Which holds more truth

A. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing

B. The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Only The Good Die Young

After winter, it's been a long wait to see what will grow new leaves, or what has been overtaken by the short freezes. It's been easy to go out and take pictures, but I haven't been uploading them consistently, so here's catching up from each dormant state to whatever it could muster up in spring.

Azaleas during Winter

Pomegranate Tree right after Winter

 

Azaleas and Pomegranate tree grown back

 That's one mini flower bed. Just some little flowers and two bushes. The dogs like to dig in there a lot. Over the winter we got 9 cubic yards of dirt and mulch dumped in the driveway that Sanjay and I wheelbarrowed to the backyard to our new big flower bed. We got it set up to look like this:

Back flower bed

Other angle

It's looks really empty because there aren't many plants in there and even the ones that are still alive have no leaves during the winter so it blends in with the dirt and fence. Here's what's in there:

Crepe Myrtles, basically sticks

This was in Januaryish, we had to cut them this small to fit all four in my car.

Now they have leaves at least

Hopefully soon they will start flowering.

I still have high hopes for some blueberries and blackberries, but all through winter I can't tell if they are dead. But then I went to Lowe's when they got their new shipment of blue and blackberries and it looked exactly the same as mine, just like this:

Now they look a little more like this:

The one on the right has started flowering and has a lot more green, the one on the left only has leaves in like two spots.

Blueberries before

Blueberries after

Those are the plants that I've gotten attached to because they've been here at least about a year. We've put in some stuff that I haven't gotten so attached to yet:

Some bottle brush. We had some right outside the office at my last job, and it was full of bees and butterflies for what felt like all year round.

The only stuff I've started from seed. Made a little bed for sunflowers.

The hardest part was that they're supposed to be 18" apart, so you have to choose the best ones and kill all the rest to thin them out.

Habanero pepper baby plant

Tomatoes, I got like three different varieties of tomatoes, but if they actually all live we will have to many because tomatoes aren't Nishadi's favorite.

Some little annuals

I Feel Like I'm Taking Crazy Pills

All I want for a government party is one that's less invasive in both social and economic issues. Screw me right?

Here are some issues I'm passionate about, and want more accurate information and research readily available:

 - More sustainable agriculture
 - Actual Net Neutrality, where the companies that own the roads can't own the shops on the roads too. If that were the case, the companies could create monopolies by having really nice roads by their shops, and horrible little roads by competitors' shops. (If it were people owning these things it wouldn't be as big a problem) The federal government can't even manage their own medical website and Title II would put a committee in charge of the whole internet infrastructure. It could be worse I guess, Title II isn't the worst thing that could happen.
 - Internet should be open to everybody
 - Transparency of Medical costs
 - Politicians only know how to make money and or create/find loopholes in laws. How can we expect them to understand issues that would be cleared up by analyzing data?
 - People can't expect to influence the government as much as corporations do

I plan on adding things to this list as I argue with people about them.

Generic political rant: politicians seem to be in left field. They start off on the right issues heading on the right base path but then veer off into left field. Then the opposing side goes off chasing him in left field still trying to tag him out.

Gardening in Houston

Now that we have full time jobs, a house, and a dog, there is less time to go around. Here is a little bit of productivity we have managed outside of the office:



Our backyard. Nishadi gets full credit for the pink bougainvillea flowers and sturdy stands. She gets all the credit in part because they have thorns and I strongly dislike thorns.

Red Silk Pomegranate tree/bush. Hopefully this will bear fruit eventually. It does not have any fruit right now and I'm not sure how old it is supposed to be before it is supposed to start growing actual pomegranates.

Tangerine tree. I've brutally ripped off most of the baby tangerines, because supposably it helps the tree focus on growing roots. That wasn't much fun but hopefully it proves worthwhile. I did leave  a few though, I couldn't help it.

Planting everything I hope I have done more work than necessary. I dug out like a 5 or 6 foot radius (wide and deep! I hate the Houston clay!) for each tree, and created a mixture of native soil, my own compost, and purchased compost and azalea soil. Then make sure it is on raised ground when you fill in the dirt around the root ball, and cover it with mulch.

Mostly I'll learn from trial and error, but the resources I've used for research so far:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/
Neil Sperry's website and book
http://thebellhouse.weebly.com/ and specifically this post

Our berry bed. I built a trellis for blackberries to grow on. Hope it doesn't kill them off. There are two bushes under there. On the left is the arapaho bush, which as far as I can tell only has one branch still alive. The right bush is the Ouachita, which you can barely see one of its white flowers blooming there.

I'm really hopeful for them because I held off on blackberries because of the thorns - but these two varieties don't have thorns! The downside is they probably need more cold winter than Houston usually provides, so I'm guessing they only grew well for the local nursery because of this last abnormal winter, and they will soon die off.

