I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
November 13th, the Blue Mountains
After being picked up at the hostal the tour bus picked up a few final passengers and went to our first stop in the Olympic Park. We didn't see much more than the 110,000 seat stadium. I found out there that our bus driver has been to Portland a few times while driving a bus for a band that toured up and down the west coast! After that we visited an aboriginal rock carving - turns out the aboriginals are treated probably as bad if some worse as the Native Americans were treated.
So the reason they are called the Blue Mountains is that the eucalyptus trees in the area create an excess amount of oil, and it evaporates of their leaves and hangs low in the atmosphere, creating a blue-ish haze. So nice sights to see in the mountains and on the ferry ride back in. Rode the steepest rail train in the world - 52 degrees! I'd compare it to northern Arizona for a similar landscape.
November 14th and 15th - Sydney
Made a nice end to my trip by meeting up with a couple of old architecture friends from the University of Idaho. This was their last stop on a 2 week tour of Oz. I hadn't seen K in years, since graduation! We met in hyde park and then I took them on a quick night tour of the harbor and the rocks. We found a cool Portuguese restaurant and had a nice dinner and some drinks. It was some of the tastiest food I've had this whole trip, but to be fair I hadn't tried any of the local Thai places yet.
We ended up grabbing a bottle of wine on the way back to their hostal and stayed up til like 3am catching up and talking about travels. I finally made the walk back to my place by 3:30 - a mere two hours before I was supposed to be woken up by my alarm.
Of course I slept through it.
And missed my flight.
So I booked one for the next morning (fortunately I had a spare day in my schedule so I wasn't going to miss my big flight back to LA) and decided to stick it out in the airport for the night for 2 reasons: first that I didn't want to miss my early flight again and secondly that it was raining really hard out - the first time I'd seen real rain on my entire vacation. I felt lucky to have fantastic weather all the times it mattered.
Staying in the airport also made it easy to use up all my Australian money, since nothing is cheap in the airport. Made some good conversation with a dutch girl after they locked up the airport. We talked about bicycling in particular, since her country is awesome for cycling and Portland is the best city for it in the states. (I've noticed that abroad it's always called "the states," and sometimes "America," but rarely ever "the U.S.) Dutch people have been a lot of fun to meet on this trip, by far my favorite nationality to meet here.
Spent the night sleeping (and it's a stretch to call it sleeping) and then following day (the 16th) flying back to Portland. I left sydney airport at 6:30am local time, and after a layover in Auckland, arrived in LAX at 6:30am the same day. I swear you have to take a time machine to travel down under.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
New Zealand Part 8
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
November 12th, Taronga Zoo
Slept very soundly last night, probably because I wore my ear plugs! The street noise and louder German roommates could definitely put a dent in my sleep. I might try it again tonight, but I'm worried I won't hear my alarm tomorrow morning if I do... tough call.
I made my trip to the zoo today. I couldn't believe the regular adult ticket is $43.00! I bought a zoo pass from the ferry terminal, saved myself $10.00 by getting it all in one.
Turns out today was an unusual day to visit , apparently every elementary school in Sydney decided this would be a great day for a field trip! It was a lot of work just to move around sometimes, I heard there were going to be 1500 students there that day.
The seal show was quality, but brief. Maybe if you go to all 3 shows you see different tricks? The rest is pretty much standard zoo - a high standard - but nothing really worth writing much about. Animals I hadn't seen before: Siberian Tiger, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koala, and Tasmanian Devil (awesome!).
Thoughts on Sydney: It was a bit revealing to find out Sydney has a lot of brothels. I had noticed many adult venues on Darlinghurst street, but the paper said there are over 270 in the Sydney area and that surprised most people, even those who are in the industry. Also, much like New Zealand, there isn't too much "culture" for tourists. At least not the culture I think of when I remember traveling Europe. But it does seem to be a big spot for drinking and partying! Most people at the hostal are here to do some drinking - I expect for scenery more people go to Cairns or Brisbane.
Which makes Sydney not the best city for me. It is tempting to go out to the bars, but it is way too expensive to drink here and I don't have an interest in getting drunk. The party scene and party people just don't really fit my values, I'd rather enjoy a evening with friends or take in some great hikes or art museums. It's almost a shame I came here for 4 days instead of heading up to the Great Barrier Reef, but I did want to see the architecture and say that I've been here. Maybe there will be a next time, and then I'll know I can probably just bypass Sydney.
November 12th, Taronga Zoo
Slept very soundly last night, probably because I wore my ear plugs! The street noise and louder German roommates could definitely put a dent in my sleep. I might try it again tonight, but I'm worried I won't hear my alarm tomorrow morning if I do... tough call.
I made my trip to the zoo today. I couldn't believe the regular adult ticket is $43.00! I bought a zoo pass from the ferry terminal, saved myself $10.00 by getting it all in one.
Turns out today was an unusual day to visit , apparently every elementary school in Sydney decided this would be a great day for a field trip! It was a lot of work just to move around sometimes, I heard there were going to be 1500 students there that day.
The seal show was quality, but brief. Maybe if you go to all 3 shows you see different tricks? The rest is pretty much standard zoo - a high standard - but nothing really worth writing much about. Animals I hadn't seen before: Siberian Tiger, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koala, and Tasmanian Devil (awesome!).
Thoughts on Sydney: It was a bit revealing to find out Sydney has a lot of brothels. I had noticed many adult venues on Darlinghurst street, but the paper said there are over 270 in the Sydney area and that surprised most people, even those who are in the industry. Also, much like New Zealand, there isn't too much "culture" for tourists. At least not the culture I think of when I remember traveling Europe. But it does seem to be a big spot for drinking and partying! Most people at the hostal are here to do some drinking - I expect for scenery more people go to Cairns or Brisbane.
Which makes Sydney not the best city for me. It is tempting to go out to the bars, but it is way too expensive to drink here and I don't have an interest in getting drunk. The party scene and party people just don't really fit my values, I'd rather enjoy a evening with friends or take in some great hikes or art museums. It's almost a shame I came here for 4 days instead of heading up to the Great Barrier Reef, but I did want to see the architecture and say that I've been here. Maybe there will be a next time, and then I'll know I can probably just bypass Sydney.
Monday, December 13, 2010
New Zealand Part 7
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
November 10th, Christchurch and Sydney
The center of Christchurch is very small and walkable. That said, I didn't really do much. The Cantebury Museum was fantastic however! Donations for entry, and loads of good Maori and Antarctic exhibits, plus some good bits on local wild life. I didn't go into the Kiwi house though. It costs nz$18.00 just to see them in real life isn't worth it. I settled for the stuffed ones in the museum.
FYI- you have to purchase and Australia visa before you fly there! No purchase on arrival - very odd.
Had a nice shuttle ride to the airport with a very amiable driver. We talk about the difference between the north and south islands. He's originally from Auckland, and thinks that some of the people in Christchurch have it a bit easy. I mention it seems that Christchurch is a very good town for cycling. "Of course it's a great town for cycling," says my driver, "It's flat! Many people cycle here because it's easy, in Auckland though we have hills, real hills, and people still ride there. Auckland cyclists are real cyclists." Made me smile.
Emirates Airlines is a real cush way to travel. Great seats and in-flight entertainment and the food was very nice for in-flight stuff. Also interesting was the fact that the flight announcements were in both English and Arabic, and the staff on-board spoke a total of 8 different languages fluently!
Found my shuttle driver for my complimentary ride to my hostel in town, and then went to find some quick take-away food for dinner.
November 11th, Sydney
Started finding my way around the city today. Visited the Opera House, the Rocks, Harbor Bridge, Hyde Park and botanical gardens. I was going to climb the harbor bridge but it costs $200! I've spent enough on this trip already, I think I'd rather pay to see a performance at the opera house instead.
I walked into St. Mary's Cathedral and noticed they were filming a Christmas special that evening. I decided to go. It was pleasant, Christmas cheer this early brings a smile to my face. But they sing some of their hymns/carols the wrong! The tunes were very different, so even the songs that I knew I couldn't sing along with. But at least the call and response parts were easy. But the fun part is I'm going to be on ABC in Australia on Christmas eve at 7:00pm - maybe my big television break? :)
November 10th, Christchurch and Sydney
The center of Christchurch is very small and walkable. That said, I didn't really do much. The Cantebury Museum was fantastic however! Donations for entry, and loads of good Maori and Antarctic exhibits, plus some good bits on local wild life. I didn't go into the Kiwi house though. It costs nz$18.00 just to see them in real life isn't worth it. I settled for the stuffed ones in the museum.
FYI- you have to purchase and Australia visa before you fly there! No purchase on arrival - very odd.
Had a nice shuttle ride to the airport with a very amiable driver. We talk about the difference between the north and south islands. He's originally from Auckland, and thinks that some of the people in Christchurch have it a bit easy. I mention it seems that Christchurch is a very good town for cycling. "Of course it's a great town for cycling," says my driver, "It's flat! Many people cycle here because it's easy, in Auckland though we have hills, real hills, and people still ride there. Auckland cyclists are real cyclists." Made me smile.
Emirates Airlines is a real cush way to travel. Great seats and in-flight entertainment and the food was very nice for in-flight stuff. Also interesting was the fact that the flight announcements were in both English and Arabic, and the staff on-board spoke a total of 8 different languages fluently!
Found my shuttle driver for my complimentary ride to my hostel in town, and then went to find some quick take-away food for dinner.
November 11th, Sydney
Started finding my way around the city today. Visited the Opera House, the Rocks, Harbor Bridge, Hyde Park and botanical gardens. I was going to climb the harbor bridge but it costs $200! I've spent enough on this trip already, I think I'd rather pay to see a performance at the opera house instead.
I walked into St. Mary's Cathedral and noticed they were filming a Christmas special that evening. I decided to go. It was pleasant, Christmas cheer this early brings a smile to my face. But they sing some of their hymns/carols the wrong! The tunes were very different, so even the songs that I knew I couldn't sing along with. But at least the call and response parts were easy. But the fun part is I'm going to be on ABC in Australia on Christmas eve at 7:00pm - maybe my big television break? :)
Saturday, December 11, 2010
New Zealand Part 6
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
November 7th, Queenstown - Te Anau
Had a lazy morning, only one thing left on our schedule: eating at Fergburger for lunch. We watched a little TV and I followed the Ducks game online (53-16 over the Huskies!) and did our final packing.
Anna ordered the "Little Bambi," burger - a venison burger - while I had the "Little Lambi." I'd never had mint jelly on a burger before, but it was sure tasty!
After lunch was time for Anna to head to the airport. And though one might easily imagine a long worded goodbye, her bus was already waiting when we got to the station so it was a quick hug and well wishes for a safe journey home.
And I was traveling solo once more.
My bus was only one hour later, and took me to the Lakefront Backpackers Hostel in Te Anau. The name says it all, it really is right on the lakefront and my room shares a massive common porch with a great view and soft couches.
Te Anau is a tiny town, really not much more than a stopover or staging point for treks into Milford or Doubtful Sounds.
November 8th, Milford Sound
Made a quick sausage & egg breakfast before being picked up by the tour bus at 7:30am. It was myself and 5 pensioners on holiday. Not my ideal group, but friendly. We made several stops along the way in and out of Milford for photos, nature walks, and rest stops.
The cruise was definitely the highlight, although the descent along Milford Road was spectacular as well. It started off as an overcast day with a very low cloud level obscuring all the peaks in the Milford Fjord. Technically it's a fjord and not a sound because a sound is carved by water, like Puget Sound, and fjords are carved by ice. But fjord had not yet been adopted into the English language when Milford Sound was named, and so the misnomer sticks.
The 2-hour scenic cruise was nice. (I think they avoid 3-hour tours for good luck) Saw some penguins, seals, and birds. On the return towards Milford the clouds finally broke and I saw what all the fuss was about. It is very dramatic scenery! Waterfalls and sheer cliffs abound.
I was surprised how small it was. I'm kicking myself a bit for not doing the kayaking trip here, but then again the weather was lousy and waves were a bit big for kayaks... oh well. I must have taken 100 photos or more, with many duplicates. There will be some cutting and editing to do when I get back.
Arrived back in Te Anau to see my room, which last night I had to myself, now had two new occupants. One I haven't met yet and the other is a girl from Seattle. The more you travel, the smaller the world gets.
November 9th, Te Anau - Christchurch
Rode two shuttle from TA to CC, and all said and done I got on the first at 9:30am and got off the last at 9:30pm. Long Day. But apparently atomic shuttles does have some really nice vans, this one was brilliant, not more than a year old at most. Guess they keep all the new ones on the east coast!
November 7th, Queenstown - Te Anau
Had a lazy morning, only one thing left on our schedule: eating at Fergburger for lunch. We watched a little TV and I followed the Ducks game online (53-16 over the Huskies!) and did our final packing.
Anna ordered the "Little Bambi," burger - a venison burger - while I had the "Little Lambi." I'd never had mint jelly on a burger before, but it was sure tasty!
After lunch was time for Anna to head to the airport. And though one might easily imagine a long worded goodbye, her bus was already waiting when we got to the station so it was a quick hug and well wishes for a safe journey home.
