Thoughts on Boston

It's often hard to find words to adequately address devastating events.  As many have already said, the Boston Marathon has always been a symbol of vitality and the conquering nature of the human spirit, and Monday's bombings wreacked havoc on what should have been an intensely joyful occasion.

Whenever my family went on trips when I was young, I would always ask my mom what would happen if the plane crashed.  Her response was, "If the plane starts to fall, don't be afraid. We'll look for Jesus. He'll be there."

In the midst of Monday's terrifying chaos, I think we saw him.  He was there in all of the policemen and paramedics.  He was there with the doctors who saved injured victims moments from death.  He was there across country, reminding us that regardless of politics, we are one nation, under God, indivisible, and we stand together in the face of evil.  He was there in the outpouring of support in the aftermath - through the prayers, the offers of shelter, the hugs, the innumerable simple gestures of kindness.

Perhaps it's odd, but Monday left me feeling incredibly blessed.  While the bombings were indescribably horrific and the loss was tremendous, we need to remember to be thankful that we live in a place where this type of event is the exception, not the norm.  We have the support, medicine, and spirit not only to recover, but to thrive in the face of disaster and persevere despite the atrocity. We have a nation united against a common threat.  We are surrounded by beloved families, friends, and communities, which give us the resources to carry on.  The evil of the event is so overwhelmingly outweighed by the blessing that I can only stop, breathless, and praise God for his presence in the center of the storm.

Vikings! Sequester! Ah!

The two subjects listed above literally have absolutely nothing in common except for the fact that I've been thinking about both of them lately.  So...one thing at a time!

Vikings

While listening to NPR (I admit it - I LOVE NPR) on my way home from work last night, I heard the beginning of an interview with the man who wrote the new Viking show on the history channel.  Being a small bit Norwegian myself, I found this interview fascinating, and since I had to turn off the radio before the interview was over, I decided to do some research myself.

-- Nerd Alert --

As a result of my research, here are five interesting facts about Vikings:

1. In reality, Vikings did not wear horned helmets.  Thanks for the historical accuracy, Wagner.

2. Most of the literature written about Vikings was composed by Christian and Muslim communities in the lands that the Vikings raided, which means that the Vikings' reputation is much more negative than they likely were.

3. Though I'm sure Christopher Columbus would like to take credit for discovering the Americas, that was simply not the case.  The Vikings - specifically Leif Ericson - sailed to L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland approximately 500 years before Christopher Columbus ever set foot on the continent.

4. Based on archaeological evidence, the Vikings were exceptionally clean people.

5. The Vikings didn't die out.  Instead, when raiding neighboring countries became unprofitable, they simply stopped raiding and settled in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland.

Congratulations.  Now you know more about Vikings.


SequesterSequesterSequester!

At risk of sound criticism from the internet community, I am relieved that the sequester actually happened.  From my perspective, the amount of government spending is ridiculous and completely unsustainable.  If we were discussing personal finances, it makes perfect sense to me that if you're spending far more than you make in yearly income, you will be in too much debt to be able to repay.  The answer to debt is not to take more loans.  The answer to debt is to stop spending more than you have.  Plus, if you look at the graph, the sequester doesn't look like the "deep spending cuts" that we keep hearing about.

While I understand that cutting spending may have an effect on various entitlement programs, the military, and even every day life, it seems better to take a hit now before the debt gets worse.  There's no way to keep up with exponential spending when you're already in the hole without severe consequences, so if we have a chance to fix this with fewer consequences now, we should jump on that opportunity.  Plus, who would complain about the elimination of those awkward full body scanners that the TSA is so fond of?

A Baking Story

Life lately has been...stressful.  That's ok.  It's made me realize how much I appreciate when life is slower and I have enough time to stop and think about all the little things that make it interesting.  Like cookies, for example.

Part 1:  When I was younger, my mom heard from a friend that you can make cookie dough, scoop it into ready-to-bake balls, and then put the dough balls in the freezer.  That way, you can have fresh baked cookies whenever you want, and you can control the portion size so that you don't have a whole batch of cookies that you could never finish by yourself.  (On second thought, perhaps you could.  I've never tried).

