Barlow's Graduation

I traveled to Southern California last weekend to attend my older brother’s graduation. He’s worked so hard for a long time to finish his degree. And what a cool degree it is – “Film and Media” from Chapman University. He walked us around the new film building/studios. Wow. There are state of the art sound stages and a giant theater for students to show their flix. I’m impressed. Including him, there were 4 of us siblings in attendance. It was a very special occasion.

The commencement ceremony was outside in their new football stadium and it was a scorcher in the hot sun sitting out on the field. I felt for all those grads sitting in black gowns and caps, but Barlow said nothing would phase him from taking it in with a smile on his face.


The commencement speaker was Dr. Judea Pearl – scholar and father of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed in Pakistan by abductors. His message was stirring and inspirational. He first spoke of the importance of formal ceremonies like graduations. It’s a psychological change that takes place - acknowledging that you really did accomplish the thing. It is also an opportunity for a “tribal dance” and communal support from your supporting social network. Then Dr. Pearl got very profound. I wish I had it recorded and could listen to it over and over. He considered world hatred and how truth and freedom are intertwined. That you cannot have one without the other. He talked about how American ideals are misunderstood throughout the world and that we must promote dialogue across racial lines. It was a phenomenal speech. Check out the Daniel Pearl Foundation website. It’s worth the time: http://www.danielpearl.org/

After the ceremony we all went to lunch at “Jerry’s Famous Deli” in Costa Mesa and later enjoyed a dinner outside at “Zito’s Pizza” in Orange. The next morning, my sister Jo and I enjoyed a walk on the sand at Newport Beach. It was a great, quick trip that allowed me to hang with a few of my siblings and gain some perspective.

My mug in the newspaper

Look Ma, I made the paper! (click on the image to enlarge)

I'm disappointed because my sister Abbie was standing right next to me, but the picture is only of me.

Lake Run 2008

Yup. That's me, sprinting toward the finish line! We ran the Lake Run this past Saturday (May 10, 2008). It’s a 12k (7.5 miles) with lots of hills. I haven’t run a competitive race in a long time. Well, technically, I guess it was the Lake Run…in 1991! I remember it well because I was in 8th grade, ran the Lake Run in the morning, then later that afternoon watched the Blazers, the team with the best record in the NBA that year, get eliminated in the Western Conference Finals by Magic Johnson’s Lakers. Bitter sweet. OK, so it’s been a while. But this reminded me how much energy swirls around events like this. I want to do this more often. My sister traveled from Bellevue, WA to run in the event as well. She’s a tough one, for sure! We ran together for the first ½ mile or so, then we decided to go at our own pace. Man, the hills on that run are tough! But the challenge makes it that much more satisfying. Melissa had a van full of 6 small kids, and wanted to find us on the course. While I was running South Shore she honked the horn and all the kids were cheering me on. That was a fun moment for me.

Then I had a funny moment. I had grabbed a drink of water at a previous water station where volunteers hand drinks to you as you run past. As I rounded the turn from South Shore on to Lakeview (by the Lake Grove Swim Park), my iPod was playing Dave Matthews Band and I was feeling good about the immediate flat stretch ahead before the daunting summit hill lurking in a half mile or so. There was another water station here, so I took another cup of water and tried to drink again while running. Big mistake. Uhh, you’re breathing pretty hard after 4 or 5 miles. I took it down the wrong pipe and started hacking up a storm. Bad. People were giving me funky looks while I tried to soldier on running and hacking. Then I noticed the song that was playing. Dave was belting out “Don’t Drink the Water” in a live, energetic version of the song. I cough-laughed to myself, realizing …”of all the songs I could be hacking up this water to…”

The summit was tough, with lots of people slowing and walking. Once I got to the top, my legs were pure rubber, but I took advantage of gravity and sprinted down the back side. The last mile or two were tough, but for the last few blocks I could see the finish line and I decided to push as hard as I could and sprint. It just so happened that Melissa and the van of kids showed up right then as well, and she saw me turn on the afterburners right then. It hurt, but it felt good, if you can dig. I finished with a 54:05 time and am pretty sure I can shave at least 3 minutes off that time next year. Possibly get under 50 minutes. I’m glad I have something to shoot for. Abbie finished strong and I think she was glad she did it as well. It looks like we may make this a tradition, running the Lake Run every year. Join us if you can. Come one, come all!

