Sunday, September 16, 2007

just because...

 
... i love this picture. no other reason needed!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Mute Math was amazing!

If you have the chance to see Mute Math live in concert - DO IT! I went with a few guy friends from church last Friday to London (Ontario - not UK) to see them in a small club. Wow - unbelievable show! Worth every bit of the $22 the ticket cost me (compare that to most arena show prices!).

And speaking of concerts - I continue to get asked by the girls (for instance - tonight at dinner) when we'll see U2 in concert. I hope to take them to see the film "U23D" this fall when it is released!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Back to reality

Just in case there's someone out there still reading this poor excuse for a blog... :)

I am still alive. My blog continues to collect dust, as I have just gone on enjoying a very pleasant summer.

But now the summer is over and it's back into real life! Well - I can't complain - it's been great... and it's good to get back into the swing.

August was really great. We started it off by spending a week at the cottage with Benj and Shel and their kids. Cottage life is so great! Lots of beach time, lots of paddling, and no agenda - just chill time. It was really nice seeing the kids enjoy themselves so much. It was also nice to put them to bed and sit outside with B & S - hangin' out as friends.

A couple fun pictures of the kids playing. We went to the beachfront park one evening (the Georgian Bay side of the Peninsula) so they could play. Of course, they ended up in the water in their clothes...and Georgian Bay water is COLD! You can see they didn't mind.






Another highlight was taking the kids to Canada's Wonderland for the first time ever! I know I talk about my kids alot... but that's because I get few greater joys than to see them having fun, learning, caring for others - they are just so great. My girls proved that they have no fear! They were all about the roller coasters! Ahh - just like their daddy! Kanah wanted to go on an "upside down" roller coaster. So we went! She was stoked. OK - it scared her once it started, but she was so brave for trying it and she didn't cry. She said she'd "do it again next year, and she would try to keep her eyes open"!

But now it's back to the grind.

Kanah started Grade 1 last week. She is LOVING it. Her teacher says very positive things about her, and she's obviously doing well. The full days have been a pretty smooth adjustment for her. It's neat to see her French developing quickly.



Taly had her JK "interview" with her teacher on Monday. They "test" each child individually to see how advanced they are. Apparently her teacher was very impressed. I know - my kids are so smart... and I know... I'm bragging! :)

Today was Taly's first day of JK. She was very excited, and seemed to have no separation anxiety.




This afternoon, Taly started dance class. Those that know her well know that she LOVES to dance, twirl, spin, dress up, and dance some more. She's very excited to be starting lessons (and soon getting her own dance outfit).

Kanah will be starting an art class very soon. She shows a very strong creative side and loves to draw, colour, and make crafts.

We have had a very good summer. It's time get back to reality!

Friday, August 3, 2007

Farewell Rich

This Sunday is Rich Birch's last day on staff with The Meeting House. It's definitely bittersweet. Rich is making a move to another church up north (www.trinitycommunity.org), and he and his family are excited about it! It's a great opportunity for him. For that - I'm happy. But for us... I'm sad. We are losing an incredibly gifted man. Rich brings so many strengths that it's hard to imagine working without him.

I will miss working with you, Rich.

Thanks for believing in me 4 years ago when you hired me... and thanks for continuing to believe in me. You have been the best manager I've worked for.

I will not only miss your skills in leadership and creativity, but I'll also miss working with you.

Keep birchTV alive and kicking so that we know what's going on up in Orillia. (But perhaps you shouldn't do the dancing at the desk thing anymore!)

I consider it a privilege to have worked with you and to be your friend.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

A few recent things....

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.

Last week we both took the entire week off work. The girls went to Mom and Dad Albrecht's on Tuesday morning... we painted for the rest of the week. If you've seen our house, you know that we have a second floor loft... which means the first floor has approx. 18 foot ceilings. Yikes. You also know that it was mustard yellow. Yikes again.

So after several days of prepping walls (MANY MANY holes to fill and sand and prime) over the few days beforehand, we started the huge paint job. I brought in scaffolding, extension ladders, poles, and lots of paint. And we painted, and painted, and painted. It ended up taking 3 days straight, 18 hours each day. That was actually faster than we anticipated. It looks great. I must say... Arja's good at picking colour, and she's good at painting. Yes - our marriage DID survive the experience (and we even had our 9th anniversary WHILE painting!).

So we finished painting and cleanup by midnight Thursday.

