My two girls

I don't need to say anymore.

Any Day Now...

The bags are packed, the car seat is ready, the diapers are here and the rocking chair is all greased up and ready for 2!

We got word from the doctor this past Wednesday (Nov 26th) that the baby could come within' the week!

We can't wait to meet the little girl!

When the snow comes...

...I'll be ready!

Yesterday I received an early Christmas present from my amazing "in-laws". I swear I think they completely understand my inner-child. Because of our recent relocation to more alpine climes, Kelley and I have been eagerly anticipating a good snow like we've heard happens often here. I guess Mom and Pop Bateman have anticipated our anticipation, because they put a lot of hard work and love into finding me a perfect sled for the winter weather! They did some research and found Mountain Boy Sledworks, which is based out of Silverton, CO. They bought me this "ultimate flyer" which, honestly is a moving work of art. I feel like a 6-year-old again! I can't wait for it to snow!

It'll be just like Christmas Vacation baby, "preparing to set a new landspeed world record...Clark W. Griswald!"

The Folks

Last week my folks came out for a visit to Montezuma. These are some pics from their time at the UWC and in Santa Fe

Another day...another dollar

Sorry for 2 posts in one day, but I thought I'd post some images from our field work today. We've been heading to the Gallinas now every day for about a week to do this last big ecology project.

This is my first year, Higher Level Biology class hard at work in the Gallinas river area just west of campus.



The kids were given the following prompt as their lab: Design and conduct an experiment to survey a biotic component or investigate the relationship between a biotic component and an abiotic component of a river ecosystem.

The rest is up to them. Here's what some of them are studying:

1) stream richness vs. stream flow rate as determined by measuring the number of different species (and # of individuals in each species) of aquatic macroinvertebrates (water bugs)
2) grasshopper population and distribution study using the capture-mark-release-recapture method
3) cattail distribution study as affected by soil moisture content
4) a few other various plant studies and how varying abiotic factors affect plant distribution
5) pocket gopher population study (capture-mark-release-recapture)

Pretty cool stuff huh!?

cheers,
jeff

New Pajamas

There's nothing like it...

As the cold of the New Mexico fall has us getting cosy by the space heaters and enjoying some cinematic adventures on our TV, the icing on the cake is a new pair of Pajamas for a very pregnant Kelley.

We went into Santa Fe yesterday for a doctor's visit and a small trip to Target (a rare luxury for us in our small town). I got a new fleece hoodie and kelley got some bangin' new owl pajamas that definitely had her in high spirits last night....evidently Camden(black dog) and Jack (brown dog) liked them too!

As mid-October is finding me busy in the classroom, nights have been a really great yin to the yang of the daytime. Kelley and I have been spending some great quality time together getting ready for our soon-to-be munchkin to finally arrive. The nursury is set, my rocking chair is ready in the bedroom, and we've been playing tummy games with the not-yet-of-this-world kiddo when we get ready for bed. Kelley can scratch or push on a part of her belley and little Moira will kick at that spot! Pretty cool stuff.

cheers,
jeff

Luck of the Kiwi?

It's not my intention that this become a blog just about my fishing experiences, but...

My parents recently (within the past year or so) had a journey to New Zealand with some friends of theirs. On returning, they brought me quite possibly the best gift that they could have brought me from New Zealand...a greenstone fish hook. I didn't realize it at the time, but there's a bit of tradition with these necklaces in that it is VERY bad form to buy one for yourself...kind of a like giving yourself a nickname! The fish hook itself represents prosperity and safe-keeping over the water. It's a bit of a fisherman's guardian angel.

Since receiving it, I feel like I've been having a bit of good luck in the trout-catching department. Yesterday's outing was definitely one to make me even more convinced.

I was done at school by 12:30pm yesterday because of the academic festival we're having instead of normal classes this week. I ate lunch, talked with Kel for a bit, and then went down to the Rio Gallinas...about 5 min. from my house. I only fished for an hour, but in that time, caught 4 trout worth mentioning...2 of which were over 16 inches each! These are some of the biggest that I've caught yet. The weather was perfect...high 70's and low humidity...sun shining...and the bugs were out, which was making the trout rise. I caught a brown trout on a store-bought stimulator caddis fly with an orange tail...he was enormous feeling on the end of my light-weight fly rod. After that I decided to try one of my home-tied caddis stimulators just to see if they'd hit it...and that's when I caught the biggest fish yet...a deep bronze-colored German brown trout. He hit the caddis upstream in a deep pocket and we fought for a good minute and a half as he tried to take the line under a clump of beaver-chewed river debris.

Good day fishing?...or luck of the Kiwi necklace? Either way, I'm happy to be fishing in New Mexico!

cheers,
jeff

"can't catch it in a camera"

Saturday had been planned (at least in part) for over 2 weeks. One of the teachers here at the college had a friend coming out to visit and a few of us had planned on taking the day to go climbing as a way to get to know the visitor a little better.

