A Trip to Durham and Other News

Things are a little bit less exciting now that we've settled into the routine of work and school... don't get the wrong idea, though, things are still pretty exciting.

1. I got a new desk at Tyndale! I'd like to thank Desk #52 for three great weeks of ideas and inspiration; however, in the end, it wasn't meant to be. Desk #52 just didn't have enough space for me to work efficiently and awesomely. In particular, Desk #52 didn't have the surface area required for the strategic placement of Huge LCD Monitor. So I asked the librarian, very nicely, if I could move to a larger desk perhaps should something happen to open up. Well, as it turns out, someone had to drop out and I got their desk (too bad for them, though). So now Desk #49 is my new home in Tyndale, complete with Huge LCD Monitor, a double helping of Sweet Book Stand, and some pimped out extra lighting courtesy of Ikea's lamp section. I may have to alter the acknowledgements section of my thesis, sorry Desk #52.

2. Candice got a job at Tyndale House and she's doing awesome! It's really perfect because we are meeting the same people and getting to see each other throughout the day. Plus, it's really flexible, so we still have time to do the things we like to do.

3. Last weekend we decided to rent a car and take a trip to visit some friends in Durham. As it happens, there's an OBU grad (Sarah) at Tyndale and there are two OBU grads (Orrey and Kristi) who just moved to Durham - so we had a bit of a Bison reunion. Our friend Sarah went with us, and we all stayed with Orrey and Kristi, who are wonderfully gracious hosts... the kind of hosts who make brownies for you and don't mind you eating their cereal at midnight :). It was a four hour drive (yuck), but with Sarah to keep us company, it was really a breeze. The highlight of the trip was definitely our stormy adventure at the North Sea (sounds like a Nancy Drew novel, doesn't it... The Stormy Adventure at the North Sea). We drove from Durham to Tynemouth, a nice coastal village with great views of the North Sea. As soon as we arrived, however, it began to rain... no big deal, we came prepared with our rain jackets. Then as we approached the water, it began to rain harder. Then we decided we would walk out onto the Battery to reach the lighthouse at the end. Here's a visual of that walk, by the way, this is at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon:


As we walked further and deeper into the gray squall of North Sea, we fortified our hearts against the waxing might of the storm, wind, and waves, determined above all to reach the symbol of hope that lie at the end of our trek and which had become fixed in our vision so that we could see little else... that is to say, we were freakin' cold and wet but we kept walking anyway.

The irony is that after we spent 45 minutes in the cold rain, we finally got back into the car to leave when the storm blew over, the clouds parted, and the sun shone brightly over green hills and a clear ocean. Here's a few panoramas from the same day, same place, less than an hour later:

Needless to say, after the storm blew over, we had a wonderful time enjoying the sun and the sea.

Comments

  1. Good to hear your updates. That coast looks beautiful! I'm glad you were able to meet some people who knew about familiar places. That makes a huge difference in helping a new "home" feel more "homey." Love you guys!

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  2. that is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!! i love keeping up w/ your adventures!!

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  3. "As we walked further and deeper into the gray squall of North Sea, we fortified our hearts against the waxing might of the storm, wind, and waves, determined above all to reach the symbol of hope that lie at the end of our trek and which had become fixed in our vision so that we could see little else..." = probably one of the most epic sentences I've ever read in my life!!!

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  4. My intention was to be over-dramatic... I might have overstepped it a bit. Although, it did feel very epic as it was happening.

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  5. Collin and Candice,

    I did tell Frank hello for y'all. He was excited to hear y'all are liking your new home.

    I didn't dress up for halloween. Unless you count dressing like a grown up... because I did get confused as Christian's mom... it was a funny story, but I was traveling back to Texas from Virginia on Halloween so it wasn't much of a holiday.

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