Here's a question for Ed or Adam. When you insert Married to the Sea comics, do you use the code on the side, or do you copy and paste the image. I tried the code but it cropped the image.

8 things

I saw this on the Johnson blog, and Melissa was kind enough to think I might return to blogging (not like you chumps in the tower, or Jay who still hasn't noticed I post again)

So by now most of you are familiar:


Here are the rules:
- Each player starts with eight random facts about themselves.
- Those who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight facts and post these rules.
- At the end of the post, choose some people to get tagged and list their names.


So here are my 8 facts about myself:

1. My middle name is Dean, the same as my Dad. It is a Mennonite tradition, particularly among men, to reuse the name of a father or grandfather, often as a middle name. One of my great, great...grandfathers was Dietrich Dietrich Peters, they actually gave him the same name twice. There was also a Johann Johann Neufeld. Crazy Mennos.

2. I have become a homebody. I'm not sure what it is, maybe just a result of getting older, maybe it is the lack of walkable proximity to friends. Whatever it is, I find myself home alone on a Friday night, blogging.

3. I'm not very interested in going to Rome. This might not be a big thing, but in the insular world of architecture it is blasphemous. That's probably part of why I haven't made it, although I've been to Europe twice and haven't set foot in Italy. Give me the nordic countries any day.

4. I get really nervous about talking on the phone. In fact I hate it. Maybe it has to do with the lack of visual communication, not being able to read body language. Maybe I'm just neurotic.

5. My perception of domestic comfort was shaped by Woody Allen. If you are familiar with his films, you know the interior of a New York intellectual's apartment. When I saw the recent film The Squid and the Whale (not Woody Allen) I was struck by the interiors, they resonated somehow. The other night I watched Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen) and finally made the connection. The tattered rugs, overloaded bookshelves... I can't describe it properly, but it is the picture of comfort. Fortunately my perception of healthy relationships isn't based on Woody Allen...

6. Although that leads to the fact that I have not had a relationship in more years than you can count on one hand. Not that I am opposed, in fact I would really like to meet the right girl. I guess fact 6 is that I am reluctantly single.

7. If I won the lottery, I think I would go to a culinary school. I don't want to work in a restaurant, I just want to be a classically trained chef. It would make for fantastic dinner parties.

8. I don't really like cake. If I ever get married I want to have a wedding cobbler.

Oh, and I'm editing this later cause I remembered something else... I've eaten horse. Yeah, that's right, I said it. Go ahead and hate me if you want. It was in Stockholm, at a recreation of a 16th century meal, and they had horse sausage and headcheese, and I ate both. I've also eaten congealed duck blood and rice on a stick in Taiwan.

Now I'm supposed to tell other people to do this. Um, maybe Sarah Helen if she hasn't?

The Box of Bounty

I finally signed the house up for a CSA (Pioneer Organics), and the first delivery came yesterday. The great thing is that I forgot it was coming, so it was a happy little surprise sitting on my doorstep.
Oh wait, that was my Red Lobster Love Child...


Here's the box, very utilitarian...


And the produce, artfully arranged on the dining room table... I started with the small box, but I feel safe in stepping it up a size or two.


I was particularly fond of this little guy. It doesn't come across so well in the photo, but this is one charming bell pepper.

So what have I made with the harvest? Nothing, yet. But the weekend is upon us, and I fancy a curry....

Muppet Personality Test

You Are Rowlf the Dog

Mellow and serious, you enjoy time alone cultivating your talents. You're a cool dog, and you always present a relaxed vibe. A talented pianist, you can play almost anything - especially songs by Beethoven. "My bark is worse than my bite, and my piano playing beats 'em both."

The Muppet Personality Test

I really want to keep up with the blogging, but I don't have much to say publicly at the moment. I will limit my ramblings to a few thoughts:

I love This American Life, and the fact that they have almost the entire archive available for free online. I listen t it nonstop when I have the office to myself.

My college reunion is coming up, so I've been reading over some emails from my senior year. If you have enough distance from the time, and something to go back to (journal, random scribbles) I highly recommend it. In many ways the exercise is proving cathartic, and hopefully will result in some sort of reflexive reaction. Is that a real term?

The Emergent Church

I haven't attended church regularly for some time. In fact I have only been a handful of times in as many years. At times I miss the sense of community that should come with church, but not enough to dive back in. What I would like to find is a church that meets in a bar of coffee shop, which of course leads to a discussion of "emergent church."

I've been doing a bit of web research, with mixed results. There are a couple churches in Seattle that fit the bill, but I am wary. Of course there is the Mega church Mars Hill, whose conservative pastor Mark Driscoll (his blog and wikipedia) gives me the creeps. He represents many of the reasons I no longer attend church. Of course he has distanced himself from the emergent church movement, and has ranted against people like Brian McLaren, a rant that he later apologized for.

I've tried to read McLaren, but the ideas that he presented as radical seemed pretty straightforward to me. Maybe that means we are on the same wavelength, which is why my mom sent me the book, but I had a hard time slogging through and eventually gave up. In my recent websurfing I found out that there is a conference coming up in Seattle, Hear-Listen-Connect (snappy name), hosted by a group called Off the Map, with McLaren as one of the keynote speakers. And this leads to my own rant (Adam and Mark Driscoll can't be the only ones).

