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My Eternal Quest to Fill my iTunes Catalogue with Album Art November 1, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Friends, Music , 1 comment so far

During the search for Seam’s Headsparks on Google Images, I was delightfully surprised to find Adrian’s head with a foam Statue of Liberty hat. At first, I thought Google became incredibly smart by guessing that Adrian liked the band Seam and mistook Lady Liberty’s foam hat for a large green spark emanating out of Adrian’s head. Hence, the shocked face. Unfortunately, Google is not that smart (yet). Adrian wrote a post about never ripping this album to mp3s. I never ended up finding a decent, high res image of Headsparks’ album art. So I think I will use Adrian’s head instead.

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Cutest Housemate

Posted by Patrick in : Friends, Photography , add a comment

I usually don’t like using the word cute, but I have to in this case.

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From the Inferno October 24, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : San Diego, Christianity, Friends , 2 comments

So, I finally made the leap from Pittsburgh to San Diego a week ago. The transition has been fairly smooth so far. I’m living with friends of Chelsea and mine in the Clairemont area and I work for the same company that I worked for in Pittsburgh. Albeit, remotely and temporarily.

My first week started relaxing and is ending surreal. Moving was fairly easy because I ended up mailing everything by US mail since most of my stuff was media. The latter part has been a little hairy because of the fire. Chelsea’s neighborhood was evacuated when I was visiting on Monday. We escaped to her relatives in El Cajon. Their family was able to return to their house earlier this afternoon.

As far as seeing the fire, we only saw lots of smoke. Chelsea’s school has the entire week off. She always wondered what a snow day would be like and I think she got her wish. Instead of snow, it’s ash. The sidewalks and roads have a light dusting of ash every where you go. It also smells like someone started a large bonfire.

The fires are spreading quickly because of high temperatures, extremely low humidity (<10%), and high Santa Ana winds. These winds start in the desert (east) and blow westward. Hence, the fires start and move very easily.

I’ll try to serve some photos of SD life in the ensuing weeks. Still have to get lots of stuff: a car, driver’s license, etc. I do have a church though, which I’m pretty excited about. I’ve known about the church for two years now because I’ve been reading one of the pastors’ blog since October of 2005. One of my first posts linked to his.

Why I have not been blogging in more than a month May 14, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Friends , 8 comments

You, one of my ten loyal blog readers, have probably got into the habit of humming the tune Where have all the Blogposts Gone? when you have visited this site. And you probably won’t believe the answer if I told you.

The reason is a ladyfriend in San Diego and her name is Chelsea. The mindful reader will notice that my previous post was about a last minute visit to a friend in San Diego. At the time of that writing, I didn’t want to say more and compromise my real intentions of visiting San Diego.

Chelsea is a friend of a friend and we met at our friend’s 2007 New Year’s party in Allentown, PA. It’s funny because we barely talked at this party. It was probably less than fifteen minutes and neither of us had an interest in each other. She even jokes about that when I was leaving, she said goodbye and put her hand on my arm as a friendly gesture. I apparently took on a look of semi-revulsion and looked away. While this still remains to be disputed, I thought she was a sweet, godly gal, and that it was nice meeting her, and that I’d probably never see her again.

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But before I left, I asked if she would send a draft of the book she was writing. It was one of the things that piqued my interest about her. She liked the idea so I sent our mutual friend my email address a few days later to pass on to Chelsea.

This email started a three month email correspondence. It started off at a weekly frequency talking about all sorts of stuff. And around middlemarch, the frequency of emails picked up until it reached a daily rate. On March 23rd, a day after my birthday, I asked if I could call her on the phone. She said yes and we talked. The first phone call was 4½ hours. The next one was 1½. The next one 5½. Needless to say, the intensity level of the cross-gender friendship kicked into a higher gear and something needed to be said.

And that’s what happened on my last blog post. I was sitting at work on Monday morning and thinking how the upcoming weekend would be the best time to visit her - the friendship’s at the right place; it was her spring break (she’s a teacher); and it was her birthday weekend. So I talked to a couple friends to make sure that I wasn’t crazy and that I wouldn’t freak her out, and then called her up a few hours later. I surprised her as she ate mixed nuts at her kitchen table. Though a little shocked, she gladly gave me the go ahead. I flew out there five days later. It was the trip that started us to refer to each other as “us”.

A lot has transpired in a month and a lot has been learned. There’s more to tell of prayers being answered and the gospel changing hearts, but I need to save those stories for another day. I just want to say that God’s really good and I really like this woman.

One Ticket to Paradise April 4, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Friends , 5 comments

In a somewhat impulsive decision a couple of days ago, I bought a ticket to San Diego this weekend to spend four days out there to visit a friend. It looks like the trip will come at a great time because it’s supposed to snow in Pittsburgh this weekend.

The price for the ticket ended up being a Godsend. I started looking at 5 PM on Monday evening and prices were well above $500 for a round trip ticket for Saturday to Tuesday. I continued to scour the net, hoping for a better deal. Two hours later, I found a round trip on Expedia for $210 for the exact dates I wanted.

And then I found out later that my friend was praying for ticket logistics and a cheap fare so that I would still be a good steward of my money and not blow several hundred dollars on a plane ticket. Imagine that!

