802.heaven

We have returned

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:47:00 +0000

Lisa and I are working on settling into Colorado Springs as "home". So far Lisa has spent almost as much time in China as she has spent in Colorado.

I know we just got home but we have plans next week to go visit Santa Fe for Thanksgiving. What will we be doing on "black Friday"? Why we'll be sleeping in in a rather nice hotel.

The bird baby-sitter worked well. Niko was dubbed "the perfect bird to baby-sit." He was also making the other birds there jealous because they were spending more time with him because he's so "nice". I think we will continue to use them for our bird-sitting purposes. It's emotionally cheaper than 1. bringing him along, 2. leaving him at home by himself, or 3. finding a co-worker who knows nothing about birds.

Lisa will be putting together a little something from her trip which will be posed here later this week. (If you are on Facebook she's already uploaded about 180 pictures you can look through)

Work is mostly still fun and exciting. There is lots of potential here to make things work better than they currently do.

We had a little bit of snow/sleet today. Nothing too much, just cold. (Which was a happy change from the 80+ degree weather of LA.)

Thanks for the continued support. I'll compile some thoughts later this week and see if I can't make a posting that isn't so fragmented.

~B.

Disney Tales

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:59:00 +0000

As we were leaving Disneyland the other day a mail carrier was leavening as well and a little girl dressed as Bell was coming in. The mailman stopped and bowed and said, "priness!" The little girl looked at him shyly and then he said, " I saw tinkerbell earlier today and she asked me to give you this." At which point he pulled asomething from his mail bag and gave it to her... Lisa and I had already moved on so we couldn't see what he ha ded her, but we thought it was pretty cool none-the-less.

~B.

Good news everybody...

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:40:00 +0000

1. I have met up with Lisa! Yay!! She doesn't look any worse for the wear and I got a brown silk shirt with a dragon on it. (You'll probably see pictures at some point.) The flight came in 20 minutes early. We were supposed to get in at 7:50, we got in at 7:30. Great time. I still am not a fan of flying though... but any less time I have to spend in the air the better.

2. We have reached "Mutual Agreement" on our condo. They offered us a price, we counter-offered, and they accepted that price. They want to expedite the process (they have cash, no financing needed) so we'll be closing in about 15 days.

1 and 2 = God is good! Our house wasn't even on the market a month! Praise the Lord, and now Lisa needs to get a job and then we can start looking for a house/condo/townhome to call our own down in CO and then we can invite people over to hang out! (Our apartment right now is really too small for throwing any kind of party or having too many people over.)

Looks like we're heading out with Cheryl to go out and do something here in a bit. Then we're hanging out with Lisa's aunt and uncle and cousins later tonight. (Who I haven't seen in a year and a half.)

That's about it for now... I'll try to post pictures as I come upon things that might be of interest.

~B.

thoughts from the airport

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:35:00 +0000

I was walking from my car to the terminal this morning and it was so cold it was painful. When I got through security I checked the local temp here on my G1... temp was 9 degrees, eith wind chill it felt like -4. And to think it's @supposed to be in the low 90s today in so-cal. We're looking at an almost 100 degree temp swing today!

We'll see which one I prefer. I don't like flying... sigh. I wish I had the time the take the train everywhere.

~B.

Chilly Handles

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:54:00 +0000

Icicles on my car door.

~B.

Sideways snow

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:49:00 +0000

From my office... no mountains.

~B.

What is God up to?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:30:00 +0000

I realized the other day as I was sitting in a meeting with some of the Senior Directors that I am a complete "What's God Doing?" junky. I think I've lost track of how many times I've felt that shiver down my spine. I think I am currently placed in a position at a company that allows me to hear a lot of this stuff. Stories of divine appointments and things that would be on the level of "chance" and "luck" that I think it would be hard for anyone to hear that and not wonder if it was orchestrated in some way.

I have been thinking about starting a blog actually to put some of his stuff down. I don't know if I should make it a regular "feature" of this blog as people might be attracted to reading the "What's God doing stories" that really don't care too much about me. I'll think about it, see what I can dig up. God has given me a writing ability and an interest in such things. I'll keep you informed.

In other news I had a dream this morning about missing Lisa. It was pretty horrible. I think now that my subconscious has started to exert itself I can't really pretend like anymore, or keep myself busy so I don't notice. Soooooo, glad I am seeing her tomorrow. (She's probably in the air right now)

Woke up this morning to... wait for it, a very light dusting of snow, and lots and lots of wind. My guess is that it is cold cold cold out there. (There are kids out there right now saying, "It snowed!" And then an adult laughing rather crazily...)

