Kristopher Jones

Support Seattle as a host city for the US World Cup bid!

Sounders FC to 2010 US Open Cup Final!

In only their second season the Seattle Sounders FC will defend their 2009 US Open Cup Championship, this time at home at Qwest Field on October 5th.  The Sounders advanced after their 3-1 semi-final win over Chivas USA tonight at Starfire.  The Sounders opponent will be the MLS Eastern Conference leaders Columbus Crew.

See you October 5th at Qwest Field were I expect an all-time attendance record to be set for the 97th US soccer club championship.  At stake will be the 2010 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup trophy and a berth in the 2011 CONCACAF Champions League!

Go Sounders!!! 

Monday Morning Pick me up (Tuesday Night Edition)

Very cool 24-hour time-lapse of air traffic around the world.  Each yellow dot is an plane in the air.  You can really see the difference of the number of flights in the daytime versus at night.

Home Improvement

Fifteen years of sweat-equity has come to an end for now; projects that lasted for months and weeks that I was damn glad to have five days to recover before throwing myself into it again. Half the mileage on my truck has to be to and from Home Depot to pickup materials for a new fence, a new roof, a new kitchen, a new porch, a new patio, new paths and several hundred other smaller projects.

In all areas of my life I’m driven by a need to make things better through constant, steady progress. Moving forward and making things better makes me happy. While each project has its own timeline, I have only a point on the horizon that I keep moving toward. As Frosty Westering says, it’s the journey and not the destination. And if it is all about the journey – and I believe it is – then it’s not much of a journey if you don’t keep going.

So, my initial reaction to not having ownership of my space – and therefore not being free to physically improve my home and make it mine – was that I would find my own place sooner than later and get busy making it mine! Now, I’m starting to wonder… I’ve spent 15 years focusing on the four walls and the roof that I sleep under, now maybe its time that I take ownership of and improve the home on the inside… the one that shelters, nourishes and warms my heart, soul and spirit. To open them up to the world again and see how moving forward on a different level improves my home life and makes things better.

For now...

Monday (evening) Pick-Me Up

I'm starting to find my new pace and rhythm - not quite there yet with the blog, but I'm gaining speed and I bounce down the metaphoric runway of life...

A tip of the hat to my folks (of all people), they sent me an email with the .wmv file of this video attached.  Old skool, they are.  Maybe I'll blow their minds and show them YouTube next time I go over for dinner.  They may never leave the house again.

This is a video of pure joy and fun - a perfect way to start the week and cool off!

Smoke

I'm smelling quite nice this evening if I do say so myself.  My aromatherapy comes by way of campfire and grill.  Tonight my clothes and skin are infused by the smoke from the grill that prepared a fantastic Caribbean jerk chicken dinner.  From the nightly campfire on many camping trips growing up, to the fire pit at Blue Lake to the grill in the backyard... a lifetime of positive associations with the smoke that comes from the fire that warms my bones and nourishes my body and soul.

I begin again...

As many of you have noticed (and some have mentioned) it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here.  It’s fair to say that over the last several months I’ve experienced a seismic change in my life.  While change is never easy, I’ve always viewed it as an opportunity to grow, and to learn, and to hopefully shape the outcome into something that makes my life better.

But that isn’t what I’m writing about today.

What I’m writing about today is what this space means to me.

Two-thirds of my life has been spent in various forms of mass communication.  I could argue that it’s been more than that.  Either way, for the vast majority of my life, I’ve actively searched for ways to engage my audience and to create something just for them.  And while I’m motivated by the attention of that audience, I am not the star.  I’m very uncomfortable being the center of attention.  What feeds me is the audience’s interest in what I bring to them and what I can do to pique and keep their attention.

Know your audience.

They should probably put that old saw of mass communication on my tombstone right now as it’s been my motto for longer than I ever realized.  That’s why I was initially lost when my brother Jim pushed me to start this blog. So, who is my audience?  Well, everyone and no one.  I literally didn’t know where to start. Here I have this platform to communicate and share with the outside world… but, I had to re-wire my head a bit.  It’s mass communication, but really it’s not.  In fact, it’s much less than that.

It took me a while to realize that the audience here is me.

It doesn’t matter if anyone comes here.  Read it or not.  It’s a freeing experience for me not to have to consider the audience for a change.  Knowing that some will come, however, motivates me to be accountable and to be honest – with myself.

