the cost of doing business

we got from here...













to here...













but not without a minor explosion here...

the big sky

i guess it is an optical illusion, but the sky really does seem bigger out here. this photo was taken along the side of the road, this time in nebraska, of an old abandoned barn. another thing about the plains: there is nearly always some kind of interesting weather developing, storms, clouds, twisters. today i am sad to be leaving nebraska from week with scott. his house looks great, i'll post the before and after pictures soon.

 

kansas

a real live wheatf ield in kansas. amazing ride home from jeeping.

 

jeeping

scott and i went down to kansas on saturday. they call it "jeeping", basically you drive over rocks, up and down steep grades, through mud and forests in you jeep. scott's in a jeep club here in nebraska. anyways, met some classic characters, who were in the jeeps in front of us. some wardrobes one might spot while out jeeping: tight wrangler cuttoff jeans, big belly, no socks, tennis shoes (that's it). or, my favorite combination, loose bright red tank top, again the tight cutoffs, and are you ready for this... watersocks. that's right, in kansas, as landlocked as could be, watersocks live on. these guys were awesome, they were there to jeep so we all decided to go together, and of course everyone's highlight of the day is if someone gets stuck, or runs into a tree, or rolls over. well the truck driven by the dude with outfit #1 broke a steering bar going over some rocks, and we all got out and had an impromptu party there in the middle of the woods. "you should a seen joey's face when we hit that stump back there! woooeee!" "that tire went flyin up in the air and i said lookout!" "man, if you didn't have those new carbon struts you would be dead right now" that's the kind of stuff we talked about. it was a real cultural experience.

fields of gold

remember the sting song? making this photo caused me to think of it. such sensuous words, i have always had a strong reaction to that song, the sound of it, and the lyrics. give it a read:

"Fields Of Gold"
You'll remember me when the west wind movesUpon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous skyAs we walk in the fields of gold
So she took her loveFor to gaze awhileUpon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came downAmong the fields of gold
Will you stay with me, will you be my loveAmong the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous skyAs we lie in the fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover soUpon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouthAmong the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still leftWe'll walk in the fields of gold
We'll walk in the fields of gold
Many years have passed since those summer daysAmong the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes downAmong the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind movesUpon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous skyWhen we walked in the fields of gold
When we walked in the fields of goldWhen we walked in the fields of gold

my favorite lines are
her hair came down among the fields of gold,
see the west wind move like a lover,
see the children run as the sun goes down.

so many phases of life are described in this song, the mirth and freedom of childhood, the rapture of young love, the growing up, and finally taking stock of life and deciding "in the days we have left we'll walk in fields of gold"

tell me your thoughts on this song. what if anything, does it remind you of.
maybe you hate sting, tell me anyways.

by the way, my friend brent m***** took this photo on some of the lanker fields. that's me on the 4wheeler, and yes, i edited it just a bit (thank you picasa)

 

eastern virginia medical school grads of 2006

it's randall, in his native environment (that is, california, not driving the van). this lucky dog is going back to cali for residency near LA.


amit, just exuding style as he lounges on that couch. as you might guess, he's headed to the birthplace of style, NYC

umakant, who appreciates plants as much as i do. and with such a winning smile.

this was last summer

 

nebraska

i'm leaving for omaha nebraska tomorrow morning. a whole week with my older brother scott. he moved to omaha several years ago to fly a particular plane for the air force. it's called a CA-135. well i'm really looking forward to the next 8 days, we're going to paint his house, drive around the great plains in his cool black jeep, and probably do some fitness (he's training for a triathalon). and with scott, one is always assured of having great food and a full slate of action/adventure things to do.

yesterday for fathers day we had grandpa and all the cousins over. believe it or not, it's rare i have anybody to go out on the boats with so that was great for me. and oh, yeah, my little brother todd showed up saturday morning at like 600, having just driven from chicago.

right now i'm in the basement, re-watching a movie called "house of sand and fog". it's intense. it's not a popcorn and soda type of movie. actually it's really depressing at parts but nonetheless a valuable movie, i think. wish i knew more about iranian culture and especially how the men and women interact. great filming and i like the musical score by james horner.

arrival

nate, master of all he surveys
(arch behind him, if you look closely
you can see the reflections of downtown st. louis)

the famous arch

by the way, if any of you haven't discovered mozilla firefox, it's a great browser, much more flexible than IE or others. also, i highly recommend picasa2, a google-sponsored photocatalogue and editing program. my friend brent just told me about it today, and i love it. PICASA2, try it! i'll post some photos from brents visit, so far we've been hanging out in the basement watching worldcup (we were pulling for ivory coast, because if they win, their country may continue their ban of the civil war, but it looks like argentina's got it.)

photo review

here's from florida, going through letters and negatives in my room, skylight behind.

 

florida, missouri, ohio

tommorrow, june 6, 2006 i'll be driving all day. i'll leave at 6 EST from ocala, fl, and arrive at 6 CST in st. louis, the gateway to the west, and more importantly, the home of one of my favorite people in the world nate dogg c. nate and i have been friends since 1998, when we ended up on traber 2 at wheaton college, purely by chance. wink. then on june 8, i'll leave at 8 CST and drive 8 hours to candlewood lake, ohio. why am i telling you this? so that if you, whoever you are, are anywhere along that route, you will know you can call 571.331.3606 and i'll stop by and we'll talk, face to face, the way people were meant to talk.