Never forget that Mac OSX has an app called "Photobooth". Or heaven forbid you stop having fun with your Mac. And what fun is it if you don't change your Facebook and Twitter pictures when you come up with a keeper? These pictures taken in the same place, 24 hours apart.

The first picture my brother says I look like the bad guy in the first Iron Man movie. (Only probably about 1/2 the weight) The second picture I happened to be listening to some music, which sounds MUCH better through my headphones, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the monitor and through I looked like I was trying to go for that "DJ" look. So I hyped it up a bit. Anyway, I am having fun. Maybe more pictures tomorrow.



~B.

Labels: pictures

In an attempt to not just sit around and worry about my situation we've decided to keep our weekend (which is 4 days long) pretty busy.

Yesterday we spent the day with some friends we met in COS but they moved down here 2 months ago and we didn't think we'd see them anytime soon. And then we ended up in Houston. We went to some kind of nature preserve, and the weather was perfect. It was probably mid-70's slight breeze. The place was mainly a swamp and I guess the main attraction is typically the alligators and HUGELY diverse number of birds. Our friends were telling us that we'd see lots of alligators. We saw 3... and we had to really look for those. But the weather was excellent for a walk and we saw lots of different birds... and the biggest spider I have seen to date. (I got pictures, I'll have to keep facebook updated with pictures, I'll post a link when I have them up)

Then we had dinner at a little local tex-mex place that was really good. Of course we had fun chatting with our friends and everything as well.

Today (Saturday) we got to sleep in and then had lunch with a friend who was down from Seattle for a wedding this afternoon. A great time was had by all. We went to a restaurant and just hung out. Catching up on his family and friends we have in common. I am pretty sure God has been watching out for us here on this trip. Bringing people into our lives sometimes months before we knew we were going to be here in order to keep us busy. It's been a great trip so far all things considered.

I'll get those pictures posted and share the link down here.

~B.

Labels: pictures, travel

You are looking at what I have affectionately given the name of "Savory Summer Pie". It was something I threw together this evening with some kitchen assistance from my lovely assistant, Lisa.

The recipe looks like this, and I would encourage you to give it a try. Lisa and I probably could have finished off the whole pie between the two of us. (I had Honey Ice cream in the queue as well, so we couldn't get too stuffed.)

Savory Summer Pie:
2 1/2 ears of corn (kernels cut off the cob)
3 grilling onions (small onions, sliced)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 slices of bacon (roughly chopped)
1 Anaheim pepper (de-seeded and cut into thin rings)
3 cups spinach (roughly chopped into bite-sized pieces)
1 yellow squash (thinly cut)
1 can of cream of chicken soup
2 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
1 pie crust
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Bake the pie crust as desired. Chop, slice, cut veggies and bacon and mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste. (NOTE: other ingredients in this recipe can be pretty salty, be aware of that as you season the veggies. They might not need the salt, but apply the pepper.) Pre-heat BBQ and place a cast iron skillet over the heat. Preheat skillet. When hot put the 2 tablespoons of butter into the cast iron and then add the veggies and bacon mix. Put the lid on the BBQ and check/ stir the veggies every 10 to 15 minutes. When the veggies seem good and cooked (to a nice soft consistency, it took me almost 2 hours) add the cream of chicken soup and stir it into the mix. Cover BBQ again and wait until the mixture is bubbly and hot. Transfer to the pie crust and empty the mixture into the crust. While still hot cover with grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 2-8 depending on what else you might be eating.

I did this on a wood powered BBQ with mesquite wood. The point of doing it on the BBQ was to flavor the veggies more than you might get on a stove top. To add more meat to this recipe in the future I would pull out the bacon and add some form of ham to the mixture.

Overall it was really good, and while it took longer than I anticipated it also tasted a LOT better than I anticipated. I also made honey ice cream for dessert. Guess what I like to do when I am trying not to think about things tomorrow. (Oncology)

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

While looking at the peaches on the table from the one side I decided to take a picture from the other to show the contrast. Hopefully a few days of sun will bring a bit of ripeness to them. Anyone have suggestions on what to do with tough peaches if they don't ripen up or taste very good? (Cobbler? Jam? Grilled on the BBQ?)

~B

Labels: CSA, pictures

For this weeks CSA fruit share we got a bag of 11 peaches... hard. as. rocks. So here they sit on our living room coffee table where they can catch the morning sun. Hopefully they will ripen up and we can enjoy the sweet taste of peaches. (Wish they would have left them on the tree a little longer)

~B.

Labels: CSA, pictures

Last night to go with the BBQ'd chicken and salad we decided to make up some biscuits as well. Typically this is no real work as we get out the Bisquick and get together some "drop" biscuits. In this case however we had no milk. So we used Coconut milk. (I can see the wheels turning in your head now: You didn't have milk but you had Coconut milk? Yes, yes we did.) We used coconut milk and being as that was a little thicker than normal milk we felt like we should add something. (At this point a person might say, "Hey, water thins things!" and they would be correct, but water doesn't add flavor.)

We happened to have a bit of ginger and garlic scape butter left over from a previous cooking project, so we melted it down and tossed it in. (It was made with fresh ginger by the by.) We then proceeded to make biscuits from it, not really knowing how they would turn out, but figuring you couldn't go too wrong with butter.

Well, when they came out we covered them in whipped honey and tasted them. I was plesantly surprised at their texture. The outside had that buttery topping and the inside was nice and fluffy. The coconut milk must have added a certain sweetness to it and the ginger was perfect. Added the honey on top and I seriously thought I was eating a breakfast pastry. It reminded me of a cinnamon roll, only no cinnamon.

This post brought to you as a way to encourage you to toss ingredients into things to see what'll happen.

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

Going through some old stuff and found this. A church bulletin from May 1995 asking for prayer for our summer mission trip. Lisa and I were standing by each other. I think my eyes are closed.

This was taken at our old church in Bellevue, Wa.

P.S. That IS my good friend Ryan behind us there...

~B.

Labels: pictures

Made these up this evening. I was reading my RSS feeds after work and came across this post on "Pete Bakes!" that I realized I had all the ingredients for. So I whipped them up and Lisa and I had them with a Caesar salad. These are VERY simple to make and come out tasting great. I think next time perhaps I'll try them with some sharp cheddar. Or maybe make a breakfast version with ham chunks or possibly jam in the middle. Very much worth the effort.

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

This idea comes from Dan and his "beard-u-ary" idea. I hadn't shaved in 2 weeks so as I was shaving this morning "inspiration" struck and I went with what you see above. What do you think?

Kind of funny because as you will remember 4 years ago when Lisa and I were in COS I shaved my gotee for the long running soul patch. I seem to have found the gotee again here in COS.

-B.

Labels: pictures

Here's a picture of the two cats.

-B.

Labels: pictures

Tyler (in white) and Lexi (in repose). If you want a picture where both dogs are looking at you and not running around you're not going to get that with a cell phone camera. I have no idea what types of dogs they are. We do know however that they make us appreciate Niko that much more.

-B.

Labels: pictures

I'll be teasing the town home for the next few weeks. This is the view from the bathroom this morning.

-B.

Labels: pictures

What you see before you here is a loaf of Dill Cheddar Cheese Bread. Put together by my lovely and wonderful wife who obviously loves me (see picture). I suggested it earlier this week as we had some fresh dill sitting around that needed to be used up.

She actually made 2 loaves... but that one is gone already. The great thing about this bread is that it is very soft and moist, has a subtle dill flavor, AND the cheese on the inside is soft, while the stuff that spilled out the sides is crusty and wonderful. We were taking bets on if this last loaf would survive the night or not. I think perhaps it will, but it will not make it beyond tomorrow as we work on cleaning the townhome up. (Happy Valentines day!)

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

At the risk of this becoming a food blog *NSBITStaff:"Too late"* I present you with a picture of dinner tonight. I was quite proud of it so I felt the need to share. Mushroom Pork chops with a lettuce wedge with Roquefort dressing adorned with cherry tomatoes and bacon. The addition of bacon, I will say, had nothing to do with reading this blog post. Honest.

I am now enjoying a bowl of Butter Pecan Ice-cream. If that seems like a lot of fat content it probably is. But I didn't eat for 2 days while I had my migraine, I have some stores to replenish... and I don't always eat like this. (Generally only when I am feeling creative... it, ummm, burns more calories!)

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

The end of Bad apple.

Truth be told "Bad Apple" tasted a little like a raw pumpkin. I wasn't sad to see him go.

~B.

Labels: pictures

I got an evil apple for lunch.

Ok, it might be kind of hard to see but it had two malicious looking slashes in the skin that gave the apple a somewhat... sinister composition. I felt I needed to eat him as soon as possible to rid the world of his evil apple ways.

~B.

Labels: pictures

French leek pie. Yum.

I took a picture of this with my phone on Thursday when I made it. HOWEVER, I wasn't able to send text messages to the blog until today (for some reason) so when it started working again it instantly posted. Instead of going and changing the time stamp I just thought I would explain instead. It's really good and tasty, BTW.

