Friday 31 May 2013

Summer

If you know me or you follow my blog, you know I love all seasons.  I have no preference as they all have amazing parts and not so great parts.  I enjoyed this past winter as I always do, but this year I was more excited than normal to hit summer.  Here's why:



I saved up and purchased this bad boy on sale at the end of last summer.  Got out about 7 times last year before it got too cold, and now summer 2013 has finally come!  Can't wait to use it a lot more!  This picture was from the May long weekend, when I got out twice.  Bring on the summer!

*Thanks to Colin in the comment section below...allow me to note that it's the kayak that I bought last summer, not the car, lol

Friday 24 May 2013

4 years

This past Wednesday (May 22) was a very special day - my wife and I celebrated our 4th anniversary.  I have to take the opportunity to boast about how lucky I am.  My wife is a pretty spectacular person.  There are so many qualities to talk about, but I'll pick three.

1)  My wife is very thoughtful.  She always tries to think of what I like, and then does that for me.  This is just one tiny example, but case in point, remember the home-made Big Mac? (see post from April 26 if not) Feast your eyes on the home-made Crunchwrap Supreme.

I realize I should have taken a picture before I started eating it, but I couldn't wait...

2)  My wife is so creative.  She's one of those annoyingly talented people, that whatever she does, she does really well.  Drawing, painting, cooking, cleaning, baking, thinking of gifts, etc...  She outdoes me at all of it.  She leaves me uber impressed.  Regularly.


3)  5 months in, and she is an amazing mother.  She's so patient with our son, even in the middle of the night when all you want to do is sleep.  She always laughs and plays with him, and keeps him entertained. When she puts him down on his play mat, she never leaves him there by himself - she's always down there playing with him.  I love doing all that stuff too, but I get tired after a while!  She somehow, never does.


My new desktop background at work

What can I say, I'm a lucky guy.

Thursday 16 May 2013

Chris Hadfield

We all have people we look up to in life.  Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has just made my list.

It's been amazing to follow Commander Hadfield over the past 5 months on the International Space Station. There are so many reasons to like him.  As I am a nature guy, his pictures of earth have blown me - and really, the rest of the world - away.  His videos are fun and educational.  His love of space, and his love of sharing that love with the world (especially kids), are easily evident.  He's a terrific communicator - he's absolutely brilliant, but he's able to get complex ideas across in a simple way.  And to round it all off, he just looks like a nice guy, a guy you'd love to sit down with and chat, pick his brain.

It's funny to hear people say, "What does Chris Hadfield do in space?  It seems like he just takes pictures and tweets."  That's so far from the truth.  Hadfield did hundreds of experiments over his 5 months.  The tweeting, talking with school children, shooting videos, taking pictures - all that was in his spare time, or as he was working.  And what a boon it has been to us back here on earth, living vicariously through Chris.

It's remarkable to me that almost everyone who views the pictures Chris took is amazed.  Amazed by the beauty of our world - the incredible sunrises and sunsets, mountaintops, plains, cliffs, deserts, blue oceans, islands, landscapes...it's hard not to be speechless.  And it boils down to one question for me - when the world marvels in awe at these pictures, how do more people not believe in God??

There are so many of Chris' pictures and videos to choose (all you have to do is google his name or check him out on youtube).  But I'll share two of my favourites.

This picture is the last one he tweeted while on board the space station.  He saw 16 sunrises and sunsets a day.  This was his last.  It's remarkable how massive the earth is, but how tiny it is compared to our solar system, galaxy, and universe...  It's beautiful to see the sunrise lighting up earth's atmosphere.




Chris is also a patriotic Canadian, another reason why he's made my list.  He has many great videos from the ISS that are more popular than the one below, but I chose this one because you can see how much he loves being in space, and how proud he is to be Canadian.





Thanks Commander Chris Hadfield.

Friday 10 May 2013

The weekend

If you've followed my blog at all, you know that I'm a big fan of all seasons.  Winter was great, but now I'm excited for the spring.    I have a bunch of projects planned for this weekend, mostly on our car - switching over to summer tires and a few car repairs while I'm at it.  If that all goes well and quickly, then it's some work on the yard.

Of course, this is all assuming the weather co-operates, which at this point it looks like it won't...frustrating that it's so sunny and warm all week, then the weekend hits and it'll be cold and raining...urg...  However, that'll mean more time for some projects indoors, like fixing a leaky sink and continuing some spring cleaning.

But of course, the most important part of the weekend is Mother's Day.  It'll be my wife's first Mother's Day, so I'm hoping to make it really special.  Being a new parent, I have a new appreciation for mothers.  Seeing her get up in the middle of the night, stay patient with a sometimes impatient infant, keep the house in order...she does it all.  I'm pretty lucky.  I hope I can express my appreciation this weekend.

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers!

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Even the rocks will cry out...

In small group this week, we watched a really cool video from Louie Giglio, one of my favourite speakers. It's called 'Symphony'.  The whole 40 minute video is great, but I've posted a small clip of it that was especially neat.  I know it's 14 minutes, I know you're busy, but this is sooooo cool.  Take a few minutes and watch it.






Assuming you're reading this after you've watched the video...pretty amazing, eh!?

For the cynics, I know Louie put those sounds together to make that song, I realize that.  But the larger picture is realizing that it's very true what the Bible says throughout the Psalms and in Luke 19:40, that "the stones will cry out" - that all of creation sings God's praise!  Louie went on to talk about the sound a snowflake makes when it hits the ground, and the sound of a flower opening in the spring...sounds that we don't hear, but that God hears and that are part of a beautiful symphony to Him - that are constantly singing to Him in praise.

Whether you're a nature person (like myself) or not, it's neat to realize that all of creation is in constant song to God.  How much more should we sing in praise?  We are concious beings who can think, reason, and understand, who can talk to God and have a relationship with Him.  Let's not let the inanimate objects out-do us.