Lorena and I are spending the whole day traveling today. We had an absolutely incredible time with Christian and Kelly in Washington DC. I am reading the book that Kelly gave me title The Right. The Hundred Year War for American Conservatism by Matthew Continetti. I like it so far, and will report back when I’m done. The headset Christian gave me cuts out 99% of the airport noise. Amazing.
We took a picture of our family together for Christmas for the second year in a row in Washington, D.C. This year it was in Kelly’s apartment in front of her Christmas tree. We are having a truly amazing time–so grateful to God for all he has done for us and for those thing from which we have been saved.
We have been having a great time with Kelly here in Washington, D.C. We met two of her best friends who were both just amazing people and have had a low-key, restful time. It got even better last night when Christian arrives. Kelly made reservations for Pastis for lunch–a place everyone but me has been. Tonight we are going to just hang out as we get ready for our Christmas celebration tomorrow morning (early because we fly home to Mexico early Christmas morning.
I read Matthew 24 and 25 yesterday. It is about the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. With the new year around the corner–the time for resolutions and such–it got me to thinking that the end of my world as also just around the corner as I move toward my 70th birthday.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Psalms 90:1
All of my grandparents lived to their mid-80’s to early 90’s. I might make it that far, but I am certainly not promised that. I am grateful for family, life, health, and especially, the God who loves me, protects me, and has made provision for my sins. I love to make resolutions every year and I plan to do that after Christmas, but today I am just thankful for the reminder that time is short, there is much to do, and that I want to spend it in the best God approved way possible, all the time knowing that my salvation is not of works, but is wholly a gift of God. I am SO thankful for every reminder of this.
Kelly just signed up for another 18 months at her apartment in Washington, D.C. I often reserve a workspace where I can get out of the apartment and sit in a nice environment to get some work done. All this is within walking distance of lots of restaurants, a couple of nice grocery stores, coffee shops, a book store, and just a block away from the Metro train station that can take you anywhere in the area including the airport. We are glad she decided not to switch apartments to another area.
Lorena and I flew up from Mexico and are in Washington, D.C. for Christmas for the second year in a row. Kelly has to work today and tomorrow, so Lorena and I are enjoying just hanging out in this crazy town. It amazes me that we enjoy it so much. There are so many things to do and see with history, art, food, and shopping opportunities everywhere one looks. The weather has been clear and crisp since we got where which is what one wants and expects for this time of year in D.C. Hopefully the Texas and/or Mexico houses will be completed by next year so the kids can come to see us over the holidays.
Tío Lauro took this panorama which is about a 210 degree view from the second floor balcony of the house up the hill. The apartments only require a few finishing touches now, so Tío Lynn has moved his workers up there to get the first floor ready for us to move in within a couple of months. We are amazed how quickly it is taking shape now. For a long time, it did not look like much was happening, but there was a bunch of hard structural work and tons of infrastructure that needed to be put into place before the more cosmetic, but less labor intensive cosmetic work could start. For us to move in, the first floor has to be complete along with the open stairway to the azotea and some work in the basement so we have more than just one bedroom for visitors. We are looking forward to seeing the progress after we return from a week away to see Christian and Kelly for Christmas.
Troy sneaked away from the AGU conference long enough to get coffee with Kelly. He absolutely qualifies as an uncle in the best sense of the word. I cannot wait to see how it went with them. I am sure it was great.
Troy and John from University of Nebraska-Lincoln along with Chris from University of Nebraska-Kearney are presenting three different posters at the American Geophysical Union Conference in Washington, D.C. It sounds like it is going really well. The really good part is that, God willing, they are going to get together with Kelly for dinner on Tuesday night. I have my name as a co-author on all three of the posters.
Lorena has bugging me about cutting off my beard for quite awhile. I finally broke down and did it. As a reward she let me get an Indio mini-beer (6.42 fl. oz.). This is me sitting at my desk in the apartment living the high life and feeling like a Xoloitzcuintle (Mexican hairless dog).
