In blog on
5 March 2008 with no comments
Today marks the second anniversary of our arrival in San Francisco.
Alternate opening sentence: Two years have passed since the great Texodus of 2006.
Two years… it’s gone by so fast.
Kristen and I have been talking about it the last couple of days. About how we didn’t know what to expect coming out here, but that we knew we were supposed to… somehow. And that it wasn’t a job that brought us out or anything like that.
Turns out the transition was just as difficult as we could have expected (though we secretly hoped it wouldn’t be). But as we were talking about it, we realized we’ve come a long way in our journey here. In the sense of belonging, I feel like I identify more with San Francisco than any other place I’ve lived. I don’t feel like an outsider or someone who’s merely passing through. The only other time I felt like that was shortly after I arrived in Holland back in 2000 - knowing that I had no other place to be at the time.
It seems that the last two years have been about finding a rhythm and place for ourselves in this city. We’ve connected with a wide network of people, many of whom we’ve met through multiple ways. My hope is that the next two to three years will be about deepening the relationships we have and intentionally communing with others.
In blog on
4 February 2008 with no comments
If my memory is correct, we’ve spent 4 of the 5 weekends thus far in 2008 with at least one member of our family sick as a dog. Kristen started us off with four days of whatever Andrew had during Christmas, and then Judah and Killian passed a ferocious fever and head cold back and forth several times. My bouts were a day of stomach crud and an hour of exhaustion. Killian is also working on four new teeth (after almost losing one of his).
All in all, it’s been a fairly “blech” year. At least when it comes to family health.
On another note, we already got our rearviewWindow and personal taxes done, and, for the first time, are receiving a relatively healthy return (doubt that will ever happen again). We’ve also started out the year with a brand-spankin’ new 401(k) plan with a mere $75 in it to date. Hey, it’s a start. Would have been nicer if we were in our early 20’s to be starting this, but better late than never.
I’m also hoping this is the first year in our marriage that we don’t have to move. What was it? Seven moves in five years? Please, oh please let us stay here just a bit longer! My only complaint is that my commute across town is longer than I like, but the job is great, and our place is, and feels like, home.
We’re also really beginning to feel a sense of community. It’s not in any one place, mind you, but through the highly overlapping world being weaved here, several relationships are taking root. I know that if we were not here we would be missed, and there’s something about that that makes you feel like there is a reason you’re here.
In blog on
7 January 2008 tagged calacademy, judah, killian, places with 2 comments
We had some free passes to the California Academy of Sciences and went just before the new year, days before their temporary location closed. On September 27, 2008 they will reopen in their new location in Golden Gate Park.
Both kids LOVE that place, especially Killian who was completely mesmerized by the fish.
I am also very excited about the academy’s new building as I was able to work on some design prototypes for their new interactive exhibits. Having left my previous job before the work was complete, I don’t know what the final results will be, but it’s exciting nonetheless.
In blog on
21 January 2007 with no comments
My wife said I’ve been put on probation for not blogging. Is it ironic that during the time I haven’t been blogging, I’ve been creating websites for people and companies so they can blog?
I make no promises, but I’ll try to get my blogging reputation (one that began in 1996) in better standing.
That said, you can subscribe to my blog feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/joshuarudd/blog. And if you feel even more adventuresome, you can subscribe to my master feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/joshuarudd (where you get it all: blogs, links, photos, twits, etc.).
Hello 2007.
In blog on
22 August 2006 with no comments
Yesterday while Judah and I were going for a walk we came by a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk (which is quite normal in our neighborhood). As we were passing by, Judah said that the man was very tired, to which I agreed. I said that he didn’t have a home to go to, so he had to sleep on the sidewalk when he got tired.
Judah: “He doesn’t have a pillow?”
Me: “No, it doesn’t look like he does.”
Judah: “I want to give him my pillow.”
Me: “Your pillow? You want to give that man your pillow?”
Judah: “Yes, he can have my pillow.”
Wow. That was unprompted. For a three-year-old kid who has trouble sharing her toys to tell me she wanted to give this man her pillow just about knocked me off my feet. I guess we must be doing _something_ right.
Of course, by the time we had finished our errand I had forgotten about the man and Judah’s pillow. Perhaps tomorrow we can do something about it, though.
In blog on
22 August 2006 with no comments
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So, yeah, that previous jumbled post was supposed to be a blog sent via my mobile phone - but it appears that the text encoding was a bit of a mess. Hmmm. (I digress.)
Killian Elijah Rudd was born on Thursday 17 August 2006 at 1:36 A.M. PDT! He weighed in at 9 pounds 9 ounces, 22.5 inches long, and had a whopping huge noggin at 14 inches ’round. At that news I gave Kristen a well-deserved high-five.
He came on his due date, too. At first we thought this would be a longer labor than Judah’s was because Kristen’s contractions started out farther apart. However, as the first two hours past it became evident that Killian wasn’t going to take his sweet time. We arrived at the hospital about 30 minutes before he was born (a grand total of 3 hours and 50 minutes after Kristen’s labor began - 40 minutes faster than her labor with Judah).
Needless to say, it’s been whirlwind week and we are all very exhausted, happy, relieved and excited about Killian’s arrival.
In blog on
17 August 2006 with no comments
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In blog on
16 August 2006 with no comments
Too fast to keep up on the blog. We’ll be going in soon.
More to come!
