Monterey - 4/20-4/22

A view of downtown Monterey's Cannery Row

Lauren and I had the opportunity to spend a weekend down at her uncle's house in Monterey.  Her uncle and aunt own a house in Pebble Beach near one of the many golf courses and two blocks from the Monterey Bay.  It was a magnificent opportunity to not only get away from Berkeley for a few days but also to get all of our laundry done in one fell swoop.  Her aunt and uncle were not at the house at the time, though I would have the pleasure of meeting them both at Lauren's graduation, so we had the huge house to ourselves, including the big screen TV with cable.  I only have Netflix and my DVD collection in my room, but we actually got to watch live TV and for me watch the first Red Sox/Yankees series.  We mainly hung out around the house watching TV but we did get out to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, since her aunt and uncle have passes we got in free.  It was a great last trip before we geared up for the end of the semester and Lauren's eventual departure from CDSP.  As I look back over my blog I have realized that during the short nine months since relocating to Berkeley I have experienced a lot of new places.  With two more years ahead I hope there is a lot more to see and do out here on the left coast, including Yosemite, more of LA, and if I am truly lucky I would absolutely love to go to Hawaii, but that may be a stretch.  (Fingers crossed)  Enjoy the pics from Monterey.

A bust of John Steinbeck, Cannery Row's most famous resident

Walking along Cannery Row with the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the distance

View of the bay behind the aquarium

Another view of the bay from behind the aquarium

 Lauren outside the main entrance of the aquarium

I think this speaks for itself

Sea otters sunning themselves, we just missed the feeding

Sailboats out on the bay

Jellies!!!

Lauren playing a game in the jellyfish section of the aquarium

I forget what these are but they are pretty cool

More of the same sea creatures

Some deep sea creature that has pulsating lights in its body

Itty bitty seahorses hanging out

A leafy seadragon chillin, blending in with its surroundings

Where does the leafy seadragon end and the plant begin????  It's mind bottling!!!

One more of the leafy seadragon for good measure

"The babies are in a pouch just like a kangaroo!!!"

Looking out down Cannery Row

Lauren and I walked down to the rocks to watch the sunset over the water, unfortunately it was windy, cold, and cloudy...I thought this was Cali???  Where are the warm waters and pretty sandy beaches with surfers and hobos alike????

Making our way down to the rocks

Looking out at the horizon, anyone see a sun?

One of the many sweet houses that line the coast and golf courses

Another view of the horizon, rocks, and water

I think I see the sun, no wait, its just more clouds...bummer

A video of the waters

Our consolation for no sunset...a FaceTime conversation with Will, a bottle of red wine, and homemade chicken parm, not a bad way to end the day and a great weekend

Charlotte, Berkeley Hills, & a Drive-In

Tyler Playing on Will's phone in his karate uniform instead of playing Will and me in Wii Bowling

 I thought that will was going to slam right into his flatscreen TV

Look at that follow though...he's been working on his form

Tyler loves riding his bike and has been working on skidding stops

Will standing outside an Irish bar in downtown Charlotte...yes it as like three in the afternoon but there was an important FC Bayern game on so we had to watch it and this was the only place open serving pints at three in the afternoon

For Spring Break I went Charlotte to visit Will and Tyler.  Up to that point my classes were in full swing and it was nice to take a break.  Before I flew to Charlotte I had to be back home on the Wednesday before the break so that I could head to the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center for the yearly diocesan postulant and candidates retreat.  For roughly three days we got to relax and spend some time together up at the camp in New Hampshire.  All of the postulants and candidates in the process in the Diocese of Massachusetts were there along with Bishop Tom.  It was a great way to start spring break.  Then I went back to Waltham for the night so that I could fly to Charlotte for the week.  After a week I got on a plane again to fly back to Boston so that the next morning I could fly to San Francisco and back to Berkeley for class.  So in a week I had four flights all over the country.  Needless to say I was exhausted but glad to be back in Berkeley.

A view from the Berkeley Hills out towards the bay.

Another view of the Bay Area

Another view out from the hills with the Bay Bridge in the center of the photo

Just in case you thought that all we did was go to church and take classes at "Jesus College" we do make room for some fun.  Not far from the campus on the other side of the hills there is a two screen drive-in.  Lauren and I decided to go because they were showing American Reunion and 21 Jump Street and we were in the mood for funny movies.  Now most normal people park their car facing the screen and sit in the front seats but we decided to do it a little differently.  each parking spot is on raised pavement so that you can angle the car to maximize the view of the screen.  We decided to drop my two back seats and turn the car with the rear door open to watch the movie.  As you can see it was still a little cold at night but we had pillows and blankets (including the Red Sox blanket that Lauren made me for Christmas) and most importantly we had dinner.  Taking a cue from my family we stopped at Boston Market and loaded up on yummy food to grub on in the back during the movie.  We also had snacks and drinks since we knew we would be there for five hours.  Fortunately my battery was not dead at the end and we left after having had a great night of movies and food.