And I was traveling solo once more.
My bus was only one hour later, and took me to the Lakefront Backpackers Hostel in Te Anau. The name says it all, it really is right on the lakefront and my room shares a massive common porch with a great view and soft couches.
Te Anau is a tiny town, really not much more than a stopover or staging point for treks into Milford or Doubtful Sounds.
November 8th, Milford Sound
Made a quick sausage & egg breakfast before being picked up by the tour bus at 7:30am. It was myself and 5 pensioners on holiday. Not my ideal group, but friendly. We made several stops along the way in and out of Milford for photos, nature walks, and rest stops.
The cruise was definitely the highlight, although the descent along Milford Road was spectacular as well. It started off as an overcast day with a very low cloud level obscuring all the peaks in the Milford Fjord. Technically it's a fjord and not a sound because a sound is carved by water, like Puget Sound, and fjords are carved by ice. But fjord had not yet been adopted into the English language when Milford Sound was named, and so the misnomer sticks.
The 2-hour scenic cruise was nice. (I think they avoid 3-hour tours for good luck) Saw some penguins, seals, and birds. On the return towards Milford the clouds finally broke and I saw what all the fuss was about. It is very dramatic scenery! Waterfalls and sheer cliffs abound.
I was surprised how small it was. I'm kicking myself a bit for not doing the kayaking trip here, but then again the weather was lousy and waves were a bit big for kayaks... oh well. I must have taken 100 photos or more, with many duplicates. There will be some cutting and editing to do when I get back.
Arrived back in Te Anau to see my room, which last night I had to myself, now had two new occupants. One I haven't met yet and the other is a girl from Seattle. The more you travel, the smaller the world gets.
November 9th, Te Anau - Christchurch
Rode two shuttle from TA to CC, and all said and done I got on the first at 9:30am and got off the last at 9:30pm. Long Day. But apparently atomic shuttles does have some really nice vans, this one was brilliant, not more than a year old at most. Guess they keep all the new ones on the east coast!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
New Zealand Part 5
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
November 4th, Queenstown
I love that it still light out here past 8pm... I will miss that when I return to the states.
Started today out by hitting up the I-site and getting a couple things booked. Tomorrow we'll go kayaking and skydiving will happen on Saturday! Afterwards we went to the Queenstown Gardens. They are great, with some nice flowers and tall trees, duck pond, a stereotypical gazebo, all very scenic. It is also the site of New Zealand's first disc-golf course! Anna and I played our way through the gardens, a fun way to tour through it. It's also a bit of an arboretum, with plants from all over the world including an Oregon Doug Fir!
We stopped in at the underwater observatory on the way back. NZ$5.00 seemed a bit over the top for an admission price at first. One one room, 4 windows peering straight into the lake. But when the enormous trout started swarming for the food and the ducks were diving and the eels creeping out Anna it was pretty cool. Mostly rainbow and brown trout in the lake.
After lunch we went for a hike up Queenstown hill. It's a very vertical hike, but the view from the top is fantastic! The is definitely Lord of the Rings country. The hike up definitely got the heart pumping and the last bit to the summit is essential!
Had a takeaway pizza for dinner. Not too good really, the sauce was tasty but needed about 5x more of it to really work. It's always tough to find good pizza abroad, except perhaps in Italy.
November 5th, Queenstown
Did a kayak trip with Rippled Earth out in Glenorchy today. Our guide, Sam, started this touring company three years ago and it's going strong. He was full of great info about all the birds and beasts. There are a couple of islands we saw, Pig and Pigeon islands. We took a hike on pigeon after kayaking across lake Wakatipu to get to it. Sam made us homemade tea and cakes, which was very tasty and impressed Anna a lot. There is a free cabin on the island that is first-come/first-served, they just ask that you leave firewood for the next people to use it! Would love to rent some kayaks and stay in the cabin for a couple nights next time!
Like yesterday we made an afternoon hike, this time along the lakefront to Frankton. Took about an hour and it was very pleasant. A multi-use path runs between the two town, which seems to be heavily used by people living in Frankton and working in Queenstown. I would definitely do that if I lived here.
Fish and Chips from PJ's for dinner - yum!
November 6th, Queenstown
SKYDIVING IS AWESOME!!!
Anna and I jumped from 12,000ft today with N-Zone skydiving. We could have gone from 15,000ft but it was too much money.
It was such a thrill though! Chris (my tandem "jump master" - michael jordan might be offended) made us do a backflip coming out the door, then lead me through a couple spins as we plummeted earthwards. Seeing the Remarkables mountains from above is quite a treat!
What struck me most were two things:
1) I had no fear or nervousness as we jumped. I was just amped up and eager to go, which excited my jump master.
2) After the parachute opens it is so quite up there! No rushing wind, no street noise, no people talking or music playing or anything, just pure quiet attending to you and the amazing scenery.
As soon as we landed I immediately wanted to go up again. Maybe I should learn how to be a tandem jumper? Apparently on a busy day the jump masters here will do as many as 10 jumps!
That night we had a brilliant dinner on the waterfront at a restaurant at Pier 19. I had the hereford beef, and Anna the venison, and we split a bottle of local pinot noir. Might have been the finest meal I've ever had.
November 4th, Queenstown
I love that it still light out here past 8pm... I will miss that when I return to the states.
Started today out by hitting up the I-site and getting a couple things booked. Tomorrow we'll go kayaking and skydiving will happen on Saturday! Afterwards we went to the Queenstown Gardens. They are great, with some nice flowers and tall trees, duck pond, a stereotypical gazebo, all very scenic. It is also the site of New Zealand's first disc-golf course! Anna and I played our way through the gardens, a fun way to tour through it. It's also a bit of an arboretum, with plants from all over the world including an Oregon Doug Fir!
We stopped in at the underwater observatory on the way back. NZ$5.00 seemed a bit over the top for an admission price at first. One one room, 4 windows peering straight into the lake. But when the enormous trout started swarming for the food and the ducks were diving and the eels creeping out Anna it was pretty cool. Mostly rainbow and brown trout in the lake.
After lunch we went for a hike up Queenstown hill. It's a very vertical hike, but the view from the top is fantastic! The is definitely Lord of the Rings country. The hike up definitely got the heart pumping and the last bit to the summit is essential!
Had a takeaway pizza for dinner. Not too good really, the sauce was tasty but needed about 5x more of it to really work. It's always tough to find good pizza abroad, except perhaps in Italy.
November 5th, Queenstown
Did a kayak trip with Rippled Earth out in Glenorchy today. Our guide, Sam, started this touring company three years ago and it's going strong. He was full of great info about all the birds and beasts. There are a couple of islands we saw, Pig and Pigeon islands. We took a hike on pigeon after kayaking across lake Wakatipu to get to it. Sam made us homemade tea and cakes, which was very tasty and impressed Anna a lot. There is a free cabin on the island that is first-come/first-served, they just ask that you leave firewood for the next people to use it! Would love to rent some kayaks and stay in the cabin for a couple nights next time!
Like yesterday we made an afternoon hike, this time along the lakefront to Frankton. Took about an hour and it was very pleasant. A multi-use path runs between the two town, which seems to be heavily used by people living in Frankton and working in Queenstown. I would definitely do that if I lived here.
Fish and Chips from PJ's for dinner - yum!
November 6th, Queenstown
SKYDIVING IS AWESOME!!!
Anna and I jumped from 12,000ft today with N-Zone skydiving. We could have gone from 15,000ft but it was too much money.
It was such a thrill though! Chris (my tandem "jump master" - michael jordan might be offended) made us do a backflip coming out the door, then lead me through a couple spins as we plummeted earthwards. Seeing the Remarkables mountains from above is quite a treat!
What struck me most were two things:
1) I had no fear or nervousness as we jumped. I was just amped up and eager to go, which excited my jump master.
2) After the parachute opens it is so quite up there! No rushing wind, no street noise, no people talking or music playing or anything, just pure quiet attending to you and the amazing scenery.
As soon as we landed I immediately wanted to go up again. Maybe I should learn how to be a tandem jumper? Apparently on a busy day the jump masters here will do as many as 10 jumps!
That night we had a brilliant dinner on the waterfront at a restaurant at Pier 19. I had the hereford beef, and Anna the venison, and we split a bottle of local pinot noir. Might have been the finest meal I've ever had.
Monday, November 29, 2010
New Zealand Part 4
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
November 1st, Nelson - Franz Joseph
We were picked up at 7:30am by our Atomic Shuttle right at our front door. The Atomic buses are smaller and not as comfortable as Intercity, but they are significantly cheaper and have door-to-door service.
Stopped for a lunch break in Punakaiki, the sight of the "Pancake rocks." Nice stopover point, especially for geologists, but not really worth more than the half an hour we spent there.
Rolled into Franz Joseph at 4:30 and checked into our hostel - The Chateu Franz. Nothing french about it besides the name, but a very nice hostel with free soup, hot tub, movies, and meal/happy hour deals at the locals watering holes. We booked ourselves onto the half day glacier hike for tomorrow and will probably do some other small local hikes afterwords. Franz Jospech is a tiny town all centered around the hostels and the glacier activities. Perhaps Fox is a bigger town, but I continue to hear that FJ is the superior glacier.
November 2nd, Franz Joseph Glacier
Hiked on the glacier today - what a fantastic trip! It is so much bigger than you realize, it's 2.5km just to walk to it after the public walking path ends! It is one of only 3 temperate glaciers in the entire world, the other two being fox glacier in NZ and one in Patagonia. FJ is only 200 meters above sea level.
The guiding outfit provided all the gear we could ever need, which meant I was dressed overly warm. The crampons and boots were very sturdy too. Getting on the is was great and very easy, the crew cuts fresh steps into the glacier every day - something that is needed with all the movement of the glacier and the rainfall (9 meters annually). They are a bit worried about global warming having a bad affect on the glacier, but so far it's nothing too serious.
We can only see a small part of the glacier from the valley floor, the "panhandle," portion. To get to the actual pan part we would need a really long hike or a helicopter flight - which is offered in town but is too spendy for my tastes.
The ice in the glacier really is blue! This is because glacier ice is significantly denser than normal ice, so the light refracts and we only catch the blue spectrum (occasionally green and, in the antarctic, sometimes purple).
Going through the ice cave was great, and it was more physical an activity than I'd guessed. Walking with emphasis in every step to make sure the cleats all stick into the ice is a decent workout. Still, a full day up would have been a good adventure at my fitness level.
Anna and I decided to use some advice we got in the hostel about the hike. They typically split each hike into groups of ten people, and we were recommended to go in the last group - the slow group. Most people don't like the idea of going in the slow group, but the slow group also gets the most time on the ice and doesn't have to keep moving to make room for the other groups; like being the last pair on the golf course, you can take your time with each spot and really enjoy it. This was good advice, made for plenty of time to take pictures and asking questions of our guide.
November 1st, Nelson - Franz Joseph
We were picked up at 7:30am by our Atomic Shuttle right at our front door. The Atomic buses are smaller and not as comfortable as Intercity, but they are significantly cheaper and have door-to-door service.
Stopped for a lunch break in Punakaiki, the sight of the "Pancake rocks." Nice stopover point, especially for geologists, but not really worth more than the half an hour we spent there.
Rolled into Franz Joseph at 4:30 and checked into our hostel - The Chateu Franz. Nothing french about it besides the name, but a very nice hostel with free soup, hot tub, movies, and meal/happy hour deals at the locals watering holes. We booked ourselves onto the half day glacier hike for tomorrow and will probably do some other small local hikes afterwords. Franz Jospech is a tiny town all centered around the hostels and the glacier activities. Perhaps Fox is a bigger town, but I continue to hear that FJ is the superior glacier.
November 2nd, Franz Joseph Glacier
Hiked on the glacier today - what a fantastic trip! It is so much bigger than you realize, it's 2.5km just to walk to it after the public walking path ends! It is one of only 3 temperate glaciers in the entire world, the other two being fox glacier in NZ and one in Patagonia. FJ is only 200 meters above sea level.
The guiding outfit provided all the gear we could ever need, which meant I was dressed overly warm. The crampons and boots were very sturdy too. Getting on the is was great and very easy, the crew cuts fresh steps into the glacier every day - something that is needed with all the movement of the glacier and the rainfall (9 meters annually). They are a bit worried about global warming having a bad affect on the glacier, but so far it's nothing too serious.
We can only see a small part of the glacier from the valley floor, the "panhandle," portion. To get to the actual pan part we would need a really long hike or a helicopter flight - which is offered in town but is too spendy for my tastes.
The ice in the glacier really is blue! This is because glacier ice is significantly denser than normal ice, so the light refracts and we only catch the blue spectrum (occasionally green and, in the antarctic, sometimes purple).
Going through the ice cave was great, and it was more physical an activity than I'd guessed. Walking with emphasis in every step to make sure the cleats all stick into the ice is a decent workout. Still, a full day up would have been a good adventure at my fitness level.
