Some of you may or may not know that my best friend, Ada, was asked this Christmas to marry her boyfriend, Dan. I'm very very happy for both of them, and I know that they will have a great life together (as long as Ada learns to clean up after herself finally!)
But what I'd like to share with everyone is how the smallest choices and, in my opinion, nudges from God, have amazing outcomes that we, as silly finite creatures, can't comprehend.
How two people found love because I went looking for a couch.
A year ago, my buddy Phil and I got a condo in Kirkland. And being the two nomadic bachelors we are, we had practically no furniture. We like having people over, but with few places to sit, we knew it wasn't going to work. So the great couch search began!
He put the word out at his church, whereas I went to Craigslist. If you aren't familiar with Craigslist, think of it as the free classified section of the Internet. It's a mixed bag and no frills, but the place to go if you need something quick and cheap or to get rid of something fast.
So look for couches, but nothing really grabs me. I also notice that there is a personals section. Well as a single guy, I'm always looking at such things. Again, I don't find anything that really grabs me, but one profile (while not my "type") was very wittily written. For some reason, I think that Ada would get a kick out of it too, so I send her the link. What does Ada do? She emails the gal! And they hit it off! And she has a friend... who is Dan. One thing leads to another, and now they are engaged!
So if you have single friends out there... fire up your browser and start looking for furniture, because you never know what you'll find instead!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
A Very Dierenfeld Christmas...
Well I'm now heading home after a wonderful Christmas with my family.
And being who we are, we do Christmas a bit different than others. Following our ethnic German roots, our family goes to the Christmas Eve service at church (as kids this was known as the Horror Before the Rapture of New Gifts) and then head home to open gifts that evening. That's right folks... for almost 30 Christmases now... I got to open my gifts before you (unless you also were a part of a more enlightened, Germanic family too). Christmas Eve is the great night, were everyone in my family feigns "oh you don't need to get me anything" and "I really didn't get anything much for anyone" unless it's me... and I really mean it.
My Father's favorite pastime while I grew up was to try to convince my sister and I that there wasn't going to be any gifts for Christmas. That and hiding and mis-wrapping gifts to completely confuse us. Like one year were my GI Joe super-cool airplane was wrapped in Rainbow Bright paper, making me think it was for my sister. Or the other year where he hid our new bike/scooter in the back yard, and my poor sister stepped in dog waste and tracked it through our yuletide living room.
In later years it has been a less commercial affair and more about having a wonderful time together as a family. This is usually centered around various processed meat and cheeses, as well as my mother's infamous Sour Cream Cookies. If you think it sounds nasty, then I'll let your ignorance remain and have your share... because there is NO cookie that beats them. This year's spread was even improved upon, adding the wild game / exotic processed meats. We had Elk Salami, Buffalo Summer Sausage and Duck Summer Sausage. And if you think that they sound nasty, well then I'll have your share of that too.
Perhaps the greatest part of it was the addition to the family, Nicholas. He's already a sweet kid and super cool. When I get home, I'll be posting pics and some short video of him. I'm a proud uncle of a month old baby boy, who doesn't like naps and makes faces at people. Looks like the Dierenfeld genes might dominate...
However, what really makes Christmas wonderful is knowing that my Savior was born around 2000 years ago. Sure, not on Dec 25th, but we couldn't let the pagans have all the good holidays. I hope you had a wonderful time of merriness, joyfultude, and general good cheerifulocity. And I wish you the most blessed New Year!
And being who we are, we do Christmas a bit different than others. Following our ethnic German roots, our family goes to the Christmas Eve service at church (as kids this was known as the Horror Before the Rapture of New Gifts) and then head home to open gifts that evening. That's right folks... for almost 30 Christmases now... I got to open my gifts before you (unless you also were a part of a more enlightened, Germanic family too). Christmas Eve is the great night, were everyone in my family feigns "oh you don't need to get me anything" and "I really didn't get anything much for anyone" unless it's me... and I really mean it.
My Father's favorite pastime while I grew up was to try to convince my sister and I that there wasn't going to be any gifts for Christmas. That and hiding and mis-wrapping gifts to completely confuse us. Like one year were my GI Joe super-cool airplane was wrapped in Rainbow Bright paper, making me think it was for my sister. Or the other year where he hid our new bike/scooter in the back yard, and my poor sister stepped in dog waste and tracked it through our yuletide living room.
In later years it has been a less commercial affair and more about having a wonderful time together as a family. This is usually centered around various processed meat and cheeses, as well as my mother's infamous Sour Cream Cookies. If you think it sounds nasty, then I'll let your ignorance remain and have your share... because there is NO cookie that beats them. This year's spread was even improved upon, adding the wild game / exotic processed meats. We had Elk Salami, Buffalo Summer Sausage and Duck Summer Sausage. And if you think that they sound nasty, well then I'll have your share of that too.
