Domesticity

You've seen this type of person before -

At least on T.V. you have. The type who becomes unemployed and does some major soul searching with their new abundance of free time. This stint usually works out for a while, with the unemployed person achieving some degree of satisfaction from their personal leisure activities. Unfortunately, this “free time high” does not last. On T.V at least, the character soon reaches a tipping point and begins to spiral out of control.

Perhaps they become overwhelmed by their very own boredom. Perhaps, as I recently saw in an episode of Parks and Recreation, the character realizes how little they have actually accomplished in their tinkerings. In that episode, Ben, one of the main characters, is enthusiastically unemployed and spends his time creating a clay-mation movie. That is, until it dawns on him that three weeks of work has landed him only five seconds of (boring) clay-mation footage.

Obviously, This is one problem that I hope to avoid. I am thankful that I am living in real life, and not a Hollywood world where the twenty-two allotted minutes of screen time require a good deal of conflict. Basically, I want to avoid hearing the words: “Kevin. This is an intervention.”

You might guess from the title of this post what my unemployed tendencies have turned to. Cooking, Baking, Wedding Planning, etc. All very much included in the quote-unquote “domestic arts” I very much enjoy these kinds of things. It is exciting for me to pick out the various details of the wedding, from the colors to the registry items. It is exciting for me to eat bread that I have baked with my very own two hands (Thanks, Carla Histand for the excellent oatmeal bread recipe!)

While these things occupy a lot of my time, I hope and pray that I don't become obsessed. Naomi asserts that she could never become a “foodie,” but she thinks my personality is prone to foodie tendencies. Depending on how you look at it, a foodie is either a person who takes the time to select fresh and tasty food that was grown sustainably and locally, or a food snob who never eats anything processed and obsesses over food labels and ingredients. Obviously I'd rather become the first than the second. At least in Vermont, there's no danger of becoming the snobbiest foodie around.

Finally, you might wonder if I feel any degree of embarrassment or shame in doing these so-called domestic activities. As a man, I should be out doing the heavy lifting, right? Let me tell you what my friend Zach Metzler once told me. When Zach brought a sewing machine to college, I asked him about it. “Yeah,” he said, “I like to sew. I like to cook and clean as well as use power tools and fix stuff. My family taught me from early on that I should learn to do all sorts of things – both masculine and feminine – so that I'll never have to be dependent on no %*$&! woman!”

So yeah – I like to cook. However, I am rather fortunate to have a great fiancee to be co-dependent on. No matter how much I was taught to do dishes, that is one thing I really dislike doing. Lucky for me, Naomi would much rather wash a plate than prepare one. So it works out in the end.

That's it for today. Just let me know if you think I'm “spiraling” with my blog posts!

p.s. I also fixed the p-trap in the kitchen sink and am making plans to build a couch out of pallets. Not that I'm trying to prove my manliness or anything.

A short break from wedding planning

With wedding planning dominating my life recently, I decided that today would be a good day to take a short break and do something different. I tentatively planned to hike to the top of the hill at Hubbard Park, just outside of Montpelier.

Aside - as a native Kansan, I use the term hill deliberately. Any incline that I saw growing up would be considered a "hill". A hill in Vermont would be considered a mountain in Kansas. In fact, the biggest "hills" that we used to go sledding on were huge piles of trash covered in dirt (and eventually grass). Thus when I say "hill", I mean "HILL". Native Vermonters talk about out-of-staters from Massachusetts as flat-landers, but I suppose they might fling that epithet at me, too.

So I set off. I walked the half-mile across town to the base of the park and started up. As I was climbing, I realized just how much exercise I was getting. I also remembered that I was from KANSAS and soon realized that maybe I shouldn't have worn long underwear, 3 upper layers and my big coat. Don't get me wrong - it was cold. But climbing mount Hubbard was really taking it out of me. Fortunately I soon surpassed the worst of it. This hill was more like a plateau, where the steepest part is at the beginning.

My destination was a tower that sits atop the highest point of the hill. The steep part was on a road that had been plowed, but I had additional challenges ahead. As it turns out, the path to the tower had not been plowed, and was sitting in about half a foot of snow. (another aside - I must apologize to my friends in Kansas. I know a half foot of snow must sound like absolutely nothing to you right now). Still, as I walked, I began to understand that the other footprints that I was following were all made by snowshoes and cross-country skis. It was snowing and I was attempting to go hiking. How was this a good idea?

Okay, I'll cut to the chase. I finally made it to the top of the hill, and climbed the tower. It was a fairly tall tower that provided a very nice view of the city. The only problem was that it was snowing. And I didn't have my camera. Darn, I guess I'll have to climb it again tomorrow so my blog followers can see the full beauty of it.

I can't wait.

We're Engaged!!! (also in Boston)

WE ARE ENGAGED!!!

As most of you know, Naomi and I are engaged to be married!!! This is, of course very exciting. At the risk of sounding overly gushy on the fairly emotion-free medium of a blog, I cannot describe how happy I am, nor how ready I feel to wed this wonderful person. We don’t yet have all of the details for the wedding, but we are vigorously planning away. Right now, the idea is to have a small ceremony in Indiana fairly soon, but also to have a reception in Newton later this year, probably in August. That way, all of our Kansas friends and family will have a chance to support us in this new endeavor! I do thank everyone who has poured out their support on us these past few days, as well as before we were engaged. Your love has truly been most welcome.

On a separate note, Naomi’s work has taken her to Boston this weekend, and unlike the first time she went, I got to tag along. We spent the day traveling around on the T (the Boston subway) while visiting various museums and restaurants. One of my favorite stops was the MIT museum, a fascinating museum of science. They had lots of robots on display, as well as technology that assists in medical research. For instance, they are radically developing new ways to interact with the sense of touch over computers. If that sounds confusing, I am almost certainly not doing it justice. But this technology is going to change the way surgeons train their craft. Amazing!

It was great to experience this legendary institution that has been such a large influence on our everyday life. Really – if you counted up all the advances in technology that came out of MIT within the past 50 years, you would be blown away. Now all I ask is to see Isaac Entz’ name on the next big innovation in the world of technoloy. I even asked Isaac for some tips on how to best enjoy Boston (Thanks, Isaac!)

Now, as I lay on my warm bed, I feel truly grateful for the many blessings I have been given – supportive family, wonderful friends, and an amazing deal of good luck. Even in a Boston snowstorm, I have a toasty room to come back to. That’s more than can be said for many people. So, as Naomi and I embark on this road to our lives together, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. It is much appreciated.

p.s. I know many of you are going to be asking how we got engaged. What is our cute story? I’m afraid some of you may be disappointed. At the same time, many of you will say how appropriate it is for Naomi and me. Regardless of how you may feel, we simply decided together that we were both ready to commit our lives to each other. It wasn’t even in a special, romantic place – it was in our apartment. So there, eat your hearts out. I’m not so much concerned about how it happened. Rather, I’m just ecstatic that it happened.

The job search...possibilities

Hello all,

First, an update on my situation. I am currently unemployed and have been on the job search for the past few weeks here in Vermont. Part of my search has included applying for substitute teaching jobs at local schools. While I have been looking for mostly teaching jobs (or substitute teaching jobs), I have also applied to some other education-related positions.

For instance, I applied to The Princeton Review, the company that puts on the ACT and the SAT. That particular position was as an ACT tutor for high school students. I have not heard back from them, but there is still hope.

However the one that I am most excited about at this point is a children's librarian position. It is a job at the local public library, the Kellogg-Hubbard library. I'm not sure why this job appeals to me so much more than a substitute teacher, but maybe it's the chance to build strong connections with both adults and children. It does not pay bad, and the benefits are good.

At the risk of jinxing the situation, I wanted to let everyone know that I got an interview for this library job. Hopefully this does not backfire. But I am very excited and I hope this shows through in my interview. It's funny – after being unemployed for even a short amount of time, I am ready to have a solid job with a regular schedule. To put it bluntly, I am ready for the daily grind. Wish me luck, and if you know of any solid young adult or kids' books that I should read before my interview, let me know.

As a final note, I wanted to say this: while spending an afternoon at the library the other day, I was interrupted by a little girl dressed in a tiger outfit. Her mom was filming her as she prowled through the stacks. I would have just written her off as just some cute kid until her mom asked her (while filming): What do you think about the library. Her response - “Everyone deserves to read!”

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Sunday Night

Hi all,

I'm trying out a blog, here. Let me know if you get it and what you think. want to stay in contact will you all, so I'm seeing if a blog is a good way to do it.

Before I start, I want to say that I know there are lots of opinions about Unitarian Universalists out there. They are probably one of the most theologically liberal groups out there. Keep that in mind as you read.

Naomi and I went to a The Unitarian Universalist Church of Montpelier today. Well - I'm not sure they would call it a church. It was definitely a great experience and the people there were more than welcoming. The only thing is, I don't know if Unitarians themselves would call their organization a church.

We sang several songs that were familiar to me. For instance, we sang the tune "Go Now In Peace". As Naomi pointed out, though, all references to God were taken out. Where the song that I remember says "May the love of God surround you", the Unitarians sing "May the spirit of Love surround you". I am not trying to pass judgment. However I was almost surprised that the guest pastor had to almost apologize for using the G-word. Very interesting.

I must give credit to the members of the congregation. They were immensely helpful and very friendly. After the service there was a coffee time where we conversed with various members of the congregation. Several people said that they grew up in more formal church settings, and that the Unitarian worldview drew them in. Others had grown up in the church and always felt welcome within the community. In that way, I suppose it was much like any other denomination - many different people coming together for various reasons, but finding a commonality in what they believe. We have already decided that we probably won't go back, but it was certainly fun to sit in on a religious community doing what they do. Next week, we would like to check out the Mennonite church in Burlington...if it actually exists. So far we have not been able to figure out where it is/if it is still a viable organization.

If you are reading this blog. Thank you! I am trying to work out the kinks in communicating with my family back home in Kansas, as well as my family in Florida and Ohio. If a blog seems like the best way of communicating, I will move forward with this. I know this particular post seems short, but please leave comments if you can figure out how. Once again, thanks for taking interest in my life, and I will try to keep in touch in whatever way works best.

Kevin