The Ides of March March 15, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Christianity, Friends, Music , add a comment

Middlemarch has closed a couple of doors and opened some new ones. Our bowling team bowled our last game of the Winter season this past Monday. It was our first time that we made it to the playoffs. Unfortunately, we lost pretty badly. It was a good year for all of us. Since the weather’s getting better, we probably won’t join again until next Fall. We plan to enjoy a season ending celebration at the local Steak ‘n Shake.

Also, our 29-week Bible study on Acts ended this past week as well. The study exceeded our group’s expectations in many ways. We started as a group of four friends who wanted to study the gospel and the church. Over the course of ½ a year, we grew to nine people, who became fairly good friends. It’s interesting to see how friendships are knit together when you commit to each other on a weekly basis. Our last time together gave us a chance to reflect on the study and its major points.

One of the things that continually resonated throughout the book was the centrality of Jesus and his mission. In the first study, we read a quote from John Stott that read to the effect that many think the gospels are about Jesus and the book of Acts is about the church. But, as we came to see, both books (in fact, the entire Bible) is about Jesus. The gospels are about Jesus’ living ministry through his body in the incarnation, and Acts is Jesus’ living ministry through his body, the church.

Unfortunately, it was bitter sweet for the study to end because I won’t continue with them (at least regularly) in the future. I’m hoping to help start a group at my church.

Middlemarch also means that my eMusic subscription gets recharged tomorrow. Last month’s decisions included the following:

Ankeny Briefcase December 16, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Friends, Reading , 1 comment so far

If you’re looking for a last minute Christmas gift for your bibliophile friends, pick up the Ankeny Briefcase. It’s a collection of various short stories from young, upcoming writers. This endorsement, of course, has nothing to do with my friend Carlos who was just published in it. Is he the next Flannery O’Connor? You’ll have to buy it to make that judgment.

Congrats Colin December 5, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Friends , 3 comments

For when I am wiik, then I am strong.

9:36ish King’s Rendezvous November 23, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Friends , 1 comment so far

I’m not sure who started it, but a group of high school friends started congregating at King’s on Thanksgiving morning for some pre-game feasting at 9:36ish. This Thanksgiving marked the ten year anniversary. The crowd varies from year to year, but it is always a highlight. It’s fun to learn what everybody is up to.

This year, I learned to pace myself. On a normal day, I order the King’s Country Breakfast which is truly a breakfast fit for a king: two eggs, four strips of bacon, a good serving of home fries, two pieces of toast, and three pancakes. It wouldn’t be that bad on a normal morning. But when you visit your aunt’s at 2:00 PM and do not stop eating until 7 PM, digestive tract space is at a premium. Today, the lesser two eggs special was the better fit.

Have a good Thanksgiving everybody.

IveGotNothing.com October 4, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Friends , 4 comments

A small band of friends from college and I had this running joke about a website named IveGotNothing.com, and it comprised of us bachelors who weren’t dating anyone at the time. Most of us are still not in any serious relationships, but one fell by the wayside recently and the following is an email that I sent him today. I thought you might enjoy it. You’ll probably notice some serious influence from The Screwtape Letters.

Dear Former Associate,

Our database shows that your account has recently become deactivated. This has become a surprise to us. There must certaintly be some error on our part. For our record reports that you have an impressive tenure with our association. Serving as webmaster and chairman during these past several years, you have encouraged the small collection of those who got absolutely nothing onto a greater sense of self-worth and contentment. And were you not one of our founding members?

But now, there is rumor that you got in fact, something. Our group can include those who got nothing, and only nothing. If you have forgotten some of the cardinal rules of our committee - which is doubtful since they’re vigorously rehearsed at our quarterly meetings - let me remind you.

Planning a phone conversation or date - the wretched word! - with a member of the female contingent certainly does not classify as “got nothing”. Even just talking to a mild interest at the workplace, or at church, constitues as something. To have nothing, you must have absolutely no blips on the radar. No roses among the thorns. No cheddar among the limburger.

The last time I perused the rule book - which I, of course, do every night before I go to bed - emailing a lady on a frequent basis constitutes as something. Don’t you agree? And I wish it were just this. In some cases, we see our half-hearted associates recover from this period. After a moratorium of sorts, when the communication has ended, our committee can reinstate them to a part-time membership (candidates with exceptional behavior can receive full membership). But alas, as rumors have it, our associates report that you shared an affection for the said lady over the phone. I’m afraid that we have lost almost all hope. Many of our former associates have lost any chance of reinstatement when they have travelled down this path. Do I have to remind you of Timothy Gates?

Now you must realize that since my associates and I got nothing, we cannot sympathize with this so-called “affection”. It’s completely foreign to us, and we don’t understand it. We have some men at off-site training trying to understand this phenomenon. But we have been chasing rainbows. We cannot help you transition back from something to nothing. From the moment you crossed into having something, you are in another world.

This means the onus is on you. Your membership of ivegotnothing.com is completely in your hands. I understand that our association and you will be out of touch during this period of pursuit. Business will go on as usual for us. We will still have those quarterly meetings about our nothingness that everybody seems to cherish so much. It will be sad that we now have one less member, but we are strong and confident. As our motto goes, “We got nothing, but at least we got more time”.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if your status changes.

Your affectionate former associate,

Patrick