Bass fishing at churches.

So, I kinda started ignoring this blog in favor of my other blog, Eating up the EL (about food in Chicago).  Seeing as how I've been a boring suburban lump for the past few weeks, I haven't been even remotely near the EL, nor its surrounding restaurants, and thus have had nothing to post about there.  I feel like I have this problem often with blogs.  I never seem to get more than a month or two before they fizzle out.  Anyway, what I have been spending my time doing is playing the bass in various churches.  

The, uh, bass... not the bass.

Anyway, there are 3 I currently rotate between, 2 on alternating Sunday mornings and one in the evenings.  The third, which hasn't even technically started yet is probably the one I'll end up with on more of a permanent basis.  If you happen to be in the Chicago area on any upcoming sunday night, you should definitely come to First Pres of DuPage for the 5pm young adults service.  Or for even more fun, check out the Jenny Lane Coffee House. (yes, that is a pun on Penny Lane) 

So, I guess I like playing in church quite a bit.  I think I enjoy it so much because helping to make the music that encourages people to worship God really leads me to worship too.  There are songs that get so tired of singing as part of the congregation; then I play them as part of the band and it's all brand new again.

STREBLO

Somebody went under the dock,

and there they found a rock.

But it wasn't a rock,

It was a ROCK LOBSTER!

So for our first anniversary dinner, my wife and I ate lobster.  I have thus discovered that lobster is my favorite food in the whole world.  It's really tough to define a real favorite.  I usually settle for top 5s, but in the single entrée category, lobster is it.  It was truly delightful.

"Those who are about to die, we salute you."

The day after, we made Lobster rolls out of the leftover tail and lobster bisque out of the shells and the water the little guys were cooked in.  For that, I used my new birthday food processor from my in-laws.  Totally cool present!

I/O

So... Laura and Clint just came and left, and Josh and Cindy came out from the city last night to hang out in our oh-so-suburban apartment. Being together felt very comfortable, though it made me miss all my friends living everywhere else; the great tea diaspora. Laura and Clint are now on their way to Vancouver, across and then out of the country. It seems like quite an exciting prospect, packing up all one's earthly possessions in a minivan and going somewhere completely new. I think I should try it some time.

I'm kind of sick of my job. I'm really resonating with Mark right now, who is stuck testing ground water for environmental hazards.  I think he's got it worse then me, but I'm definitely ready to move on. This is how I feel about the iPhone 3G:

This awful piece of technology has bewitched so many people into thinking that they need it so much that they are willing to wait in 3 hour lines and yell and scream at anyone they perceive to be in their way of getting it.  Half of the training sessions I do are still enjoyable, but it's not enough to make the rest bearable.  "How do you move a mouse" just isn't doing it for me any more.  The huge influx of customers over the past year has required the store to more than double the number of employees.  This consequently brings down the caliber of person they are willing to hire.  We've got people who have hardly even used the computer they're trying to sell.  I have to answer more questions from other employees than I do from customers most days.

Anyway, sorry about the rant, just had to get that off my chest.  There really are plenty of reasons why working at Apple is still fun, just none that come to mind at the moment.

My resume, a la Wordle. (Good find Laura)

4 FT. NO DIVING

Having healed enough to go in the pool, I think I will join my lovely wife in her daily dip today. It has been a very fast 6 weeks of recovery, kind of like summer vacation always was. you feel like you just got used to being home, and it's time to go to school registration. People have said to me consistently, "I bet you're getting so bored... I could never stay home like that with nothing to do." I however, seem to be doing just fine. I think I'm one of the only people I know who could just sit and think all day and not get bored.

So this afternoon I walked all the way to downtown Clarendon Hills, about 1.3 miles; the longest I've walked yet.  The whole way of course I sang this song...

It made for a nice afternoon.

I was also thinking later today about learning through pain. For a while I couldn't sit on the couch or chairs in our living room because when I came home from the hospital I tried once and it hurt quite a bit. Thus, even when I'm sure it wouldn't have hurt at all I refused to sit and sat instead in the wooden chair. Brandi as well, having just got her ears pierced, is still getting used to putting in the earrings. She had to stop herself from thinking about it in order to actually put them in.

I wonder how many harmless things we avoid because we had a painful experience one time.