Tag: san diego

  • Launching Beyond The Zoo

    As I’ve talked about here a few times, Kristen and I have collaborated to create a new website. In truth, it’s just a convergence of two great passions for both of us… blogging and eating!

    The whole point of BeyondTheZoo.com is to help people discover hidden gems in San Diego County. We know that when people come to visit they will automatically check out the zoo. And we love the zoo! Our hope is to help visitors (and locals) discover unique and fun hole in the walls.

    Of course, Kristen and I have always loved finding unique places! Wherever we’ve lived we have hunted for special places to take our friends. So, BeyondTheZoo.com is really just fulfilling a lifelong passion and pursuit.

    Anyway, this is what we’ve been working on for the last month. So far, it’s been a blast working with Kristen on the design. We’ve taken a lot of what we learned by starting YMX and applied some wisdom, too.

    And… we waited to launch it until January 1st so I could fulfill my only New Year’s resolution of 2008. No new websites! This is our first.. I’ve got a few more I’ve been dying to launch.

  • Excited about 2009

    As far as years go 2008 has been a crazy one. The year started off with me gasping for air between rounds of Kidstown events and ended with a long time of rest and reflection after moving our family across the country and launching myself in a new direction. To quote Mike Yaconelli, “What a ride!”

    As 2008 takes it’s last spin on the disco ball known as Earth I wanted to record a few of the things I’m excited about for 2009.

    #1 A simpler life continuing. It may sound weird that moving into an urban setting, Kristen taking a job, and both kids now in elementary school is actually simpler for us, but it is. Unlike before, we’re living within our means and building healthy boundaries between our work, play, jobs, and church life.

    #2 To social media and beyond! I’m looking forward to the two-fold reality of getting deeper into the social media scene while at the same time venturing into new things.

    #3 A hobby with my wife. For the first time in our relationship Kristen and I have purposed to do something together. Those who know us know how true it is that we often have had different worlds. Purposing to have the same hobby of Beyond The Zoo is going to bring us closer together.

    #4 Golf. After a 3 year sabbatical from the game I will be resolving to get my game back in shape. I’d love to find a league or a volunteer opportunity to force me to play. How in the world could a lifelong golfer live in San Diego and not play?

    #5 A vacation. No idea where we are headed or what we will do. But the family will definitely require a trip somewhere.

    #6 A new place to live. Our lease is up in February and we’ve already told our landlady we intend to move. That said, we’re starting to look at places in the SDSU area, City Heights, Rolando, Kensington, or somewhere else near our church. We need more space.

    #7 New stuff at Youth Ministry Exchange. Starting soon I will have a weekly column ay YMX. After kicking around a lot of ideas I’ve decided to stick with my passion. It’s going to be a weekly encouragement. Recognizing how little worship and preaching most of us hear as we lead the students… I hope it’s helpful to fill a tiny bit of the void. Plus, YMX’s main site has a brand new look we’re popping out soon.

    #8 Some cool stuff at YS. Now that I’m not “the new guy” anymore it’s fun to be around some of our things from genesis through release. I’m excited about increasing my impact at work in 2009. More importantly, I am still shocked that God has allowed me the ability to impact the lives of youth workers through YS. Gosh, that is too cool.

    #9 Unloading the Michigan homestead. Hard to believe that our house in Romeo has been vacant since the first week of August. We have a buyer and we’re waiting on the banks to do their thing. Originally, we had hoped that we’d be done with the house by the close of 2008. One way or the other, we will be done with the house in 2009.

    #10 Kid Stuff. Megan and Paul have hit the age where childhood hits the afterburner and starts to speed along. Blogging is awesome in that I get to capture little snapshots, literally and figurately, of their lives for posterity sake. Both of their personalities are blossoming and I’m falling deeper and deeper in love with these kids God chose for us.

  • Merry Christmas

    From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.

  • Beyond the Zoo: Feedback wanted

    As I’ve been mentioning, Kristen and I are working on a new website. We’ve settled on a launch date of January 1st… which puts us deep into preparations.

    To be honest, today was the first time we really sat down to map out the plan for this site. Up until now it’s just been something we talked about every once in a while. Now it is really, really happening! It’s going to be fun! And it’ll probably be a great excuse for us to check out a billion new places in San Diego.

    Long story short, this is the design I created based on our meeting today. I’d really like to hear some constructive criticism. How could we make it better?

  • 2200 miles away

    It’s been a few months, but Romeo is on our mind a lot. Today we had some friends send pictures of their big snow storm. I thought it would be fun to contrast the two. Can you figure out which is which? Romeo or San Diego? (Both of these were taken today)

    Picture #1

    Picture #2

    Wanna guess?

  • Stress vs. Joy

    I think I’m just exhausted. It’s a feeling of over-stimulation that comes on fast and is wearing me out. The solution is really that I need to get destimulated soon. Fairly soon I will need to schedule some “off the grid” time. Either that or I may post something extra snarky for no reason and I’ll regret it.

    I have so many excellent things going on. Or is that just the exhaustion? There’s these competing things in my head. Things that bring me joy are stressing me out. And things that should be stress-filled are bringing me great joy.But very little “meh” in my life right now.

    – Our community group getting involved with a refugee family. Stress-free joy.

    – Other projects I agreed to help out with at church. Expecting joy but stressed.

    – Going to The Price is Right today. [airs February 10th] Stress-free joy.

