Odd Combinations

R&K Cafe, originally uploaded by sparselogic2.

I’m back in Texas for a week and a half. It’s been quite an experience – half a homecoming, but it’s not really *home* this time. It used to be home.

But even if the surroundings felt half-familiar and half-strange, reconnecting with old friends has been sheer joy. And the connections often happen over food. We drove from DFW straight to El Campesino on Wednesday, Friday I ate with Ernie here at R&K, and then this morning a group of us guys spent two hours chatting here over breakfast. We still weren’t done, so we walked across the block to my dad and brother’s office and kept talking for another two hours.

R&K is a remodeled and revitalized down-home cafe. As you can tell, it’s a full place at lunchtime. Generous portions of food, friendly waitresses, and cheap prices bring all sorts of people here: oilfield workers, farmers, downtown workers, families, old-timers – they’re all here. If you want to see my hometown in a nutshell, come here for lunch.

Marco paints a rosy picture of the future for computer users in his coverage of a routine-sounding announcement from Intel and Micron: Intel, Micron announce 25nm NAND flash production.

This *is* great news. I’ve been thinking of using a SSD in my MacBook Pro’s ExpressCard slot, hoping to get one this spring; maybe I’ll be able to get even more performance bang for the buck!

generations on Flickr

Ten years of superb notebook design. Notice how well Apple’s PowerBook design worked? The Unibody construction is their first major change in a decade.

I’m using a Unibody machine now, like the topmost notebook. My first Mac was a PowerBook G4, very similar to the second-from-the-bottom machine.

NT Wright: “To say ‘either history or myth’ is to say, ‘I’m not going to read the text for all it’s worth; I’m just going to flatten it out until it conforms with the cultural questions my culture today is telling me to ask’… and I think that’s a form of actually being unfaithful to the text itself.”

Meaning and Myth | The BioLogos Foundation.

What do you think?

My phone started ringing Friday evening. As I saw who was calling, my stomach tightened up a little – mostly from anticipation, but with a little tinge of fear as well.

“I just wanted to spare you a weekend of wondering,” the voice on the other end said. “I’m looking forward to having you join my department.”

I didn’t realize how tightly I had been sitting while I waited for an answer. Getting a favorable reply, even though I was expecting it, was quite a thrill. So – it looks like I’ll leave for a new job in Gap, Pennsylvania on the 17th. I’ll start to work the 25th at Eagle Business Software.

Looks like it’s time for another adventure!

Friends are special. We had long-time friends over for lunch; after lunch, a more recent friend stopped in for an hour on his way to Oklahoma. Just as he left, two other friends showed up and chatted for half an hour.
Since we visited Bass Pro Shops on New Year’s, my brothers have a shooting bug. We had a blast down at the tank, shooting .22, .243, and shotgun. I can nail a clay at 30 yards – we’ll see how longer distances work out.

Duane just sent me a link to this post by Steve Green, with a quick recording he did of an Argentinian folk song.

How much more will we hear and see as people are able to record inspiration as it comes? We’ll get music, photography, painting, and writing fresh from our friends’ lives. I’m excited.

It’s a great day to be alive, and i’m thankful.
Top o’ the morning to you all!

A day after the snow… 50 degrees and sunny.

And North Koreans.

Dave Barry’s year in review: 2009 – Dave Barry – MiamiHerald.com.