The Kaijo
Posted by Rey
Normally I’m tired when waking up 4:30am, but not that Sunday. I was excited about the passage I was preaching on. Normally, I don’t enjoy road-trips when I’m alone but I had recently downloaded a bunch of NPR’s CarTalk episodes which I was eager to spend some commute time listening to. Normally I’m bleary eyed, but not that Sunday: I could see every aspect of the road that the headlights allowed. Article Tags>> car accident | coyote | pronunciationDrawing Conclusions
Posted by Rey
I didn’t get a cavity until I was off my parent’s insurance. Former-Cityites-Gone-Long-Island sagely (and sadly) say it’s because NYC water was fluoridated, but as I made my way into the dentists office I was afraid, so I brought my sketch pad.Read the rest of this entry »
Joe’s Corner
Posted by Rey
I love home remodeling although thus far I don’t have any concept of how to do it. I mean, I have the concepts in my head but I’m sure if I put my mind to it, and if my wife (maybe foolishly) supports such an outlandish endeavor, I can (probably) do all right with it.But my buddy Joe has gall, support and the know-how to tackle just about any project even if on the outset he doesn’t have all the details: this dude is the man. Here’s a couple of pics from his home renovation project.
The first couple of shots is what he did with his kitchen: gutted and renovated. The next set is making the unused and almost inaccessible attic space into a lounge for baby toys, television, music equipment and all around relaxation fun: basically more living space. Enjoy
The Delivery
Posted by Rey
He’d gotten out too late; it was dark. Directions were easy when based on major landmarks but there was no way possible to see the sign names on these poorly lit rural roads.
The Nothing
Posted by Rey
A few nights ago, when it was so windy the moon was under covers, I took out the trash way too late. Hating winter’s chill I ran out and pushed the huge trash can up to the sidewalk then stopped. Across the street, behind the row of houses, I usually can see the farm land and beyond. Even on moonless nights there’s a sort of arcane ambience that allows me to see at least the form of the land if not details. But on that night all I could see was a solid wall of blackness from which came a screaming wind that forced the trees to tremble in its wake. I was afraid.It was a strange fear because it wasn’t my normal phobia of acts of God (like tornadoes) but this completely irrational terror that was tingling up my toes across my skin and near the back of my ears. The Blackness was, to my mind, too concealing…too occult…holding the land hostage and threatening to overwhelm that small row of homes and my own as well.
As I trotted back inside, embarrassed at my speed, I was grateful that the blackness did not extend overhead and out to the back of my home—it meant that it hadn’t swallowed us, cutting us off from the world.
Looking back at it all I wonder about my reaction. Was that the ridiculous fear of a city-kid in a way too open space? Was that the justified terror of a human before the unknown power of nature? Or was it something far worst, passing between worlds and for one brief moment in its nigh-infinite lifespan it turned its concealed eyes towards me and seethed.
Wondering In A Wintered Land
Posted by Rey
Folk down here have been growing crazy with the impending snowstorm. Down at the grocery store the guy over the counter gave me a toothless grin thanking the good lawd for the stawuhm about tah hit, since he hadn’t seen eight inches uf suh’now in he didn’t know how long.I thought he said eighteen but no, he said eight. I silently scoffed knowing how harsh the snowstorms were in New York but I also felt a tinge of fear since they’re not very good with snow clearing around these parts. Two inches of snow here means accidents but in NYC it means attach the plows to the garbage trucks and pour chemicals everywhere.
I must say the snow looked great outside, about four and a half inches canvassing my third of an acre plot. With a happy sigh I decided to go out and clear the driveway and stairs since I knew there would be sleet and ice later.
Two hours later I realized how annoying it is to shovel that much driveway space and after looking back and seeing it all covered again with another inch I decided to give up and go inside; I had enough of the eight inches uf suh’now.
Update,8:50 AM: 4 inches were added overnight. ::sobs::
Update, 9:54 AM: managed to shovel out my stairs and an entrance to one garage and have not gotten to the driveway yet. Apparently it also rained/sleeted last night and now it’s doing it again. Lovely.
Quacking Around
Posted by Rey
During our visit to Florida we stayed at my parents’ house and was increasingly impressed (for lack of a better word) by the décor. My mother is both an artist and an odd duck (ahem) so her tastes vary. For instance, one of her rooms proudly displays some of me and my brother’s artwork which consists of illustrated insanity (I might put up a picture of MakeShift some day). The décor I’m talking about has nothing to do with our violent illustrations but rather the ducks all over the place. I could let them speak for themselves…but I won’t.
