Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Oh, Atlanta

We were in Atlanta this past weekend and had a ton of fun with folks we don't get to see very often. Emily's Aunt Nancy and clan were the first on our dance card, and it was a special treat catching up on Ginger and Kristian's wedding in October. We were able to visit with Cara and Todd Oxford too since they were in town to visit some family themselves. Dinner at Pho Hoa was terrific, and we were home in time to catch some Z's before leaving for NorthPoint Church at 8:15am. Neither of us had attended a megachurch before, and we were both pleasantly startled at how effective and genuinely worshipful it was. Andy Stanley's sermon was spectacular ("Lean Not").

Sunday afternoon we had lunch with The Herndons at Pappasitos. Thanks for making our lunch so special, Mary!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Immigration Legislation - Sleight of Hand

Check out this article from Tara Servatius, an insightful local columnist. Bottom line to her column is that "Big Business" has ulterior motives behind their support of immigration reform, in large part continuing exploitation of illegal immigrants. The last two paragraphs are the most insightful (and disappointing).

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/PrintFriendly?oid=oid%3A172770

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Fat Lady Sings

Well, she's not fat - she's actually a little skinny for being so pregnant - but Emily can definitely sing! Opera Carolina called today to welcome her to the chorus. Not sure what the first show will be, or when.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Shenandoah Scenery

Some panoramic photos from my trip this weekend.

Bacon Hollow

Big Run

Rockytop

Attack of the Black Bears

Great fun hiking this past weekend. I'd never been to Shenandoah National Park before and it certainly lived up to its reputation. Michael and I were oriented around North Skyline Drive and car camped in Big Meadows Friday night. Saturday we started at Milam Gap and hiked Mill Prong Trail to Camp Hoover, which I had never even heard about before seeing it on the map Friday night.
Between Milam Gap and Camp Hoover we took some time to enjoy Big Rock Falls. At the falls, we met a former park ranger out for a hike with his eight year old daughter. They were kind to take our picture.

From Camp Hoover we went South along Laurel Prong Trail up to The Sag, then followed the horse trail to the Staunton River and the Staunton River Trail to Bear Church Rock.We enjoyed taking lunch after crossing the Staunton River. Shortly before lunch, we met some volunteers with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club improving the Staunton River and the Jones Mountain Cabin Trails.

BCR had dramatic views of Fork and Doubletop Mountains, and was a comfy spot to rest in the sun after a pretty rigorous hike.

We originally decided to camp at BCR, but on second thought decided to finish the hike to Bootens Gap. That afforded us the chance to see some great scenery and wildlife, including a black bear that we spotted near Laurel Gap about 50 yards off the trail. The bear was apparently just as startled as we were and bolted about as fast as I can imagine a bear going. It was the first time I had ever seen a bear in the wild and was surprised that it wasn't as big as I expected (perhaps a generous four feet tall when standing on all fours), and about the size of a very large dog. The bear moved too fast for me to take a picture.

Speaking of black bears, one of the best parts of the trip was the anticipation of black bear sightings, and then the investigation of suspiciously undiscernable dark masses or unusual sounds in the forest. We constantly inspected our periphery for stalking black bears. This picture, for example, captures a section of just one side of the trail with five potential bears.
We of course assumed all suspicious masses and noises were bears until proven otherwise (or disclaimed by Michael as simply an aggressively uttered burp).

All around, it was an awesome trip. There weren't a lot of specific views to remember, but the trails themselves were so lush with ferns and these really tall flowers that seemed to be out of a King Kong move or something because they were so tall. As best we can estimate, we got in between 14-15 miles Saturday within a 1,500 ft. elevation band. No ascent was more than ~1,000 ft, and we did a half dozen or so ascent-descent pairs, making my estimate ~4,500 ft of ascent.

We car camped again at Big Meadows Saturday night and enjoyed the chance to pop some Advil before our old bones seized up. Michael got hit on by Hazel the park ranger - I was pretty scared for him after noticing all of the guns in her Ranger truck. She gave him her badge later, so I guess all's well that ends well.

The trip home was really long, in large part because I tried to take shortcut through the park. What I didn't internalize was that I was trading 80 miles of 70-mile-per-hour Interstate for 60 miles of 25-mile-per-hour Skyline Drive. No one ever accused me of being the sharpest tack in the box, though I wouldn't have gotten this picture of a bear from my car if I'd taken the faster route.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

U.S.'s Infrastructure Repair Just Isn't a DIY Job

Fascinating article from the Urban Land Institute that provides a useful analogy for why infrastructure projects aren't given enough priority.

http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Infrastructure&CONTENTID=94676&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Diva

Emily auditioned for the Opera Carolina Chorus this afternoon and performed "V'adoro, Pupille" from Handel's Gulio Cesare. She did very well on the song, and the judge asked her (and everyone else of course) to sight read in French (chorus part from Gounod's Romeo et Juliette). She is less confident about the sight reading component. This is her first audition for a professional opera company. We're thrilled both that she auditioned as well as about the fact that she is dipping her toe back in the performance world.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Kickin'!

Emily felt Zipper kick for the first time last night! We actually have "heard" her kicking before, most recently when the doctor was checking Zipper's heartbeat, so we know she's active and moving, upwards of 50 times an hour. Last night was the first time Emily actually felt it herself though and knew what it was. She said it felt like a combination of a "flutter" and a "bubble." Can't wait until I can feel it too (through Emily, of course).

Millie and the Sonic Mole Chaser

The moles/voles/varmints that were destroying the backyard and patio have moved away. There's still some damage to repair, but thankfully there hasn't been any new damage done this spring. I'm not sure if it was Mr. Owl referred to in an older post, the black snake, or my cool P3 International Sonic Mole Chaser.

Millie continues to diligently patrol our varmints' former haunts (here, the collapsed backyard walkway). Millie is not pleased with the owl/ snake/ P3 International Mole Chaser results and would like to have her varmint-playmates come back home.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Whew!

I've had some requests for more details about the situation this week, and bottom line is that Emily and Zipper are totally fine, and at this point there is no reason to believe Emily has pre-eclampsia.

Emily has been ordered on "house arrest" for a few days, a step down from bed rest. She also feels completely fine. Though the blood pressure monitor reads high (142/92 when we visited the doctor yesterday morning), there are no symptoms that are noticeable. Going forward, she was prescribed more house arrest through the weekend, and also put on a hypertension drug. The doctor will monitor the baby's growth more aggressively than he would otherwise (growth can be impaired by high blood pressure), and also stay on top of other symptoms of pre-eclampia which apparently is very rare at this stage, but more common beginning in week 24 (3 weeks away for us). If there ever are signs of pre-eclampsia, the doctor assured us that he will immediately have her hospitalized until he can get it under control - immediately, meaning he encouraged her to keep an extra toothbrush in her purse at all times.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A Dialogue on Moderation

Emily is stuck at home today and I stayed home for the morning to help out with a few things. As often happens, we got sidetracked with an interesting conversation and decided to capture it. The conversation was prompted by a book I'm reading, The Challenge of a Disciplined Life by Richard Foster that is very provocative on three big topics: money, sex, and power. Emily talked with a friend earlier this week about another Foster book, Freedom of Simplicity. Moderation is a topic Foster seems to address with energy in his thinking and writing. The best example of his definition of moderation to me is watching television - that discipline can free us to not be couch potatoes, and not to be "TV-totalers," but instead to enjoy watching one program and then to turn off the television. Moderation means enjoying God's gifts without becoming excessive, or rejecting God's gift altogether out of fear of one's own lack of discipline.

From Emily:
"The culture is so excessive. You know what I'm saying? I was looking at the latest edition of In Style, and there are sundresses for $250, and sunglasses for $85. It's so excessive. The church has a response to this. Well, I take that back. Some churches have a response to it which is to ignore it - they don't talk about it. Others have this response that is like "no, this is from the devil - you shouldn't spend $85 on sunglasses." It just seems very extreme. Is there moderation? It's just like our house - we bought this house, it was in our budget, and then its really gone up in value as has the neighborhood around us, and we feel this tension - we own this house, I feel this obligation -- let me back up - we own this house, and I'm just a "nester" and I want to buy nice things to make our house pretty. And we have the means to make our house look great - but my inclination is that we should only buy second hand furniture, only buy used rugs, do everything on the cheap - not in terms of quality, but as inexpensively as possible. And I wonder - what would Richard Foster say? Is this living in moderation? Now don't get me wrong - the couple of rooms we've done are really pretty, and we haven't spent a ton of money, but is even that appropriate? And what's appropriate *where* we live -- in the city we live, around the people with professions where we live? Is there something beyond just trying to get away with spending the least we can get away with spending? Is there a way to do some of things we're not doing that we would like to do but are not for the sake of frugality? So with finances, is there a balance between excessiveness and frugality? And what about the rest of our lives?"

