In Search of a Unified Theory is available!

After months and months and months of waiting (that is, me waiting!), the new album (In Search of a Unified Theory) is finally up for sale on a brand-spankin' new website!

Check out the new website for The Cobalt Season and please purchase the new album! We're so, so, so, so proud of it and feel like it might be the most important work we've done thus far. And the album cover is one of Holly's new art pieces. She's beginning a whole new series of paintings.

Please consider purchasing the new album and doing a little write up on your blog or myspace.

Can you dig? Thanks so much for your support!

Our Garden-in-Process

We spent a good deal of time Sunday and Monday turning over soil again, "treating" it with cornmeal (an organic weed-preventer apparently), and making mounds. Oh, and we planted some stuff.

Let's see: Watermelons, Squash (Green and Yellow), Cucumbers, Turnips, Beets, Broccoli, Green Onions, Cherry Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes, Beans, Lettuce, and perhaps something else that I cannot remember.

Dan and Bethany Gregory (new friends in SF) helped us till and plant. They're also constructing a worm bin for composting. Mmm.

I've been watering the seed-mounds everyday, waiting for emergence. Soon, I'm told by the seed packets. 10-12 days for most seed germination to occur.

Honestly, I'll be beside byself if this garden actually produces. For being as "hopeful" as I am about the earth providing what we need, I am deeply cynical of my own abilities. We shall see.

I Heart Apple, Inc.

So, my faith in Apple has been fully restored. Yesterday we picked up Holly's brand spanking new MacBook Pro...completely free of charge. Wow.

So, after the the Genius Bar photo was taken (see 2 posts ago), the whole tone of the conversation changed. The genius stopped telling us about how we were going to have to send our Powerbook to Apple once again for yet another hard drive. He just told me to write down our contact information. I did.

And then he said these powerful words...

Aaron will call you tomorrow to talk with you about ordering your new computer.

Honestly, I just assumed he meant a loaner or something. Or perhaps he misspoke.

Our new computer? I asked.

Yes, Apple is going to give you a brand new computer, but we cannot give you a store computer because we don't have the proper configuration in stock. I would find out that the configuration is the high-end MacBook Pro 17" with 2 gigs of RAM, 160G hard drive, etc.

Wow. Wow. Wow. It felt strange leaving the store just days later with a new laptop that we hadn't paid for (of course, we had paid for it, having been computerless for weeks). In fact, they are going to refund the last 4 months of AppleCare!

So, it's been a long time coming, but some sort of justice was served.

I Heart Apple, Inc.

Mi Casa Su Casa

So, Holly and I will be taking off for a week at the end of this month. We're heading up to Seattle for a friend's wedding.

The dealio: Our house in San Francisco will be vacant for that week. If you or someone you know is considering a vacation or a getaway while we're gone, why not rent our house for a reasonable price?

The dates: April 25-May 1

The cost: We could work a deal that we'd both feel good about.

The details: 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 futon in family room. We're near public transportation, have an off-street parking spot (a big deal in SF!), wireless internet, some new microbrew, outdoor seating area, walking distance to parks, food, groceries, coffee shops, boutiques.

Interested? Hit me up, yo.

How We Spent Our Thursday Afternoon

Don't ask. It has been too frustrating to have to articulate it again.

6 days for 6 years

Well, Holly just finished up our anniversary celebration. We've been married 6 years, so I thought it'd be fun to spend 6 days highlighting our favorite things of these 6 years: Travel, Wine Tasting, Concerts, Flowers, Good Food, Hiking. It was fun.

Last Saturday (the 7th...which is our actual anniversary), we headed to Angel Island and hiked for most of the day. It was foggy, but beautiful all the same. We brought some Trader Joe's Curry Naan and Indian Relish for lunch...mmm. Then after taking the ferry back to Tiburon, we got cappuccinos and sat in the sun. Beautiful, it reminded us of Europe last year. When we got home, there were fresias (Holly's favorite flower) in our living room. She loved it. Then Trav came over to watch Pax, while Holly and I walked 2 blocks to the new restaurant in town, Piqueo's...a Peruvian Tapas Restaurant. Some yummy treats for our palette. And then yummy Sangria to wash it all down.

Sunday was Pax's 6-month birthday. It was also Easter. We hiked Bernal Hill with some friends for a sunrise service. Then we headed south to Santa Cruz for the day.

On Monday, we took off from our place to head down to Paso Robles to meet some friends for lunch and then do some wine tasting. Quite honestly, the wine this Monday was a bummer...thin, flat wines. We should have known: They were both corporate, 30k-cases-a-year wineries. C'est la vie! That afternoon, we headed to Cambria (where our hotel was) and got checked in and then grabbed dinner.

