Category Archive

8 days ago, I started my new job at Concur Technologies in Redmond. I am exceedingly thankful to my family and friends for the outpouring of support they have given me to get me where I am today. But in actuality, it is through them that God made it happen. I finally have a job that is using my talents in graphic design and it is exciting! But it’s not all easy, as I’m constantly facing new challenges daily, but I am eager to learn and really harness what I’ve learned from high school to today. Thank you for being on that journey with me.

I am currently in a short term contract working in Concur’s Marketing department. The staff are very warm, friendly, and helpful. I love it, and I’m not just saying that to kiss up (in case the powers that be are reading). I mean it! I hope to work hard and we’ll see where it goes from there.

[This was part 2 of a trilogy of posts originally intended for posting on June 6, 2008.]

On June 5th, 2008 @ approx. 2:30am my sisters Rachel and Rebecca drove me to Louisville airport. Bless them for being troopers. I hope to never do that to anyone again by scheduling my departure time a bit better. Not only was it out of the way for departing, but my arrival was a bit bumpy, not only in rough skies and turbulence, but none of my three roommates were able to pick me up. Thus I trusted in Metro, which was quite reliable despite my carrying two suit cases on board. I eventually made it in the pouring rain to my new house in Broadview neighborhood. This house is beautiful and its very close to the Puget Sound itself. I plan to go walking and exploring the neighborhood more after this blog entry is finished.

The house itself has four bedrooms, two on the main floor and two in the basement. It has a spacious living room and dining room complete with a fire place. In the basement lies a den with another fireplace, as well as an area for a washer and dryer and door to the garage. There are wood floors all on the main floor with carpet in the basement. It’s bizarre how the two floors almost seem like two different homes. It’s very clean and I can’t wait to see how it shapes up once we all get settled and the moving boxes disappear. My bedroom, one of the main floor rooms, I plan to steampunk out as best I can. No surprise, eh? Remind me to post pictures of the house once we get it all situated.

Last night while on the phone with mom, I walked out onto our backyard deck to observe the view and take in the brisk air. Mistake. I inadvertently locked myself out of the house, not knowing of a special unlocking mechanism. The temperature dropped about ten degrees while I was out there, but thankfully I was able to call Scott and Brant to bail me out of the silliness. I was afraid I would of had to freeze out there by myself for a few hours, as I only had a short sleeve shirt with nothing to cover my arms. It was at this point that I began to have some home sickness. I was not expecting it at all, but I apparently did not prepare myself as I was leaving the previous night. It definitely felt weird to leave the home of my youth this time around, having a taste of the free comforts of home to go back into the ‘real world’ and make it on my own here in Seattle. It was a gut wrenching feeling, like I wanted to vomit but couldn’t. Thankfully I was cured after plugging in my record player and playing U2’s War album. This was the first time I have heard this album all the way through. What an amazing collection of songs! I am stoked to own such a fine album and I very much recommend it.

I sit here writing the outline of this blog on my Treo, to which I will sync to my computer, write out completely, then sync back to my phone for publishing on the web! I must do this due to Comcast not being able to come out to our house until next Wednesday.

Prologue
On July 23, 2007 I changed my life. I moved from Evansville, Indiana, my hometown of 25 years to live in a place I had not even visited before: Seattle, Washington. It was a bold move, with merely the money I had saved in my account and merely friends and people I had only spoken with on the phone or online. I moved in with four guys who all had two common threads: they loved Jesus and were geeks in some way shape or form. Thusly, I felt right at home and within a month I landed a job as a product tester at Nintendo of America, from which I worked until February of 2008.

On April 1st, April Fools Day, I became a member of Mars Hill Church of Seattle. At this church I have served as a designer and learned from others in the field. I have also participated in a community group of loving and faithful men and women my age. I can’t imagine life without them. I also just recently began helping serve communion each Sunday. It has humbled me in a way I cannot fully explain and I am grateful for such a small, but important part in the greater body of Christ.

Between May 21st and June 5th, I went on vacation in Daytona Beach & Orlando with my family of seven, as well as went back home for a short week to not only visit with friends, but see my friends Matt and Michelle Bower become one. During this time, my roommates moved my belongings to our new home.