I am not sure how this happened, but if everything goes according to plan I will be a co-author on nothing short of four posters: three at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in Washington, D.C. and one at the annual American Society for Cell Biology conference in San Diego, CA. We are all pretty excited to see the reception received by the posters. A lot of research went into virtually all of the posters.
The point of Thanksgiving is thankfulness to God. I am profoundly thankful to God for the family He gave Lorena and I. We had a beautiful time together.
We were very grateful to have Christian and Kelly here with us for Thanksgiving this year. We went to a wedding, an art museum, Barrio Antiguo de Monterrey (amazing), ate lots of good food, made plans for the layout of the new house up on the hill, and had some deep, but sometimes not so easy talks. We love our kids and looking forward to seeing them in a couple of weeks in Washington, D.C.
Kelly arrived here Sunday afternoon and then Christian arrived last night. There amazing Tío Lauro ran to the airport both times (and hour each way, plus and hour to get from his house in Santiago to here). Both times we went to Rincon Sonorense in El Centrito de San Pedro to eat tacos. That is turning into somewhat of a tradition. Afterward, everyone, including Tío Lynn, slept at the apartments. It is just an amazing gift to have everyone here in one place. Today, we are going to head out to do some shopping and to show some parts of San Pedro to the kids.
Grandma Conchita has been in the hospital for the last three days. She is OK. Lots of tests were performed and the prognosis is good, but the doctors said she needs to exercise more and eat both less and better. I am so impressed with the support she received from her children. Tío Lauro dropped everything he was doing and ran to take her to the hospital when her fever rose and she was feeling bad. Lorena and Lynn dropped everything and ran to the hospital to provide moral support. They are good children. What a gift.
I finished C.S. Lewis’s Surprised by Joy a couple of days ago. I liked it by it was different than I expected it to be. I do not know why, but after Mere Christianity, I had expected more of a mystical, deeply spiritual and emotional finale, but got what seemed to be a the idea that C.S. Lewis’s conversion was a dispassionate and coldly logical affair. I have no sense that I have the right take on that, but that WAS my take. That being said, there was one specific concept in the book that had to do with prayer and the concept of God–I think it was addressed in two different places, that were hugely impactful and worth the whole read. It was the idea that trying to analyze the nature of one’s conception of God gets in the way of praying to God as a person and focusing on the communication rather an analysis of the conception was what lead to a more fruitful relationship with God and a better prayer life.
I know I put up an image like this yesterday, but I went out onto the deck and decided to take another that was zoomed in a little more. We are VERY much looking forward to moving up there. We just got notice from the kids about when they will arrive for Thanksgiving and we are very excited to both see them and show them the improvements to our new places!
You can see the house we are remodeling up on the hill from our apartments in San Pedro, but just barely. Tío Lauro took this picture this afternoon. We have such a great view from where the picture was taken, we are excited to get move up there to an even better view. Tío Lynn is, little-by-little transitioning from the work here on the apartments to work on the the house on the hill. Lorena and I have not been up there for a few weeks, but hope to run up there to see the progress.
The last couple of weeks has been nothing but programming around the clock. We are getting ready for a product release and a trade show at work so I have been going through the weekends at my computer, but in addition to that, I decided to do some major upgrades to the GRIME2 software I did before and during my doctoral research. The game plan is to write one more serious journal article, then move on to start working on the use of the GRIME-AI software package being developed by my friend and fellow PhD student, John Stranzl. I probably won’t get to start doing that until January or February of 2025, God willing, but that is the plan.
I hurt myself lifting weights about six weeks ago so I was out from getting any kind of real exercise from then until yesterday. I have decided I will start back at a low level and slowly increase the weight I lift. I am a little sore today, but it really does feel good to be back working out again. Lorena has been extremely consistent since we got to Mexico. She was doing mostly weights until a couple of weeks ago, but really missed the cardio so she has increased the time she spends on the elliptical at the gym to close to what she had done previously in all the other places we have lived.
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