So when Kelley and I were in Santa Fe, I stopped in at REI and bought a couple more pieces of climbing gear...a daisy chain, some locking carabiners, and a new chalk bag.

As the time got closer my days in class just happened to be spent taking the kids to the Rio Gallinas again as one of the last parts of this huge unit on ecology we're doing. As they planned out their field study, I walked the river and started noticing the trout in the stream. My "other love" was now groaning once again from the river to my soul and I went and bought a fishing license this past Friday. During my fishing outing on Friday afternoon I began to think about what the climbing would be like on Saturday and as I mulled over the terrain that we would be in, I realized that the Mora river ran straight through the area...deep inside of Carson National Forest. It was set then...

...I would ride the harley with climbing and fly fishing gear riding on the passenger seat(like some turtle with an adrenaline addiction)up New Mexico Hwy 518 and have what would become a day to rival days.

---------------------------------------------------

We ate breakfast at a friend's house on campus and then I took off early to scout out the fishing spots before we all went climbing. 5 minutes (by road) from our climbing spot I found a great section of the river where the pools were deep and the trout were active. I couldn't wait until after the climbing, so I put on all my gear and caught a little brown trout within the first 4 or 5 casts.

I had seen my friends pass in the car on their way to the crag, so I got back on the bike and met them at Comales Canyon in Carson National Forest. The hike in was enough to shake the cold of the morning ride and I found them setting up gear at the bottom of a rock face called the Water Wall. We climbed until about 3pm. I climbed a 5.8+ that was really fun and tried to climb a 5.9+/5.10A route. I only got 1/3 of the way up, but the first few moves were great and tired me out.

Then it was back to the river. I went further up 518 towards Taos only by a few hundred yard and found a great public camp right by the river. I put the rod together, donned my waders and vest and stepped softly down into the stream. The willows on the riverbank were enough to buffer my casting from the harsh wind that had picked up. As the sun came out, I decided to try a dry fly (I had been fishing nymphs all morning and the previous day). I put on a stimulator caddis with a bright orange tail and crept up on a deep hole with a steep rock as the outer boundary...I could feel the trout waiting.

A long cast found my caddis laying down at the full extension of the leader and tippet where it paused for a brief second before the water exploded. A beautiful brown trout had been fooled and was now on the end of my happy line. Soon in the net, I marveled at its golden color...the spots on its side beaming with color like I had never seen.

I fished the rest of that afternoon careless if I caught another after that magnificant fish. I was soon back on the motorcycle and heading home through some of God's most amazing country...the bright yellow sunshine of the turning aspens like islands amidst the deep green of the alpine spruce and fir trees.

Home came quickly and much welcomed by my tired but happy body after a day that a camera could do no justice to.

Today I am tired

Darkness to offset brilliance

Women to show us all that we are not

Winter to remind us of summer

and bad days to put into sharp relief those that are great.

"Mojo"...a better name for a bike than a child.

So Kelley and I went to Santa Fe last Friday for an appointment with our perinatal specialist. They drew out a pedigree of our family's possible genetic conditions, talked with us about a few concerns we had, and even took us into the ultrasound room where we got yet another peak at our soon-to-be baby girl. We've picked the name "Moira Josephine Gregory"...

...after we picked it I quickly realized that I would have an excuse to call her "Mo-jo"! It seems, though, that neither of the pairs of grandparents really like that idea much...so we'll just stick with "jo" for short until her friends pick their own nicknames for her later in life! :)

We're both so excited about her arrival in December and I think that my excitement for her getting here is getting close to Kelley's excitement for getting her out of Kelley's belly!

The name "mojo" is just too good to waste though...so I've affectionately named my Harley in honor of what no one will let me name my own child! :)

On Saturday (the day after our trip to Santa Fe), I got on mojo and rode the beautiful ride to Taos, NM. It takes you up on New Mexico Hwy 518 through some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. Desert turns to arid uplands, which become alpine forests complete with Aspen groves that are already in peak color change. Then the road descends into Taos, which is such a hip place as well.




I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to experience life this full.

cheers,
jeff

A day in the life...

Ok...so this is not the EXACT spot on the Gallinas River that we went, but today my first year students are completing part 3 of their training in random sampling as part of our ecology unit in IB Higher Level Biology. We took kick nets, sorting containers, a flow meter, pH meter, temperature meter, clip boards, and field guides down to a section of the river that runs right through campus.

Within 30 minutes we had collected caddis flies, mayflies, a stone fly, damsel flies, and even a planarian. The whole point was to qualitatively assess the richness, and therefore overall health, of the Gallinas River at that spot. I'm not sure whether it was our brief sampling time or not, but I expected to see more stone flies and we didn't. Stone flies are very sensitive to pollutants and are therefore generally the first order of organisms to decline in population size when a river is getting polluted. Interesting stuff...