Friday we slept in, then had a really nice day together. Coffee at "the Bucks", then relaxed time shopping. Arja found a really cute new swimsuit, and I got some very needed shorts and shirts. It was nice to just hang out together.

Mom and Dad treated all three of us couples (Arja's brothers/wives) to a night without any kids Friday night. That meant dinner, and a hotel, and Saturday to hang out. Dinner was at The Keg - my new favourite restaurant!!

It was a very good way to wrap up such an intense couple days of painting. Thanks to my wonderful wife for such a great time together.

Sunday - back at church... then over to our great friends the MacDonalds (Dave and Julie - not Ronald the clown!) for a swim in the new pool and a BBQ. The coolest thing is to see the girls really developing a love for the water and getting more bold - especially little Miss Kanah! Jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side without help from me and without her life jacket. Pretty good for a 5 year old! Taly is getting much bolder, too. I only wish I'd had the camera.

Another highlight was time spent in the kayak last night. Up to this point all summer, my time in the boat has been just paddling for fun - rather than intentionally developing skills. But I thought it about time that I actually learn how to re-enter the boat in the water if I ever am forced to wet exit.

I read about a technique that doesn't require a partner or a paddle float to help you... it's all based on using your centre of gravity and that of the boat. So I headed to Christie Lake to work on this, and my high-brace technique.

The water was incredibly warm (warmer than the air temp), which made it a pleasure to be in at 8:00 at night. Within a few minutes, I had the wet re-entry down, and had some good high braces (and some failures that required a wet exit). After an hour, I simply paddled the lake and watch the sunset. As the air cooled, I could feel the warmth radiating up from the lake. It was awesome.

Tomorrow evening I join up with the paddling group from the area for a late night paddle in the river... it's full moon this week - so it should be fun. I picked up a WAY COOL head lamp on the weekend to help with that.

I will certainly miss the summer when it's gone. And it's going QUICKLY. *sigh*

Monday, July 16, 2007

Blog comeback, Part II

Don't call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin' my peers
Puttin' suckers in fear...

Go ahead - play my favourite game... name that tune!

So it's now been a month since I've posted anything of signficance on my blog! Crazy. It's because it's summer... and I'm too busy DOIN' STUFF to write.

Back on April 15th, I posted a list of all the things I was looking forward to doing in summer. Let's look back and see how I'm doing on that list...

- Sandals, shorts and t-shirts without the long sleeves underneath
Every day apparel!

- Hearing the birds every morning
If I'm up early enough!

- Actually needing my sunglasses because it's too bright
Oh yea - Mr. Sensitive Eyes here!

- Opening the sunroof all the way (and not putting on the heat to compensate)
Yes - and the funny thing is now everytime I open the sunroof, sand blows in. Sand got up in the weatherstripping and stuff last week after I had the boat on the beach and then put the boat back on the car without cleaning it off!

- Playing at various parks with the girls
Every couple days!

- Picnics at those same parks
Only in the spring at the waterfalls. None others yet.

- Swimming at the pool
Not enough... but some!

- Saturday afternoons at the beach
Saturdays, and other days too!

- Going to Gravenhurst to pick up my new kayak
Okay... it was at Georgian Bay. But I got it!

- Kayaking the Grand River
A little bit. Not in the fun swift sections yet.

- Kayaking Cootes Paradise
Never again - it's a gross swamp!

- Kayaking 16 Mile Creek
A nice pre-work paddle almost once a week!

- Kayaking the Saugeen River
Not yet - I hope so!

- Kayaking the Hamilton Harbour
Love it! Lots of fun! Last week being right next to the huge barge was fun!

- Camping with the girls
Soon!

- Camping and paddling with just Arja
Dunno if it will happen

- BBQing without wearing a jacket
Oh yeah! Gonna BBQ some jerk chicken soon - just got the recipe!

- Mowing the lawn
Well, the lawn is about dead now :(

- Sitting on the porch with Arja after the girls are in bed
It's a nice end to the day at times!

- Ancaster Heritage Days Parade
The parade was good this year. The kid's fun-land was a joke. :P

- Canada Day
Other than it being on a Sunday, it was great this year! We enjoyed it with great friends!

- Spending a weekend at a cottage
We spent a Thursday at Shel's cottage. Going back for a full week soon!

- Slow walks with Arja and the girls
Last night at Bayfront was a keeper!

- Working with Kanah on her biking - riding without training wheels
It didn't take any "working". She just did it one day (thanks, Uncle Gav!), and is a pro now!

