appreciating the arts

Paul and I took in the Lubbock Arts Festival this past weekend. We wanted to share one of our favorite pieces with you. In this crayon drawing entitled "Me Holding Gary, my Pet Lizard" you will find an artist from the realist movement. It seems to be a self-portrait. One might interpret this artist to be larger than life - almost egotistical (look at the artist's size compared to the house) and not care very much for Gary...hence the way this boy is holding Gary. Take a look for yourself. Maybe your interpretation will be vastly different than mine.



And, this is a close-up of Gary

the stuff in my head

I don't know about you, but I have checked CNN and Fox News several times today looking for new information on the tragic events that have taken place at Virginia Tech. It is almost so horrific that I can't stop looking at it. I can't imagine the sheer terror that was felt by students and faculty. I can't imagine the sheer terror that MUST have been felt by the gunman - who we now know has a name...Cho. I am so sad for what his life must have been. And, I am so sad for intense grief his family must know at this time. Of course, I am also sad for those families that lost sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. This is just something I can't understand, and I am sure I will never understand this kind of brokenness. Praise the Lord that he is able to heal such deep pain, that he does understand, that he was there.

Sorry about the downer of a post. I'll give you a few updates on the Maney family. We are feeling pretty stretched with the job-change coming up. Paul is working about 12 hours a week for his new company while trying to finish the year on campus while trying to study for the exams he has to take to get some certifications for his new job...all of this while the normal parts of life continue to happen. Needless to say, keeping up with our blog has been hard, AND we are REALLY looking forward to the first part of June. We had Paul's mom here from Friday until this afternoon. It was a good visit, and we enjoyed having her. Last Thursday, I officially ended the "growing my hair out" phase and got my hair cut short. If you know me, then you know that I've often had short hair, and I really like having short hair. Paul likes it short too. It is kinda strange, but I feel more like myself with my new haircut. I've grown my hair out since the first year I moved back to Lubbock. At times Lubbock has felt kinda dark (figuratively). But, I think I am starting to feel like my old self, and my new haircut is part of that. Today there was a big storm and it hailed.

Again, it seems like everything I wrote was deep. I won't make it a habit :)

"I'll Be Home For Easter"???

We had a really fun Easter weekend...birthday dinner for my good friend Casey, fajitas and games with several friends of ours, and of course a Sunday full of good food, relaxing, and Jesus. The best part of the weekend was the blast of winter. Here are some pics.

My Divorce, Work, and Iraq

Happy lighthearted post! Yay! [sarcasm]. OK, maybe I'm just trying to grab your attention... did it work?

My Divorce - So, I got divorced a few days ago... Facebook divorced that is. Sarah's Facebook account got randomly erased from existance. She tried to go through technical support to have it recovered, but you can guess how responsive they were. So to make a long story short, she just created a new account. The catch is, when she tried to list me as her husband, it said that I was already in a relationship with someone (her Facebook ghost... creepy!). Anyhow, I had to end our relationship on Facebook so I could re-marry her new account. Where does one go for an online honeymoon? Do I have to pay alimony?

My Facebook divorce:

My Work - So, I have to apologize, this news is a little slow in making it to our blog. A couple of weeks ago a friend in Sarah's womens group heard I was looking for an IT job. She said I should get her my resume and she'd give it to her boss. I got it to her, and after a few interviews I have a job! I am still working with InterVarsity for a few more months but I have a contract to start full time as soon as I'm done with InterVarsity. Woohoo! It's so nice to have something lined up this early. I am actually working one day a week there to try and get up to speed so I can hit the ground running when I start full time. The company is called CoNetrix and my title will be "Network Engineer". We basically are the outsourced IT department for several area businesses (a lot of banks). My position will mainly consist of installing and maintaining servers and networks. My first two weeks have been great. Some of the most attractive things about this company are the company values and the way people treat each other. While it's not a Christian company most of the people there are and they do business like they are. There is just an overall value of working hard and doing what's right (by the customer and to our employees). Even though there is a steep learning curve ahead of me, I am way excited to start full time.

Iraq - I just got done reading a special issue of NEWSWEEK called "Voices of the Fallen". It is basically just letters from Iraq of soldiers who have since lost their lives to it. VERY powerful. It made me even more grateful for my country and our freedom. There is an article on the last page of the issue that contained two quotes that struck a chord in me as I read and re-read the words of fallen soldiers:

"Amid the strategy, the cost, the risk, the politics, do policy makers remember that when they start a war it is as if they dragged heavy hands across the map of the world and altered the details of daily life? Every name on the sloping black wall of the Vietnam Memorial tells a story. It is a collection of might-have-beens, a book with half the pages gone. "

"The rationale for going to war has to meet many tests, but one of them -- perhaps the most important one -- is whether the mission is strong enough to carry the weight of so many ghosts and so much misery, here and in Iraq, too."

I encourage you to pick up a copy of this if at all possible. I read it cover to cover tonight. It really gave me a new perspective on the war (any war for that matter). I am not anti-war, but it makes me think, and thinking is good.

-Paul

8 seconds

Paul and I went to the Lubbock rodeo last night. I really like the rodeo - calf roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, bronc riding, the bull fighters - aka rodeo clowns, mutton bustin' (little kids riding sheep...pretty funny), and most of all...I love me some bull riding! I don't know why, but I do really like bull riding. I will even watch PBR on TV. There is just something about the adrenaline of a smallish man riding a 1000 pound animal that is thrashing about wildly. I have no idea what drives a person to make this their career. Can you imagine a day at the office? Bruises, broken bones, blood. And the client is a bull. It is so exhilarating. I think Garth Brooks says it best:
Well, its bulls and blood
Its dust and mud
Its the roar of a Sunday crowd
Its the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle
He'll win the next go round
Its boots and chaps
Its cowboy (and girl) hats
Its spurs and latigo
Its the ropes and the reins
The joy and the pain
And they call the thing RODEO