We went on a little trip to San Antonio with our good friends the Bishops last week, so I posted a new photo gallery. We went to the Riverwalk, took a boat ride, heard mariachis, saw the Alamo, went swimming, saw the rear ends of several large animals at the zoo (why are they *always* facing away from you?), and the grown ups went to see the new Pixar movie, UP (which was great). And we stayed up late playing cards and generally had a wonderful time hanging out!
We met at the BCS gym, Alyson (and fam) provided great food, and we hung out and caught up. Our graduating class was only 18 people, and 11 of them showed up, so we had a really good turn out. People came from Oregon, San Diego, Arkansas, and all over Texas.
Some things hadn’t changed: Jacob was still tall. Some things had changed: Chip was skinny. It was really great to see everyone, and we pretty much picked up where we’d left off.
In the evening, some of us reconvened at a beach house and hung out some more. That’s where I threw a football around casually for 5 minutes, and 3 days later my sides are still sore. MAN I’m out of shape. I’ll make it a resolution to be in better shape for our 22 year reunion (or whenever we do this again)!
friends-
this is turning into a bigger deal than we expected. as a result, we’re having to temporarily _pull everything online down (can’t explain now). and to be on the s_afe side, i’m going to pe_rsonally go offline while we sort this out. i re_ally shouldn’t use my twitter account for now either so _don’t expect any updates there.
make no m_istake, our trouble with the label over content i_s very r_eal, and not as simple as one word; we’re backed into a corner. but we have applied all of our creative resources to th_is, working furiou_sly to create something that we believe not only subverts any leg_al issues but should also be a _pretty wild ride.
so this will be the l_ast email for a while. we’ll t_ry to lea_k information via a new tw_itter account, @ssyndrome. you’re o_n your own so start payin_g attention. i’l_l see you _on the o_ther side-
derek
Obviously a code — if you read only the letters after the underscores, it says: “paradise is a parking lot.”
Then I went to DerekWebb.com, and it’s been “taken down.” BUT, if you view the HTML source of the page, you’ll see a link to http://www.derekwebb.com/ssyndrome.php, which continues the puzzle. It’s a form with this text:
wha_t do you _wan_t? (erro_r -0558 103)
Which decodes to… TWTR? Twitter, I’m guessing. So I’ll be watching the Twitter user from the email (http://twitter.com/ssyndrome) to see what happens next. If you notice anything, please post a comment and I’ll do the same!
Yesterday, Kaeta wanted to draw. I got a sheet of paper and a pen for her, and she sat down at the kitchen table. She started scribbling, and about 20 seconds later she said, “Dada! I drawed something!”
“What did you draw?” I asked, coming over.
“I drawed a man!” And here he is:
(She wanted to put her hand in the picture.)
I was amazed — that’s a pretty good drawing of a man! At first I was really excited because it looks like he has a handlebar mustache, but then Kaeta explained to me that those are his arms.
Then on the same piece of paper, she wanted me to draw a robot for Jonah. So I did, but I left the legs off, and look what she did!
Oh! And here’s her first attempt (as far as I know) to write her name! She wrote this, appropriately enough, to go in a card to send to her Godmother, Kaethe. The letters are out of order, so Karianne penciled in an interpretation:
On with the show. When I asked her to tell me about this drawing, she said it’s “a mountain, with a forest on it, and a road, and cars for Jonah to play with.”
Our good friend Barry Bishop will graduate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this Friday. He’s worked really hard, and he’s already pastoring a church in Hay Valley, TX, a suburb of Gatesville. I guess you could say it’s part of the greater Gatesville metroplex.
Anyway, to commemorate this event, I wrote a song for Barry, so here it is:
Kaeta just commissioned the following work of art, created in Microsoft Paint:
She sat on my lap and told me what to draw (and what colors to use). The green thing in his hand is supposed to be a spoon, and he’s drinking tea (from a purple teapot, no less). I asked her what this guy’s name is, and she said, “Calvary X!” Okay!
It struck me today that saying something is a delicacy is just another way of saying “this is gross, eat it!” Here’s a list of things that are a delicacy, according to Google:
