Wednesday, October 31, 2012

We Have a One Year Old!

DSC_0044 by gkhamilton
DSC_0044, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.
Happy first birthday, Lena!



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Lena is nearly 14 months old now, but a small gathering of family drove to our Beaverton house from Salem, Washington Square, Bend, and Washington’s Vancouver to celebrate her Big Day last month.



20120909_151022_edited-1DSC_0047Lena still doesn’t quite know how to handle being the center of attention, but she’s starting to get the hang of it. She decided to be on her best behavior for the audience that day.


The rowdiest that she got was an enthusiastic touchdown celebration during the opening football game of the 2012 NFL season: 20120909_151848_edited-1
Touchdown! Go Dallas Cowboys!!



Lena’s first ever cake tasting/smashing was light on the customary messiness. The grandparents kept their dashed hopes of a frosted cakeface in check as we lowered Lena down to her pile o’ loot on the floor.DSC_0076DSC_0073As Mommy and I helped Lena open her presents, she didn’t bother distinguishing between the gifts and the wrapping paper. She was enchanted by all of it!


Don’t worry about anyone stealing those birthday presents. Who would dare tangle with this one?
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Lena may look all tough, but don’t let her playful scrunch fool you. She’s all love.

Happy Halloween From Delta Airlines!


Hannibal, Mr. T, and Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan (AKA George, Romie, and I)  pity the fool who spams us with invites to Pinterest!


Sadly, the Paul Ryan widow's peak that Melissa M. drew onto my forehead with a Sharpie at 4:30 a.m. had already worn off by the time a plan came together.

Also missing from my costume: a 40 lb. dumbell and a pair of earbud headphones, which are a big no-no here at Delta.

I'm not getting political here. And heaven knows I'm not campaigning for or bashing any party. But I think most of us can agree that a picture is worth a thousand regrets:

















Who on earth thought that this Paul Ryan photo session would be a good idea?


Coming tonight on Blogspot...

Hold that thought. After work, we'll be out late showing off Lena's ladybug Halloween costume.  Mobile blogging from this tablet couldn't do justice to my planned Lena post, so I'll wait until either tomorrow night or Friday next week to finish adding the new photos.


Have a safe Halloween, my friends!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Lovin' an Elevator: A Tale of Entrapment

Being trapped inside a malfunctioning elevator is no laughing matter...unless it's happening to someone else.

Call it bad timing. My quick lunch break errand at PDX airport last Tuesday turned into quite the rescue effort.

Swiping my ID badge had originally opened the elevator door without a hitch. I stepped inside and pulled an oversized load of food inside for delivery to the Delta Sky Club on the third floor. I never made it off the ground.

Right as the doors closed, the elevator lost all power. The thick walls blocked my cellphone reception. Darwin, my coworker, eventually came looking for me after wondering why I was taking so long to return.

"Are you okay in there?"

That question was repeated by several people, heard faintly through the closed elevator doors, throughout my relatively brief ordeal. Also among the concerned people who stopped by: the operations coordinator, two Delta supervisors, maintenance personnel, firefighters (per the dispatcher on the red emergency phone), and some paramedics who rolled up in an ambulance. Why paramedics? Just in case I had a panic attack?

Trapped inside the elevator with more than my bodyweight's worth of food supplies, at least I wasn't worried about starving to death. The forbidden food taunted me as I powered my cellphone back on to read a portion of my daily Bible passage: Matthew 4. You know, the story where a fasting, ravenous Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness to munch on stones that he could turn into delicious homemade bread?  Nice.

Happy ending: The clamoring outside the elevator doors grew louder. I smiled at the sounds of jangling keys, unfamiliar voices, and metal tools as the steel doors were slowly pried open.  Free at last!


I'll say it again~ Being trapped inside a malfunctioning elevator is no laughing matter...unless you happen to work with some really creative coworkers. Check out my quick cell pic of this hilarious sign, created and posted by Delta station trainer Richard Porter in the midst of my "rescue operation":


Not to mention being serenaded by Delta coworkers throughout the remainder of my workweek with screeching renditions of "Love In an El-ah-vay-TAH."

Steven Tyler would be so ashamed.

Coming Wednesday on BlogSpot...


A look back at our celebration of baby Lena's 1st birthday!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Coming This Fall on BlogSpot...

20120729_184640 by gkhamilton
20120729_184640, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.
Since flying home to the U.S. last week, I’ve lined up several BlogSpot posts that I wrote during my 1 ½ week vacation to the Caribbean Turks & Caicos Islands and Germany. Not all of them will make the cut.

In no particular order, here’s a preview of some of the BlogSpottery we can expect to drop in October and November through early 2013.














Turks & Caicos Islands: Windsurfing, sailing, snorkeling, competing in a “triathlon,” and dancing the week away at Club Med Turkoise
















Germany: Urban trail running with college students and hitting the town with fellow backpackers in Stuttgart



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My birthday weekend-- Skydiving, rock wall climbing, hiking, and more!




DSC_0044Lena’s 1st birthday (Link)—Let’s keep the celebration going!



DSC_0251_edited-1Hiking with Lena—Several months of strapping on the baby backpack!















Backpacking with high schoolers (Link)—An EPIC Student Ministry update!



DSC_0210_edited-1Father’s Day in November December—An all new collection of favorite Daddy-Baby moments from our private archives…

…All this, and who knows what else?


These next few crazy weeks will be a no-go for blogging. But check back here on BlogSpot at the end of October as I begin rolling out all of this new stuff, and more!