November 26, 2009
Once again (as in 2007 and 2008), we here at Felipe Beach are happy to present you with sage advice (no pun intended) for you as you prepare your family’s Thanksgiving feast, as presented by a friend at my former elementary school workplace. Maybe these families should stick with takeout this year…
Poor Mrs. V! She has to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year! To help her out, she asked a team of expert chefs—her second graders—how THEY would cook a turkey dinner. Here’s what they said: (more…)
April 5, 2009
OK, I’ll start!
The week before last, I finished off a round of chemo (#4 out of 6 monthly cycles), and began having some complications shortly thereafter. Specifically, I was driving to work one day, and begun having petite mal seizure – feelings, which hasn’t happened since my surgery last August. Five minutes at work only made things worse and, by the time I was able to get into the doctor later that morning, I was having full-on petite-mal seizures and kinda freaking out in general. Wednesday, 3:00 pm.
January 4, 2009
In lieu of a lengthy Christmas letter, I’ve begun putting my “year-in-review” thoughts online the past few years. This year, I’ve created an entire new site devoted to these thoughts. Many of you received an email pointing you there; for the rest of you, you can head over to http://phildavies2009.wordpress.com/ for some end-of-the-year, beginning-of-the-year revelry (perhaps a little merriment tossed in there, too. Absolutely no ballyhoo, though…). Enjoy, and happy 2009!
*Brief health update — I’m doing great, and awaiting my next round of follow-up chemo (which gave me nearly no side effects last time around). I’m getting around perfectly fine these days (when I can get through the snow, that is), still figuring a few things out with how my brain handles different types of stimuli (but no seizures, thank God), and very thankful for your prayer, support, and encouragement this past year!*
December 25, 2008
Today’s Christmas story: Antigua, Guatemala - Christmas 2005 (more…)
December 23, 2008
Alright, so I had a big angry rant all written up about how sick I am of my singleness, and the related obstacles it tends to bring with it. See, I usually keep this issue on the back burner, but occasionally it rubs itself in my face; this has been one of those months. First, I was left off the short list for a ministry job I’d been pursuing (reason given: I’m not married and can’t provide a “two for one”). Next, I decided to test the waters with a female iron-in-the-fire I’ve had for awhile, only to get the “2nd-Wave Blowoff” (the one where they first say yes, then later think of “stuff they had to do.”).
However, in the spirit of the holidays, I’ll take the high road and keep things light (plus, I don’t want to get gossipy, as I totally respect all the individuals mentioned above. Just not their decision-making processes). As such, I’d like to devote my next two posts to share stories of Christmases I’ve been privileged to spend in other countries, coming alongside the locals and partaking in their traditions. I hope I’m able to relay how much fun it was to be a part of a very special time in their culture. and hope you can feel like you were a part of it, too…
Today’s Christmas story: Manila, Christmas 2000. (more…)
November 18, 2008
Hi everyone; here’s the latest health update. I just wrapped up 7 weeks of radiation treatments this past Wednesday (but you already knew that). This, along with the first part of chemo, which will have some follow up starting in a month. So, in December, I’ll get my next MRI scan (of many to come), follow up with all doctors concerned, then start the follow-up chemo (5 days straight of a higher dosage, once a month for 6 mos.).
Among the many, many things I can be thankful for are: getting back to work last week (in elementary special ed. classroom); no significant changes in health after end of treatments (though my body’s still figuring a few things out); good, stable health insurance (after years of cynicism, those guys have won me over); great doctors & medical staff that have helped get me to a good place (who I’d love to see in the grocery store perhaps, but that’s it); and the countless ways that you, my friends and family, have taken my burdens upon yourselves over the past few months through your prayers & encouragements. Another health update will come in a month or so…
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I think it was a McDonald’s commercial that caught my eye this afternoon; a happy couple were enjoying some of the most absolutely perfect sandwiches known to mankind. Flawless in texture, formed with expert craftsmanship; it all brought to mind a time when I got to see how that kind of perfection is achieved… (more…)
November 12, 2008
This is the Cascade Brain & Spine Center (Bellingham, WA)…an ominously-named medical facility. I used to drive by this place and think to myself, “Wow, I hope I never have to make use of their facilities.” Hmm…
November 6, 2008
Driving chart is below, if you’ve already signed up. Otherwise, I’m covered, but thanks! Not much new to report, but will have other stuff soon)
Happy Guy Fawkes Day, everyone…though the real fireworks were last night (and every night for nearly the past two years), as we come to the end of a historic, and historically-long, election season here in the U.S.. It all got me thinking of another politically-themed story of mine… (more…)
May 13, 2008
(As the calendar slowly winds down on another school year, while the weather outside more closely resembles the doldrums of winter, my heart wanders. My short life has given me opportunties to experience people & cultures most can only watch TV specials about, but all that has sadly left me spoiled to the day-to-day routine of real life. The following is a journal entry from my Canadian Rockies trip last summer (which included the discovery of Felipe Beach). *Sigh*…how many more days until summer?)
