Steph wrote this up pretty well already, so I’d encourage you all to take a look at the entry she just wrote. In short: new puppy.

Also, I put a few more pics of Ella up on my Flickr page.

We came back to California from our Minnesotan Christmas vacation at midnight on the morning of the 31st. Just after I woke up later that morning, Comcast had problems with their ‘Net connection, and the whole thing went down until about 10pm. It was due to “weather-related difficulties.”

Then, on the morning of the 1st at about 9:40am, the power went out. Actually it went out, came back, and went out again. And it stayed out until this morning at 6am. This was also due to “weather-related difficulties.” We had no heat. It was raining outside and the whole place felt damp. The laundry piled up (you know how it can get after a vacation). We cleaned our house by fluorescent lantern light. We didn’t vacuum. One part of me says it was a fun, unique experience. That’s true, but a larger, more vocal part of me says it sucked.

I am so glad the power is back. All my initial anger about the long loss of power went away entirely when I woke up and saw the glow of the ceiling light coming from the hallway, and realized I was too hot because the heat had come back on and I had optimistically turned it up a bit yesterday afternoon. I just pray the power stays on this time.

If PG&E wasn’t a monopoly, I’d be switching right now. But they are, so I guess they’ve still got my business. I know, “weather-related difficulties” is a really good excuse, but I want a company whose systems are more robust than “weather-related difficulties.” You could say I’m being unreasonable. You could also tell me when the last time was that you were without power for an entire day.

Happy New Year!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my own greed and materialism lately. I know I’ve written about these things before, but I think I need a constant reminder of where I’m at and what I’m working for. Who I’m working for, really. The realization that I came to recently was twofold:

1) I have never been so generous with anyone that I gave something that was over and above what I thought I could afford. Sure, I’ll give money to charities here or there. Let’s say I put $20 in a bell ringer’s can. What does that matter? Is that generous? I hardly feel it. It’s not that the person on the other end doesn’t appreciate that extra $20. It’s that I didn’t feel the giving. It didn’t hurt me. It didn’t take anything real from me. It didn’t take something I would have preferred to keep for myself. There was no sacrifice involved. And for those reasons, I’m coming to the conclusion that it was never generosity in the first place. It was me trying to convince myself that I’m a good person by not being completely stingy.

2) I am tired of spending so much time and effort chasing the American Dream. Comfort, security, happiness, contentedness. I spend so much time chasing after them. Why do I go to work during the day? What do I think about at night? What do I spend my time talking about with my friends? Usually the answers to those questions are somehow related to the things I’ve listed above. It could be money, or the latest cool toy, or gadget, or game, or music, or movie. It’s all designed to pad our coffins, so we don’t feel like we’re dying. But we really are. It’s not an American Dream. It’s a nightmare. I don’t want to worship at that idol any more. It’s boring, and it’s safe.

I’m not diluted enough to think that I can conquer this in one fell swoop. I’m not “finished” simply by realizing this. This can only be the beginning. When I realized all this, I also realized that I needed to go somewhere for a little while where I could learn more of the truth about these things, and where I could work out this stuff in myself.

A couple weeks ago I was invited to be a part of a small, independent group of men going to Pascagoula, MS to be a part of the hurricane relief effort. I talked with Steph about it, and prayed about it, and got some pretty quick answers, so I’m going. Eight others are going with me. We leave tomorrow morning at 5am and get back this Saturday. It’s not entirely certain what we’ll be doing each day, but it involves sheet rock, insulation, hammers and crow bars. The folks down there have been flooded out of their homes, and many have no insurance, and no way to get back in. Their walls and floors are rotted and unsafe. There are widows who have no family or money. Their American Dream has crumbled before their eyes, and they had only a few days warning. I need to see that first hand, and try to help. I know I can’t fix the problem, but I think the reality of the problem can begin to fix me.

See you in a few days.

Every year around this time, Apple puts up three big Christmas trees in the lobby of Infinite Loop 1. They’re quite tall, but not as tall as the three permanent trees behind them, or the three-story iPod Nano banner overhead.

Still, they fill the air with that familiar pine scent, and lend a gorgeous soft glow in the evening. I can feel Christmas when I walk through the lobby. It’s beautiful. I’m lucky.

Josh: 1
Rats: 0

We got a Big Frickin’ Trap (BFT for short) and put some peanut butter on it. That seemed to work better than the sticky traps (which are all still empty) and the poison (which hasn’t been eaten). I even took a picture of it, just for posterity. Not to worry, the rat is partially obscured since the trap flipped over on top of it.

The impressive thing is that he still managed to lick every last bit of the peanut butter off the trap. That’s determination. We could learn a lot from that rat. I guess in his own way, he won.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on when he finds a hole chewed in the cat food bag that was being kept in the garage, and another hole in the wall behind a garage shelf. Previously, I had thought it was a mouse, or mice, but I saw it tonight. It ran across the rafters and behind the sheet rock when I entered the garage and Henson started sniffing around suspiciously.

I’ve set a few traps. They’re probably too small, but we’ll see what turns up in the morning. I tried to set the traps up so that some of the food was “safe” and not on the traps. That way, maybe they’ll think it’s all safe and go for it. If I come out in the morning and only the safe food is gone, I’ll know I’ve gotta step up my game a bit.

The truly surprising thing about this is that it gives Steph a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. I’ve never seen her react like this to any other animal. But given the stories she has to tell about rats and mice, she knows better than most how nasty they can be. Maybe I should be scared, but I’m not.

Has anyone here ever caught a mouse or rat in their house?