Slowly cleaning things up

Whenever I get in the mood to blog again, it’s usually late at night and I am often far more interested in how the site looks than writing an actual post. Nothing new tonight. Dawn is camping out up at Duke to secure some basketball tickets for this coming season.  I’m alternating between working on my blog and actually working, both while watching college football game after college football game. I can imagine worse evenings.

For the first time ever, I decided I still liked the overall design and theme so that made updating a little easier and a little tougher at the same time. I was able to update my pages (top right, three options) as well as add a Facebook link. Not sure why I never had that, likely because WordPress doesn’t make it easy for you with a pre-programmed widget like with Twitter. Had to code the sucker myself, yikes.

And here we are. Sleepy and feeling like I got a little something done. The real question as always is can I post with any consistency. Unlikely. But always worth a try, right?

Walden Pond

We went to hike in the woods because we wished to live deliberately. Or simply because we were spending the morning in Concord and knew that Walden Pond was right down the road. Cool replica house of the one Thoreau built and lived in for two years; not large. We did find the pond which was indeed beautiful.

The ironic part was the beach they have built there and the hundred or so people lounging about and playing in the water. Not exactly the quiet spot in the woods Thoreau enjoyed a little while back. Too bad.

Summer Officially Begins

Today is the first official day of summer in my mind. I’m at chapter camp with almost 500 students and 70 staff with everything getting fired up tonight. Rockbridge is a great place to kick off the summer even if I’m still a touch behind on the talks I am to give later this week. The mountains are beautiful, the conversations are significant, and the volleyball makes up for the lack of veggies.

The past five days have been a great end to the school year. Dawn finished up her school work and we spent each night out with friends saying goodbye for the summer. Long dinners, baseball games, and a better-than-expected viewing of Avengers left me longing to be with all these new friends again when the summer internship season ends in August.

And in honor of summer, I’m going to take up blogging again. What better time to kick it all off than right now.

Too much

Five

1. You know you’re going somewhere when the treadmill reads five miles and you keep going. Quit at six. After downing two bottles of water, I did what any self-respecting wanna-be runner would do. I treated myself to Bojangles.

2. Our pastor spoke this morning about how desperately people in our generation want to be the ultimate authority over their lives and how this actually doesn’t lead to true freedom. Yes and yes.

3. Finally figured out why I don’t work well at the Durham Panera. Not nearly as many booths as the store back home. I gotta spread out and get comfy for my health food.

4. Does anyone wear watches anymore? I got one for Christmas and have enjoyed knowing the time without pulling out my cell phone for the first time in ten years.

5. First week in over a month that I haven’t seen a Duke basketball game live at Cameron. Slight withdrawal. Thankfully the memory of Wednesday night’s game more than makes up for it. A good week to be a Duke fan on Tobacco Road.

Shifting seasons

For the past three days, it has finally felt like winter in Durham. Neither Dawn nor I are thrilled by this change in temperature but have agreed we will put up with it for at least a week before sinking into depression. It is February after all.

The colder weather has coincided with a busier season. My work travel has picked up significantly and our car is begging for a day off to rest. Dawn’s semester is in full swing as well with most classes feeling more like projects that require creative work and design. Thankfully we have found a new coffee shop to hide out in on Saturday mornings to catch up on work and relax a bit together. I can’t mention the name as we are keeping it as our little secret.

Both of us feel super engaged in our work and enjoy how it has ramped up. She actually wants to be in school and I really do love my work. We also miss the quietness of the holidays amidst friends and family. The word that keeps running through my head is pace. And I am dreaming about how to hold onto a good pace amidst quiet and busy times in life.

To be a pirate

Doing a half-marathon. There, it’s out there on the interweb. Must be true.

To get us moving in 2012, Dawn and I signed up for the Flying Pirate Half Marathon in beautiful Nags Head. To make it even better, my buddy Mark decided to join in the fun. He’s a real runner and will be far ahead of us. Good to have someone to chase.

Long run today, getting there. Still a ways to go but feeling pretty solid two months out.

Kobe will not be running with us. He sleeps instead. 4-5 times per day. But at least he won’t be sore tomorrow…