the great give-away

so we are moving and have some g-rate stuff. everything is for sale. . .

so you iowa childrens. i have a phone i used on midwest wireless. it is a NOKIA 6255i. Has a nice camera, plays radio and also mp3s. Don't know if they are still selling these but I got mine about a year ago.

http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/6255i

bidding starts at 1 bottle of hobgoblin...

http://leatherapronrevival.blogspot.com/

Dear blog readers,

The rumor is true. I am cheating on you.

Love,
Matt

Stunned Silent

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Bioneers. Which is a nation wide conference that stems from California. There are satelite conferences that gather all over the US and are fed the morning lecture through internet links, after which they break into there own workshops and such.

"Bioneers is a nonprofit organization that promotes practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring the Earth and communities. BIONEERS OFFERS PRAGMATIC SOLUTIONS THAT HONOR THE LIVING WEB of the natural world as the most fertile source of inspiration and models. Everyone and everything around you shares this web of life." (Source: Bioneers.org)

And yes, as some of you are guessing, there are a fair amount of "crazies" at these conferences. What you may not know is that these "crazies", while they may or may not be Christians and may or may not believe that George Bush is the worst thing that ever happened to our politics, they have a passion and concern for this earth unlike anything I have ever seen in Christian circles.

On Friday night I heard Mary Wood (Founding Director of the U of O Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program) explain how we can, and should, treat the environment like a financial Trust and how legally there is validity in using Trust laws when arguing conservation. It was very stilling and made me wonder if I was taking any responcibility for what is being done to the land that I live in.

Saturday was even better. Joseph McCormick is a nationally recognized player in the goal of getting our hyper polarized parties back to the same tables. He has a goal of the "people" organizing and drafting a document that 80%+ of the american people can agree on and then slamming it down on the desks of the politicians and making them listen. That is over simplified and dramatized, but he really effected me and I am still processing what I heard from him.

There is more but I think I'll stop there. In short, you should attend Bioneers if you ever get a chance. And if the closest city for you to attend is Eugene. I promise that Brielle and I will make some room for you in our Airstream. Pictures to come. No promised about Jackie though.



P.S. For those of you that asked "Yes, the picture from my last post was from a website that sells rubber snakes. Snakes that they stuggested could be used to practice religious snake handling. As depicted in the picture."

P.P.S. No one asked.

Come on preacher man, shoot me with your poison arrow. . .

School update:

best overheard comment of the week: "ok, here is what you do: meet as many people in the class as you can, then figure out which ones are the smart ones. . ."

best new stat: LCC is the only school in the country that has an Energy Management program (there are approx. 6 that have Alt. Energy Technician programs)

best new fact: the earth is going to hell in a hand basket



So, I have survived two weeks of classes along with working whenever I can get the hours in. Last week that amounted to almost 25 hours. Not bad since I do say so myself.

I am currently enrolled in three classes: Into to Spreadsheets and Databases, Blueprint Reading, and Energy 101. Spreadsheets is exactly what you would expect with a little bit of personal agendas sprinkled on top (i.e. for some reason anything that appears unusual at first glance in Excel has something to do with Bill Gates and the price of tea in China).

Blueprint reading is taught by a very interest character that runs his own contracting/design business. He built and lives in an intentional community just north of town and runs a crew of five. This community has 10 houses on it that roughly face each other and share six acres of common land on the west end of the property. They have a few rules (i.e. no power lawn tools, no renters only owners, etc.) and were sold as they were built. Each house was constructed with as many natural materials as possible (so no vinyl or fiberglass shingles) and they all look very cool. I’ll try to get some pictures up here soon and explain a little more about it.

Energy 101 is about what I expected and a little more. We began by talking a little about how energy is produced today and who uses it. Then went on to talk about oil and how many people believe that we have reached “peak oil,” which means that human beings are currently taking oil out of the ground at the highest rate that will ever be possible. This spells trouble, assuming it is true, since our consumption (as well as foreign consumption) continues to increase. This can only mean that prices will begin to increase soon and never go back down. Yeah, don’t want to go into that now, but I imagine I will in the future. The amount of George Bush jokes is a little annoying. I wish we could talk a little more facts instead of assuming that everyone in the class despises him and “knows that the country would be better off without him”. I have written to the Oregon GOP to ask for more information about the energy plan and their disbelief in Global Warming, among other things, but have not heard anything back as of yet. I’ll keep you up to date.



Tallyhoe.

Ta-Da!!

So here is the desk. Tell me you love it.

back to school, back to school, jiggedy jig

Didn't really see it coming but here it is: Monday I go


It is true.

Lane Community College runs an Energy Management class. It is one of only 5 programs in the country. It is a two-year applied science degree, and while a handful of credits from my Bach degree do count it is not a continuation of Philosophy of Psychology. But then again what could someone possibly do without those degrees anyway?

The program has two veins. One focuses on renewable energy installation: from solar heating, to solar electricity, to wind power and rain water collection systems. The other focuses on accesing the efficiency of a buildings energy use. Most common in older or retro-fit buildings, but increasingly popular with new construction (read: mechanical engineering firms). The program has placed 100% of their students within a month of graduation for the last 10 years or more, all within a reasonable salary range. To top it all off: I would be working in a field that takes energy use and its effects very seriously.



Brielle and I have looked at the cost and feel that it is within our means to afford the classes. Brielle also hopes to take some classes within a year or two. And for less than $70 a credit hour it makes me wonder what Dordt did with all the money I gave/promied to them.



P.S. pictures of the desk are still on their way.

Onsite OSHA Inspector

Hello please. This is Samson.

Yes. that is in fact a 2"x4". I am glad you asked.

aint you had enough?

Ah, yes the long awaited Boltz house.






It case it seems a little big to you. . . It should, since it is over 5,000 square feet. Which includes the guest house and garage.

There are many FDE's which means a lot more work for us for an extra corner or a slightly better look. But what can you do? The man is building his own house, I guess you get to have what you want to have.

The work is fun and good exercise to boot. More to come.

who is craig anyway? and why should i care about his list

sometimes things are less annoying when you are tired and sore. other times things are more so. today was a more. then again if it wasn't that then it would be something else.

my life (including my wonderful wife) and work bring me joy these days. i heard that erin reilly is alive, but haven't mulled myself into doing something about it.

if you keep checking i will post pictures of the house we are working on. i even have them already. only they are on the computer downstairs, and i am upstairs.

let me know if there is anything i can do to make you laugh, encourage you, or spice up your life a little. i promise to do what i can.

love,
me


p.s. know anyone that wants to buy a 2005 honda civic?

Two and Yet not One

So I got a new job. As of two weeks ago I am working with Clide Parker. He is the pastor of the Quaker church down the street who also happens to be a general conrtractor two + days a week (also the leader of the mexico trip). He recently took on a full house construction with his son and was looking for some help. After considering the fact that the pay is better, the hours more regular and all around more pleasant working environment I decided to take him up on it.

So far the house looks something like this (i will get some real pictures soon):



But setting those 1000lb trusses on Friday it felt a lot more like this:



So now, for those of you keeping track, please add these to the tools regularly used:



Framing Air Nail Gun: Shoots up to 3.5" nails into solid wood. So you know as well as I do that it would easily go through anywhere I might hit on myself, and while Chad put one into his calf a year ago I have done nothing of the sort. Essencial for those engineered walls where we need nails every 2" on the edges of the sheeting (dang engineers. what are they good for anyway?).



Skill Saw: a.k.a. wood cutter. Does a good clean job on osb and the like. While it is harder to keep straight than a table saw it is much more portable (side note this tool continues to scare me everytime i use it)




Hammer: yes it helps put in nails. Yes, this brand was formerly named the "Death Stick". Not sure why that name didn't stick. They say it is a collectors item. Note to self: learn to use the nail gun better so that you don't spend so much time with this tool pulling set nails back out.



Tape measure: yep, you measure stuff and unlike plumbers (who generally go to the 1/4") i had to learn to use the little little lines between the big numbers. Never actually knew what those things were for.

General notes to self:
get a lot stronger: that osb is not going to get any lighter and the nail gun gets heavier as the day goes on and I have to be able to keep up
catch onto the lingo: double header?? triple truss?? balooned walls?? sandwitched walls ?? blueprints?? Someday I hope to know what they are talking about.
sustainability: figure out how to make myself essential to the crew so that I still have a job after the house is finished.

Comments and advice will be taken as it comes and filed accordingly.

monday, monday, monday

Yesterday I found a picture of Shane in one of my dress shirt pockets. Since, I have missed Grinnell all over again. Oh Grinnell, you were such a delight. If any of you know about the theatre give a quick little update and let me know how things are looking over there.



transition into random fun facts to avoid blubbering and whining


favorite childhood toy: legos (specifically the castle set)

favorite toy my brother and i talked my parents into buying us: those worthless plastic claws that you could pick toys up with or pinch your siblings

favorite thing to do as a child: play baseball with my brother and neighbors in the empty lot next to our house

thing i miss the most today from my childhood: eating dinner with the whole family

fade away

I am still trying to work out the logic of living with people. You know, commune style (a.k.a. the houston compound). It is not like this is the first time I have lived with other people, Dordt gave me my intro to that. It was at Dordt that we discovered the roommate elimination rule (i.e. if you ask Justin if he had left the remote in the refrigerator, and he didn't then if must have been Joel. So regardless of who did it you still only need to ask one person. This only works when three of you are living together.). And of course the study of the ratio of time spent with the water closet and the corresponding time that should be allowed to pass before you allow it to be used again. This ratio is, of course, exponential.

Brielle and I have spent all of today working on the house in preparation for our guests tomorrow evening. There is a high school choir singing at the church and a few of them are sleeping here. When I saw the announcement in the church bulletin it made me remember the cool host on Dordt choir tour as well as the not so cool hosts. I don't know where we will fall on that scale but I was banking that we would score in the fair to middling range and so figured we should go for it, for the sake of the children. I will do my best that you get word of how it goes.

In the sake of being fair I should mention that we are also working on putting together some raised garden beds in the back yard. We have made it quite far on only recycled materials and, to boot, it looks cool.

But back to the commune math. It often seems that there should be less work and clean-up when sharing a space, but never does it ever come out that way for me. It always adds up to more. I do love a clean kitchen/house and as such often find myself working to keep it that way. It is hard in a shared environment to not allow yourself to feel like everything you do around the house is a favor to the others. In reality it is just part of living.

So here I sit. Glaring at and silently judging the few dishes left on the counter. Focus Matt. Breath. I am the zen center of the universe. I am calm as a Hindu cow. I am Phillip Glass. I am metamorphosis one, two, three, and four, but not five.

A glisten in the sun

Today I had a vivid memory of fishing with my dad. I pictured that moment when the fish you have hooked is right near the surface and you can see its scales glisten in the sun for an instant before it plunges back down refusing to surface. I remember seeing them swim sideways and even spiting out their stomaches to try and free themselves. I remember seeing them open and close their mouths as I stared at them face to face.

I don't remember ever wondering what such an experience might be like: being pulled out of where you have always existed. Normaly only leaving the water for an instant here or there because you see a tastey morsel just on the other side of the surface, but quickly returning. Then one day you are cruising around like normal, doing your thing, and you realize there is a line ever go gently (or not so gently) pulling you around. The panic doesn't set in right away. It sets in when you realize that this line is taking you out of the water where you might be held up next to someones face as you suck at the air to no avail. Where you cannot possilbly survive. Soon to die of suffocation and be left in the sun to rot.

Maybe the experience is nothing like this. Maybe it is all just a mindless responce to being pulled in a direction. I wonder if they do feel for their life as they feel a pierce through their lip and this all begins. I wonder if they would feel the same if the lake was polluted and on fire.

As I sit and wonder what it might be like I can't help but think that I feel like that about God from time to time. Even a little right now.

Power Tool Usage of the Week

Chipping Hammer (a.k.a. hand held jack hammer) (Note to self: learn to close mouth while using.)



Hole Hog (drill on steroids) (Note to self: remember that this drill can take your arm off if it hits a knot or nail or just feels like stoping while you are pushing it through a mounted 2*6, unless you are lucky enough to have a wall nearby in which case it will just smash the life out of your finger.



Sawzall (a.k.a. Reciprocating Saw) (Note to self: good for sawing through ABS pipe, drywall, 2*4s, stuck screws and nails, and pretty much anything else you can find on the job site. Is also useful for enlarging holes that were drilled too small or a little off center)


Power Drain Snake (Note to self: don't drink the standing bath water you find in the drain, try not to touch the black slime covering the tool as you retreve it, keep puke bucket handy because you never know what you are going to find down there, oh and never eat with your bare hands again, ever.)



Flashlight (note to self: not as convenient as a head lamp but sheds more light. Very important for those 50 foot craws under houses (to be read "over the river and through the insulation/dead mice/not so dead mice/dust") out here on the west coast. Also, revive the "Dont You Know What A Basement Is" campainge to educate the people out here)


Nothing all too scary this week but next week I will be working with a 45 year old Frenchman who grew up in England. Yes, he is cool. Yes, he says the 'F word' and 'bloody'. Yes, he loves his wife (a.k.a. 'babe'). Please feel free to direct any questions about plumbing or the Frenchman in my general direction and I will be answering those questions in good time.

P.S. Adam, I had expected you to show up at our front door by now. Am hoping that you are still alive.

Oh, to be young again

Packed and ready to go. We leave in the morning.

I had a lie down chat with Jackie tonight (she doesn't pay much as good of attention if we are sitting up) trying to calm her down. She is convinced that she is old enough to be home alone and take care of herself. And while I tried to convice her that Ashley is mostly watching over the house, I had to break it to her that she still has some things to learn. Like: pooping in the corner even once in a while is not ok (don't tell her I told you about that, she will be upset with me if she finds out; thankfully her reading lessons are still very slow in coming), and that kleenexes are not for chewing and tearing into smaller and smaller pieces, especially used ones. After mentioning that, and abiding a few promises on her part that those things wont happen again if I left her alone, I finally conviced her that if I put out all of the wonderful food mom made for her most of it would surely spoil before we got back, and she would have to go hungry. So Ashley needs to be her at least to feed her, and while she's her they might as well hang out. I am glad that is settled. (thanks ashley).

I will see my wife in a few days. I will have to appologize for our phone conversation the other day. Brielle got some gloves from another person on the prep team that she was excited about. While she was exclaiming her love of these new gloves to me over the phone, I realized that they were the same kind I reccomended we pick up for her before she go. So instead of sharing in her new found joy I playfully scolded her for not believing me that they would be good to have and unintentionally killed the joy in her voice over the gloves. Oh, the many things to learn about being a husband.

I hope this trip doesn't kill my rekindled joy of blogging and reading blogs. Please pray for the team. I understand there are almost 100 people going. Pray that we love one another and show love to those around us in the village.

Talk to you when I get back.

When i was young, It seemed that life was so wonderful

Living the life of a plumber has been about what I expected. I have gained a decent amount of strength as well as many hours of experience on tools ranging from a sawsall to a jack hammer. I have stood to my ankles in raw sewage and balanced on the beams of a house frame. All in a days work I say, but you are more than likely to find me changing a water heater out or repairing a broken/clogged drain.

My love is gone these days. She has left with the prep team for the mexico trip we will all be leaving for Thursday morning. I would say my bed is cold at night without her, but I do have jackie who seems to know that she is allowed to sleep on the bed while Brielle is away.

I have strayed from the blogging world over the last few months. As I read the posts of my friends it makes me miss them. If you all, or maybe just some of you, are reading this from time to time I say hello to you.

I won't promise to fill you all in on the great stories that you missed not being here although I have partially composed a few of these mentally with the follow titles: "So were you in the shit? Yeah, I was in the shit", "Jackys 'Outdoor' Habits", and "First hand witness to an 80 year old woman all but being run over by her own car while we push it to the side of the road and literally dragging her by her trouser leg and shirt to kept her legs away from the tire since she refused to let go and roll."

Stop and listen to a good song tonight. If you need any suggestions just let me know. And if you are feeling sorry for yourself tonight stop and say a prayer for Adam, Laura and the rest of the world.

Now watch what you say or they´ll be calling you a radical a liberal, oh fanatical, criminal. Oh won´t you sign up your name we´d like to feel you´re acceptable, respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!

a working man

For the tenth weekday in a row I am up before 6:20 a.m. I realize that there are many of you out there that do and have done the same for year, but give me a break and allow me to relax for a second in this accomplishment. Also, part of me felt like you all were a myth until now, existing only in the minds of the fool hardy and gulible.

I must say that while getting up before the sun has some significant drawbacks it does allow 8 hours to be put in before 330, and this has allowed me a good amount of time to work on the house. The upstairs is almost finished and it really is beginning to feel like home.

My job allows me to work closely with Steven (Brielle's oldest brother) who is very gracous and has a good gift for teaching. I have not yet applied for an apprentiship but will explain that technicality at another time. Steven's boss, and in that way mine also, is Ralph. I like Ralph. He seems to be a good hearted guy who likes to joke around a little and who talks with great joy about his kids from time to time.

I have to yet to encounter any bleeding or angry customers but there is one small ancedote. There is a job site that we just finished the underfloor on yesterday. Right next to this restaurant/coin machine place is a house. An old man lives at this house. This man gets up between 9 and 1030 am walks outside his door, gets into his 1984 blue chevy, closes the door, and sits there. Just sits there. Our site faced his drivers door so we could see him fairly well. He never really watched us, in fact he never even looked our way. Occationally he gets out and walks around the yard a little, only to return back to the truck within 15 minutes. He would just sit there and sort of stare forward. His record is just over 3 hours without getting out. I asked Steven if he could imagine a life like that. He said he could, in fact he said that it was his life goal and dream.

Gotta go, gonna go and sit in my car in the driveway for a little while.

portland is very pleasant

i am still awe struck and joyous about the wedding.

so many amazing things were done for us for the wedding that pondering it for only an instant is very humbling, and any longer prompts a tear.

brielle and i are spending this week in portland.


best quotes of the week:
"so i was in the marines for a while. . . that was a good time" -ian
"you made me blush" -seth
"so, yeah we missed the wine tasting" -matt
"no, i refuse to do that" -brielle referring to drinking our first toast with our arms entwined.


things that are missing since the move:
-quackbert
-the mp3 cd that galon gave to me (this may in fact be in grinnell still)
. . . to be continued


p.s. i find myself bordering on cliché these days and it may continue for sometime. i cannot say for sure how long. as a consolation i do have permission from a good friend adam (currently in Bangladesh) who may be the only person on the earth who hates clichés more that brielle and i.