The real point is that it is SO FLIPPIN' COOL to be able to take a 45 min. class period and get done in the field all that we were able to get done! Where else can this happen?!

until next time,
jeff

Fast Times in Montezuma

It's been almost a month since we moved to New Mexico.
In that time, I've come to appreciate drier air, bluer skies during the day, starrier skies at night, hummingbirds by the drove at our little feeder outside our front window, and a hiking trail at the back of my driveway on which a 15 minute hike leads up to a spot where I can see clear across the sundrenched plains of New Mexico.

I recently spent 3 days at Ghost Ranch on hwy 84 in northern New Mexico. We took the whole student body there for some orientation activities. How amazing it was to look up to the cliffs painted in such vibrant colors that it even makes your eyes question themselves upon looking. We swam in a deep turquoise lake, rode mountain bikes through the desert, played music at night, and my motorcycle brought me home safe to Kelley and her parents who were in town for a visit while I was gone.

So this is where my mind is upon class starting this coming Tuesday. I'm still marvelling at the beauty of this new place that Kelley and I can now call home. Soon the focus will turn to lessons, labs, extracurricular activities, marking papers, and the business that surrounds such a culturally and academically rich environment as the UWC. I can only pray that God gives me the faith to depend on Him daily for the strength that Kelley and I both need to survive out here.

cheers,
jeff

Surfing so good, a lady took her top off!

So there we were...patrick and I...in some of the best surf we've had yet in SC. The waves were long, tall, and we were catching rides right and left.

I actually finally was able to turn down the wave and ride the face...talk about hangin' loose!

Then...towards the peak of the high tide, some people from Michigan swam out into the breakers and joined us for a bit. For one of the middle-aged women, it was her first time in the ocean and you could tell. "Damn! this water is salty!", she said. "They sure knew what they were talking about!"

They got closer and closer to Patrick and I because there was a slight riptide pulling them down the beach. When they got to me, I politely told them that we had been waiting on these waves all day and that we would probably hang out there a while, if they didn't mind. "Good" one of them said, "we'd like to watch!" I told them that we sucked at surfing, and suggested that they might just enjoying us wipe out. I then (also politely) warned them that if they kept swimming between us and the shore, they'd probably get hit by the surfboards. The middle-aged woman's response was "honey, if you mean to tell me something, you might as well just come out and say it. I'm from Michigan and if you're trying to tell me to get the hell off of your wave..." "Get the hell off of my wave!" I interrupted with a big smile. She laughed hard and I caught a couple of more really good SC waves...unseasonably good in fact.

As I paddled back out into the surf...the Michiganites had drifted back into our area and this time the woman shouted "Don't you come over here surfer dude" as she proceeded to swing her recently removed bathing suit (a one-piece by the way) over her head like a lasso.

Patrick and I laughed and laughed at the slightly uncomfortable situation and kept surfing to the sounds of "ride'em cowboy" coming from the middle-aged, naked, toothless woman.

So there you have it...the boys from Columbia have gotten so good at surfing that a lady took her top off.

Back in the waves

It's been roughly a year since my first surfing experience. Kelley and I have really been enjoying our summer vacations with her parents and we're at Fripp island again for one last east coast hoorah before we take off for New Mexico.

I rented a little 7'3" fun shape foam board from the local rinky dink beach shop. The guys there are super nice and definitely family-oriented.

My brother-in-law (Patrick) and I went surfing (or trying to surf) out at the Fripp beach today...it was flat, choppy and confused, so we relocated in the afternoon to Hunting Island. The change in surf was amazing to say the least. Some of the waves were really great and I got up more times than I could count. Which is really what it's all about! A little tanner, a little more worn-out, and definitely more in touch with my zen...I left the beach happy and feeling accomplished in my still-newbie-surfer status.

Today I focused on trying to turn down the face of the wave. A couple of times I actually got up early enough on the wave to turn down it successfully...but these waves still are way to short to enjoy a real long ride. My rides today lasted between 2 and 12 seconds tops.

we'll see what the tide brings in tomorrow!

just some new pics from hiking in new mexico

a view to the south where you can see the resevoir.



just a hiking "shrine". put a rock on the pile when you pass by....mine's the red one on top.



can you see the coyote? click on the picture for a bigger view...it's fuzzy, but he's standing on the right edge of the clearing.



Bear tracks! probably an adolescent bear at best, but it rained really heavy around 4am this morning...this picture was taken at 5:40pm. So the bear is "in the area" :)



a nice rainbow at the end of my hike. Ah...new mexico...the land of enchantment.

A diversion from the Tao of Joe

I'm in New Mexico for a week! The main purpose is training in the International Baccalaureate curriculum in biology (which is definitely intense and taking most of my daily time). But let me just say that the faculty I have had conversations with, the hikes I have been on, the feeling I got when I walked into what will be Kelley and my house in 3 weeks...all these experiences have been nothing less than complete affirmations that our journey to the American West and the United World College is completely part of God's plan for us.

I'm really sad to leave Kelley home this week and have to do all this alone, but she'd be bored with the meetings and wanting to get the house set up anyway, which is understandable.

