House Of Koenig

This morning was another typical Monday involving the morning commute to work.  I’m lucky that I only live 3 miles from my place of employment but it’s amazing what you can see along that 3 miles.  This morning in particular I noticed the hurry that people seemed to be in.  Were people really that rushed to get back into the office and into the grind after a 4 day weekend?  Apparently so as I witnessed countless acts of road rage, close calls from vehicles changing lanes abruptly and tailgating.  What’s the rush people?  Five minutes will not make a bit of difference in your day (unless of course you are an ambulance driver and then 5 minutes will definitely make a difference in someones life).  Take a deep breath and enjoy life.  Your job is not that important in the grand scheme of things and if you think it is you are seriously deluding yourself that 5 minutes makes a difference.  Then of course there are those that want to start their work day from their car along the way by texting or emailing from their phones while weaving and dodging through traffic.  Not long ago while I was walking my kid to school we were about to cross through the crosswalk and a driver blew through the intersection through a red.  I glanced up just in time to see them texting on their phone, oblivious to the carnage they came so close to causing.  Let’s get up a little earlier folks so we don’t feel the need to rush around like tomorrow will never come, because an error like running a red light may mean tomorrow never comes for a kid walking to school.

I love to read.  For quite some time I hadn’t even picked up a book but recently I have been making up for lost time by going through a book every 2 weeks.  My current topics seem to revolve around travel, vagabonding and life changes.  Here is a list of all the books I am currently either reading or have lined up to read:

Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer  This is the story of Christopher Johnson McCandless that was made into a movie of the same title.  I’m about 3/4 through the book.  I’ve really enjoyed this book so far.  McCandless led an interesting life if not a tragic life but the thing that gets me about him is that he wanted to life his life a certain way and he did exactly that.  Looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel – Rolf Potts I briefly read a few chapters of this book and want to pick it up again and finish it.  I’ve got the travel bug and would love to get out and explore and photograph some parts of the world I have been itching to get to.  This book opens up possibilities to making that happen.

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer A Man Who Would Cure the World – Tracy Kidder A few chapters into this wonderful book.  If you want to read an inspiring story of a man who has lived his life to help others, if you want to be inspired to make a difference in the world then pick this book up.  One person can make a difference in the world.

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steven Pressfield Read through this book once already and want to read it again.  Good stuff on how to break free from your own thoughts that have been holding you back and keeping you from your true creativity.

Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits – T.D. Jakes Been wanting to make some life changes for quite some time now.  Saw this book at a used book store and picked it up.  Seemed to be exactly what I was looking for.  Looking forward to reading this one soon.

How Not to Live Abroad – Shaun Briley This looked like a fun and interesting book about a couple who left it all behind to live in a farmhouse in Spain.  Supposed to be pretty humorous.

Walking the Bible: A Journey By Land Through the Five Books of Moses – Bruce Feiler (From the back cover) Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible describes one man’s epic odyssey – by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel – through the greatest stories ever told.  I’m excited to start reading this one.

12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time: A SemiDysfunctional Family Circumnavigates the Globe – Mark Jacobson Had to pick this one up as this is exactly what I want to do at some point (soon).  Sell it all and travel the world.  This is supposed to be a laugh a minute travel dialog.

Besides the books I’ve listed above I am also reading some technical books on Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.5.  Interesting stuff but not as fun to read.  If you have read any of the books above let me know how you liked them.  I am also open to further suggestions on additional books to read as I move through this list.  In fact I would love to hear your suggestions.

So yesterday was Black Friday.  Supposedly it is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, a day when sales abound and deals are once in a life time.  I hate everything about this day.  To me it is a symbol of the hyper-consumeristic waste that goes on every day in America.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for a good deal but I don’t spend money just for the sake of the deal.  If I don’t really need something I’m not going to buy it just because it’s on sale and it’s a good deal.  But that seems to be exactly what people end up doing.  We buy all this cheap crap that finds it’s way into our closets and eventually the garage and finally in the landfill.

