JAREDRYANLEE.COM

Timelapse shot from my backyard of a thunderstorm dwindling and moving northeast.

Remains of Thunder from Jared Lee on Vimeo.

So I’m pretty sure my last few entries have begun with “Sorry I haven’t updated in so long” so I’ll just skip that part and assume it’s understood. To be honest, nothing has really happened aside from work.

As I type this just before bed, my wife is on the other side of the planet in India, probably about to have lunch. She’s halfway through a two week mission trip where she and several others are putting on an academy for some grade school teachers there. She’s having a blast; making new friends, seeing the Taj Mahal, riding camels, and having fish nibble dead skin off of her feet. Oh, and there’s that really awesome part where she gets to share the gospel with the people of India. I’m so proud of her.

This is by far the longest we have been apart since we started dating, but we are holding up. Thank you Skype and webcams.

While I was definitely not looking forward to being apart from her for two weeks, I was looking forward to some good bachelor time, and I have not disappointed myself. It’s been a full week of video games, board games, fast food, homies, and several excruciatingly hilarious episodes of Wipeout. I do need her to come back soon though. I keep oversleeping and need someone here to kick me to let me know that my alarm is going off.

I took both of these from my backyard on Saturday and Sunday. The first is just some clouds moving across the sky and the second is a thunderstorm building to the west.

I thought I’d try my hand at making a time lapse video, so here we go.  This is Toby and I hanging out at my house (Ariel is in India for two weeks) Friday night, watching the Rangers game for a couple of hours (there’s a spot where no one is there when we went for ice cream and then Tanner and Krissy came over at the end).  For the technical details, read my photography blog. Be sure to watch it in HD. I put it in 720p.

I’ve started a separate blog about photography.

Check it out at:

http://photo.jaredryanlee.com

Dom Deluise died today.  Here are my two favorite scenes of his.

I’m officially not in my twenties.  That’s right.  On Adolf Hitler’s 120th birthday, I turned 30.  I don’t feel any different.  I feel like the same old, immature, Jared.   I now officially consider myself an adult.  Crazy huh?  Don’t worry.  I won’t be acting like an adult any time soon.

My wife surprised me Saturday with an elaborate day of fun.  She had told me that she and I were going to have a “Jared and Ariel” day, but apparently, she’s a liar (and a really friggin’ good one too; better keep an eye on that one).  I was awakened by people yelling and banging on my door at 8:00 a.m. and was surprised to see Tanner, Krissy, and Chuck on my front porch with their golf clubs.  We had a tee time of 9:40.  As we waited, more people showed up, and we had a three on three scramble.  Being the amazing golfers we are, Toby, Chuck, and I shot +3 over 9 holes, while Tanner, Josh, and John shot a +14.  There was no prize.

More people began trickling in as the day progressed and by 6:00, mine and Toby’s families and friends were all there (Toby is four days older than me.  This was a joint 30 year party).  There was great fun had by all.  The best part of the whole night was my 80 year-old grandfather (who by the way, rode his bike from Happy to Canyon on his 80th birthday this year) walking into the kitchen and asking everyone there if they knew how to get cheese out of a hearing aid.

I just wanted to say thanks to all of my friends and family who were there (and those who weren’t.  I know several of you couldn’t be here for different reasons), to Tanner and Krissy for being co-conspirators, and especially my wife, who came up with the whole idea and did it not only for me, but my best friend as well.  Honey, you’re a special lady.

In other news, I’m finally going to order a Nikon D90.  I just can’t take it anymore and the boss said “Go for it.”  You can bet I’ll be bringing it along with me to the Grand Canyon in a couple of weeks when Toby and I meet my good homie Jonathan there for a weekend reunion.  Keep your eyes on my Flickr feed for amazing night and HDR photography coming your way.

We’ve done it.  We’ve moved.  We are homeowners.  I can’t believe how good that feels to say.  Next to my wedding and being baptized, this is one of my proudest moments.  We’ve stayed here three nights and I already love this house.  Everything still feels new and foreign.  The floorplan, the creaks at night (which quite honestly freaked me out at first), having a big kitchen and bedroom.  It’s wonderful.  I recommend it to everyone.

The move went more smoothly than any other time I’ve moved.  I attribute this mainly to my wife, who is much better organized than I am and actually got everything packed up the way it’s supposed to be.  As a bachelor, when I moved, my parents were often frustrated with me, because I would halfway pack and then just start throwing crap into boxes.  Not this time.  Those boxes were LABELLED.

Of course, with any move, there comes fighting, and tears, a little stress, more fighting, and a couple of more tears.  The best was when we were moving in the piano.  After doing some measuring, all the men concluded that there was no way that thing was going into the room selected for it.  I took the difficult task of telling Ariel.  She promptly burst into tears.  After talking to her about it, she suggested “Sometimes the math is wrong.”  Being the good husband I am, I decided we would try it anyway, and you know what?  That sucker went right in.  It had to be divine intervention.  I swear there wasn’t an eighth of an inch of clearance on either side.  And there was great rejoicing.

Once we are fully unpacked, I’ll post some pictures.  I’m especially proud of my office, or my man cave if you will.  My wife is wonderful for letting me have my own room.  It’s going to be a total nerd headquarters.

So my wife and I have purchased a new home.  After renting for a few years, and tossing money away, we decided it was time to take the plunge.  After seeing a few houses and having offers rejected, we found the perfect one, and got it.  We are totally pumped about it and can’t wait to move in at the end of the month.  We’ve been swamped in paperwork, meetings at the bank, home inspections, pest inspections, and the like.  It’s all going to be worth it.  We’ll finally have a place that we can do what we want with and eventually get a dog.  I’m also excited about having neighbors that aren’t creepy and stealthily appear in the alley when you’re taking out the trash.

I’ve spent this weekend lying in the recliner with the flu.  It’s been a great opportunity to catch up on doing nothing.

I realize I started this and had nothing to say.  Sorry.

In case you didn’t know, we have a new president.  You may have just thought the Today Show was having a slow day when you saw Aretha Franklin singing off key with what can only be described as a ginormous bow-hat.  But then a nervous man took the stage and swore an oath of office.

I did not vote for Barack Obama, and I do not agree with many of his positions on certain issues.  The night of the election, I foolishly wrote a blog post condemning the American people.  I was angry.  In the most important election of my lifetime, and certainly the most important since I gained the right to vote, my guy lost.  After a close friend set me straight, I deleted the post, and put up a retraction.

Today, history was made.  An African-American man, who forty years ago, would be required to use a separate water fountain than me, was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.  Many dreams have been fulfilled and America has taken a huge leap forward from its dark past.

While I still do not agree with many of President Obama’s policies, I remain hopeful.  He really does seem to have a level head on his shoulders, and seems willing to listen to both sides of an argument.  As an American, I feel it is my duty to stand behind him, to support him when I think he is right, and to question him when I think he is wrong.  I will rebuke ideologues and I will love my country unabashedly.

I pity those who found absolutely nothing inspiring about today.  They must lead depressing lives.