I won't go on anymore than just to say that I hope life continues to progress in an upward motion from here. This is amazing and a dream come true in that I can now fully provide for my family, live in a nurturing evironment for my wife and my soon-to-be munchkin, give myself to both family and job without feeling like either is a "job", and live in some of God's most mysterious, haunting, and beautiful country.

peace,
jeff

Chapter 2 continued - "The Wave"

...

3) Catching the wave

So you've paddled out, you've been waiting around for a while...and if you're like me...it's usually on my back checking out the cloud patterns or something you know?! Totally...as a matter of fact, I'm probably not the one to give you advice at all on how to actually catch the wave man. For me, a good wave usually just finds me and the whole "drop in" thing just happens. He yeah!...I remember so many of those rad cloud patterns. Some of the big white fluffy ones can take so many shapes! penguins, squid, coconuts, fire urchins, chickens...oh...sorry...andyway.
For a lot of people, I hear that they have to start paddling in the same direction as the wave...matching its energy, and then pop up when they feel the surge of the wave under their board. That sounds good too bro.

Life application - If you can learn to enjoy whatever you find yourself doing (and there is usually some element of everything can can be enjoyed or that is at least interesting in a cool sort of way) then life stops seeming like a series of tasks to get through, and becomes so rich with experience and opportunity to learn.

4) Helping the surfer-in-need

You know dude...life would be pretty boring if there weren't other surfers to enjoy it with. I'm not one of those territorial chickens, you know...always guarding the surf like I own the waves at a certain beach. Heck no bra...I've learned about the KAVU lifestyle! "Become a local...worldwide". In fact, it's that mentality that took me to Antarctica where I met my bud Cody. Anywho...one of the most crucial parts of surfing (other than having a blast) is meeting all the other cool surfers out there...on the beach...in the surf...whether they're shredding it up or whether it's shredding THEM up! We've always got to be there for each other so that surfing continues to be FUN and not something that keeps emergency rooms filled. So dude...if you're riding that perfect wave and another guy (or chick) is flailing in the soup (the "soup", by the way is all of the churned up water where a wave set crashes...you can get stuck in it sometimes if you're not careful), you've got to step in and help them out. Who knows!? you might just meet your next best friend bro!

Life Application - uh...pretty obvious here bro, but... RELATIONSHIPS ARE WHAT GIVES LIFE ITS MEANING. You can't just paddle out and ride 'em in alone all the time.

Keep contributing to the collective pool of individuals that make you a part of something greater than yourself.

Chapter 2 - The Wave

So dude, I've decided to go ahead skip all the useless crap so that I can share the ways of the wise surfer right up front. (in case you stop reading this "book" because the surf is up for a while)

Check this simply analogy: Life = The Wave

Steps to catching a wave(and how surfing can apply to life)
1) paddle out - lay flat on the board with your weight centered, use long, slow, and smooth paddling strokes to get you out into the surf. Don't paddle OVER the big surf...simply push the nose of your board down and paddle under the crest of the wave. Don't fight it man, just torpedo right under it.

- Life application - when preparing for any new curve that life throws at you, keep your eyes on the eventual goal and take small, purposeful, effective steps at getting there. Don't beat yourself against the problem that you're facing, just use your head to help you think your way through it.

2) wait for "the" wave - At most beaches around the world, waves come in sets. Depending on the weather, tide, or lunar phase, these sets can vary. Sometimes the ocean will be completely flat, whereas ,on other days, every wave in a set will be "the" wave. Regardless, at some point, you're going to have to figure out how to sit and wait. Bra, you've seen the surfers at the beach...sitting out there in the waves on their boards...waiting for what seems like forever. You've got to pick the right wave carefully...even artfully. Waiting takes skill too dude...if you TRY and balance on your board while sitting, you'll most likely just tank and get a lungful of water. You've got to completely let go and, in that zen-like fashion, find a calm that will allow you to absorb all pitch and roll from the waves under your board...then you just sit in the flux and wait...there's no stress here, because you're just as calm as a chicken from cheboygan...chillin' out.


- Life application - So if "life = the wave" then you're already in the thick of it by the time that you're waiting for your set. Life is tossing you about as you're trying to stay calm so that you can choose the best path, dude. If I've told one chicken, I've told a thousand, you've got to stay calm when things get a little choppy out there. How else will you maintain your clear head to think through the situation and make the right choice on what to do? It's totally like being calm in the surf when you're sitting your board, bro. You've got to just chill and wait for life to present the right wave to you...then there will be no question of what to do...ride that sucker!


...more to come...

The Tao of Joe

Chapter 1 -

Life's not easy when you're a chicken living in a world of penguins. #1, you can't even fly very well. #2, you sure as heck can't swim. So dude, you've just gotta learn to surf.

Check it out...

The world as we know it can be broken down into a few crucial and gnarly units.

1 - friends
2 - food
3 - fun

Joining all of these things together?...a rest-easiness and laid-back mentality made possible by the understanding that there is something much bigger out there that flows through us all bro. What all that really means is that we don't have to be afraid of what we don't know. Things will all work out in the end just fine...like they're supposed to. The biggest thing is to enjoy the ride while you're on the wave.


