complimentary code

A funny thing happened at work today. One of our web programmers called me over to his desk claiming he had something I should see. He had written a script that afternoon and after he ran it, it returned an interesting result. I got over to his computer, he ran the script and one line of code resulted:

claireisbeautiful

HAHAHahahahahahaha. If you dig deep enough there is a little logic behind the unusual return.

Several years ago I was asked to write an article about the perception of beauty. "In Search of a Beautiful Woman" was published on one of our sites and later translated into French. The French translator, a friend of mine, renamed the translated version of the file as claireisbeautiful.html as a joke. I had forgotten about that until the filename showed up in the script today.

Who knew that code could be so complimentary?

needful things (how using the internet changes the internet)

On Friday Mandy was showing me the new Magic 8 ball-inspired Google game. Type your name and needs into Google to see what the internet has to say about you. Of course I had to take a shot at it.

According to Google "Claire needs":

Claire Needs a Visit to the Bunny Planet
Claire needs her own forum.
Claire needs to be inspired.
Claire needs a wider circle of friends.
Claire needs some cops on horses.
Claire needs to hire a part time admin worker.
Claire needs a dual personality as the theater's founder and director.
Claire needs to be somewhere else.
Claire needs to shear all her sheep in a matter of days.

What I find intriguing however is how many other people named Claire have already done this search and are thereby totally messing up MY Claire needs results. I had to go several pages into Google to get results that weren't merely lists belonging to other Claires. (I'm sure the other Claires are lovely, I'd just rather make a list of my own.)

Which begs the question though, will there come a time when the game can no longer be played because the lists already made have taken up all the space for the results needed to make lists? We do change the internet every time we use it (every time you view a page you alter the stats for the page, which in turn eventually will alter the search ranking etc etc.) I wonder if we'll ever manage to use up the internet? Will there ever be so many reports of answers that the answers themselves will become totally obscured?

dreaming the dawn

There has been a lot of talk in my world lately about dreams. Several friends are taking steps towards dreams of books and babies from far off places, dreams of a workday that looks completely different. Interesting times. I took a step toward a smaller dream today.

Ever since I moved to White Rock, four years ago now, I have dreamt of going down to watch the dawn come up over the water. I couldn't remember the last dawn that I saw with my own eyes. This morning I finally did it.

It's the perfect time of year to stalk the dawn. Daylight savings time starts next week so this week is the latest you can get up and still see the show. I set my alarm (sacriledge on a Saturday morning, but sacrifices must be made for dreams). I packed a peanut butter sandwich and a travel mug of tea and headed out just as the sky was starting to turn indigo.

I found an east-facing bench out on the pier and just sat and waited. It surprised me to see how many people are actually out at that hour. One man walking down the pier stopped and asked "Just waiting for that sun?" That's exactly what I was doing.

Dawn comes quicker than I remember. The horizon turns red and pink, orange and a yellow that somehow turns blue without turning green. It's light long before the sun is truly up. It was so peaceful out there just waiting. I was so peaceful.

To the west of the dawn the whole world is pink. The sea and the sky, even the trees are edged in it -- a cotton candy dream of the day to come. I sat there until the sun hit the top of Mount Baker and set it glowing. Then the world was fully awake, and then, so was I.

all you know

"light a fire burn up all you know"

The has been a change in the wind the past few weeks, a not unpleasant restlessness. I've been listening to a CD Ceone leant to me and several lines have been running through my head. The line above comes from Peter Mulvey's Shirt. I guess you could say that I've been asking questions.

I'm in the middle of reading Steven Levitt's Freakonomics and I am intrigued. In the intro to the book he says something along the lines of "all you really need to do is ask a good question and then answer it." Indeed. In the book he asks the reader to take a closer look at what we think we know about certain situations -- falling crime rates, the wages of your average crack dealer -- and see if the numbers back up the claim.

