Im back, but with pictures.

I recently purchased a Nikon camera. Here are a couple pics from a paddle surf session with my family.

Have You Flossed Today?

For me, laying down in the dentist chair looking up at two hands and protective glasses is usually follow by the statement, "you really should floss more."

Who really wants to floss? Do we really have time for it?

As I drove home from work the other I was pleased to see a lady in the car next to me flossing in the rear view mirror. Normally I am not a fan of people pulling out their toilettry bag in their vehicle, turn the mirror towards themselves, and therefore subjecting us to their unfocused driving. But this day was different. She was doing something I know I need to do.

I tried to capture the moment, but its hard while your driving. (Ironically, something else you shouldn't do while operating a vehicle.)

Cool Dad Moment

Coming from a family without a consistent dad in my childhood, I like to highlight "cool dad moments" here.

Yesterday my wife dragged me to a taping of American Idol and we stood outside in line for 2 hours before they let us in to the studio. Next to us in line was a father and his 13 year-old daughter. As we talked with them about American Idol, who they think should win, and how amazing Ryan Seacrest is (I had no part in this conversation), we came to learn that they are from San Francisco.

They got tickets to AI on Friday, booked a flight, and flew down Tuesday morning for the taping. After the show, flew back. That is a cool dad.

Twitter Mix Up

I apologize if anyone was looking at my Twitter feed on the left panel, it was receiving feeds from someone else and apparently had some colorful word choices...

Please know that it was not me, I would take credit for such a delightful vocabulary.

I will fix my Twitter feed soon.

Easter 2009

Grace National Park

River guides might be the most fascinating people on the planet. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to go river rafting in Montana. The river was glacier run-off from Glacier National Park and was a chilly 45 degrees. Thoughts of capsizing occupied my mind as our guide explained that the river is dangerous if you are submerged for too long or face rapids without a raft.

Not long into our voyage did we encounter a rapid large enough to flip the raft, scattering my fellow sailors into the raging river. The force of the impact caused me to flip and plunge into the water without warning. Almost as swiftly as I entered, I was plucked from the water and placed back on the raft. The river guide instantly removed me from the turmoil that would have surely swallowed me.

His instructions to me were simple: grab everyone and get them in the raft NOW.

The gathering of doom-impended people was a simple task that required no conditions. If someone was in the river, they needed to get out. I did not reach for only those I love, or those that are nice to me, or those that I thought deserved it.

Everyone facing a certain death deserves rescue. This is grace. While we do not deserve it from God, we ought to be grateful everyday that we were rescued, and we are rescued, and we will always be rescued from the river without hesitation. Because we have fallen out of the boat, we receive God's grace.

River guides teach grace every trip down the river. If someone falls out of the boat, the rest of the raft does everything can to get them back in.

Uni-Wow!

Does this picture freak you out?



Would it change your mind if it was hanging above the toilet in the bathroom at Las Fajitas?

Im not sure which is scarier, that he is surrounded by flesh-eating monkeys (ala Travis), or that the artist felt it necessary to include a raging unibrow. This young man, I think, has some very boyish features, except for that unibrow taking over his sweet little face! It is fierce. Soft lips, V-neck Tee and the silhouette seagull flying over his head.

In case you were wondering, I did feel strange taking a picture in a bathroom.

I've Reached the Top

This is an email I received the other day and I wanted to share it with you.

Hi, Jared Kirkwood (JaredKirkwood).

Jimmy Eat World (jimmyeatworld) is now following your updates on Twitter.

Check out Jimmy Eat World's profile here:
http://twitter.com/jimmyeatworld


Best,
Twitter

I knew that my patience would pay off. So now I am one of the 4,000 people that Jimmy Eat World ignores on Twitter!

Sibilance

Recently a friend and I have been working on creating an online radio program. It will be distributed through iTunes via podcast with a link from this very blog. Our primary audience we believe will be the 20-somethings looking for entertainment to fill the empty time in their life when they are supposed to be producing. Also, I love looking for jobs I can do in my sweatpants.

We all know that work is a great place to check up on blogs, read the latest headlines from BBC, listen to This American Life...My hope is that soon enough, we will provide another alternative background noise in your office pair of JVC headphones.

I am currently compiling a list of topics, themes, ideas, bits, etc that we can talk about. While our current list is extensive, I would love to hear from you, the prospective listener, as to what you would like to hear. While I am not claiming to know anything, I hope to entertain you while providing a bit of information and possibly the best place to get a taco in Costa Mesa.

Ye Old Sage

I have always wanted a mentor in my life. And old sage that has wisdom pumping through his veins like an oil refinery. Someone to listen to me, advise me, caution me. This desire brought me to my earliest memory of a mentoring relationship that I was in.

In 6th grade I was a mentor to a 3rd grader. Powerful I know. I volunteered in my class to walk alongside this little sprite and help with his addition skills, teach him the many lessons of elementary school, show him how to get into the fetal position when a bully comes around.

We met once or twice to count M&M's in a subtraction lesson, mainly because the only way to eat them is to teach subtraction or division, I division sucks. Sadly it soon became more of a pen pal relationship. Those wonderful days of me exuding 6th grade wisdom on this little ankle biter were gone and I was left to writing him lousy notes about the weather and homework. The mentor/mentee relationship struggled to hold its head above water. Before long I forgot about him even though I am sure he still thinks of me to this day.

Mentors need to be involved in your life. They need face to face interaction with your joy, pain, frustration. In an effort to learn subtraction again, if you know of anyone, I am looking for this person.