    – Friday’s staff Christmas party. Expecting joy but stressed. 9 miles out of my comfort zone.

    – Getting our money situation under control. Stress-free joy.

    – Thinking about planned vacation time. Expecting joy but stressed.

    – Getting ready for Christmas. Stress-free joy. I’m feeling advent-astic.

    – Coming up with an age-appropriate discipline system for the kids. Just freaking stressful.

    – Working with Kristen on a new website about San Diego living, our first collaborative project. Stress-free joy.

    – Nurturing some relationships from Michigan. Expecting joy but stressed.

    I don’t really have a point to this post that’s a take-away. Life lessons, nah. Looking for sympathy. Not so much. It’s just kind of capturing some places in my life that are confusing to me. I think in all arenas of both sides of this stress/joy coin I just need to build some time to rest and wait on God. At least, that’s my plan.

  • I will not turn on the furnace

    Having spent 29 of my 32 year in the upper midwest, I am resolute that we will not need to turn on our furnace this winter. Seriously, it doesn’t get cold enough in San Diego to even turn on the pilot light. Call me cheap, but I don’t plan on firing up the furnace this winter.

    For those outside of Southern California. While the San Diego climate is mild year-round, it does get noticeably cooler in fall and winter. Hardly cold, but still chilly.

    If you ever visited our house in Romeo you’d know that Kristen and I like to keep the house cool. Todd and his family talk about putting on layers to come over for dinner. Of course, the joke was funnier knowing that we would actually turn the thermostat up to 70 when company came over. At night, we allowed the house to cool to 58. Understand that we lived in a 135 year old house and keeping it warm all night long would mean the furnace would literally run all night long if I tried to keep it at its day time temperature of 65. At the same time, we’ve always kept our houses at similar temperatures. Some people like a really hot house, I like a relatively cool house.

    So, some things about us never change. Just like in Michigan, Kristen and I wake up and tiptoe to the kettle to warm up water for coffee or tea. Just like our house was in the mid-fifties in the mornings, the same is true of our San Diego home. But, just like in Michigan, we are thinking of cheating by installing a couple high efficiency space heaters just to keep the nip off the air.

    After all, we’d feel like bad parents if the kids could see their breath when they crawled out of bed.

  • Fair Warning

    Starting tomorrow, I have about a week off. Since my move to San Diego I have not taken a break and in many ways I am just ready to chill and do nothing.

    At the same time, Kristen knows well, that when I have significant time off I get bored and create things. And since I am a dork my inventions are typically internet related. And that last statement reveals why my post is titled, fair warning.

    What am I creating? I have 3 new websites planned in my head that will get birthed during this time off. And for the first time in a long time, these new websites won’t have anything to do with youth ministry or even Christianity. Here’s what will hatch out my soul and be shoved down the throats against your will because of their unbelievable awesomeness:

    _ something on San Diego living

    _ something about life

    _ something about death

    Does this need to be said? None of them have anything to do with my job.

  • Saturday Pictures

    HT to Dave and Kristen for their presence.

  • Picasso Tapas in Hillcrest

    Last night Kristen and I discovered a fun little place in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego called Picasso Tapas. Walking around the neighborhood we settled there purely because it was busy when nothing else was. (Little travelers tip right there.) After wiggling our way past the door we found a nice seat and settled in to enjoy this cozy hole in the wall.

    If you’ve never done tapas you need to know this is a place to skip the entrees… tapas is all about ordering several “little plate” appetizers. The owner suggested we get 2 each and share, we were hungry and so we ordered 5. Also, tapas places typically have a European approach to a meal. So if you want something fast and have high expectations for minute attention to detail you’ll be disappointed. Since Kristen and I came with the idea that we’d be there a while so relaxed and enjoyed their famous sangria. Originally, we were going to grab a bite to eat then head to a movie but we ended up staying so long that dinner was plenty for one night.

    A couple of the things we ordered were good. Tasty but not special. But two items really stuck out and are worth the hassle of parking down on 4th & University. First, the turkey meat balls were about the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Full of flavor and tender, not dry, we actually had to cut the 5th one in half and contemplated another order. Second, the almond shrimp was stellar. I’ve had my fair share of shrimp in my life and I’ve never bit into a shrimp to taste almond. It was a great flavor and this order came with an abundance of very large shrimp. Both items were recommendations and I kind of wish we had just asked for more instead of taking chances on some of their other 37 tapas to chose from. One negative, like was mentioned in a few reviews elsewhere, we never got all of our 5th dish. I’d tell you about the mushroom tapas but it never arrived. That didn’t disuade us though as we just ordered a dessert, flan, and were quite pleased.

    The service was quaint and added to the cozy factor. I think midway through our meal we graduated from the owner, a man from southern Spain, to a “real server.” I can’t lie in saying that I preferred the owner talking about his wife (the chef from northern Spain) better than a boring server. All-in-all though the service was very typical of something I expect on the Continent.

    The price was right. We ordered a lot and I was stunned that the bill was so little. If you arrive before 7 PM there are some great deals to be had from the $5 menu. I actually suggest coming early as this small place fills up with locals and gets louder as the evening progresses. Also, if you have a party larger than 4 it may be hard to get a table.

    Overall, I highly recommend this place. No website and none needed. Check out some other reviews on Google and you’ll get the idea. Locals love it and critics don’t. My kind of place.