After we cleared the trees, it took another 2-3 weeks for the permits to get finalized. Then we waited another week for the tree guy to come back and "break ground" by removing the tree stumps finishing at the end of May. Finally in June we staked the lot and officially broke ground for the footers.

The lot after the damaged trees taken down

A tornado took out some trees a weekend or so after we bought the lot. 4-27-11

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

The lot before it was bought. 2-3-2011

We purchased the lot on 2-25-2011.

Next we had to get our plans drafted. This took longer than expected- we gave our plans to the drafted who had estimated 2 weeks, it took two additional weeks. Receiving the plans at the end of March, it took about the first 3 weeks of April to quote the plans.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

More Photos of the Lot

Photos of the Lot

Wow- haven't written in a While...

So we haven't used this in a while! However, I am planning on changing that and utilizing this platform to archive the building process of our home... now I just need to figure out how to upload photos from my phone...

IM, Physics, Science and Religion

The other day our friend Jeremy sent out a link to the following intriguing picture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Solvay_conference_1927.jpg
It is a really cool picture, especially coming from my physic background. Particularly, as an array of personalities and minds.

This picture in turned spawned an interesting IM conversation between Chris and I. I've been having a lot of thoughts lately about how we view science and religion in our society. Ultimately, all the minds that have influenced are children of God, souls, and plainly human. Something I think we sometimes forget.
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10:03 AM me: a quote from Dirac
"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite."

10:04 AM Christopher: Dirac was a jerk

10:05 AM me: uhhh... ok

Christopher: He's saying that poetry is meant to obfuscate the obvious

and contrasting that to the clarify of science

10:06 AM It reflects his atheism

me: yea, and sometimes its true, and so a little funny

Christopher: it would be funny if said by a poet

10:07 AM caustic when spoken by a scientist

me: a bit harsh to compartmentalize a man so...

Christopher: Did Dirac write poetry? Perhaps I jumped the gun?

me: perhaps, how are we to know.

10:08 AM being a scientist does not strip one of his humanity

Christopher: After being asked about his thoughts on Dirac's religious views, Wolfgang Pauli remarked, "If I understand Dirac correctly, his meaning is this: there is no God, and Dirac is his Prophet," a reference to the Islamic profession of faith.

Admittedly, I called him a "jerk" to rile you up.

me: another joke from another scientist.

Christopher: I was going for impact.

10:09 AM me: yea but IM doesn't quite convey tone well.

Christopher: but, I had less regard for Dirac (our local beloved Quantum Mechanist) after reading about his views

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac

me: i know, same thing i was reading.

10:10 AM Christopher: so why is everyone interested in old physicists today?

me: it is a pretty cool picture.

I printed it for fun.

a reminder of the humanity of the sciences

Christopher: that's a good thing to remember

10:11 AM and I do like the picture too

very much

me: we get so used to seeing all their names as they relate to laws and theories.

10:12 AM and so we do forget that they all probably read poetry as well

obsessive, focused to a fault, unrelenting even

Christopher: I should like to know what poetry they read

10:13 AM hopefully not something morbid like Poe

me: traits not uncommon to find in people who accomplished the sort of work they all did.

Christopher: So is the knowledge gained worth the sacrifice of a man's life?

10:14 AM me: one trend seems common for a lot of them though.

they discovered something big, and then later in life went
"off the mainstream"

in search of what, one might ask

10:15 AM i.e. Einstein's "creation" constant

Christopher: an excuse

me: for what?

Christopher: isn't that what the creation constant is about?

10:16 AM me: actually, it had spin sort of like the "intelligent design" trend.

Christopher: perhaps I should say "an explanation that fit their existing worldview"

of course, I am really speaking out of turn

I know next to nothing about the personal beliefs of those men

10:17 AM a little about Dirac and a little about Einstein

me: I think less evidence for worldviews and more an overwhelming drive for explanation.

