It’s dangerous writing in a coffee shop, surrounded by game-playing teens and housewives – it tends to pigeon-hole my metaphors. My mind is over-run – I’m full of “myself” – and I thought that writing something down might purge some of the pressure. But I can’t seem to freely write like I used to, so I have to ride a tributary of observation until I can steer my vessel on the tumultuous rapids of my thoughts. The woman next to me has a heavily adorned bag – pink leather with fat silver rivets, a stark contrast to the utilitarian Ogio messenger bag that shepherds her computer. She drinks drip – hot enough to warrant a sleeve. I think she must be grading science papers.

I’m drinking a glass of 14 Hands Cabernet. I had a professor in college that used to tell us that she graded our papers in her bathtub with a bottle of red wine. Eventually the dried red drops on my Mythology paper would be her testimony. She was a “character” – a status I think is worthy of achieving. If you aren’t a “character” what are you? People are described by what they do (engineer, teacher, bus driver) – with the exception of “characters.” Characters have a personality that overpowers their limitations in a smothering embrace. Characters have to be a little jovial though – otherwise they become curmudgeons.

It’s hard to write when a glass of wine is your sand timer – the rate of descent is too uneven to develop a steady pace.

Starting to feel better. I became overwhelmed with the knowledge of the absence of God today. I could have said that I became overwhelmed with the knowledge of the presence of evil, but that makes it sound like an excerpt from “Twilight.” In the span of a couple of weeks I have run into a couple of people that weren’t evil, but the absence of God in their life was so complete that it felt as though my heart had had a run-in with a melon-baller. They were jovial in their ignorance, but their indifference to good created a storm in my soul. Quiet reverence is no match for a jovial indifference to God. A more active role is going to be necessary…

Two months between posts gives me a quiet confidence – like I’m shouting in an empty room.

There is a condition in sales that is a little like post-partum depression. Birthing a paycheck in real estate can take months, and in the case of some clients, sometimes years. Once the home is found or an offer is agreed upon, there is still 30-60 days of waiting, culminated in a paycheck that is spent as quickly as it cashed. Working so hard for such a quick labor brings on its own case of baby blues, and I seem to get a case with every closing. Closings have been frequent, so I guess I feel like I’ve just had quintuplets. When you have that many kids at once, people revel in the fact that everyone is healthy. Knowing that everyone is healthy doesn’t mean that everyone is happy. Happiness is best maintained at a measured pace, so I’m embracing the day and finding a rhythm.

This has been the best weekend I’ve had in a long time. In large part because I chose to put my cell phone aside and my computer down, fortunate  to have enough business that I could afford a couple of days for me and mine. As I’ve been telling my business partners, I’m a passionate person, so my fire burns long and hot. Once quenched though, it can take a long time to stoke. It’s nearly June, and this weekend aside, the amount of full days that I’ve taken off can be counted on one hand. After an especially busy week (last week) I lost my credit card and my wedding ring (separate incidents), which led me to believe that I either had a tumor that was affecting my short-term memory or I needed to take some time off. Taking time off meant completely blowing off some regular weekly meetings that I knew would only lead to more work.

That was a week ago today. I did have to work a little, but for the most part I put work aside. Kami and the kids returned from their trip to Montana on Thursday, so I’ve spent as much time as I could with them, mostly letting Selah enjoy her time outdoors on our newly mowed yard. Now I’m getting ready to show some condos to some out of state buyers, and I can say that my fire is lit again. I’ve excited to show them – excited to get to know good people. I’ll be of better service to them because of it, so I’m going to have to be better about taking the time to sharpen my axe.

Being unable to sleep has made me highly productive this morning. I got a workout in this morning and returned home before anyone else had woken, which meant that I was able to shower and dress and get to the coffee house for a little reflection before the onslaught of work begins.

There are two men – one on each side of me – reading the paper. I don’t think that I’ve seen two people reading a paper in years. I know that my parents still read the paper, and while their rural location doesn’t lend to finding information quickly online, I believe that even if they had a good internet connection it wouldn’t replace the tactile relationship that they have with the local paper and a hot breakfast. Kami and I ordered the paper for six weeks when we first moved to the Seattle area, but we were so overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of paper that we canceled our subscription before we were forced to line the hallways.

There are two large market papers in Seattle – the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (or the Seattle PI). Oddly enough, they’re owned by the same company. They tried to sell the Seattle PI a few months ago, but with no success. So they’re going to be forced to move to an online-only format, which means that bloggers are becoming the paper, and papers are becoming blogs.

