Route To Work

I'm really starting to like Google + a lot. I love how all of my old Google services that I use are all brought together in one spot. Blogger, Buzz, and Picasa are all accessible on Google +. It's kind of annoying though that I can't rotate the photos I upload to my blog using Picasa. Maybe they still have some bugs to work out. I'm going to stop talking about Google though before I start sounding like an advertisement.

Our weekend was fantastic. I wish I could just freeze time and stay in the weekend all of my life. It's not so much that I dread the week, it's more like I just enjoy the heck out of the weekend. This weekend we went to Pecos and had a picnic. I bought some chicken breasts and Joey brought some good bread, cheese and some Grey Poupon. We took cover underneath a bridge because we thought it was going to rain on us. It didn't end up raining very hard... We had an excellent time though. Just hanging out with friends. I know it's times like this that I'll never forget.

I'm optimistic for this next week. I think I lied in that last paragraph. I think sometimes I do dread the upcoming week. I try to stay optimistic though. I think that this week can bring wonderful things. I just have to break the routine. I think I'll start with my route to work. This week I'll try to take different routes every day of the week.

Sunday Evening

Tomorrow is the start of a new week. These days seem to be going by faster and faster. I feel like this summer just zoomed past us. 

I'm tired of a few things in my life. I'm tired of my lack of motivation in some areas. I'm tired of our little bathroom. I'm tired of the weather. 

Really, I have no reason to complain. We always complain. I always complain. I complain about terrible drivers in Albuquerque. I complain about dry, hot weather. (I live in a freakin' desert. I need to just get used to it.) I'm just a complainer. We're all complainers. But what do I do to change my situation? I complain some more. I would much rather do something. I could keep on complaining about how flawed people are, or I can just focus on my own life. My life needs improvement. I won't be happy if I focus on other people's lives.

I don't know. Sometimes life gets me down. Sometimes I don't have all of the things that I want. Then I have to stop and think, and sometimes write in a blog, then I remember--I remember that I have all that I need. I have a wife that I adore. I have loving parents and parent in-laws. I have family that loves me. I have a job that pays the bills. I live in a city, state and country that I am proud of. Life is mostly good. 

Today Lindsey and I saw a homeless woman in the park. We both have seen her many times walking around the Nob Hill and University area. I was filled with compassion, but I didn't do anything. I just sat there and I enjoyed my Arizona Tea Arnold Palmer. I wanted so bad to give her something, to show her kindness, but I ignored the urge. Next time I see her, I want to say something, I want to give something. 

Random Thoughts 8/1/11

It's another day. I'm half way though and I feel anxious. I'm anxious to see what life will bring. Will there be sorrow? Will there be joy? I'm sure a good mixture of the two. I'm trying to find ways to be prepared for both of those things. 

Lots of things are going on in my life right now. I love Lindsey so much. We have lots of decisions to make together. I once heard someone say, "Fail to plan, then plan to fail". So I'd like to have a good plan. We're moving into our new place next month. (We're renting.) Yesterday we had the help of Lindsey's parents to clean the house. It was a few minutes of hard work, but I think it's paying off. The house is pretty old. Old is good though. We're excited to move in. 

So I'm pretty sad that monsoon season really hasn't brought anything to the Albuquerque area. Everyday I look at the radar images to see if there's a chance that one of these storms will hit us. So far we've only had one good storm. It's alright, I live in a desert I know. Rain is so much sweeter when you live in a desert.

Here's something I read today that made me think...

"27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate."

Luke 6:27-36 (NLT)

Nice Storm

Have you ever seen a bush get struck my lightning? I haven't until about 20 minutes ago. It was pretty amazing really. The entire bush glowed bright orange and pink for a split second then I could see smoke and steam coming off of the bush. It all happened so fast. I was driving behind Lindsey and she saw it too. Pretty cool. Here's a picture of the Doppler radar of what we just went though. We were entering Tijeras Canyon.

Get Over Yourself, Denver

Seriously, I think that Denver, Colorado is one of the most beautiful cities in the country. I have one complaint though, and it's the elevation thing. Everywhere you go in Denver you see something about being one mile high. It's the "Mile High City". Even the city's magazine is called 5,280. Maybe this fact is something that is really impressing for all of the transplants from the east coast. For me, I was born at 7,000 ft above sea level at St. Vincent's Hospital in Santa Fe, NM. (I kind of wonder if it's the highest full service hospital in the U.S.) I have to laugh though at some of the things we are fascinated with. And I'm the guiltiest. I always talk about my current elevation... I'm ranting because I often see Denverites vandalizing Wikipedia pages and trying so hard to tell the world that they are a mile high. First of all, miles are dumb. Nobody else cares about miles, they care about kilometers. Second of all, I just want to read about boiling temperatures, I don't care that Denver is a mile high. Here's the quoted text from that article:

"In Denver, Colorado, which is at an elevation of about one mile, water boils at approximately 95 °C.^[2] Depending on the type of food and the elevation, the boiling water may not be hot enough to cook the food properly. Similarly, increasing the pressure as in a pressure cookerraises the temperature of the contents above the open air boiling point."

Our Weekend

What an amazing weekend! It started with some great New Mexican food at Silvano's with my family. I got to show my new camera to my dad, mom and brothers. I snapped a few good photos too, I can't wait to get them developed. I really hope that they come out, I'm still trying to understand camera settings. -- It's also been really dark and stormy. That is really refreshing to me. The air smells nice. It's cool. I love it. 

Another thing we did was go on a mini road trip in northern New Mexico. New Mexico is so beautiful, and a lot of people don't know it. We went up to Santa Fe to Espanola to Taos. We saw the taos gorge and the majestic New Mexico Rocky Mountains. We then traveled through the Carson National Forest toward Angel Fire. We went up to the base of Angel Fire and enjoyed some coconut shrimp and a micro brew. Then we traveled south from Angel Fire through Black Lake and Guadalupita then through Mora then past Storie Lake then to Las Vegas and back through Santa Fe and finally toward Albuquerque. All along enjoying some amazing lightning shows. It was just a great little trip and I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully I'll have some photos to show off soon. 

Comfort

It's been an interesting morning so far. I feel a bit unsettled. I don't know why I feel this way sometimes. I guess it's just emotions. I feel like there's a place where my life needs to be and when my life isn't there then my emotions feel sort-of off. Where I feel I should be is--->comfortable... Is comfort that important though? Well, maybe not. Maybe I need to move because if I am comfortable then I stay still and if I stay still then life gets stagnant. Life is stagnant and then it just starts to stink. It's the same ol', same ol'. I wake up, I go to work, I watch some show that I watched the night before, then I go to sleep and wake up then do it all over again the next day. That is not life. That is not being human. Being human is loving people. To be a human you have go out there and experience God's creation. There is so much beauty out there that nobody seems to care about. With the beauty comes danger. You hear about hikers and campers getting lost all the time... But that danger takes you out of your comfortable home, your comfortable car, your comfortable chair. You're alive! Love!

I just have some things on my mind this morning. I don't feel comfortable, not at all. I had a bad dream last night that disturbed me. But maybe it's God's way of saying "MOVE! You're way too comfortable!". So I won't pout, I won't stew, I won't feel sad. I'll move. Life keeps moving. People still need to be told that they are valued. People need to feel human.