The bushes outside the trellis are blue berries. The tiff blueberries is the tall bush on the left, and the brightwell berries are on the low bush on the right.

It's easy to see the flowers here, (I don't remember what kind, they are annuals of Nishadi's choice) but it's difficult to see the strawberries. There are a few Everbearing by the tall Tiff blueberrry bush, and a few chandler in between the trellis and the brightwell berries. I've heard to expect these strawberies to die in Texas heat without several precautions that I dismissed by planting as seen here.

Next time you visit will hopefully be in season for some harvesting! We've already had some of the blueberries from thees bushes, but those formed before planting this last weekend, so it doesn't really count as much.

I keep repeating the word "hopefully" because I haven't really done this before. I don't want to get too attached to growing my own food, however meager, so in my mind they will all be dead by winter. On the other hand, if they succeed, I want to try growing from seed and other harder things.

Bella for scale, before we bought brick

Some Ouachita seem to be doing well.
We haven't tried any yet, do you think that one is ready?

Stolen from The Binkleys in Phayao:

"Our primary allegiance is not to the US nation, the president, a particular political party or even a particular political system, such as democracy.  Also, our tactics do not involve staging protests, trying to shutdown large cities, demonizing those with whom we don’t agree, posting vitriolic words on social media and using violence to get our way.  Rather, our allegiance is to Jesus Christ, and our tactics involve faithfully serving those around us, especially in small ways, with the love of God.  The more we become like Jesus the better we are able to do this.  Our political opinion is that when people in the US give their allegiance to Jesus above all other allegiances the US will become a better place."

From this post, with some minor changes of course. As I read this passage it hit home more and more.

Nishadi and I continue living in a state of weird disbelief. Kinda feels like we are living in someone else's house, like kids playing a pretend game or something.

I have had a continual inner dialogue about what church to place membership at. It always feels like a really epic conversation inside my head but I assure you it is simple minded. I just don't know how to choose. I'm excited to finally decide on a place and start doing some work.

I hope Manziel ends up in Texas somewhere, it would just be more fun to watch.

One of my favorites Ecclesiastes 3

Do people really gain anything [profit] from their work [toil]? I saw the hard work [task] God has given people to do to keep them occupied. God has given them a desire to know the future and  placed eternity and an awareness of time in their hearts. He does everything just right, appropriate,  and beautiful in its time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing or discover and find the work that God does from beginning to end [humans cannot discern the “right time”]. So I  realize that the best thing for them is to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. God wants all people to eat and drink and be happy in their toil, which are gifts from God [the little pleasures are distractions from the meaningless world]. I know that everything God does will continue forever. People cannot add anything to what God has done, and they cannot take anything away from it. God does it this way to make people respect [or be afraid of] him.

What happens now has happened in the past,
    and what will happen in the future has happened before.
God makes the same things happen again and again.

Simple Thoughts and Ramblings on Psalm 1

God's blessings follow you and await you at every turn: when you don't follow the advice of those who delight in wicked schemes, when you avoid sin's highway, when judgment and sarcasm beckon you, but you refuse. For you, the Eternal's Word is your happiness. It is your focus - from dusk to dawn. You are like a tree, planted by flowing, cool streams of water that never run dry. Your fruit ripens in its time; your leaves never fade or curl in the summer sun. No matter what you do, you prosper. For those who focus on sin, the story is different. They are like the fallen husk of wheat, tossed by an open wind, left deserted and alone. In the end, the wicked will fall in judgment; the guilty will be separated from the innocent. Their road suddenly will end in death, yet the journey of the righteous has been charted by the Eternal.

As for the updates, we have a house now, and it's really weird. I'm the crazy guy from fight club worrying about couches and tables and things. I wouldn't mind if they all burned down. I wonder what I would do with the money if it wasn't put towards stuff like furniture. If I was certain I would use it in a way that showed other people there is a God....I don't know. Sometimes I can retroactively trick myself into thinking the decision I made was the best decision to make, and then future Cameron looks back and wants to slap my previous self. Then future future Cameron looks back and wants to slap both future Cameron and previous Cameron.

I guess I was going to have to grow up sometime. Not talking just about furniture. I put other things before God every day. I do the minimum that I can hope won't make him outright angry with me. I have so much potential to succeed in everything I do and show everyone around me that God is in control, but I search for happiness and the Eternal's Word isn't always the first place I look, and it's not what I focus on.

I'm glad there are other people that You came and died for too, because  it would be pretty stupid if it was just me, even though I'm pretty sure you would anyway. But that makes it all the more stupider that you did do it, because I know for a fact none of those other people are better than me.

I have a wife and a dog, and I come home and snuggle with them on the couch and watch old episodes of the office, and I love my life, and I think we will continue to do well when it all turns back to dust.