From Randy:
"I do think moderation gets a bum rap today - like you said it's just out of vogue. I feel this tension that in order to be "godly" I need to be self-sacrificing, but in order to make friends comfortable and to satiate some of my own desires, e.g., that new 42-inch flat screen TV, I need to buy expensive things. More than in finances, I think a need for a proper understanding of this concept of moderation is one of the things that keeps me from being an effective witness at work. At work, I feel like I need to either ask people if they would like to be saved today, or ignore the topic altogether. There's something beyond balance between two extremes that I want but I can't define and certainly don't practice. That something would be a positive synthesis that doesn't just thread the needle, but is an equilibrium that can be lived as a principle on its own. I don't know how to think about that except to chunk up life into categories like "finances," "work," "family," "fun" and find the right middle ground in each. I think what I feel, but haven't figured out intellectually yet, is that there is a solution that involves moderation in one's holistic life that expresses itself in the chunks (rather than being rooted in the chunks). Instead of vacillating between extremes within categories of life, the initial approach to new ideas, thoughts, and people should be one of moderation."

From Emily:
"It's interesting that you use the word 'equilibrium.' I'm reading that book Living With Contradiction by Ester de Waal, and that is part of what the book is about - she uses that term too. She's talking about it in prayer, in community, she's talking about the way you manage your time. It's holding together the two extremes. It's being balanced while you hold your one hand in one pot, and one hand in another - it's not compromise, it's being both extremes simultaneously. So for our life in Charlotte, and the people we interact with - is God teaching us about living in this tension, with one hand in the 'extravagant pot' and one hand in the 'pauper pot,' and living in that tension between the two without solving it?"

Agreed - that God is speaking to us about getting comfortable with the tension, and not about resolving it.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

The Fashion Four


At lunch today we realized all members of Scott's fashion SWAT team were present, and he was wearing one of the ensembles they put together for him. Hilarious.

Memorial Day Mountain/ Metzl Trip

Spent Memorial Day weekend in W. Jefferson (Ashe County) with the Metzl family. Had a ton of fun, including attending a volunteer firefighter BBQ fundraiser in Lansing where we took these pictures with Josh. Memorable moments: the smell of brimstone when we turned on the water the first time, carpenter ants swarming on the inside walls, and beating the broken thermostat. Other (more positive) moments included Josh with the water house Monday, the clogger-man in white shiny shoes Saturday, and those awesome steaks Saturday night.















Emily is starting to show - a lot!

It was a little disappointing for the first few months that Emily didn't look like she was pregnant. Then sometime in early May she started looking, well, something, but it wasn't quite pregnant. We're pretty sure Zipper was stretching (constantly) sideways in Emily's belly. Emily looked very cute, but it was hardly a no-brainer that she was pregnant. Last week Zipper started laying a little more comfortably I guess, because Emily really popped - it's maternity clothes only from here on.

The first pictures was May 1, 2007 (week 15) - showing a little, but disturbingly ambiguous.

















This is the week of May 15, 2007 (baby week 18). Again, showing a little, but mostly poking out on the sides and not in the front. Poor Emily - she thinks people who don't know she's pregnant just think she's putting on weight.
















The week of May 30, 2007 (baby week 20). Finally, unmistakeably pregnant and showing!

It's a girl!

We found out May 15 that Baby Fink is a girl! The reality of becoming parents really started to sink in with the pictures of the ultrasound. Wow - she was A-C-T-I-V-E! The ultrasound showed that she was doing cartwheels in the womb, and by a quirk of strange etymological connections we decided to nickname her "Zipper" until we settle on a more permanent name.

One fun tool that we've been playing with RE: finding a name is The Baby Name Wizard's Name Voyager. It graphically shows the popularity of names each year for the past 100 years or so.

I got a new job, Christmas was great, Emily got a new job, David & Erin were married, We're having a baby, and Grandpap Gathagan passed away

I'm newly motivated to try to share info and pictures through this blog so a quick update:

  1. I'm now working at Merrifield Partners, still doing commercial real estate development and also leasing (office, industrial, a little retail) and property management;
  2. Thanksgiving and Christmas were really great with very little traveling;
  3. Emily got a new job in Community Development at the Charlotte YMCA;
  4. David and Erin got married - really sweet, and fun, wedding;
  5. We're having a baby! Found out the morning of David and Erin's wedding, but kept it secret for a couple of weeks;
  6. My mother's father passed away in April and I grieved a lot more than I expected, but enjoyed seeing all the family and old friends in Hollentown (a small village in Reade Township, Pennsylvania).