She's Not Here.

Ok here's the situation. Over a year ago I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see how long it would take for people to find Allison on Facebook. She reluctantly agreed to let me set up an account for her. So I created a profile for her but I didn't friend her just to see how quickly someone who registered for Facebook but didn't use it would be found by their friends and family. She, being resistant to FB to begin with, never logged in to her account, and it was left at that.

For months nobody requested her as a friend, until Facebook added the "You Might Know This Person" function. Then the requests started coming in, and I got into a little bit of trouble. From the beginning Allison didn't want to be on Facebook which I should have respected, but at the time I was drowning in the FB wave of awesomeness so I pushed it.

Here's the thing, the account that I set up for her is impossible to delete. I have tried everything I can to kill it but it refuses to die. This has given me a slightly uneasy feeling about Facebook and has made me second guess the decision to sign up in the first place. You should be able to delete yourself from FB if you want to, but apparently you can't really.

So, to all of you out there who are waiting for "friend approval" from Allison, I am sorry but it will never come. But it has nothing to do with you, and certainly nothing to do with Allison's feelings for you either. I apologize for the confusion.

The Sign Read....

"WE CANNOT ENSURE YOU WILL GET TO RIDE IN THE
CAR OF YOUR CHOICE WHEN IT IS YOUR TURN."

Which of course I knew to mean that we would probably not end up in a car we wanted. Little did I know that we would end up in the LAST car two boys and their father should be in on a Dad's day out trip to Toys'R'Us in Times Square.

We still had a great time, and left with our heads held high and our dignity still intact!

New Zeke Video

I know, I know. It has been way too long since there has been a video just about Zeke. It's just plain true, the first kid gets more documentation than the second. But it doesn't mean he isn't loved any less. Also I would like to point out that there are probably more pictures taken of Zeke and Levi than there have been of me in my entire life. iPhoto tells me I have taken over 9,000 pictures, 3/4 of which center around Zeke, Levi, or both of them.

I just got back from taking my family to the airport so they can go see the Fam in Arkansas. When we got the kids up at 4:30 a.m. Levi couldn't have been more excited. That kid loves to travel and the earlier the flight the better. Yes, I am left here in NYC all alone with a lock-in to do at the church on Friday. I will truly miss Allison and the boys, the house is all ready way too quite. But until they get back, I guess I'll just have to suffer through the next couple of days and sleep through the night, go out to movies, eat junk food, and taking Levi's instruction to "do whatever I want" to heart. I would hate to disappoint him.

Here's Zeke's latest video.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON

My beautiful wife turns 34 years young today. She leaves me in awe almost everyday with all the things she has to juggle. Wife, mother, woman of God, educator, advocate, student, and smoking hot!

Here's to you love, I am so glad that you were born. In just a short 34 years you have made a profound impact in our little corner of the world. I praise God for you and know that your three boys couldn't make it without you.

I love you.

The Wrangler

Seriously people she did not choose the web moniker
"The Wrangler" for nothing!

Personally, I prefer my animals behind an interactive, environmentally accurate, well protected exhibit, or on my plate with a nice glass of wine.

Planting daredevil seeds in my son, mom sent this picture to Levi in the real life mail and when he opened it he said, "Whoa....grandma is feeding a Buffalo!" They don't have longhorn steers in the Natural History Museum.

Mom does have a slight bit of defensive posture going on. If the steer decides to charge she looks ready to turn and run. However, if my brother Matt had been there is no doubt he would have tried to saddle that thing (see what I mean).

I inadvertently rode a Brahma Bull once when I was about 12 years old. I was at ranch just posing for a picture, when the thing decided to buck me off. Apparently my Aunt Rita saved my life by jumping in front of the bull distracting him enough to let my mom pull me out from underneath it before I got stepped on. Here's a picture of the bull (as I remember it anyway).

Happy New Year!

We got up at 4 am to get to the airport to make our 6:30 am flight from Seattle back home. Thirty minutes from boarding we discovered our flight was canceled and we were subsequently booked on a return flight for the next morning.