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Computer Woes
Posted by Rey
I’ve been working on the same computer for a few years now, upgrading items like the CPU or the Video Card or going to USB 2.0; it’s been grand. But the recent blowout of my power supply unit had me going to my favorite computer hardware site and buying something with a bit more longevity with the changing times: Corsairs HX620W power supply. It’s a gorgeous piece of equipment with modular components for versatility and increased in-case airflow. The only problem is that my motherboard apparently doesn’t support it.Oh I couldn’t find any documentation to back up this observation, but plugging the badboy in and having my system power up for 1 second before shutting down was pretty much a sure sign. My old mobo raised it’s tired head and said “620 Watts? Nah. I’ll pass.”
So it’s not fried, it’s just refusing to power up with that power supply. My dilemma is to either shop for an old power supply (taking several steps back and expecting another blow out) or move forward and get a new mobo.
But alas, the times have changed. There are a whole lot of changes in the computer landscape forcing a mandatory upgrade of everything from Ram to Hard drives. It’s a significant cost (check out the list on newegg) so now I’m writing from my company’s Mac (::sigh::).
15 Years of notes are being transferred to another computer as we speak, as well as 63Gigs of music and sermons. Thankfully my Logos software is also on my laptop so I haven’t lost access to that resource but now I’m confined to the heavy restrictions of the Apple OS (those are the magic words to summon the Apple-Zombies Thriller style).
Leave It To Beaver Bloggers: Dealing With Family Life On the Web
Posted by Rey
If there’s a blog there’s an opinion. If there’s an opposing opinion there is an extreme. It’s the nature of blogging. Extreme liberals versus Extreme Conservatives. Hyper Atheists versus Biblical Extremists. It gets pretty darn annoying when those polar opposites are so blind to everything else that they wind up being a travesty of their position. One of these that come to the fore in my immediate thinking because of their extreme irresponsibility are Family Blogs.
Not so much a blog operated by a family but those blogs that paint a picture of what family life is. They blog to expose others to the reality of family—out of a need to address the topic or for narcism’s sake; doesn’t matter.
Family-Haters
You have the one kind that can’t see a single redeeming quality about families. Goth pics up along the border and snippets of Poe spattered on the site. These bloggers, through their dark tinted sunglasses, see all families rife with duplicity, baptized in abuse and propagating an unneeded institution.
Heck, the news doesn’t help things by constantly broadcasting kids being killed (probably by parents) and wives being beaten by their husbands and mothers going out right nuts and drowning their kids. I know the media has a duty to report but sometimes it feels as if they’re clapping their hands at the destruction of homes rather than looking at the octogenarians that still hold hands.
Family-Crusaders
So you get the bloggers who want to restore order to the false perceptions of family on a crusade to show that Family Life is Good. I applaud the goal but they then go to illustrate a perfect family who have absolutely nothing wrong with their home and everything they do comes out perfect. Their marriage is bliss, their toilet smells like roses, their trash is edible and their two point five children are obedient, loving, smart and strong. In fact, they’re so close to heaven that all they have to do is jump on their beds during one of their 365 sunny mornings and POP their head is poking right into Heaven’s clouds.
Both of these types of blogs are outright damaging and (once again) irresponsible.
With Great Blogging, Comes Responsibility
There are people surfing the web searching for answers. Something happens in their home at two in the morning (their kid hasn’t slept in six years, or their daughter got home late or the couple had another fight) and they’re on the web, searching for answers.
On the one hand they might find the bleak view of family and see it for what it is (maybe an angry teen) or see that their own situation is hopeless. The Lie has been propagated and now this Surfer goes to bed thinking that their family’s end is near.
On the other hand the surfer might stumble on this Edenic family and lose hope: their family is not like that. Their trash does stink. Their kids aren’t perfect. After months of not sleeping they sometimes cry and here this Perfect Family site just went off and told them “Yup, you’re an anomaly. You can lose hope now. You’re not perfect.” The Lie has, once again, been propagated.
I wish that these later sites, in their effort to be helpful, opened their eyes and realized how irresponsible they’re being with the tool of communication. Addressing them: You bloggers can still fight for a proper outlook on Family while dealing with problems that come up in the family. That octogenarian couple, their first five years was bordering on divorce but they carried their home through it and now, they hold hands in the park. I’m not asking you dadbloggers or your familybloggers or you lovebloggers to take out your dirty laundry in front of everyone; I’m just saying give people a little hope by showing that you make mistakes and that the Surfers are not alone.
Update: As per Curt’s good advice, some people doing it right:
My Brother’s Office
Posted by Rey
I’m sorry. That post the other day about Blade: The Series was such a fankids rave that I can’t even go back to check the thing for spelling errors. It was like this total geek out moment while watching the show with a keyboard way too close to me. In the future I hope to keep such things separate with the goal of writing something less play-by-play than that horror-post but I make no promises. So as to prevent anymore Dork-Side geek outs, I’m going to post some pictures of work in my brother’s new house.