______ check back often over the next week as I have some pretty high hopes for where the successive chapters in "The Tao of Joe" will take me.

Our House...in the middle of our street.

It's been a while since I've written and I feel guilty. So very sorry.

Today was spent doing some "staging" for our house to be sold quickly. A pregnant k-time and myself worked all day going through clothes, closets, rooms, and every other nook and cranny of our house to decide what items get trashed, get donated, or get ready to be sold so that we can make our house a bit more tidy. I've gotten a couple of inquiries about the sale of the house and we might even have a couple coming by tomorrow to check it out...so we needed to get ready.

I'm really bushed at the current moment, so I think this post will be brief. I'll only add that I've solicited the help of a street army to help me sell the house. Instead of going the route of a real estate agent, we've decided to sell "by owner" and I've posted an event on Facebook letting all my "friends" know that I'll pay one person $1000 who actually refers the eventual buyer of our house. I've gotten some pretty good response and so far about 69 people are keeping their eyes and ears open for anyone looking for housing in the northeast Columbia area.

Fun times. more later,

jeff

The light at the end of Columbia

Sorry for the cell phone image, but I think it's kind of fitting for this post.

The spring time is in full effect and the school year is winding down...and finishing up pretty quickly at that I might add.
My bio class is taking their EOC (end of course exam) this Thursday and that basically means that we have a whopping 2 weeks left in class before summer is official. In my anatomy classes, I'll have to turn in grades for seniors by THIS Friday. THIS FRIDAY! normally I'd be siked as all get out, but right now, I'm experiencing some mixed emotions. On one hand, these are my last 2-3 weeks at Spring Valley High School EVER! On the other hand, these are my last 2-3 weeks at Spring Valley High School...ever...you know what I mean. There's the wonderful excitement of heading to New Mexico that is intimately coupled with the fact that I'll miss all the wonderful people I've worked with.

A great cure for mixed emotions over the past couple of days has been the fact that my wife is increasingly pregnant. I've been really happy to help her out at home as she's been feeling pretty lousy with morning sickness. Interestingly enough though, she's seemed to be really happy through it all...I'm not sure if it's simply with the excitement of the baby to come...or with the excitement of the baby to come in a completely new and adventurous home for us in New Mexico. Either way, it's really cool to have her this upbeat through all the physical discomfort.

A second thing that has been helping my mixed emotions is the great motorcycle rides I've been on lately. The picture above is from a pretty short ride I took the other night into the northeast countryside of Columbia. Pretty cool. I also went out towards Boykin 2 days ago on the bike. Sunny...windy...and riding through fields of wheat on the back country roads was just amazing.

So the instant gratification of the bike rides and the life-changing anticipation of our child-to-be are carrying me through as I finish up what has been an amazing 4 years in Columbia.

Dreaming Big - also slack lining and Tai Chi

Ok...so this is NOT me...but maybe it will be one day. Over the past couple of days I've been practicing what seems to be a growing pass-time among an interesting culture of miscrients...called slack lining.

A good friend of mine (Scott) got me into it and I have to admit it's addicting. Essentially you take some 1-inch tubular webbing, string it up between some trees and "give it a go", meaning try and walk across that thin strip of seat belt material! I ended up putting up a "training rope" above my head that ran the length of the slack line just to help me get the technique down. It worked really well and I feel almost slightly confident on the slack line now.

The fun thing is how it is great training for Tai Chi. The other night when I was teaching a Tai Chi class I acutally took my slack line and we worked as a group helping people figure out how to keep their balance on the line. When we went back inside the studio to do some balancing drills and our forms, the improvement in the students was amazing.

Interestingly enough it is also very theraputic. For some reason the required focus on the line gives me a bit of clarity and relaxation that rivals my tai chi training. Maybe if I keep at it, I'll include it on my next excursion to Devil's Cellar in Linville Gorge,...or since we're heading out west, maybe I'll find a nice deep slot canyon to slack line over!

A Good Cry

"I wanna know where children would go
if they never learned to be cool
Cause nothin's achieved when pushed up a sleeve
so nobody thinks you're a fool" - Missy Higgins

I'm hoping the children go to the UWC in new mexico. I'm dreaming that they sacrifice self for knowledge and for the benefit of others. I'm honored that Kelley and I will get to be a part of that scene come August of 2008.

Last night K-time and I headed for Asheville for a Missy Higgins show at the Orange Peel. It was interesting because here's this HUGE artist in Australia that is made to open for some very good, but admittedly less popular artists...even here in America. Missy played about 7 or 8 songs...and I cried the whole time...seriously.

I think it was Art Garfunkel who once said that their goal (Simon and Garfunkel) was to make good music..and good music gives people goosebumps. Well last night my eyes had goosebumps. I don't know if the excitement of our move to New Mexico, now coupled with the possibility of a young one coming along next December for us, has gotten to me more than I realize or what, but I felt pure unadulterated catharsis last night through her songs. The whole venue...audience, room, and sound system combined truly provided an atmosphere where the sound stood a chance to cut deep into your heart and your mind. The lyrics came to life as Missy's crystal clear voice filled the room.

