence to the contrary, I was not abducted by covert government operatives for indoctrination into a super secret black ops program designed to replace water-boarding with sweet pickles as the preferable method of torturing suspected terrorists. No, not at all. Sweet pickles have been torturous (to me anyway) from the moment some demented soul decided to subject an innocent cucumber to their sick and twisted experiments. Nope, they didn’t need my help with that.

Continue reading Moving on →

Sorry for the absence, I spent last week rushing around trying to get my work done for this week’s trip to our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. I am attending a youth conference this week. That coupled with a loss of power at home during a storm over part of the weekend means that I’ve been absent from my site, and everyone else’s, for several days.

I just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know where I was and to announce the winners of last week’s Once Upon a Time IV Wrap Up drawing.

Continue reading Capital Idea…let’s award some prizes! →

(sunlight over fence, SI., photo by Jenn See)

“…so i will spend the next few days reveling in the past & in memories, collecting myself in the present, & looking to the future…which promises many new things & much Change, along with all that comes with these things.”

-Jennifer Cakert, 2006

Those words.

A little over one year into this experience we call blogging I (and many others) lost a dear friend. Jennifer–Jenn See to the blogging community–left this world with a sudden and untimely death. In addition to leaving behind a loving family and dear friends, she left behind a group of us who were inspired by her creativity and just plain enjoyed having the kind of fun, sometimes nonsensical, sometimes intensely profound conversations that we all experience in this community. She also left behind a legacy with her words, her poetry, her pictures, and a creative spark that lives on in so very many ways.

That was four years ago, and those words were the last that Jenn See wrote, appearing in a post on Wednesday, June 21st, 2006. The next day she was gone. She was only 26 years old.

Over the past four years those words have sparked a number of different personal feelings and reactions: Shock, disbelief and the cruel fact that life isn’t fair gave way to profound sadness and eventually to inspiration. Now they are a mantra of sorts, a touchstone, a talisman. Yet they retain a degree of melancholy that I suspect will never completely fade.

Continue reading Remembering the Future →

That was a rhetorical question. I know that the answer is a resounding “Yes!!!”

On this date, at 8:11 p.m., EIGHTEEN years ago, our daughter Tori entered the world. Eighteen years?!?!

Who would have thought time would pass so quickly? A little over a week ago we got together with family and friends to celebrate her graduation from high school. And now she is turning that age which society has deemed to be the beginning of adulthood. Hard to believe that the little tiny baby I held in my arms–what was it, yesterday?–can now vote!

Continue reading Does this mean we are getting old? →