My dad lives about forty miles from the airport and he was in surgery and couldn't come get us so we took a limo back home (it was the same price as the taxi). Despite being up so early, Levi and Zeke were pumped about riding in the limo. Allison and I, on the other hand, well I think her face in the last picture says it all.

We had a great east coast New Years celebration. Meaning we rang in the new year at 9:00 pm Seattle time. We even got to set off some fireworks. We will try to get home tomorrow.

Crazy Snow....

From The Holidays So Far

The snow here is really unbelievable. The picture above was taken right before we went, as Levi calls it, Wood Walking. We had a really nice Christmas day and even got in some night sledding before it was all over.

Today we pack everything up to head up to Leavenworth. There's a group going up early to get in a day of skiing, but the rest of us are going to take our time getting there since we can't check in until after 5:00 pm anyway. It's pretty funny that we are the ones who are up the earliest, but we need to leave the latest.

Apparently there is no internet up there in the mountains (amazing....yes Kenny, I know that's precisely why you go to the mountains). So this will be the last update until we get back.

Hope you all had a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Levi and Zeke with Santa on the corner of 47th and 5th Ave

A Seattle Christmas

It's a white Christmas in Seattle!

After ten uneventful hours of traveling we made it to Seattle yesterday. There is nothing like flying 5.5 hours across the country as a family of four with seats for three. I know a lot of people are having a hard time traveling but we had a good time of it. People were nice and someone even gave up their aisle seat to sit in a middle row seat on the plane so we could all sit together.

The picture above was taken this morning out the kitchen window of my Dad's house. The snow is over a foot deep (you can see the trampoline in the background and how high the snow is relative to the top of the trampoline) and Levi can't get enough of it.

Tonight we are going to Eastiside Christian Fellowship's Christmas Eve service where my brother is the youth minister and media coordinator. Then we will go and pick up Beth and Brandon at the airport.

Eventually we are going to go up to Leavenworth to go skiing for five days. It's Levi's first time to skiing so I hope to have some good video and pics to share.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas Eve

Kisses

From The Holidays So Far

How is it possible that my four year old is already making these faces when we kiss him!

For Kids, No Escape from Porn Culture

Here's the opening paragraph to an article in Newsweek magazine dealing with pornography and it's affects on children:

The idea for a book about porn culture came to Kevin Scott the day his daughter decided she absolutely had to have a Bratz-doll pony. For months, the 5-year-old had begged him for a Bratz doll—clad in spike heels, fishnets and miniskirt, enormous puppy-dog eyes protruding from her oversized head. Her sexy look seemed a little too sexy for a preschooler, so he and his wife bought her a different doll, which she was happy with. Except that a few months later, Bratz came out with Bratz Babyz. "If Bratz had looked like Barbie hookers, these looked like baby hookers," Scott says. Again, he convinced his daughter that My Little Pony was just as cool—and for a moment, the conversation ended. Until, of course, the Bratz came out with Bratz Ponyz. And then, says Scott, an English professor at a small college in Georgia, "I realized porn culture and I were in a death match for my daughter's soul."

Parents, if you aren't careful you may find yourself behind the eight-ball in teaching your kids about a Godly view of sexuality even at the age of five. And if you believe you can wait until your kids are 10, 11, 12, or 13 to talk to them about sex then you may as well just forget it. By then you will be only doing damage control.

In talking to young children about sex it's important to take the initiative to start the conversation and appropriately give them the information they ask for regarding sex and sexuality. If you can do that then you will be ahead of the game with your kids because they will trust your word and be more likely to share with you their questions and curiosities as they get older.

With regard to pornography, hats off to Wake Forest for hosting a "Porn Wars' Symposium" in hopes of getting students to take a serious look at how this $20 billion industry is affecting men, women, and children in this country. I will keep an eye out for any podcasts from the symposium on Wake Forests iTunesU page.

A Little PST Can Be A Good Thing...

My little brother Matt got married this weekend to his bride Kelli in a beautiful ceremony led by my grandfather in Beverly Hills overlooking Los Angeles. With airplane seats for three and a family of four we made the trek across the country to participate in this blessed event.