Anna and I decided to use some advice we got in the hostel about the hike. They typically split each hike into groups of ten people, and we were recommended to go in the last group - the slow group. Most people don't like the idea of going in the slow group, but the slow group also gets the most time on the ice and doesn't have to keep moving to make room for the other groups; like being the last pair on the golf course, you can take your time with each spot and really enjoy it. This was good advice, made for plenty of time to take pictures and asking questions of our guide.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
New Zealand Part 3
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
October 29th, Blenheim - Marahau
Sleeping in today! The bus to Marahau didn't leave until 12:50pm, so we had no early start, no rush, no pre-packing the night before. It was a very welcome change, on shouldn't always be in a hurry when on vacation.
Our "Atomic Shuttle," didn't go all the way to our destination, but our driver as very helpful and got us a transfer on another bus. Kiwi customer service is fantastic!
We are staying at the Marahau Beach Camp for 2 nights. It's a great deal at only nz$20.00 a night - and convenient because many of the services into Abel Tasman leave from their parking lot.
We made a dinner of rice, mince, onions, and corn which was fairly tasty but as always it could use some salt! But we made enough for 2 nights, so no cooking tomorrow!
October 30th, Abel Tasman National Park
Today we finally got to do a bit of tramping in NZ! The way to get into Abel Tas is either on foot via the walking track or by water taxi. Anna and I decided to get taxied in to Onetahuti (On-uh-ta-hoo-tee) beach and then trek 15K south to be picked up at Anchorage Beach. It might have been the best thing we've done the entire trip.
We loaded up into the taxi boats in the carpark and were towed out by tractor down to the beach. Tractors are definitely ideal because of low-tide launches - lots of wet beach to cross before hitting the ocean.
The sun was out and no clouds in sight, but the wind at sea as pretty stiff and there were easterly swells of 5-7 feet! Made the going rough and very bumpy, but fun none-the-less. We got a quick tour of "Split-Apple Rock," and the seal colony at Tonga Bay - only one seal had arrived, it's still very early in their mating season.
We put in at Onetahuti in an interesting way. The boats have no open bow, so all exit happens at the rear next to the outboard motor. So all the boats have to back onto the beach, and to get on and off the each boat is equipped with an anchor on a winch-line at the bow which they use to pull themselves up off the sand after dropping the anchor further out.
After a wet landing we set off hiking. It's a great place for a walk, like if Forest Park in Portland were tropical and on the beach. The trails are well kept and not too difficult for anyone. We did hit one tricky bit - some tracks are only accessible at low-tide, and we tried to cross one a few hours after low-tide and it was filling in with water. So we had to get our feet muddy and ford a stream or two but we managed alright and had a good laugh about it.
My favorite section of the track was crossing a long cable bridge. It was very cool, just wobbly enough, and reminded me of Indiana Jones.
We got to Anchorage Beach almost an hour earlier than estimated, so we knew we'd made great time hiking. The ride home was as exciting as the ride in, but a bit faster since we were going with the swell this time.
After leftovers we got desert at the very classy cafe next door. Anna had pavlova and I had dark chocolate pudding. Both were delicious, pavlova is like angel food cake on steroids, so good! Tomorrow we will check out and probably hike to kill some time, then catch a late shuttle to Nelson. And after that, a long ride to the Franz Joseph Glacier!
October 29th, Blenheim - Marahau
Sleeping in today! The bus to Marahau didn't leave until 12:50pm, so we had no early start, no rush, no pre-packing the night before. It was a very welcome change, on shouldn't always be in a hurry when on vacation.
Our "Atomic Shuttle," didn't go all the way to our destination, but our driver as very helpful and got us a transfer on another bus. Kiwi customer service is fantastic!
We are staying at the Marahau Beach Camp for 2 nights. It's a great deal at only nz$20.00 a night - and convenient because many of the services into Abel Tasman leave from their parking lot.
We made a dinner of rice, mince, onions, and corn which was fairly tasty but as always it could use some salt! But we made enough for 2 nights, so no cooking tomorrow!
October 30th, Abel Tasman National Park
Today we finally got to do a bit of tramping in NZ! The way to get into Abel Tas is either on foot via the walking track or by water taxi. Anna and I decided to get taxied in to Onetahuti (On-uh-ta-hoo-tee) beach and then trek 15K south to be picked up at Anchorage Beach. It might have been the best thing we've done the entire trip.
We loaded up into the taxi boats in the carpark and were towed out by tractor down to the beach. Tractors are definitely ideal because of low-tide launches - lots of wet beach to cross before hitting the ocean.
The sun was out and no clouds in sight, but the wind at sea as pretty stiff and there were easterly swells of 5-7 feet! Made the going rough and very bumpy, but fun none-the-less. We got a quick tour of "Split-Apple Rock," and the seal colony at Tonga Bay - only one seal had arrived, it's still very early in their mating season.
We put in at Onetahuti in an interesting way. The boats have no open bow, so all exit happens at the rear next to the outboard motor. So all the boats have to back onto the beach, and to get on and off the each boat is equipped with an anchor on a winch-line at the bow which they use to pull themselves up off the sand after dropping the anchor further out.
After a wet landing we set off hiking. It's a great place for a walk, like if Forest Park in Portland were tropical and on the beach. The trails are well kept and not too difficult for anyone. We did hit one tricky bit - some tracks are only accessible at low-tide, and we tried to cross one a few hours after low-tide and it was filling in with water. So we had to get our feet muddy and ford a stream or two but we managed alright and had a good laugh about it.
My favorite section of the track was crossing a long cable bridge. It was very cool, just wobbly enough, and reminded me of Indiana Jones.
We got to Anchorage Beach almost an hour earlier than estimated, so we knew we'd made great time hiking. The ride home was as exciting as the ride in, but a bit faster since we were going with the swell this time.
After leftovers we got desert at the very classy cafe next door. Anna had pavlova and I had dark chocolate pudding. Both were delicious, pavlova is like angel food cake on steroids, so good! Tomorrow we will check out and probably hike to kill some time, then catch a late shuttle to Nelson. And after that, a long ride to the Franz Joseph Glacier!
Monday, November 22, 2010
New Zealand Part 2
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
October 27th, Auckland - Wellington
Took the Trans-scenic Rail "Overlander," on a twelve hour train ride from Auckland to Wellington. Great way to see the NZ countryside, only cost nz$69, and train is always a great way to travel. Large windows and an open viewing deck emphasize the trip is about the scenery.
That said, it's a lot of the same green hills with grazing sheep and cows. At times it feels like those old movie sets where the background revolves behind the main characters as they ride in a car.
Though we only spent a few hours in Wellington, I was pretty impressed with it. Nice downtown, vibrant pedestrian corridor on Cuba Street, and a great hostel at Worldwide Backpackers.
October 28th, Wellington - Blenheim
We caught the Interislander Ferry early in the morning and it was far more than I expected! More like a long distance cruise ship than just a ferry, with several nice seating lounges, a children's play area, cafe, I-site, and a cinema all on board! It was a very pleasant ride to Picton, windy but the scenery in the Cook Straight was nice.
We were able to snag a bus to Blenheim right from the ferry terminal and checked into our hostel around 1pm. We decided to rent a pair of bicycles to go wine tasting, which was an amiable way to tour except for two things: the bikes weren't very good, especially Anna's, and there was a very stiff headwind. We made very slow progress at maybe a jogging pace, but I like to think that just wetted our appetites more.
We tasted at two wineries and I got to try some beer as well at Allan Scott, Cloudy Bay, and Moa Beers. The tops for me at Moa was the Weka Lager and the 5 Hops Winter Beer, along with the Sauvignon Blanc at Allan Scott. When I get home that's the one I'll look for to share with my wine connoisseur friends.
We stayed at the Grapevine Hostel, which is a very nice place with a creek running in the back yard. Only one toilet and one shower, but right now that's not an issue with so few travelers around. We had a nice pancake and bacon breakfast in the morning before moving out to catch our bus to Marahau and Abel Tasman!
October 27th, Auckland - Wellington
Took the Trans-scenic Rail "Overlander," on a twelve hour train ride from Auckland to Wellington. Great way to see the NZ countryside, only cost nz$69, and train is always a great way to travel. Large windows and an open viewing deck emphasize the trip is about the scenery.
That said, it's a lot of the same green hills with grazing sheep and cows. At times it feels like those old movie sets where the background revolves behind the main characters as they ride in a car.
Though we only spent a few hours in Wellington, I was pretty impressed with it. Nice downtown, vibrant pedestrian corridor on Cuba Street, and a great hostel at Worldwide Backpackers.
October 28th, Wellington - Blenheim
We caught the Interislander Ferry early in the morning and it was far more than I expected! More like a long distance cruise ship than just a ferry, with several nice seating lounges, a children's play area, cafe, I-site, and a cinema all on board! It was a very pleasant ride to Picton, windy but the scenery in the Cook Straight was nice.
We were able to snag a bus to Blenheim right from the ferry terminal and checked into our hostel around 1pm. We decided to rent a pair of bicycles to go wine tasting, which was an amiable way to tour except for two things: the bikes weren't very good, especially Anna's, and there was a very stiff headwind. We made very slow progress at maybe a jogging pace, but I like to think that just wetted our appetites more.
We tasted at two wineries and I got to try some beer as well at Allan Scott, Cloudy Bay, and Moa Beers. The tops for me at Moa was the Weka Lager and the 5 Hops Winter Beer, along with the Sauvignon Blanc at Allan Scott. When I get home that's the one I'll look for to share with my wine connoisseur friends.
We stayed at the Grapevine Hostel, which is a very nice place with a creek running in the back yard. Only one toilet and one shower, but right now that's not an issue with so few travelers around. We had a nice pancake and bacon breakfast in the morning before moving out to catch our bus to Marahau and Abel Tasman!
New Zealand Part 1
I've decided to post some journal entries from my travels in New Zealand for the benefit of those who won't get see the pictures or talk with me about it. Mind you, this is not a narrative meant to explain everything about New Zealand and my time there, only a reproduction of what I thought was worth putting into my own journal. Enjoy, post any questions as comments and I'll respond as soon as I can.
October 24th, Auckland
Having my first conversation in New Zealand in Spanish was something I did not anticipate! In the line to get through the bio-security check point there were four South Americans having a laugh. One noticed that I was laughing at their jokes and struck up a conversation. It was fun, I do enjoy speaking a second language.
It was a good idea to take a shuttle directly to our hostal, the driver actually gave us a small city tour and some good advice about travel plans in the Northland.
After settling in, Anna and I went for a short walk into town for lunch. We ate at this Irish pub with really superb cuisine (not something you often say about Irish Pubs abroad). It was a bit spendy, but far superior to most pub food. Next we went to a rugby match at Eden Park, the big stadium where the All Blacks play. We watched Auckland dominate Tasman 49-10. I still don't understand all the rules, but it was great fun to watch the match. I might have to find some rugby matches back in Portland.
October 25th, Auckland
Today is labor day in New Zealand. With such nice weather I wouldn't want to work either! We had a day in Auckland today, seeing some sights, visiting parks and the Auckland Museum, and seeing the harbor. We booked some tickets to the Bay of Islands and to Wellington at the I-site, which was extremely helpful. They arranged all our bookings had loads of useful information, and got cheaper rates than I could find (saved $120 on the train tickets alone)!
It's funny that people keep assuming that Anna and I are a couple :)
There are some lovely parks in Auckland. This country seems very keen for nice and natural opens spaces. The park around the museum is large and popular. We had a tough time finding a cheap place to eat because of the holiday. Ended up eating at the "Slurp," cafe on campus at the University of Auckland.
October 26th, Bay of Islands
Fun Facts about New Zealand:
* The number one export is dairy products
* 98% of their energy is from renewable sources (80% hydroelectric, 18% geothermal, 2% fossil fuels)
* Some locals prefer to hunt pigs with 2 dogs and a knife instead of using a rifle.
We booked a day trip through Great Sights to the Bay of Islands - a 4 hour bus to Paihia, 3 hours on the water, 2 hours of wandering, and a 4 hour bus ride back. It was a beautiful trip, and the weather cooperated extremely well, bright and sunny all day. While on the boat we saw dolphins! They swam right up under the bow of the boat like they enjoyed the attention. And when we left they made a good show of jumping in the boat wakes. Fantastic, graceful creatures.
The top of the trip was passing through "The Hole In The Rock." Drove our whole tour boat through a hole that the sea had won into one of the islands. The Maori say that if a drop of water falls on you it's good luck. Nearby is an old lighthouse and a small house that was once the home to the lighthouse keeper (now automatic). You can rent the house now for $12/night!
Once again our driver was very helpful with travel suggestions. He's made over 100 circuits around NZ, but for his vacations he prefers going to Coromandel.
Auckland traffic incoming in the morning is worse that I-5 into Portland - largely because Aucklanders don't carpool or use public transportation (only 16% of Aucklanders use public transportation). Very sad, so many cars and so few people.
October 24th, Auckland
Having my first conversation in New Zealand in Spanish was something I did not anticipate! In the line to get through the bio-security check point there were four South Americans having a laugh. One noticed that I was laughing at their jokes and struck up a conversation. It was fun, I do enjoy speaking a second language.
It was a good idea to take a shuttle directly to our hostal, the driver actually gave us a small city tour and some good advice about travel plans in the Northland.
