Well actually I was procrastinating, but I did not intend to post until I saw the date of my last post, exactly one year ago. I think the same story still holds true, I have some summer projects I'd like to get off the ground, still having fun with my new razor, but I there are also a few other things happening this summer that may take some time away from these frivolous activities and make me focus on other important things. For instance, family activities, I've got a lot of them. Too many to name. I am very happy to be road tripping this summer, but the travel will be tough. It has also forced me to make some hard choices about which activities I will and will not attend. A very close friend is getting married back East and due to time/money constraints, I do not think we will be able to celebrate their wedding day. Choices, this has been the theme for 2008 so far. I'd like to think I am blessed to have such a great partner and amazingly supportive family and friends to help make these decisions. Does not mean they are easy, but having an understanding crowd can make all the difference. Off to finish my semester, wish me luck.

I feel like a cyber-voyeur. I enjoy reading about other people's lives but do not seem to have it in me to return the favor and spill out interesting tidbits about my life. It is not that I don't lead an interesting life I am sometimes just too busy to get down to writing what is going on. Reading other people's blogs is like having friends who you don't need to keep in touch with. You can just look them up and hear what's going on and that's it. No birthday cards, phone calls, etc. Selfish, I know. It doesn't satisfy me though. I really value my real friends.

This summer I have a few projects I want to tackle. First I want to revamp my Road Trips photo essay section. It looked nice for a while but then got kinda sloppy and I'd like a cleaner look for my pictures. Second, I want to take a stand up comedy class and perform, at least once, in front of an audience. This should be an interesting exercise in writing and public speaking. Third, I want to make a notebook. I want to continue my gourmet shaving adventures with my new razor. I have a leisure reading list a mile long. And finally, I would like to keep up on the exercise front and possibly run a race. I am not in any shape for a half marathon, but a 5k should totally be doable.

Coming up on exams. I am not sure if I am prepared or just ignorant to how much I don't know. I am hoping for the former. This semester seems a bit more relaxed even though the time invested seems higher than last semester. The exodus from the night program has begun and it will be interesting to see who sticks out the evening when all the shuffling is over. I certainly envy my classmates who are able to study abroad this summer.

Yeah so I have been a bit slow in posting. Seems like it's a monthly thing around here. Anyway, school has been very busy getting our appellate brief in order and staying on top of classes. I am not sure why writing these briefs is not as taxing on me as writing some of the papers I had to tackle in undergraduate. The structure of a legal paper seems to make more sense to me. It could also be that lawyers seem more interested in how concisely you can say something rather than how verbose. In undergrad, it was "no fewer that 10 pages." In law school it's "no more than 10 pages."

Still hitting the gym with regularity, although I think my Dad is able to run a bit more and faster than I can. Some day I'll get fast enough...some day. My limiting factor these days is time. I wake up around 5:45 am, hit the gym for a 30 minute run, lift some weights and then try and be out the door by 7:30. Not very easy.

I'm getting gray hairs. It has been reported by two different people. Most think it's a good thing though to help balance my baby face and give me that "distinguished" look. It's still gray. And while we're on the topic of hair, for the first time, my barber took the blade to my inner ears. He said I was starting to get fuzzy in there. All I could think about was my Pop who practically had sea urchins in his ears. Yet he wore them with pride!

Cindy's Birthday Pictures part I. There will be more pictures from our second visit. The Disney Southern California deal is buy one ticket and get a second visit to the other park for "free." (free = $11 parking; $30 lunch; $20 t-shirt; $10 ice cream; $50 gas). The pictures are in a new layout which I am not sure I completely like. This summer I will be putting some time into making the trip pages much nicer and cleaner. I've just got a few too many pans on the fire right now.

I've been feeling creative lately. I need to find an outlet for this energy, but I suppose that would also require some time to channel it. First, I'm on a mission to lead a less trashy life in 2007. One of the most wasteful activities I participate in on a daily basis is shaving. Each morning I use some lather out of a can and I shave with a disposable razor. I recently switched back to a Mach 3 so I am only wasting cartridges rather than entire razors. I've also started playing with shave soap rather than the canned stuff. I really like the shave soap. I'm slowly learning how to get a nice foam going. It's a slow process though...which is part of what I like about it. It's my little morning ritual.