Niko goes to the birdy baby sitter tonight and hopefully does well the next couple of days.

I could use prayers or a safe flight tomorrow morning. (and safe driving in the morning) Thanks for your prayers for Lisa and I while we have been apart. Now I should probably make plans to get off to work.

~B.

Condo Offer

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:27:00 +0000

Hey everyone, real quick, as I have meetings like crazy and then some training today, but we have had an offer made on our condo which is a touch lower than we'd like so we are going to counter offer. Please pray that they would accept the offer. The people are going to pay cash, so they don't need the financing so they can close in 15 days if the deal goes through.

This is what we have been praying for. Please pray things will go smoothly.

No back to the "Action".

~B.

Meeting the interns

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:03:00 +0000

I was asked to join OC's orientation of new missionaries to kind of get a feel for how the whole process works. We had 4 new people that were added to the team yesterday. Several of them are going to some higher security places so I won't detail much about them, but we sat through some training sessions together and at the end of the day we went over to the President's house for dinner. I think we all had a pretty good time talking about how we got to OC. This will continue through Friday. (The training... not the dinners...)

A week without Lisa was ok, maybe even a little fun. Here in the second week though it's rapidly gotten "old". I'll be glad when she's back. (Wait... there she is on IM now!)

~B.

Maps are lies

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:08:00 +0000

I think I need a Tshirt with that phrase on it.

"Well, this is a cartography blog, and I�d like to go on a bit about the the relationship between truth and maps. The point being, in short, that all maps are lies - they are 2D renderings of a 3D reality, invariably containing some form of deviation of the �truth�." -StrangeMaps

It is essentially a blog for HIGHLY nerdy people and is really a perfectly good argument for there being far too much pointless information on the internet. I, however, think it's an interesting way to look at the world and I occasionally get little gems like the quote above.

I guess I thought this was interesting because it forced me to think about something (maps) that I pretty much take as "fact" on a daily basis and to re-evaluate that. I mean anyone that has used Mapquest more than a handful of times knows that their map data contains lots of lies. ("Turn left", err there IS no left turn here, this invalidates all other directions in this list!) (Ok, in MQ's defense I haven't used them since Google maps came out. I'm sure they aren't as behind as they used to be. (Hopefully))

I thought it was interesting to think about. What things do you take or granted on a daily basis as fact, that are in fact, not fact?

~B.

PR

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:46:00 +0000

I could really use some prayer today. I feel like I have been hit in a really huge way the past day and a half on cancer issues. (Mentally, not physically) It's really brought my stress level up to some distracting levels. It seems like everywhere I turn I am reminded of cancer. (Not to mention just looking down at my abdomen) Anyway, I could really use some prayers for peace.

~B.

This is Half!

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:41:00 +0000

Story time: I had just gotten out of church and I attempted to run some errands but both places I was running errands at were closed on Sunday. (???) Alright, well, I was feeling like a hamburger so I pulled over and pulled out the trusty G1 (my phone) and searched Google for "best burger in Colorado Springs" I pulled up the site and found the place Conways Red Top. I decided that it sounded interesting so I started looking for where it was located. I saw there was one on the street that I was pulled over on and I was like I wonder if it's East or West from here. Then I looked across the street. It was South. I drove across the street and had lunch. Pretty crazy.

Anyway, the burgers here (a full one) is served on a 6 inch bun. Half (pictured) is half that. The nice thing about these burgers is that the patty is only about half as thick as my pinky. It's not like I sat down to eat half of something that has as much meat as half my fist in thickness. These are more "classic or Old fashioned" hamburgers, not he "gourmet" variety you see in a lot of places these days. For the folks back home it reminded me of a Dick's burger. (Only the meat was better)

Went to a different church today. Interesting... Preaching was great, worship was rocking, there seemed to be lots of people Lisa and I's age... I don't know. Didn't really get any kind of welcome though. And they didn't seem to have an Information booth where I could talk to someone about stuff they have going on. We'll see.

~B.

Indecision.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:21:00 +0000

Wow... was my last blog update really on Wednesday? Well this past week flew by so I guess it's not any real surprise that I didn't end up blogging. I've had a lot of stuff to do at work and it's been a lot of fun. There is a lot of potential at OC and I think some of the changes are going to be a lot of fun to play around with.

It's also been a lot of fun to met new people and see what it is they are looking for when it comes to technology. I'm also spending some time getting to know the guy who is working for me. (That just seems weird to say that.)

I've been doing chore-stuff today. I think Lisa made some mention about going to the "Great Wall" today/yesterday. I haven't heard from her since I talked to her yesterday morning.

I'm debating what to do tonight. I've so far pretty much spent the day in doors, and while being "out of doors" is a very cold idea, I think that it's be nice to get out and do something... I just don't know hat that something is.

As for church tomorrow I'm not sure where I am going to end up going. A lot of indecision these next 24 hours... Well, I am going o do some more chores and hope it comes together.

~B.

The Future!

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:05:00 +0000

I got a message from the future today. It said the sunrise tomorrow is going to rock. Oh, and that it's time for breakfast. I guess messages from the future get hungry.

(Lisa IM'ed me just a second ago, we chatted for a bit... it was 7am her time.)

~B.

Traveler news

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:25:00 +0000

In what I can only call "Typical" of my wonderful wife, she has sent me pictures looking up. I hope she gets some pictures of people while she's there. The picture here to my right* (your left) is taken while Lisa was out exploring the "little village on top of the hill." With the time difference I am going to say she took this two mornings ago? I'd probably be doing fine if it wasn't for the international date line.

In her emails to me Lisa has mentioned the food in about 80% of them. Her claim was that the food kept getting better and better every day. In spite of the fact that she's eating a lot of vegetables she says she's not suffering from a lack of protein. One such thing she has talked about are the persimmon trees. (My left, your right*) She captured a picture of one in the village while she was walking.

I hope she knows that my envy of her getting to go to rural parts of Asia is pretty high. It's funny because in the spring I hope to go to France with Ryan (Lord willing) and if Lisa and I had to pick, she would have gone to France and I would have gone to China. Interesting twist there.

It was cold this morning, and it looks like Pike's Peak got some snow. The mountain really pops when it has some new snow on it. I look forward to seeing it this Winter. I would take a picture of it, but honestly nothing I have can capture that image as amazingly as it look. Soooo, you'll have to come visit us to see it.

Some prayer requests: Lisa's trip. Me being alone in CO at the moment,and both of our health.

*I'm on the other side of the blog, I have to learn how to point things out otherwise you might get confused.

~B.

Confessions

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:38:00 +0000

Being away from friends and family has really increased the amount I write. I think I spend more time writing people than I do getting stuff written on the story I was supposed to have been working on this month. Oh well, I think between this blog and emails I write to people I think that I are reaching my 2600+ word goal each night... however it's not resolving itself into any sort of "fictional" piece. It's "just" the story of my life. Threads of which only I understand. Thus, before I have even truely started, I have given up the NaNoWriMo. Forgive me gentle reader as I cannot write emails, blog entries and 2600 words of a novel, AND go to work at the same time.

The upside of this however is that I have generated two new ideas for stories that I think will end up being "short" and I think I will try to flesh them out, wrap them up and see where they go.

Attempted to be nice and save the bird from a day of boredom by taking him to the office today. I am going to say that so far that was the biggest mistake I have made in Colorado. (Wouldn't THAT be nice if that was only ever the worst.) Every time I left my office he would make all sorts of amazingly loud noises. I don't really know what he was thinking, but "Alert everyone in the building that I am by myself in Ben's office!" must have been somewhere in there. Then when I would be in the office (he was seated not more than 2.5 feet behind me and to my left) he made some sounds I have NEVER heard him make before but they were very very loud. (It sounded like someone was trying to tear his wing off.) Niko came home for an early lunch... and staid. He won't be returning to the office again. I mean ya try and do something nice for some birds...

Lisa arrived safely in... other parts of the world. It's strange to even try to wrap my mind around the fact that she is something like 13 hours ahead time wise. She's starting to wake up as I get off work and come home. Sounds like she has internet access there at the camp she is at. (What kind of "camp" is that huh? I'd love to have gone to a camp with internet access. (Sounds like it's all wired though... remind me to travel with a small wifi access point if I go with my laptop.)) She says she is really enjoying the food and getting to know her fellow team members.

I'll make her get on the blog here when she comes back and talk a bit about her experience along with some pictures.