Kelley looked at me about half way through the show and noticed the tears. "Are you alright?", she asked and kind of laughed.

It was good to be affected in that way. To escape to such a hip town as Asheville on a Saturday night and to find yourself being reached at such a deep level.

There's nothing like a good cry.

Kel and the Fish

So yeah...it looks like the 4th year of our marriage has proven itself a year of amazing things to say the least...

Kelley truly learns how to sew and get great at it...
Jeff gets "teacher of the year" and then finds another job in New Mexico...talkabout a cosmic "peace out"!
...and then...Kelley gets pregnant!

That's right, you're looking at our new little 7-week-old...fish. It's funny because I always show this one picture (below) to my biology students during our unit on evolution. It's a 4-week-old human embryo compared to a fish embryo...the kids can never tell them apart. See for yourself....can you pick which one is the human? Evidently God was so satisfied with the early stages of embryological development that he made most "higher" organisms share developmental characteristics. He probably also figured: "One day, my humans will come up with a way to look inside a woman's belly and see the developing baby...I think I'll make them look like fish for a while just to make all those silly sheep-like humans have a good laugh!"




Anyway. It's WAY early into the whole process and we're definitely in that stage where miscarriage is possible. We even found out that there might be a little complication to the pregnancy with some genetic stuff going on with K-time. Nothing serious, but we're waiting on some tests to come back. So needless to say, we're extremely excited, but also a bit nervous at this point about everything coming out healthy for both Kel and the "fish".

God-willing, by December 17th of this year, we'll be the parents of a wonderful, healthy, and happy new baby...and we'll join the ranks of those trying desperately to bring new life into a world of turmoil...maybe our offspring will learn how to live peacefully with each other. :)

Looking to the west

So it's official.

Come August, Kelley, the dogs, and I will be heading for the southwest. We have had an amazing job offer at the United World College-USA in Montezuma, New Mexico.

The college is a 200-student boarding school that uses the International Baccalaureate Curriculum to unite students from all over the world under the umbrella of education, service, and experiential wilderness expeditions.

I'll keep this short as I'm sure there will be more posts to come concerning the issue, but essentially this is my dream job...come true!

Kelley and I will be living on campus with the dogs and the international students and enjoying some pretty rigorous biology, sweet trips into the New Mexico wilderness, and some great service opportunities as well.

Columbia has been amazing for the last 4 years since we've been married...but it's so cool to feel a pull towards the west.

Here are some pictures of the castle at the UWC and the New Mexico countryside.

In between

tangibly nervous

a fledgling pushed from the nest

catching wind at last

The Land of Enchantment

Over 3 and a half years ago, Kelley and I got married and spent our honeymoon in New Mexico (Santa Fe to be specific). This past week, we had an opportunity to head back out to the land of enchantment and were able to have some good reminiscent vibes from our honeymoon time as we explored some new places.

We hardly ever get to travel, so the trip came about at a good time and was really fun for the most part. I guess the only drawbacks were the short time we actually got to spend in NM and the long lay-overs due to delayed flights.

Early Friday morning we woke up from our hotel room in Albuquerque and drove north past Santa Fe on our way to Las Vegas, New Mexico. The arid climate and sparse vegetation made for such an amazing view that we both have come to love as we've spent time in the west. You can probably see for at least 40-50 miles out there....compared to 600-700 yards most places in South Carolina.

Anywho...not much of an "inspirational" blog at this point, but more of a documentation that we went out to New Mexico for some "covert operations" that are yet to be disclosed.

"How can you buy or sell the earth?" (a long blog)

I just returned from a wonderful weekend vacation with my in-laws in the mountains of North Carolina. My recent reunion with the hobby of fly fishing had me quivering with anticipation for the trout that were awaiting me in the Nantahala River. I literally felt a groaning within as we got closer to the mountains...a strange inexplicable magnetism to the stream somewhere in my gut that seemed to make the harsh lines that seperate man from wild soften and dissolve.

As soon as we arrived at the cabin and upacked, I put my gear in the car and headed for a local tackle shop to go about the legal process of fishing in NC (don't want to upset the people who "own the river"). I got my license and asked about a good public access point and fishing location on the Nantahala River. I was told of a place 5 miles down Wayah road between a bridge and a powerhouse". It sounded cryptic but I thought I could figure it out.

I found the bridge and figured, to be safe, I'd just fish in the river near the bridge since I wasn't sure where the powerhouse was.
I stepped in, tried to "listen to the river" a bit to get my fly choice right and then on cast #2 I caught a beautiful "brookie" (brook trout) that, up to that point, was the biggest of my life.

Then they pulled up. You know who I mean too.