I'm also switching to canned beverages rather than plastic bottles. I just read Garbage Land by Elizabeth Royte. In it she describes plastic as "Satan's resin." The amount of damage plastics do to the environment, even though they are recyclable, is appalling. The plastics that are recycled are actually not as good after each iteration. So a bottle does not come back as a bottle but some lesser plastic. The conversion process uses a lot of chemicals, energy and water. Aluminium, however, can be melted down and reused to make cans. Same with glass.

As an added bonus, California just increased the return value of bottles and cans! Show me the money!

Secondly, it's that time of year when repenting comes to the forefront of my brain. As an adult, I am starting to feel like the Lenten/Passover season is much more important than Christmas. The gravity of the season weighs much heavier than during the festive holidays. It could also be that I have more time to think about this season because I'm not running around looking for gifts or traveling to meet family and friends. Alas, this will be my first season without chocolate. It's been almost 2 months with out eating a piece of chocolate in any form. The first 30 days were hard, but from then on it's been kinda easy.

Don't think that my giving up chocolate has been the end of my sweet consumption. I've switched to Spree candies, Swedish fish, maple donuts and vanilla frozen yogurt. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), these items are all out of my way so getting them requires a conscious effort on my part. Additionally, as the wife mentioned, it's nice to be busy because you don't have time to spend money. Sad but true.

Other recent media consumptions:

	Hustle and Flow : a movie featuring Terrance Howard. I am still processing this film, but the basic theme is everyone has a dream. It's definitely a bit raw of a movie, but it's played out quite well. The cast are "believable" albeit tragic characters. For now, this movie is sitting at 2.5 stars out of 5. (imdb).
	"Give Up" : a recording by Postal Service. I heard this at a friend's house and was so intrigued by the sound. I haven't heard of Death Cab for Cutie before, but apparently, Postal Service is the precursor to DCC. I splurged on the vinyl edition which came with an extra disks of remixes by other bands and a great cover of one of my favorite Flaming Lips songs "Everything Has Changed." I need to convert this over to a digital format.
Havidol : a "drug" by Paradise Pharmed. "When more is not enough." Pure genius.

Every holiday the same scene is played out. The family gathers, hugs, and catches up on each other's lives. At some point, one of the matriarchs will announce it's time for dinner. Everyone rushes to the table, bellies calling out for our favorite holiday dishes, mine is my grandmother's artichokes. For most normal dinners, a mad dash for food would ensue. It's not uncommon to get stuck with a fork as you reach for an olive, but on holidays, before any forks are lifted, we must say grace. And like every year, no one wants to take on the burden of saying grace? But why?

What is grace? What is it about grace that makes people a little bit shy, especially in my family where no one is ever at a loss for words? As I thought about grace I began to notice many aspects to this concept.

Grace is a word that has many meanings. It can mean a small giving of thanks. There is also the concept of "divine grace." Rooted in Judeo-Christian history, "divine grace" refers to an unearned gift bestowed on mankind from God. And there is also the idea of "graceful actions," such as Fred Astaire or Emmit Smith tip-toeing around the dance floor or Michael Jordan soaring through the air en route to another spectacular finish. And let us not forget the grace an embodied by beautiful Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe or Aurdey Hepburn.

In all facets, it seems to me at the core of grace is a gift. So when we pause before digging into our holiday meals, we are stopping to acknowledge the gifts that are before us. The pace of our lives has become so hectic we can sometime forget the simple luxuries we have that others do not.

Maybe grace is a motivating element of the Slow Movement. Started in Italy as a response to increasing presence of fast food restaurants, the Slow Movement attempts to consciously seize control of the important elements of our lives. The most important things should not be rushed. At the core of this philosophy is the enjoyment and appreciation of how time is spent.

The time we have together here or at the holiday tables is something that should certainly be celebrated and appreciated. In good times, more chairs appear at the table. In tougher times, chairs are taken away for those who may have been lost. Taking notice and honoring those who are present and those who are not preserves the memories and builds strong bonds.

So grace has a gift at the core which we take time honor or appreciate. What then is something we describe as graceful? As a child I certainly was not graceful. Most people fall down stairs, I was known to trip going up stairs. You would think the son of a classically trained ballet dancer would have smooth moves. Unfortunately not.

In time I did find the activities which I did have gift for though, speaking for instance. I entered my first speech contest when I was in the sixth grade. It was a VFW contest for junior high and high school students. I was barely old enough, but I managed to place second. The title of my speech was "Challenge the Summit" and I spoke about the importance of setting, working towards and achieving goals. And I haven't shut up since.

