"Ben is an IT guy who is going through cancer treatments. He enjoys writing and this is where the results of that are available for everyone to read!"
"You can find my most recent posts listed here. For further adventures in my life (at least in the past 6 years) try the archives!"
Labels: pictures
We hadn't decorated our apartment at all for Christmas as we figured we wouldn't be around to enjoy it. Well, things turned out otherwise and so we decided to pull the Christmas stuff out of deep storage and spruce up the house a bit.
In this picture you are looking from our entryway towards our kitchen. (On the other side of the half wall there) The Christmas parrot s decorated and sitting on the left of the picture. Gifts for friends and family sit merrily around the festive 32" LCD HDTV. The stocking were hung by the half-wall with care, in hopes that no one would put anything else there.
We hope your time building up to Christmas is a good one! Lisa and I are hanging out a bit today, and tomorrow is church and possibly hanging out with some more friends. We've got two invites for Christmas day and we look forward to seeing what Christmas is like in our new situation. We appreciate all the prayers and support.
~B.
Labels: pictures
Labels: pictures
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You can view some of the recent photos of some recent events by hitting up this picture link and checking out those pictures. Most of them taken by Lisa. (Which is why I am actually IN them.)
~B.
Labels: pictures
Labels: pictures
Labels: pictures
Let me start by saying: going on a mission trip as an adult completely wins over going on mission trips as a teen. Yes, at the time they were exciting learning experiences and the youth pastors planned so very well. But now, I have specialized skills to offer, I'm enjoy talking with people I don't know very well, and the "teen angst/insecurity/crush on one of the boys on the trip" quotient is gone. In other words, I greatly enjoyed getting to know my team and the ministry we worked with, and helping them to improve their facilities (and thus their work in God's Kingdom!)
So after about 30 hours of travel we arrived at the LDi camp. Because I'm going to reveal some specifics of our work, I'm still not going to name the country we were in. However, Ben has mentioned it in previous blog entries so you faithful readers are probably already aware of it. We spent nine days working with a break on Sunday, then two days sight-seeing in the large city nearby.
The campus we stayed at and worked on was a camp/conference center with high and low ropes courses. These are fairly rare in that country, but apparently the people naturally relate to symbolic meanings so the discussions involved in the course are meaningful and can lead to new spiritual understandings for them. The camp director used to lead ropes courses in Sweden and with his family is learning to relate to a new culture. This camp was only begun about three years ago. At present, the high ropes course is a garden, much more cultivated than the American-woods versions I've seen. However, the only functioning building on campus has some problems, as does the new building being constructed. 
What did we do? The three civil engineers and graphic designer spent most of the time surveying the three complicated sites ("legal boundaries" were more or less defined by fruit trees and the site was on a huge slope) and testing local water supplies. I worked with one of the planners at first to map out the ropes course. Meanwhile, the structural engineer and electrical engineer were evaluating everything. A camp director from Washington, his father, and a man who is probably the superstar of Christian camp-planning in America were all there for part of the trip, mostly spending time with the camp director refining his vision and asking him a long list of questions. The electrical engineer's daughter photo-documented the site. During the second half of our time, the team leader (an architect) and I worked on a proposal for an ideal new lodge. On the last day I worked on the report, designed a storage shed and figured out how to improve the existing bathrooms.
Result? We'll give the ministry a report which evaluates their current conditions and our suggestions for both immediate improvements and long term development. Up to now they've been guessing on a lot of things. Now, they have an accurate map and a lot to think about :)
The camp planning did run into some difficulties. The property owner is not a part of LDi, and was not present for most of our trip, so some of the decisions to be made had to be postponed. The source of funds for future development is also in question. To top it off the government is aware of this camp, as small as it is, due to their evangelism in the local village. During out time there, the camp director was considering approaching the government to discuss LDi's work (in a Daniel 1 format: aka we want to eat veggies - let us give it a try and see if we're more healthy!)
At the end, our time in the large city nearby was a superb tourist experience and gave us a chance to hang out and debrief. Actually, the entire trip was a great chance to observe a different culture. I had difficulties with the language, but the camp facilitators all spoke English and by the end of the trip I had managed to master four phrases with a convincing accent :) Still, white people were somewhat a novelty and sometimes the locals wanted to take pictures with me.
The Christians we met were encouragingly bold, especially one woman who tried to witness to us in her native tongue. The staff at the camp had all made sacrifices to be there, and the director truly had a passion for spreading the gospel which I can only believe comes straight from God.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was when our team (from all over the US and even Canada) shared the "short versions" of our testimonies. Somehow I had begun to think that God had no big exciting plans to use me in the world, that this move to Colorado would separate me from the way I had been serving God - in the friendships, family, and high school group of my church. There were no prospects for anything new. But as I heard about the journeys which my team members were on I was reminded that our lives are a continuous story of God's faithfulness. Whatever their age or background, God was revealed himself and kingdom to the folks I worked with more and more. Wonderfully, a couple of the middle-aged men were on their first mission trip; another man had been on ten trips with EMI. Through the rest of the trip as I read the Bible, God reminded me "I make all things new!" and that he had "works prepared in advance for (me) to do."
Now, to respond to the prayer requests from my first letter:
I like to think that when I give someone my email address (at least this one) that it's pretty obvious WHO you are sending email to. My name and my email address, one and the same. Toni, however, seems to have missed that fact. This is made even worse by the fact that she has called me 4 times in the last 2 weeks and asked for me by name each time. (As Ben, not Jim)
The email ends: "I have really enjoyed working with you. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of any further assistance :-)"
~B.
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It appears our tomato plant has an exciting new life.
"Okay, so as cheesy as this post must sound, Rae and I have to tell everyone about our sad new tomato plant. Rae's best friend just moved to Colorado and asked us to adopt her tomato plant. The plant looks a little worn and has definitely seen better days, but we're hoping it'll pull through.
The new addition to the studio is just outside the showroom and now has a nice view of Seattle and Lake Washington :)
Here are some shots... Have a look!"
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This is going to be a long winter if I have to keep proving this to everyone... Pictures from Lisa.
~B.
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Today was a long day of driving... that could be because we were driving through a lot of mountains and the speed limit jumped from 35 to 75 as we went. Which of course meant more time in the car. (Unlike the past few days where we have been cruising along at 70-80mph and getting places relatively quickly.)
This morning we got up and experienced another "free" breakfast. I didn't bother to partake in the "free-ness" much beyond a banana and quarter of a muffin (consumed later, whilest driving) but Lisa made herself a waffle and covered it with butter and "Swiss-Miss" hot chocolate mix. Create? You bet. Tasty morning food? Perhaps not. (She can weigh in on that one herself...)
We went to Arches National Park this afternoon and spent a couple of hours driving around and marveling at very large sandstone rocks. We went on a few "mini-hikes" and quickly determined that altitude + sun = Ben and Lisa are wimps. We're dragging ourselves a long and it seemed like everyone else was running past us. We saw one of the places where the opening scene in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was filmed and we hung out under the "double arches" for a bit. (See pictures)
Nothing like a National Park for reminding you of how cool God's creation is. 
We took the "back way" back to the freeway from "Arches" and it was a great drive alongside the Colorado river. Slow, and very winding, but it was also very scenic. We got into Grand Junction, CO about 6:30pm. We did some research on the internet and decided to walk across the street to a place called WW Pepper for dinner. It was however a 35-40 minute wait so we hopped in the car and headed west to try and find something. We ended up in downtown Grand Junction at a place called The Winery. (dare I say, "FIRST!") Good food and my thoughts can be found at that link.
Well, here we are now, in Colorado, our new home state. Tomorrow we make the drive from here to Colorado Springs and stay the night with the same generous folks who we staid with last time. (For 1 night) Then Monday we get into our apartment. It all seems to be happening so fast.
Thanks for the prayer support as we make this move! Tomorrow is our last day of traveling and I look forward to trying to settle in a bit and see what life here is going to be like.
*Picture comments: 1. Niko in Arches park, looking very contrasty to all the red. 2. A shot Lisa took looking up at one of the stone arches. 3. Me, standing in front of the "double arches". (No I'm not "trying" to look like a Blue Brother, it just kind of happened.) 4. Lisa reclining under the same arches as in my picture. (The same ones used in Indy)
~B.
There is quite the range of hotels in the world. Many of them at the same price. For instance the place we staid at last night had 2 queen beds, a sitting room with a couch, a coffee table, a comfy chair, a desk, and a table with the TV on it, and a rather lavish bathroom to go with all that. Tonight we are in Midvale, UT. (South of Salt Lake City, UT) and we have 2 queen beds a small desk, and then everything looks and feels like it was probably left over from the 70's... including the old "we're trying to cover up the smell of cigarette smoke" odor. Roughly the same price.
We get a "free" breakfast here tomorrow, then we'll see how they really stack up. I can take cheap sleeping arrangements with the promise of free food if the food is actually worth it. (I'm already assuming it's not, but a guys got to have hopes and dreams)
Today as we drove south from Boise to Salt Lake City. We made one stop and that was at the Golden Spike in Promitory, UT. It was cool. I got to see the trains. I left happy. The pictures here included are of me in front of the "Golden Spike Monument" and Lisa in front of the 'ole 119.
It was kind of fun seeing something historical that I have an interest in. (Trains) But generally that is the way of history. 
Salt Lake City isn't somewhere I would care to live. I've had just about enough of it and I've only been here 6 hours now. Maybe it takes some "getting used to" but I don't know if I would give it that chance. Lisa and I went out to a pub type place for dinner and had an enjoyable evening. And I was right. No way to top the great meat we had last night in Idaho. Following our dinner we walked around the town a bit and ended up going into what seemed like the Salt Lake City version of the science center. (Only it was focused 100% on space) They called it a Planetarium, but I think perhaps that was a liberal use of the word. They had some very cool exhibits and a very interesting display of actual meteorites. They had a lot of video from space history as well. The only thing we skipped was the gift store. (They had a HUGE section of telescopes and it looked like a "used Telescope" lot.) Lisa and I took the time to get our pictures taken on our favorite celestial bodies. (Lisa, the moon and Ben, on Mars... You can make your own jokes here.)
Tomorrow we are going to attempt to hit some National Parks. Niko has been surviving just fine. He sleeps WELL at night because he is use to sleeping during the day and he's been staying up all day as we bounce and jolt our way across the country. Our health is improving as we climb in elevation here. I'm tired after a long day of driving, but we both want to see the places we are staying. (Because, honestly, the "hotel" ain't much.)
We appreciate the prayers as we continue our trek south and east! We'll try to get some pictures for tomorrow as well!
~B.
There have been times that I have mentioned how "drowned rat" Niko looks in the shower. This morning he took a shower and I remembered those of you who had asked to see him like this. Thus I pulled out the camera and have shot a couple of pics for you all to enjoy. 
The question has been raised a time or two about what we'll be doing with Niko when we move, and the answer to that is that he is coming with us. If you enjoy hearing about the Little Green Bird (LGB) then you can probably expect more as we continue our adventures in Colorado.
I think perhaps the packing has been kind of tough on Niko. I've been told that birds (at least captive ones) don't really enjoy change and they can get cranky when so much as a couch is moved in the house. (Personally I think if you are letting the bird dictate how and where you put things in your house that you probably have bigger problems...) We let him run around the floor yesterday while we were packing things up and occasionally when we'd move something near him he would growl at us. I was explaining his growl to someone the other day and I came up with, "It sounds like a Parrot mimicking a human mimicking a dog growling." There is almost no way I am going to get that recorded but Niko will often make sounds he hears higher than the original sound. So if you can imagine yourself making a growling noise, only a little higher that would sound something like Niko growling. (Also Lisa's stomach just made a growling sound and Niko sounds a little like that as well... Only higher) Anyway, it's pretty funny when he growls at us as he is this little bird and he's often looking up at least 4 feet to us when he does it, and he's to timid that there isn't any fear he's going to come charging at us with his beak outstretched ready to take a bite out of the sides of our feet.
~B.
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Labels: pictures
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Labels: pictures
I was browsing over the 200 pictures I took this past weekend and I thought I would post the one that I thought was the best. (It's currently formatted to fit my Mac's desktop)
This is sunset from the beach we were on on San Juan Island. Many thanks to my wonderful wife for the use of her camera and letting me go! (Click for full image)
~B.
I've always liked the idea of controlling a computer via some other method than the conventional ways. (Mouse and keyboard) I have always imagined that using a tablet to interact with the digital media on the screen would somehow make computing "cooler" or at the very least allow some of my latent artistic skills to show up. (Because, quite frankly when I draw on the computer using a mouse it kind of looks like I had a bit much to drink or I am suffering withdrawal from some type of drug.)
I had read a couple of places on the world wide web that getting a tablet doesn't make you a better artist. Kind of saying to me, "If you could REALLY draw you'd be using a mouse." Having my hopes dashed by such words as these I watched a couple of times as some comic artists I read, draw their stuff on a tablet. I thought to myself, "That looks like a lot of fun, and something I think I could do!"
The biggest drawback to getting myself a tablet was of course the price. Until recently they started in the low 300's and went up. (to over 2k) I didn't think that was worth the cost of me poking around and possibly having some "fun". (I mean, I could build myself half a new computer with that money.)
When I purchased my Mac I began to wonder again... maybe this was the time to try the tablet... maybe... When Beth and I were at the Emerald City Comic Convention we saw the leading manufacturer of tablets, Wacom, there and we looked around at their stuff and I was pretty impressed. Then I checked out their website, and while they do push their higher end models first, they do have some pretty cheap models. "Cheap enough," I thought, "to allow me to buy one and use it to 'play around' on."
So, I bought one. It's little, about the size of a stand photo (about 4x6) but I have to say that it is REALLY cool. It is very much more intuitive than using a mouse and frankly it's a lot more enjoyable. I'm excited to let my sister play with it a bit (artist that she is) I think she'll like it a lot as well. The picture you see on top there is something I drew this morning after playing with the tablet (and gimp) for about an hour. (The picture took about 15 minutes) It was fun, and an I am sure you'll probably see more attempts at creativity as time goes on.
(BTW: The server move has gone well and there shouldn't be anymore interruptions.)
~B.
Labels: pictures
Labels: pictures
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This weekend was eventful... but only really in the Taproot sense of things. Not much else happened outside of that.
Friday was went and saw the current play, "Doubt" and enjoyed the delightful acting by my bosses wife and the other 2 actors. Saturday was the TTC Gala. We all got dressed up (see picture) and enjoyed food from "Wild Ginger" and a little tour of what TTC does on a daily basis with our host, Grant Goodeve. It was a good evening and we all had fun and Taproot ended up beating the financial goal they had for fund raising for the evening.
Tomorrow it's back to working part-time and trying to get over this cancer stuff!
~B.
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