Today we took the whole family on an outing to dog beach. We all had a great time, but I think Stoney had the most fun of all.
Tag: fun
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The harvest is coming!
Yesterday Paul and I were doing our daily look through the garden. He leaned in and yelled, “Daddy, check this out! We’ve got lots of tomatoes!”
In just a couple of weeks all of our summer garden plants will mature and start producing produce. We can’t wait!
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Some McLane Creative Jives
There’s a lot going on with the funkier side of my life. That is, the fun projects I take on to fill my waking moments and force me to learn new skillz about all things design, social media, and WordPress.
Here’s the last three:
San Diego Spiritual Directors Association | WordPress theme
markoestreicher.com | WordPress theme w/custom landing page which we’ll continue to morph
Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti | Social media strategy & branding
What’s next? I have a couple more smallish projects that will wrap-up by the end of May. Beyond that? I’m open. I’ve learned that although there are way more people looking for WordPress design, social media strategy, and other design stuff… I need to be picky. If I’m not energized by a project than I just have no enthusiasm to do it. Since this is what I’m doing as a hobby– I’m not tempted to do projects I don’t give a hoot about.
In general, McLane Creative (it’s not just me, I’ve got friends who I sub-contract with) can handle 2-3 projects per month. Any more than that and it stops being fun.
If you’re looking for someone to do a WordPress theme or do some general web design or talk social media strategy, head over to my contact page and we can chat.
Just a note: I love helping people fix their broken WordPress blogs. If you regularly bust your blog and want my occasional help, I’m happy to put you on an annual retainer. (aka My kids college fund)
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Inspiration: Street Art
This stuff fascinates me. I love the mystery of public reactions. I love surprise and wonder. I love the feeling of “why didn’t I think of that?“
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Tide pool fun
This is why Cabrillo National Monument is one of our favorite places to go in San Diego County.
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Life is Good
I am happiest when I have a lot of plates spinning. Not sure why but I’m just wired that way. These days I am very happy. There are lots of plates spinning in my personal life, ministry life, and work life. There is some convergence in those things… but there is also considerable separation as well.
Why is it that things that make us happiest also tend to drive us insane?
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Off to Minneapolis
If going to Alabama is the dirty south, does that make Minnesota the “clean north?”
Regardless, I am missing church this morning as I begin my trip north (and east) to Minneapolis for a few days of meetings with the YouthWorks team.
Here’s something fun about heading to the clean north. I kind of like the cold. Don’t get me wrong– I love winters in San Diego where people wear ski jackets when it hits 50 and pull their kids out of school because of a rain storm. But I’m not one of those people who hates a hard, cold winter. In fact, there is a freshness to the cold air that invigorates the soul. (That could also be the freezing of ones lungs resulting in a shot of endorphins and adrenaline, but those are little details!) I’m looking forward to a little snowstorm tonight and it getting progressively chilly in my time there this week.
I plan on laughing and listening a lot this week. As we continue to mix our organizations together into a new organization we are finding that we share so much in common. And we definitely share the “we don’t take ourselves too seriously” quality that is a hallmark of YS. Al0ng the same lines, so much of why we are passionate about what we do lies in our story. So I am jazzed to listen and get to know people beyond the giggles and hear their hearts.
I’ll leave you with two pictures from my iPhone– the humor is all-the-more funny now that everyone is getting to know one another.
November 6th – I wore this to work to lighten the mood. The previous day we had been told to dress appropriately when YouthWorks came to town and to make a good first impression. This is about as opposite of YS attire as I could get. Is that enough Bibles? I love the Bibles. 
November 23rd – The YouthWorks recruiting team hung this sign on the bulletin board next to convention headquarters in Atlanta. We were all glad they were hiring for something! -
Build something useless
Why? It’s fun.
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December Nights
Yesterday my family went to December Nights. At the heart of San Diego’s tourist industry stands Balboa Park. It’s a very cool complex of museums, gardens, and of course the San Diego Zoo. Like residents of most tourist destinations, very few San Diego residents regularly go to the tourist industries epicenter. I don’t know what that is, but it’s the same reason why I lived in Chicago for 8 years but have never been to the top of the Sears Tower.
Once per year, the residents of San Diego go to Balboa Park for a community festival called December Nights. As Midwesterners, we laugh at the Santa Claus’s and hot chocolate stands among the palm trees… but for San Diego folks this is about as cold as it’ll get and they are feeling the Christmas spirit.
It’s an event filled with wonderful food stands, choirs and dance troupes, and vendors peddling their art.
It’s also filled with SoCal flavor. Yuppies bring their foo foo dogs. Families bring their kids and grandparents. The singles scene crowds into the 21+ booze area. Political nut cases try to get you to sign their ballot petition. Kids sell candy, some for legit causes some for illegitimate causes. Someone in the parking lot was likely selling weed. Vendors walk around trying to sell you stuff that you don’t want. (But at least they have nice candy canes!) It’s really the same crowd you’ll see at the beach, baseball games, or any other street market in the city.
Perhaps the most fun thing about living in a tourist destination is being a local who gets to play when all the tourists go home?
