Oh for a week of weekends

A truly wonderful weekend this has been. I feel as though we haven't had a weekend like this in quite some time: one of those that helps you relax, get a couple of things done, recharges you for the week to come, reminds you to focus your life where your heart is - enabling your daily existence to energize you, instead of drain you.
We went out to eat with a large group of friends on Friday night, a farewell party of sorts for a dear teacher who is moving on. Our eating destination of choice was about 30 minutes outside of town, and our little caravan managed to get stuck in backed-up highway traffic, so we spent about an hour trying to entertain ourselves and ravenously searching our vehicles for edibles.

I feel as though I am supremely wealthy. I'm not, of course, lest any of you start forming ideas in your minds, but I feel as though I'm living the life of some sort of lower nobility. I've been thinking about that this week - how much we have - and it's something we take for granted all the time. People in third-world countries tend to view Americans as all being wealthy, and we Americans tend to scoff at that view - because we are aware of large numbers of society that possess many more things and lead much more luxurious lives than we do. But really, if I step back and look at the life that I lead, it's much more luxurious than I give it credit for. I get up in the morning, I choose what I want to eat for breakfast, I go to work where I work with technology, I come home to an apartment complete with carpet and (some) furniture, I eat a delicious meal prepared by my lovely and skilled wife, I conduct business on the Internet or read from an engaging author or listen to music or whatever: I lead a very blessed and "wealthy" life. It's no wonder that most third-world countries consider us all obscenely wealthy. May we never take it for granted, may we seek to glorify God with that we do have.

Teri and I did a little furniture shopping yesterday, speaking of adding to our possessions. We've been spending our nights on a trusty Simmons Beautyrest air mattress, and it's not been a bad experience, but it would be nice to have a real bed - so we went mattress shopping. There's really no good way to shop for a mattress other than to lie down on it, but as lying down is something you don't usually do with tons of other people about, it feels a bit odd to flop around from mattress to mattress with salespeople and other shoppers passing by. It is kind of fun though, randomly lying down on whatever looks comfortable, tossing and turning to simulate your various dormant positions. We haven't actually made our purchase yet, but we're getting close.

I've been learning Blender lately (an open-source 3d modeling and animation program). Not much, mind you, but I've started. I'm actually rather excited about it, and spend various moments throughout the day thinking about what I would create if I were a skilled Blender user. The wedge at right is my first render - the epitome of simpleness, anyone could make this, but we all have to start somewhere. Remember this wedge, and one day you'll be able to say "He's come a long way."
Either that or "I wonder if he's still learning 3d anymore?"

May Jehovah bless you all,

--Nick