The Myth & The Majesty

(For more details, go to this site ...) A man went into the water at a mostly-frozen pond less than a mile from my house tonight. After a couple hours, the search for him was called off. They will resume tomorrow as a recovery operation. As my SoDak readers know, we've had bitterly cold weather lately and tonight was no exception; the rescue divers' equipment was freezing up too much for them to stay under. It was also estimated that they were on the scene an hour after he went under. The news has not released his name, so neither will I. (As with most small towns, that detail is already known by most of us.) Please keep his family in your prayers tonight.

I want out of this machine It doesn't feel like freedom ... -Switchfoot, "American Dream" I was in Rapid City this weekend (Saturday and Sunday), and let me say -- it was awesome. I was afraid I wouldn't get a chance before I started work, but Dad and I made the trip to pick up a few things still in storage, and I had the amazing luck of catching half of Rapid City at Andy's welcome back party. Good weekend. Lots of people, lots of "see-you-laters," a few melancholy feelings, and one really good sermon that still has me thinking. Brandon, an awesome pastor at Fountain Springs (I say that partially because he is and partially because he might read this [insert smiley face here]), talked about purposeful passion ... or passionate purpose. The first challenging thought was -- how much of the time do you spend just trying to survive? How many days are you just trying to get through? I know I have days like that (lately, a lot of them) where I'm just

So here's the thing. I've been working on this blog since very early Friday morning, and I want to post it all. Just in case you prefer the Reader's Digest version, here are the cold hard facts: - I have accepted a position with Siemens Water Technologies. I will be moving to Wisconsin sometime in the near future. - I thought about this long and hard (and prayed a fair amount, some of which was very loud, almost-yelling "conversation") before deciding this was the best course of action. - I'm really, genuinely psyched about this new step in life ... and not just because I finally know what's going on. Now, if you want to delve into the mind of Ashley, read on! Written Thursday night/Friday morning, when I was insomniacking : Thinking about: oh, so many things ... Listening to: Some U2, some Jars, some more Regina Spektor , and some White Stripes Wishing for: Daylight and a little more information I got the phone call today. I've been getting a fair amo

Listening to: mostly Regina Spektor Thinking about: well, you'll see that Just got done: finishing my laundry I despise waiting. Yeah, I know, you're shocked. "But Ashley," you say, "you have such a tremendously long attention span! What do you mean you don't like to wait?" Fine, fine. Those who truly enjoy waiting are few and far between (and possibly locked in asylums somewhere). And in all fairness, I've gotten a lot more patient in recent years -- or perhaps more relaxed, as the case might be. Maybe a little of both. The bottom line is, no matter how much I've changed, I still don't like waiting. Right now? The down time is killing me. Don't get me wrong. It hasn't been all bad. I've gotten to relax (read: "laze around") more than I have at any other point since ... wow, probably since middle school. I'm getting caught up on my reading list, I'm actually watching movies and realizing what's on

A few great things and a few less great things have actually happened recently ... Whee, something to blog about!! Starting last week ... Thursday night, I caught Justin on his way through town for a quick supper at the Spicy Pickle (yay). Alas, that didn't last too long (he had a long, dull drive ahead of him), but after that I met up with some high school friends at Old Chicago for a second supper and a welcome-home party for Jon, who has spent some quality time in Afghanistan but was home for 2 weeks. I hadn't seen any of them since before Ashley and Jon's wedding, so that was awesome. This past Saturday, Mom and I took my sister back to school which meant a round-trip one-day drive to and from Minneapolis. Actually, it wasn't so bad; my sister has a pretty sweet setup at the school, and it only took about half an hour to move all of her stuff up to her room. We had lunch/supper together (at Erbert & Gerbert's, a place that may only exist in the Cities) befor

Okay. I've seen this turn up on several blogs/Myspace pages/Facebook profiles, and I decided it was my turn. Welcome to ... The Soundtrack Game! 1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.) 2. Put it on shuffle 3. Press play 4. For every question, type the song that's playing 5. When you go to a new question, press the next button 6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool ... its rather interesting! Here is my soundtrack ... I only "cheated" once, when my player got stuck in a loop and kept repeating the same three songs. Somehow that ruined the fun ... I like how it ended, though! And a few of them cracked me up ... Opening Credits -- “American Dream” by Switchfoot Waking Up -- “Benediction” by Relient K First Day of School -- “Afternoons and Coffeespoons” by Crash Test Dummies Falling In Love Song -- “Modern Girls and Old Fashioned Men” by Regina Spektor and The Strokes Fight Song -- “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Su

Can I fast forward a month or so? Maybe by then I would have this figured out. Or maybe by then I'll be obsessing over the other option, the one I decided NOT to go with. Ugh. It's quite possible that what's really causing the trouble are the two sides of me -- the engineer and the side that wanted to be an English major. One side is taking the highly practical approach, while the other is taking the more "whimsical" approach. The problem? I don't think either side is wrong. Neither option really outweighs the other, and neither option has fewer risks, really. It's strange when you're choosing between red and green instead of black and white. My brain is colorblind. No, I still don't know what's going to happen. I'll probably have a better idea by this time next week. Until then -- enjoy your adventures. I'll be attempting to do the same. I never love nobody fully Always one foot on the ground And by protecting my heart truly I

Happy New Year!! (And what a year it will be ...) Urbana. Was. Amazing. Wow. Just amazing. The speakers, the seminars, the intensity, the focus ... Egads. St. Louis is a beautiful, sad city. The most gorgeous buildings go empty and fall into disrepair; the old historic sites are abandoned and "airy." It was fun to walk around in the downtown area, but eerie all the same ... So few cars, so few people ... It felt so empty. There is talk of a revival in the downtown district, and I hope that it's true. So much of that beauty is going to waste -- one of the truest shames. The craziness was centered around the convention itself. Just to give you an idea of how things went: 6:00AM -- The hotel starts serving breakfast. Our particular hotel had an awesome continental breakfast. 7:40AM -- Load the buses and head for the Edward Jones Dome and America's Center in downtown St. Louis. 8:30-10:00AM -- Morning Bible study with our family groups. 10:30AM -- Morning plenary session.