This now closes the first ‘book’ of my Seattle life, and opens anew Book II. I won’t necessarily keep with a book pattern in these writings, but it seems to bookend how I began this series of blogs nearly one year ago. Thank you for reading.

Edit: I will be posted the next two blogs next week, due to a technical complication out of my control.

I contemplated it. For the first 30 seconds or so as I heard the whining and howling at 6:30 this morning, I for sure contemplated making it happen. It was relentless, but I abstained in good conscious. It’s a cute pup, but it’s so loud, so vocal! No matter, I’m now sipping my second cup of coffee while writing this, pondering my small To Do List for the day. It has truly been a blessing to take this vacation and see family and friends. An interweb toast to my great friends Matt and Michelle Bower for getting hitched this weekend. It was quite a moment in history for me. Three more full days here in Evansville left until I return to a brand new house with my three roommates and an unforeseen future in the job market. It’s exciting and scary, but God held my hand this far. It would be folly to let go now. I wrote this blog on an old family Pentium with Win98 installed on it. It’s literally about 9 years old and slower than molasses. No really, molasses would totally win in the foot race: 10 times over.

One of my younger twin sisters have now graduated from college. I can tell from all my siblings and conversations with the parental unit that our upcoming vacation to Daytona Beach is something we are all really looking forward to. We all need that escape from the chaos and frustrations of normal life. I am really hoping for our adventure to be very low key, refreshing, and most importantly, stress free. My mother announced her retirement, to happen in about a month (Mom, I hope you don’t mind me mentioning that). I am proud of her for doing so, I feel like my career as an artist, designer, design consultant (whatever I end up being for this time in my life) is something worthwhile and worth meaning, to not only myself, but my family, friends, and the Kingdom.

Progress on the new version of Slipstream is coming along. I’ve updated the teaser page to reflect the logo which will be used in the next theme.  While excited, there is still much I have yet to learn (at least learning how to make it work!). So, if everything goes to plan, it will be a moderately content heavy site. It’s more than just a portfolio or blog this time.

As for the extra content, I would like to make this post an open invitation. If you consider yourself in one of the following categories: writers, copy editors, journalists, photojournalists, bloggers, trend setters, philosophers, theologians, web surfers, designers, web media moguls or have interest in posting links about technology, arts & entertainment, gaming (all types), faith & theology… contact me via email and let me know what you like doing or currently doing in your life. This can be both an extracurricular activity  or something that takes very little of your time, and I’m talking very little. In your email, please include a link to your blog, articles you’ve written, Flickr gallery or attach works you are proud of. This invitation for collaborators is open at least to the end of the year, so if you aren’t free now, you’ve got time to consider it. Lord knows you actually do have the time, but you just don’t want to admit it. Everyone can at least find ten minutes of Facebook stalking to cut out of their week. Heck yes, I went there!

As described in this post, I am leaving Seattle for a few weeks for family vacation, a sister’s graduation, and participating in a wedding. I am now leaving on May 21st instead of the originally mentioned May 24th. This may result in hurting future job leads until I return, but I hope it will not cause major problems. I will be returning to Seattle no later than Thursday, June 5th.

Interestingly enough, when I return, I will also be returning to a new home, as my roommates and I are selecting a new house to live in. This also means the weekend prior to vacation, I will be packing up my room considerably into boxes and ready for the roommates to transport them. Its all kinds of excitement this summer.

I just nailed down some specific dates for this summer today. On (EDITED from original May 24th) May 21st I’ll be leaving this fair city to fly down to Orlando. I’m meeting with my family and we’ll be staying in Daytona Beach (I believe) for a week. During that time I’ll be visiting with friends from Crusade (possibly), the Kandel’s, and friends I originally met through the interwebs itself (Craig, Marty, Brian and Christy). On the 30th, I will be returning to Evansville with the family in time to participate in the wedding of my best friend Matt as he gets married off to some girl named Michelle. I guess she’s cool :P. And as of today, hence the post, I moved my return time from June 1st to June 5th, the following Thursday, to spend time seeing friends in Evansville. It should be a good two weeks of rest and relaxation. I’ll be ready for work (wherever that may be on Friday, June 6th.