Trout in one hand and fly rod under arm, I raised a friendly peace sign to the federal officers in their white ford SUV. "You guys came at just the right time" I said as the senior officer and his side-kick stepped towards the stream. "They're hittin' on the blue-wing olives today!" I said excitedly. "is 'at a fact!?" the older one said with a smile and followed his seemingly interested comment with "we'll need to see your license".

At this point, I thought the check was routine. They saw my SC plates, they knew I was an out-of-towner. No big deal. What I didn't realize is that I picked the wrong side of the bridge to fish on. Literally 20 yards in the other direction and I wouldn't have been sandbagged with a stiff $125 fine for fishing in federal waters.

When I realized that I was actually getting a ticket for being 20 yards in the wrong direction, my blood boiled. I stayed calm and polite so as not to make matters worse, but inside a tempest was brewing.

How can "we" (meaning the desk-anchored bureaucrats) draw imaginary lines to seperate what we consider to be our side of the sandbox from "the other guy's side". For a species of organisms that has such a blip of an existence on our planet, why do we feel like we as individuals, or as small organizations, are entitiled to what has been here long before us and will continue to be long after we're gone? As Christians, what kind of stewardship is that kind of thinking?

So with that...here is a quote from Dwamish Chief Sealth of Seatle in a letter written to President Franklin Pierce in 1854:

..."how can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us...

This we know: All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself..."

- Chief Sealth, 1854

well said my friend.

therapy

Things have been pretty topsy turvey lately...not bad at all; I just seem to have a few loose ends up in the air that need to miraculously tie themselves together and float back down to earth to give me a crystal clear message of the path Kelley and I should take in the next year or so.

So in the meantime of unsettled in betweens, Kelley and I both have found shelter and guidance in our God, but therapy in Missy Higgins.

This girl is a lyrical gangsta from down under and I highly recommend a good listen to both of her albums. Check her out on iTunes.

peace out,
jeff

Mr. Angry Face

hehe....I can't help but laugh at people who get angry for no aparent reason...or who let their environmental conditions get them all riled up to the point of explosion.

I had a phone call this morning that ended up with the person on the other line venting very angrily at me...evidently something I didn't do was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So I figured I'd write a little self-help post for how to 1) deal with anger and 2) deal with angry people.

If you are Mr. Angry Face:
1) make sure you don't stop breathing
2) go ahead and start communication with whoever is making you angry - better to be
honest up front than hurt because you were afraid of conflict
3) seek proactive solutions, not face-saving excuses
4) make sure you don't stop breathing


If someone else is making Mr. Angry Face at you:
1) make sure you don't stop breathing
2) ask them nicely: "Do you think you can you calm down and talk to me normally?"
3) put yourself in their shoes: if you want the conflict to resolve, you've got to give them some sort of credibility in the argument, or it's always going to be an argument.
4) make sure you don't stop breathing

For either of the above categories: if steps 1-4 do not work for you, please either 1) consult the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's section on "what to do with angry Vogons"
or
2) sock your anger oponent directly on the nose

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Into the wild...

"But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have. Determination and faith are their strongest weapons. At best such men are regarded as eccentric; at worst, mad..." -
Walt Unsworth - Everest

So some books on the "I've read them lately list" are: Into the Wild and Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) as well as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Nothing too "out of the ordinary" here because they're all best sellers.

Just thought that I'd get some thoughts down about the Krakauer books. I guess Into the Wild really spoke to me the most...if for nothing else...simply because the 24-year-old kid who leaves family and society to seek out "the wild" of Alaska ended up getting some pretty bad press for evidently being a nut job.

He abandons mom, dad, and sis and leaves for what would become 2 years of adventure around the midwest-western US. He meets some great people along the way and experiences what many of us would consider to be true freedom...then he gets his heart set on Alaska and stops at nothing to get there and prove it to himself that he can make it on his own. He dies after 113 of living in the Alaskan "bush" - in reality only about 30 miles from Healy Alaska. The cause of death was some poisonous fungus that grew on some seeds he collected...so he wasn't necesarily stupid to the point of death...he was simply unlucky.

Still in all...one trend that shows up in the story is that every time he gets close enough to someone to build a solid relationship...he bales out. Parents, close friend Wayne Westerberg, Ron Franz, Jan and Rainey, everyone. Is that normal? Does true freedom require isolation? Can happiness and freedom coexist in reality if "true happiness" requires someone to share it with?

I relate to this guy none-the-less. Not so much in his need to abandon his loved ones...but in the groaning deep within his belly that calls him to experience the unabridged, viceral world. At what point in my miniature adventures would people have called me crazy, mad, or even mildly eccentric for a need to escape from the safehouse geometric prison of modern society to the unpredictable organic of "the wild"?

High Fidelity

So I just saw High Fidelity last week with John Cusack and Jack Black.

I've grown to respect John Cusack a lot over the past few films I've seen him in. He has a real easy way about his acting, and in High Fidelity, it was done a bit like Ferris Bueller...direct camera delivery from the main character as the story progresses.