We rented a house with the Baker's in Santa Monica that was ACROSS THE STREET from the beach (corner of Ocean and Pacific St). There was family flying in from all over the country to be a part of this wedding. There were three different locations for the rehearsal, the wedding, and the reception. Beth was a bridesmaid, Allison was the coordinator, I was a groomsman, and Levi was a ring bearer.

Even in the midst of wedding stuff, child management, and sleepless nights I could still feel the remarkably slower more laid back pace of Southern California as compared to New York. Sometimes I forget that I live in a bubble. Whenever I leave that bubble the world is so different and not just because of surroundings but different in feel, energy, and especially pace. It's like life throttles down to 60% capacity once you leave New York and that's just going to Los Angeles it's much lower than that other states!

I know I go on and on about how great NYC is, and I realize how annoying that aggrandizing can be (see Texans), but I do see how the pace and feel of NYC can't work for most people. And truth is it doesn't always work for us either. It's nice to leave sometimes to decompress a little. But we know NYC works for us because so far it's always nice to return to the city we call home.

It was a short trip so the dichotomy between the two cities was acutely felt. For example from Wednesday to Sunday I had no real idea what was going on in the world. Even though I listened to KCRW 98.9 (a station I podcast) I still felt the absence of breaking news, and it was a good thing (I must detox after this election). In contrast, I knew the big stories of the day just from walking by the news stands on my way to work this morning.

I like being in the heart of it all. The Pacific time zone feels about three hours behind the rest of the world to me. And in NYC terms that might as well be the whole day. But sometimes letting the world get ahead of you isn't such a bad thing.

Thunderstorm in NYC

We just had a huge thunderstorm blow through the city. These are three shots I was able to get out my window looking south towards Central Park and the Empire State Building. The large building in the foreground is part of the development that Beth and Brandon live in.

Let's Go Dodgers...

Wow time flies by so fast it's unbelievable. The top picture was taken in September of 2006 and the bottom one was taken in June of 2008. Both pics were at Shea Stadium on the way into a Mets vs. Dodgers game.

The Henegar boys are Dodger devotee's and whenever they come to play the Mets and they have an extra ticket they bring me and Levi along. This generous method of indoctrination has caused us to be both Yankee and Dodger fans. It's not as random an allegiance as you might think. I can remember summers going to Dodger Stadium to watch them play as a kid and one summer going on the field for a fireworks show.

While the game didn't go in the Dodger's favor (they lost 6-1) we had a great time. And how could you not...great seats, popcorn, hot dogs, Italian sausage, chicken fingers, pizza, fries, beer, soda, dippin' dots, night game, and feeding off the energy of a 7, 5, and almost 4 year-old. It was really cool to see them stand up and chant "Dodgers, Dodgers" to all the Mets fans in the stadium. They showed no fear or doubt, especially to the teenagers sitting behind us.

While I wouldn't necessarily call myself a baseball fan, there is nothing like taking your kid to the ballpark. It will never get old.

Vermont

We had a great weekend spending time with friends up in Vermont. I didn't realize how much I needed to get out of the city for some fresh air and a low key environment. The farm we were at was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a house surrounded by apple orchards, woods with hiking trails, and rolling grass fields. With the weather cooperating beautifully it was an absolutely stunning place to spend the weekend.

Levi and Zeke had a great time. There was so much space and fun to be had on the farm and they just ate it up. However, their "urban upbringing" did flare up a little. We couldn't get Zeke to crawl in the grass because he didn't like how it felt on his hands. He would just sit there and pick the daffodils, but when it came time to move it was a no go unless we held his hands so he could walk around. Levi loved the wide open spaces and the woods, but he also loved all the battery operated children's cars that were around too!

As beautiful and relaxing as the weekend was, it still felt really good to get home.

Here are a few pics from the weekend.

The Family

Zeke pumped about not crawling on the grass.

Levi grass sledding.

Hiking with Zeke.

Planting in the garden with friends.

They're Engaged!

My little brother Matt got engaged two days ago while on the beach in Costa Rica. He and Kelli have been dating for about two years now and I (we) couldn't be happier with who she is as a person and how she will fit into our family. We are so excited, here's to you two, congratulations.

