So, what's happenin in the OC these days? Well nothing all that fantastic actually, but here's what is happenin. My good ole faithful Ford Ranger just crossed the century mark. It was quite uneventful in reality as I didn't realize it happened until 15 miles too late! But, it's literally a mile stone. She's been with me through a lot, three major moves, one across country! She holds a special place in my heart!
Beatin the heat has been the m.o. out here lately. It's crazy! Gets up to around 100 almost every day, and our house has no ac. Just talking about it is getting me choked up with emotion. Apparently this is quite abnormal for here. So, I've been through an incredibly abnormal winter where a five year drought was erased and a hotter than normal summer...come Sept!!!
I've also been learning how to surf...I know that brings a huge grin to Charles' and Dawn's faces! It's a blast, but it is definitly not easy! It's one of the many ways to beat the heat. Well, I gotta go not move so I can stop sweating!

What do I do for fun these days? Well, for starters, I discovered one of the most ingenious culinary inventions of all time about 3 weeks ago...Kebob skewers. Now these are no ordinary sticks that you might find yourself impaling meat with and then placing it on a grill of your choosing. NO! Picture 2.5 foot metal, sword-like skewers. This is what I have been grilling choice meats on for the past month! It's incredible. Look for them in you area. Most likely you'll find them at a Persian market. If not let me know, I'd be happy to get some for you and mail them. They're only a couple bucks each...Highly worth it! My meat of choice is chicken thigh meat marinated in teriyaki or lemon pepper marinade. Slow cook it for 30 to 45 minutes...some of the best chicken you'll ever have. Houston's is jealous of this concoction!
In other exciting news, I'm feeling great physically. For starters, I'm riding my road bike to and from work throughout the week (20 miles a day). It's a great ride, and helping to give me much more energy. I've also started doing Bikram yoga, the kind where you're in a 105F room with 60 percent humidity. It's pretty crazy, but seems to be helping tone me up and give me just that much more strength and flexibility. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to increase strength and flexibility, but doesn't really want to bulk up. It's also great for all of the systems of your body as it targets them individually throughout the hour and a half. That's right, an hour and a half of INTENSE exercise in a 105 degree room. Believe me the first few times it's all you can do to just stay in the room!
That's been really occupying the majority of my time outside of work. My art is still churning in my mind, being refined and patiently waiting to be brought into reality (I have done some things like build a space to live and work around as you see in the photo). Hopefully I'll have some substantial work to share with you soon! Gotta pay the bills first though!

So you want pictures?!? Here's some of my favorites...
Who Made Those Pies?

Over a river in Zion

A mounting storm outside Zion

Tree pattern at the Grand Canyon

Joshua tree with snow-capped mountains in the distance at Death Valley

A lone bush on the dunes in Death Valley

The Trips...

So, here's a few snipits from the travels I've had over the past few weeks.
It all started with the need to remedy a Grand Canyonless life. And so I did! One night Andre and I were sitting on the couch talking about places to see in the west. I was telling him about how I wanted to see the Grand Canyon, for instance, and he said let's do it. So we did. Two weeks later we were headed on a killer weekend trip. Andre, Timo, and I loaded up Friday at about 1pm and drove east. The first night we stopped in Laughlin, NV (it's like Vegas for senior citizen's). Just stayed the night and hit a buffet in the morning before we headed out for GC. Laughlin's a border town between NV and AZ, so we skipped over the border and drove through the high desert to get to the canyon. The Grand Canyon is pretty amazing. I think the most awesome part is how abruptly it begins. You're walking among trees and what not, and then out of no where this MASSIVE void of earth is at the tip of your toes. Really amazing. So we chilled at the canyon for lunch, took some pictures, took a leak into the canyon (it just begs for such action really), and then headed to the next stop...Zion. To get to Zion we drove through some of the most amazing landscapes. From the south rim you skirt along the painted desert. Just imagine colors you never thought possible in rock...oranges, yellows, some greens, reds. It was brilliant. At the some time you slightly clip monument valley. In the distance you can see isolated buttes here an there, scattered about. From the painted desert you drive through Grand Staircase (Escalante) where you see even more brilliant reds than before. Daylight was wearing thin at this point, so we started to book it for Zion. We crossed into Mormon country (Utah) right around dusk, and into Zion just after dark. THE STARS WERE INCREDIBLE!!! You forget that many are out there. Although it was dark you could tell you were in an incredible landscape. The starlight created a backlighting that vaguely displayed silhouettes surrounding us as we wound through the park. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized how grand those silhouettes were. Zion, to me, was even more incredible than the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is massive and awe-inspiring in that way. Zion is, however, rightfully named in that evokes a feeling of paradise. It's just amazing. Less grand in scale but great in aesthetic beauty. We spent the day in Zion scaling rock walls, walking through dried up creek beds, and eating...what a great day! In the afternoon we left and headed out for a quick look at Vegas. It was cool to see, but not a place I found myself drawn to. Maybe I'll go back for a show or something. Then, it was back to the OC....What a trip! One for the storybooks.
A couple weeks later I went on a more subdued trip with Timo (Andre's brother) to Death Valley. It was a great trip as well. We just stayed the whole weekend in the most desolate place I've ever been. Death Valley is a place of extremes. As the 105F heat (a relatively mild day mind you) of the salt flats at Badwater basin (the lowest point in the western hemisphere) nearly claimed my exciting, I looked due west in hopes of gaining enough strength to reach the elusive summit of the snow capped mountains in my sight...just a mere 13 mile walk across the valley's floor. These mountains form the valley. Just as the grand canyon fell immediately for the edge of the plateau around, so the mountains jutted out of the valley as if the valley were cleanly cut into the earth. Quite amazing! We camped both nights, the second of which was about 15 miles off any sort of slightly beaten path and any hope of rescue should something go sour. It's was a good weekend.
And finally, about three weeks ago now I got to drive the California coast. I will definitely do this again. Andre and I drove up to Monterey after work on Fri, arriving at 2 in the morning. We parked his Element, lowered the seats and slept on the side of the road in a neighborhood. Got up in the morning and did the Monterey stuff. First we went on the 17-mile drive through pebble beach and such. It was pretty cool. You get to see the mansions of all these ridiculously rich people for around the world, some pretty coast, and one of the best golf courses in the world. After that we checked out the Monterey Aquarium, which was quite disappointing. It lacked pizzaz. Quite bland. So, we left there relatively quickly for the reason we went on the trip...driving the coast. The Cali coast is one of if not the most beautiful stretch of coast in the world (at least that's drivable)! June gloom arrived early, so a hefty marine layer hovered about the entire trip, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. We camped out amongst the coastal redwoods Sat night, and continued the drive through Big Sur on Sun. Shortly thereafter we stopped at a retreat center called Esalen. That's where we got to chill in natural hot springs overlooking the ocean AND get the most incredible hour and a half massage of my life! It was A-FRICKIN-MAZING!!! In our relaxed state, we continued the trek south towards San Luis Obispo. We stopped first though at Hearst castle, a real American version of the European castles. Kind of odd seeing such things in the states. It was built by a newspaper dude form San Fran who wine and dined all of the glitteratti of the early and mid 20th century. Worth seeing. That wrapped up the Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur trip!
Since, I also got to go to Memphis for the first time for a dear friend's wedding. It was sweet! Memphis is fun place to visit for a weekend if you too have a friend getting married there.

So, i've started going to this discipleship/spirtiual formation group on Thurs mornings. It's pretty sweet...just a group of 10 or so guys that get together to have our worlds challenged through the teaching of a local pastor. He's a really cool dude, thinks outside the box, which I both love and hate. On the one hand it's liberating to know that I can't predict God (even less than I've ever thought possible), to know that I'm not the Authority even in my own life. On the other hand it straight up frustrates me. I CAN'T PREDICT GOD!!! Even in the slightest!!! Do I still trust? Sometimes. Do I find true satisfaction in life when I rest in Someone elses control? Absolutely. Do I experience death on many levels when I try to live a fulfilled life void of Him? Absolutely...excruciatingly TRUE! The dude (Adam is his name) is becoming a great coach in such things. God is unfathomably beyond my understanding. Where was I when he laid the foundatioins of the earth? Right now I'm cool with that...that I would be more and more.
We talked about a proposition describing my dependency as a human which more or less states "If the amount of information that exist at any one point in time is infinite, then my ignorance at any one point in time is infinite." It was quite convincing to me. I can accept that too. It's a great place to be!

The thing that has struck me the strongest, or that I would like for me to be struck with the hardest, is this... we have been created in the image of God. What does that REALLY mean? I think this will strike a chord with the artsists in the crowd. God had a desire to create a self portrait. For a reason unbeknownst to me, He decided to display very particular characteristics of himself to the universe through you and me, His self portraits. Frickin Crazy I tell ya! It's mind boggling! Anything, He could have chosen any-thing, any-way, any-how, and He chose us...He chose us! What does that mean? It's huge man! The potter and the clay, all such analogies seem to be more potent and have more relevance. Huh.

Well, off to Monterey Bay and Big Sur! Later

Here's a little shot I took in Zion National Park, UT. I call it "Tunnel Vision". It speaks to me personally about the way life can feel when were caught in the middle of some darker times. How's it speak to you?
I'll post some photos soon as well as details from a couple of the trips I've taken to see the great American west. A little Grand Canyon, Zion, Painted Desert, Escalante, Vegas, Death Valley, and, to be added this weekend, Monterey Bay/Big Sur. Much to share! Later

Well, here it is folks, the first installment of hopefully many to come, a post on a blog by yours truly. What is this guy's ethnicity anyway? I'll leave you to the mental rubix cube you have just been challenged to unlock until a later date. Bonjurno Mein!!!