Part 2:  I usually eat two out of three meals per day at work, and the toaster oven across from my is often filled with toast, leftover pizza, or whatever else people like to bring for lunch.

Part 3:  Discovery: toaster oven at work + frozen cookie balls = fresh baked cookies at work.  Easy to bake, easy to share, available to whoever wants them whenever they want them.  The hallway smells amazing.

Here's what to do:

A)  Mix up your cookie dough the night before the day you want to eat them.  Limitation: if you want them to be easy, they need to be of the variety that you make from dough balls and don't require extra toppings (i.e. frosting, hershey kisses, filling, etc.).

B)  Scoop your cookie dough on to cookie sheets.  It's easier to clean up if you cover the cookie sheets with wax paper beforehand, because then you don't even have to wash the cookie sheets.

C)  Freeze your cookie dough balls overnight, and place them all in ziplock bags in the morning.  Bring them to wherever you plan to eat them (as long as the place has a freezer).  Obviously, you can leave them at home if you feel so inclined...

D)  When you feel like eating cookies, preheat your oven/toaster oven to whatever temperature the cookies bake at.  Bake them for 5 - 10 minutes longer than the recipe calls for to account for the fact that they're frozen.

E)  Let them cool awhile and then eat them.  Make everyone jealous of the fact that you're eating fresh cookies, and if they ask where you got them, tell them they can make some too!

F)  Achieve fame for out of the box thinking and tasty baked goods.

Cookie recommendations:

Toll House chocolate chip
Chocolate mint chip
Chocolate chocolate chip
White chocolate chip macadamia nut
Oatmeal chocolate chip
Oatmeal raisin
Peanut butter
Snickerdoodles
"Chunky Chocolate Gobs"
Any of the Betty Crocker mix cookies
Funfetti cake mix cookies
...pretty much anything else you can think of that goes on a cookie sheet in a ball...

Next office dessert project?  Microwave cake.

A Bird's Eye View

Today was a great day due to a small thing.  As in...literally a small object.  But before I can talk about this small object, I need to provide some background information.

Our office building is luxurious in that everyone has his or her own office.  I am lucky enough to have a window office that looks out over a large field that may or may not be a swamp.  If it is a swamp, it's been enormously beneficial in allowing various animals to inhabit the area surrounding the office building.  My friend Maria and I have often spent a few moments of our otherwise busy time gazing out the window upon the likes of groundhogs, cardinals, Canadian geese (curse the geese...I'll never escape them!), and even a huge red tailed hawk.

(via)

That was a glorious day.  It sat in the tree next to my window for a full 15 minutes!

Enough background.

Maria walked into my office today with a Christmas gift.  Inside said Christmas gift was a bird watching guidebook and a pair of binoculars.

New.  Favorite.  Object.

I've never been a bird watcher, but all of a sudden I felt like I understood the heart of hearts of all bird fanatics out there.  I have a full book of 121 birds to search for and check off the list!  I have 121 glossy pictures to marvel at!  I have binoculars with which to peer into the sky and watch the 121 birds speed across the horizon!  HOW COULD ANYONE DO ANY WORK WITH BIRDS IN THE SKY??

So if you walk past my office for the next, oh, I don't know...year...expect to see me with the binoculars glued to my face.  I will put a check mark next to every single bird in that book if it's the last thing I do.

All else is for the birds.

Starting Over

Well, 2012 is over and we all lived to tell the tale.  So much for the world ending, Mayans!  I, for one, am glad to have a brand new year to look forward to.

I've been reflecting a lot lately.  2012 was a wonderful, full year, but it was one marked with a strange sort of internal struggle for me.  2013 is a fresh start - the opportunity for renewed perspectives and rejuvenation.  I've let many of my convictions and passions take a back seat, and it's time to bring them to the foreground again:

Music

I no longer have any excuse to not practice.  Someone asked me for lessons, and in order to teach well I need to be able to play well.