I believe the rumor is that they are going to be getting married fairly soon, and the wedding will be in California. So that means I have about five months to get into some sort of respectable shape for the beach. As I said in a previous post, my body has officially reached the stage where I have to put some effort into making it look half-way decent.

I am tempted to but up a before picture, that is a picture of myself right now, as a means of public humiliation and accountability so my butt will get up and go running.

Living in NYC

I have had a couple of conversations in the last few days with good friends who don't live in NYC. At some point in our conversation our friends say, "You're never going to leave New York are you." We always reply that as long as living in the city is good for our family we plan on staying. We have a great church, amazing friends, and a fantastic home. The biggest hurdle coming up will be getting Levi into a good school. The process has already begun even though he won't start kindergarten until fall 2009!

Today Allison took Levi to the Guggenheim Museum to see the Cai Guo-Qiang exhibit. Earlier in the week Allison went with both Levi and Zeke to the Natural History Museum, and a few weeks ago Allison took Levi to the Damien Hirst exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

All of that to say I (we) feel so fortunate to be able to live here. To be sure there are some trade off's that might be more difficult to deal with as our family gets older. But for the foreseeable future, New York City feels like the perfect place for us. It feels like home.

Thoughts on Junior Super Tuesday

Darn you Christianity Today!

"But when vigorous political discourse turns into bashing of public figures, it perpetuates a great lie: that they are merely the ideologies and symbols attached to them. When a candidate's ideology is mistaken for his or her personhood, it masks a crucial truth: that each person, no matter their political views, bears God's image and matters deeply to him.

While pundits see candidates as punching bags, evangelicals [Christians] are supposed to see candidates as, well, people."

Excellent words of truth that we should all be reminded of during this political season. I am just sorry it has to be said to Christians of all people.

Let me say that my problem with Hillary has to do with her lack of political integrity (ample evidence here), and I am not saying Obama is or will be perfect, but I trust his political character more than hers. A prime example is evident in her attempt to deal her way to the nomination via this big state win farce, Superdelegate conjoling, and trying to get MI and FL delegates seated. I don't have much faith in the Democratic leadership to bring the hammer down in the name of fair play and previously agreed upon contest parameters. Dean has already punted his leadership on this. Although enough Dems. understand how devastating giving the nomination to Hillary if Barack has the popular and delegate lead at the convention would be.

I feel good about Obama's chances (of course I do, he has simple math in his favor). Pennsylvania will be a difficult contest but he starts only twelve points down instead of twenty like he did in Ohio and Texas. I think he will learn from his mistakes in those states and won't repeat them in Pennsylvania. In clearer moments I think the continuation of the contest is good for him, because as the debates have made clear, I think he gets better and better as time goes on. I think she is going to overplay her aggressive hand. It's clear to me that she is still flailing about and looking for anything that lands.

Two things I hope he does (credit to The Field blog for these insights).

One, freshen up his stump speech. The press needs some different phrasing and color to comment on. Two, do a bus tour of Pennsylvania and bring the Obama crowds to these small towns between Philly and Pittsburgh so people can get a look at him themselves. This will be important considering how well known Hillary is compared to Barack.

Shout out BIG TIME to my little brother Ian (click link for his music site), who voted AND caucused in San Antonio for Obama. In fact he was elected as a delegate and will go to his County Convention March 29th.

Simplistically speaking I think this contest comes down to a generational argument within the Democratic party. Obama's supporters are telling the Hillary supporters that it's time for that generation to go. Busters vs. Boomers. Buster's have had enough of the Boomers having all the power. The boomer's have screwed up the environment, America's reputation, the economy and are seen as being hypocritical to their generations ideals coming out of the 60's. It's now time for the buster's to take the reigns.

The boomers are arguing that having hype and 'movements' aren't how the real world works. "Take it from us", they seem to be saying "we grew up in the 60's and all this movement crap isn't realistic. You have to annihilate your ideological opponents in order to advance your principles."