After settling in, Anna and I went for a short walk into town for lunch. We ate at this Irish pub with really superb cuisine (not something you often say about Irish Pubs abroad). It was a bit spendy, but far superior to most pub food. Next we went to a rugby match at Eden Park, the big stadium where the All Blacks play. We watched Auckland dominate Tasman 49-10. I still don't understand all the rules, but it was great fun to watch the match. I might have to find some rugby matches back in Portland.
October 25th, Auckland
Today is labor day in New Zealand. With such nice weather I wouldn't want to work either! We had a day in Auckland today, seeing some sights, visiting parks and the Auckland Museum, and seeing the harbor. We booked some tickets to the Bay of Islands and to Wellington at the I-site, which was extremely helpful. They arranged all our bookings had loads of useful information, and got cheaper rates than I could find (saved $120 on the train tickets alone)!
It's funny that people keep assuming that Anna and I are a couple :)
There are some lovely parks in Auckland. This country seems very keen for nice and natural opens spaces. The park around the museum is large and popular. We had a tough time finding a cheap place to eat because of the holiday. Ended up eating at the "Slurp," cafe on campus at the University of Auckland.
October 26th, Bay of Islands
Fun Facts about New Zealand:
* The number one export is dairy products
* 98% of their energy is from renewable sources (80% hydroelectric, 18% geothermal, 2% fossil fuels)
* Some locals prefer to hunt pigs with 2 dogs and a knife instead of using a rifle.
We booked a day trip through Great Sights to the Bay of Islands - a 4 hour bus to Paihia, 3 hours on the water, 2 hours of wandering, and a 4 hour bus ride back. It was a beautiful trip, and the weather cooperated extremely well, bright and sunny all day. While on the boat we saw dolphins! They swam right up under the bow of the boat like they enjoyed the attention. And when we left they made a good show of jumping in the boat wakes. Fantastic, graceful creatures.
The top of the trip was passing through "The Hole In The Rock." Drove our whole tour boat through a hole that the sea had won into one of the islands. The Maori say that if a drop of water falls on you it's good luck. Nearby is an old lighthouse and a small house that was once the home to the lighthouse keeper (now automatic). You can rent the house now for $12/night!
Once again our driver was very helpful with travel suggestions. He's made over 100 circuits around NZ, but for his vacations he prefers going to Coromandel.
Auckland traffic incoming in the morning is worse that I-5 into Portland - largely because Aucklanders don't carpool or use public transportation (only 16% of Aucklanders use public transportation). Very sad, so many cars and so few people.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
No way back from here.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could find a simple solution to things like wall street fraud and partisan politics and religious territorial disputes? I think so. If we could do that, we could restore America to her former greatness and retake our place at the top of the world again! The surprisingly simple answer has actually been repeated numerous times, most recently and vocally by Glen Beck during his rally at the Lincoln Memorial. "America needs to return to God." If we would just return to the America our founding fathers made for us, these and many other issues would all settle themselves right?
Wouldn't it be nice if this "return to our roots" were actually possible, and not a literal impossibility with an inherent contradiction to the very purpose of the returning?
The founding of America was a turning point in history, both in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence and in 1788 with the ratification of the Constitution. Never before had a liberal democracy been created as a state in the history of the world (liberal in the sense that it recognized, guaranteed and preserved universal individual apriori liberties, not "liberal" in the modern liberal-conservative political spectrum). And many of the core principles of this new union were based on Biblical values like the Ten Commandments. However many new principles were of the philosphy of John Locke - the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," having much in common with Locke's claim of man's right to "life and property." These rights and the others ideas from Locke framed in the Constitution and in the minds of the founding fathers, particularly Jefferson, promote the limited power of the state and the pursuit of self preservation by individuals.
And here is the contradiction: How can a government both be Christian and yet leave each person to choose how to pursue happiness and to have the right to worship (or not worship) in whatever religion they wish? Surely such a government wouldn't allow the freedom to practice any religion, nor would it be so vague about how people ought to pursue happiness - for the Bible is clear on where it stands in regards to both these issues. No one comes to the father except through Jesus, and without God it is impossible for man to be truly happy. But the foundational idea of America with men acting as "free agents" to decide for themselves these questions without the state endorsing a specific religion or intruding upon their rights blatantly contradicts the steps necessary for a "Return to God."
This ideological contradiction makes such lofty returns to God impossible. America cannot return to God because as a state it picks no favorites and is indifferent on the question of religion. Liberal democracies by definition cannot be theocratic.
Now individual American citizens can indeed turn to God, and in my heart I wholly endorse that. But America the state would have to become an entirely different state and cease to be America to do so. Nor do I think it should, because I find it unarguably doubtful that all Americans will all become Christians. So the government needs to do its best to operate knowing it represents an increasingly non-homogeneous population with a wide variety of values, traditions, and needs.
I also find it useful to point out that Jesus also left matters of faith up to each individual. Jesus teaches about how each man and woman can be saved through faith, not how states and nations can be saved. Note also that God's kingdom isn't America, because Jesus explicitly said that his kingdom "is not of this world." So let the government do its best to protect and provide for its citizens - as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.
Wouldn't it be nice if this "return to our roots" were actually possible, and not a literal impossibility with an inherent contradiction to the very purpose of the returning?
The founding of America was a turning point in history, both in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence and in 1788 with the ratification of the Constitution. Never before had a liberal democracy been created as a state in the history of the world (liberal in the sense that it recognized, guaranteed and preserved universal individual apriori liberties, not "liberal" in the modern liberal-conservative political spectrum). And many of the core principles of this new union were based on Biblical values like the Ten Commandments. However many new principles were of the philosphy of John Locke - the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," having much in common with Locke's claim of man's right to "life and property." These rights and the others ideas from Locke framed in the Constitution and in the minds of the founding fathers, particularly Jefferson, promote the limited power of the state and the pursuit of self preservation by individuals.
And here is the contradiction: How can a government both be Christian and yet leave each person to choose how to pursue happiness and to have the right to worship (or not worship) in whatever religion they wish? Surely such a government wouldn't allow the freedom to practice any religion, nor would it be so vague about how people ought to pursue happiness - for the Bible is clear on where it stands in regards to both these issues. No one comes to the father except through Jesus, and without God it is impossible for man to be truly happy. But the foundational idea of America with men acting as "free agents" to decide for themselves these questions without the state endorsing a specific religion or intruding upon their rights blatantly contradicts the steps necessary for a "Return to God."
This ideological contradiction makes such lofty returns to God impossible. America cannot return to God because as a state it picks no favorites and is indifferent on the question of religion. Liberal democracies by definition cannot be theocratic.
Now individual American citizens can indeed turn to God, and in my heart I wholly endorse that. But America the state would have to become an entirely different state and cease to be America to do so. Nor do I think it should, because I find it unarguably doubtful that all Americans will all become Christians. So the government needs to do its best to operate knowing it represents an increasingly non-homogeneous population with a wide variety of values, traditions, and needs.
I also find it useful to point out that Jesus also left matters of faith up to each individual. Jesus teaches about how each man and woman can be saved through faith, not how states and nations can be saved. Note also that God's kingdom isn't America, because Jesus explicitly said that his kingdom "is not of this world." So let the government do its best to protect and provide for its citizens - as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
He could have written this yesterday.
A relatively concise observation from Tocqueville on "Why Americans are so restless in the midst of their prosperity."
(Remember, this was published in 1835)
"Sometimes you still come across, in certain remote districts of the Old World, small populations which have been almost forgotten in the general commotion and which have stayed stationary while everything moved around them. Most of these peoples are very ignorant and wretched. They take no part in government affairs and often governments oppress them. Yet they normally look calm and possess a playful disposition.
In America, I have seen the freest and the best educated men in the happiest circumstances the world can afford; yet, it seemed to me that a cloud usually darkened their features and they appeared serious and almost sad even when they were enjoying themselves.
The main reason for this is that the first group ignore the sufferings they endure while the second constantly muse on the good things they are missing.
It is a strange thing to see the feverish enthusiasm which accompanies the Americans' pursuit of prosperity and the way they are ceaselessly tormented by the vague fear that they have failed to choose the shortest route to achieve it.
The inhabitants of the United States cling to the good things of this world as if assured that they will never die, and they are so impatient to snatch any that come within their grasp that they might be supposed to spend every moment frightened that they will stop living before being able to enjoy them. They snatch at them all without holding them fast; they soon let them slip from their hands in order to chase new pleasures.
At first, there is astonishment at the sight of this peculiar restlessness in so many happy men in the midst of abundance. Yet this is a sight as old as the world; what is new is to see a whole nation involved."
I never knew this sort of national attitude went back so far in history.
(Remember, this was published in 1835)
"Sometimes you still come across, in certain remote districts of the Old World, small populations which have been almost forgotten in the general commotion and which have stayed stationary while everything moved around them. Most of these peoples are very ignorant and wretched. They take no part in government affairs and often governments oppress them. Yet they normally look calm and possess a playful disposition.
In America, I have seen the freest and the best educated men in the happiest circumstances the world can afford; yet, it seemed to me that a cloud usually darkened their features and they appeared serious and almost sad even when they were enjoying themselves.
The main reason for this is that the first group ignore the sufferings they endure while the second constantly muse on the good things they are missing.
It is a strange thing to see the feverish enthusiasm which accompanies the Americans' pursuit of prosperity and the way they are ceaselessly tormented by the vague fear that they have failed to choose the shortest route to achieve it.
The inhabitants of the United States cling to the good things of this world as if assured that they will never die, and they are so impatient to snatch any that come within their grasp that they might be supposed to spend every moment frightened that they will stop living before being able to enjoy them. They snatch at them all without holding them fast; they soon let them slip from their hands in order to chase new pleasures.
At first, there is astonishment at the sight of this peculiar restlessness in so many happy men in the midst of abundance. Yet this is a sight as old as the world; what is new is to see a whole nation involved."
I never knew this sort of national attitude went back so far in history.
Monday, August 16, 2010
I guess...
This summer got off to a late start, and it's trying to make up for it by squeezing the same amount of heat into fewer days. Honestly I'd take 75 over 95 anyday - but I can't change the weather anymore than I can change history.
One of my highlights this summer has been my volunteering at Kateri Park again with the refugee kids. Every monday we play soccer for 2 hours and it's really a delight. The kids have some respect for me and we manage to have a good time without causing much trouble - we might even get better at soccer by accident! The volunteers that show up each week are a lot of fun as well. They come not knowing what they're getting into, but always leave smiling.
I've gotten back onto the security team with Imago Dei as well - it's nice to be getting involved again with the church. I really do like this community, and I'm looking forward to serving with them during their Love Portland ministry this Saturday where we go out to different public schools to help them get ready for the coming school year.
Another awesome event this summer we the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby - an awesome collaboration of speed, art, and creativity with just a dash of alcohol and danger thrown in for good measure. Very fun to watch and cheer on the racers, who took their lives into their own hands sometimes racing down Mt. Tabor.
I was talking to my friend the other day who graduated from college this summer about what it's like being done with school. Once we passed the jokes about having to do our own laundry and shopping and stuff, we started to lament a bit about how back in high school it always seemed like there was no horizon on life. You decided to do something and did it - no serious things to consider, no real lasting consequences, no missing out on anything else important because whatever we decided to do was the best thing to do. But if you got the chance to do something amazing, like travel the world or attend some really important event, it was more good fortune than anything else.
Now that schools out - and I'm unemployed - I can do some really cool stuff. But now there's always a trade-off that either never existed or I just never noticed when I was younger. There's too many things to be done, stuff that I want to do, and not enough of me to go around and do it all. For example, when I went to Europe I sacrificed getting more involved at Imago Dei and seeing a girl I met just before I left. Both options would have been good, but how does one choose between two good, desirable options? People say just follow your heart/dreams/gut - but what if your gut wants to do 5 different things? Anytime you choose one you deny the other choices.
Eventually though you do have to choose something, or at least you ought to, because choosing to do nothing is probably the worst option of them all - an intentional paralysis which guarantees you get none of the things you wanted. You can't have everything, but you can get nothing - just have to decide for ourselves what "everything" and "nothing" means and then shoot for the best.
I guess...
One of my highlights this summer has been my volunteering at Kateri Park again with the refugee kids. Every monday we play soccer for 2 hours and it's really a delight. The kids have some respect for me and we manage to have a good time without causing much trouble - we might even get better at soccer by accident! The volunteers that show up each week are a lot of fun as well. They come not knowing what they're getting into, but always leave smiling.
I've gotten back onto the security team with Imago Dei as well - it's nice to be getting involved again with the church. I really do like this community, and I'm looking forward to serving with them during their Love Portland ministry this Saturday where we go out to different public schools to help them get ready for the coming school year.
Another awesome event this summer we the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby - an awesome collaboration of speed, art, and creativity with just a dash of alcohol and danger thrown in for good measure. Very fun to watch and cheer on the racers, who took their lives into their own hands sometimes racing down Mt. Tabor.