Pax and I went for a walk on Tuesday, leaving Holly to take a 2-hour nap. Mmm. Then we went wine tasting again in Templeton Gap, where we met a guy who has a 3-acre spot of Zin. Mmm. Great wine, but he was obviously "busy" with racking the wine back into the barrels. It again inspired us to own a small winery some day. The attention that you can give to 3 acres makes a much better wine. We had a nice dinner and Pax slept fairly well this night.

On Wednesday, we grabbed breakfast and then left Cambria to head up the coast on Hwy. 1. Beautiful. Just beautiful. No matter how many times I do that drive, it's just beautiful everytime. Stopped in Big Sur for a short hike, then in Carmel for a quick bit to eat, and then up to Santa Cruz, where the in-laws watched Pax while Holly and I got caught up on some work. We joined them for dinner and then headed home.

Thursday was a "typical" work day, but that night, Trav watched a sleeping Pax and let us go to the Amiinna concert. It was fascinating and moving. This was the first real concert we've been to since having Pax.

All in all, a good 6 days.

"Who would Jesus Shoot?" Rick Asks.

So thankful Rick is posting again these days...

Sadly, just like divorce, dealing with poverty, plastic surgery and materialism Christian beliefs and behavior related to violence are no different from that of our non-Christian neighbors. How can we talk of a Prince of Peace when fighting for a Gun Culture, supporting the destruction of an entire race of people (Arabs) and justifying the embrace of extreme violence in entertainment because we are ''merican Christians?'

What will it take for Christians to embrace the teachings of Jesus and take our history seriously. Will it take violence against our own kind for us to see that violent culture is more damaging to a true 'Culture of Life' -our Cowboy President's words- than those issues used by Dobson, The SBC and radio pundits to increase their coffers and attendance; knowing that speaking the truth on these issues would affect their bottom line and challenge their followers in a manner that would get less Amens and more people walking out because their toes are uncomfortable.

Dawn

Dawn broke this morning and my spirit strangely lifted.

What was it?

The light of the sun was the same, yet it meant something different.

Perhaps we're not bound to the same cycle of day in and day out...a cycle of death. No, this morning, dawn signaled that we can start over...begin again.

Murmurs around the neighborhood of a stolen body. Some called it a miracle.

I don't know, but something's different. Something's changed.

Something's changed.

Darkest Night of the Year

It was the darkest, coldest, lognest, most hopeless night of the year.

The Revolution has failed.

Oh my God, he was executed. He's dead.

We've been huddled up, trying to figure out what's next.

Where do we go? What do we do?

Was it all a lie?

If this "Better Way" got him killed, then what about for us?

Where do we go? What do we do?

Oh my God, he's dead.

(Not So) Good Friday

I just read an article on my cell phone about Baghdad and how things are worse than they were. Paxton keeps waking up crying. The child is in pain. We owe way more in taxes this year than we ever have. I spent hours this morning fixing Holly's computer in new ways.

This is not a good Friday.

I am reminded that death and decay and frustration and disappointment surround us. And this is what "Good Friday" is about: Death, Frustration, Humiliation, Expectations Not Met, Sadness, Hopelessness.

Let's not sugar-coat it: We live in a fucked-up world. And this is the world that the Son of Man stepped into.

And, as far as the world and disciples knew, it's the world he failed to redeem.

But wait until Sunday.

Cat Shite

Walked out this morning to this...



...on the doormat. I think it is the local cat's protest of our newly tilled garden. For those of you who don't know, it's been a constant battle to keep these cats from defecating in our yard. That's part of the reason that we let the weeds go on and on...it reclaimed the space from the cats.

I'm inclined to live quite inconsistently and not consider cats my neighbors (because then I would not be commanded to love them). Left to my own devices, I'd shoot every one of them that trampled across my lawn. But I have a strong desire to attempt to live with a consistent view of life and violence. [deep breath] I'll just clean the shite off the mat and carry on.

Progress is Good

Thanks Craig for this.

Garden Restoration

Perhaps you remember that last fall, pre-Pax, we cleared out our garden and attempted to plant some herbs and a lemon tree. Well, since Pax, I have soooooooooooo slacked on the yard, leaving it to it's own devices.

Suffice it to say, this Saturday, we pulled up 6 foot tall dandelions for hours and hours. We pulled the weeds, tilled the earth, drank margaritas, added earthworm shite to the soil, planted some flowers, cut down a bush, pruned a tree, had a BBQ and spent time with friends. Here are a few photos. I didn't realize I was on the B/W setting until half-way through the day.