menno mennonite

our trip to washington state was part of an annual tradition to gather with friends to practice a seder meal.  while the group has changed over the years, it has always included fuller students with connections to eastern mennonite university.  my friend matt is the current pastor at menno mennonite church (great name, right?), a small rural congregation in a farming community in rural washington.  his family was gracious enough to host our small gathering.

we had a wonderful time, and owe much of that enjoyment to our wonderful hosts (pictured below).

meet my friend matt

during the past two summers i've taken bike trips on the east coast with some friends from college. my friend matt has always been at the center of these trips. his love of cycling is certainly a big reason that i have grown to love riding my bike as much as i have. his photography is certainly part of the reason that started this blog.

well it turns out that matt just found out he has leukemia. needless to say, he and his family were stunned.

matt, our thoughts and prayers are with you. may you have a speedy recovery! if you'd like to follow matt's journey to recovery, you can check out the website that his family set up, right here.

pasadena's newest theater

the mosaic park sign series is in the rear-view mirror. are you still following the sky is big in pasadena?? thanks for sticking with me!

arclight cinemas recently transformed the theater complex at paseo colorado into one of their marquee upscale theater-going experiences. thanks to a heads up over at hometown pasadena, i was able to snag a media pass to check out what they had done with the place.


yes, the movie was free, and yes they did butter us up with plenty of free hors d'oeuvres and popcorn, but never-the-less, we had a great time. the theater now offers plenty of legroom and wider armrests (something a big guy like me appreciates), and the picture quality was excellent. seating is reserved - you select the seat you want when you buy your ticket - and the theater is staffed with ushers to make sure that no one is talking on their cell phone or disturbing the other movie-goers.

the full bar was not yet up and running, but we were able to try a beverage from their excellent coffee bar.


even the pricing is not as outlandish as i was expecting (approx. $11-$15, depending on when you go and whether you qualify for a child or senior discount). certainly this isn't like going to the $3 theater down the street, but for the extra money you do get a wonderful movie-going experience. the re-decorating is really very tasteful and the atmosphere is certainly more on the date night side of things rather than the teenage hang-out, at least compared to the former tenant.

january theme day: changes

happy new year!

last night we changed things up! instead of sitting by the road and spraying cars with silly string and throwing marshmallows, we hit the streets by bike doing that exact thing to the bystanders!

matt and i had a great time. sorry the video is so choppy.



happy new year! (by the way, the post date and time for this blog entry is 1/01/10 at 1:11am - cool, right? does anyone speak binary?)

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

father's office with friends

while their food and drink may be slightly overpriced, father's office has one of the tastiest burgers and best beer selections in l.a. county. and i do love burgers and beer...

leaning to the left

mennonites admittedly aren't big on sacred rituals. so we borrow from other traditions. this weekend, a group of us got together for a seder meal (click on this link for details). ryan and alethia have been organizing this event for a while now, and their interpretation of the symbolic feast has grown larger every year. this was the fourth year in a row, and it was an enjoyable social and reflective event. and the meal was spectacular.

i hope your easter/passover/long weekend experience was relaxing and enjoyable. does anyone else blend religious traditions like this, or is it just me and my wonderful friends?

oh, one more thing. the woman on the right in the picture is my friend holly - who writes this fantastic blog. go check it out!

cupid's valentines stout

loyal readers of this blog know i'm a fan of fine beer, and as it turns out i've been busy working on a homebrew project with two of my good friends. last night we bottled our first batch which means it should be ready to drink on valentines day. the homebrewing process is not for the impatient - our stout brewed with cocoa and strawberries will end up taking about 5 weeks from start to finish, but we think we're going to end up with one fantastic beverage.

in this picture ryan is filling the bottles and matt is getting ready to cap them. they make a pretty great team.

any suggestions for our next batch?

dinner with friends

some of our friends from virginia are visiting pasadena this week on their cross-country tour. it was great to have dinner with traci, beth, and carissa. we ended up going to the kitchen, a fantastic little italian eatery in old town. oh, and it was matt and shawna's aniversary. congrats you two! happy to celebrate with you.

disco bowling

our pmc small group went bowling at bahama lanes last night - unfortunately it turned out to be disco bowling and thus made for some blurry picture taking. this is an action shot of matt and shawna bowling at the same time.