A Slower Pace

While at work this morning, I got a cellphone call from my wife. Seems that while she and my son were doing some exploring down by the creek, they ran across their first snake. My son wanted to play with it while my wife wanted to go the other way. She ended up using a stick to push it into the creek. Their exploratory hike abruptly ended and she said she will be leaving that kind of stuff to me.

The temps are in the upper 50’s – low 60’s which I think prematurely drew him out of hibernation. He’s in for a rude surprise this weekend when temps are going back down to freezing.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

I just read this article online about journaling and it moved me enough to create this post as quick as I could type it. I won’t begin to try to describe or summarize it. Check out the article here.

Link – http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2004/003/21.88.html

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot com

Most of the churches around here have signs out front by the road so you can see their service times and other info. Quite a few of them also have messages that change often. I get a kick out of seeing them and will occasionally post a few here.

Here is the first one I am posting that I saw today:

“Sign broken. Message given inside.”

Quite clever.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

This morning we hit the late service and it had about three times the people as the first service last week did. We stayed for a pizza luncheon afterwards and met quite a few people. More baby steps for us.

A quote during the sermon resonated with me.

“You may be the only Bible some people read.”

It goes hand in hand with a prayer I routinely ask — to be a disciple of example. I don’t like people cramming their ideas down my (or anyone else’s) throat. I figure it is much more effective to speak with actions rather than speak with words. Words without action are useless blabbering (kinda like this blog). Actions by themselves are powerful.

The rest of our day was spent as a family doing some errands after church and a few chores before an early dinner. It is now early to bed to prepare for the beginning of the week. That will get us a good night’s sleep which is our first step to a good day and getting it off to a good start. Again, school attitudes are positive this Sunday night which is important but I am also prepared for a step backwards if it happens. If it is two baby steps forward, one step back, that is ok. It will continue to take time acclimating. Going to church today was one more piece of the routine puzzle.

On another positive side, my wife took the freeway to the Kroger’s this afternoon. If you recall from a post on our trip out here, she had trouble driving and has been apprehensive ever since. She has warmed to driving the country roads, but hadn’t conquered the freeway until today. We’re getting there.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

Subject: California

So as not to be outdone by all the redneck, hillbilly, and Texan jokes, you know you’re a Californian if:

1. Your co-worker has 8 body piercing and none are visible.
2. You make over $300,000 and still can’t afford a house.
3. You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.
4. Your child’s 3rd-grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Breeze.
5. You can’t remember . . . is pot illegal?
6. You’ve been to a baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.
7. You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown, and you can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian.
8. You can’t remember . ….is pot illegal?
9. A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.
10. A low speed police pursuit will interrupt ANY TV broadcast.
11. Gas costs $1.00 per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S.
12. A man gets on the bus in full leather regalia and crotchless chaps, and you don’t even notice.
13. Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks’ wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney, really IS George Clooney.
14. Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.
15. Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman who delivers you mail is
into S&M and your Mary Kay rep is a guy in drag.
16. You can’t remember . . . . is pot illegal?
17. It’s barely sprinkling rain and there’s a report on every news station: “STORM WATCH.”
18. You pass an elementary school playground and the children are all busy with the cells or pagers.
19. It’s barely sprinkling rain outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related s$@# .
20. HEY!!!! Is pot illegal????
21. Both you AND your dog have therapists . . . and lastly,
22. The Terminator is your governor.

I’ve been through a lot during the move and this transition. I’ve made it this far, but the hardest thing so far has been something I am missing right now.

That thing that I am missing is…..the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show.

I know, I know. A tear is welling up in your eye as you imagine a tech geek like me having to go through the of seeing all the new gadget releases on the evening news or worse yet, special CES reviews on TechTV. All without being there. I have attended most of the shows since 1992. I WAS THERE WHEN MICROSOFT PRE-RELEASED MICROSOFT BOB in 1994!!! I still get misty eyed when I caress my MS Bob pin…..his yellow smiley face looking so much like his Wal-Mart cousin. Add to the pain that the show is hosted by the wholesome crowd in Las Vegas. There is a nickel video poker machine somewhere that is screaming my name.

Alas, but in 2005 it is not to be. Too far. Too close to our move date. Too much time away from work. Too new of a situation for me to leave the family. I think I will passify myself with some retro Mattel LED football circa 1981. Bleep, bleep.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

PS – the above pain is still not as great as having to go through cable broadband withdrawals and use dial up.