Blogging

I used not having internet in my apartment as the reason to assuage my guilt over being too lazy to blog.  I love the idea of having a place to record thoughts, and as I've never been much of a journal-keeper, blogging solved that problem.  I'm not going to let another year go by un-blogged simply because I read so many others that I think are more well-written than mine.  The point of a blog is not to become rich and famous.  The point of a blog (or at least mine) is to have an outlet for thoughts and a record of events.  Therefore...the blog is coming back to life!

Faith

All throughout college, I had this image of myself juggling various items - faith, academics, music, friends.  At various times, I struggled to maintain all of them at the same time, but faith was the one that never wavered, but instead held all the others in balance.  Post college, apathy has gotten in my way, and my relationship with God was the one that took a hit.  I can't let that continue.  I'm going to read through the Bible again this year, and do my utmost to "act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with [my] God."

Friends

I have been so incredibly blessed to have the most amazing friends anyone could ever ask for, and I think it's too easy to take that for granted.  My two closest friends are both getting married this year, and I absolutely cannot wait to celebrate with them!  Those weddings will be such joyous occasions, and it will be a privilege to take part in them.

Organization

If I'm going to juggle well this year, I need to reevaluate how I spend my time off.  I'm completely capable of using time wisely, and yet I've found myself wasting time on the computer, sitting around doing almost nothing, or generally not using free time to its full potential.

So my resolutions this year can be boiled down to just one thing: I need to appreciate the many blessings God has entrusted to me so that I can use them, whether practicing, investing in friendships, church, free time, work, or anything else, to the best of my ability and for his glory.  Here's to a new year ahead!

Christmas 2012

I've found that not having internet in my apartment seriously cramps my blogging style...as in, I tend to very rarely post anything these days.  Honestly, I find that very sad because it means that it's unusual for me to exercise my literary abilities.  When working at a software company, literary abilities are not something that I put into practice terribly often, except to write careful instructions:

"This issue is due to (error).  To fix, click (link), find (tab), change (field value), update, and refresh."

I'm getting distracted.

The point of this post is to recap our Christmas in Florida, which also meant my first Christmas not at home with my family.  Instead of Christmas looking like this:

...it looked like this instead:

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here's a photographic recap of the trip (please pardon the phone photos).

So overall, we spent time with family, went to a lovely church on Christmas Eve, hung out on the beach, saw an alligator, viewed another fantastic church, and saw an amazing sunrise on the plane back to Boston.  It was a low-key Christmas, but the best part about it was the time.  It's so rare these days to just have some time to stop and let go the cares of every day routine, and so when an opportunity to take that time to just rest presents itself, I think it's truly invaluable.  

In Which Will Be Found Dessert and Pumpkins

Sunday was full of adventures.  No Sunday would be complete without going to church, so that's where we headed first.  Except instead of going to our regular church, we went somewhere else for the sake of variety.  We went to a place where psalms are sung, descants are added to almost every hymn, and the service is almost two hours long.  It was great.

After church, we headed to have a cinnamon roll/pumpkin carving...festival? with some of our friends.   Since you can never have too many cinnamon rolls, we decided to make two different kinds.

Verdict: no two cinnamon roll recipes are the same.  However, both were fantastic and almost produced four sugar-induced comas.

To counteract the sugar, we moved on to pumpkin carving.

In order to carve the pumpkins, we needed to have pumpkins to begin with.  When you're a kid, picking out pumpkins to carve is great fun.  When you're a young adult, picking out pumpkins to carve should still be great fun.  When you're a young adult and the wind is blowing hard and the rain is falling steadily, picking out pumpkins becomes more of an adventurous chore rather than great fun.  I would have taken a picture of that particular event, but it was too blustery outside to attempt to break out the camera/phone.  Instead, I will leave you with a picture of our finished products:

(Obviously, the glowing letters are the feature of that picture.  Writing by trackpad is not my strong suit.)

And so we departed in peace, full of cinnamon, sugar, and butter and thoroughly covered in pumpkin.  Sunday well-spent.

Post Script: we briefly considered making this, but it seemed a little outside of the scope of both our abilities and our little carving tools: