cerebral discharge

This is where my heart is. Please take the time to watch this short video and consider the facts.

We can save 5 million children’s lives every year, if we provide just a few billion dollars out of our out-of-control bloated spending, both of the government, and of our own personal pocketbooks.

Please spend a few minutes and consider what you can do to help.

• Share this video with your friends and co-workers.
• Write your congressman. You can use this link for contact information.
• Consider giving a small portion of your income to an organization who is making an impact in the developing world.
• Raise your kids to value the lives of others.

Joel and Kristen Martin came to visit us in Phoenix this weekend. I’ve blogged about Joel’s situation before. He’s been battling lymphoma for the last few years. I’m happy to report that Joel’s recent PET scan came back showing no cancer! He still has a pretty significant series of procedures remaining in his treatment to try to ensure that this cancer does not return, including a bone marrow transplant, and another round of chemotherapy.

Joel and Kristen mentioned on their blog that they needed a break from the cold weather, since the midwest has been barraged by some of the coldest days on record. (global warming, my ass…)

It was such a nice weekend catching up with the two of them. Here’s some pictures highlighting the weekend.

This is Apache Trail, one of our favorite places on the earth. You drive on a dirt road through 45 miles of mountains. The road is often down to one lane, and it’s right on the edge of a cliff. The mountains are absolutely beautiful there.

This spot was featured in an earlier trip to Apache trail, with Jenna Cripe. We always stop in this spot for more pictures.

We found a cave just off the road. It was an easy enough hike, so we climbed up into it and (surprise!) took some pictures.

Random landscape shot. Flipping beautiful. Doesn’t this kind of view inspire something deeper inside of you?

Kristen enjoyed playing with the prickly pear cactus.

The next day, we drove up to Sedona, which Amy and I had never done. Sedona is characterized by the red rock formations that I’m sure you’ve seen in photography before. Here’s Amy and I at one particularly beautiful spot.

Joel and Kristen had a great time. We were so glad to get them out in the sun to enjoy themselves.

The DeZagos were with us on the Sedona trip as well. Dan was another of my college roommates. He, Joel, and I realized that this summer makes 10 years that we’ve all known each other! Insane. I feel old. Here’s a group walking pic, minus the fabulous photographer…

As we climbed higher and higher in elevation (in the Jeep, of course…we didn’t hike or anything!), the temperature dropped from the mid-70s in Phoenix, all the way down to about 40 degrees up near Flagstaff.

Smooching pictures are cute…right? Right?

On Tuesday morning, we walked around downtown Phoenix with the Martins a bit, just so they could get a feel for the city. I didn’t manage to get any good pictures with any people in them, but this flower shot turned out well, I think.

We had such a nice weekend with our old friends. Since we’ve been here, Jenna and the Martins have all come out to visit, and Jenna’s coming back sometime in the next few weeks.

The rest of you, it’s your turn. Leave a comment, send me an email, call me, txt me, and let me know when you’re coming. We’d love to show you all these places, and feature you on this blog!

I’m going to mix my blog up a bit, and combine a picture post with an “on my walk” post. Today, on my walk to work, I took pictures as I walked, and I wanted to share with you a couple of the more fun ones that I took.

This bird was really fun to watch. He had all sorts of character.

Eventually, he got tired of posing for me, and walked away:

also I wanted to play with the extreme depth of field available with the telephoto zoom lens I have, so I took this picture of a rope, hanging in front of a bench. It’s not terribly artistic, but it helped me understand my lens a little better.

Arizona is full of fountains. It’s like they don’t want visitors to realize that they don’t really have all that much water and so they have what little water they do have out on display all the time. It reminds me of how many people of lower economic stature will drive expensive looking cars. Anyways, here’s a couple of really cool water pics:

Pretty cool, huh?

The world moves on. Sometimes we move on with it, and sometimes we don’t. Curiously enough, we often don’t notice the world changing, and don’t notice ourselves changing with it.

In the most recent copy of Relevant Magazine, my recent thoughts on the changes in American culture today were found in two articles on back to back pages. I’ll share one thought with you today, and perhaps the other another time.

We live in the era of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. People want to communicate to each other, but they do so in a very non-committal sort of way. Every leaves a “status” on the Facebook, describing what they are doing, thinking, or feeling at that moment. Some people update their status obsessively.

People like to be spectators in culture. We like to know what’s going on with celebrities and athletes and politicians, but we don’t like to do anything about issues anymore. When is the last time you heard about a high school student who gave blood regularly, or who volunteered every month at a local homeless shelter? You will hear young people talk about issues like poverty more and more, but it’s so rare that people actually do anything about the issues. I’m guilty of it. You probably are too. We spectate. We like to know the status of things, and act concerned, but we don’t do anything anymore.

Our relationships work the same way. We like to be aware of each other. We like to update each other on our status, making US the celebrities of our own little world. But people shy away from actually sharing experiences with one another. They shy away from real life together, and instead indulge in an electronic relationship instead. I email and txt and message people on facebook far more often than I actually call. And I call far more often than I actually spend time with someone. I sit and watch a  movie or TV with my wife  more often than I go out in the world and experience something with her.

I want to change all this, at least in my life. I want to share experiences with you. I want to go on walks, and take pictures, and climb mountains, and volunteer, and eat together, and make music together, and discuss real life issues.

So…you think all that will fit in my facebook status? I don’t know how to summarize it in 2 lines…

I got a new camera, and it is amazing.

I’ll post more about that soon, but I wanted to show off a couple of awesome shots I took today.

Awesome, huh?

I’ve never boycotted anything before, but I’m so absolutely furious right now, I’m actually boycotting a company.

HP.

You will not believe what I’ve had to put up with from them in the last month. I am far too tired to type it all in right now, but you’ll get the full story in a day or two.

I don’t get angry all that often, and I hardly ever get furious. This is as mad as I can remember ever being. I honestly have very violent thoughts in my head right now. I’ve been taken advantage of and lied to so blatantly and openly, and there isn’t a thing I can do to get my time or money back, and I’m certainly not going to get my laptop fixed. The only thing I can do is make a small dent in their sales by boycotting their products and inviting my few dozen readers to do the same.

Their customer service is BY FAR the worst I’ve ever experienced. I’m honestly having a hard time breathing, I’m so angry.

I hate this.

I’m a pretty rational dude. I don’t have thoughts of killing people that often. HP brings out the demons in me.

I used to have a problem with the idea that God can be good and still send people to hell. Now, I understand what kinds of people he’s going to put there. THEY ALL WORK AT HP. I don’t feel sorry for hoping they all rot in hell. I really don’t. God will punish them for being the complete scum that they are. If he doesn’t, he’s not very good at what he does.

Can you tell how angry I am? Wait til you hear the story. It will shock you.