I was talking to my friend the other day who graduated from college this summer about what it's like being done with school. Once we passed the jokes about having to do our own laundry and shopping and stuff, we started to lament a bit about how back in high school it always seemed like there was no horizon on life. You decided to do something and did it - no serious things to consider, no real lasting consequences, no missing out on anything else important because whatever we decided to do was the best thing to do. But if you got the chance to do something amazing, like travel the world or attend some really important event, it was more good fortune than anything else.
Now that schools out - and I'm unemployed - I can do some really cool stuff. But now there's always a trade-off that either never existed or I just never noticed when I was younger. There's too many things to be done, stuff that I want to do, and not enough of me to go around and do it all. For example, when I went to Europe I sacrificed getting more involved at Imago Dei and seeing a girl I met just before I left. Both options would have been good, but how does one choose between two good, desirable options? People say just follow your heart/dreams/gut - but what if your gut wants to do 5 different things? Anytime you choose one you deny the other choices.
Eventually though you do have to choose something, or at least you ought to, because choosing to do nothing is probably the worst option of them all - an intentional paralysis which guarantees you get none of the things you wanted. You can't have everything, but you can get nothing - just have to decide for ourselves what "everything" and "nothing" means and then shoot for the best.
I guess...
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Gone with the Schwinn across the Mississippi
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| 2010 Schwinn Fastback Comp |
In other updates: the soccer camp at Kateri Park is going along well this summer. The main coach is trying to start up other camps and has left myself and another pair of volunteers pretty much in charge to run the whole thing this summer. So far it has been a success, lots of kids showing up and mostly following/respecting the volunteers to the same level as before. Two of the kids actually are good enough to play for a local club team, but they are without a ride to/from practices - so if you know anyone who loves kids and has a car and is free on monday&wednesday evenings please guilt them into helping us out!
The department of interesting thoughts filed this report early yesterday:
I've nearly finished the first volume of Alexis de Tocqueville's Deomocracy In America, and the sections on the interactions of Americans and the Native Americans really caught my attention. Now this work was publish in 1830, so American settlers hadn't pushed the Native Americans too far; the massacre at Sand Creek was 30+ years off and Wounded Knee not until 1890. Tocqueville draws an interesting comparison between the settlement methods of the Spanish Conquistadors in Central America and the Americans of the United States:
...The conduct of the Americans of the United States towards native races is characterized by a most singular affection for legal formalities... they do not take over their lands without having acquired them through an appropriately drawn-up contract. If by chance an Indian nation is no longer able to live on its territory, they take them by the hand as brothers and lead them away to die far from the land of their forefathers.
The Spanish, using unparalleled atrocities which bring an indelible shame upon themselves, have not succeeded in exterminating the Indian race, nor even in preventing them from sharing their rights; the Americans of the United States have attained both these results with amazing ease, quietly, legally, and generously, with no spilling of blood, with no violation to the great moral principles in the eyes of the world. Men could not be destroyed with more respect for the laws of humanity.
Previously I had never known that there was a contemporary backlash against the USA for their persistent behavior of making a treaty, then breaking it. Those that make the rules are the only ones who can get away with breaking them, or "restructuring" them.
But the actions of American (not European) settlers and their representative government(s) against Native Americans is well known. But to me this drew an interesting parallel with many of the criticisms leveled against modern governing and appointed bodies, groups like the G20 and G8, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. Treating foreign, less developed (though perhaps not less civilized) nations as inferiors by setting up the rules of trade and aid, then forcing national policies onto the helpless nations who have no choice but to accept whatever conditions are set by the lending body.
The legitimacy of these actions is an enormous and multi-faceted debate in itself, certainly not one I believe I have the answers to. However, I find it curious how the methodology has hardly changed over 200 years. Perhaps now nations are not deprived of their land, but things like naturals resources, oil, minerals, diamonds, forests etc could all replace that.
Tocqueville also has a very timely remark from one of our nations "Founding Fathers," [Glenn Beck probably already knows I typed that phrase] about how the United States ought to treat the native americans:
Washington said in one of his messages to Congress: "We are more enlightened and more powerful than the Indian nations; we are therfore bound in honor to treat them with kindness, and even with generosity."
This noble and moral policy has not been pursued.
One wonders what our foreign policy (past and present) would look life if we truly took this sentiment to heart.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Anybody want a peanut?
Well it finally happened, I moved back into Portland! This time into a new part of town, on the east-side of the river in North Portland. (For you locals, it's roughly at the intersection of N. Alberta and Interstate Ave.) It's pretty close-in to the main part of town, and close to the MAX and several bus lines, so it's very easy for me to get in and out of town. It's also a more residential area of town, so it's quieter and the streets are calm. It's the perfect part of town to get around by bike, which is something I was looking forward to a lot.
About the place: It's a 4 bedroom house, I share the main floor with one person. A couple lives upstairs, and one guy lives in a day-lit basement room. It's not the biggest house on the block, but it is in very good shape and I think the social dynamics with the house-mates are all very good and healthy. There's a good balance of people knowing that they need to take care of there stuff, but it's relaxed enough that people pitch in where the see fit and don't sweat it if someone forgets to set off the dishwasher. I came home yesterday from reading my book (Democracy in America by Alexis de Toqueville) at a coffee shop and my housemates were playing Yahtzee. They invited me to join, then we all went out to Indian food on Hawthorne Blvd.
All in all, it seems like a great place at a good price and I hope to stick around a good while.
In other news, the job hunt is still on. I'm pretty much applying for whatever I find that I am (over)qualified for. In fact I applied for a job at a Lazy Boy store just yesterday, wouldn't mind hearing back from them and working there for a while until the architecture business recovers. Things seem to have bottomed out in the industry, but they haven't made much headway getting back to where they were a couple years ago. Right now I just need a part-time job to pay the bills until I can get back to practicing architecture.
Other things are going to occupy my time though. I'll be volunteering more at my church (Imago Dei Community) now that I don't have to take an hour max/bus ride to get to it. I also am looking to get back involved with Architects Without Borders, and there is still some follow up work to be done with my EMI Project in Kenya.
But even that won't take up all my time... which is really great. I want to get to know the east-side of Portland a lot better, try out the restaurants on Alberta and Mississippi, go to the Last Thursday art walks, watch movies in the park, do some bike riding and perhaps some hiking, and spend some good time reading again.
It's summer time, the best season in Portland. Time to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life," and put into motion all the grand schemes I made biding my time in Hillsboro.
About the place: It's a 4 bedroom house, I share the main floor with one person. A couple lives upstairs, and one guy lives in a day-lit basement room. It's not the biggest house on the block, but it is in very good shape and I think the social dynamics with the house-mates are all very good and healthy. There's a good balance of people knowing that they need to take care of there stuff, but it's relaxed enough that people pitch in where the see fit and don't sweat it if someone forgets to set off the dishwasher. I came home yesterday from reading my book (Democracy in America by Alexis de Toqueville) at a coffee shop and my housemates were playing Yahtzee. They invited me to join, then we all went out to Indian food on Hawthorne Blvd.
All in all, it seems like a great place at a good price and I hope to stick around a good while.
In other news, the job hunt is still on. I'm pretty much applying for whatever I find that I am (over)qualified for. In fact I applied for a job at a Lazy Boy store just yesterday, wouldn't mind hearing back from them and working there for a while until the architecture business recovers. Things seem to have bottomed out in the industry, but they haven't made much headway getting back to where they were a couple years ago. Right now I just need a part-time job to pay the bills until I can get back to practicing architecture.
Other things are going to occupy my time though. I'll be volunteering more at my church (Imago Dei Community) now that I don't have to take an hour max/bus ride to get to it. I also am looking to get back involved with Architects Without Borders, and there is still some follow up work to be done with my EMI Project in Kenya.
But even that won't take up all my time... which is really great. I want to get to know the east-side of Portland a lot better, try out the restaurants on Alberta and Mississippi, go to the Last Thursday art walks, watch movies in the park, do some bike riding and perhaps some hiking, and spend some good time reading again.
It's summer time, the best season in Portland. Time to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life," and put into motion all the grand schemes I made biding my time in Hillsboro.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
To answer your questions
Here’s my two weeks in sentences: I went with a 24 member team with Engineering Ministries International to Kijabe, Kenya to develop a comprehensive master place for AIC Kijabe Hospital. We evaluated their future size and services, their current facilities, their utilities and storm/waste water management, and gave them a report visualizing their future expansion and laying down the steps to accomplish it.
They say even the longest journey starts with a small step. Well, this particular journey started with a 5,000 mile 10-hour flight from Portland to Amsterdam, followed by a 4,000 mile 8-hour flight to Nairobi. Our tired team dragged itself off the KLM plane and started to gather at the passport/visa check point for our first full team-meeting. We needed to get acquainted quickly, because for the next 10 days we would be spending nearly every moment with each other.
We drove to Kijabe the following morning, and had a day and an evening to settle in, rest and get to know one other. That evening we had a marathon testimony sharing meeting, which went a long way towards breaking the ice. Some very heartfelt stories and some very personal secrets were shared, and it helped bond this group very quickly. And we needed that, because the following morning we were going to realize just how large a task we were dealing with.
Africa Inland Church (AIC) Kijabe Hospital is a respected church in the east-Africa region. They’ve been around since the early 1900’s and have been growing and expanding their services to meet regional needs. They currently have 265 beds, with departments for pediatrics, men’s and women’s in-patient wards, maternal-child health, maternity, ICU, surgery theatres, specialty clinics, dental clinic, and out-patient care. They are an extremely busy hospital, seeing between 350-450 outpatients every day.
To keep up with this growth, AIC KH has been adding buildings as the need arose without too much forethought into planning for greater growth or testing the stress on their services infrastructure. They didn’t deal with a problem until it actually arose, which is a more typical African attitude. It’s not laziness, it’s just a cultural difference that when there isn’t a problem yet, it’s not worth dealing with. But recently the hospital leadership has been adopting a more pro-active attitude, and that’s why our team was brought along to help them assess where they currently stand and how to get where they want to be in 10 years or so.
This sort of hospital campus inventory and master planning process is normally conducted over several months, if not years. We had 10 days to do it. But our talented team was eager to start, and split up into several specialty groups, including Pediatric architecture, hospital/housing architecture, master planning, landscape architecture, electrical, water/wastwater, stormwater, and geotechnical. Myself, I floated into doing different tasks for hospital/housing architecture and the master-planning groups. Many others had over-lapping roles, but it seemed like everyone was eager to take on additional work and share information that would be useful to other groups.
After 10 days it seemed to me like we had our good-news and bad-news groups. The architecture teams had the good news, showing what the future for the hospital could possibly look like. But our services teams had to deliver the bad news, that there would need to be a lot of ground-work (literally) done before anything starting taking shape above-ground. Our electrical, storm-water, and waste water (aka “The Poo Crew”) had to be pretty blunt about the current infrastructure situation. As the hospital had grown over the years, the services had been added ad-hoc with no overall plan and no regular maintenance. Their current infrastructure was barely covering their needs, and not really working once it left the hospital. But softening this news was this sentiment, that by taking better care of things like their wastewater, the hospital would be a good witness to its neighbors downstream. And in a church-overseen hospital, this idea of being a good witness went a long way in convincing people that the need wasn’t some Americans unaccustomed to how things work in Kenya, but a chance to be a good witness to their community.
It took three hours to prevent our results, which we took from literally nothing to about 80% of a DD (design development) phase. It was a hopeful and sobering meeting, but afterwards the 20-some hospital and community representatives told us that our work had opened their eyes to the challenge before them and made them eager to start engaging some of the ideas. My team was very proud of our work, and we’re glad that our report was well received.
In a couple weeks the hospital staff will give us a final response to our presentation, and then in the following month or so EMI will finish its final report. Two members of our team also felt called by God to return to Kijabe next year with their family to help over-see the initial phases of the new improvements. The hospital has been lacking a construction project manager who can be fully dedicated to ensuring quality construction and be on-top of the local architect and contractors during the construction process. These two volunteers will be aiding the hospital leaders with that without adding any expense to the hospital payroll.
The future looks bright for Kijabe, and I think God really used our team in a very significant way. None of our team will ever get into Arch Record for this, or land a better job or get a cash bonus; but we know we contributed to building the Kingdom of God in those 10 days, and getting to take a little credit for that is a far greater honor than any earthly recognition.
They say even the longest journey starts with a small step. Well, this particular journey started with a 5,000 mile 10-hour flight from Portland to Amsterdam, followed by a 4,000 mile 8-hour flight to Nairobi. Our tired team dragged itself off the KLM plane and started to gather at the passport/visa check point for our first full team-meeting. We needed to get acquainted quickly, because for the next 10 days we would be spending nearly every moment with each other.
We drove to Kijabe the following morning, and had a day and an evening to settle in, rest and get to know one other. That evening we had a marathon testimony sharing meeting, which went a long way towards breaking the ice. Some very heartfelt stories and some very personal secrets were shared, and it helped bond this group very quickly. And we needed that, because the following morning we were going to realize just how large a task we were dealing with.
Africa Inland Church (AIC) Kijabe Hospital is a respected church in the east-Africa region. They’ve been around since the early 1900’s and have been growing and expanding their services to meet regional needs. They currently have 265 beds, with departments for pediatrics, men’s and women’s in-patient wards, maternal-child health, maternity, ICU, surgery theatres, specialty clinics, dental clinic, and out-patient care. They are an extremely busy hospital, seeing between 350-450 outpatients every day.
