46359 Day 273

memorial_harpoon

did the harpoon brewery tour today with bobby and christina.  then my first visit to the barking crab.  pure awesomeness.

46259 Day 272

another...


...beautiful day in boston

46159 Day 271

game_time


amy and i took in our first sox game of the year at fenway.  we were treated to a pitching duel: for the last couple of years people have been waiting for prospect clay bucholz to break out (and this year he is doing it) and he faced the great zack greinke (last year's AL Cy Young Award winner).  final score 1-0 in favor of the sox and clay.


we were able to enjoy the game from behind home plate and have great views of both pitchers doing their thing thanks to amy's current clinical rotation at Beth Israel, the official hospital of the Red Sox.  for five bucks you wait in line until they release day-of tickets (and they are usually really good seats) and then you get to sit there the rest of the game.  pretty sweet!  

46059 Day 270

paint


came home after work today and helped paint a friend's house.  they just bought a big old victorian style home in dorchester and have some cool dreams for what that home can mean for the neighborhood.  it was honor to spend just a little time there helping to get the place ready for move in (which amy will get to help with tomorrow). 

45959 Day 269

getting_organized


in my never ending efforts to be a more organized person i think i have settled on these brown moleskine's as a great way to keep track of thoughts, tasks, and other to-do's (creative and otherwise).


not-so-coincidentally, today's pages are filled with notes from my morning meeting with tim as we planned for our staff retreat next week, a major portion of which will be spent on getting organized for the up coming year.

45859 Day 268

manny


this is my friend manny...we got to hang out today and catch up on his many adventures (uganda, graduating college, etc).  good times.  i love hearing his passion for ministry and the possibility of that expanding to college students.  proud of you manny!

45759 Day 267

guitar


i haven't played in an embarrassingly long time.  months in fact.  but today i got out of work early due to the fact that the temperature in our store was 97 degrees and someone finally realized this needed to be fixed (long story here, maybe a topic for another post).


anyway, i ended up with some extra time on my hands.  i did some planning, finished a book, caught up on a few things, and then i played.  and it was great.  the guitar feels like a part of me that, for whatever reason, has not made the transition to boston.  it felt incredibly good to do it again, until the tips of my fingers started to burn in agony!

45659 Day 266

east_boston


i haven't spent too much time talking about moving in this space, but for a while now amy and i have been pondering moving out of dorchester to east boston.  "eastie", as it is known around these parts, is the other, much smaller, forgotten neighborhood of boston.  everyone knows dorchester and the reputation that surrounds it, but i've been shocked at how many people don't even know eastie exists.  in fact, one person i was telling about our move couldn't figure east boston out: "so, is that like, in the middle of the ocean?"


we feel attracted to this area for a couple of reasons.  one is that the "feel" of the neighborhood is an interesting mix of san francisco (architecture) and east salinas culture.  the first time we drove through to check it out we were both overwhelmed with a feeling of home.  it's also home to many immigrants, mostly spanish speakers from central and south america.  from what we've gathered, eastians have a bit of a chip on their shoulders for being invisible to the rest of boston.  finally, neither reunion nor sojourn have any real presence in the neighborhood and that felt attractive to us as well.


all that so say, we've felt pulled in this direction for a little while.  and today we signed a lease and will be eastie residents come july!  we are super excited about this opportunity (not excited about moving so soon) and feel that a good story is waiting to be told in east boston.

45559 Day 264 & 265

parents_for_a_day


got to spend the better part of the last 24 hours with the hawkins' kids.  it was our task to get four kids through saturday night and to church on sunday.  they are great kids who can pretty much take care of themselves so it was a pretty easy gig, but it definitely gave me some insight in to my mom's life for many, many years.  mom you are amazing!


for more on the hawkins family doings check out tim's blog here

45459 Day 263

september 1st


a major date on the calendar...not only is that the day that project 365 will be over, but it is also the day that i can hopefully quit starbucks (or at least be down to 1 day per week).  time to get to work and make that happen!

45359 Day 262

peace


a moment of quiet on our back porch in the midst of a rather busy and full "sabbath."

45259 Day 261

trivia


finally got a chance to rock stump trivia at the blarney stone, down the street from us.  amy and i pulled a solid third place showing, aided greatly by a sports team/nick-name match that brought in a bundle of points.


also on the list of cool things, check this out!