He quotes economist John Kenneth Galbraith who, apparently, was the first to coin the term "conventional wisdom". Galbraith defines conventional wisdom as 'that which is most easily understood and contributes to self esteem.' I was thinking about this as I read Gerry McGovern's New Thinking newsletter for this week. Gerry is arguably one of the leading experts in the strategic use of online content. In his newsletter this week he was talking about the problem of too much information. He drew an example of the FUD occurring in the news surrounding hurricane Katrina:

Hurricane Katrina exposed a serious and ongoing problem with misinformation. It was widely reported that more than 10,000 were dead, when the actual figure was a little over 1,000. It was estimated that it would take three months to drain the city. Within six weeks, it was largely dry.

He went on to say that "Human beings are much better at dealing with scarcity than with glut. This is particularly true when it comes to information." In this age of information what you don't say can be every bit as important as what you do say.

My Dad is fond of reminding me not to take information at face value. There's certainly a time and a place for that but I think it's interesting that we are as a group an interesting of cynical true believers. For an independent, free thinking, post modern society we are surprisingly quick to believe without question that which we have not seen with our own eyes, or reasoned through with our own logic.

I don't know that lighting a fire to every I know is the way to go, maybe for now I just need to keep asking questions.

chocolate nirvana

I have a new favourite chocolaterie. Today at the Westcoast Chocolate Festival I had opportunity to sample ChocolaTas. I think I might be ruined for life. Maitre Chocolatier Wim Tas started his business "looking for something that was more than 'good', something excellent". I think it's fair to say that he has succeeded.


The chocolates are infused with everything you can imagine and a few things you might not have thought of yet -- lavender, rooibos tea, pepper. Sampling them was more like a wine tasting than anything else. "Take a small bite" Tim suggested "and then take a moment to smell the chocolate." I did, and the man knows what he's talking about. The chocolates are works of art. When I purchased a box I was asked if I have a wine cellar as it is better suited to proper storage than a fridge (which is apparently too cold.) Somehow I doubt I that storage is going to be a problem :)

These are undoubtedly top drawer confections, but surprisingly they work out to about the same price as Purdy's. Check out the site and treat yourself. Believe me, it's worth it. Chocolate nirvana is just a mouthful away.

thankful

I love Autumn. I love the way it looks, I love the way it smells. I love the colours and the leaves and the fact that I have an excuse to light the fire in the fireplace. There's something about this time of year. It's as if the world takes a deep breathe and settles in. There will be winter to get through, but not quite yet. Now is the time to gather, to get comfortable and settle in. It's time to put the kettle on.
A couple of years ago I started decorating the mantel in the livingroom for Fall. I saw this thing on Martha Stewart once where she strung fall leaves on a string to make a garland and I had to try it. It's the one Martha thing I do. There's something incredible about the colours of those leaves and the way they dry curled as if still in flight. Add a few gourds and some corn and it's all set. All set for Thanksgiving. It's been up for a few weeks already and it's a good reminder. It reminds be of bounty and my life is bountiful.
This week-end there will be a houseful of people eating turkey and pie and I am thankful that there will be more guests than I have chairs. I am thankful that no one minds pinicing on the floor. I am thankful for the laughter and for these people who have chosen to hold me in their hearts. I am thankful that although they are not my blood family, there are still *my* family and that is an incredible gift.

I am thankful for health and I am thankful that God promises hope to those whose health has been taken away. I am thankful for the things I forget to count sometimes -- for food in the cupboards in the kitchen, for a car that starts faithfully, for shoes without holes and a warm coat when I need one. I am thankful that my family is safe, and extra thankful that my family has increased by two this year. I am thankful that the God of the universe who could do whatever He needs to without me chooses to invite me along anyway because He enjoys my company. I am thankful for grace even though I can't fully understand it. I am thankful, consciously, actively, every day.

your tax dollars at work

I read this in Wired News today:

When Dolphins Turn Deadly
Among the innumerable individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina, military-trained dolphins may also have gotten lost in the shuffle. Trouble is, the U.S. Navy's 36 cetaceans may be armed and dangerous. The Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, which have been taught to use toxic dart guns to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels, may have been swept out to sea when the storm breached their coastal compound.