- Helping Taly become more accustomed to her trike
Well, she's not all that enthusiastic about it.

- Cleaning up the car and keeping it clean
I cleaned it up. Now it's full of sand. :(

- Walking the boardwalk at RBG and watching the birds eat from Arja's hand
Not yet. EDIT Actually, the girls and I went, and Kanah had chipmunks eat from her hand! It was so cool for her!

- An afternoon pint on the patio at St. Louis, Montana's or Jack Astor's
I now love Jack Astor's nachos. Oh ya, and the pints are good too!

- Setting up the tent in the backyard for the girls
Hasn't happened yet.

- Fresh strawberries
Didn't get enough of them!

- Fresh peas
Again, not enough!

- Fresh corn
Soon I hope! Not ready yet!

- Family Camp @ Kahquah? (the jury is still out on that one)
Nope - the jury came back negative. We are going to Shel's cottage instead! Even better!

- Watching Kanah shred it up on a tube behind a boat
That one probably won't happen this year. :(

- Baptisms in 16 Mile Creek
They moved it to Lake Ontario. Meh! I paddled Ontario last week - It's friggin' cold!

- The Bruce Peninsula
Oh yeah! Paddling Lake Huron was great! Going back soon!

- Canada's Wonderland
Not yet.

- Taking each of the girls kayaking
Not yet.


So there's a partial list of what's been keeping me from my blog.

This, so far, has probably been the best, most relaxing summer I've had in YEARS. I've had three 1/2 weeks off (with a few days of work thrown in), and I have 2 full weeks off soon. One of those is painting the house. The other will be at the cottage with Benj and Shel. That will be alot of fun.

It's been so healthy to just take a lighter pace and relax, go paddling, go swimming, to the beach, etc. I've really enjoyed just hanging out with my ladies!

I've done some great reading this summer.

- Jim and Casper Go to Church
A very impacting book that has me thinking significantly about the way I approach my work. It's an expose of the modern church movement, written from a pastor and an atheist who went around to many churches and critiqued them. Fascinating reading. The thing that got to me over and over again was the criticism of the "big production". Matt Casper, writing from his impressions as a non-church-goer who was open-minded to the experience... he said of the big production (cameras, lights, haze, etc)... "Is this what Jesus REALLY told you guys to do?"

It's got me rethinking the way I approach production at The Meeting House. Brux and I discussed this yesterday. It's like we take these small little steps over the years, and eventually, the thing gets so big, but we don't notice it getting just a little bit "over the top". We started with white lights, then we added some colour to them, then we made them flash, then we added haze so you could see them more. Same with the cameras and all that jazz. We make excuses by saying we are "culturally relevant". It's true. But we discount the non-church-goer's desire for something "real" - not something "flashy".

Anyway, it's something I'm having to process. I need to figure out how to tame the beast.

- Race Against Time
Stephen Lewis' book on the current crises of HIV/AIDS, debt, famine and lack of free education that is destroying the bulk of Africa. It's tearing me apart when I read it. Some of my friends/coworkers just came back from 2 weeks in Africa. Their stories break me. I am feeling a burning to help in some way - any way that I possibly can. It feels like David facing Goliath. We (our church) are looking for God to show us how we can face the giant together with our African brothers and sisters. It looks like a strong partnership long-term with Mennonite Central Committee may be part of our approach.

It's another thing to process. It's reaffirmed my committment to simple living. Ironic how that comes just after I bought the boat. It's a process. I'm not there yet. The first steps, for now, are recognizing how much we have here, and living in light of that knowledge. Being more grateful... desiring less... spending less... giving more... but beyond that... I don't know yet. Lots of thoughts... none ready to be shared publicly yet.

And with that... I'll sign off now. I started fun, and end pensive. After all... when it comes down to it... while I'm out paddling this week and eating steak and drinking Corona, how many people will die from AIDS? How many children will be orphaned? What the **** am I gonna do about it??!?!?!?! We in North America go on with our cushy little lives, acquiring stuff... spending money... and asking God to bless us. We earn thousands of dollars per year... most people in Southern Africa live on less than $1 per day....

These are the tensions in my head this summer.

Wow - how's that for a change of gears mid stream? And with that, I quit my rant.

Peace.
jamie

Thursday, June 21, 2007

A brilliant video

The song "Typical" by Mute Math.

This entire video was filmed backwards, with each band member learning their parts in reverse... yes, even the lyrics - he is lip-syncing backwards. Incredible!



The making of this video.