FAMILY PORTRAIT - Moriah style

Moriah drew the picture here. It’s a portrait of our family. I think my favorite part is Clara on the ground. Notice the flailing arms – Moriah says Clara is just waving her arms like she always does. How observant and creative to figure out how to illustrate action. She is really talented at drawing. She sits quietly and draws for hours on end. We always love to see what she’s gonna draw next.

“Ice Princess” (April 30, 2008)

Moriah has been wanting to go ice skating for a long time. I finally got off my duff and took her. It’s hard for a 5 year old to balance on ice skates for the first time, so she didn’t love it. I ended up basically holding her up while we scooted around the perimeter. Then we tried the brace they make for kids to hold on to and push so they can get a feel for the ice. She wasn;t loving much about the actual ice skating, but I think she was also taking in the whole environment with girls twirling and practicing in the middle and all the speed skaters cruising around. She says she liked it and wants to go back. That’s good. She is a fun one for sure.

Skiing Mt. Hood Meadows - April 2, 2008

It has been a LONG time since I’ve been skiing. Before we were married, in fact. But some friends were going and I was able to take the work day off and go hit the slopes with them. I forgot how fun it really can be. And this was the first time I’ve done it with theme music to go with my fresh moves. I had the iPod in the ears while bombing down the hills. That is a really cool way to ski. We actually ended up in the terrain park (jumps, etc) for a lot of the time. Ski jumps are so cool. Also, as inexperienced a skier as I am, I still can say I went down Heather Canyon, the daunting double-black diamond run. OK, so I tumbled down most of it, but I still got down.

Brooke’s birthday party (March 23, 2008)

Brooke’s birthday party in March was great. It was a ‘princess theme’ – but the boys in attendance were princes, of course. Brooke is such a cute little girl and loved having all her little friends over. She actually scored this year, as we ended up throwing 2 parties for her. A small party with the family, then another with all her friends over. Sometimes turning 4 has it’s advantages.

Texas Romp – March 5-11, 2008

We were able to spend a week in Texas at my parent’s house. Grandma and Grandpa’s place is great for the kids. And we also saw my sister’s family who lives just a mile or so away. We were hoping to get out of the yucky northwest winter weather and enjoy some Texas sunshine. Instead, if you can believe this, it snowed on us. Dumped, really. It started literally while my sister was showing us her new pool and how the remote runs all the features…then…queue the snow. Guess we weren’t supposed to try out the pool afterall! Yup, March snow in Texas. Wow. Talk about bad luck. We had a blast anyway. We had a pretend tea party with all the little girls. Dressed up in costumes and all (gotta love the picture of Dad below). We also rode the old train, the “Tarantula” from Grapevine to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Cool place. Being around family means everything to us.

Seattle trip - Feb 16-18, 2008

On a bit of a whim, we spent a weekend in Seattle in February. I wanted to see the U23D movie, but I had missed it while our iMax theater had it, so Seattle Center was still an option. It was fun. Our whole crew went to Seattle and stayed in a hotel near the space needle…we rarely stay in hotels, so it was a treat. Two of my sisters live there as well and my brother from Spokane happened to be in town - they were going to the movie, so I decided I’d crash the party...it was great, ended up being a big group at the show. If you’re a U2 fan, I recommend the experience. I went to the Vertigo concert twice while they were touring (Seattle and Portland shows) in 2005. The movie was a similar experience, but I was hoping people would be more into singing, etc at the movie, but that wasn’t the case. Lots of people staring at the screen, taking it in, which was fine, but I believe my sisters and I were in the minority, getting into the songs and singing. We toned it down for sure so we weren’t bothering others too much, but had fun nonetheless. It was fun trip. We were also able to catch my Nephew’s basketball game and they showed us guitar hero. Pretty cool.