To keep up with this growth, AIC KH has been adding buildings as the need arose without too much forethought into planning for greater growth or testing the stress on their services infrastructure. They didn’t deal with a problem until it actually arose, which is a more typical African attitude. It’s not laziness, it’s just a cultural difference that when there isn’t a problem yet, it’s not worth dealing with. But recently the hospital leadership has been adopting a more pro-active attitude, and that’s why our team was brought along to help them assess where they currently stand and how to get where they want to be in 10 years or so.
This sort of hospital campus inventory and master planning process is normally conducted over several months, if not years. We had 10 days to do it. But our talented team was eager to start, and split up into several specialty groups, including Pediatric architecture, hospital/housing architecture, master planning, landscape architecture, electrical, water/wastwater, stormwater, and geotechnical. Myself, I floated into doing different tasks for hospital/housing architecture and the master-planning groups. Many others had over-lapping roles, but it seemed like everyone was eager to take on additional work and share information that would be useful to other groups.
After 10 days it seemed to me like we had our good-news and bad-news groups. The architecture teams had the good news, showing what the future for the hospital could possibly look like. But our services teams had to deliver the bad news, that there would need to be a lot of ground-work (literally) done before anything starting taking shape above-ground. Our electrical, storm-water, and waste water (aka “The Poo Crew”) had to be pretty blunt about the current infrastructure situation. As the hospital had grown over the years, the services had been added ad-hoc with no overall plan and no regular maintenance. Their current infrastructure was barely covering their needs, and not really working once it left the hospital. But softening this news was this sentiment, that by taking better care of things like their wastewater, the hospital would be a good witness to its neighbors downstream. And in a church-overseen hospital, this idea of being a good witness went a long way in convincing people that the need wasn’t some Americans unaccustomed to how things work in Kenya, but a chance to be a good witness to their community.
It took three hours to prevent our results, which we took from literally nothing to about 80% of a DD (design development) phase. It was a hopeful and sobering meeting, but afterwards the 20-some hospital and community representatives told us that our work had opened their eyes to the challenge before them and made them eager to start engaging some of the ideas. My team was very proud of our work, and we’re glad that our report was well received.
In a couple weeks the hospital staff will give us a final response to our presentation, and then in the following month or so EMI will finish its final report. Two members of our team also felt called by God to return to Kijabe next year with their family to help over-see the initial phases of the new improvements. The hospital has been lacking a construction project manager who can be fully dedicated to ensuring quality construction and be on-top of the local architect and contractors during the construction process. These two volunteers will be aiding the hospital leaders with that without adding any expense to the hospital payroll.
The future looks bright for Kijabe, and I think God really used our team in a very significant way. None of our team will ever get into Arch Record for this, or land a better job or get a cash bonus; but we know we contributed to building the Kingdom of God in those 10 days, and getting to take a little credit for that is a far greater honor than any earthly recognition.
Monday, May 24, 2010
We'll See
My blog has been pretty quiet lately. Over a month now since my last post, which used to be a weekly event a couple years ago. But I just haven't felt like I've had anything worth writing about. No interesting revelations, no significant life events, just lot's of little moments that happen to everyone. Someone's birthday, a weekend trip, meeting new friends, talking with old friends about serious stuff, mulling over the future with little certainty, mulling over the past with growing wisdom amusement, enjoying discovering "new music" that's been around for a decade (The National - loving their recent album "High Violet" and 2007's release "Boxer"), making calls to far-away friends, practicing my golf swing..... just generally taking life as it comes to me.
Which is not truly my ideal, I favor the approach of being pro-active and striving for living an extraordinary life. Great things like my coming trip to Kenya require me to search and sacrifice to make it happen, they don't just fall into your lap. But I'm also a huge fan of having enough "down time" in life - time that's free to be relaxing, doing nothing, or being spontaneous, able to jump at opportunities as they present them. As great as it is to be involved in a dozen different things, I don't have it in me to keep so many plates spinning and burn myself out; it's just not a lifestyle I would choose.
There's a balance for everything, neither too much nor too little, neither too left or too right, patience and persistence see that everything works out in the end. I'm hoping that these last few months of slowness and calm are balancing out a very awesome second half of the year. And with my trip to Kenya starting on thursday, moving back into Portland, Imago Dei getting their new building in the heart of the city (yay!), and the possibility of a job when I return (and a couple other things on the horizon) my life just might pick up quite a bit when I return.
Or maybe not.
Like the Zen Master says: "We'll see."
Which is not truly my ideal, I favor the approach of being pro-active and striving for living an extraordinary life. Great things like my coming trip to Kenya require me to search and sacrifice to make it happen, they don't just fall into your lap. But I'm also a huge fan of having enough "down time" in life - time that's free to be relaxing, doing nothing, or being spontaneous, able to jump at opportunities as they present them. As great as it is to be involved in a dozen different things, I don't have it in me to keep so many plates spinning and burn myself out; it's just not a lifestyle I would choose.
There's a balance for everything, neither too much nor too little, neither too left or too right, patience and persistence see that everything works out in the end. I'm hoping that these last few months of slowness and calm are balancing out a very awesome second half of the year. And with my trip to Kenya starting on thursday, moving back into Portland, Imago Dei getting their new building in the heart of the city (yay!), and the possibility of a job when I return (and a couple other things on the horizon) my life just might pick up quite a bit when I return.
Or maybe not.
Like the Zen Master says: "We'll see."
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.
"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.
"We'll see," the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.
"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.
"We'll see," replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.
"We'll see," answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
"We'll see" said the farmer.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Kenya the Sequel
So it's been 4 months since I've returned from my adventures in Europe, and things haven't changed much from month to month. Still unemployed, still at home, growing ever lazier and more listless. Friends ask what I've been doing, and I have literally nothing to say.
But in one month, I'll finally have something awesome to tell people again. I'm going back to Kenya! I'm extremely excited about this trip. I'll be going to a town called Kijabe to help with some hospital design and master planning with Engineering Ministries International (EMI). I'll leave on May 27th and be returning on or around June 10th.
There are several reasons I'm going on this trip. One is for the architecture work. I can't find any work in the field here, but on this trip I'll be able to get some valuable practice in. Secondly, it's an exciting opportunity to travel and experience new cultures again. Thirdly, going back to Kenya to deepen my African experience is something I've wanted to do since I returned in early 2008.
Fourth reason, this mission is along the lines of what I'd like to do with my career. I want to use my architectural talents in the developing world. I've been given a lot of good things in my life, and from those who have much, much will be required. Whether it's in designing hospitals or communities, helping with disaster recovery efforts or just helping find volunteers, a large part of my heart is definitely drawn and inspired to working with developing nations, cities, cultures, families and individuals.
And one of the biggest and most challenging reasons for making this trip is to push myself in my faith. EMI is a christian organization, and I'll be surrounded on this trip with brothers and sisters in Christ. I've never been the best at being open about my own faith, I'm usually overly careful about sharing my views with others, especially when I know they don't believe as I do. But this mission is unabashedly open about being missional as well as serving. It's a chance for me to let my Jesus flag fly and rest in firmness of my convictions that God is, and that my faith is nothing to hide.
On the logistics side I'm sure many of you had the thought: Patrick is unemployed, is EMI then paying for him to go? The answer is no, I'm paying my own way. This will cost around $3,000 with the majority of that being air fare to Nairobi and back. Fortunately I have a little $$$ saved up, so I can afford to drop that, and living at my parents house for the last for months has allowed me to save a lot up as well. But if you think you would like to help me pay my way, feel free to call me or e-mail me and we'll talk about it.
Regardless, I'd appreciate your prayers for group cohesion, journey mercies, a successful design, an understanding client, and above all, for Christ to work in us and through us all.
For more information on the project specifically, click here.
But in one month, I'll finally have something awesome to tell people again. I'm going back to Kenya! I'm extremely excited about this trip. I'll be going to a town called Kijabe to help with some hospital design and master planning with Engineering Ministries International (EMI). I'll leave on May 27th and be returning on or around June 10th.
There are several reasons I'm going on this trip. One is for the architecture work. I can't find any work in the field here, but on this trip I'll be able to get some valuable practice in. Secondly, it's an exciting opportunity to travel and experience new cultures again. Thirdly, going back to Kenya to deepen my African experience is something I've wanted to do since I returned in early 2008.
Fourth reason, this mission is along the lines of what I'd like to do with my career. I want to use my architectural talents in the developing world. I've been given a lot of good things in my life, and from those who have much, much will be required. Whether it's in designing hospitals or communities, helping with disaster recovery efforts or just helping find volunteers, a large part of my heart is definitely drawn and inspired to working with developing nations, cities, cultures, families and individuals.
And one of the biggest and most challenging reasons for making this trip is to push myself in my faith. EMI is a christian organization, and I'll be surrounded on this trip with brothers and sisters in Christ. I've never been the best at being open about my own faith, I'm usually overly careful about sharing my views with others, especially when I know they don't believe as I do. But this mission is unabashedly open about being missional as well as serving. It's a chance for me to let my Jesus flag fly and rest in firmness of my convictions that God is, and that my faith is nothing to hide.
On the logistics side I'm sure many of you had the thought: Patrick is unemployed, is EMI then paying for him to go? The answer is no, I'm paying my own way. This will cost around $3,000 with the majority of that being air fare to Nairobi and back. Fortunately I have a little $$$ saved up, so I can afford to drop that, and living at my parents house for the last for months has allowed me to save a lot up as well. But if you think you would like to help me pay my way, feel free to call me or e-mail me and we'll talk about it.
Regardless, I'd appreciate your prayers for group cohesion, journey mercies, a successful design, an understanding client, and above all, for Christ to work in us and through us all.
For more information on the project specifically, click here.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
But most of Craigslist is really good!
Normally Craigslist is a great place to find just about anything. I've bought bikes, furniture, movies and other things from people, and sold many other items through the site with fantastic ease. However, during my job searches recently I came across an advert that shows the downside of circumventing traditional pavement-pounding job hunting.
It was an ad for a position as a,"Concierge opening for a high end condominiums in Portland." It gave basic information about the job, and expressed a very strong desire for someone who could be very professional. Figuring I was qualified for this full-time position I sent in my resume. I got a reply within a couple hours saying I had forgotten to attach a photo, as requested, of myself looking as professional as possible. This response took me by complete surprise. I check the ad and sure enough I had completely skipped the sentence that asked for a picture.
But there just wasn't any way I was sending my picture out there to a random craigslist person. (I know that in the age of Facebook this seems a bit silly, especially since I'd sent him/her my resume with no hesitation; but you gotta draw the line somewhere.) I politely replied saying,
"No offense Manny, but I'd rather not be giving out my photograph via craigslist. If my resume merits an interview then I meeting me in person should suffice. Thank you for following up quickly."
Polite enough I figured, especially considering how odd it was to ask for a photo with a resume for a non-acting job. But the response really hit a nerve with me:
"I understand, but we have had over 20 aplicants apply in a day and they all qualify so we are just tryin to narrow it down so we dont have to meet everyone, good luck though.."
I couldn't believe this person was narrowing down "aplicants" purely by who had the best head-shot! I couldn't believe someone who had a serious job looking for a professionalism would stoop to this. After mulling over whether or not to respond, and not even sure whether I was still a candidate or not, I decided to send this reply:
Well I sympathize with having difficult narrowing down numerous options and candidates, however it is at least unprofessional if not out-right wrong to be using photographs to narrow down candidates for this type of position. This isn't an acting job, it's a concierge job. Looking professional is part of the gig admittedly, but judging candidates purely on their looks like it's a beauty contest is borderline illegal. I'm sure this isn't the case, but hypothetically you could be using these photographs to reject every Hispanic applicant, or every male applicant, or all the entries with red hair.
I suggest in the future you not take advantage of people in tough circumstances by profiling candidates based on their looks instead of their skills and interview strength. If you haven't already, please remove my resume from your consideration.
I hope you find the right person for the job.
-Patrick Sullivan
So who knows if I would have landed that job or not. I don't think I want to work for someone who has these sort of hiring practices. Hiring is the first experience most new employees have with their employers, and this is certainly not the way anyone who cares a damn about their reputation and practice conducts themselves. I'm sure this was probably just someone trying to take a short-cut to find a new hire more quickly, not being racist or sexist any other "ist," but still the principle of the thing is still deplorable.
Maybe I'm over-reacting, I dunno.Venting is part of why I have a blog :)
It was an ad for a position as a,"Concierge opening for a high end condominiums in Portland." It gave basic information about the job, and expressed a very strong desire for someone who could be very professional. Figuring I was qualified for this full-time position I sent in my resume. I got a reply within a couple hours saying I had forgotten to attach a photo, as requested, of myself looking as professional as possible. This response took me by complete surprise. I check the ad and sure enough I had completely skipped the sentence that asked for a picture.
