To All Who Read This

I ran into this site today and it was so cool I had to blog about it. This goes out to all who read this blog.

Get Firebug

For those of you who are web developers there is a great extension for Firefox that has just recently come out. I've used it for about a week, and I am in love with it ... not as much as I love my wife though. It is the greatest thing for web developers since Jolt. By the way you may want to check out their site, since it has some information about the plug in that you may not realize just playing around with it at first ... there are lots of features. Go get it and try it for yourself.

She's still got life in her

The other day our car officially hit 200,000 miles. We've been counting this down for a while, so when we saw that the time had come we had our camera handy. We've driven a lot in this car since we got married. We've made multiple trips to Spokane, countless trips to Albany, a trip to North Dakota, a trip to Orcas Island (via ferry ... the car doesn't go well under water), and a trip to Disneyland. When Melissa got the car three and a half years ago it had 130,000 miles on it. So, we've put 70,000 on it in that time. It's our only car so it has seen a lot of use, especially commuting to and from work each day. Now, that we've moved to campus though I think she'll see a lot less driving. Still, with all those miles on her she's still running well and I'd say she has another 200,000 in her (knocking on wood).

Hair Razing Tale

So, the other day Melissa gave me a hair cut. Um, it kinda went wrong. Just kidding. I figured I've never had my hair spiked down the middle so why not do it while I'm getting my hair cut. It was interesting. Fortunately, I didn't have to leave it that way. Also, the other day Melissa and I went to Seaside and spent the weekend there. A lady that works in Melissa's department had a beach cabin that they were selling so they let us stay there for free. It was pretty fun, but it rained really hard. While we were there we decided to color Melissa's hair. She was wanting to go back to a more natural hair color, but I convinced here to go red ... really red. Right after we colored her hair it was very, very red. Fortunately, it has faded a bit since then and it looks more natural now. As we drove home we noticed that the water was getting really high in the river. Later that week turns out there was a lot of flooding at the coast. We missed it by a couple of days. So, that is our two hair stories.

Our New Old House

We hope to be moving in to our new house on December 9th. The house just needs to cooperate. It's old... I mean, it has lots of character! It actually doesn't look bad in this picture, but the basement has water issues, and most of the windows are literally falling apart. On Friday, I counted the work requests I have in for this thing, and there are 20. Yep, lots of things to fix before we can move in. I made sure to bake cookies for the work crew. I've been working from the main bedroom/office for the last couple weeks (windows to the right of the front door) and the house is starting to grow on me. It's much bigger than our little condo, so I have fun envisioning the parties we could host. It will be fun settling in to this new chapter in our lives.

LOST in fame

So, Melissa and I are really into the series LOST. We watch it with friends and every Thursday we have a discussion group at lunch to recap the prior night's episode. Well, the weird thing is that it has caught the attention of the media. We have been in two newspaper articles, and last night we were interviewed for channel 2's eleven o'clock news. Below is a link to the video and the news stories. Don't worry we won't let the fame go to our heads. : )

Below are the Oregonian newspaper articles that our group was in.
LOST in the 23rd Psalm Part 1
LOST in the 23rd Psalm Part 2
Once found, now they're 'Lost,' too

Our personal holiday

So, today we came home after a very stormy weekend at the beach to find that our neighbors are ... well gone. HALLELUJAH ... HALLELUJAH ... HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH ... HALLELUJAH! It has been interesting, to say the least, living next to them. We knew we were in trouble when they moved in at 10:30 pm on a Wednesday night as we were going to bed. Ever since it has been nothing but noise from them. I think the worst case was the night we had to call that number you never call ... 911. They were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs and 3:30 in the morning, so we called in a domestic disturbance. Boy was that weird. Anyway, we reported them to their landlords, and like magic they are gone. Wish I would have send something sooner. So, today is the day that we will always remember that the neighbors moved. It will be our own personal holiday.

Little Pink Sweater

Here's a picture of Addison Joy Lee in the little pink sweater and booties that I knitted for her. It was my first time knitting something besides a scarf or hat. I learned a few new stitches and I had a lot of fun seeing the little clothes take shape. You may not be able to tell, but there are three hearts down the middle of the sweater. Gina liked the outfit a lot... I don't know that Addison has much of an opinion. She's really cute in it, though.

Pumpkin Patch

October is the month for our annual Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch trip with the Smith's and the Lee's. It was a beautiful weather! Probably one of the last warm days of the season. However that meant everyone was there that day. It took us a good 45 minutes to get on the island and another 45 minutes waiting in line to get off. We had fun racing through the corn maze with our traditional boys vs. girls teams, except for baby Addison who went along with the guys. The girls won this year. Davin and I always buy a pumpkin here to make homemade pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. Life's been so busy lately, I don't know if we'll have time this year or not. We'll see.

Manager of Married Student Housing

As of November 1st, my new title will be Manager of Married Student Housing. We will not have an Office Manager hired yet to fill my current job, so I will probably have a foot in each job for a little while. Hopefully the transition won't be too long or too stressful. Davin and I will be moving sometime in December once they get the house cleaned up and ready to go. We're really excited about this opportunity... and we're excited about saving a bundle on gas for our car! For now, our life is centered around these two blocks of Portland; we'll be able to walk to work, school, and church. We also look forward to hosting more parties and not having to worry about where everyone is going to sit. I will really enjoy the change of pace in my job. It will still be super busy at times, but I won't be tied to a desk, I can do laundry while I'm working, and I won't have to be on top of where all 12 people in Student Services are and what they're doing at any given time.