There are a few things out here in the country that you don’t expect to hear…..like the doorbell. We are too far from the service areas for door to door pizza, too spread out for soliciters and Jehovah’s Witnesses and usually people just plain can’t find you. So when the doorbell rang after dinner Thursday night, it surprised me.

Usually when the doorbell rings, it is the kids ringing it because A) they want into the garage so they can take off their muddy shoes or B) they are just playing with it. Since we were all still in the dining room, it was neither. Turns out, it was the pastor from the church we attended on Sunday. He stopped by to deliver a welcome bag from the congregation. It was a nice outreach symbol and shows that they have some good programs to make a positive impact on the community.

We chatted with him for a few minutes and then let him get back to his family and dinner. It was nice that he could take the time to come all the way out here and make us feel welcome. We’re gonna try the late service tomorrow which has a friendship pizza lunch afterwards. Hopefully, we’ll meet some more people and keep building our new network.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

All three kids had good days at school today. So we are 3 for 3…..at least for today. I guess it will be one day at a time for a while. I expect Monday for at least one of ’em to take a step backwards. Every day can’t be good while you are adjusting. But for right now at this moment, Friday afternoon is a time to sit back and take a breath. We’ll see how things are Sunday evening. That’ll be the truth teller. Until then I will enjoy the weekend.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

The few times I have been silent on the blogging of our journey have been during times of hardship, stress or challenges. Blogging, while a healthy outlet, definitely takes a back seat to dealing with current issues and concerns. We are in one of those times. It seems that my posting of Monday “School’s cool” is premature. One of the kids is having an abnormally hard time adjusting. Granted it is still early after only a few days but right now things are tough. Luckily, my job has been the easiest part of all that is new so that allows me time to focus on the family. It is my hope that this time is just one more hurdle or challenge and in a week or month (or longer), we will look back on this time as a time of perseverence, testing and molding of what we are to become.

What’s that saying? “What does not kill us only makes us stronger.”

We’ll see.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

For those of you reading this that think that I am too optimistic, too positive, too Pollyannaish, I’ll reveal a little of the melancholy side of me.

While setting up my eliptical machine in the basement (it’s been over a month since I’ve routinely exercised), I needed a few technical hardware pieces so I can set up the TV. I cannot just exercise like a hamster on a treadmill without something to distract me. When I was young, it was the competitiveness of a good game (playing basketball, football, tennis, softball, whatever). But now that I am older and have less time, I still need to exercise but don’t have the luxury of those distractions. Enter TV. I record content onto my ReplayTV digital video recorder (like T*vo only better — notice how T*vo is a four letter word), and watch it while I work out. Suddenly, the show ends and I notice that I am a little tired and sweaty. Perfect work out for me.

Anyway, in this quest for setting it up, I was going to head to Radio Shack for something for the TV setup. I called them to inquire when they close. NOTE: it is 6:07pm. The guy answering informs me that they close at 6pm. Alas, my quest will be postponed til tomorrow. It made me yearn for the quick trip down to my local Radio Shack that was open semi-late in a nicely apportioned Thousand Oaks yuppie strip mall. Manicured trees with an anchor grocery store and store, the required coffee shop, small time donut shop, banksomethingorother and a handful of mom and pop establishments. And it was only 4 minutes from my driveway. Convenience but also a very nice familiar feel…..like your hometown. And then I realised that I purposely left that. That thought then migrated towards my regular weekday routine — all hometown based. Getting up early at 5:30a for a cardio workout, feeding the dogs, picking up after them, breakfast with the wireless laptop being fed by the latest broadband news, a quick shower, my coveted 3 minute commute, regular parking space, fairly normal work, the usual default lunch at home (unless I had previous plans), more work, dinner on the table when I got home, help the kids with homework, horse around afterwards, tuck them into bed, unwind by watching ah hour of stupid TV, a little reading, a quick check of my PalmPilot for the next days events and early to bed. While that might be boring to some people, it was great for me. And I am not only missing the routine, I am missing the environment that routine took place in. It was familiar, comfortable, safe. All that with family and friends nearby.

Logically, I still know we made the right decision. However, there are a few times where emotions surface and a longing for the familiar hometown is strong. I realised that rituals are important for most of us. It’s bad enough when our ritual is disrupted, but throwing us into a different environment at the same time really impacts us…..at least it is me. It will calm down the sooner I get into a routine. But the hometown familiarity will take a bit longer.

For those that are still in that familiar hometown environment that we left – family, friends, neighbors, co-workers – I greet you with a “Hi!”. We think of you often and miss you.

…..Dan at aslowerpace