Is anyone else reminded of a little scene in the first Austin Powers movie. . something about "sharks with frickin'’ lasers strapped to their heads"? Truth really *is* stranger than fiction -- especially when it's your tax dollars at work.

beautiful day

It was Kendra's birthday on Sunday so we decided to head down to Vanier Park for a little Bard on the Beach. It was a perfect Vancouver day, a late September bathed in sunshine, the kind of day we'll all be dreaming about when the rain starts next week. Kendra suggested that we take a little trip on the False Creek ferry and as you can see, we didn't have any fun at all.

I had never been on the ferry before but it's pretty incredible. It's this tiny little boat, looks like a toy tugboat and for about $1.50 you can go straight across or down to Grandville Island, or all the way the Science Center (that trip costs a little more.) It was amazing being out on the water with all the other boats. Granted, we weren't cruising on one of uber-elegant sailboats making their way through the water but felt great all the same and the view, it was pure Vancouver.

We took the ferry across to where it docks just under the Burrard Street bridge. We were right across from Bard village (which I still think looks a bit like the circus.) From there we walked down to English bay past the Inukshuk and I swear half the population of Vancouver who were out walking, biking and rollerblading that day. Ceone commented that the healthiest Canadians live in BC. It certainly looked like it.

We walked up Denman looking for a Starbucks (that didn't take long) and somewhere to grab some dinner. Along the way we found a great little cake store called Cupcake. You can't have a birthday without cake so we got a little something for the birthday girl. And really, it's not healthy to eat cake alone, so we got some for the rest of us as well. Cake and sushi, not a bad birthday feast. Takes the edge off that old 'getting older' thing.

We saw Love's Labours Lost which was good but I have to admit I liked As You Like It even better. Bard on the Beach will take a final bow for the season later on this week. I hope that the players have enjoyed themselves as much as I have.

upon this rock

I came across faith in the most unexpected place today. I was doing research in GQ this morning. No really, I actually was (although it turns out they don't post their editorial calendar so it was a short trip). In the course of my search I came across an article by John Sullivan about a trip he took to Creation -- the Woodstock of Christian rock. I got hooked into the article because the author was so obviously anti-Christian rock, a position I can sympathize with entirely. While it's true I do own a copy of the first Jars of Clay album, in general [Jars excepted] I have to agree with the author's claim that "Christian rock is a musical genre, the only one I can think of, that has excellence-proofed itself."

The article went on to be really funny at first. The author tried to get find a few people willing to travel to the concert with him. He was hoping to get the human angle, the "here's what the herd is thinking" sideline. Instead he tragically misunderstood the average age of the people who read the board he posted on. He realized one email too late that he had "just traipsed out onto the World Wide Web and asked a bunch of 12-year-old Christians if they wanted to come for a ride in [his] van." A few days later when he consulted his lawyer he was given the excellent advice to "never touch a computer again."

Surprisingly though a few pages in the article turned into quite a beautiful discussion of faith. Turns out the author had gone through what he described as a "Jesus phase" and was quite willing to talk about it. Speaking of his spiritual walk he described faith as "a logical door which locks behind you." He went on to say:

Everything about Christianity can be justified within the context of Christian belief. That is, if you accept its terms. Once you do, your belief starts modifying the data (in ways that are themselves defensible, see?), until eventually the data begin to reinforce belief. The precise moment of illogic can never be isolated and may not exist. Like holding a magnifying glass at arm's length and bringing it toward your eye: Things are upside down, they're upside down, they're right side up. What lay between? If there was something, it passed too quickly to be observed.