Gracefulness takes time to develop, but everyone has a talent that is uniquely superb. To point at something and say "She's so graceful" is to take time from your day to honor that particular talent in others. This too helps build strong bonds between people by demonstrating respect and acknowledging the skills of others. It was worth taking a break to comment on a job well done.

And this is the challenge I leave you with today. Whether it's saying a formal grace or simply taking a moment to slow down and reflect on what gifts you have been given, the time spent will be well worth the effort.

Here are some pictures from our Halloween parties.
We made our costumes this year. Fun but tiring endeavor. We didn't sew the queen's dress, but everything else is all us baby! We didn't win any prizes at the company Halloween party, but we did get a lot of compliments on orginality, creativity and craftsmanship. I think if we want to win next year, we need to wear costumes with much less fabric.

1) What was the last thing that you ate?
Frosted Mini-wheats with soy milk

2) Who was the last person you shared a meal with?
Human would be dinner with my wife. I had breakfast with my cat this morning.

3) What is your favorite all time dish (recipes welcome)?
My favorite dish is the Family Macaroni and Sauce. Any kind of macaroni will do, I'd even settle for pasta or spaghetti. As for the sauce, it must be red, meatballs, sausage, bragioli, bone meat simmered for several hours in a pot the size of a garbage can. Make sure there is a simple tossed salad, some fresh Italian bread, locatelli cheese, and some red wine (chianti or cabernet). Yum.

4) If you could eat one thing for an entire year, what would it be?
My initial reaction is pizza because it is a very versatile food that can be sweet, savory, meaty, veggie, you name it. But I am not sure I would enjoy it for an entire year. I think if I had to eat one thing for an entire year, I would pick steak. My doctor would probably kill me for eating nothing but red meat for an entire year, but if forced to eat only one thing, bring on the cows.

5) If you could have dinner with any five people (dead or alive) who would they be?

Alexander the Great: This guy probably has a million stories to tell from all the places he traveled. Conquest, leadership, pillaging...I'm sure he'll have me and all my guests in stitches.

Thomas Jefferson: Besides being a Founding Father, he was a pretty smart in areas other than politics. He was a legal scholar. He was one of the first proponents of the patent system. And I'd ask some of the tough and awkward questions about his love affairs.

Marilyn Monroe: Where do I start? I'll just be sure to sit her away from Mr. Jefferson.

Colin Cowherd: My favorite sports radio guy. He's amazing. Not a complete meathead, but certainly has an appealing point of view in the areas of sport, society and masculinity. If you have never heard his show, you can check it out online at ESPN Radio.

Cleopatra: Assuming she can speak in our modern tongue, I think there is enough legend that she would be able to confirm or reject that she would make an interesting dinner guest.

Inspired by: The Friday Five

Recent media consumption:

Seed Magazine focusing on science and society
The articles are surprisingly well written. It's popular mechanics meets the economist. Insightful, not too geeky, and very relevant.

Fearless Jet Li's "last" movie imdb
A great kicker flick. Marital arts sequences are very well done. I love the period of time this movie covers, just around 1910 when colonial powers were starting to really get involved in China. The story has some subtle east-meets-west political undertones. The story is based on the events in the life of Huo Yuanjia, a martial arts legend.

The Sopranos, Season 3 an HBO original series
I know I'm behind the times, but I've enjoyed taking my sweet old time getting into this series. Part of my attraction to the show is it shows a lot of New Jersey through out the seasons. Living in Southern California, you kind of forget what the changing seasons looks like. Especially the Pine Barrens in the snow, or the fall leaves. My only gripe about this season is the writers seem to be taking one of my favorite characters, Pauli Walnuts, off the deep end.

Proximity Effect an album by Nada Surf
Their first album High Low featured a few radio hits, probably most notable is the song Popular. This album is their follow up to that poppy record and while it isn't as pop radio friendly as High Low was, this record is beautiful. The lyrics are quite intense and really make you think. The melodies are great and the instrumentation is very tight without being pretentious. It's hard to find, but worth picking up if you come across a copy.

P.S. -- I'm missing the Punkin Chunkin again this year. Sigh.

P.S.S. -- Halloween costume is coming along very well. Pictures forthcoming.