Posted by Jared Barden on Nov 29, 2007 in Personal
I just realized that my last post here was over two weeks ago. In reality, it seems like it’s been a lot longer than two weeks to me.
We’ve been quite busy at work with a number of different projects. Our most recent release is SchoolMapSales.com, a site dedicated to selling maps and other mapping products to the educational market. This site probably has provided more challenges than our other sites, but I think it turned out really well.
It’s been a challenging couple of weeks for me personally, and I won’t get into all of that here, but it’s been nice to have the support of family and friends and to always know that I’m never going through life alone. I think it’s also helped me to mature emotionally and spiritually, so I’m also thankful for that.I recently finished the book Over a Barrel which deals with breaking our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. It was definitely an interesting read. I definitely wouldn’t consider myself an Environmentalist, but I do think that we need to be smart with how we use our resources.Now I’m reading A Jealous God, which deals with science attacking religion. Also another interesting read. Next I’m looking at reading some C.S. Lewis stuff. His work is really fascinating and thought provoking. And I’d love to get An Inconvenient Book and give that a read also at some point.I really have a lot of books I want to read. It always seems like there is so little time to read them all, but I’ve found that you just have to make time for the things that are important to you.
Posted by Jared Barden on Nov 12, 2007 in Personal
I just found out only a few hours ago that our family dog, Shadow, had to be put to sleep.
It’s amazing how much a pet can truly become a member of your family. A pet is always there for you, no matter what, and it’s amazing how they can seem to sense when you’re feeling down and need a pick-me-up.Shadow was never exactly what you would call a friendly dog. I’m not sure that a lot of Chows are. She was incredibly protective of our family and not always terribly kind to strangers, but she was our Shadow.She was a member of our family for just about 12 years.
I still remember coming home one night to find a little black bundle of fur complete with a red bow waiting in our old living room. Shadow made a move with us to our new home (and even got loose and ran around the neighborhood like a streak while we tried to track her down). Shadow helped scare a salesman or two away over the years, and even caused a little (unnecessary) concern for some of my friends. She sat in with me for my senior pictures.
She was the main topic in one of my speeches my first year of college. It seems that she was there for lots of major moments in our lives, as a (usually) silent observer. Shadow hated the word CAT with a passion. She loved to bark at the deer in the side yard, even if they didn’t pay any attention to her. She was aloof, but friendly, and loved to be scratched. She’d just bump right into you if she felt like you weren’t paying enough attention to her.
I’ll miss the extra birthday cards that always came from “Shadow” (but miraculously had mom’s writing). I’ll miss the Christmas cards and presents too, but most of all I’ll just miss her.
Two weekends ago we traveled to Scranton, PA with Danielle’s Aunt and her cousin to attend the first annual The Office Convention. We had a blast, even though it rained most of Friday evening into Saturday afternoon.
We were able to meet 3 of the characters (Jan, Kelly, and Phyllis) and get some autographs and pictures taken with them. The girl who plays Kelly is actually friends with a guy Danielle went to high school with, who is now a writer for My Name is Earl.
Our tickets got us in to 2 limited admission events – Cast Q & A and a character look alike / Scrantones (the band that performs the theme song) concert, which were both a blast.
The biggest thing that impressed me was how down to Earth the cast members were. They all seemed genuinely happy to be there and seemed to be having just as much fun as we were.
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video must be worth much more, so the following are some clips I posted on YouTube as soon as we got back.