Forgive me for being shallow but since when are there philosophical discussions in the pages of GQ? I was impressed by the way in which he was able to look at his own faith from a distance even though, now that it is lost to him he seems to mourn it, or perhaps mourn it's passing. He wrote, "My problem is not that I dream I'm in hell or that [my Christian friend] is at the window. It isn't that I feel psychologically harmed. It isn't even that I feel like a sucker for having bought it all. It's that I love Jesus Christ."

And that leaves me sitting here in reflection having just read GQ. What happens to a man who loves Jesus but has lost his faith? The author himself claims that his apostasy is a sign he never truly believed, but I don't buy that. He ended the article with lines from a poem I have never heard before. He said they came from Czeslaw Milosz:
And if they all, kneeling with poised palms,
millions, billions of them, ended together with their illusion?

I shall never agree. I will give them the crown.
The human mind is splendid; lips powerful,
and the summons so great it must open Paradise.

Afterwards, John Sullivan writes, "that's so exquisite. If you could just mean it. If one could only say it and mean it."

I don't know how belief eludes him. He seems to want to believe, or perhaps want to be the kind of man who could believe. He admits that he used to believe it and that he doubts his doubts. I find myself thinking of a man standing at a door and I wonder if John Sullivan is knocking or simply standing in front of it. I have no idea.

under the banner of heaven

I finally finished reading John Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven today. It's taken me longer than usual to finish, probably because it's not exactly the kind of book you curl up with in bed. Having arrived at the end though, I can definitely say that it was worth the trip.

Under the Banner of Heaven has made me think quite a bit so it gets points for that right off the bat. John Krakauer is a gifted writer. I went up Everest with him in Into Thin Air so I had high hopes going into Banner. I was not disappointed.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith is, from my limited perspective, a fair approach to Mormonism in North America. Krakauer does not hide his incredulity at some of the things he discovers along the way but I never felt that he was judging his subject. He seemed to really try to present various sides and in many cases let Mormonism speak for itself through the voices of the faithful. Much of what I thought I knew about Mormonism turns out to be false. The truth as presented here isn't much better.

There were several things that surprised me in this book:

1. That there really are living, breathing, practicing polygamists right here in Beautiful British Columbia (or should that be Bountiful?). [Ok, technically, I found that out just prior to reading the book, but still.]

2. That right here in the so-called civilized parts of the world there are girls being given away to men twice their age by parents who are supposed to protect them.

3. That a man can be convicted of two murders and sentenced to death more than once and yet still be among the living 21 years later.

4. That a person can believe so strongly in their faith that they are willing to stand still and let their brother choke the life out of them because they firmly believe that "God told him to do it."

What strikes me about so many of the people in this book is the sheer force of the strength of their convictions. I have to ask myself, if I truly believed that my God was asking me to do something terrible, would I be willing to abandon myself to it? I don't think God is in the business of telling people to do terrible things. But would I be willing to stand against all of society and act? There is an element of surrender to it that's frightening -- what can you do to a man who is truly willing to give everything for his faith? He's untouchable.

In its study of Mormonism, Under the Banner of Heaven can't help but take a closer look at faith itself. How do we as a civilization uphold religious freedom and protect its 15 year old victims at the same time? How can I say that my faith is okay because it's not hurting anyone if you believe that what's happening at the hands of your faith is ordained by God himself?

I think I'll be chewing on this book for a while yet. Thanks John Krakauer. And thanks Issachar, you were right. I did need to read it.

hello little one

I was checking out DAve and JAnie's blog today and they posted the ultrasound pics of my niece or nephew. This one's my favourite because you can actually see the little hand waving:



JAnie said that she and DAve were starting to freak out because they could only count four fingers until the technician helpfully pointed out that the thumb is on the other side.

