silentfool.com

House Hunting

Dave — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:09:16 +0000

For the past 6 months Jen and I have been house hunting. Actually, more like the past 2 years, but we didn’t really get too serious about it until 9-10 months ago. We got a Realtor and began casually looking here and there. We weren’t really sure what exactly we were looking for at the beginning but as time has gone by our seriousness has increased more and more and likewise our target has become more and more specific. A couple weeks ago we had a very, very close call and made it all the way to the bidding stage on a house. It was a great deal, in a nice location, and the house looked to be more than we could have asked for. Unfortunately our bid was either too little, too late, or both. We were mildly heartbroken but shook it off saying “we’re probably better off, somehow”. After that discouraging blow we began looking at different houses in different locations. Again, our target became more specific and with each passing day we’re getting a better idea of what we really want.

With all of that said, here are a few sites and designs that I’ve been really digging lately-

Hive Modular - (here are pics) check out B002, C001, C003, & X001

Rocio Romero - LV or LVL

Clever Homes - Now House (CH1) and CH10

Nutter Home (blog) - this is a blog detailing a modern, green home built 35 miles from where I live!

If you don’t like any of these, that’s ok. You don’t have to…just don’t expect me to change

curse of white suburban worship

Dave — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:44:37 +0000

When I say the word “Worship”, what pops in your mind? If you’re like me, the first thing that comes to mind is a suburban megachurch on a Saturday night. The worship leader playing the latest Tomlin or Redman tune while the crowd raises their hands to the heavens. Is that worship? Well, yes, I think it is. The thing is though, I don’t think that’s even close to everything. It would be like saying Art is black & white landscape photography of barns in the mid-west. Sure, it’s art, but it’s not the only kind of art there is. In fact it’s a very narrow view of it. Yet instead of exploring the other types of art that are out there, we’re debating on why we photographed the white barn, instead of the red one…or why the door is cropped out of the photo. Do you get what I’m saying?

We’re spending all kinds of time debating on why we didn’t play this song or that or why we can’t have the hymns back. It’s just silly. There’s so much more out there for us to explore, why don’t we seek it out?

I just don’t get it.

no man’s land

Dave — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:41:07 +0000

Well…today sucked. That’s pretty much the only way I know to sum it up. Jen’s youngest sister is graduating from hight school tomorrow and to be there for occasion, Jen was scheduled to fly out today and fly back Monday. “Was” is the keyword.

About 45 minutes into the 2 hour & 15 minute drive the car freaked out. Battery light came on to start, then the temp gauge was peaking and I knew we needed to pull over ASAP. As we were pulling over I realized that the power steering was gone. After some quick checking and research we figured out that a belt broke which controlled the issues above. So yeah…the car is broke down, problem #1. Problem #2- Jen is most likely going to miss her flight. If it would have happened 30 minutes before, or 90 minutes later we would have been fine. But as it turned out we were in no man’s land…and our only option was to forget about the flight and just get the car back home. So…a call to my father and then an hour wait for him to come with the trailer.

We got back fine and the car will be OK (I HOPE!). But Jen’s going to miss her sister’s graduation and it just sucks…but what can you do. On top of all that, it was 90′ outside today so during our hour wait, Jen got a serious sun burn. I told her her arms look like imitation crab meat. (see above picture)

So…yeah, bad day. Service manual is on the way for the car, already have the parts, so hopefully over the next 2-3 days we’ll be back in working order.

meaning to do this for some time

Dave — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:29:44 +0000

I’ve started and stopped writing several posts over the past few weeks and never hit the “Publish” button for whatever reason. I think the biggest part of it is that I let things pile up until I feel like I have something worthy of blogging, but by that time, there is just so much I don’t even know where to begin. So… the solution I’ve come up with is not to catch up on all of the past events but to start fresh and post about what’s going on now. And for the next 7 days post every single day…just something short.

The only thing that I can think of for now is to point you to this new site that I’m really digging Where We Do What We Do. It’s just as the name suggests…pictures of workspaces. I don’t know why I find it interesting, but I’m really curious about what people have on their desks, walls, etc. It also makes me want more art and a better (more modern) desk. Anyway.

That’s it for day one of the experiment. Bring on day 2!

I’m a Girly-Man.

Dave — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:34:02 +0000

I can’t explain it, but over the past few weeks and months I’ve been having these moments. I just get flushed with emotions and my eyes well up with this salty substance that I’ve been told are called “tears”. I quickly wipe them away and try to think about manly things like baseball, dirt, or guns. But no matter how I try to ignore it, it keeps coming back, this feeling of joy, peace, happiness.

Over the past several years of my life I’ve been known to be less than optimistic in most situations. In fact, I’ve been passive-aggressive, pessimistic, and hyper-critical of pretty much everything. Now, I’m not going to even suggest that I’m completely cured of all of this, but I will say that over the past 6-8 months I have begun down the path to setting things right.

So, why the change? Well, I can’t completely explain it, but to say it’s been a journey. Jen and I had a great experience with Radio City in the fall which gave me a new passion and love for people. Then we came home and I got into a small group with a few other guys at church. On top of that, I was given a great job and just have been blessed time and time again for no apparent reason. So, today…I’m sitting on the lawn mower, giving the grass a chop, the sun is shining and I’m thinking “wow, life is good. Thank You God!”

I could go on and on about how much God has done for me, but my words would simply fall short of doing it all justice. So, I’ll leave it at that.

k2 + cssedit = design bliss

Dave — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:49:12 +0000

So, this site has undergone minor surgery. I modified my k2 theme and worked on some customization. It’s a far cry from what I have in my mind, but it’s a change and change is good. I also took the liberty of giving Jen’s site a revamp. I used this little program called CSSEdit, which is Mac only (unfortunately). I can say beyond doubt that it is the best and easiest CSS editor I’ve ever come across. Dreamweaver is nice but cumbersome, the webdev toolbar is handy but lacks some intuitiveness, and everything is just falls short.

It’s really been fun working things out and solving little issues…I’m looking forward to my next site already…