Even though it's evidently really old, parts of this concept are new to me. I'm wrestling with the idea of an omnibenevolent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God. Perhaps they can't all exist at once, but these are such abstract concepts, so studying about it in the Bible that deals with things with more concrete concepts, images, and stories is difficult.I'm leaning more towards the idea that the definition of omnibenevolent is messed up. I don't think we are ever promised an omnibenevolent God anyway.

Just got over a sickie weekend. I kinda think we are still recovering from Tough Mudder a week ago, I will post pictures from the professional photographer following us around when I get ahold of them. I think I have mud in my lungs. No just joking, but my asthma has been going crazy, so maybe not a joke. But just kidding, it's not that bad. But seriously, I've been using the inhaler a lot this week. But it's not bad.

I gave Nishadi a cold over the weekend, she missed work yesterday but now feels better than me today.

We're so close to getting a house, it would be a real let down to get this close to the house we want and something happens. Even if it's still our decision, something could happen. But we're close to closing in less than a month.

I guess I should go even further back than the house. The only reason we can look for a house is because Nishadi got a job at Mustang. Her office is about an hour's drive from my office, so we'll live somewhere in between and each drive about 45 min or so. That's the plan anyways. 

Boring Fantasy Football - Please Ignore

I am leading both of my leagues in total points scored. I am 5th place in the 12 team league. Also I am 5th place in the 10 team league.

All Is Right in the World

Last week I flew to pick up Nishadi, moved her (our?) stuff into a trailer that will meet us in Houston tonight, then drove her car back to Kingwood.

I'm not sure the all the best ways to use my new smart phone, but this map seems pretty cool - my locations from Aug 27-Sept 9, 2013. Some highlights - the flight to LA, the drive up to Bakersfield, and then our route back. We met up with some of my family in Malibu, LA, and Amarillo. Also, the coastal drive, Venice Beach, hiking in Palo Duro Canyon, the Sand Diego Zoo, my drive to work and back, and a round trip to College Station for Nishadi's career fair all show up. There were stops we wanted to stay longer, and lots of stops we wanted to do but couldn't but will do eventually.

Also, this is generally my daily round trip commute:

Please don't stalk me

2 Months Left!

Now I'm sitting at my desk at work but I just got back from Vegas this weekend. Didn't lose too much money, in fact the only time I got in trouble was when I won money, and I tipped too much.

If anybody in Houston needs a good chemical engineer let me and Nishadi know!

Another day

I miss my friends, family, and my wife especially.

However, today marks the halfway point between getting married and the planned date of Nishadi moving back to me - 3 months left!

Married Life

So supposedly some of the most stressful times in your life are planning a wedding, switching jobs, and moving, and Nishadi and I went through all of those at pretty much the same time. I'd have to say the most stressful thing is living 1500 miles from your wife, but maybe that option wasn't included in the study. We made a long term decision to get married even if in the short term we are separated by distance for a little while, and I have no regrets about that.

The best thing about the upcoming week is Nishadi coming in town after a week of not seeing her. The best thing about the previous week while she was gone was that I presented Conner his Aggie Ring, and I couldn't be more proud of all the hard work he's already and will continue to put in. Since it's been done twice in our family now we have a Davis Aggie Ring Tradition. Congrats Bro!

Blessing in Disguise

I've spent the last several years hating that I hurt my knees. I used to love sacrificing my body to dive and slide and land hard and collide if it would help my team win whatever stupid pick up game I was playing. That all changed in 2009 when I was looking up while running full speed, and planted on my left leg to jump at the same time some kid hit my knee to the side. My knee swelled up and hurt for a while, but I didn't get any diagnosis after the swelling went down so it could have either been a torn ACL or just a sprain - either way I didn't take care of it. About a year later I was playing flag football on my hurt left knee, which resulted in me tiring out my right knee. I tried to plant as hard as i could on my worn out right knee, and it just popped.

I was so sad. As much as I loved playing stupid pick up games, I knew they would never be the same now that I couldn't jump or turn or run near as fast as I used to. I hate it. Even after two surgeries and rehabbing them, my left knee is probably at 90% and my right knee is probably 75% of what they were before. So now I'm probably like 70% total capacity of what I used to be. I used to pride myself that I could be competitive without arguing or cussing or other douche things competitive people do, but now how can I do anything competitively.

So I spent all these years hating my stupid knees. So what could make me thankful that I destroyed both of my knees?

All of this is due scrutiny cause my memory is generally terrible but this is the best recollection I can do: Me and Nishadi had dated for a few months in spring 2010, then broke up that summer when we were long distance. We were still long distance the next semester when she had a coop, but we talked and hung out when she came in town still. We started dating again when she was done with her coop. So what does this have to do with my knees? I hurt them that fall while we were separated. While I was sitting on the bleachers, unable to play, watching my team play, it was really hard for me. I called Nishadi while I was really sad and wanted to talk to somebody and Nishadi was the one I wanted to talk to. Come to find out, Nishadi was getting tired of being the one to call me, and had just decided she didn't need to hang on to an ex that much. So if I hadn't hurt my knee and given reason to call her, I may not have called and possibly wouldn't be so fortunate to be with Nishadi right now?