But there just wasn't any way I was sending my picture out there to a random craigslist person. (I know that in the age of Facebook this seems a bit silly, especially since I'd sent him/her my resume with no hesitation; but you gotta draw the line somewhere.) I politely replied saying,
"No offense Manny, but I'd rather not be giving out my photograph via craigslist. If my resume merits an interview then I meeting me in person should suffice. Thank you for following up quickly."
Polite enough I figured, especially considering how odd it was to ask for a photo with a resume for a non-acting job. But the response really hit a nerve with me:
"I understand, but we have had over 20 aplicants apply in a day and they all qualify so we are just tryin to narrow it down so we dont have to meet everyone, good luck though.."
I couldn't believe this person was narrowing down "aplicants" purely by who had the best head-shot! I couldn't believe someone who had a serious job looking for a professionalism would stoop to this. After mulling over whether or not to respond, and not even sure whether I was still a candidate or not, I decided to send this reply:
Well I sympathize with having difficult narrowing down numerous options and candidates, however it is at least unprofessional if not out-right wrong to be using photographs to narrow down candidates for this type of position. This isn't an acting job, it's a concierge job. Looking professional is part of the gig admittedly, but judging candidates purely on their looks like it's a beauty contest is borderline illegal. I'm sure this isn't the case, but hypothetically you could be using these photographs to reject every Hispanic applicant, or every male applicant, or all the entries with red hair.
I suggest in the future you not take advantage of people in tough circumstances by profiling candidates based on their looks instead of their skills and interview strength. If you haven't already, please remove my resume from your consideration.
I hope you find the right person for the job.
-Patrick Sullivan
So who knows if I would have landed that job or not. I don't think I want to work for someone who has these sort of hiring practices. Hiring is the first experience most new employees have with their employers, and this is certainly not the way anyone who cares a damn about their reputation and practice conducts themselves. I'm sure this was probably just someone trying to take a short-cut to find a new hire more quickly, not being racist or sexist any other "ist," but still the principle of the thing is still deplorable.
Maybe I'm over-reacting, I dunno.Venting is part of why I have a blog :)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
$5.00 CD's didn't hurt either!
This past weekend I attended an event that I probably would normally avoid. It was called "The Rock and Worship Show," a concert tour headlined by Mercy Me. I say I would normally avoid this for a few reasons; I have an aversion to most mainstream christian music. To me, it always feels like it's all been watered down and fed anti-depressants so that it will play well on "family friendly" radio stations and on Sunday mornings when church worship leaders can easily adapt simple melodies and words for their services. It just seems to lose it's artistic merit when that happens. There is an undeniable sound to christian radio, when you are scanning through stations for some reason it's easier to pick out christian stations than country stations. And when most of the music seems to sound the same, that tends to turn me off.
So when I heard Mercy Me was headlining the tour, I was almost ready to dismiss it out of hand. But the other big name was David Crowder Band. It's a group that I've read about their beginnings and believe that they've actually tried to keep things very authentic, so that even though they do mostly worship music and radio stuff, they're an exception to the general movement (particularly on their album "A Collision or 3 + 4 = 7"). So between them and the amazing ticket price of only $10, I decided it was worth a go. And God definitely took the opportunity to point a few things out about myself and about his church.
The concerts were all fairly good and entertaining. Nice energy, great sound volume from the Rose Garden sound system, and I had a good seat. But while I was sitting there I was waiting to be impressed, doubting each act as they stepped on stage. I was sitting only 4 rows up from the floor, but I probably should've been sitting in the upper balcony for how much I was looking down on the first few acts. And while they did fulfill my expectations, God would use this as a point of correction and instruction for me.
Francesca Battistelli stepped on stage and pleasantly surprised me! It was the first group that really felt like they weren't over-produced and whose lyrics didn't sound like remixes from other christian pop songs from the last 5 years. Plus she could really sing! Her act started to warm my opinion to the whole tour. And following her was one of the most original christian acts out there, Family Force 5. Loved their set, constant energy for 7 tracks, non-stop bass-thumping and head-banging rocking out.
After them came the act I had really wanted to see - David Crowder Band. I knew that they had a reputation of being a good live act, and they lived up to it. Played several crowd faves and a couple songs from their new album. Everyone got involved, clapping hands and singing along, made for a fun set.
Mercy Me was ok. They sort of epitomize my feelings with most mainstream christian music, so I wasn't very excited for it. And the vocalist had gotten sick in Idaho, and woke up that morning with only half a voice. Which actually made for a nice show, because the crowd ended up singing most of the songs without band vocals. This touched me. First, God whispered to me, "Look at this, 10,000 of my children, of your brothers and sisters, all praising me with one voice, united in heart and soul. How often do you see that?" Then I look up onto the screen, and there was a shot of the lead singer. He turned the microphone out to the crowd, pulled the feeds from his ears, stepped back and smiled; just taking in the experience of being serenaded at his own concert. "See what I did there," said God. "I just used all of you at once to minister to the heart of this man, who thought he was coming here only to minister to you."
Say whatever about whether I liked the music or not, I couldn't deny the good that God used it. God had blessed these artists with musical talent, and they were using it to glorify him. So how dare I place myself above them, turn my back to them and say their worship, their offering, was beneath me. It wasn't for me, it was made for the Creator, and he alone needs to be pleased with their joyful noise. I had confused my own personal taste with some sort of authority, which I never had any right too especially since I know little more about music except what music I like. I asked God to forgive me there. My pride and my desire to elevate myself above common Christians caused me to sin. I had insulted the artists and my siblings, nearly all of whom are strangers to me.
Humbled, I joined my family in worship. I will still avoid christian radio, but now only out of personal taste with respecting the tastes and gifts God has blessed others with.
Best $10.00 I've spent in a good while.
So when I heard Mercy Me was headlining the tour, I was almost ready to dismiss it out of hand. But the other big name was David Crowder Band. It's a group that I've read about their beginnings and believe that they've actually tried to keep things very authentic, so that even though they do mostly worship music and radio stuff, they're an exception to the general movement (particularly on their album "A Collision or 3 + 4 = 7"). So between them and the amazing ticket price of only $10, I decided it was worth a go. And God definitely took the opportunity to point a few things out about myself and about his church.
The concerts were all fairly good and entertaining. Nice energy, great sound volume from the Rose Garden sound system, and I had a good seat. But while I was sitting there I was waiting to be impressed, doubting each act as they stepped on stage. I was sitting only 4 rows up from the floor, but I probably should've been sitting in the upper balcony for how much I was looking down on the first few acts. And while they did fulfill my expectations, God would use this as a point of correction and instruction for me.
Francesca Battistelli stepped on stage and pleasantly surprised me! It was the first group that really felt like they weren't over-produced and whose lyrics didn't sound like remixes from other christian pop songs from the last 5 years. Plus she could really sing! Her act started to warm my opinion to the whole tour. And following her was one of the most original christian acts out there, Family Force 5. Loved their set, constant energy for 7 tracks, non-stop bass-thumping and head-banging rocking out.
After them came the act I had really wanted to see - David Crowder Band. I knew that they had a reputation of being a good live act, and they lived up to it. Played several crowd faves and a couple songs from their new album. Everyone got involved, clapping hands and singing along, made for a fun set.
Mercy Me was ok. They sort of epitomize my feelings with most mainstream christian music, so I wasn't very excited for it. And the vocalist had gotten sick in Idaho, and woke up that morning with only half a voice. Which actually made for a nice show, because the crowd ended up singing most of the songs without band vocals. This touched me. First, God whispered to me, "Look at this, 10,000 of my children, of your brothers and sisters, all praising me with one voice, united in heart and soul. How often do you see that?" Then I look up onto the screen, and there was a shot of the lead singer. He turned the microphone out to the crowd, pulled the feeds from his ears, stepped back and smiled; just taking in the experience of being serenaded at his own concert. "See what I did there," said God. "I just used all of you at once to minister to the heart of this man, who thought he was coming here only to minister to you."
Say whatever about whether I liked the music or not, I couldn't deny the good that God used it. God had blessed these artists with musical talent, and they were using it to glorify him. So how dare I place myself above them, turn my back to them and say their worship, their offering, was beneath me. It wasn't for me, it was made for the Creator, and he alone needs to be pleased with their joyful noise. I had confused my own personal taste with some sort of authority, which I never had any right too especially since I know little more about music except what music I like. I asked God to forgive me there. My pride and my desire to elevate myself above common Christians caused me to sin. I had insulted the artists and my siblings, nearly all of whom are strangers to me.
Humbled, I joined my family in worship. I will still avoid christian radio, but now only out of personal taste with respecting the tastes and gifts God has blessed others with.
Best $10.00 I've spent in a good while.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Satisfaction
Depending on the state for your income is an interesting experience. It's even more interesting when the state unemployment benefits start running out. It starts the imposing a change on your behaviors, in your way of thinking, of just what you're willing to do to make ends meet.
When I was first let go, I first only was looking for work in my field and only at the same level or higher. I was encouraged by the unemployment system to look for jobs I was trained for, had the skill sets for. I was aiming high, so to speak. But now with benefits set to run out in the near future, those ideas are "put to the question." Do I want to try and just get by on my savings and hold out for a great job, or do I need to start widening my search and exploring other options for employment.
It's a very interesting time for increasing self-examination. You are forced to take account of everything your are qualified for, and you're capable of, and also those talents/skills that you lack. You realize that the time you spent doing one thing eliminated time devoted to something else, which at the time seemed like a good idea but right now maybe culinary school should have been a more serious option.
You also start facing just what you are willing to do. You find you have biases against different industries (often for good reason). There are just some places that are a last resort, and others that you just can't stomach the thought of working for at all. McDonald's springs to mind. And it's a curious thing, trying to decide at what point are you uncomfortable enough to take seriously an opening busing tables and washing dishes. At what point are willing to work for only X dollars an hour? At what point are you willing to live with 6 college students to make the rent cheaper?
And it strikes me that I'm being a bit pathetic.
Really. I mean, I'm worried about what sort of place I can live in and what I need to make in order to live with a certain level of comfort. But I'm not considering eating 1 meal of rice and beans a day to make ends meet. I'm not thinking of selling everything and living out of my backpack on the street. I'm not going to have to sell myself to a human trafficking ring to pay off my debts. Even in my aimlessness, my "poverty" I'm still quite well off.
So is it really me facing my own pride here? Am I too good for a job in fast food, or pumping gas, or being a migrant worker? In reality, though I don't want those jobs, ultimately I'm not too good for any job. Because ultimately that's a terrible and mistaken question. People do jobs. Some people need to do the dirty ones. But that doesn't make them less honorable. Jobs don't define people. But we like them to. One of the biggest complaints I heard about Americans while abroad was that the first things they ask are "What is your name," and "What do you do?" Culture tends to be status conscious, whether that's by hanging out with the right crowd, or having noble parents, or earning loads of money, we tend to try and find ways to value people socially. And in nearly all cases, the final purpose is not to purely assign value, but to see where we fit in and how many people we can put beneath us. But that is entirely a human invention, and of no real or lasting value at all.
Now there is something to be said about being gifted by God and not using those talents. If God gives you the blessing of leadership and you are complacent, you are scorning God's gift, and that is definitely a shame. If you are blessed with wealth, but lack the compassion to share it when needed, that too is shameful. And if you are jealous because God has made someone a genius and not you, that too is shameful.
I'll finish by quoting my favorite book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes, which sums up things in such a clean and simple way that I am struck every time I read it:
"Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for that is his lot." Eccl. 5:18
Here's hoping that everyone can eat, drink, and find contentment with their good, albeit toilsome, labors.
When I was first let go, I first only was looking for work in my field and only at the same level or higher. I was encouraged by the unemployment system to look for jobs I was trained for, had the skill sets for. I was aiming high, so to speak. But now with benefits set to run out in the near future, those ideas are "put to the question." Do I want to try and just get by on my savings and hold out for a great job, or do I need to start widening my search and exploring other options for employment.
It's a very interesting time for increasing self-examination. You are forced to take account of everything your are qualified for, and you're capable of, and also those talents/skills that you lack. You realize that the time you spent doing one thing eliminated time devoted to something else, which at the time seemed like a good idea but right now maybe culinary school should have been a more serious option.
You also start facing just what you are willing to do. You find you have biases against different industries (often for good reason). There are just some places that are a last resort, and others that you just can't stomach the thought of working for at all. McDonald's springs to mind. And it's a curious thing, trying to decide at what point are you uncomfortable enough to take seriously an opening busing tables and washing dishes. At what point are willing to work for only X dollars an hour? At what point are you willing to live with 6 college students to make the rent cheaper?
And it strikes me that I'm being a bit pathetic.
Really. I mean, I'm worried about what sort of place I can live in and what I need to make in order to live with a certain level of comfort. But I'm not considering eating 1 meal of rice and beans a day to make ends meet. I'm not thinking of selling everything and living out of my backpack on the street. I'm not going to have to sell myself to a human trafficking ring to pay off my debts. Even in my aimlessness, my "poverty" I'm still quite well off.