45159 Day 260

disciples


continuing our conversations from our conference experiences this year, we (reunion and sojourn) continue to work on our discipleship process...today: revisiting the mission statement.  i find these conversations somewhat tedious but ultimately inspiring, especially as i think of it helping us do what we do even better.

45059 Day 259

duck_boats


the odd looking vehicle to the left is a "duck boat," a world war II relic transformed into Boston-city-touring vehicle.  i see these all the time but have never been on one before.  pretty cool way to see the city actually.

44959 Day 258

graduation


amy has worked incredibly hard over the last three years to complete her DPT (doctor of physical therapy) and we got to celebrate the pay off today at her graduation ceremony.  the ceremony itself was well done, and although "graduating" feels somewhat uneventful when you still have 6 weeks of an internship left the accomplishment is no less significant.  i am so, so proud of my wife, and as a first hand witness to much of the work she's put in to this program, i know she deserves to celebrate and enjoy this moment very much.  way to go babe!

44859 Day 256 & 257

hanging_out


the last two days have been about showing the fam around boston while amy worked (who makes their student's work the day before graduation!).  here are a couple of pics:

44759 Day 255

getting_ready


today we spent some time prepping for family to arrive in town.  amy's mom and sister fly in tomorrow to help us celebrate her graduation from BU's doctor of physical therapy program.  graduation is obviously exciting, but any time we have family out here it is really special, being so far from california.  so, hurry up stacey and sandy, can't wait to see you!

44659 Day 254

dog_park


the city has been working on putting a dog park right next to our house.  a cool idea but it has taken them about 8 months to finish it.  part of that, of course, is due to the winter, but still, when you look at it you say "that took 8 months to build?"


the mayor will be out here on saturday to open the park.  of course, any time our mayor speaks something truly unbelievable happens. for example, this week, while commemorating a statue of bobby orr, the mayor noted that orr is among the many "ionic" sports figures that Boston has produced.  and then he listed some of these athletes and their achievements, my favorite being when "varitek split the uprights."


(note that varitek is jason varitek, a catcher for the boston red sox, the captain of the team in fact, and that adam vinatieri is the patriots kicker who became rich and famous for last second, game winning field goals...you can't make this stuff up!)

44559 Day 253

next_up


egger's book: Zeitoun.  


also of interest, sarah's (my sister) post from today =)

44459 Day 252

random


today was a blur of activity.  breakfast with the boys, staff meeting, emails, sbux.  so, instead of some deep thought on whatever topic, enjoy this silly picture of amy and i from last year (taken in our old apartment).


=)

44359 Day 251

mother's_day


i'm not an A's fan, but i do love baseball and this is too good of a mother's day story to not comment on it in some way.  happy mother's day mom!

44259 Day 249 & 250

providence


i've spent the last 36 hours in providence with the reunion and sojourn team working on our follow up to our trip to idaho back in march.  this has been a time of hard conversations, deep thinking, brainstorming, and trying to work together to gain clarity and where we want to lead people.  good stuff, but not easy! 

44159 Day 248

book_of_the_week


pops sent me this book this week (Ministries of Mercy: The call of the Jericho Road)...respect tim keller's insights a lot so i'm excited to get into this one!

44059 Day 247

dinner


i love community group right now...especially our dinners.  i am really enjoying preparing the meals too.  never thought this would be something i enjoyed doing on a regular basis, but it is!

43959 Day 246

lost


i won't spoil anything, but there are only a few more episodes of lost.  however it ends, i am pretty sure this is actually my favorite show of all time.  tonight's episode was amazing and i am finding the eminent demise of the show to be somewhat bittersweet.

43859 Day 245

water


i know that everyone was dying for another picture of our stove, but we are not likely to have the boil water order lifted until wednesday at the earliest, so these two pots are a big part of our life these days.


in much more interesting news i am working on a video of student and staff stories from the year for our supporters which i am super excited about.  good to be doing some editing again!

43759 Day 244

goodbye_luke


luke is a truly outstanding dude from canada who has been studying at harvard and living in the qunicy street neighborhood.  he's brought a lot of experience, stability, and wisdom to the neighborhood and will be missed!


goodbyes are the theme of the season too.  we celebrate 41 graduates this morning at Reunion.

43659 Day 243

broken_pipe


today at starbucks we were slammed...perhaps heading to a record day, and then this happened.  going to be interesting to see how businesses like sbux survive the next week or so while this gets all sorted out.  meanwhile we get to boil our water and maybe learn a little bit about what much of the rest of the world goes through to have clean drinking water.