Found In the Woods

Kyle turned one last week, on June 23. As the cliche goes, “it’s hard to believe it’s been a year”. Well, I’m not so sure. In the last year, so very much has happened (including becoming a dad) that it seems like it was forever ago that we were driving to the Hospital to have labor induced so we could meet this little guy. Folks say that one day they’re kids running around in diapers and the next moment they’re off to College. Well, for me at least, it’s never been this way. The way to avoid this is to take stock in all the small stuff that goes on around you. Take your time and make it last. Make time slow down for you. Make it your bitch. Each weekend is a vacation. Every day is an adventure… even the boring ones. Find what you love to do and spend all your time doing it. Whatever it might be; loving your wife, playing with trains, hiking, biking, reading, surfing, playing with your one-year-old boy.

Click the image for pics from Kyle’s one-year-old party. Congratulations, Kyle. Here’s to many more!

Hearing about death always brings up painful thoughts of regret. No, I don’t regret most of the big decisions in my life… it’s always been my belief that all things happen for a purpose. (See James 1:2-3) Good and bad things always lead you down the path that is your life. But, I still get bummed out from time to time over seemingly stuipd, silly or foolish decisions I made in my past.

Take this, for example. David Sutherland passed away on June 6. He was the well-known artist who decorated many of the early TSR Dungeons & Dragons books, including the very first editions! You can see most of them here (scroll down). When I was in 6th grade, my Dad took me to a local library book sale. It’s where they sold old books for cheap to pare down the collection. While rummaging through, I stumbled on 4 gems:

• 1977 Monster Manual
• 1978 AD&D Players Handbook
• 1980 Deities & Demigods
• 1974 Dungeons & Dragons

It’s that last one that’s particularly interesting. It’s a 3 volume set of the ORIGINAL TSR rules for the game Dungeons & Dragons. Not an easy find. This particular set was in pristine condition with no damage. Very very cool. I had no idea, though, that it was much of a collectible.

So, one day my friend Toby offered a trade. He was much more into D&D than I was and I was much more into comic books than he was. A stack of second-rate comics for the old 3-volume D&D set. The deal was done, and I was happy with my trade. For the time being. Never did I ever think that I was making a decision that I might regret 18 years later, and probably ’till I die. It ranks up there with me trading my collection of 1984 Fleer baseball cards for a small 3″ lock blade knife and trading my Darryl Strawberry rookie card for a handful of Boston Red Sox All-Star cards. Well, life goes on and it’s all a part of it. But, I can still be reminded from time to time of those seemingly stupid things I did. The Red Sox won the World Series and Strawberry was in rehab.

I’m in the market for some new headphones. I’d like them to be the in-ear noise cancelling type. I listen to my iPod at night and when travelling, primarily. Actually, almost exclusively. Right now the Etymotic Research ER6 are leading the pack. Amazon is selling them for $100. Anyone else have any tips or recommendations?

Recently attended an FEBT work session in Rockhill Furnace @ the EBT. Highlights of the day included painting, installing slope sheets on the side dump hopper, boiler house masonry repairs and some incredible track work. More pics and some movies in the Gallery:

Recently I worked with the B&O RR Historical Society to create a digital form of the B&O’s famous “13 Great States” logo. I scanned in an original blueprint from the 1950’s and traced over it in Adobe Illustrator. Here is the result.

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