Also when I return from said trip, I’ll most likely be living in another house. My roommates and I are unsure of where, but we would like to find a new place, as this one, well… it could be better. No doubt, its in a perfect location and the rent is absurdly great, but we would like a place to come home to that doesn’t depress us just by looking at it. You know? We’d like to welcome guests and not feel ashamed of the cracking and peeling of the walls. So until then, that is the game plan. The lease ends in the end of May, thus our considering moving.

:[]:

As an errata, my brother Jeff and I have nailed down weekend passes for Penny Arcade’s PAX08 convention here at Seattle’s Washington Convention Center. The event is August 28-30, 2008. Jeff will be flying out to visit and hang out with his little brother for some fun of the geek variety, our personal favorite. I’m pumped, as I had a blast going last year. I’ll post links with more info once Penny Arcade’s site is up, which appears down as of this writing.

Happy New Year and all that cheesiness. I always thought the ball-drop stuff was rather lame. I watched Seattle’s version, showing the Space Needle being lit up from bottom to top as the countdown began, ending in the fireworks, yadda-yadda. Maybe I’m just in an apathetic time of my life when it comes to celebrations that overuse style, rather than provide actual substance.

Substance. It’s something I really learned to appreciate this Christmas holiday. I learned to really cherish the honest and open conversations over coffee with friends and family. Appreciating each other, life, Jesus. All of that. I felt refreshed and loved, and am immensely proud of the family I was born into.

I’m now back in Seattle, a few hours from hitting the sack and starting once again the weekly grind of which has been absent from my daily life since December 20th. The Lord has grace and has given me extended security and safety in a ridiculously easy position. It is one I moderately enjoy but otherwise long for something more… creative? exciting? challenging? Sure, I am accomplishing something for a company, as is any position, but my parents and I spent a great many hours and moneys on a certain degree that I would love to see fruit from. At least I’m not the only one in the world with a small clinch in their plan. But it is another example of God’s plan and sovereignty.

Newest to my blogroll is the journal of a fellow roommate I call John. He invites any and all to read and ponder. Is your blog not listed yet? Let me know and link it in the comments.

Also, in classic Slipstream fashion, a broken “promise” continues, almost like a looming “website update”. My computer upgrade has been pushed further due to how certain components of my old machine just don’t jive with new ones. Thus I had to make another visit to newegg this morning. I’ll spill the complete specs list of my new build once the time arrives. Like a wizard, this new build is neither early, nor late. It arrives precisely when it means to.

In other news, a recent Borders purchase spree let me come with some interesting films to reflect on. The first of which I watched and absorbed tonight is a film called Heima. It’s actually a documentary following the Icelandic band, Sigur Ros. I want to visit Iceland so bad right now, it hurts. I want to backpack there before I die. That, and New Zealand. If someone would like to fund said trip(s) and take me with them, please let me know. I’ll appreciate you (more).

I close with this: When in the darkest and loneliest time of your day, fervently seek Him. Read from your Bible. Daily. Then read some more.

Just a quick response to the silence and to update you all. I’m pushing my new computer build to after I return from Evansville on Dec. 31st. I type this on Becca’s laptop, which I commandeered in my old bedroom. I will ring in the new year with a fresh computer. The parts of which await my return sit in a box on my bed in Seattle. Until then, I’m spending the days remembering days of yore and laughing at/with old friends. And even saying goodbye to others.  My Uncle Richard died a few days prior to Christmas. I wish I would have known him better.

This free time to relax and stretch my wings is good and bad. I’ve been trying to push back anxiousness and longing to get back into my new life. Yet much of me wants to relish as much time I have here with my family. Something tells me 2008 will be a tough one. One that will bring into my life some radical changes that I MUST prevail through. I must be prepared to lead, in every area of my life, whether in work, church, relationships, free time. Of course, I hand the reigns to Christ and I can’t do any of it without Him. But He’s not gonna let me just kick back either.

 So no goofy resolutions or nonsense like that. It’s just me and Jesus. I close this in the words of a character from a recent indie-film release at the moment she knows she’s hours away from giving birth… “Thundercats……GOoooooooooo!!!”