Out of the vault

I was going through old mini dv tapes last night, and I found the source footage for one of the group projects I was involved with way back in one of my college video classes. We were doing claymation/animation; I cleaned it up a bit and added some sound effects. No, it's not earth-shaking, it's just for fun.

--Nick

*Gasp*

Gasp. That's a fitting word for life. "Gasp! What time is it?" (I did this yesterday, thinking I had missed my work shift.) "Gasp! Wednesday is coming!" (My thoughts on the coming semester - I'll be teaching this year.) "Gasp! I haven't rehearsed enough!" (My feelings two nights ago while performing in a repertoire.) "Gasp! It's cold!" (Our feelings every time we step out of our cozy little home and into the frigid Pensacola winter air.) It really has been cold here lately. This morning I believe it was somewhere around 20 degrees down here. I observed ice on the side of the road as I walked to church/work this morning, and the grass had a particularly crunchy feel to it. I know it's nothing for you weather-hardened northerners and westerners out there, but this is Florida! We're supposed to be driving around in our convertibles with the tops down and our radios up while the rest of the U.S. grows jealous. Ah well. I really don't mind the cold weather once I get a bit used to it, but if you're all set for a warm-weather day, a bit of bone-soaking cold can be rather debilitating. (I would like to take a small moment here to remind everyone who lives everywhere else that Pensacola is a very humid place, and our cold is wet and chilling. Think of that before you sneer at our shivering bodies.)

I feel like so much has happened since our last post, but as usual when I sit down to chronicle my thoughts, I don't feel like I can remember anything.

Teri and I had a wonderful Christmas vacation. We took off on the Friday before Christmas, jetting our way up to Kansas City, Missouri (via Houston, TX); and arriving rather late due to various delays. We arrived and picked up our rental car by about midnight, and then proceeded to beat it up to Omaha, Nebraska; home, of course, to Teri's family. It was quite a switch, living in comparatively balmy Florida conditions and then walking across an Antarctic parking lot looking for our rental car. We survived the trip and arrived safe and sound at around four or five in the morning. Then followed our luxurious stay with the fam. We spent most of our time kicking back at the house, although on Christmas day itself we actually all drove up into Iowa and Minnesota to visit with extended family. The Thursday following Christmas found us driving back down to Kansas City and turning in our rental car and staying with the Strattons, old friends of mine now residing in Ottawa, Kansas. Mom Stratton was my high-school principal for the private-school years of my life, and I became good friends with the boys (and Stephanie) during those footloose and fancy-free years of high school. Of course, the kids are grown up and scattered around the globe now, but everyone was gathered back under one roof for the Christmas holiday, along with the addition of wives and children. It was so much fun to hang out with everyone again and introduce them to Teri. Good friends are those with whom you feel comfortable even though you haven't seem them in four or five years.

Well, after a brief stay in Ottawa we trundled back out to the airport, and hitched a ride over to Colorado Springs, CO; grabbed a rental car and popped up to Denver. There we visited with our Natropath, Brenda, and reviewed our present dietary condition. For the three or four months prior to Christmas we had been on a pretty strict diet in our order to improve our health (no wheat, dairy, sugars). Brenda confirmed that we had made good progress, and our bodies were building themselves back up. With this progress comes the privilege of widening our diets out a little and not being as strict about things, although we are retaining a lot of the "lifestyle changes" that we've made (i.e. avoiding lots of dairy, wheat, and sugar). Independent confirmation from Brenda aside, we really do feel healthier the way we're eating now and don't feel burdened and constrained. Teri, for one thing, has been able to shed a majority of the headaches she used to get every few days growing up - a pleasant side effect of eating healthy. Basically, the nutshell principle of everything is: less processed and preserved = good; more processed and preserved = bad.

After our good news, we ran back down to Colorado Springs where we stayed with the LeFevers (old friends) until Monday morning. We got to visit with more old friends that I hadn't seen in forever, and of course it was a blast introducing Teri to all of them. After a delightful (albeit short) stay, we hit the airport again and flew back down to Pensacola. Tuesday we laid around the house recovering from all the rapid traveling, and Wednesday it was back to work.

Speaking of work, I'm still slated for teaching this Spring. I've been given three Speech 101 classes, as well as a Broadcasting lab. I look forward very much to getting to know my students during the semester journey. Yes, I'm nervous - how could I not be? But I'm excited, very excited.

Lately I've been thinking about how extremely blessed we are. Sure, we have our problems; but we have so much! We live in a palace! Ok, so it's just an apartment, but we've got heat and air-conditioning at our fingertips, hot water, food in the fridge, furniture, carpet, a soft bed. If I get a toothache I go to the dentist; if I get low on food I go to the store. I've got a great job - using both of my majors (how often does that happen?), working with great people, in a place that seeks to honor the Lord! I'm not bragging; and sure, the stuff we have isn't perfect - but we are so blessed with what we have! Compared to the way millions of people on this earth have lived, and are living, we live like kings!

God help us not to take these things for granted.
--Nick

Check soon for post!

Post coming soon! Check soon for post! Soon there will be a post! Uh... posting! will... will be... will be coming soon! Yes! That's it! Soon posting will be!

(Interpretation: The blog is still alive)

--Nick