This year Thanksgiving was full of family and relaxation… perfect! Beth & I made way more wonderful food than we could ever eat at one meal Thanksgiving day, later that weekend got another serving of Thanksgiving goodness w/ the Miller clan here in Goshen & even got to see Grandpa & Grandma Brunk for an evening which was fun. I definitely think more people should come by to visit Life for me the next few weeks will be very full of work. We’re launching some awesome new features for haiku LMS the first week or so of December so there’s lots to do on that front. Anyway, I’ve gotta run, but enjoy this array of seasonal photos & if you’re bored, I updated the About Me page (finally). Hope your holiday season has been wonderful so far!

For over a year now I’ve been listening to the NPR Story of the Day Podcast on my way to and from work. There are a ton of good stories on the program and every once in a while I find one that I especially like. Take for example, this interview with photographer, Ashley Gilbertson. He’s spent years documenting the war in Iraq and had some very insightful views of the war. To boot, recently released one of the most cleverly named book I’ve ever heard of: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: A Photographer’s Chronicle of the Iraq War (brush up on your NATO phonetic alphabet if you don’t get it ). Another story I was bit surprised to enjoy was a story about the GI Bill, it’s historical impact & it’s role today. While, I’m definitely not a fan of the war in Iraq, I was surprised by how strongly I felt this sort of Bill should have my support. If we (as a nation) are willing to send men and women into harm’s way to protect our liberties, it seems the very least we could do in return is provide them with a modest chance at improving themselves. The whole issue is still a bit disorienting, but I’m one to back away from a bit of moral conundrum

Moving towards the comic (literally) I ran across this comic the other day and just had to laugh at how much I identified with that kid. Not that I sabotaged my grades so much, but I still do try to create patterns when filling up my car with gas. Why stop at $26.50 when $26.62 is much more symmetrical Finally, I heard this interview with Flight of the Conchords today and laughed pretty much the whole way through. Beware, they can get a bet crass at times, but my goodness the dry humor in their songs just kills me!

Have you heard of the the banjolele? I discovered this magical instrument a while back when Beth and I went to a show with comedy by Ted Swartz and music by Trent Wagler (who also has some great music). Accompanying them was Jay Lapp and a banjo player who fascinated me. His voice was so unique, almost vulnerable sounding at times and it fit his lyrics to a tee. To top it off he played the bonjolele song. How can you go wrong with a chorus like “I love my banjolele, my yuk-olaje-olele. I love to play it daily. It’s always out of tune.” Unfortunately I had completely forgotten his name until Maggie came to the rescue and tracked it down for me. That night I found Andru Bemis on iTunes and have been happily listening ever since. While I highly recommend seeing him live you should listen to some of his music or watch the video clip below, see what you think. (Andru is on the left )