Just a few more months until I get to see the real thing. I can hardly wait. There's still lots of time for Auntie Claire to go shopping. Chapters, here I come :)

happy anniversary to me

It was just about this time of year ten years ago that, nervous and uncertain I stepped on to a plane to come to British Columbia for the very first time. I remember the lady in the seat beside me asking me what I was doing in Vancouver. I told her I was coming out here to go to school. She asked if I was from BC and I admitted that I've never been there before. "You've never even seen it?" she asked. "And you're coming out here, sight unseen. You've signed up for four years? You're brave." Great, thanks. Exactly what I needed to hear.

I remember flying over the Rockies and the captain coming on the loud speaker telling everyone to look out the window because it was unlikely we'd ever get a day as clear as this one again. The mountains took my breath away. I hoped that they always would and ten years later I'm happy to say that they still do.

I had no idea what I was flying toward, or how my life was about to change. Given the chance I'd do the whole thing all over again, exactly the same way. (Well, almost exactly ;) Of course arriving at my tenth anniversary of being in BC does mean I am dangerously close to being old. But considering what I've gained in coming here, I think it's a pretty good trade. Happy Anniversary to me.

itty-bitty tech moment

I had a tech moment! Last night I was trying to figure out how to add a link to the image in yesterday's post. I'm using the photo function in Blogger so I don't have to host the images myself and several attempts (including highlighting all of the image code and then using the link button) failed.

Then inspiration struck -- Blogger sets up the images so that if you click on them you get the larger version of the image so. . . replacing the URL of the larger image with the URL I was aiming for created a clickable image. Voila. Now why the destination link has to be the first URL and not the second I'm not sure. I'm guessing there's something in the code logic that orders it that way, but hey, second attempt worked great. So now if you click on the book below it'll take you right to Chapters where you can order it. Nice.

I’m disappointed Douglas Copeland

I never thought I’d accuse Douglas Copeland of a cop-out bait-and-switch ending but I just finished reading Girlfriend in a Coma and I have to say, I’m disappointed. I expected better. Hey Nostradamus! was haunting and beautiful and made me think about things I hadn’t really considered before. It offered characters not lovable, or even likeable in some cases, but in the end ultimately forgivable. It made me rethink my ideas about forgiveness and hope and hopelessness. Microserfs was brilliant. I laughed and snickered and I secretly wished I was cool enough to grasp all of the tech geek references. I came out of both books feeling a little, not smarter, but better thought. In the truest sense I came away from them feeling better read.

No so with Girlfriend in a Coma. The book starts off well. Copeland pulls out what is still his best party trick -- showing us a neighbourhood not unlike our own proceeding to reveal it as a complex world of human tragedy that turns out to be oddly familiar. The main character - Karen - falls into a seventeen year coma and the book follows the lives of the people left behind. About halfway through Karen wakes up, learns she has a daughter and then out of nowhere the world ends. Just like that.

Copeland spends the second half of the book in “what does it all mean” navel-gazing which would have been so trendy if he had an answer at the end of it. I feel disappointed, let down. I sat there thinking “that’s it?” I wanted to recheck the cover, this is a Douglas Copeland book, right? I was expecting a big finish, a mental feast of “ah, but you see what you really think is this” and instead I’m left feeling like all I got was a Twinkie and cold coffee and a note that says “yeah, that’s it, go home.” I guess I should have gone with Shampoo Planet or Eleanor Rigby after all.

Next up is Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven which Issachar promises will be worth my time. [See, every now and then I go and do exactly what you told me to :P] I'm only a few pages into it, but so far, he's right.

dr. & mrs. colvin

We had a family wedding last week-end. While I think that both of my brothers are crazy to get married in really hot places at the end of July I am happy to say that their choices of spouse, in both cases, is flawless. Nice work gentlemen.

