peace

some of you have hopefully been following the situation of the four captive Christian peacemaker team members in iraq. there is still no word from their captors since the december 10th deadline that had been set for their execution, if the united states and britain failed to meet their demands that all iraqi prisoners be released. i encourage you to remember them, their family members, and all those unjustly incarcerated or killed in iraq, in your prayers, and to follow the situation on the news and on the websites below.

christian peacemaker teams' website

tom fox's blog

cbc

chuck

if you can see chuck norris, he can see you. if you can't see chuck norris you may be only seconds away from death.

chuck norris' tears cure cancer. too bad he has never cried.

chuck norris does not sleep. he waits.

chuck norris is currently suing nbc, claiming law and order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

the chief export of chuck norris is pain.

when chuck norris roundhouse kicks people, they do not die of blunt trauma or tissue damage. they simply lose their will to live.

when the boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for chuck norris.

chuck norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. chuck norris goes killing.

the quickest way to a man's heart is with chuck norris's fist.

the grass is always greener on the other side, unless chuck norris has been there. in that case the grass is most likely soaked in blood and tears.

chuck norris appeared in the "street fighter II" video game, but was removed by beta testers because every button caused him to do a roundhouse kick. when asked bout this "glitch," norris replied, "that's no glitch."

selected excerpts from the original list, found here . certain content may be offensive to some readers.

ducks

the other day, as i was returning home from work, i was stopped dead in my tracks. it's usually a leisurely six-block walk, during which, in inhurried progress, i consider certain things like, 'what shall i make myself for dinner?' or, 'i wonder if there is anything fun going on tonight?' but not this time. struck with horror at the impassable road block consisting of three ravenous mallards, i backed slowly down the sidewalk, retracing my steps to the nearest cross street that i could take to the back alley. but there's no water anywhere near here, i thought to myself. what on earth are three ducks doing, in the middle of the city, on the sidewalk in front of me? were they malicious? undoubtedly. out to get me? likely. it was surely an ominous sign, but as of yet it hasn't come to anything. i don't know if i'll sleep tonight.

thoughts

when i've got things on my mind i like to explore. this is where i ended up tonight. (low tide, near macdonald street, 12:30 am, canon sd400, one second exposure.)

fuzzy

vancouver (reuters)

day 2 - vancouver blizzard 2005

chilled vancouver commuters faced their second day of winter hell today, as an additional ¼ centimetre of the peculiar white stuff fell, bringing the lower mainland to its knees. scientists suspect that the substance is some form of frozen water particles and experts are being flown in from manitoba. with temperatures dipping to almost zero, vancouverites were warned to double insulate their lattes before venturing out.

vancouver police recommended that people stay inside except for emergencies, such as running out of espresso or biscotti to see them through vancouver's most terrible storm to date. drivers were cautioned to put their convertible tops up, and several have been surprised to learn that their suv's actually have four wheel drive.

weary commuters faced soggy sushi, and the threat of frozen breast implants. dr. john blatherwick, of the coastal health authority reassured everyone that most breast implants were perfectly safe to 25 below .

"the government has to do something," snarled an angry shirley warburton, "i didn't pay $540,000 for my one bedroom condo so I could sit around and be treated like someone from toronto."

thanks to robbi for the article. perhaps a pair of $350 boots from fourth avenue, as seen above, will help to warm the popsicle toes of the typical vancouverite during these times of meteorological tribulation. guys- don't think that such haute couture is only for the gals; steve [(604)760-2252] tells me that one of his male cooworkers also sports a pair, albeit a slightly more tame version of the above bootie. and i guarantee that dog-lovers everywhere will soon be able to get their beloved's paws in a matching set. keep your eyes peeled.

broadway

it's christmas on broadway.

snow

it won't be too long from now that we will pause and reflect on these days: all the impossible dreams, all the incredible potential. we'll feel again, for a moment, the anxieties that once kept us from sleep; and perhaps there will be new ones, but we'll see how each step was a preparation for the next. we'll understand how we couldn't possibly have seen through more than just the door opening immediately in front of us, but how He of course could; and how He was always walking with us, shining light upon the path that had just before seemed an insurmountable journey. it won't be too long from now that we'll pause and reflect, from the heights of that impossible path.

ps: there's snow in vancity.
pss: thanks to brie and erin for the most memorable times.

eggnog

eggnog incites nostalgia. each year, with the release of the precious liquid of life quick on the heels of halloween's retreat, i begin to think about being home for the holidays. those precient sages who first mixed nog and espresso have become my magi. hints of nutmeg transport me back to the days when i used to sneak whole glasses of nog from my parents' fridge, without the requisite equal-part milk dilution. vancouver's meteorological predictions now often include flurries, and there were supposedly even said precipitatory permutations this morning (but long before i dragged my overslept behind out of bed). i can't wait for the freezing dry ontario air to steal my breath on the first inhalation upon exiting the plane. i look forward to long hugs from my family and friends. to stealing undiluted glass-fulls of nog from my parents' fridge. and attempting to extract all that has occurred in the lives of those whom i love over eggnog lattes. a sweet reunion.

ps: my sister is a star. and not only do i get to spend Christmas and new year's with her, but she's coming out to the wet coast just after, to spend a couple days of layover with me on her way to hawaii. perhaps she'll take me with her....

faith

"he would say, some years later, that he had 'faith', then add, 'i also have faith in penicillin, rifampin, isonazid, and the good absorption of the fluoroquinolones, in bench science, clinical trials, scientific progress, that HIV is the cause of every case of AIDS, that the rich oppress the poor, that wealth is flowing in the wrong direction, that this will cause more epidemics and kill millions. i have faith that those things are true, too. so if i had to choose between lib[eration] theo[logy], or any ology, i would go with science as long as service to the poor went along with it. but i don't have to make that choice, do i?'" - tracy kidder quoting dr. paul farmer in his book "mountains beyond mountains: the quest of dr. paul farmer, a man who would cure the world."

"if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 john 2:17

halloween

what would halloween be without a party? and what would a halloween party be without a little bit of fire? and what would blowing fire on a porch be if the porch didn't catch on fire? team zissou captures the moment while lookers-on catch a face full of fire from behind the glass. better than a face full of kerosene; that stuff can't taste good. thanks to brad for the photo; more can be found in his gallery.

waiting

"there's something so healing about this place," she said to me. i agreed. it seemed as though i had only escaped from the city a few moments earlier, and yet i was already feeling renewed. the rhythm of the ebbing tide brings healing. its inexorable return is the comfort of languishing intertidal denizens. waiting. i wait. to become a breaker that will change the surrounding landscape and bring healing. because they wait.

green

due to an overwhelming flood of angry comments regarding my previous entry, i should rephrase my opinions about the hummer. i concede that it's possible they aren't all as sinister as i've made them out to be.

tnt

this one's for you, joseph. if ever i've seen something more worthy of a stick of dynamite.... perhaps the owners of this monstrosity would like for their silly little dogs to play a little game of tnt fetch after a tough day at the doggy spa. on second thought, they wouldn't be able to run fast enough in their little booties (the booties whose colour matched that of their slimmed-down eco-friendly h3). or, we could accomodate everyone by leaving a slender stick with them while they recline and surf the web in the comfort of their vehicle.

recording

the new demitone recording studio is straight up sexy. holy cow. i spent the day there today laying down tracks for a friend's song, to be released on an upcoming album by point grey community church. i'm very excited to hear the finished product; it's certainly going to surpass expectations.

on another note, my prescience that the unrelenting winter rains are now upon us is seeming to be accurate. but i purchased a new jacket to help me stay dry; it was laura's fault. my parents will need to bring theirs when they come out to visit on the eighteenth (which is a cue for you to make sure your parcells for me make it to them before they leave). i'm excited.

coccoon

in vancouver, the falling leaves portend the long rains of winter, and i fear they have now begun. in the comfort of a warm bed-coccoon, it becomes increasingly difficult to metamorphose into an alert and functioning civil participant. eyes require more than fluorescent tubes to emerge from their sleep. but here i go, wish me luck.

restraint

steve enjoying the view and a moment's rest near mt. habrich, squamish. black tusk is barely seen in the distance on the left, mt. garibaldi on the right.

this is for those who read my entries and worry. yesterday, steve and i were turned back from our objective, unsuccessful for lack of time. and even still, we ended up hiking six kilometres in the dark, saved from spending the night unprepared in the wilderness only by the headlamp that i was glad to have packed (just in case). so there. now of course that's not the whole story, but at least you know that i'm able to sacrifice my pride and turn back, which will undoubtdedly become increasingly important, but hopefully increasingly less frequent. thanks for the adventures steve.

slide

jordan knows. joyce knows. steve and i know. and the tourist onlookers a hundred feet above knew by watching us. dang, the lynn canyon waterfall is some seriously insane fun. you begin by shooting a chute, some thirty feet long with two banking corners. then, in the middle of the second corner, you're hurled off the waterfall, plummetting thirty five feet into the frigid water below. i'm trying to get set up with a gallery so i can post random adventure videos; i'll see what i can do. and oh yeah, steve wears short shorts.

black tusk coming at ya tomorrow.

business

now that's what i call business. my friend antonio is starting up a consulting business, for which i will be a certified fitness consultant and certified personal trainer, after i receive my certifications at the end of the month. his website will be up when completed in a couple months and it is sure to be impressive; this shot is an unprocessed image that will be photoshopped and added to my bio as one of his employees. what do you think? i think i'd hire me.

today was: friends and food at church, jordan and i observing seals at secret beach while attempting to avoid other strange beasts next door, sushi feast initiation followed by beverages at nevermind, and was topped off by being chased from dunbar street beach by cops for having a fire. dang, and with the wood being wet it took a lot of effort to get started. regardless, all in all a successfull day.

outside

exposed, august 30, 2005. mark ascending mount smuts. kananaskis, alberta.