*Written from Shuswap Lake, B.C., on my 32nd birthday, the last day of a great trip:
“A beautiful morning, in a beautiful place, once again. While the individual locations may grow a bit familiar from a tourist standpoint, being surrounded by grandeur and majestic natural beauty seems to defy the normal trappings of time. You forget to look at your watch. You don’t need to be “doing” anything. It’s just enough to sit in a comfy chair, listen to a rushing waterfall, watch the stars try to peek out from behind the clouds, and let your brain sort out the past day, week, year.
“Why spend money I don’t have on a trip to the Rockies? Why stay at strange hostels (which I write while sitting on a caboose step), with very unique people (many of whom snore)? Because, when I start these adventures, the rush of excitement wears off quickly. I find myself panicking over small setbacks, unwilling to experience new things and people, and generally longing to just have everything be stable and safe. It gets a little harder to get off the ground each time I strike out to new territory, and that’s what scares me. That’s why I keep stepping into illogical adventures; so that the safe, logical decisions of day-to-day life might possibly become little adventures themselves, not limited by my fears.
“As I strike out on unfolding of this year’s path, I am praying that my fears and “self-stabilizing” tendencies will become a think of the past. Maybe that five-year scenario I laid out two years ago can kick itself into gear, and bring new daily adventures.”
December 10, 2007
About a week ago, my roommate and I were having one of our usual intellectual chats (probably revolving around football or mac & cheese, but I don’t recall), and he presented a bit of a puzzler. He said, “What would happen if you put a letter in the mail, with the recipient address in the return address spot? Would you need a stamp?”
My curiousity was piqued…
I had no immediate answer: although I had heard of this kind of thing online, I couldn’t precisely say how it would play out. Obviously, it wasn’t a widely-practiced tactic, or the USPS would have gone out of business years ago. But, according to the rules of the system, it should work. And extensive research (consuming the better part of FIFTEEN MINUTES) drew a blank, including a conspicuous absense of related discussion on the USPS website (do I smell a cover -up?). You see why this otherwise-irrelevant issue created such a fuss.
That evening, I posted this question as a note on my Facebook page, in an attempt to draw other finely-tuned minds into the fray. The discussion immediately turned to queries of “What’s your address?”, as people wanted to try this thing out for themselves. I thought, “Hmm…we may have something here. Perhaps this truly is the dawn of discovery for free-mail rebels such as ourselves. Or perhaps people are just really bored.”
The discussion carried on for several days, with no resolve to the virtual tug-of-war of theories for how this would play out. Yes, it should work. No, they’ll just toss the letter. Only one way to find out! Then, in an unprecedented showing of maturity (or, at least, lack of immaturity), a friend casually suggests, “Hmmm….my first thoughts were not if it works, but about ethics….” Oh, yeah, that. Right.
Now, I wasn’t actually condoning cheating the USPS out of badly-needed funds. But I was kind of dwelling on a really silly issue, and letting my thoughts drift off to obsequious, pointless places. And, yet, scientific inquiry, in my view, is never a wasted venture: exploring the unknown rarely results in said unknown revolutionizing our lives, but the process of discovery just might.
So, I looked it up online again, just to resolve the whole thing in my mind, and discovered this link. Turns out, others have tried it, and it works occasionally, but usually your letter just gets chucked. A few days later, I even met a guy who works for USPS; he’d never heard of such an idea, but laughed about it, and said you’d just get billed $0.42 on the other side.
In conclusion: you can, but don’t. And the Sun rises on a new day…