I had a little trouble downloading the images so these are hacked-together Firework-ed screen captures, but they'll do for now. Photography purists, please look away. . . :)



The family -- Colvins (and Colvinsons) on the right, Carlsons on the left. In the past year I have gained two sisters. I have a very small family so this addition represents a 13% increase in family. Not bad huh? (If you count parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses of siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and cousin's spouses on BOTH sides of my family there's a whopping 17 of us -- and that's AFTER both weddings :)


The new Dr. & Mrs. Mark & Rachel Colvin


Getting ready to change their world forever


Happy happy


I had to include this one of Dave and Janie because it's so them. D & J are both crazy and they are some of my favourite people in the world. If you're going to road trip for 6 hours, road trip with these two. Trust me. They bring SpongeBob Squarepants and tell stories and sometimes let you help name the baby (did I mention that I'm going to be an Aunt in January?)


Happy parents. Dave got married last July, Mark got married this July so now Mom thinks I should get married next July so she gets the hat trick. I think maybe she just wants to be able to send all the anniversary cards at once :)


Mom and Janie and me


Rachel and Mark dacinging their first dance. . . awww. They picked "At Last" as a wedding song, a classic. Nice choice.


What set of holiday pics would be complete without a crazy self portrait? Janie and Jody both had husbands in the wedding party so we had a little time on our hands and Janie had a camera and well...

All in all it was a great wedding and I am very happy I was able to be there. I think I would have walked to Arizona to be there, but fortunately it didn't come to that. Congratulations you guys!

return to Hogwarts

I'm probably the only person in North America reading book 4 of the Harry Potter series this week-end. I really enjoyed the first couple of books in the series but the Dementors in book 3 scared the crap out of me so I stopped reading them. Lately everyone has been commenting on how great the sixth installment is. It seems to be everywhere -- I counted seven people reading it on the plane last week. So I thought maybe it was time to give Rowling's story another shot. What better way to spend a long week-end than relaxing in the sun with a good book?

I am most of the way through The Goblet of Fire (yes, I know, I read slowly) and I have to say that I had forgotten how much fun it is to go to Hogwarts. I love the names of things and all the invented words. (And, to be honest, I love the idea of a castle where staircases and pictures move, where the ceiling looks like the sky and any misfortune can be solved in the sick wing, even if regrowing all the bones in your arm does hurt.) I love that she has made Harry just believable enough that a hundred pages from the end of the book I still wonder if just maybe Cedric will win the Triwizard Tournament even though I know that somehow Harry will be the hero in the end.

I'm glad that so far Rowling seems to still like her hero and hasn't written him into misery quite yet. I read once that by the end of the Anne of Green Gables series, Montgomery hated her heroine but was under contract to finish 6 books. I've read the series, and towards the end things certainly seem to go south for Anne. If something is in store for Harry, please remember that I'm most of the way through book 4 so no book 5 or 6 spoilers please. I think I'll finish my education at Hogwarts afterall.

found an internet cafe

We've been staying in a gorgeous inn the past few days with no access in sight. Tonight we're in a little motel in Williams, AZ and wouldn't you know it, I found a little cafe. Perfect.

The wedding went really well and the newly minted Dr. & Mrs. Colvin are on their way to somewhere for a little R&R. I didn't get to spend much time with either of them, although I expected that. At least I can say that I've finally met the woman who won my brother's heart. It was so strange to think of this person who had been such a huge part of Mark's life for two years and I could not have picked her out of a line-up.

As they say, the wedding went off with a hitch and smiles all round. Rachel surprised Mark by flying in his Best Man at the last minute. It must have been a whirwind trip for Earl but I know it meant a lot to Mark to have him there. My Dad was thrilled to have another English accent in the room. I'm glad that we're going ot get to see them in November. It'll be good to have a conversation with my new sister-in-law.

It's been a good trip so far. The night I flew in it was 11.00pm at 86 degrees outside. It hasn't cooled down much since. Everythign is air conditioned, but eventually you have to step outside and it's like walking into a pizza oven.

Tomorrow we head to the Grand Canyon. I'm told that it's almost impossible to describe the colours. I'm looking forward to seeing it. We gained quite a bit of elevation on the drive over. It's closer to 85 degrees here and feels down right balmy after Tucson.