While I regret that employees of the PI will be without work, I can’t help but think that it’s little wonder that the PI wasn’t profitable. My relationship with the local papers is not a fond one – in a recent newsletter to my clients I pointed out their duplicitous nature – selling papers with a dramatic headline that the body of the article seemed to refute. As with most anything, I think that when a company becomes more concerned with the sales of their product rather than the quality of their product, their business will suffer. I have two examples on opposite sides of the issue that readily come to mind: GM and Apple. I remember about six years ago the CEO of General Motors apologizing to his customers for 20 years of shoddy craftsmanship – which was a trend not easily reversed, if their present day concerns are any evidence. Apple Computers has had slow growth in comparison to their competitors, but I know that they’ve always been concerned with quality design and quality products, and over the last eight years they’ve reaped the benefit.

The last example has become very practical to me lately. Although I wanted a MacBook Pro notebook computer, financial prudence compelled me to order a Dell computer at 1/2 the price. In short order though, it became readily apparent that Dell’s mission was less consumer-centric than Apple’s, and I’ve since cancelled my Dell order so that I can order a computer that I want. I need to practice what I preach after all: you get what you pay for, and while I could have gotten a discounted product with discounted customer service from a discount retailer, I’m voting with my dollars for a company and a product of quality.

By the way – the order that I cancelled with Dell – they shipped it anyway. They didn’t mean to, and they shouldn’t have, but they did. Which means that I have to go through the hassle of processing its return and waiting two weeks for them to reverse the charges to my credit card. The Dell computer should arrive today – I’ve never looked forward to returning something so much in all my life.

I just dropped my mom off at the airport and used the traffic as an excuse to pop by my favorite coffee shop in Seattle. The flagship store for this coffee shop used to be on Capitol Hill, which is as colorful a place to people watch as any in Seattle. That location was closed for most of last year as they built a new location – which I’m checking out for the first time today.

I had high hopes when I came in – it’s not everyday that you walk in to see an enormous white parrot perched on the shoulder of a patron without an eyepatch. The host, or perch, is an 85-pound woman in her early fifties, although she looks older than she probably is. I asked if I could take their picture (for the blog), and her response indicated that mine wasn’t the first such request. Not only did she say ”no”, but she said “Please don’t.” Alrighty then. I admit it was a little uncomfortable for me to ask, but as I walked away I couldn’t help but think that it’s little wonder that she’s alone with a bird.

My friend Alvin recently wrote a blog post about the absence of isolated thought in the digital age, and as I look around, I see his argument supported. There isn’t a single case of commingling – everyone is alone, with the exception of their laptop, newspaper or book. No one is meeting, no one is talking, and most people (including myself) reinforce their bubble with the use of white earbuds. I’ve recently been challenged at work to talk to more people, even approaching strangers and starting a conversation for no other sake then getting to know more people (networking). There are a number of recent books on this subject, no doubt inspired by this current trend of isolationism. It’s an interesting experiment: most people try to be resilient and counter my greeting monosyllabically. Eventually though, they accept my warm nature and return it in kind. Once they find out I’m not (1) an Amway sales rep or (2) a Jehovah’s witness, they might actually breakdown enough to ask me a question or two.

My battery is about to die – thanks to work that I felt I had to attend to before I started a blog post. I’m committed to writing more and updating the blog more often, so please check back soon.

We all got home yesterday a little before 2pm – right before Selah’s nap time. I let Kami get settled in with David a little and then I went across the street to pick up Selah from our favorite neighbors I told Kami to have the video camera ready, so as soon as I got Selah free of her snow gear I could videotape the first meeting between brother and sister. I’m so glad that we did this, because it tells us so much about Selah’s character. She was super excited to hold her new brother, and she seems to know that this baby will be sticking around. I’ve posted a link below so you can all see their first meeting:

Quality of YouTube video is a little grainy, but click above to watch.

Kami came home from work Wednesday afternoon and decided to check the mail. She opened the mailbox, and contemplated waving at a nearby neighbor when her water broke, and she decided against it. We were a little surprised – thinking that we had a solid three weeks before we had to organize a mad scramble to the hospital. Needless to say, this made our scramble all the more mad

We got to the hospital at 5pm, and our friend Megan Antonius (who was our attending nurse when Selah was born thanks to her willingness to change shifts) arrived around 8pm. Megan is a Labor & Delivery Nurse, and an awesome asset to have in a delivery room (takes some of the pressure off of me mostly). Kami started pushing around 11:50pm, and at around 12:20am on Wednesday, 12/17/2008, our second child was born.

