An Unprompted Update on Life in General

Tomorrow I will have officially been married for three weeks. Can I wear the hat of the old married man now? These post-wedding days have been filled with cleaning, organizing, and preparing to move to a new home yet again. The contractor that is building our cozy, little condo has moved up the production time a whopping four months; that puts our projected move-in date at March 27th. I am excited to finally own a place- no more rental fees and upkeep to a house/apartment that you have no monetary investment in. We couldn’t ask for a better location too. Once there, we’ll be 2-3 minutes from our church, my gym, our bank, and a host of other very convenient places. God has been so good to provide us with this opportunity and we look forward to using this blessing for his glory.

Work has been busy recently with a host of projects coming down the proverbial design pipeline. I’m pulling double duty as a print and web designer right now which offers unique challenges, but also great pay-off in the end. I think the work that is being created in conjunction with the web and creative service teams are deliverables that we can really stand behind. I’m especially excited about Food for the Hungry’s new website which should be launching in the not too distant future. I have been recruited to do all of the conceptual/development design work for this goliath of a project and am looking forward to the challenges it will provide me with. We are really hoping to deliver something here that will blow people’s expectations away. It’s exciting to be working for an organization that you completely believe and support- it makes the drive for excellence and desire to further the reach of the organization that much more personal. I’m really praying that this new website, as well as the accompanying print materials, will do just that.

We were able to get ‘back in the groove’ with church activities this last week, which was wonderful. The wedding planning had taken up much of our free time and we hadn’t been able to participate in ministries or extra church activities too frequently during that time. However, this week I was able to jump back in the saddle by giving my first devotional in awhile to our college and career group (thank you so much David for covering during our wedding planning!). I did a talk on legalism in the church… more specifically though, what a Biblical definition of legalism is. It was a somewhat weighty issue to touch on, but the Lord taught me a lot through the experience. We also had a men’s group this past Tuesday; this was an edifying time for me. It was great to be surrounded by good, encouraging Christian brothers.

April will see many new experiences as well. I have back-to-back conferences scheduled at the beginning of the month (Photoshop World in Orlando, FL and a Creative Services Retreat in Strawberry, AZ). I’ve also promised my wife that we would begin a search for the first addition to our family… a cat (I had you going there at first didn't I!). Truth be told, I’m a dog person, but there are certain cats that seem to have a ‘dog-like’ personality about them- I’m hoping for one of those. At any rate, it should be a really fun month and I’m looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us.

Post Wedding Update #1

Life continues to be a trip for me! I've now been enjoying the married life for almost two full weeks. I am exceedingly thankful to the Lord for what he has done in my life and I am so very happy to have my best friend and helpmate by my side (I love you Celeste!). I still have yet to get a copy of the audio feed from ceremony from our sound guy, but my friend Elgin sent me over a small snippet yesterday of us leaving the wedding reception that he had edited. He also was kind enough to give me his raw video footage and tapes so that I can edit and arrange video later on.

Elizabeth (our dear friend and official wedding photographer) snapped a terrific shot of Elgin at the wedding which I think looks great and really captures him in the moment. Both her and Vicente (her husband) did such a great job with our engagement photos and I know the wedding ones are going to be absolutely amazing too. Celeste and I will be going to Orlando, Florida with them during the first week of April to attend the Photoshop World Conference. Once or twice a year my work will pay for me to attend conferences like these so that I can continue taking courses to hone my skillset as a graphic designer. This is a huge blessing to us, because much of Celeste's family lives in Orlando and we are going to be able to have another mini-reception there for those who were unable to attend our original one while we are there.

My great friend Darryl Poenisch was our official videographer for the big day and I know he's been hard at work editing video (Darryl you are incredible!). Between people like Darryl and Elgin, as well as our photographers Vicente and Elizabeth, we just feel so very blessed to have extensive documentation of our wedding day.

At last!

At last, I am a married man! The ceremony was beautiful, the reception went great, and the honeymoon has been extremely blessed thus far. We are enjoying the quiet shores of Maui and hope to return with lots of photos and videos to share. We went to a magic nightclub last night (Warren & Annabelle's) which was alot of fun. We ended up sitting in the very front row which is, to say the least, an experience in and of itself. The front row ends up taking part in almost every aspect of Warren's show... and also ends up getting to be the punchline of most of Warren's jokes. I was lovingly refered to as 'Gomer' for the duration of the show and definitely got ribbed more than anyone else... it was awesome! :) We have some hilarious footage on video that I may be able to upload later on.

Thank you all for your prayers and support- God is so good! Celeste and I are rejoicing greatly and marvel at what He has done in our lives.

Election Backings... my verdict is still out.

My good friend David announced his election backing for presidency today over at his blog- Mitt Romney. I know David has put a lot of thought and effort into coming to this decision. I admire his dedication towards thinking his decision through to the end and really taking seriously all the many aspects of potential candidates. I am still undecided as to who I will be supporting during this upcoming battle for the presidency. Upon returning from my honeymoon I am vowing to give this area more thought and will pick a candidate to support.