So is it really me facing my own pride here? Am I too good for a job in fast food, or pumping gas, or being a migrant worker? In reality, though I don't want those jobs, ultimately I'm not too good for any job. Because ultimately that's a terrible and mistaken question. People do jobs. Some people need to do the dirty ones. But that doesn't make them less honorable. Jobs don't define people. But we like them to. One of the biggest complaints I heard about Americans while abroad was that the first things they ask are "What is your name," and "What do you do?" Culture tends to be status conscious, whether that's by hanging out with the right crowd, or having noble parents, or earning loads of money, we tend to try and find ways to value people socially. And in nearly all cases, the final purpose is not to purely assign value, but to see where we fit in and how many people we can put beneath us. But that is entirely a human invention, and of no real or lasting value at all.
Now there is something to be said about being gifted by God and not using those talents. If God gives you the blessing of leadership and you are complacent, you are scorning God's gift, and that is definitely a shame. If you are blessed with wealth, but lack the compassion to share it when needed, that too is shameful. And if you are jealous because God has made someone a genius and not you, that too is shameful.
I'll finish by quoting my favorite book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes, which sums up things in such a clean and simple way that I am struck every time I read it:
"Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for that is his lot." Eccl. 5:18
Here's hoping that everyone can eat, drink, and find contentment with their good, albeit toilsome, labors.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Cheering for Tiger
Yesterday Tiger Woods delivered a long awaited, highly-anticipated apologetic speech regarding his episodes of marital infidelity. In 15 minutes, Woods made apologies to his wife, family, friends, fellow PGA players, to his foundation, his sponsors, and his fans. He spoke to the reasons behind his transgressions and what he plans to do to rectify his errors. He made no excuses. He pointed no fingers. He took full responsibility for his actions and humbly asked for our forgiveness.
What else could you ask for?
Apparently, quite a lot more judging from a lot of media reaction.
There has been a lot of speculation regarding just how genuine Woods' apology actually was. While he delivered his speech from a written draft he brought to the podium, his delivery has been described as "mechanical," "robotic," and "insincere." Some of his mistresses have been harshly critical of the speech, saying it's not the Tiger they knew, one even chastised him for not making apologies to her (which to me is going too far. As his mistress, you should be following his speech with an apology of your own directed to all the same people, especially to Mrs. Woods.)
Regardless of what you think of his delivery, it is not Tiger's tone or body language that will tell us the integrity of his statements. To paraphrase as statement from Tiger's wife Elin, Tiger's apology isn't going to be made with words, but from the actions he takes in the future. So let's all please just back off a little and give him some time to prove himself. That's something that no doubt we all ask for many times in our own lives, we certainly owe it to him.
Tiger also laid out some very explicit facts and rules for the media regard these events. First, he addressed rumors that Elin had hit him or physical hurt him on the night of his car crash. He firmly stated that there has never been any domestic violence in his marriage ever. He also made it clear that this event falls squarely on his shoulders, and so the media should live his wife and children out of this. He defended Elin saying she deserved nothing but praise for her gracious handling of this entire scandal. And in no uncertain terms Woods addressed the fact that, in spite of the public's interest in this affair, the discussions about his episodes of infidelity and the future of his marriage are a matter strictly between himself and his wife; and will not and should not be made public.
Honestly, I felt proud of Tiger Woods making this speech. He set the record straight about what happened and fully accepted all responsibility and consequences. Now he's pressing forward, and he's going to try to change himself, save his marriage, and return to professional golf in the near future. I thought it took guts to say all that to the world. I think it was honorable for him to act as a human shield between the media and his family. He's absolutely right that this is first and foremost a matter between him and his wife. We have no right to know anything more than he told us.
Tiger Woods used to represent a level of greatness to which everyone should aspire. He worked hard, sacrificed, and was able to become one of the most prominent figures in the world. He not only found athletic success, but married a wife and had a child and a happy marriage. He achieved some of the utmost pinnacles of human success. But as is the law with all things under the sun, what goes up must come down.
Tiger Woods is in the most difficult moment now he has faced in his entire life. And instead of trying to bury him deeper, to make him a footstool for our own selfish grandeur, how about we try and lift him up once more? Instead of finding more ways to embarrass him, let's give him a kind word to support his spirit. Because if Jesus Christ taught us anything, we should know that justice if fair, and justice is good; but mercy is better still.
Now I'll be cheering for Tiger now to make the greatest comeback in his life.
To see Tiger's speech and read the transcript, click here.
What else could you ask for?
Apparently, quite a lot more judging from a lot of media reaction.
There has been a lot of speculation regarding just how genuine Woods' apology actually was. While he delivered his speech from a written draft he brought to the podium, his delivery has been described as "mechanical," "robotic," and "insincere." Some of his mistresses have been harshly critical of the speech, saying it's not the Tiger they knew, one even chastised him for not making apologies to her (which to me is going too far. As his mistress, you should be following his speech with an apology of your own directed to all the same people, especially to Mrs. Woods.)
Regardless of what you think of his delivery, it is not Tiger's tone or body language that will tell us the integrity of his statements. To paraphrase as statement from Tiger's wife Elin, Tiger's apology isn't going to be made with words, but from the actions he takes in the future. So let's all please just back off a little and give him some time to prove himself. That's something that no doubt we all ask for many times in our own lives, we certainly owe it to him.
Tiger also laid out some very explicit facts and rules for the media regard these events. First, he addressed rumors that Elin had hit him or physical hurt him on the night of his car crash. He firmly stated that there has never been any domestic violence in his marriage ever. He also made it clear that this event falls squarely on his shoulders, and so the media should live his wife and children out of this. He defended Elin saying she deserved nothing but praise for her gracious handling of this entire scandal. And in no uncertain terms Woods addressed the fact that, in spite of the public's interest in this affair, the discussions about his episodes of infidelity and the future of his marriage are a matter strictly between himself and his wife; and will not and should not be made public.
Honestly, I felt proud of Tiger Woods making this speech. He set the record straight about what happened and fully accepted all responsibility and consequences. Now he's pressing forward, and he's going to try to change himself, save his marriage, and return to professional golf in the near future. I thought it took guts to say all that to the world. I think it was honorable for him to act as a human shield between the media and his family. He's absolutely right that this is first and foremost a matter between him and his wife. We have no right to know anything more than he told us.
Tiger Woods used to represent a level of greatness to which everyone should aspire. He worked hard, sacrificed, and was able to become one of the most prominent figures in the world. He not only found athletic success, but married a wife and had a child and a happy marriage. He achieved some of the utmost pinnacles of human success. But as is the law with all things under the sun, what goes up must come down.
Tiger Woods is in the most difficult moment now he has faced in his entire life. And instead of trying to bury him deeper, to make him a footstool for our own selfish grandeur, how about we try and lift him up once more? Instead of finding more ways to embarrass him, let's give him a kind word to support his spirit. Because if Jesus Christ taught us anything, we should know that justice if fair, and justice is good; but mercy is better still.
Now I'll be cheering for Tiger now to make the greatest comeback in his life.
To see Tiger's speech and read the transcript, click here.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Always darkest before dawn
I met up with two friends today. Both of them used to be gainfully employed as architects in Portland. One has been reduced to 10 hours a week and has gone back to school, and the other is looking for a new job. We commiserated and shared the experiences of looking for work in a heavily saturated and over-sized local market. We theorized about how hiring will lag as firms absorb incoming work with half-timers before hiring new employees. We talked about what we're doing to try and make ourselves more marketable or valuable, and whether or not that will make much difference. We wondered how many people were going to leave the profession solely because of this recession.
It's tough out there right now. For many people, but in Oregon especially (11% unemployment) and for Portland architects (almost 50% unemployed in December).
But history swings; not always in rhythm, nor with convenience, yet surely the pendulum must pause and zenith before beginning a return journey. What is has been and will be again. No famine lasts forever, everything created has a beginning and an end. Jobs were here, they've disappeared for now, but they will come back again.
That's the easy part though for me. Partially because I'm in a circumstance where it's easy to live off unemployment, where I could probably find a minimum wage gig if I needed to that would pay enough to live on. I have enough money saved up I might even be able to go travel again! I have no worries about food or shelter or clothing; I'm off far better than lilies and birds.
But the tough part is the patience to wait for things to return, and to work in the meantime on things which have no foreseeable return. Like becoming a LEED accredited professional, learning new software, studying books and adjusting my portfolio over and over. The tough part is not having opportunities to grasp at, or a purpose to get up earlier than 10am, or progressing further in my career or achieving goals I hold for my life. It just feels like I had a plan, which got sidelined, and I'm not getting the opportunity to fix it.
But I'm reminded and chastised a bit for having such a narrow view of my life. There is no reason why lacking a job or daily labor is keeping me from doing things which are progressing me towards my future. I don't even know what tomorrow holds, so how can I say that taking cooking classes and reading library books or considering unorthodox jobs isn't preparing me for what God has in store for my life? I hardly really understand my own past, how can I say that this is not working out my future?
I cannot. And that's more than a little frustrating. But it reminds me of the our instructions in the Lord's prayer: to ask for our daily bread. Not for a year's supply or a lifetime supply. Just today's bread. I have enough for today, and though I prepare for what may be coming tomorrow, I have to move forward knowing that whether I hit goals or never accomplish anything, the only thing I have any right to ask for from my creator is my daily bread, and to let that be enough.
It's tough out there right now. For many people, but in Oregon especially (11% unemployment) and for Portland architects (almost 50% unemployed in December).
But history swings; not always in rhythm, nor with convenience, yet surely the pendulum must pause and zenith before beginning a return journey. What is has been and will be again. No famine lasts forever, everything created has a beginning and an end. Jobs were here, they've disappeared for now, but they will come back again.
That's the easy part though for me. Partially because I'm in a circumstance where it's easy to live off unemployment, where I could probably find a minimum wage gig if I needed to that would pay enough to live on. I have enough money saved up I might even be able to go travel again! I have no worries about food or shelter or clothing; I'm off far better than lilies and birds.
But the tough part is the patience to wait for things to return, and to work in the meantime on things which have no foreseeable return. Like becoming a LEED accredited professional, learning new software, studying books and adjusting my portfolio over and over. The tough part is not having opportunities to grasp at, or a purpose to get up earlier than 10am, or progressing further in my career or achieving goals I hold for my life. It just feels like I had a plan, which got sidelined, and I'm not getting the opportunity to fix it.
But I'm reminded and chastised a bit for having such a narrow view of my life. There is no reason why lacking a job or daily labor is keeping me from doing things which are progressing me towards my future. I don't even know what tomorrow holds, so how can I say that taking cooking classes and reading library books or considering unorthodox jobs isn't preparing me for what God has in store for my life? I hardly really understand my own past, how can I say that this is not working out my future?
I cannot. And that's more than a little frustrating. But it reminds me of the our instructions in the Lord's prayer: to ask for our daily bread. Not for a year's supply or a lifetime supply. Just today's bread. I have enough for today, and though I prepare for what may be coming tomorrow, I have to move forward knowing that whether I hit goals or never accomplish anything, the only thing I have any right to ask for from my creator is my daily bread, and to let that be enough.
Monday, February 1, 2010
So this is the new year...
So a new year starts with me looking for a new J-O-B. Things sounds like they're as slow in the biz as when I left, so I'm exploring my options and seeing what comes up. Doing a lot of searching on Idealist.org and also looking into Americorps positions. There's lots of competition everywhere I've heard, so I'm glad I can collect some unemployment checks for a bit while I find new work and then a new place to live.
Being back in the states is good. It's nice to come home just in time for the holidays and spend it with a critical mass of family. We had so many people staying over new years that I had to sleep in the family room!
Went and saw Avatar today in the theatre with my grandfather, and wow those effects were stunning! And it wasn't just the realism that got me, but the quality and style of the camera work in what were largely entirely digital scenes really impressed me. The camera movements, close-ups and panoramas, playing with the depth of field, sweeping shots that floated the main characters in and out of, it was all well done I thought.
The movie plot itself has been likened by many to Dances with Wolves and District 9 (the first for commonalities, the later for contrast). I thought it felt a bit like Ferngully with Steven Spielburg directing. What really intrigued me was the Na'vi (sp?) characters and the culture that was created by the writers and directors. They're a people in tune with the Earth Mother, able to communicate directly with her. You can observe the influences the animators and writers drew from when creating these characters, most obviously Native American and African tribal histories, possibly also Australian aboriginals. From the speech patterns and manhood rituals to clothing styles and fictional tribal relations it is simple to reverse engineer to the source material. And I wonder just how that affects how we perceive those cultures, and did they even go beyond their own built up ideas to for these characters? I mean, you don't have to look futher than the Lion King disney movie to find a tree of life! Granted, that really is a very common metaphor used in many stories, even in video games (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) so I can't really fault them for sticking with what works.
Not that Avatar doesn't make references to contemporary American culture. There are clear statements one materialism and captialism, as well as the Iraq war that are placed behind the thinnest of veils. There was one review I read that also made an intriguing, though perhaps not truly accurate leap towards “White Guilt.” It plays itself well on many levels and, though heavy handed perhaps with it's message, steers into a predictable and likable conclusion. I'd just rather have seen our hero, Jake Sully, make himself a martyr for both humans and Na'vi and through his death lay a foundation for reconciliation and harmony. The victory delivered in the ending is hollow and short-sighted, and large as that is, that seems to be the only real fault in the movie.
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