Congratulations, “Tom”:http://canaanbound.blogspot.com/2006/05/eeeeeeeeeeeeeee.html and “Alissa”:http://www.alissaclark.com/?p=322! And, impressive cross-blog photo posting, as well. 
I can’t wait to hear the story.
==
==
Woo Hoo!
Category Archives: Family
How Sarah Topped the Philharmonic
From “her blog”:http://kennsarah.net/2006/04/11/brag-moment/:
What I ended up getting was an incredibly romantic meal at The Mandarin Hotel on Columbus Circle in French-Japanese fusion restaurant Asiate while watching the moon rise over Central Park out the window, and then a fantastic performance by the New York Philharmonic and Garrison Keillor at Lincoln Center. Wow.
How am I supposed to follow that up this month??
How she did it:
*Step 1.* Eat delectable burritos at Chipotle at 14th Street and 6th Avenue.
*Step 2.* Subway to Caroline’s Comedy club on Broadway to see none other than comedic rockstar “Brian Regan”:http://brianregan.com/ (get a 20-minute sketch of his “at iTunes for $1.99″:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=128360160&p=119830874&s=143441).
==
==
You know, that guy who, ever since “Jai & Becky”:http://www.jaiandbecky.com introduced us to his comedy, I couldn’t stop downloading from the web and quoting to Sarah from time to time? Yeah, we saw him live. I laughed until tears were streaming down my face — it was awesome.
==
==
*Step 3.* Walk 10 blocks to the new, pretty Apple store on Fifth Avenue that Steve Jobs personally designed.
==
==
==
==
*Step 4.* Drool over the new MacBooks.
==
==
Schmoo is the best wife _ever_.
Weekend Update: Graduation Weekend
This past weekend was madness, pure madness. We were planning to attend one graduation and party on Saturday, another on Sunday, and then host my Mom and Aunt who were up from Florida on Monday night (and celebrating a belated Mother’s Day). So, most of the latter part of the week was spent somewhere between denial (“we’re going to be HOW busy this weekend?”) and slavishly cleaning up the apartment, doing laundry, and catching up on all the things we would normally do if we were in town.
My sister asked me to babysit my dad for her graduation day on Saturday. This involved, in part, keeping him a safe distance from my mom because, after their divorce, my parents apparently became highly reactive agents that could detonate in each other’s presence under the right conditions. It also meant politely discussing the finer points of non sequitur topics such as company incorporation, the stock market, holding companies, getting a mortgage, the housing market, and the the value of the “1943 steel penny”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_steel_penny.
Jaime’s graduation was a three-hour waiting game full of uninspiring speeches and awards for people I didn’t recognize. The best and most important part, of course, was when my sister had received her Masters of Science in Management after five long years of work. In comparison to her effort, it was a moment so fleeting that the best I could do was capture a “blurry glimpse”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennsarah/149090731/ as she took her degree from the dean. That afternoon, I lunched with dad and headed over to Jaime’s “graduation party”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennsarah/149078512/ for a much-needed beer.
Later that evening, I met up with Schmoo to head out to Ithaca for my brother-in-law’s commencement for _his_ Master’s degree. We stayed on campus in one of the dorms where I really got to see Russ’ tuition dollars at work. The Ithaca College ceremony was shorter and more interesting. The student-body president’s speech paled in comparison to the message given by US Senator Bill Bradley, but that didn’t stop him from rambling on about “those good times, man” at Ithaca College and asking his mom to stand up in recognition of Mother’s Day. Three-quarters of the way through, Russ sends me a text message with the perfect summary for what we were all thinking: “Kill me.”
We got to spend a good amount of time with “Russ, Sarah and Evan”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennsarah/148459770/, having planned to take Monday off for the drive back. We rarely get to spend more than a rushed holiday meal together with them, so it was nice to enjoy leisurely strolls to Wegman’s together and talk.
Monday afternoon we headed back to spend some more time with my mom and aunt — also nice because quality time comes even less often with their being in Florida. Over dinner, my mom told us some family news that made it an even bigger week for my sister than she might have expected. Last night, I got an excited call from Jaime that confirmed the news: her “boyfriend of five years”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennsarah/149097021/ took her out to the beach in Sarasota and popped the question. She said yes. 