A baby boy! We were very surprised because Kami’s pregnancy didn’t seem to vary that much from when she carried Selah. His name is David Carrico Moore: David for literal reasons (read 1st Samuel 17:58), and Carrico after one of my favorite people on earth, my grandfather Frank Carrico. We had the name planned before Kami and I were married (just as Selah’s was), and I’m glad that we get to honor him with a grandson.

These pictures aren’t the best, so I’ll post more tomorrow. Right now it’s almost 2am, and everyone is a little tired. The baby is healthy (7 lbs, 12 oz; 19.5 inches tall), and Kami is also feeling healthy and strong.

Welcome David! You are loved!

Hello to all,

I wanted to relay the story of little Miss Jaylea Ellen Lunceford on the day after our new president elect won the race.  Apparently, the Big Timber grade school had it’s own election for “Rock Obama” and McCain.  Obviously Jaylea’s kindergarten class would very impressionable among each other and when listening to parents and older siblings but it would be interesting to see what came about.  As it turns out, Obama won the national race as well as the race among kindergarteners at Mrs. Gano’s class.  The morning after the election Mrs. Gano informed the class that “Rock Obama” had won the race and that he would be the new president of the United States.  The entire class whooped and hollered with joy because their candidate had won.  Everybody, that is, except the Lunceford girl.  Jaylea was sitting in her seat in the middle of the classroom with an unsettled look while her classmates danced around her.  Upon noticing this and after the rest of the class had calmed back down, Mrs. Gano asked if Jaylea would like to tell what was on her mind.  Without hesitation she said, “You know, now he’s gonna try to take our guns.”

And that is why everybody is shaking my hand as I walk around Big Timber these days.  I think the story has made it from Mrs. Gano’s class all over town.

I read an article yesterday that deserves some attention. It’s starting to gain a lot of momentum, so many of you may have already read it. It’s an open letter to American newspapers, written by a journalist by the name of Orson Scott Card. Card is also a registered Democrat (even though many of his views wouldn’t be endorsed or supported by many of those in his party), and the letter is a rebuke of the media’s imbalance on their coverage of the presidential race. I sent this to a few open-minded Obama supporters yesterday and it resulted in some honest talk and deep discussion. I’ve been inundated with political emails, and a good share of them are more hyperbole than truth, so I’ve largely stayed quiet on the issue. This is an intelligent and pointed discourse though, so I’m shining a light on it today. So when you have time today, take a second to read “Would the last honest reporter please turn on the lights?”, and then forward the article to anyone else that reads.

In lighter fare, most of you have probably seen this as well, but I think that Sarah Palin’s visit to SNL resulted in one of their funniest bits of late. So happy Friday – cap off your week with a little Palin Rap.

It won’t be right away – everyone has to descend from their pedestal into the valley, where many will live on a diet of dust. I’ve been in the valley for a little while, waiting. I’ve tired of my diet here, and my ears are starting to hear a swelling drumbeat from a distant height.

I’ve been too easily distracted. Too much time spent on things that don’t matter, too much time spent on things that matter to other people.

I’ve said that the blog is going to change, maybe even go away. To some degree I’ve come to find the very premise of blogging nauseating. Let me explain: when I sit down to write, I’m not nauseated by that. But I’ve read hundreds (if not thousands) of blogs, and the fascination is starting to wear thin. Everyone in the world has a blog, sharing their thoughts and opinions like they’ve earned a right to be heard. I’m thankful for the blogging medium, and I think that it’s done a lot to keep the news media accountable, but save a few examples, I think that blogging makes people lazy intellectually. I read a blog recently where I felt thrown up on – that the writer just expelled as many thoughts as possible without any sense of order or connection (and I’m horrified to realize that I’ve done the same thing many times here). Most bloggers have so many thoughts that they can’t even take the time to use full words or complete sentences, and everytime I trip across an OMG or LOL landmine I’m reminded that quantity of thought is no replacement for quality of thought.

If I try to use this blog as my vehicle for writing and thought, it’s going to be a short trip. I’m not abandoning the blog, but I am going to be taking fewer trips with it, hopefully because I’m working in a medium that challenges me to write more coherently. This might mean that someday I’ll even have clarity of thought, which might even more blog posts.

So I’m taking myself out of the valley. I’m headed for rarer air.