Christmas cont...

How could I neglect to mention my most favorite gifts from this Christmas??? Dana is forced to listen to my ramblings on a semi-regular basis. Semi-regular not because I suffer from lack of opinion on a subject but because I am acutely aware that my opinion is severely deficient as it relates to the truth (I find my knowledge on any subject to be frighteningly limited), and as such, I find it quite humiliating to express what amounts to little more than...rambling. Nevertheless, my interest in specific topics such as philosophy, economics, political history and worldview continue to grow. Dana and I have been listening to lectures on some of these topics from Ron Nash who you could describe as an economic Austrian and a political libertarian with a Christian worldview, which combines political libertarianism with Reformed Christian conservatism. Needless to say, he's right up my alley. Dana bought me 6 books on these topics as well as books on wine appreciation (how I do appreciate it) and a cigar book with a comprehensive list of tobacconists by city (which I will need should we do ANY travelling in the U.S.).

I hope that I can use this forum to organize my own thoughts on these subjects (and more) and can get feedback from those who frequent this blog (and are all smarter than me...yes, even Ryan) so that I can have knowledge not simply for the sake of knowledge. I find it very helpful when confronted with opinions, or truth claims, that conflict with my own, to walk myself through my own arguement as it relates to what I've heard. This either reinforces my own belief or exposes deficiences. This may explain why I involve myself in many conversations with little more than "fact statements" which expose very little of my own thoughts. This has some exceptions where I become opinionated to a fault and not fun to talk to!

All this to say that I spend a lot of my thinking time (i.e. when I'm awake) organizing thoughts and arguements and these gifts make that more productive and fulfilling. Of course, learning and discussing these topics with a glass of wine and a cigar is my idea of heaven!

Christmas

Let me start off by saying that I felt more overwhelmed this Christmas than any I remember (solely because I was actually Christmas shopping in stores as opposed to online like the last 3 years) by the obsessive materialism that takes hold of people and drives them to flip the bird and snarl every time you look at them. Dana and I talked some about this phenomenon that I don't remember being as repugnant even 10yrs ago. It actually made me very put off by the whole holiday and resentful that I even had to buy gifts. Am I materialistic?...sadly, yes; but witnessing the full force of American materialism coming at you from every direction is shocking. I was shocked!

That was a tangent (can you intro with a tangent?) and actually what I sat down and intended to blog about were some of the sweet gifts I received! Ironic, eh? Well, fortunately my family (including those of the extended variety) are quite sensitive to those things that give me some satisfaction. My mom gave me a Magellan RoadMate GPS system. I really don't like getting lost and with the move to a city where I've never driven, this is bound save me a great deal of hair pulling!

Regan sent me a humidor/cigar combo. I really love the smell of a new humidor with the crisp cedar fragrance filling that little treasure box. It is really nice to have a second humidor because there are some cigars that I like to age and it is best not to age them together and to have a separate humidor that doesn't get opened all the time. It is currently holding my small collection of Habanos.

I got some other great gifts: money for keyless entry, CI gift card (already used!), but really I just enjoyed being with family (my grandma is hillarious - think hookah pipe and a sub-machine gun...but I promised I'd keep the pictures off the internet) and sitting outside in a T-shirt. Merry Christmas.

The New Job

After several months of applying and interviewing for work all over the country, we have accepted a position in Minneapolis. Despite the dramatic change in climate, I don't think we could have ended up in a better place. Dana's family will be there for us to hang out with (and for me to really finally get to know) and the hospital will offer much of the work that I trained to do and never got a chance to practice while doing pediatrics for the last 3 years.

I am definitely excited to get back to work at a busy center, learning some new things while applying the full extent of my training. In addition to the great job, we will be living in St. Paul between the hospital and one of Dana's sisters in a nice house for very low rent. It is down to 17 days and counting....

Tyler Lyle

About 6 months ago Dana introduced me to an upstart artist named Tyler Lyle. Honestly I think she now regrets that introduction as I've been playing, both on my iPod and on my guitar, Tyler Lyle's songs non-stop. I was struggling to learn a couple of songs and Dana, tired of me picking through them over and over again, said, "just email him and ask for the chords!" Well, Tyler may not be Clapton as far as a fan base goes, but I doubt he'd email be back! Seriously...give away your songs to someone in Tucson, AZ? Well he did, and I've now been playing them more than before, but correctly at least.

Here is a video from one of his more popular tunes...

Tyler Lyle: Closer to me from Aaron Champion on Vimeo.