This is a special place to me because the simple act of sitting down and writing about things affords me the rare opportunity to quiet myself and to discover my own truths (and to wrestle endlessly with words).  I look forward to sharing the trivial, the inspiring, the maddening and the funny… the meaningful and the meaningless… the everyday things that I discover as I bumble into them on my way and in my time.

It’s my hope that some of what I write here will initiate conversation.  For all of you who’ve been part of my life, I welcome you back and apologize for my absence.  The last few months have been a time of deep, personal change and I expect that to continue as I recalibrate my life in the months to come.  Just know that if you’ve held a place in my life, you still do as far as I’m concerned.

I find myself drawn to the simplest, purest wisdom in my life.  I look at my dog, Bozeman, and see equal parts strength, resilience, optimism and enthusiasm.  He makes the most of his life and I look forward to doing the same.  While I could certainly do worse than looking up to my dog, I should probably stop short of talking to him any more than I already do… so I’ll be here if you care to join me.

And so, I begin again with a quote that I read recently…

“Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

Cheers,

Kris

True Wisdom Echoes Queitly Through Time

The rancor and tumult of the present too often drown out the wisdom of past.  Bernard Baruch was one of the wisest Americans you probably have never heard of.  He made his fortune on Wall Street at an early age and devoted the rest of his life to serving and advising Presidents through WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, McCarthyism and the good times of the fifties.

He contributed an essay to Edward R. Murrow's series "This, I Believe" that should resonate through the generations...

"Because I place my trust in reason, I place it in the individual. There is a madness in crowds from which even the wisest, caught up in their ranks, are not immune. Stupidity and cruelty are the attributes of the mob, not wisdom and compassion."

His words resonate with me.  You can read and hear his entire "This, I Believe" essay here.  It's worth your time.

Whenever I'm troubled by the events of my day, whenever I feel deeply that something is not right, I search the past for this kind of wisdom.  The kind of reason that rings true across the generations.  The tea-baggers and the birthers and the mobs that are trying to drown out the public discourse (and therefore democracy) on health care would do well to withdraw from the mobs for a moment, quiet themselves, and engage in calm, introspective reason.

Bernard Baruch took his meetings with great men on a park bench in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House.  I'll take his brand of intelligence and reason over today's incitement and rancor every day and twice on Sunday.  The mob mentality, which cable news and syndicated radio amplifies, only serves to make us all "morans."

Monday Morning Pick Me Up

Nothing touches me more than the simple sincerity of a dog.  Their love is always honest and genuine and boundless.  I've often thought of volunteering at a shelter but, honestly, I'm not sure I could handle the hard reality of it.

I'm Sorry if it gets a little "dusty" when you watch this.  On the one hand I'm glad it's only a short version of the song, on the other hand I wish there was more. 

"Choose me."

I've been a busy beaver this summer

I'm good at making sawdust and so far this summer I've made a lot of it.  Mission creep being what it is, in May we got a bid to have the deck stripped, sanded and stained.  I love a good home project, but I'm not THAT crazy.  Anyway, we got a good bid and were ready to move forward... then the contractor says, you know, you might want to do some simple repair on a few of the boards and railings here and there before I get started.  He was right.  It'll look much better in the end.  So, I replaced a few boards on the deck, a couple of posts and all the top railings as they were all showing their age.

You know... since we're having the deck done we might as well do the front porch too...  It'd be cheaper to get it all done and would it be nice...

The problem was, in addition to a few boards and railings, the front porch stairs needed to be completely replaced.  What started as a couple of weekends of work turned into two months.  I'm fairly handy but my INTJ traits assure that I will take the time I need to do the job to my satisfaction.  Let's just say that I put measure twice and cut once to shame.

Anyway, I finished all that up a couple of weeks ago after feeling like my summer had been hijacked.  Here's a pic of the new front stairs...

The 2x4's from the old stairs were really weathered but they were still strong so I wanted to find another use for them.  This weekend I built a platform for golf practice at home made entirely from material I on hand and recovered from the last two months.  Now, all I need is a net!

There's a lot of satisfaction that comes from finishing projects like these, but it's more fun when you're doing it for fun.  Now, my INTJ is puzzling over how to erect a net that can easily be put up for the summer and taken down for the winter.