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

We're not sure what it is, but Niko really enjoys spending time on Lisa's bike. Here's him taking a turn on it. (He has a tendency to fall off eventually)

~B.

Labels: pictures

Congratulations Dustin and Marie!

(If you remember Dustin was my roommate in college, and I worked with Marie at Taproot.)

~B.

Labels: pictures

Lisa and I went for a walk this afternoon (as it was above 45 degrees and sunny) and we enjoyed ourselves. It started to feel cold towards the end, but we powered through and made it back. (There is a decent sized park across the main street from us and we went there to walk and there is something of a "river" down there.)

~B.

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

Cut out marshmallows! This was a lot of fun!

I took some better pictures that will most likely be posted here in a bit.

Edit: Marshmallow pictures up on Facebook!

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

Marshmallows with mint. Waiting... cooling... for now.

I'll be punching these out with cookie cutters probably tomorrow and then drizzling chocolate on them and then letting that set up.

Good news: The cleanup was REALLY easy as all that sugar just dissolved in the hot water. We'll see how these turn out tomorrow. (Or maybe Saturday morning)

Edit: The recipe I used can be found on Slashfood. (If you want to try it at home... it's REALLY easy.)

~B.

Labels: pictures

New office decor! (You can see it better here) 31x52 hanging up in my office... the little ones should be on their way soon. It adds some nice depth to my office. (And makes me think of space travel.)

Also, this is my 1600th post! Quite the milestone as I am a couple of months shy of 7 years of blogging here as well.

~B.

Labels: administrative, pictures

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

See... snow.

~B.

Labels: pictures

Still snowing.

Lisa went out to put the trash out (she's been looking for an excuse to go outside) and she said it ranges in depth from about 7 inches to over a foot in places.

~B.

Labels: pictures

Snow update... does it look deeper?

~B.

Labels: pictures

You can't really tell but the snow is coming down sideways.

~B.

Labels: pictures

3... maybe 4 inches and still coming down.

~B.

Labels: pictures

Pueblo county courthouse... strange latin phrase on top.

The Latin on top translates to "Voice of the People, Voice of God" (at least as far as I can remember)

Also, about the 4 post things, it's strange but if my phone gets a "failed to send" error it duplicates the message and tries to send them again... only it doesn't delete the old message, it then tries to send all of them until it gets an "ok" message back. In this case I had 4 posts.

Sorry about that.

Lisa and I are back home now with bird in hand!

~B.

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:

• Being the lead architect was not overwhelming, since this trip was "architecture-lite"


• Having CAD on my laptop was very important! Again, praise God for providence of the software!


• The design for the new building was only at the "design development" stage, a point at which I was competent to handle the drawings with input from the structural engineer and team leader


• For the most part, Ben was content with his time home alone and even enjoyed the relaxation for awhile. We were able to keep in touch over email - that made a big difference!


• LDi didn't have a very specific vision for the camp, but now they should at least know where to start.


• There were almost no problems with our travel arrangements and health!


• The backgrounds and skills of our team adequately covered the needs of this project. Praise God!

I'm glad God provided the circumstances for me to go on this trip. Our goal is to finish our report and sketches by mid-December.

My pictures can be found on Facebook: (You shouldn't need an account to view them.)
album 1, album 2, and album 3.

-L

Labels: pictures, praise, travel

Icicles on my car door.

~B.

Labels: pictures

From my office... no mountains.

~B.

Labels: pictures

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.

Labels: humor, pictures

Wait... where did dinner go?

Great moments in birdy-culinary history. Part 1.

~B.

Labels: humor, pictures

Dinner time!

Dinner tonight consisted of whatever we could think to put on nachos. I think it went something like this:

Chips, Cheese, Olives, Ground Beef, Garlic, Onions, Jalapeno, Black Beans, Cilantro, Tomato, Avacado and topped off with Salsa.

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

"What" you might say, "Does a vacuum have anything to do with a Dragon?" And you know what? I think we'd all be kind of hard pressed to come up with a decent comparison... at least on the level that there would be a store named after such a thing.

Here it is though, Colorado Springs is home to what might be the world's ONLY Vacuum retailer AND fantasy sword seller.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you one stop shopping.

~B.

Labels: pictures

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!"

~B.

Labels: pictures

This is going to be a long winter if I have to keep proving this to everyone... Pictures from Lisa.

~B.

Labels: pictures

P.s. My phone is working again.
Also, we make Niko eat the pomegrate in the sink because of the sheer amount of mess it makes. (He doesn't seem to mind)

~B.

Labels: pets, pictures

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.

Labels: food, pictures, travel

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.

Labels: pictures, travel