Weekend Update: Newark Election, M:I:III, Top of the Rock, and Wearing Thai Food
Election Day in Newark is tomorrow. Cory Booker “will doubtless win the mayorship”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/08/nyregion/08newark.html?_r=1&oref=slogin, a prize he has sought for at least five years, but the big question is whether he will be able to install enough of his team in the city council to be able to stabilize crime, resolve the looming fiscal crisis, and continue the city revitalization that has ever-so-slowly been coming to hopeful Newarkers. More coverage on the “Everything Newark”:http://blog.newarker.info blog.
Friday night was crash night: Sarah and I dragged ourselves out of NYC and into a movie theater in Elizabeth to see Mission: Impossible 3. It was everything we had hoped: fun, fast-paced, and mentally undemanding. “Highly recommended”:http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible_3/.
Saturday was gorgeous, though I spent most of it in a laundromat. Afterward was the much anticipated “unusual date”:http://kennsarah.net/2006/04/11/brag-moment/ at “Top of the Rock”:http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/ODTStatic/site.htm. I had briefly considered something at NJPAC this month, but didn’t want to repeat another performance venue. It was fun, with some “breathtaking views”:http://flickr.com/photos/tags/topoftherock/interesting/ of New York City and New Jersey. If you go, though, skip the “Rock Center Cafe”:http://www.rapatina.com/rockCenterCafe/ — the food, service and view were all underwhelming.
Sunday at the Village Church, where ??Sam Andreades?? showed off his apologetics chops (link forthcoming). Got Thai food with Darin and his son while Sarah and Krissy drove out to yet-another-baby-shower in the suburbs. “Owen celebrated our rare guys-only get together”:http://www.peznet.net/mig/index.php?currDir=./Owen_Sept_to_Dec_05&pageType=image&image=6.jpg by covering himself and everything within a three-foot radius of him in sticky white rice. Worked a bit on tweaking the sermon downloads page (“example”:http://www.villagechurchnyc.com/worship/sermons/2006/01/the-redefinition-of-simon-peter/) for the Village Church to make it more user-friendly and include links for bulletins.
Weekend Update: Jen’s Recital, Lunch with TVC’s Übercüte Couple
Drove 1 hour and 20 minutes to the Mazda dealer to pick up a sideview mirror, which was broken and later glued back on to the car. Vehicle abuse is one of the charms of our town. I need to find a new parts dealer.
Went to an excellent Master’s Degree recital by “Jenny Jobb”:http://www.myspace.com/jennyjobb at Juliard. It rocked–and I was even more impressed because flute is not my favorite instrument. Jen’s music was ecclectic and fascinating. Thanks for the invite.
Church on Sunday began with Darin & Sam’s Marriage and Dating class. Sam taught on the “asymmetry” of roles in marriage relationships. Judy Fujimura helpfully pointed out that both men and women both have to make the decision to lay their lives down for each other, even if the actual implementation looks different.
Speaking of the d-word, we were highly honored to spend lunch with the most “übercüte couple”:http://www.alissaclark.com/?p=287 at the Village Church. We talked shop about Newark (which is _so_ “up-and-coming”:http://kennsarah.net/2005/10/15/newark-unveiled-as-a-force-in-the-art-world/), the m-word, visiting Europe, “new apartments”:http://www.alissaclark.com/?p=300, and “widgets”:http://kennsarah.net/2006/04/28/on-the-radar/. Then we consumed the best “cream puffs we’ve ever had”:http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=2&q=http://www.muginohousa.com/creampuffs.html&e=9797.
Finished the weekend watching “Sullivan’s Travels”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=ourstory-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%253fASIN=B00005JH9C%2526tag=ourstory-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=/o/ASIN/B00005JH9C%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82. Very good, though we’re not sure why we put it on the Netflix queue in the first place.
