Chillin' at The Dinosaur Place

Jamie & Brooke met us at our house for the grand tour and then we
headed over to The Dinosaur Place. They have a trail with life sized
models of dinosaurs (and a splash park).

We had a fun time looking at the dinosaurs with Brooke & hanging out
with Jamie.

The mostly finished guest bedroom

Today we moved our guest bed in from Sam's parents' place and set up
the guest bedroom. The trim still needs to be painted and we need some
lamps and decoration, but we could (theoretically) house guests!

The (now) uncarpeted stairs

This week Sam and I pulled up the somewhat gross carpet in the living
room and on our stairs. We're planning on eventually getting the
floors redone, but for the time being they're not in too bad of shape.

Beautiful flowers

This morning we met the Jamies at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield for
their "Peach Festival." We hit up their Sunflower Maze first, & then
checked out the rest of the festivities.

There wasn't too much going on other than carriage rides and a
scavenger hunt of sorts in the grocery-type store they had. We did the
scavenger hunt (in which we couldn't find any of the information in
the store), and then had lunch in a cafe down the road called Perk on
Main, which featured various types of crepes and some tasty coffee.

What does 235,000 sunflowers look like?

Answer:

Lyman Orchard Sunflower Maze

Rescued Seals

A seal that is in the rescue & rehab area of the aquarium.

Cove Fresh Fish Market

For lunch today, Sam & I decided to try out the CT style lobster roll
at a local seafood shack. We found this place in Mystic was highly
recommended.

It was pretty tasty!

Connecticut Style Lobster Roll

Generally lobster rolls are filled with a lobster salad, but in
Connecticut, they're filled with chunks of good ol' lobster meat. Yum!

Duh.

Christian Voter's Guide

Sojourners (a Christian social justice organization) has just put out a guide to Christian voter's issues. I haven't read it through in great detail as of yet, but it looks quite informative and well thought out. This isn't what you might typically think when you think of Christian values (as in the Christian right), but seems (to me) to be well aligned with biblical principles.

Sojourners has identified seven main issues and in the guide breaks down some of what can be included in each. The seven issues are:

1. Compassion and economic justice
2. Peace and restraint of violence
3. A consistent ethic of life
4. Racial justice
5. Human rights, dignity, and gender justice
6. Strengthened families and renewed culture
7. Good stewardship of God's creation

To get the guide, you can go to this website.

Testing the system

Just checking to see if this mobile blogging idea will work.

I'm at the Mystic Starbucks using my 2 free hours of WiFi from being a
starbucks card holder.

Neglected (slightly)

OK. So I haven't updated in awhile.

I think I have a new idea of how to keep this up to date a little easier. I'm going to try to do a little mobile blogging. For example, I'll take pictures with my phone, then put the pictures online with a short commentary from where ever I am. That should be a little lower maintenance and still keep all of you updated with what we're up to.

I'm sure it'll take most of you several days before find I've posted again. :-)

Stepping up communications

I may have more of a vested interest in improving ease of communication than others who read this blog since my wife is a cool 736 miles away. However, it won't be too long before I'm a cool 776, 889, and 916 miles away from my parents, my sister's family, and my brother respectively. That isn't to exclude friends and extended family members, who I welcome to utilize these tools as well.

The internet nowadays has come a long way. The ability to create and share content has become extremely easy and cheap. I think we should kick up the friends & family communication scheme with a little web 2.0 technology. Here are my picks for two free tools to keep us all in better contact with each other.

• Skype: An online chat, voice chat (if you have a microphone), and video chat (if you have a webcam). You do have to download the program, but it's not a major problem. You can just have it on in the background when you're on the computer and you can see when your friends come online. It even works all over the world, so if you happen to know people on the far side of the Earth, it's a good way to stay in touch with them as well.

• --> My Skype name: ben.wildeboer (look me up when you get on!)

• Twitter: I'm really not sure how to describe it, it's kind of like text messaging on steroids (without the side effects). The Twitter FAQ page probably does a pretty good job of explaining it. You can just check it online, or you can "follow" people and get their messages sent to your phone. You can also write your own "tweets" from your phone. It's a great way to stay in touch even when you're not by a computer.

• --> My Twitter ID: WillyB (check it out!)

I look forward to seeing you online!!

It's Official

As of Monday, January 7th, Sam is an official employee of Pfizer, Inc. We drove out to Connecticut on Thursday (Jan. 4) with a Jeep packed to the gills. After unpacking and seeing the sights in Connecticut (see the pics!). I had to come back home. Unfortunately, Sam had to stay.

We're just completing our first week apart. So far...we're surviving. It's not great, but we do get to see each other via Skype, we email during the day, and talk & text each other frequently. It doesn't exactly make up for not having any physical contact, but it's a drastic improvement upon writing letters back & forth.

In the meantime, stay tuned for a second post tonight on suggestions for staying in closer contact with family/friends. It's gonna be good.

Happy New Year!

... And Happy New Year! Happy 2008!
Originally uploaded by tizianoj

This new year will hold a LOT of changes for us, but we're looking forward to facing them together. Surely God has a plan for us.

Perhaps our motto for 2007 could express wisdom similar to an Egyptian brand of beer once said, "What does not kill us, makes us stronger." Plenty of turmoil this year, which makes us look forward to a happy (an perhaps less eventful) 2008.

Sam's Surprise Farewell Party

Sam I Am
Originally uploaded by Ben+Sam

Friday night Sam thought she was going over to scrapbook with Jamie. However, Jamie had planned a super-secret surprise going-away party for Sam.

Jamie created a list of 20 things to photograph (see the list here) that the group all walked around downtown to find. It was a good time and a nice way to send Sam on her way.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The Big Announcement

34458(8323232fp3;=ot)2325=863=33 =59 573b26332(23=3232546253365nu0mrj
Originally uploaded by vlauria

It may be a moot point, since this blog enjoys a readership of approximately 5 people, all of which have probably heard this news already. Oh well...it's such a major lifechanging event that there's no way I could leave it out of the blog.

A couple of months ago Sam interviewed with Pfizer in Groton, CT (where her parents moved) for a position in the Clinical Pathology Lab. She (of course) was offered the position, and has accepted it as well.

While this means major upheavals and doing a few things we don't really enjoy doing (1. Moving away from family, 2. Leaving Ben's Whitmore Lake teaching job, 3. Moving (it sucks)), the opportunity was something that she simply couldn't turn down. She has described this position as her "dream job," and I don't like to be one to stand in the way of anyone's dreams, especially my wife's.

Sam starts her new position on January 7, and we're driving out to Connecticut on the 3rd. We decided that I'll finish my school year before moving out, so in the meantime we have about 6 months living 736 miles apart. We're both a little worried about that piece- but as Ice Cube says, "Life's not a track meet, it's a marathon." 6 months isn't all that long, right?

I'm excited to live outside of Michigan (I'm the only family member to never have live out-of-state), but wish I could take our friends, family, and my job with me.

This blog may become more prominent as we move further away from those that read it, I guess I'll have to work on updating more frequently!

Christmas 2007 Pictures

So, I've been playing around with Flickr (if you couldn't tell), and here are my pictures from Christmas this year. Enjoy!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

New Flickr Account!

OK...so it's not really new, but I've started putting all our photos on it recently. Originally I created an account to use with my high school classes, but my idea for using it didn't pan out.

I added a little widget on the right that starts with the pictures I've uploaded most recently (too bad it doesn't go in chronological order). 

To view all the photos I've uploaded, click here!