Int their own words:

"Off The Map explores new kinds of spiritual ideas and practices and seeks to take that information public. That's why we produce Off The Map Live each year. Think of OTM Live as a living lab of new approaches to spirituality. We are not only explorers we are also edutainers and hey, we need an outlet for all our creative juices at least once a year.

Who is this event designed for?
Young thinkers, learners, practitioners of all ages of all ages, pastors looking for validation, acceptance, hope and partnership. We call this group spiritual explorers. Essentially anyone who is searching or wondering and is tired of feeling alone and/or stupid is welcome."

Hey, I'm searching/wondering, and I've been thinking about finding something church-like in Seattle, maybe I should think about attending. Of course "edutainment" raises some serious red flags, red flags with biohazard symbols surrounded by razor wire and savage pit-bulls, but I could always duck out when the worship jam-band strikes up "Our God is an Awesome God".

But here's the kicker... if you are wondering, and tired of feeling alone, all you need to do is plunk down $120 bucks to attend the edutainment. That's for the individual with discount. It can drop as low as $79 each for a group of 3 students. But if you are coming as a group, chances are you aren't tired of feeling alone, being part of a group and all. I know it takes money to put on these big productions (red flag number two), so I understand the need to recoup some costs. But really, if you are charging $120 for an individual, you must realize that you'll be preaching to the choir, so lets be honest. This is for like minded individuals who are already part of the group, in one way or another.

I came across a post about a conference hosted by Zondervan, posted by a guy in Seattle who is part of a house church. He was bothered by the suspicion that much of the hype around the emergent church was created by, or at the least co-opted by the publishing industry. I can't help but share his suspicions. Not to say that there are not some honest, well intentioned individuals involved, but when a movement aimed at attracting the disenchanted/ disenfranchised becomes so large and established, certainly it risks becoming what it sought to replace.

In the end, I have discovered a group that meets somewhere in my neighborhood once a week or so for dinner. Maybe I'll look into it, but I'm still on the lookout for a small group in a bar

Aerials

Adam asked for a couple aerial shots...
The first is where we docked the plane at the island. I'm not sure how much of the project is still confidential, so I won't mention any place names. The bay itself was a little clear pocket, but because of the fog we had to land out a bit farther and have a boat come guide us in.
This is from the return to Seattle. My house is between the water in the foreground (Greenlake) and the patch of water beyond (Lake Union). Its a little overlap of neighborhoods we call Wallingmont (or Freeford, being an amalgam of Freemont and Wallingford). The arterial road running down the middle is Aurora Ave, familiar to those of you in Fresno as 99. Yes, a little lifeline to the valley that I drive on everyday.

I couldn't return to posting without something exciting to post, and here it is! I finally got to take a trip to Canada on a float plane.

After spending half a day at the airport (no complaints here, we were in the "board room" lounge for gold club/1st class with complimentary muffins and a passable bloody mary) Horizon canceled our flight. My boss and I were waiting for a plane when Horizon decided to ground all of the Q400's in the fleet because of the landing gear failure in the Netherlands. So back to the office, disappointed. But then the silver lining, our clients float plane was available, so the next day (after a fog delay) we took off. It was a blast.

And as the summer came to a close I also squeezed in one other goal, a bike ride out to Redhook Brewery in Woodenville. My friend Kristina and I made the trip out in a little over 2 hours. Kristina deserves credit for doing it on an old Schwinn in sandals, unlike all the "hardcore" bikers in spandex and clip on shoe pedal things. Chumps!

Other than that, I've been trying to fall in love with riding the bus to work, but the fact that it adds about 1hr20 extra to my round trip has taken a toll. I would probably give up on it if I weren't afraid of my car falling to pieces on the freeway, if the freeway weren't about to close for renovation, and if the defroster worked.

Last but not least, my kitchen is now home to a food processor and a manual pasta machine. Now that the weather is turning I've been harvesting everything from the garden for sauce and ravioli filling.

Not bad for a summer

my absence.... will continue

It has been noted that I haven't posted much lately.

This is true...

and will continue.

it's summer, I spend all day on the computer, pick an excuse. Hopefully as the summer ends (is a coincidence that it is raining today, and I am blogging) I will rejoin the blog world.

here are a few pictures for the time being

Clams from a weekend on the Kitsap Penninsula at my friend Heather's
Colfield serving up the clams, which we all preferred over the mussels we had feasted on down by the water
And if you need more explanation for my absence, I've been reading a lot, in my new chair
After so many years of dreaming, I am the owner of an Eames Lounge Chair, and I love it!

So that's all, I may post again after this weekend's wine tasting trip to Walla Walla, but I make no promises. And for those in Fresno, I will be coming home in October (the weekend of the 14th) for my 10 year reunion at FPU.

A new direction for aufgefallen (retracted)

several weeks ago I said that I was going to start writing more about food, and I am...just not here. I've decided to start another blog focused just on food, drink, etc. The change is mainly because I want to start participating in more food blog discussions, contests, etc, but I don't want to direct people back to this blog. This is more for bantering amongst friends.

So feel free to swing by the new blog, Flour & Fond

I've pulled a few posts over so it isn't empty, but I haven't posted anything new (other than a few pictures of the vegetable garden). I made a sweet pot o chili and a cornbread pudding tonight, so maybe tomorrow I will write it up.