It's been great spending today with Mom & Dad and Dave & Janie just goofing off in the car. I really wish we all lived a little closer together. I have a few blogs that I'll post when I get back home. I've got pretty limited time here, so I guess I'll end this post here for now. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say when I get home. (Hmm, they have this browser set-up so I can't spell check. Well, hey, I'm on vacation. Surely even editors are allowed a break :)

the legacy of a leader

I came across a really interesting quote in Wired today. It said

Culture is the legacy of a leader. What is the leader's responsibility? To establish trust, a set of values, and to foster communications that forms the team. ~ Gene Kranz

Gene Kranz is a former NASA flight director for the Apollo 11 lunar landing and leader of the ground team that brought the crew of Apollo 13 safely back to Earth after an explosion crippled the spacecraft in flight. In the interview the quote comes from, Kranz is speaking specifically about corporate culture rather than the geographical culture.

It's interesting though to think of leaders as responsible not only for what their team does but for the manner in which they do it, the way they treat each other, their attitudes at the water cooler, the way they handle victory and defeat. Interesting to think of a legacy not of what got done, but how it got done.

This is only a partially developed thought, but it's kept my attention all day so I hoped that noting it might help the rest of it take shape. It's strange that a leadership quote stood out to me. I don't read leadership books. I don't like the front of the room. I am asked to lead more often than I would like. But there's something about this quote that is working its way around my brain. I'm not entirely sure that it's a fair quote -- can one person be held responsible for another's attitude? But if the leaders don't take responsibility for the 'feel' of a place, who will?

good day

One of the truly great things about working from home one day a week is that I can be down by the beach a little after seven in the morning and still make it to work on time. And this morning I actually did.

It was awesome -- cool and quiet but still busy. There were a bunch of people walking or jogging and a pair of what looked like shrimp boats moored down on the floating dock beside the pier. (I know we don't have shrimp out this way, but they were shrimp-boat-shaped. Wonder what they were trolling for?) I passed a family going down the pier. I hear the Mom say to her 10-year-old son "Where's your sweater? You're going to freeze on the boat" and a few minutes later I heard said 10-year-old's thundering footsteps as he ran back to get it. I wanted to stick around to see which boat they were taking out, but I was getting short on time.

I keep telling myself that someday I'm going to find out what the sun looks like rising up over that water. But I don't think I'll be trying that on a day when I have to go to work. It felt like summer today, even just for a little bit. It's been a good day.

dred part 2 (an experiment)

I was reading on the Google Blog today that you can now upload pics directly from the Blogger interface so I thought I'd give it a shot. I don't have too many pics of my own (did I mention wanting a digital camera? And a laptop.. . .and a pony. . .) I thought I'd steal, I mean borrow, a couple from DAve and JAnie. They are generous sorts and I doubt that they'd mind. SO here goes, an experiment in photo blogging, take one.


This is my brother DAve, with dreds. As far as I know he's had these dreds about three years. If I remember my family history correctly, his wife has never seen him without them.


And here he is without. I think he looks exactly like the last photo I have of him before he started growing his hair. (Which is a little strange, because he was a highschool student then and now he's a married youth pastor, soon-to-be-Dad. Crazy.)

Interesting, so the photo blogging is relatively painless. Okay Blogger people, here's what I want to know:

a) How come the code automatically inserts right at the top of my post window regardless of where the cursor was when I hit the photo button?

b) Why doesn't the text automatically align with the photo when I add the second photo? Is that a feature so that if I had seven pics about one thing the text would be continuous?

Hmm, well the spacing issue is a little annoying but other than that, that was pretty easy. Cool.

Update: Ok I knew that was too easy. . . turns out that template width is not reflected in preview so you have to go back and adjust spacing. If anyone knows a hack to get preview to preview actually in my template of choice, I'm all ears.

Second update: turns out that selecting "center" takes care of the text alignment problem in narrow-width templates. Nice.