time and space

Sunday, October 24, 2010

10,000 Days

WHEN: October 24, 2010
WHERE: North Charleston, SC

I always knew this day was coming and for a quite a while I knew exactly when it would be. October 24, 2010 is a unique milestone in my life, because today I turned 10,000 days old!

In fact, I remember when I turned 5,000 days old. It was Valentine's Day 1997, to be exact. The age of personal computers was still emerging and I remember some program my dad had on his that was a digital clock with the running years, months, days, minutes, and seconds from the entered date. We typed in my birthday and it showed I would turn 5,000 days old on February 14, 1997. I'm sure we checked to see when I would turn 10,000 days old and so forth and this was probably the first time I had thought about October 24, 2010.

Fast-forward about 11 years to the spring of 2008. Personal computers had become as common as refrigerators (if not more so, and most likely more numerous) in US households. Dozens if not hundreds of websites now provided handy "time calculators" and Facebook was exploding in popularity. It was here, on Facebook, in the spring of 2008 that I again looked forward to October 24, 2010. On my information page, as part of an occasional snippet of random nonsense I would update from time to time (not unlike this blog), I posted my "Daily Dose of Random". That post has remained untouched to this day, mostly because I've become to largely discontinue use of Facebook.

My post on Facebook from spring 2008.

In the past month, someone reminded me of that post and so I began counting down the days. I've been keeping track of the days on my whiteboard at work for the past few weeks.

As you may notice on that post, I wrote -

9) Turned 10,000 days old: 10/24/2010

10) Had our first child: ??/??/????

9.5) Will 9 or 10 come first?

Well obviously 9 did beat 10. Though Stace and I would love to have been parents by October 24, 2010, we are still waiting, but we are so excited to someday be. I think we have both been emotionally ready for children since the day we were married but we also know children are a lifetime commitment and we are waiting for God's timing to bring them into our life.

And on that note, I'd like to sincerely thank both my parents for taking care of me and loving me every one of the 10,000 days of my life. Even without children, I am not unaware of the responsibilities, commitment, and concerns that parents face. And I also know that that commitment does not end when the kids turn 18 years old (or 10,000 days old). Stacie and I are always asking our parents for advice or needs we face and I know that both our parents, even as empty-nesters, still see us as their babies. As much as I think I understand this parenting role, I know I will never fully understand or appreciate it until I have children of my own. And if parenthood is as challenging as I think is it without having children of my own, I cannot imagine how much more it really is. And for that, I thank you, mom and dad, for your selfless, intentional, and much-needed love throughout these 10,000 days and those to come.

Day #1

Day #10,000
It was quite odd taking pictures of myself and perhaps more odd for any neighbors that saw me taking this "senior picture". There's no script for posing (for yourself) on your 10,000-day-old...day!

But something I was completely unaware of until today was the other "significance of thirds" in my life that was represented today. Not only did today mark the passing of the FIRST "third of my life" but it highlighted a romantic beginning that represents the LAST one third of my life. On September 8, 2001, Stacie and I officially began dating each other. Not until I plugged that date in to Excel today with the others did I realize that today marks day #3,333 of our relationship; one-third of 10,000 - to the day! Ironic??

September 7, 2001

The last day of the second third of my life so far, and the eve of the beginning of my life with Stacie.

She is in Minnesota today, spending the week with our families and meeting our new nephew, Carter. I took her to the airport yesterday at 6:30am, after she was up three times that night throwing up and generally feeling nauseous. I called the airline at 5:30am to see if we could get it rescheduled, but without a doctor's note we were SOL. She made in to the airport, however, and ultimately to Minnesota and is feeling much better today. I miss her and though I wish I could spend today with her, I am very thankful she is healthy, safe, and gets to be with her family. We are so thankful for our close-knit, loving families. Living so far away makes you really appreciate your family and not to take them for granted. Having her gone only 24 hours makes me realize how easy I can take her for granted. I am sincerely happy she gets to be with her family this week. Plus, she deserves a vacation! On this side of eternity, I believe family is the best gift God has given us and turning another (significant) day old, while being alone, makes me appreciate that even more.

There you have it. A post about days on a blog about time. I don't have any profound ending statement to wrap up the post of the last 10,000 days of my life. Maybe, "Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late" (Benjamin Franklin)? Or, "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be..." (Robert Browning)? I think the best way, better than I could hope to write it, is to let Chris Rice sing it...

...inspired by this psalm.

Psalm 90:12

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Jesse's POW (October 17, 2010)

WHEN: October 16, 2010
WHERE: Wentworth St., Charleston, SC

See where this picture was taken, here!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Jesse's POW (October 10, 2010)

WHEN: October 9, 2010
WHERE: Charleston Park, North Charleston, SC

See where this picture was taken, here!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Sun Rays, Swamplands, and "Spidergraphs"

WHEN: October 9, 2010
WHERE: Charleston Park, North Charleston, SC

Stace came in to wake me up this morning at 9:15 and subsequently opened the blinds with a resounding, "What is going on?!" I jumped out of bed, quicker than a college student late for class on test day, to see what could be so alarming. Our neighborhood was engulfed in a thick fog, even this late in the morning and with a sunny forecast for the day. I don't think we've seen one cloud this past week and this weekend was supposed to be the same. So, this sight was rather unexpected. I threw on a shirt, grabbed my camera, and headed out into the neighborhood to snap some pictures.

I'm sure glad I did! What began as a hurried attempt to take some fog pictures, turned out to be a fun morning adventure. I spent 1:30 hours and took 153 pictures of the fog, forests and, eventually, the sun as it broke through. This week has been very dry and we did not receive any precipitation over night. But you couldn't tell that from looking around this morning. The trees, streets, and everything outdoors was dripping with water from the fog that formed overnight. The air was fresh (though obviously humid), the neighborhood quiet, and the woods and swamps were alive with activity. Armies of frogs were croaking, birds were chirping, water was dripping through the tree canopy, and a faint glow from the sun was vigorously trying to win its battle with the fog. It was a beautiful and picturesque way to start the day. And I had my camera with me every step of the jaunt.

I quickly noticed spider webs everywhere, beginning with these two on our street sign. You could have thrown a rock into the woods and hit 10 webs before it hit the ground. Stacie and I have come to welcome these arachnids (and the amphibians) around here, to help keep the oppressive insect populations at bay.

I know spiders give most people the heebie-jeebies, but the beauty of their webs, highlighted with thousands of dew drops, was everywhere!

One of the nature trails in our neighborhood where I tracked these webs like James Bond. They were below, above, in front, and all around you. I only made it 25 feet down that bridge before I was 6 inches from running into a large web that spanned across the bridge. The hunt was well worth it though!

Halloween Harry

I left the house not a minute too soon, as the sun soon broke through the fog and much quicker than I had wanted it to.

40 minutes apart (the proverbial fog lifted).

I'm not saying the stroll was any less beautiful, though.

It quickly became to feel more like June 9 than October 9.

Heading down another trail...

...into the swamps!

I quickly came upon this large palm and could have spent all day photographing it. The sun was shining through the dense tree canopy, directly illuminating these large, green fronds. Each frond was around 3ft. in diameter. It was stunning. I felt like I was in 'Avatar'. I got some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken in the 5 minutes I spent with this palm.

I wish I could start every morning like today's. I think everyone should. You couldn't have come back from this walk with a frown on your face. Even after 1:30 hours, I did not have one bug bite on me (I thank you spiders, and your 7 billion webs)!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Jesse's POW (October 3, 2010)

WHEN: October 3, 2010
WHERE: Murphy Ln., North Charleston, SC

See where this picture was taken, here!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Featuring...Fall Foliage!

WHEN: Fall 2010
WHERE: a deciduous tree canopy near you!

The seasons are changing, which is a visual reminder that time is changing. So, it's only fitting that it's time for Time & Space to change as well.

I am excited to add a new addition to my blog, just in time for the fall season. It is the first of several features I plan to add to my blog over the coming months that will make my blog more interactive, more relevant to the blog's theme (time and space), and most importantly, a prominent outlet for wasting more time! Fellow bloggers know, that while blogging and the components that come with the territory can be fun and exciting to share with others, the hobby can also become a serious time incinerator and even feel like an unavoidable chore. Nevertheless, the apparent detrimental addiction does not easily persuade the blogger to change their actions and, in my case, pushes the blogger deeper into the addictive time trap.

Please excuse me while I go throw a few more minutes into the fire.

So what new feature could be so exciting that I allow it to consume much of what remaining free time I have each week? To be completely honest, a feature I doubt much more than anyone besides me, my mom, and (maybe) my wife (only because she LOVES fall) will find any interest in. It's directly related to fall and, for those whose wandering eyes noticed a brighter sidebar, can be found at the top right of this blog. Now just be patient. Don't go clicking your way into boredom too quickly. You need some context before you really abandon hope for my sanity.

You've already figured out my gravitation towards topics of time and space. That intrigue existed long before I started blogging and has manifested itself in various forms. One way - and the reason for the newest feature of this blog - has to do with documenting the changing of seasons; the changing of time. And fall is a particularly unique season to document this change.

While time is not static, in many cases space is. With this simple principle, I decided to "freeze space" while "watching" it through time. This utility has endless uses within my discipline of geography. Don't lose me here. I'm not going 'theoretical' on you. It gets (less) boring...I hope. During one field trip to the Duck, North Carolina Federal Research Facility in 2007, I was shown a video that had been compiled by a student and researchers at the facility. This video was created using 10 years of pictures (we're talking tens of thousands of pictures) that were taken from the same camera (in the same spot, every hour) mounted atop the 141ft observation tower at the facility. What was produced was a 2-minute composite "video" of a beach, dune, sandbar, and wave system as it existed over 10 years. It was the complete opposite of watching a hummingbird or fly beat its wings in slow motion, but even more interesting. Imagine videotaping a tree grow, or a child grow (that never moved), or an old car rust and weather out in the elements, for ten years, then replay it all back in super-fast-forward over a couple minutes.

Got the picture? Well, this new feature on my blog is hardly that endeavor but it's directly in line with it. I began work on this idea back in the fall of 2005, around my parent's yard. From several predetermined positions, I took pictures of their yard from the same position, every day, for 9 months. At the end of that period, I could scroll through the 200+ pictures for each position and "watch" the leaves change color, the snow fall, melt, and the grass turn green again in the spring - all in about 20 seconds. A very abbreviated example is below.

Cedar Falls, Iowa (2005-2006)

With fall quickly ensuing (chronologically, meteorologically, culturally), I caught the "fast-forward germ" again this year. On September 10, I again started taking pictures of our backyard and front yard here in Charleston on a daily basis, to document and replay the changing of the seasons. I did not originally plan to make this a blog feature but now it is and now I'm up at midnight telling you about it. I suppose another reason for this new feature, besides my past experiences stated above and my twisted inclination to waste time, is because I've always kept a close eye on vegetation (growth and death) through the seasons. I pay close attention and make mental notes of when certain species of grasses, trees, and the like blossom or die off each spring and fall. I did it in Iowa, I did it in North Carolina, I did it in Virginia, and now I am doing it in South Carolina. All the while, I've also tried to keep close tabs on those areas where I did not live and noted the differences. I've come to learn a lot about similarities/differences in each locale through this attentiveness (and then felt disdain when flowers were late in spring or leaves fell too soon in the fall).

I obviously can only experience the changes, in person, one place at a time. I can, however, keep tabs on other places if resources exist that monitor the changing of seasons for me. One resource I use every fall is the "Fall Foliage" map from The Weather Channel (below). From late-September to late-November, this map is updated every few days to illustrate the patterns of changing fall foliage across the country. It's a good overview but lacks any specificity or local detail. That's where something like this new "Seasons" page I've added comes in. The only problem is that I'm the one recording the change and I'm already experiencing it in person. Ideally, the same resource would exist in numerous places across the country so one could witness and compare those changes as well. The word 'vicarious' comes to mind here but I have no idea how to use it to say what I mean. But I think you get the idea. Maybe not. Likely, you're confused and concerned.

Fall Foliage map for the US

For those of you still reading, foolishly thinking that this post will become something interesting...gotcha! So, before I lose you completely, go check out my new blog page, "Seasons". For now, the page is completely dedicated to fall. My plan is to change it with each passing season as well as better streamline it. I'm still working on its structure and how it will be laid out. I'm not a computer geek and creating a new web page from the ground up is no walk in the park; not to mention failing to have a solid vision of what I want the page to consist of or how it will operate.

Most importantly, at the top right of the page you will notice assorted "Before & After" comparisons of our backyard and front yard. Also, posts will highlight day-by-day changes and colorful, more interesting pictures illuminate the sidebar. I don't plan to update these features or add pictures daily but then again, I can't imagine anyone besides me will even care on a daily basis (if at all). The Seasons page can also be reached by clicking on the "fall scene" picture at the top right of this page. Now, if I could only get others across the country to take pictures of the changing seasons for me where they are! (Don't stoop to my level.)

I leave you with the colors of fall...