my parents put me to work while i was in wisconsin last week. just what everyone likes to do on vacation, right? well, i never mind it much.

My dad needed me to figure out why some of the landscaping lights weren't working. after searching in vain for my original wiring diagram, digging up the yard, and testing wiring combinations, i figured out that he had the wrong kind of bulb. the solution? he needed low voltage halogen bulbs, not line voltage (12V versus 120V). so then i had to put the yard back together.

The bigger task was for my mom; i had to sort through my childhood. See, at our house, you never through anything away. instead, you just put it up in the attic. we had virtually unlimited storage up there, and you never know when you might need another shoe box. and it seems i saved everything growing up. but it was fun to dig up photos and mementos that trigger happy times growing up.

all that to say that i found this slide in my desk, which i tried to scan but did horribly. i'll have to find a better way. This is my architecture school picture that we tried to take one year at Washington University. being architects, they asked us to wear all black for the picture. We heard later that the art student taking the pictures messed up the film or something, but one of my friends snapped this picture and i ended up with it.

if you're looking for me, i'm sitting in the top window just over the last "L" in GIVENS HALL looking to the side.

good bye twenties. you were lots of fun. we rocked out in a praise band and went on fun spring break trips to florida. we finished out college at a fancy university in the cushy part of St. Louis. to accomplish that, we worked summers at a factory and even delivered mattresses for extra cash. that helped since we got into a real ivy-league graduate school. As a result, we traded in the midwest for the east coast and lasted through all three years of architecture school, with a masters degree to show for it. This included great summers exploring New York City, plus a few trips to places like Los Angeles, Upstate New York+ Connecticut+Pennsylvania, London, and all over the Netherlands. we struck out into the work force and learned a ton from two design firms while working on houses, apartments, showrooms, and offices. we started and finished the minimum 3-years of internship hours and passed the first few exams on the way to becoming an honest-to-goodness professional; we're 2/9th of the way there! we found a great church in times square, joined the choir, and sang on Broadway three times a week (in church services, of course). This took us to South America, the heart of Times Square, and twice to parts of Africa. thanks for the adventures.

thirties, top that!

just saw a great-looking film. i never heard of it before, never saw the trailer, nothing. it's from 2006. the rental store didn't have anything else that interested me in the new release section until i saw this on the shelf. it promoted itself as a sci-fi thriller, and it has what i thought was some sort of combination of animation and live action. but perhaps it's all animation? the black and white is a really great look. and i'm not talking gray scale. it's pretty much black of white. i'm glad i gave it a shot. hey, why don't you try it?

site of the day, via keith:

http://www.whatjeffkilled.com/

Jeff is a cat who kills stuff. the site shows you all the gorey pics! gross and funny.

i've been craving some good ol' Sheboygan bratwurst for a while now. In case you didn't know, Sheboygan in the official "home of the bratwurst." it's been so long since i've been in wisconsin during the summer, those few short months when sane people still "grill out." visting over the christmas holiday means i have to get my fix at Charcoal Inn, a local restaurant with an indoor charcoal grill. it's just not the same.

then by chance i saw these "sheboygan bratwust" at my local wholefoods market! they actually tasted pretty similar to real brats, but they were white and almost hot-dog small. nice try, but it looks like you still have to travel to sheboygan to get the real thing.

you've heard of pigs-in--a-blanket right? how about cat-in-a-drawing? marcel breuer was lounging on my drawing set and i needed to flip to another page... so i folded the drawing on top of him. does he care? nope. instead he takes a little nap in there, only giving me the evil eye once he gets bored with it. or maybe it was when alex starting tapping on the paper.

how do i bill this time?

I'm a sucker for cars. Anything new, sporty, rare, expensive, or whatever catches my eye. And in New York City you see a lot of nice automobiles.

The other day I'm walking in the UES on my way back to the office from a construction site meeting when i walk past this giant mercedes-benz. It's really not all that rare, but it's bright and shiny and one of the newest models, i think. So i'm checking it out. these benzes still proudly display a big hood ornament just in case you didn't notice that it's an expensive mercedes-benz.

Then i noticed that this car has another hood ornament farther up the hood. I think it looks like a Scotty welded to the car! anyone know the breed? I laughed when i saw it, but then went back and snapped a few pics. i figured my dad would get a kick out of seeing that.

Prayer in the Square update:

the church has posted the video of the event from Times Square. Click on the prerecorded video option.

It's an hour-long event held in the heart of Times Square that alternates between various New York metro area pastors praying on select topics and songs from the Times Square Church Adult Praise Choir + band. At least listen to the first song, "We Proclaim Him." and turn up the volume!

Back in mid-september i traveled to a foreign country for a wedding. they call it canada. click this link to see some of the pictures from our sightseeing walks around toronto: HERE

the wedding pictures are in a separate album: HERE

good bye, beautiful. you were always good to me.

even neglected for months at a time, left sitting in the bitter chill of winter under piles of snow, you still perked up every time i came to see you. whether for a distant vacation getaway or just a weekend fling, you were always eager to hit the road.

your shine may have faded, but my love for you never dulled. i'll fondly think of the fun times we had. i'll always remember your name. you were the ultimate (ALTIM8).

we had church in Times Square this past sunday! they blocked most of the streets for an hour to pray and sing.

click HERE to see some pictures that i found at flickr. i noticed in one that i'm on one of the jumbotrons in Times Square.

here's one of the church's TV ads:

ok, i'm off to Africa! see you in about a week, God willing.

i think my travel time is the same as my actual time in Burundi, but that's okay. my job there is to sing at all the pastor's conferences and crusade meetings that happen the last three or four days of the two-week outreach. i've learned some Kurundi songs + some French versions of songs we sing at church, plus a couple Swahili songs. they are pretty rad tunes.

you can keep tabs on the happenings by reading the daily field reports on the church webpage. God is good. Pray for me while i'm gone!

This is Marcel Breuer. He loves to pose, and keith and i like to take breaks from drawing and take pictures of him and his wrestling partner, Mies Van Der Rohe (not pictured). While marcel can't hear anything, he loves to cry when he's lonely or hungry or bored. I won't say he has a gas problem, but... whoa! Think twice before letting him crawl onto your lap for a nap. This picture was taken on our display counter. what a poser!

would YOU eat this strawberry? it came in a quart of tasty strawberries from the Green Market in Union Square. I couldn't make myself eat this one.

it's beach season. whoo-hoo! so what a great time to grow a beard. what? i know, what am i thinking? well, i'm thinking that it's summer and i don't feel like shaving, okay? and the bosses were out of town for a week, so why not? my coworker thinks i should get a tan during my upcoming vacation in florida and then shave it off, thereby leaving a white or ghost beard. that would be great.

anyway, here i am after exactly two weeks of not shaving. a special thanks to my imac at work for taking my picture.