Joshua Main & Family

Tonight turned out to be fun!  After spending the day working from home it was time to take the family out for Halcyon's birthday!  We had a great evening at the local Thai restaurant!  Rebekah always wants to try things for herself... so we gave her some rice with yellow curry (****).  She liked it for all of 6 seconds then was very cranky!  Luckily the Halloween decorations calmed her down and the rest of dinner went well.

Next it was off to Fred Meyer for some dessert (powdered donut holes and 85% dark chocolate).  Ethan was all set to work tomorrow to earn his last dollar needed to buy his 'Spencer Toy', so we decided to make sure Fred Meyer still had it in stock.  We found it, and it was on sale! so he didn't need another dollar!  Hooray for trains and donuts for Ethan!

While at Fred Meyer I had to make the obligatory trip past the video games while E was in the restroom with Mom.  There was a suspicious youth at the end of the aisle with smells of burning plastic and the repeated sound of the flint striking of a lighter.  I tried to get the attention of a clerk to no avail, and then the youth decided to leave to the sound of alarms, amazingly that didn't get the clerks attention.  I had to walk up and interrupt the clerk talking to a co-worker to let them know they had just been robbed.  Their apathy was very sad... makes me wish I had done more, but then I think it wasn't my property to protect.

We capped the night with a trip to Starbucks and a donation to the wilderness society in the form of "On the Mountain Vo. 14" and some good listening.

Do you ever wonder if you spend to much time thinking?  I do... I'm afraid I don't spend enough time doing.  For instance I spend a lot of timing trying to plan out life that I suspect I'm lacking in the living of life.  I believe this manifests in regrets.

I regret:

• That I did not finish college.
• That my knowledge of the bible is not what I want to be, and probably far less than it should be.
• That I have a really hard time getting up early.
• That I let my body degenerate into a state of un-fitness

I don't like regrets...  I want to erase these and never add to them.  The hard part is starting, the harder part is keeping at it, and the elusive part is succeeding.  These are not quick fixes... I have a lot of those too (install downspouts on the shed, carpet the garage, vacuum the cars...)

I think... I think... is that the problem.

I have begun the process of reinventing myself.  The first step I've taken may take some of you by surprise.  I've been a long time player of online video games dating back over a decade.  NO MORE!!  They take up a substantial amount of time, focus, and often provide as much frustration as enjoyment.  This first step in restructuring will infuse more time to pursue more productive endeavors.

I've nearly completed an excellent installation of audio equipment into my car.  All the gear I had in boxes in the garage is now being used.  Doing the install has been fun as well, everything has been working great for a couple weeks, and I'm putting the finishing touches on the trunk installation.  Being able to enjoy music during my commute has been a great distraction from the commute itself.

We've been doing some cleanup & organization around the house, and this is the biggest ongoing project we'll have for a while.  While trying to sell our home we discovered we have failing siding.  The process for remedying that promises to be tedious.  That's the first step we need to take before we can explore other projects.

• Painting the house
• Expanding 15' to the north adding an office, guest room, and laundry/ mud/ craft room.
• Adding an office in the garage

I've embarked on a major garage cleanup and reorganization.  I'm looking to find better homes for equipment and increase storage efficiency.  I expect I'll be building several sets of cabinets, anyone have some good designs?  Having the garage and house in a greater state of usability and organization will be a welcome improvement to our general quality of life, it will enable us to feel more on top of life, rather than reactionary or stuck behind a giant to-do list.

Overall the family is doing well, we all had a bout of sickness that began on the 4th, which was a very nice holiday spent at Halcyon's parents.  The kids had a great time!  It's been very sunny, and lots of time playing in the backyard.  I bought Ethan some more sand for his sandbox, and he's been having a great time out there.  Just the other day I had to fix one of his dump trucks (The dumper had broken off), and he's been helping me 'fix the car' when I work on the audio installation.  Rebekah and I had a rousing game of peek-a-boo yesterday evening, she has the greatest giggle.  We've made plans to go to Florida for Christmas this year which should be very fun!  That's all for this week!

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.  Many of you know that our move to Florida this summer did not come to fruition.  The reasons why are not suitable for public posting.  Suffice it to say it has really stimulated some thinking.

• What is fun?
• How do you achieve happiness?
• What is sacrifice?
• What is responsibility?
• How do you balance all of that?

So, here I am, thinking deeply about my families future.  Your prayers for us figuring it out will be helpful.

Apparently it's been a VERY long time since this was updated.  In fact I wasn't aware the site existed for close to 4 years!

Now that I've found it.  I believe I'll use it.  Stay tuned as changes commence.