Christopher: Then why was Einstein so resistant to QM?

10:18 AM if it was merely a drive for explanation?

he had notions he was unwilling to give up

(it seems)

me: because it seems like a step back.

Christopher: exactly

me: in a way QM is the admission that we can't know.

as I said a need for explanation.

10:19 AM Christopher: his worldview though demanded a certain type of explanation

me: and a firm belief in an orderly universe.

Christopher: QM was not compatible with what he was looking for

10:20 AM and Atlas shrugged

(I'm not reffering to Anne Rand)

10:21 AM refering "P

:P

me: yes, in a sense. i think he felt it was a rebellion of sorts against then idea of an orderly universe.

10:22 AM Christopher: I prefer an elegant universe, over an orderly one.

me: most physicists do.

10:23 AM Christopher: really? I thought that was a point of contention

me: another quote from Dirac.

"Physical laws should have mathematical beauty and simplicity."

Christopher: something the string theorists pushed

10:24 AM me: yes, it is a controversy of sorts, but people strive for simplicity.

Ockham's Razor, or however it's spelled

The search for quarks is a great example of the drive for simplicity.

Christopher: simplicity, elegance, order, and beauty

10:25 AM are they four different things?

me: Up, Down

Christopher: more like three

me: Strange, this some seems out of place.

Wouldn't it be Charming if there was a fourth.

Christopher: btw, that's poetry

me: And by the time they hit the Top

10:26 AM Christopher: and not pure science

me: the since of order was complete.

So they went ahead and theorized the Bottom.

Christopher: QM is, to me, a more poetical science

10:27 AM me: Science at its core it driven by the desire of the human heart for simplicity, order, and explanation.

That is my quote.

Christopher: I'm not sure that I agree with it.

10:28 AM Science is driven by...

the desire for knowledge/power/control

me: If poetry is an outpouring of the heart, then you might even say that science is driven by poetry.

Christopher: simplicity can be found in a hut, by a garden

me: i disagree.

power and control only comes from the a particular usage of science.

Christopher: then I think you have redefined Science

10:29 AM what "drives" science

me: the physicist vs. the engineer.

Christopher: physicists are not all of science

me: the engineer applies knowledge for good or bad.

Christopher: though probably the most "noble"

me: the physicist often seeks only the explanation.

10:30 AM Christopher: ok, I need to return to work

The opinions expressed in this chat do necessarily reflect those of Google, Christopher, or Christopher's PC.

me: a final quote from Einstein

I do not think that it is necessarily the case that science and religion are natural opposites. In fact, I think that there is a very close connection between the two. Further, I think that science without religion is lame and, conversely, that religion without science is blind. Both are important and should work hand-in-hand.[30]

10:31 AM Christopher: and as such I might make many of the same criticisms about Religion that I do about Science

peace

10:32 AM me: true.

see ya.

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By the way, Chris and I have often had conversations I wish I could have written down. It is the type of conversation that though I'm participating I feel I'm watching from it the outside. Kind of like watching two ideas face-off, rather than two people. And for me, the best ones always end with a consensus of truth.

The Art of Choice

Lately two themes has been prevalent amongst our friends and especially in the discussions of our Mondaynight men's group. The first is a phrase I give Chris credit for coining, and that is the idea of us having a "bias for action". This concept has been on my heart for awhile. The second theme is one Chris muses on in one of his recent blogs, - the desire to build and create. It is the calling of our early thirties. The life period of Jesus' public ministry, etc. And for the things I want to create now, I find myself more willing to wait for, to be rid of quick get schemes, because now my deeper desire is to build things that last. Perhaps building a family, maybe art or music, words in a blog, or anything. I wonder if it is just a desire to be relevant, or maybe something more too.

At present I have a fantastic job working at the FSU College of Music, and so I have the joy of having many great conversations with students, professors, and otherwise. Topics are far reaching, though often with a preference for things music ;-). Anyway, a great realization hit me yesterday during one of these cool conversations. It is one regarding the beauty of music, (and perhaps the arts in general). I have often heard music desribe as a form of expression. The universal language, etc. At the same time, when composing music, we say that we are "creating" it. For this reason, for me it fills this "creation" desire. I sometimes feel it puts me in touch with a side of God that I have no other way to find.

The realization though was simple. For more that fulfilling the "creation" urge, using the language of music, by doing so, I was also following the other theme, the "bias for action". To act is to choose. To choose a position and stand. To set a direction and move. To turn your back on one landscape, and to embrace another. And so to create music is in itself choice. Whether chosen like a symphony, carefully, days ahead, with great thought, or to breathe it by the moment, as changes flying through a jazz standard. And to perform that music is to plant my feet, set my direction, and run. It is to choose, and to act. My inspiration.

Negative- this is for you! Gaming

I am posting for a friend is complaining that we have not posted.

Subject: X-box

Alas, I am one of the few- wait make that only wife in our group that plays Halo2 with the boys (my husband and I consider this our "golf")
Why you ask would a girl who has never played any videogames in her life now all of a sudden dive into such a violent non-feminine atmosphere? (And at times even trump my husband's enthusiasm for the "wait just one more game") Why oh why have I stooped to this?
Well like many women I have a nagging competitive streak. If someone says I can not do something and if that idiotic reasoning includes even a slight gender basis- I am then well -compelled -obsessed -my new life's mission is to prove them wrong. Ok so maybe not all the time, but our dear friend "flyingj777" must have provoked me at the wrong place and time. "I could not play because I was a girl" Yep- my husband is very grateful to those fateful words. From that point (after my husband calmed me down in the car- or maybe he really just used the situation to his advantage-maybe his end plan was to get the ultimate prize: the gamer wife, the envy of 14 year old boys everywhere- maybe he is really to blame??) In any case- we put our top secret operation into action- I went into secret training... objective: beat Flying J at his own game! Ha! ha ha HA!

Ok so about two months of my husband whooping up on me and I reached my goal- I revealed my skills to the boys. At that time I was on the same level as most including Flying J. So I won - or maybe Michael did?

Now we don't get to play as much, but its still some of our favorite husband/wife time. What I like most is the interaction on line. People are very rude sometimes, but its so easy to turn it around- I love that. And of course if I'm on the mic I get lots of attention for being a girl- then when they realize I'm an "adult" (yes-I know our friend negative might not agree- and I sometimes wonder myself) and married- well they have no mercy on my husband- he's got what every gamer wants- his wife nagging him for one more game.

Subjects to write on:
labor and gaming (yah- the having a baby thing- literally)
whether or not to buy that second account- the detriment of having the gamer wife
gaming friends

Please suggest others...

Stormy Weather

I feel a bit left out. The start of a new hurricane season and the first, like most of the others before, is heading towards us. Not to worry- its only a Tropical Storm and they never seem to like our turf in the end. (Not that they need to enjoy anyone’s turf). So why left out? Again the sick humor... my husband, his best friend and his best friend's wife all get to have storms named after them this year- not me, I came around too late I guess. Or as my husband says I'm a northerner and not a true Floridian. So I am left out of the naming... yes sick humor.

I am looking forward to the rain if it comes our way- Tropical storms a big Thunder storms for us- God willing. I joke around about this stuff, I guess many of us do- I keeps a pretty horrible subject bearable in the end. But in the scale of reality, this one should really not be that bad.

When you write your thoughts down, and others can read them, you keep jockeying from expressing one extreme to the other. Not that you own either, or even the middle ground. You don't want to write something in jest (that is sad or simply not a nice outcome) when it might actually becomes true... yelp... I started writing the above as a funnier joke, with a bit more lightheartedness, but as you write you think of all the people here you wouldn't be joking about this right now. So a crack at being funny turns into guilt.