Lauren all snuggled into her spot ready for the show

The movie didn't start until around 7:30 because we had to wait for the sun to set, but you can see the screen and other cars parked on the raised pavement

For the last three to four weeks of the semester I worked on the final papers for my classes.  In my Pastoral Theology class I had a six to eight page paper where we were given a scenario and we had to respond.  There was little research involved but it did take a few hours.  For my Intro to Worship we had a three hour timed take home essay that was to be done without any resources, i.e. books, notes, or internet etc.  That was not too bad, I will have to wait until I get my grade before I know how I did.  For my history class we had to write a twelve to twenty page paper.  I wrote about how the top down implementation of Protestant Reforms during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI were met with considerable resistance, but Elizabeth I listened to the voices of the people in determining the direction of her reforms that would eventually become the foundation for the modern Church of England.  Whew, that is a long thesis, but it was fun to research and write.  It came out to twenty pages so we will see what she thinks about it.  Finally for my Leading through Lament paper I examined a pericope from Ezekiel Chapter 19, a leadership theory developed by Chris Lowney called heroic leadership, and the situation occurring at the Charles Street AME parish in Roxbury.  This was supposed to be a fifteen page paper that ended up being around twenty.  I had a lot of fun researching and writing this one and I hope that the professor thinks it was an interesting argument for lament over failed leadership in a current situation.  Because of all of this I actually spent a lot of time in the library.  I know this is coming from the guy who tried to see how long I could go before stepping foot into the library.  It was worth it.

A view of CDSP from the library, the chapel is hiding behind the trees

Another shot of CDSP's chapel

Las Vegas - 3/9-3/12

A video of the fountain show at the Bellagio

 Getting off the highway and greeted by the bright lights of Vegas!!!

 The lobby of our hotel at the Planet Hollywood Resort

 Sweet TV

 Apparently this was a Star Trek Next Generation themed room, but to make it worse I am a Star Wars fan

 Nothing like taking a bath with the crew of the starship Enterprise watching over you

 Captain Picard, keeping watch at night

 It's the Statue of Liberty...in Vegas

 The Eiffel Tower...in Vegas

 The Bellagio fountains

 

Lauren and I in front of the water show at the Bellagio

 Our hotel

 Our hotel...again

 Inside the Paris Casino

 Inside the Paris

 Inside Caesar's Palace

I'm Back!!!!

After a crazy two months I am back to blogging and I hope to be on top of it more as the summer goes on.  There are a lot of things that have happened in the last two months and I will try to recap all of them (with pictures) in an effort to get you all up to date.  First things first, I am sitting in a Starbucks in North Phoenix sipping on a cold drink while it is 105 degrees outside.  I am definitely not digging the ridiculous heat but since this is where Lauren is moving to I guess I will have to get used to it.  We have just finished a whirlwind four days that has included a graduation (not mine), an ordination (again not mine), and some serious miles in a rental car.  I currently cannot find my iPhone wire to connect to my computer so I cannot start posting pics, but when we get back to Berkeley tomorrow I will be able to upload and post.

For those of you who do not know I will be serving as the summer chaplain at the Cove Ascension School Summer Camp in Cove, Oregon.  The camp is the diocesan camp for the Diocese of eastern Oregon.  Everyone has been telling me how beautiful it is and how rural it is, so I am looking forward to the experience, especially since I have never been to Oregon.  I am told it is "high desert" though I have no clue what that means.  I have been assured that they have excellent wireless internet so I will be able to email, post, and FaceTime/Skype regularly.  That last one is for you mom and Lauren.  The camp is small with only one age group per week and only 5-6 full-time counselors.  There is a town near by that has a drive-in with good food, restaurants, and of course Wal-Mart, so even though I will be in the middle of nowhere Oregon, specifically in the northeast corner of the state, I am not terribly removed from civilization.  This will be a great opportunity to channel my previous summer camp experiences while taking on this new leadership position as chaplain.  I do not have to report to the camp until June 15th so I have some time, but it is jammed packed with moving Lauren to Phoenix, which means another road trip though this time in a U-Haul truck towing her car behind and a cat in the cab.  Let the good times roll!!!

I will post again soon to catch up and hopefully I will be up to date by the time I head to Oregon.  Hope everyone is doing well and y'all will hear back from me again soon.

Another day in paradise

It has been a little more than a week since my last post, so I am getting better at this.  I woke up this morning to yet another beautiful day.  The sun is shining and it looks as if it will be warm again.  I am really liking this weather.  I think it was last year in the month of January when Boston saw only four or five days of sun.  That is certainly not the case here and definitely no snow.

Everything has been going well so far.  I have found my stride and I think that I am in a place where I can balance my time versus the work that needs to get done.  This semester is proving to be more difficult in terms of the amount of reading for each class, but again not as much written work.  In my Intro to Worship class we have finished examining the structure of worship.  For this section we had to visit four different parishes, one of which had to be racially different from our "normal" worship community and one had to be in a different liturgically based denomination.  We had to write up reviews of our experiences with special focus on different aspects of worship such as space, objects, movement, texts, and music,  as well as others.  This was great because it again afforded me an opportunity to see different styles of worship within the Episcopal Church.  For my other denominational church Lauren and I went to an AME church in Berkeley.  It was amazing.  The service lasted more than two and a half hours but it was still pretty cool.

My history course continues to take us through the Reformation.  Yesterday we talked about Luther and Calvin.  I am working on a group project now which requires us to work on a wiki page.  So we have to create a page about the English Reformation because we are Episcopalians.  There are many other denominations represented in the class so they have to write about their denomination's place in the Reformation or how the Reformation affected them.  This course is by far not as intense as last semester's history course but still it has its merits.

My other two courses, Pastoral Theology and Leading Though Lament are also pretty good.  The Lament course is small so we are learning a lot and having some pretty good discussions.  The Pastoral Theology isn't bad either but I am learning more than I thought I would.  So as far as school goes everything is good and hopefully it will stay that way.  Not much else has been going on.  Lauren and I are taking a mini vacation to Las Vegas.  We are going to celebrate one of Lauren's friend's birthday.  I will let you all know how it was when I get back.

Viva Las Vegas!!!!!!!