Entries from May 2008 ↓

Pictures of Indo (click pic below):

A few videos:

Well, I’m back in OKC and getting swamped at work… we switched operating platforms before I left and it seems all is were I left it (which is not a good thing).  So today will be spent trouble shooting and trying to figure out all the questions everyone is having (it seems some in the office are laggards and stalwarts, which means they aren’t embracing the system fully and in fact are adamantly rejecting it). Great fun.

I’ll have updates on the trip and pictures up soon… it was an unbelievable time and I’m still chewing on what I learned (am learning).

A List:

• drank Koppe and read some scripture
• prayer walked on the beach
• shaved my beard off (too hot!)
• changed a flat tire
• ate a bunch of things I cannot explain for lunch (with no utensils)
• drank an avocado choclat drink
• drank Koppe with 4 Indonesian gentlemen (Joe left for about 20 minutes), I was left to explain why I wasn’t married… and then why I wasn’t going to marry an Indonesian girl from the island (any girl… it seems they all are available… no further comment).  sidenote: I speak no Indonesian, and they spoke very little English.
• went to the fish market (smell was more than fishy…)
• played catch with a flat football for 30 minutes during a downpour
• chased some village kids through a rice patty
• pulled a fat leach of my foot (between my toes to be exact)
• killed said fat leach… with salt water
• snorkled for 1.5 hours… cool
• body surfed
• made flour tortillas… from scratch
• laughed with my new friends
• washed the dishes by hand
• emailed an American girl
• slept under a mesquito net

Tomorrow should be a great day, we are going to a neighboring village to work on a  house, it seems some termites are invading the premises and we are going to use a mixture of some sort to paint the inside wood… don’t know exactly what that means.  Yesterday I finished reading “jesus for president” by Shane Claiborne… wow.  It is a really provacative book, especially relavant in the context of where I am right now… more on this when I get home.

For those of you in America still sleeping… Friday is going to be a beautiful day!!  The sun is up the sky’s are clear and the waves are pulsing.  It is a rather odd thing to blog on a computer (not my computer) in a third world country, where the cost of this machine is more than an average villager makes in a year.  Here, the average daily income fluctuates around $4-$5 a day… which seems upsurd but is enough for the average family to live on… though not luxuriously as we American’s are accustomed to.  It is a sobering place, a place that continues to drive me to the scriptures and to the words in red.  A place that causes my mind to wrestle with spiritual, economical, and social issues and a place that causes my selfish habits to cry out in want (A/C anyone?).  It is a place I wish many could see, so that they too may have their ‘comfort’ paradigm shifted and their ’Western’ perspective challenged.

This island view is beautifully sobering.

I’m sitting at Coffee Slingers, a new coffee shop just north of Downtown OKC… it is right next door to Bicycle Alley, so with one stop I can knock out both of my vices: spandex and latte’s.

In other news:

Life is busy and I am finding it harder and harder to sit and write. It is like stealing away is getting to be impossible, because when I finally get away, I just want to vege out and relax. But that is not what I want. So hopefully this trip to Indo will clear my head and give me some downtime to think and reflect over the past 9 months. OKC is great and I am becoming more comfortable calling it home, though it is really hard to say that with confidence. If work continues to go well (and I foresee it to do just that) than I will be here indefinitely and hopefully in our growth be able to bring on some more employees. I have a secret short list of who I would want to hire [I couldn't tell you... because then it would not be a secret short list], and just thinking about this possibility makes me excited to be apart of this company. The project I most want to be working on right now is a “book” form of our workbook. Complete with cover art, funny anecdotes, and a completed Intentional Leadership process, that requires little or no personal touches. It is a big challenge, and is making us all think outside our normal parameters to come up with ideas on how to write a book that is about relationships without actually having a relationship with those who read it. A connundrum.

Here are the books I am taking down to Indonesia with me, along with a journal, a waterproof camera, a pair of manpri’s, a pair of shorts, a couple t’s, a pair of lightweight pants and some grundy undies… cool.

The Writing on The Wall by Will Hutton - read half of this in Tobago and just got it off of half.com to finish

A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight - halfway finished, may finish before I leave

The Mind Changers by Em Griffin [out of print] - this would be my second reading

Jesus For President by Shane Claiborne - can’t wait to delve into this one

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs - supposed to be hilarious

This Sunday I am traveling about as far away from Oklahoma as I can… All the way across the globe to Indonesia, with most of our two weeks spent on an island west of Sumatera.  I am going with a great friend of mine, Joe Hall, who lived there for the past 3 years and will be the tour guide for the trip.  From what I know, we are going to be doing some disaster relief with an International NGO, which includes teaching some farming techniques, some ESL, some construction and some repairs.  It is a mixture of traveling for travelings sake while also doing some good.  A mixture I think I am preferring, rather than just traveling for the exotic food and beers…  While in Trinidad last year I helped build an addition to a building, mixing mortar, stacking cinder blocks, carrying cement, and other labor intensive tasks.  It was a way to soak in the culture, be around the locals and do good.

I leave on Sunday, May 11 and will be gone till the 25th.  I don’t think I will have computer access, though I will be journaling and taking mad photos… so be on the look out for a random entry and then a dumping when I get back.  I can honestly say that I am looking forward to the experience and am getting incredibly anxious for the 30 hour travel day… blah.

David Ford is good. Nate Friend, this one is [again] for you!

Another article of mine was published on JM click link below to read (it is also found on my blog, entitled television):

The Apathy Generator