El Ano de La Barba

The first festivity for the Ano de La Barba is the introduction of the idea. There is a feeling out there, out here (out where?) that 2005 is indeed the Year of the Beard. We are therefore facilitating some necessasry discussions. First question: who are the people who have great beards?

year of the beard, volume I

we're working on something amazing up here. So get ready.

work day

Work days are not as cool as weekends, but there sure are a lot more of them. That makes me wish they were better than weekends. [cue Smashing Pumpkins] Today, however, was great. It started 42 minutes late, when I jumped out of bed and was immediately awake. I was walking to the Dining Hall before my eyes were focusing. To Do Before Breakfast: sweep floor. mop floor. dry floor. clean girls bathroom. clean boys bathroom. sweep floors. mop floors. sweep store. mop store. Done Before Breakfast: sweep floor. mop some floor. check the bathrooms. This what happens when you are really late.

Breakfast: we ate biscuits, honey, sausage, eggs. Lamar worked with me today and it was fantastic. He loves to be thorough, do a job right. It really is something special. He also almost threw up while we were cleaning a bathroom. The sounds were too amazing. We laughed a lot, and also started building a recycling station; the design was working well. Jess joined us after lunch, we talked about love, lawsuits, turning your cheek, Matthew, Luke. Our tire went flat; the steel belts were sticking out of it. We crawled under the muddy truck, and couldn't see how to get the tire off. So we sprayed the underside of out 17 year old toyota and voila, got the tire, put it on. Done, eight hours later. I can't explain how wonderful this all was.

create-a-blog

I apoligize for the last self-absorbed post that I left for the last half a month. I have been put squarely in my place, I do not have the sole power in the world to make upside down punctuation. I do, however have new links, and you should probably check out the Rural Studio, as well Agros. They both kick butt. Seriously. Today is Valentine's Day: I love my wife! Now I'll go tell her. She definitely doesn't check the blog.

j

hey

¿how come nobody's commented yet?

cory and I alone know the secret of the typing the upside-down exclamation point

After 4pm, actually. It has been a week of a lot of thought for me this week, and quite a bit is still unresolved. But today I: repaired some dry wall in a cabin, cut up a tree blocking a path, fixed a washing machine, jumped on trash, wrote a shopping list. Somewhat disappointingly, I feel as if I accomplished more today than I did all week last week. Getting stuff done is good. Getting it done quickly is better.

It doesn't really matter that whatever I said up there was vague and cryptic, because the only possible point of this email is to tell you that Anne and I succeeded in purchasing tickets for

¡U2!

¡uno, dos, tres, catorce!

Ah the glories of the small town

My wife and I own a 1970 Mercedes (imagined cool link to picture). It is classic. Since we live in the mountains, whenever I drive it I feel as if I am in a 1960's film in Monaco. It's had some problems adjusting to the altitude and cold, since it grew up in the Bay area. I took it to my mechanic, and he told me, "Willie is your man. I'm not to comfortable with Mercedes', but Willie is good. Call him after hours."

So I call Willie on thursday evening, and he tells me he's going to come up to my place. Nice German accent. He came this morning, spent about an hour working on my carbuerators, and tells me that they are in good shape. I sat there with him, and I found out he is orignally from Poland, and lived for a time in Germany. His wife spoke no English, and I think they must have spoken Polish or German to eachother. He lately moved from LA, and is working whatever job he can- heavy machinery for the local trash service. He wants to build a up a client base of foreign cars and motorcycles. He thought it was beautiful up here, noticed the sequioas by the gates. He tells me that there are a few things that need a little attention, but I have a beaut of a car. "How much do I owe you?" "Nothing." Wow. I love small towns.

Credit, of course, must also go to Willie, who will receive my business in the future. And my appreciation, which means more to me than money.

I just started "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." I like it. I would always to read something wonderful, and I think this might be.