After my surgeries, every time my knee tweaked or twisted and hurt, it just made me more frustrated. But now anytime that happens, it's just a reminder of how lucky I am. It just threw me for a loop to realize this injury I've spent so much time regretting, should actually be one of the things I am most grateful for.

Dear Nishadi,

So Nishadi was a little upset that I tried not to write about her, so now I will throw that away and try to write about her and if she's embarrassed about it maybe it will be good for her. So Nishadi I just want you to know you're my favorite and soon all the work you are putting in will be worth it.

You and your family are a blessing to me, giving me a place to stay while we save money. And even though this long distance stuff is the worst, you are the best at it and I am the luckiest person that you would want to be with me the rest of your life.

CHUMBLE SPUZZ

This was a little pick-me-up for me today:

Music from the heart

So I heard South Mac is starting to use instruments. This was sad news for me. Not because I think God doesn't want us to use instruments to worship, or it's a salvation issue, or that the lack of a mention of instruments in the new testament is supposed to mean to not use them, etc... but because that's how I learned what little I know of music and I feel like I am a part of the reason some kids won't get to grow up learning like I did.

Do you know what perhaps the saddest part of the whole Bible is to me? It happens when Joshua dies in Judges 2. Joshua is someone who Moses - who the Lord knew face to face - laid his hands on. And then Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua, while he was leading them. So Joshua is doing a lot of things right. Then you get to a little verse in Judges 2, which is the worst verse to me: After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 

How could there be such a big contrast between two generations that overlapped living at the same time? It doesn't matter what you do, good or bad, THIS TOO WILL PASS. This makes passing on learning from one generation to another so important. By leaving the acappela tradition, I am passing down a little less of what was passed down to me.

Now that's out of the way, here's why I am a fan of the move. It is SO much easier for new people to feel welcome imo - and this is extra important to me since I have been looking for a new church in Houston cold turkey and have had some trouble feeling welcome in several places. Blast that guitar up to 11, I got plenty of other junk to pass on to the kids younger than me. This is the church moving towards King David dancing in the streets and away from the conservative religious rules Jesus spent his ministry pooping on. If it is really that much harder to be intentional about teaching music to kids then we weren't really being intentional about it when services were acapela either.

Here is a question that made me rethink a previously negative stance on adding instruments: When you are standing there in either type of worship service, what should you be focusing on? Judging other people whether they don't seem to be truly worshiping (whether getting into the worship too little like barely singing or not singing joyfully, or getting into it too much like clapping, dancing or raising hands)? Should anyone's worship depend on how other people are worshiping? How does a concert negatively affect your worship?

Here is where my questions kind of hit a snag - why does the band have to be in the front on stage? I don't have a good reason, and I'd guess everyone might be better served by putting the worship-guides to the side and placing more attention on the words. But if you are thinking about the band on stage doing it for attention, I'd guess you are judging them by what you think their intentions are and judging yourself by your actions. If you did it the other way around I know you could find some fault with your own intentions and see that their actions are commendable. If people didn't commit themselves to worship the same because they are paying attention to the band, well then that's a problem, but it's not necessarily a problem with the band. Which style gets more people to focus on worship?

If you can't hear yourself over the guitar - good, now you don't have to worry what your voice sounds like you can worry about what your heart sounds like. Or sing a little bit louder because you don't have to worry about the guy next to you hearing. Enjoy it because it's just another way to experience worship!

So there now there are no logical arguments why to ever go back to acapela. YOU WILL BELIEVE ME

Long Awaited Return

So I know you have been waiting feverishly for me to continue to update you, and your patience has not been in vain! I am back and will hopefully continue to use a couple minutes every now and then. My life right now is so different than it was the last time I updated, here's a 1 sentence overview - I'm an engineer at Ao Manufacturing in Conroe and I'm getting married on February 16 nbd.

relevant websites:
My wedding website
My company's website that I made

Sorry...

So I know I've been neglecting this blog, but that was only to make my Thailand team's blog that much more awesomer

Road to Recovery

So I'm laying here in Amarillo, pretty much haven't moved too much this week. I've been feeling better the last couple days, getting off meds and back on a normal diet. PT 3 times a week. On my own I have 6 exercises with like 30 repetitions each, 3 times a day. Once my knee gets back to its normal size I can start moving around on two legs again. Until then this is my layout:


Two separate machines, one to keep my knee cool and one to keep it constantly moving. And if you see Koko laying in her spot an extra 10 points (: