Icon of Christ

Tonight I took pictures for a friends family that was being chrismated into the Eastern Orthodox Church. St. George's Cathedral was already beautiful but this last week they put up this mural icon of Jesus made from thousands of little glass tiles. This is a huge mural up above the front intrance and they are working on St. John the Forerunner (John the Baptist) to the right of him and then they will start on the "Theotokos" (Mary the mother of Jesus) on the left, and around the corner facing the main street will be St. George (Saint George). They had to hire some guys from Italy who specialize in this sort of thing to create it. Unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice.

If you stare at the tile on the top left corner of the Bible and twist your eyes just right you will notice a picture of the Last Supper coming out at you in 3D.

Buena Vista

We spent last weekend in Buena Vista, CO. It's very beautiful; completely surrounded by some of the tallest mountains in the world. Above is a composite of 6 pictures of one of the ranges. Mt. Princeton is the tall one on the left. The picture is more dramatic if you click on it to view a larger size.

"Mount Princeton (14,197 feet high) is one of the fourteeners of the US state of Colorado. It lies in the Collegiate Peaks, in the central part of the Sawatch Range, just west of the Arkansas River. While not one of the highest peaks of the Sawatch, it is perhaps the most dramatic, as it rises more abruptly from the Arkansas valley than the other peaks of the range."

-Wikipedia

Life of a Web Designer...

I have been designing websites professionally for over 8 years now.
You would think that I would have thicker skin than I do by now, but
it never fails to get a nasty response from a client on a website and
it throws off the rest of my day. Here is the scenario: customer
asks for a website, they give you little to no direction. You create
a rough draft of said website and email them a link to preview it. As
expected it isn't what they envisioned. Customer then sends you a
nasty email about how disappointed they are and, if you are lucky,
they then give you all the detail of how they expected it to look in
the first place, but didn't bother to tell you until now. You are
then left with the mixed feelings of frustration, anger, and
insecurity. Frustration that they didn't tell you how they wanted it
to look to begin with. Anger that they would have the nerve to put
all the blame on you rather than saying something like "This is a good
starting point but we were looking for something more in this
direction...". Insecurity about the fact that I should be able to
read their mind.

My first reaction is always to get mad, then I think, "I am
professional and above this, I am not going to let it get to me". Then
I start blaming them for not communicating better with me or not
giving me enough information. The best solution is always to give
myself time to cool off before responding in any way. Finally after
some time, rather than trying to defend my self and accusing them, I
settle on accepting it and send them a professional email explaining
how I will work with them until they are happy with the end product.
It is a somewhat humiliating process because I have to take the Burger
King philosophy of "Your Way, Right Away", the customer is always
right.

I suppose I am much better at taking this sort of criticism now than I
was 5-8 years ago. It only bothers me for an hour or so now, and it
used to pull me down for a few days. I guess that is progress.

The Fastest Decade of My Life, or Time Flies When You Are Having Fun, or Spending 10 Years With Your Best Friend

Today Jenny's and my marriage to each other turns 10 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARRIAGE!!

If you have some spare time you can read about those 10 exciting years in Jenny's newest post here.

No Line On The Horizon

November 14!

Team Rip Your Heart Out and Shove It Down Your Throat

When we first started the season and they were assigning us to our different teams and coaches, I gave the lady Jacobs name and she said ""Ok, he is on Team Caring". "What?", I said. "Are you serious? Team Caring is the name of our team? That has to be a joke! Why not just call us Team Lame, or Team Rainbow Lambs and Flowers? You name your ball team after some kind of ferocious or noble animal like, The Lions or The Stallions, not Team Caring!!" Ok, I didn't really say that to her, but I did think it.

We never spoke of that name again. I don't even think the boys ever knew that was the name of their team. How could I reveal such shame to them. They enjoyed the season though, and as you can see they "won" medals. I don't know what they did to win the medals, seeing as everyone else received one also, but I think it has something to do with paying the $55 to play T-Ball. Now I only wonder if later when they actually accomplish something and win a medal it will mean just a little bit less because of this.

Last Game...

Ok really they have one more game. A make-up game on Saturday.

T-Ball

Jacob and Ethan started t-ball this year. They are on the same team which makes things easier for the whole family. I forgot to bring a camera to the first game so these pictures are from their second game. This week there was much improvement about not running to get the ball if it is on the other side of the field and then tackling everyone else in order to get the ball first. You can see an example of that in the bottom picture.

The games are pretty simple. We only play 2 innings. Everyone gets to bat each inning and everyone plays the field (it gets a little crowded). There are no stikes or outs and we don't keep score. I guess if we did keep score the team with the most players would win since everyone gets to run the bases.

Mr. Intense

The ball went right into his glove.

Jacob Batting

Ethan Batting

Not much to say

I remember a Seinfeld episode where Jerry walks into his apartment and hits play on his answering machine to hear "It's George... uhh, I don't have anything to say" Click.

Thats me. Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything.

The Rise of the Rest

Here is a rather long article but well worth the read. If you are depressed about world news give it a try b/c it is very optimistic. If you can take the time I would love to hear what others think. I am sure for some it will raise red flags about a one world government, but that isn't what globalization is about and I think it is very sad and disheartening when Christians end up on the other side of supporting billions of people rising out of abject poverty! Below is a quote near the end of the story that gives a good summation to conclude the article. Mainly I like his optimism and talk about the "growing pie".


‘The Post-American World’ or 'The Rise of the Rest'

Americans—particularly the American government—have not really understood the rise of the rest. This is one of the most thrilling stories in history. Billions of people are escaping from abject poverty. The world will be enriched and ennobled as they become consumers, producers, inventors, thinkers, dreamers, and doers. This is all happening because of American ideas and actions. For 60 years, the United States has pushed countries to open their markets, free up their politics, and embrace trade and technology. American diplomats, businessmen, and intellectuals have urged people in distant lands to be unafraid of change, to join the advanced world, to learn the secrets of our success. Yet just as they are beginning to do so, we are losing faith in such ideas. We have become suspicious of trade, openness, immigration, and investment because now it's not Americans going abroad but foreigners coming to America. Just as the world is opening up, we are closing down.

Jacobs 1st Piano Recital

Jacob started piano lessons with Calana in January. Today he had his first recital. This was the first time he has ever done anything in front of a large group (about 50 people) by himself. I was very impressed with how he handled himself. Later he said he really liked it and when asked said that he wasn't nervous at all.

Here are the 2 songs that he did.

512 Ahhhhhh!!!!

Possibly the coolest license plate ever!!!