Posegate Nano
On April 22^nd^, 2006 at 1:17 AM, Evan Charles Posegate was introduced into our world. Weighing in at 7 lbs and at 19 ¾ inches long, Evan waited for a full 22 hours of labor–apparently so he could be born on Earth Day, proving his Ithaca pedigree. “Mom”:http://sarah.posegate.org and “Dad”:http://russell.posegate.org and “baby”:http://evan.posegate.org are all doing great.
==
==
Brag Moment
Just in case I wasn’t aware that I have the best husband (and not because he never fails to prompt me when he does something especially clever), I was reminded of just how subversively romantic and impressive he is this past month.
So we decided a while ago that we are going to set aside time every month for a special date that we take turns planning for each other. The only catch is that the date has to be something that the other person has never done before. (Many thanks to Jeff and Barb Long who inspired this). So far, this date experience has been fun, interesting, and in general just a good night out together that wasn’t spent at an overpriced movie with overpriced popcorn. Some examples of dates that we have been on since we started this whole thing are:
* The Chocolate Show
* Dave and Buster’s
* Bodies: The Exhibition
* Spanish Tapas at Mompou
So you can see the precedent isn’t too high here, but last month, when it was Ken’s turn, all I knew was that we were headed to The City for something at least semi-formal. What I ended up getting was an incredibly romantic meal at The Mandarin Hotel on Columbus Circle in French-Japanese fusion restaurant Asiate while watching the moon rise over Central Park out the window, and then a fantastic performance by the New York Philharmonic and Garrison Keillor at Lincoln Center. Wow.
How am I supposed to follow that up this month??
Xian Blogs that Don’t Suck
I’m not sure why, but it seems like the majority of blogs written about Christian issues (as opposed to blogs simply written _by_ Christians, like this one) are really, really lame. If they’re not whining about other theological camps — such as how calvinists, fundamentalists, Catholics, premillennialists, or emergents are stupid — then they’re filled with uninteresting self-loathing and lukewarm spiritual insights.
I initially subscribed to “Angela’s blog”:http://hereisangela.blogspot.com/ because I know her, but I’ve stuck around because of her truly interesting work in international law and religious freedom. Really, really interesting. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s a compelling writer, or because her work is a direct application of her faith (and therefore easier to grasp), but the intertwining of the issues at hand and how those directly make a difference in her life has put her blog high on my list of Daily Reads. Well done.
Anyone have other recommendations? Esoteric topics in Xianity (the role of Mary in Eastern Orthodox liturgical practices over the last 200 years, for example) are okay, but the more context I have for living in the present, the more likely I’ll subscribe. Blogs that speak to one point of view in the faith are okay, too, but if I detect a rabid foaming at the mouth I’ll not likely stick around for that, either. Thanks.
By the Numbers
My nose has been buried in bank statements lately.
We’ve been closing out 2005 in order to try to get a handle on how our spending might look for 2006 and how soon we’ll be able to achieve some goals. Stuff like paying of all our debts, buying a house, and maybe even (gulp) starting a family. It’s funny to look back over a year or two of financial history. Birthdays, new car, doctor visits, job changes: they’re all there large as life in the numbers. It gets me thinking about all the data — in a previous generation, I would have said “paper” — we generate with our lives.
Emails we sent, notes we scribbled, blogs we published, documents we wrote, financials we recorded, appointments we kept, videos we made, contacts we made, songs we listened to, places we went and the pictures we took there will all one day be indexed and integrated into a singular user interface for you to query, categorize and pivot any way you want. Consider the Google Desktop search and its growing list of indexing plugins. Forget This Day in History, my kids will be able to see This Day in Ken Walker.
Not that any of this is new: people dig through the the archives to learn about other people all the time. It’ll just be a lot faster than it used to, shuffling through mountains of paper, stashed into shoeboxes. Instead, what will likely be left of me when I’m gone is an electronic storage device, about the size of a USB key, with my life’s history on it — indexed and tagged with all kinds of metadata.
But it will probably still be in a shoebox.
Living the Dream
“Jai”:http://kuriosband.com/gallery/photo.php?id=86&id=86 and “friends”:http://www.kuriosband.com are playing “Autumn Blaze”:http://www.autumnblaze.org this year with headlining bands Jars of Clay and, um, some other guys on October 1st. Anyone want to do an Ironworks reunion?