adrenaline. some people love it, others fear it; i do both. when you are eight thousand feet up a mountain and can see the entire way to the valley floor straight below, when you are trusting in the solidity of the rock onto which you are holding and trusting in your ability to create enough friction in order to hold yourself there, adrenaline is present in your bloodstream in relative abundance. keeping it from interfering with cognition or with the execution of a task at hand is both a natural and learned skill, but one entirely imperative to bring along to a mountain. mountains challenge one to a test of physical skill, but often impose a serious test of mental strength as well. a mountain can dissolve the mind and thereby destroy the body even without presenting a serious test of physical skill. one thing to leave behind when approaching a mountain is pride; continuing on beyond one's limits of ability and safety can easily spell disaster.

there is always some element of risk when entering the outdoors, and if you venture near mountains you do so on their terms. but it is also entirely possible to fully enjoy the experience of wilderness without adrenaline. in either case, getting out is therapy. we don't need to relax more, we need the purgative and restorative effects of escaping our sterilized confinements. being out there, we are exposed to what we are missing, what we are wasting, what we are destroying. get out there. see it before it's gone. see it and know we can't contribute to its departure. we'll miss it when it's gone. staying inside is the real disaster.

field

and the adventures continue. my new place with james in van city is pretty much set up, and it took quite a lot of effort, but now i'm back to finding fun in the mountains. steve and i made our way up to the summit of mount seymour, of vancouver's north shore, via a much more circuitous and difficult route. after sitting around in the fog for half an hour, we challenged each other to a race back down to the car. we tied.

now back in the rockies, antonio, mark and i made our way up a very substantial peak in yoho national park. mount stephen towers an incredible two kilometres directly above the town of field, british columbia. on the way up, antonio mentioned his fear of heights. mark and i thought he was joking.

george

Our President, George W. Bush, Eats Kittens
Originally uploaded by BMJ.

found this photograph on flickr today and thought it was hilarious. some of the comments are also really funny:

Milta3ah says:
he kills humens..won't he eat kittens?

Patrick.T says:
are you somehow trying to imply that the eating of kittens isn't a good thing?

gorge

dave matthews band at the gorge amphitheatre- i don't think that it gets better than that. after leaving at five in the the morning, driving many hours to george, washington, we arrived at the desert venue and began consuming water. located in the middle of a barren land with no hopes of finding cover from direct sun and hundred-degree temperatures, the three hour wait in line was expectedly sticky. after getting in, another several hours in the heat readied us for the show, and it was certainly worth the wait. thanks amy, justin and sabrina for the trip.

fernie

well, the adventures have begun. it's good to be back in the west; i can breathe here. and although the caves we found in ontario were a source of mild exhilaration and escape from the debilitating humidity, epinephrine isn't liberated in the blood as freely as when running the ridgeline between mount ward and allison peak. (note the tiny figure of mark standing on the edge of the precipice in the photo above.) and there are many more events in store, barring any unforseen alpine misadventure leading to my premature death. to those stuck in the east, there is an open invitation for friendship, lodging and adventure here in vancouver. come visit.

conservation

a quote for today:

"...for humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God's creation, for humans to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests, or destroying its wetlands, for humans to contaminate the earth's waters, its land, its air and its life with poisonous substances, these are sins." --Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians

cave 2

again avoiding the heat in the belly of the burlington escarpment. my return to the temperate western shore of canada is very quickly approaching however, and i'm growing excited.

koala

last night joseph, christopher and i were fortunate enough to be in the front row at toronto's harbourfront centre for a free concert by kid koala. it was amazing, as are all of his shows. they are the type of show at which one doesn't really dance (except for the maladjusted sasquatch beside me); one can only stand and watch in awe.

cave

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. (Revelation 6:15)


a friend and i were in search of adventure yesterday, which serendipitously lead us to the bottom of a cave that reached far into the bowels of the earth below the escarpment at mount nemo world biosphere reserve. i say 'serendipitously', because although we went with the intention of spelunking, we weren't considering the fact that the subterranean environment would be significantly colder than what most people above ground were forced to suffer. thus, i have discovered another way to avoid the heat, and so be able to survive the scorching summers of southern ontario.

dang hot

i love ontario. but you see, it's just so oppressively hot here. and when the hygrometre states that the air is one hundred percent wet, that means it's sweaty hot. it doesn't help that the industry of hamilton harbour and the constant throng of motor vehicles across the lake in toronto stretch wide the hole in our waning blanket of ozone. blessed thin blue line, please come back. but i fear it's too late. society is irrremediably advancing, unmitigated towards our demise. or at least towards the demise of comfortable summer afternoon reading on the deck. now we must be sequestered inside our air conditioned worlds, using up more precious energy than we can indefinitely provide. don't get me wrong- it's not really that one has much choice in the matter. in contrast, my strategy for avoiding the heat is to stay outdoors, climb behind a secret waterfall and philosophize my way through the afternoon with a good friend or two. this we do until the sun relents, permitting our reemergence into the evening.

indeed

summer is here indeed.