Flickr Farewell

Flickr was recently bought by Yahoo!, so as a result, they are moving from their birthplace of Vancouver to San Francisco. So, last night they had a going away party at the Alibi Room in Vancouver, near Gastown. Boone and his friend Tim came up from Marysville and picked me up in Lynden around nine. We were driving around looking for the place and we saw all these flashes going off. We knew we were in the right place. There was a good number of people there and everyone was getting pictures of each other. All our favorite Flickr people were there. People would introduce themselves by their screen names and meet people that they had never talked to, but had looked at their pictures. It was pretty weird. Boone was having a blast though. I think he talked to everyone in there though. His goal of the night was to get his picture with Stewart, the head Flickr guy. We actually got to talk with him a couple times and his wife Caterina, who does the FlickrBlog. I also saw Rhonda and Angela, who go to my church. There is also this other lady, Laura Grace, who heads up this Vancouver Digital Photography group. Boone and I were going to go to it during the year, but never got a chance. We did email back and forth with her for a while and finally got to meet her. She also introduced us to a bunch of the other people in the group. Hopefully I will be able to go to it some time this summer. I got back to Lynden at one thirty and got a good four hours of sleep before having to get up and go to work. Oh, I also got a Flickr tshirt that I am wearing right now.

Update: Stewart uploaded a picture of me, mistaking me for Boone. Pretty sweet.

Footballs, Frisbees, Fun

Yesterday I went to this potluck and prayer get together with my church. We had it in a park because the weather was so amazing. After being in the sun all day, my new sunburn wasn’t doing to well, so I tried to stick to the shade as much as possible. People threw footballs around and swung on the swings and climbed some trees. It was a really cool time to just get to know people, especially for me, since I don’t really know anyone. I think potlucks are one of the great things about churches. Everyone always has a good time and it really does help build community. Maybe that is why the early church did it so much. I think churches should eat meals and hang out together regularly. And if your church is really to big to do it corporately all the time, then small groups should do it. It really makes it feel more like a family.
I also hung out with some of the kids for a while. They are just always so unthreatening. And I am always the cool guy because I am older. It is to bad that I am going to miss Youth Extreme this week. They are doing their first summer event. I guess I will have to wait a couple weeks. So I swung on the swings and stuff, and at one point I was going on the teeter-totter with the pastor’s kid. We were bouncing around having fun, commenting on how dangerous of toys they really are. Well, I don’t know what happened, but I sent him flying into the air and he landed on his head. I felt pretty bad, and a little embarrassed, but he was okay. Tough kid. But I kind of found out what it was like to be on the other side of one of those situations today.
I went over to another job site to help these two framers move and set these really big trusses. I was standing in the middle balancing them, while walking on the interior walls. Well we were bouncing it around and these other ones came lose behind me, and it just creates a big domino effect. Anyways, I was slammed down onto the floor, landing on my back. I could see how scarred the guys looked, so I instantly reassured them that I was fine. It really is a miracle that I didn’t hit my head or anything. There was a perfect gap in the trusses that I was slammed through and then I kind of half grabed/smacked the wall and fell on my back. It all happened so quickly. One minute I am standing on a wall, the next I am laying on the floor. But I am sure the guys felt really bad. We should have had the trusses braced better, but these things happen.

My Big Pony

This experience is the opposite extreme of my "little pony" post. Marika and her friend have been riding the neighbors draft horses around the last couple days. Draft horses are much larger than your average horse. They are also usually not ridden around like your average horse. Instead, they are better suited for pulling your sleigh through the snow or your wagon into town with a load of hay. When I was younger, spending my summers in Lynden, we would always run when the draft horses came near while walking in the fields. It just feels like there is an elephant coming right at you. I mean, their back is almost taller than my head and their hooves are bigger than my face.
Anyways, after much hesitation, Marika finally convinced me to ride one. You basically just go bare back and find something to climb up on so you can get on. Actually, one time I was using this broken stepladder to get up and jumped. Well, I just smashed the ladder in a loud crash and sent the horse into a tizzy. Must I remind you that it is not very comforting to have those immense hooves pounding up and down around you? The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. It actually is a pretty smooth ride and they are pretty calm. Mairka used this opportunity to try some vaulting, gymnastics on the horse's back. She just has so much fun riding around out there every day. She is truly in love with her horses.

Kappa Karnival

Yesterday I went to WWU to visit Steve and see Rocky Votolato play. Markus just happened to be there with his friends Will and Emily. They were just visiting to check out the school. Emily is planning on going there next year. After the music and stuff we did a lot of walking around the school and some sitting in the sun. We also played some campus Frisbee golf. It was actually a lot of fun. They also have added a really fun rule that if someone picks up your Frisbee and throws it back at you, you can't say anything or show any emotion, and you have to play it from where it lands. Makes for some exciting games. We ended the evening by watching The Motorcycle Diaries again.

Visiting Lu Dogg

After work I drove up to TWU to visit Lu. He is taking summer courses and living in dorms. There sure weren't many people around, Trinity people that is. There were conferences going on and they were using the buildings for that. Lu and I did a lot of walking around campus. We climbed up on the roof of one of the buildings to look around, and walked around the pond as well. Lu is taking photography, so he was looking for good shots everywhere.

Bob's Funeral

A little over a week ago my good friend Jeff's dad died. Jeff's mom and my mom are best friends, so Jeff and I have known each other our whole lives. About five years ago his dad, Bob, had a brain tumor. He got it removed, but was in a coma and almost died after the surgery. The last five years have been really hard for the family, as he slowly recovered. In the last year though he had gotten his drivers license again and was even doing a little work, something that the doctors said he would never do again. Last week though he felt sick one day and stayed in bed. He died that afternoon of a heart aneurism and died, something totally unrelated to the tumor. I have been back and forth between Port Orchard and Lynden for the last week.
Last night was the funeral at our church. There were almost 600 people there. They even had video feed going over to the youth building, where there was more seating. The funeral was really good. They started by playing a couple worship songs and Jeff even got up and played bass with them. Jeff also put together a great slide show of pictures of his dad. There was an open mic and some people that were invited up to talk. The sermon was really good. John talked about how God was trying to teach us things through Bob over the last five years. One thing was the importance of a father to teenagers. Bob was able to be here to see his kids through high school (Missy graduates next month). He also talked about their commitment as a family, even through the rough times. He also congratulated Camie, Jeff's mom, for sticking by Bob through the last five years. Everyone started clapping and I couldn't stop crying. Finally John talked about how even Bob had lost his job and status and everything through his handicap, how he was able to model a child like faith to us.
It really was an amazing service. Afterwards there was a reception and we had a bonfire behind the church for the youth to hang out with Jeff and Missy. I am glad that I was able to make it down for it, and my Aunt Marti came with me too. Lindsey Widstrom was at the funeral and stayed at our house last night and we drove here back to SPU on the way back up to Lynden.