New Job?

So, I've officially applied for a new job. It's still at Multnomah in the Student Services department, but it's for the Manager of Married Student Housing position. Liz and her husband are moving to North Dakota by mid-November so the job starts November 1st. Davin and I are really excited about it because we'd get to live in a 3 bedroom house on campus for free. This would provide a way for Davin to go to the seminary full time, and we could still start a family because I would be working from home. We'd rent out our condo so we could continue building equity. Anyway, it's pretty exciting. We'll keep you posted!

Yellow Belts

We finally got some picturess of us in our cool Tae Soo Do uniforms. (Click on a photo to see it bigger.) We've been orange belts since June and tested for our yellow belts last night at the club. It was quite a sense of accomplishment. Here is Melissa breaking a board with a front kick. For our last test we had to punch a board. Kicking is easier. Our friend Dave got to show off his skills by practicing on Davin. Notice the new yellow belt? We're hoping to test for green in January.

Do-si-do

Davin and I have been taking Tae Soo Do with Dr. Kutz for the last few months. The class meets Wednesdays and Fridays at 6:30 am in Multnomah's gym... it's probably the only thing that would get Davin out of bed that early. It's really a good workout, and it seems that after every class I have a new sore muscle. Today it's my abs. I could hardly sit up to get out of bed this morning. We are currently orange belts, and we're testing for yellow on Wednesday. I think we're ready. Our friend Dave got us involved in Tae Soo Do. He's a brown belt going for red next week. We're always trying to recruit people to join us. We commute to work with Aaron on most days and he may start coming in with us when we go to class. He thinks he's just going to go lift weights or something, but we've got plans to assimilate him! His wife calls it our Do-si-do class. This is different from your average dance. You get to use weapons!

LOST in the Lunchroom

We've been counting down to the LOST premier for a few months. Last night we had a party at our house and watched it with a projector to get the full effect. Every Thursday during lunch we get together with other devoted LOSTies at Multnomah to discuss the previous night's show. Davin and I noticed a while back that the tables in the new cafeteria are octagons... just like the Dharma logo! So, we decided we should make an official tablecloth for our group. With Davin's technical prowess, my crafty sewing abilities, and our combined obsession for perfection, we joined forces to create a perfect replica of the first Dharma logo. It took many hours of measuring, tracing, cutting, thinking, and sewing, but we were quite pleased with the end result. Davin told me (and everyone else seems to agree) that this makes me an official nerd. It was fun to whip out the tablecloth today and surprise everyone with it. We were getting quite a few stares in the crowded lunchroom, but we were having so much fun, we didn't really care. If you, too, love to theorize about the mysteries and interwoven plot of LOST, come to Multnomah for lunch on Thursdays and look for the swan.

Babies

Quite a bit has been happening the last few weeks, but I will take a moment now to share the most exciting one. Our good friends Gina and LeRoy just had a beautiful baby girl born on September 25th. Addison Joy was 8lbs 8.5oz and 20in long, and she has curly black hair. I'm always amazed when babies are born with hair because my brothers and I were all bald as could be. As Davin can tell you, I simply adore babies and can't wait to have one of my own. I joke with him that EVERYONE'S pregnant, and he teases me about kidnapping friends' babies since I always want to hold them. Here I am holding Addison... I gave her back. Children are such a wonderful gift from God!

Multnomah Students Are Back!

Students moved in the dorms on Sunday. It’s hard to believe that summer is over and a new semester is beginning! Student Services kicks into high gear at the end of July to prepare for students arriving. One of my new responsibilities now that we have a new director is to run the entire parent dinner on Sunday evening of move in day. It’s like planning a wedding reception. My goal was to step up the quality of the event and using the brand new Joseph C. Aldrich Student Center made that fairly easy. The key to a successful event is working with good people: Micah is excellent with the catering, Miriam is wonderful with the music, and Scott is outstanding when it comes to sound and lighting. I had fun putting together all of the pieces for the evening and it was rewarding to see people enjoying themselves at the dinner. I received lots of positive feedback. (Sometimes I wonder if I should go into event planning or wedding coordinating.) I get today off of work to make up for putting in a full day on Sunday. Hopefully things will slow down now. Davin and I both feel the increasing work load and stress on our jobs as Multnomah continues to grow. Things should ease up soon… but of course I’ve been saying that for a year.

Optical Illusions

This is a pretty cool optical illusion that you can do yourself. There is even a pdf cutout that you can build as well. It was kinda fun to do and is wicked neat. http://www.grand-illusions.com/opticalillusions/dragon_illusion/

Happy Anniversary to Us

So, we've been married for two years now ... as of the 17th of July. It's been pretty cool. I've heard it said that the first yeat is the hardest year, and I hope that is true, cause our first year was cake. So, was the last year. So, we needed a really cool place to go for our anniversary. We decided on Orcas Island. It's a pretty cool island. Kinda hard to believe you're on a island when you're there. While we were there we decided to take a bike trip to cascade falls. All around we had a great time, and here's to two more great years ... well, more than just two, but ... nevermind.