Really good movie. One of the cool things I took from the movie was how music can truly be such a soundtrack for our lives if we let it.

So since I was broke on Valentine's day (and since both Kelley and I don't put too much stock in a national holiday for balloons, flowers, and chocolate) I made K-time a "mix tape". It was really just a playlist for her iPod, but the songs told a bit of a story of us over the past year.

Putting together the right playlist truly is just as much of an art as writing your own song. You've got to pick tunes that say what you want musically as well as lyrically for your specific situation. For Kelley's playlist I narrowed down her iTunes library to about 50 songs to choose from. The final list was 17 songs and took me through an emotional rollercoaster that let me relive the past year of our lives as I listened to the music. Pretty cool.

So now we're off into the freedom of a 3 day weekend...and I'm interested to see where the music will take us.

Pipe Dreams

It's not all over yet, but the cold is starting to break a little...reminding me of one of the sweetest weeks ever this past summer at the beach...

That week of surfing truly left an impact crater on my heart, mind, and soul. As plans drift towards getting kelley out of her current job and into sewing, we've been planning some much-needed "away time" for the summer. A study abroad is in the working courtesy of the Gregory clan, as well as yet another fantastic week at the beach courtesy of the Bateman tribe. These are exciting indeed and it's always good to get to hang out with the folks, but I think I might have gotten Kelley excited about another idea as well.

In an effort to trim down our "heavier loads" physically, we're working out to lose a few pounds each so that we can truly enjoy a week chasing the waves on the carolina coast. With her not working and me on summer vacation, how cool would it be to throw the dogs in car, the board on the roof, and hit the road for some camping and surfing....heading to wherever the waves are. That much exposure might even get me ready to catch my first tube.

Until then, the pipe dreams will carry me through the doldrums of spring term.

Launching KG THREADS (and other stuff)

My wife is deep into the process of starting up her own business. It's really way into the beginning stages right now, but it's fun and it's showing at least some progress! She is making handbags of all different shapes and sizes and has been selling them around the northeast area of Columbia, SC. She's REALLY good at it and the cool thing is that this whole business thing might allow her to quit her current job.













Today we oficially started her new website, http://www.kgthreads.com


Check it out and let me know what you think!

In other news: I was elected as Teacher of the Year for Spring Valley High School. I'm still not sure how to react to the whole thing. It is such an honor, but for some reason I'm hesitant to go shouting it from the rooftops. Putting it on my blog (that maybe 3 or 4 people read) is a big enough step for now! :)

Listen to the river

Back when I was at Furman for undergraduate studies, I sometimes had a weakness for skipping out on western civ or poli-sci and hopping in the Jeep for a day of fly fishing in the middle saluda river up in Jones Gap State Park. Jones Gap is a valley in the mountain bridge wilderness area, and a river runs through it. The river, more like a creek, is home to native rainbow trout. I've only gotten the small dumb ones to bite, but I've heard tall tale of anglers pulling 14 inchers out of the Middle Saluda in Jones Gap before.

It's been over 6 years since then and for a while, my fly fishing went dormant. I explored other avenues of life and forgot about my passion for listening to the river. Over the past 2 weeks, I've found that passion again, this time in Columbia at the lower Saluda below the Lake Murray dam.

Unlike the spinner fishing I grew up on, fly fishing is much more about preparation and awareness. Hours of tying flies on Friday night make the trip to the river on Saturday that much more worth it...especially when you pay attention to the insects around you so carefully that you can tie on a fly that almost resembles them...

...and then it happens. A rainbow trout rises, popping at the surface to bite the Blue Wing Olive fly that you spent so much time perfecting the night before...

...as the line tightens against the fish you feel the world slow its spin...the wind through the trees and the sun off of the river seem to harmonize in a chord that only you can hear...and for just a moment, the world seems perfect...

it's the kind of perfection you experience in your wife's embrace

or from the look in a baby's eyes

I plan to keep listening to the river for a while, and see where it might take me.

Chicken Joe

So quite possibly one of my new favorite movies is "Surf's Up". Sounds like a cheesy Disney cartoon flick, but it's filled with so much philosophy that I really dig.

One of the main characters finds his way from being an up-tight, fame-hungry, out-to-prove-his-worth-to-the-world surfer...to a pretty laid-back guy just looking for some fun.

The other character that I can relate with is Chicken Joe. Quite the oposite of our high-strung hero, Chicken Joe has made an art out of relaxing and playing it cool.

So let us learn from Surf's up a bit.

Recently I've been spending my Christmas vacation at home...much unlike the Christmas vacations of the past, which have been filled with adventures here or there at break-neck speeds. Most of the time those adventures made me much more tired at the end than I was willing to admit.

During the break I spent a lot of time working on little projects around the house that ended up being very fulfilling in the long run...and I think I made my wife happy as well...which is always good for the soul!

All this to say "thanks" Chicken Joe. I'm a little older now...a little wiser hopefully, and a little more able to know that the trail will be there when I need it, but for now, it's good to sit back and enjoy the homestead for a while.