UPDATE:
Obama raised $55 million dollars in February with 90% of the donations being $100 or less. I am very proud to be associated with a campaign that can raise and manage money from the ground up. That is a lot of money to be sure, but when it comes from hundreds of thousands of small donations, I think it's inspiring.

The View From Up Here

I turned thirty-three today! And contrary to popular belief, my birthday wish wasn't that I could change my name to Timmy for the day!

We had friends over last night and ate take-out from Ruby Foo's, gluten free cake from Dean and Deluca, and a bottle of Clos Mogador 2003 from Spain that Conner brought over. On the first sip of that wine I was immediately transported back to Plaza De Mayor and my heart ached for Spain.

It was a great birthday dinner and I feel so incredibly blessed and humbled by the wonderful life that I have. Allison got me a pack of ten passes to go to the driving range in Edgewater, NJ. Totally unexpected and I am so pumped about using them. "Hey Brandon gotta hit the sticks when you get back!"

Shout out to Aunt Nancy for getting me the Remastered Joshua Tree album with bonus 'B' Sides. I am listening to the actual CD and it sounds incredible! It's been years since I listened to music straight off the CD. There is a huge difference even listening through crappy headphones. I am encoding this CD at 320k, any less would be a travesty! There isn't a better album period (in my opinion). Name a better one, and make it your own opinion not just what came up in a Google search!

I believe my relationship with iTunes is about over. I am going follow the lead of Krister (and the prodding of my bro-in-law) and start downloading my music from Amazon.com. No DRM, higher bit rate quality, and no DRM. Not that I will stop using iTunes or my iPod (NEVER!).

Update:
Was going to get the Black Crowes new CD but they don't offer it in download form. Dilemma, for the same money do I order the actual CD from Amazon or do I download it in all it's DRM suckiness from iTunes?

Links:
Radio Lab is the coolest podcast out there. Mind blowing every time.
Studio 360, might give them a run for the money though.
If a pilot tried to land like this, I would be screaming like a little girl!
The Livmor....blocking our view of Harlem, Spring 2009!
Barcelona, a great sounding band. Check them out.
Admit it...you didn't think I could do it (last line of post)!

King Kong and Old Earth

The story in my family is that my dad took me as a two or three year old to see "King Kong". Apparently for a good while after that I was petrified to go to sleep or be alone and I kept saying "the big monkey will get me" (mom can provide the correct quote). Who would take their toddler to see a movie like King Kong and expect them not to get scared!?

Well apparently the same kind of father who would take their three and half year old son to see "Cosmic Collisions" in a 360 degree planetarium theater. Looking back on it, it's pretty obvious that a completely immersive theater experience with planets exploding at high volume might be a little much for the 'Noggin' demographic.

When I was two or three I was fearful of "the big monkey," and now "old earth" is forever burned into Levi's mind. We were doing well the first two minutes of the film. The whole ceiling was covered in stars and then a comet shot across the sky. He was getting a little nervous but after climbing in my lap he sat in wonderment. Then the narrator said something like "In order to see how the moon was formed we have to go back 100 billion years ago when the earth was a molten mix of..." At that moment from behind us a huge red fiery planet comes over head with a low rumble that shook the seats. From the horizon just in front of us comes a streaking comet that's getting bigger and bigger until the red "old earth" collides to thunderous effect with the oncoming comet showering the entire theater with debris (the pic above is the moment of collision). At which point Levi screams out in absolute terror. I mean pure terror. "No daddy, no daddy." His eyes are gigantic and they are fixated on the center of the dome. Brandon is with us and we both are talking to him telling him it's ok, but he can't hear us because he is crying and screaming so loud. In fact he is louder than the explosion in the theater. I asked him if he wants to leave (dumb question) and he says yes and I carry him out of the theater with him screaming all the way.

I think I adequately explained that what we saw was just a movie and that there is no such thing as 'old earth' anymore and that we actually didn't leave NYC. He was very disoriented and very surprised that we weren't in space. Which is understandable (here is a picture of the planetarium) considering how disorienting the theater could be. So let that be known to all the parents out there. Obviously taking your toddler to see "CLOVERFIELD" isn't a good idea and taking them to any of the movies at the Natural History Museum isn't either.