This an area that I have been personally convicted over the last few years- I think it is so very important to be politically and socially informed. As Americans, it is our right and should be our privilege and honor to take part in choosing the faces of our nation. I strongly disagree with those who argue that 'one vote doesn't make a difference' or say that ' it doesn't really matter in the end'. A politically informed people is one that benefits from the increased awareness of issues that affect our daily lives. By diving into the nitty-gritty of politics, one is forced to search our their morals, personal convictions, and passions.

Incredibly Blessed!

My wedding is less than 10 days away- wow, how time flies! I couldn't imagine waiting six months to marry Celeste back when I proposed in August, and now the big day is almost here. Yes, the last few weeks before the wedding can contain a lot of stress and anxieties, but I can't help but just be utterly excited about what the future holds! I am so incredibly thankful that I will soon be able to call Celeste my wife- I still cannot believe that she has chosen to spend the rest of her life with me!

The Lord is sustaining us and giving us the strength to face any obstacle that comes our way, and I know that through Him we will prevail! It has especially been interesting in recent days. We found out that our condominium is going to be built four months earlier than was originally anticipated. This news, while exciting, is also a bit cumbersome because it brings with it a whole new list of things that have to be taken care of. It has been interesting balancing wedding planning along with housing contract/selections. Talk about a lot of life changes in one short period of a year! God is good my friends- He is able to sustain you through any and every obstacle that comes your way. It is my prayer that I do not take his blessings in my own life for granted. Thank you to my friends and family for their overwhelming support during this big time of transition in my own life and Celeste's.

More MacBook Air Insight...

I received an excellent email from my friend Darryl yesterday. He responded to my post about the release of the MacBook Air and offered a different perspective on some of the cons that I had listed in my original post:

"Now about the MacBook Air. Having actually held one in my hand at the Macworld Expo, I can say that the pictures don't really give you an idea of how thin and how light this thing is. When I picked it up, I thought "this can't be a real computer. This is a prop." I understand your concerns with the lack of an optical drive and limited ports, but after watching a demo, I can see a niche for this thing. You're a young professional, using your Mac Pro for most of the heavy lifting, but then you've got to fly to Kansas City to do a presentation. Why lug around an optical drive when you don't need to? Just slip your MacBook Air into an envelope and off you go. I'm speculating. I'm sure there's someone out there who needs one. "

Very good perspective on this! I think, in my effort to evaluate this new computer, I overlooked some very practical uses for this. Thanks Darryl for the perspective- much appreciated!

Cloverfield messed me up...

I got back from the midnight showing of Cloverfield a little bit ago and am feeling a little queasy.

Here's a tip to those going to see the movie: 1) Do not sit in the first five rows of the theater (I sat in the very front and all the way to the right due to packed crowds), 2) Do not watch this movie on an oversized screen (I watched it at the Cine Capri... a screen larger than the standard IMAX screen), 3) Do not watch this movie with food, nor if you are feeling even slightly ill. I've never, ever experienced motion sickness before in my life... but I did today. Both my brother and I had an extremely hard time keeping ourselves from becoming nauseated (I can't believe this!) and he actually had to leave for a little bit during part of the film. I am convinced however, that this is entirely due both to our proximity to and the sheer size of the screen. It was really odd for me to feel as if a movie was going to make me lose my lunch. This is one of those movies that I think would be much better to watch on the small screen. Don't say I didn't warn you! Now where is my Pepto Bismol...

That being said- I really can't objectively review this film at this point in time, though I'll do my best to convey my thoughts thus far. I was pretty distracted by my stomach for most of the movie but did enjoy aspects of it. The monster was pretty well done and the shots of it were placed very well throughout the film. The appearance of the monster did not seem forced or overused; this would be an easy thing to do considering that that really is the payoff the audience is looking for. Acting seemed to be mediocre, but wasn't bad considering the unique format and roles that the actors had to fulfill. None of the characters were super lovable, though there were some comical moments that were well placed. The plot line was a little rough to follow, but then again you don't need to know to much for this film... its a group of young adults running from a monster... it honestly doesn't get much deeper than that. I applaud the writers and directors on this film purely for its uniqueness- its something that hasn't been done before and has helped people look at movies in a different way.

A group of people who should get even more credit than the writers and directors however, is the marketing team. I have not seen a marketing campaign quite like this in some time. The marketing invoked curiosity by playing off of the potential's audience's imagination. In a culture full of 'give-it-all-away' previews, Cloverfield was refreshing in that it gave nothing away... in fact, it left you wanting more. This feeling drove millions of people to the web in a desperate search to understand what the movie was all about. The funny part is, by the end of the film, you still have no idea how this monster originally arrived or why the movie is called Cloverfield. This really is a film where less worked out to be much more. I'd be interested to see what this film grosses in it's opening week- I'm sure that the posted profits will absolutely smash the expenditures made for this film.