Martin's Blog

Let's see what this looks like when I e-mail to my Vox blog.....

Did you dress up today?  See any good costumes?

Unfortunatrely for me and for my son, I have been home for the day (so far). He is a little under the weather. Maybe later!!!

I am not sure why but two of my Vox postings did not end up here. if you want to see them, look here.

I swear that I usually do not watch that much TV and more importantly, I do not tend to get heavy messages from them. However, I was just watching the season premiere of the TV show, House. The title of this episode was 'Meaning'. I guess the backdrop was how we often get meaning where we want to. Other than being a big part of my professional background (values and meaning), it seems to be a big part of what I am trying to figure out for myself. Many things that I have taken for granted, and assumed that at some level to be a foundation or rock. This foundation, and other stuff is moving -- one might say that it is moving far out of my comfort zone.  I find that while a number of my values have stayed the same, that I allowed myself to ignore them. I have gotten to a place where I am not entirely trusting what is important and what is not.

My search for meaning seems to be centered on faith, risk and vision. I have many other values that are part of me, but these seem to be swirling around me at the moment. Belief and philosophy are part of this also. I am not sure where all this is going to land me, but I feel the need to express some of these ideas. I have had many ideas and issues (particularly unresolved ones) on my plate. It is through discernment and striving for some clarity, that I hope to get this. As I said before, I might not be totally making sense, but as I get things out, I hope it will become a little more clear.

I would say that in many ways that my approach to faith has been a lot like that of Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brenning on the Fox TV Show, Bones. (Bones is a forensic anthropologist on loan to the FBI for certain cases.) If it is not logical or tangible, then it must not be 'real'. She and her brother were orphaned at a young age. But it turns out they were not, and that her mother's remains are found. And it is likely that they (the parents) were on the run in some fashion. So fast forward a few episodes and (unrelated to the story line) she is brought by one of the other characters to the grave site. She is awkward and her clinical nature gets in the way. But ultimately she begins to ask some of the questions to which she wanted the answers.

Without going into my fascination into these types of shows (CSI(s), House, Bones, etc.) I think this almost clinical approach to religion has crept up from past. I am a 'PK' (or preacher's/priest's kid) -- there is some similarity between PKs and Army Brats. (My father's an Episcopal/Anglican priest.) As the generalization goes, usually you either end-up cynical, or religious; wild or quiet, etc. I kind of went the cynical and quiet route. I suppose if this type was actually act out too much they would. It does not allow you to get to sprititual or faith bound for a good part of your life. But as soon as add this idea of spritual there seems to let in the idea iof god some other supreme being. The logic side takes a lot of time debunking all the possibilities. It creates conflict. I think that I going through this conflict at the moment.

I am not sure why it has been so difficult for me to write blogs for a while. I guess it is just that I have had so much stuff happen. However, I find that as a convenient excuse. I am also finding myself going through a bit of a transition, and I think it might be good for me to write it down, even if some people will not be thrilled with the idea. My only problem is that I do not want to just barf stuff on to the page. Sometimes when you are processing stuff it does not always come out as you think. Just recently I sent an e-mail to a good friend of mine, and instead of being efficient, it came across as a little rude! Fortunately, he is (I think) still a good friend. I know we all do it -- but it seems that it has been happening a little more often lately.

It is a time of sadness for the Hall’s. One of our dogs, Brownie, passedaway on June 30. We got him after Buster. He was about a year older than Buster when weadopted him, or rather he adopted us. 16 years is a long time but it does not hurt any less. Heleaves behind Martin, Carol, Grant, Paige, Rachel, Sakima and Scruffy.We know he is in a better place, his quality of life was declining.He was suffering from a number of aliments including a doggie version of Alheimer's disease and weak and failing back legs. However, he remaiined the 'alpha' dog, or 'leader of the pack', all the way to the end.

We were looking for another dog, to keep Buster in line. We thought maybe a cocker spaniel (I had had them growing up). We felt strongly about using a dog rescue. Someone recommended Second Chance Dog Rescue. We were going to go to their adoption day when it next came up.  We had been looking at the pound also. Second Chance was having a little bit of an over crowding problem, so we became 'temporary' foster parents. We will miss him greatly. But we remember him for the undying love he gave us for so many years.

This is definitely interesting -- wonder how this will develop. I already have a paid TypePad account so I am not sure if I really need this -- seems kind of like a BlogSpot competitor.