The weather continues to hold out here in "the Springs" and it is turning out to be a "warm" fall thus far. Long term weather forecasts show snow next week sometime... I think the running average for amount of "correct" weather forecasts here so far is running in the high 20 percents. Who knows, we could wake up with snow tomorrow morning and it could be 70 by the time I get out of work. (It'll feel like summer all year round in my office, it hit 82 degrees in there before I left this evening.)

I've been going to bed kind of late recently. I guess that Lisa had a "come to bed early" effect on me.

Did I mention she made a bunch of food for me before she left? She wrote up a document on how to prepare it all and called it the "Ben-u". While I can cook and fend for myself if IS easier when there are two people around. (I'm understanding where you're coming from a bit better now Ryan.) I think I would be eating POORLY this week if Lisa hadn't prepped food. But you know I HAD to get pizza at least once.

Quick observation about drivers here: Seattle drivers freak out in the weather, which is funny because you'd think they'd be used to it. Colorado drivers never bother to look behind them. Lets say you're backing out of a parking spot. You look left, parked car, you look right, parked car. What can you naturally assume? hy that everyone around you is parked and there couldn't POSSIBLY be anything moving around you! It is now time to back up, rapidly, while staring straight ahead.

Lisa helped me to avoid being slammed into the other night and if was down to less than 6 inches that the other car was from my window. Parking at the super market the same thing. People will load up their cars, get in, glance sideways, and back up. Never mind people, or potential other hazards.

The flip side of this is that when I am backing out no one stops for me. I can be blocking 3/4ths of the lane as I am backing out of my spot and Mr. I'm-in-a-hurry will still attempt to squeeze behind me.

Drivers are nicer in Seattle.

I am going to cut of my rambling, not tell you about my pizza place observation, or why Lowes is better than Home Depot. Nope. That's the end of my post for tonight.

~B.

Are Our

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:11:00 +0000

The subject marks the 4th time today I have written those two words (are our) in that order in less than an hour. The fact that those are popping up kind'a weirded me out so I thought I would make a point of pointing them out.

I have an observation about Colorado Springs: Lisa and I are tiny. I am noticing this about almost everywhere we go around here I feel small. In the class I went to think morning at church the shortest guy was my height, but probably twice as wide muscle wise. All the other guys were a good amount taller than me. There were a few women that were shorter than I was, but generally they were my height or taller. I don't feel like this was ever something I noticed in Seattle. I don't know... Dan, you would feel average here.

I wanted to shout, "Where do you keep your short(er) people!?" Maybe it's the atmosphere up here though... less oxygen, requires more body-mass to take in more? Maybe? No... didn't think so. Maybe there is some rule about how close you are to Texas.

Either way it appears that Lisa and I are going to get to do some growing up.

~B.

She's off

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:14:00 +0000

Wow... this day was pretty much a wash. I really didn't do much of anything today. I think perhaps it's the first time in over a month that I have had a day like this. I woke up this morning, drove Lisa to the airport, came home, went back to bed, got up, had breakfast, sat around a bit. Wrote some. Had lunch, wrote a bit more, laid around, messed with the bird's head, and had dinner.

And after that long eventful day I think I am ready to call it quits. I think this "getting all my laziness out at one time thing" will make the next 2 weeks more productive.

Lisa should get getting to "East Asia" in about 2 hours. 12:40 minutes on a plane. BLEH. My longest is just shy of 10. Not fun. Now to bed.

~B.

Never Forget

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:29:00 +0000

Today the IT department and the finance department took an extended lunch to meet and hang out a bit with the new VP of "Global Missions" here at OC. They just spent the last 20 or so years in Africa and have returned. They served us some traditionally Africa dishes for lunch. How was it? Well, I'm full. I didn't have to stop by Wendy's on the way back from work or anything.

While we were there the VP's wife quoted something, and I think she was quoting it about leaving friends behind in Africa, but she said;

"We will never forget, but someday it won't hurt to remember."

I was pretty impressed by that quote. It's how I want to feel about cancer. Someday, I don't want it to hurt to remember it.

Tonight Lisa and I are going to go out and have a bit of a "date night" before I don't see her for 2 weeks. We'll see what kind's of interesting food and evening entertainment we can find tonight!

~B.

Tetris

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Few people realize this but... well, I have a problem. Some of you know that I can be slightly "obsessive compulsive" about some things (like, for instance, stacking things. (Fruit in the grocery store, or books aligned in a bookstore)) so it probably shouldn't come as any kind of huge shock that I really enjoy the game Tetris.

I envision something like this happening in my life some day:

I come home and there are a lot of people sitting in the living room. There's Lisa, looking slightly worried, mom and dad, and a few friends. "Hey, what's up? Is this a surprise party?" I'll ask.
Lisa will look at me seriously and say, "No Ben, we're here..." a slight pause, "we're here because we love you."
I'll get that feeling like the floor has just dropped out from under me and I'll stagger backwards into an open chair. "What... what is this about?"
Lisa will glance at the gathered friends and family and start to say, "Well... its.. well..." Dan will stand up then and walk over to where I am sitting, crouch down and put his hand on my shoulder and say, "Ben, it's about Tetris."
"Tetris!" I'll laugh. "I just do that to relax, it's a fun, harmless game!"
Lisa will at this point start crying in her mother's shoulder. Dan will shake his head and say, "No, no it's not Ben. Let me see your phone."
"Why?"
He'll hold his hand out and I'll hand over my phone. "I'm deleting Tetris."
"What, ok, well fine."
"We've already removed all the other copies in the house. On the Xbox, the Nintendo DS, the toaster and even destroyed the Tetris board game you've got."
"What? No... what will I do while I'm waiting for toast?!"
"Ben, you have a problem. It's called Tetris."
"Maybe... maybe you're right. But I can stop at any point!"
"Uh-huh... where were you just now?"
"I was... uhhh, out with some friends."
"Your friends are here. What were you out doing?"
"Fine, I was out LARPING Tetris."

Ok, so maybe it won't get to that stage. I mean it's not like I'm playing World of Warcraft or anything. I was just thinking it would be funny to have a Tetris intervention.

This was all brought on, mentally, by the annoucement that EA has released a version of Tetris for the G1.

If you're up for a friendly game of Tetris join me on Facebook. The application is called, "Tetris Friends" and it's pretty cool.

More details, less fiction, on real life a bit later.

~B.

Jim FAIL

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:51:00 +0000

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.

Wait... where did dinner go?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0000

Wait... where did dinner go?

Great moments in birdy-culinary history. Part 1.

~B.

Dinner Time

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:15:00 +0000

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.

Church and work

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:46:00 +0000

I got a call from a missionary/ restaurant owner in Morocco this afternoon. Turns out he used to own an eatery on Whidby Island. He called to welcome me to OC. I think it's pretty cool we have a chef that found a way to make that his mission!

Yesterday after poking around the internet (from the Dallas Theological Seminary "find a church" website) we located Pulpit Rock Church. We listened to several sermons online and read over the website and decided we liked what we saw/ heard so the next step was to see what the worship was like and how the ages were mixed.

The worship was a good mix of songs we knew, songs we didn't know, acoustic guitar, piano, sings, and electric guitar. (No sax, violin, flute, pipe organ or sheep's bladders in this band.) Age wise we say a pretty decent mix of ages. I guess there are two groups that are for people "our age" so I think we'll take a look at those.

So far Pulpit Rock is our number one choice. We've got an email in for more information about small groups and what-not. We'll see how that turns out.

Lisa is leaving on Saturday for a couple of weeks to go to China, so I will be flying "solo" during that time. There are a slew of options of things for me to be doing in the evening (Xbox, Watching TV, Reading, wandering aimlessly around Colorado Springs, World of Warcraft, etc) but I think I am going to try my hand (again) at the National Novel Writers Month. (affectionately called "NaNoWriMo") Some of you might remember that I tried this 2 years ago and while I didn't "win" I got a good amount of text down on paper. (about 17,000 words) A lot has happened since then and the story has still been turning over in my head. I'm going to give it another shot. We'll see what I'll be able to pull off in 2 weeks and if I can keep the momentum going after Lisa gets back. Maybe 2 weeks is all I need. Anyway, there will be a little score box under my signature for a bit so you can follow what I am up to.

If you'd like to join or are already planning on doing it we can be "buddies" and write many words together.

I think I mentioned it, but in case I didn't: the movers came on Saturday and unloaded everything and then left. Unloading took about half the time as loading did. Unpacking seems to have taken about 75% less time to do than packing did. For this I am thankful, but it has been pretty tiring. (It seems to me that I still have a lot of growth in the stamina department.)

Thank you for your continued prayers for Lisa's trip, my staying at home, our health, and the condo selling.

~B.

Vacuums and Dragons

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:06:00 +0000

"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.