Perhaps the greatest part of it was the addition to the family, Nicholas. He's already a sweet kid and super cool. When I get home, I'll be posting pics and some short video of him. I'm a proud uncle of a month old baby boy, who doesn't like naps and makes faces at people. Looks like the Dierenfeld genes might dominate...
However, what really makes Christmas wonderful is knowing that my Savior was born around 2000 years ago. Sure, not on Dec 25th, but we couldn't let the pagans have all the good holidays. I hope you had a wonderful time of merriness, joyfultude, and general good cheerifulocity. And I wish you the most blessed New Year!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Christmas Time Traveling
Well something actually interesting and “blog” worthy is happening! I’m off to Wyoming to see my sister and the whole family (including new addition Nicholas). Of course I waited until the last minute to do laundry and pack, but with the help of the “Captain” and some egg nog, I had no worries.
I gathered everything together and got a bleary-eyed Mr. P out of bed to drive my rear to the airport. It is always the case (at least for me) that if I get to the airport on time, there are no lines for anything… not at check-in, security or Starbucks counter. It’s like life is one easy breeze. I never have travel nightmares! My bags have never been lost, I’ve only missed one flight (due to my own procrastination) and never has my flight been cancelled. I’ve never sat next to the screaming baby, the annoying salesman and (to my consternation) the cute, single, hot gal. I do have delayed flights, but I feel like compared to the ease of everything else… this is no big deal.
So in the Sea-Tac main terminal, past the Starbucks, the Anthony’s Fish Café and multitude of salmon-and-lumber themed kitschy gift shops, there lies a slice of Americana, Terminal “C”. At Sea-Tac, this is where all the small turbo-prop, egg-beater, puddle jumpers arrive and depart. This is where the real people fly in and out of. The plaid-clad contractor and his family of 10 heading to Pullman, the forever-tanned fisherman off to visit his land-locked brother in Boise, and the young Native couple and their baby heading to Kalispell in Montana. Just your everyday man, woman and child on a yultide journey for the Christmas spirit with family and friends.
And now my journey has ended. I’m at my sister’s place in Wyoming… and met my new nephew for the first time. There will be pictures coming soon!
I gathered everything together and got a bleary-eyed Mr. P out of bed to drive my rear to the airport. It is always the case (at least for me) that if I get to the airport on time, there are no lines for anything… not at check-in, security or Starbucks counter. It’s like life is one easy breeze. I never have travel nightmares! My bags have never been lost, I’ve only missed one flight (due to my own procrastination) and never has my flight been cancelled. I’ve never sat next to the screaming baby, the annoying salesman and (to my consternation) the cute, single, hot gal. I do have delayed flights, but I feel like compared to the ease of everything else… this is no big deal.
So in the Sea-Tac main terminal, past the Starbucks, the Anthony’s Fish Café and multitude of salmon-and-lumber themed kitschy gift shops, there lies a slice of Americana, Terminal “C”. At Sea-Tac, this is where all the small turbo-prop, egg-beater, puddle jumpers arrive and depart. This is where the real people fly in and out of. The plaid-clad contractor and his family of 10 heading to Pullman, the forever-tanned fisherman off to visit his land-locked brother in Boise, and the young Native couple and their baby heading to Kalispell in Montana. Just your everyday man, woman and child on a yultide journey for the Christmas spirit with family and friends.
And now my journey has ended. I’m at my sister’s place in Wyoming… and met my new nephew for the first time. There will be pictures coming soon!
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Going back to "school"
Well today I finally committed myself to getting my A+ certification.
For all of you un-techie types, it's basically the high school diploma of the computer world. I know a little of this and little of that, but this would prove that I know "stuff" about computers. So along with my experience and few books off of Amazon, I'll be attending Ayric's School o' Nerdiness for the next month or so. Gives me something to do over the holidays, and I can always prod my techie father about stuff when he's not distracted by the new grandson.
For my own laziness... I'm adding some links on the sidebar, so that I have them when I'm away from the home CPU.
Well that's about it... I might post more about the wonderful world of computers later, but now it's off to bed.
For all of you un-techie types, it's basically the high school diploma of the computer world. I know a little of this and little of that, but this would prove that I know "stuff" about computers. So along with my experience and few books off of Amazon, I'll be attending Ayric's School o' Nerdiness for the next month or so. Gives me something to do over the holidays, and I can always prod my techie father about stuff when he's not distracted by the new grandson.
For my own laziness... I'm adding some links on the sidebar, so that I have them when I'm away from the home CPU.
Well that's about it... I might post more about the wonderful world of computers later, but now it's off to bed.
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