Speaking of cheap crap, what has happened to toys manufactured today (or most products for that matter)?  It seems everything is being manufactured as disposable.  It’s a cycle of buy now and then either break or become outdated by rapidly changing fashion, thereby mandating an upgrade purchase.  Manufacturers seem to be producing more and more junk that is specificlly designed to not last so that it must be purchased again.  I remember growing up with Tonka trucks that were made out of metal.  Those things were virtually indestructible.  These days they are built from flimsy cheap plastic.  My kids (who I admit are hard on toys) destroyed that cheap plastic in a matter of months.  I suspect that metal would have survived their onslaught.  It seems that there has been a conscious decision to market and produce items with a shortened lifespan (cheap quality) so that consumers must purchase more and more. 

I remember last Christmas we bought our boys more toys than we really wanted to but we were blinded by the thought of their happiness.  We fell into the trap of mistakenly believing that happiness can be bought.  What we ended up with were several cheap plastic toys that quickly broke and ended up in pieces at the bottom of the toy box after a month.  This year we plan to spend less and give more.  We will spend less money and the money we do spend will be on quality items.  How many times have we purchased items on sale, blinded by the price and not looking at the build quality.  It really is true that you get what you pay for.  I have no problems paying more for a quality item that I know will last. 

We will also give more this year.  Giving to charities as well as giving our time and energy for local causes.  Instead of focusing on gifts as we have done in years past we will instead focus on building memories with our kids.  We’ll go out to a tree farm and spend the day selecting a tree and riding on tractors, drinking hot chocolate.  We’ll go up into the mountains and tube down some slopes, have a family snowball fight and build a snow castle.  We’ll attend Christmas concerts and shows, visit Santa at the mall, cruise the city looking at all the lights and decorations.  These are the gifts that are invaluable and will be remembered much longer than the plastic junk in boxes that we wrap up and throw under the tree.

Presents are great.  Everyone loves them but let’s be smart about it.  Let’s add quality and durability to the equation and use our purchasing power to demand items that won’t break the week after Christmas.  Let’s choose to not overspend and put our-self into debt that requires the first several months of the New Year to pay off.  It’s interesting to note that the concept of the “layaway” has come back.  I think the economic crisis made people realize that the debt they are carrying is quite a burden.  More and more people are unwilling, or unable to proliferate the cycle of buy now pay later and are turning to layaway.  In case you are unfamiliar with how layaway works, you basically pick an item you want, pay an small deposit, make payments over time and pick up your item when completely paid for.  Typically layaway plans do not carry interest charges, unlike credit cards.  Not overspending and staying out of debt is the best thing any of us can do this holiday season.

So I think I’ve rambled on enough here.  The point I am trying to make is that there is more to Christmas and the holidays than gifts, especially gifts out of a perceived obligation.  This season we intend to spend less and give more, to be smart in regards to our purchases and only buy quality items that are built to last.  We intend to spend more time with family and create memories that last a lifetime, rather than purchasing cheap junk that lasts a week.  Tis’ the season for building lasting memories with family and friends.

We had a small group gathering today and decided to do a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving.  I bought a 17 pound turkey and was going to do the traditional roasting but after seeing a Food Network show on favorite Thanksgiving recipes I decided to smoke the turkey first.  I had some mesquite chips in the garage from the summer barbecue season so I took a few handfuls and soaked them in water.  Then I spread them out in the bottom of a heavy roasting pan.  Next I put a metal rack on top of the pan and placed the turkey on top of that so the turkey was basically sitting on the rim of the pan.  The idea was to have lots of space between the chips and the bird.  Then I wrapped the whole thing in aluminum foil and placed the pan on a stove top burner and turned the heat up to medium (5).  As the wood chips heated and started to smoulder you could smell the sweet mesquite.  I left this on the burner for about 1.5 hours.  The bottom of the bird started to cook a bit but it was all good.  After the smoking time I rubbed it down with olive oil and sprinkled salt and black pepper on the skin, covered it in foil and popped it into the oven.  I let it roast covered for about 4 hours on 325 F.  For the last 45 minutes I uncovered the bird and took the foil off so the skin would brown up and get nice and crispy.  After a 30 minute cool down I carved it all up.  The meat had a nice smokey flavor to it, especially the skin.  If you are looking to do something different this Thanksgiving try smoking the turkey before roasting.

Today was Veterans Day here in the US.  It originally started as Armistice Day as a commemoration of the end of World War I and made a national holiday in 1938 by President Woodrow Wilson.  Veterans Day is about honoring those who wore or continue to wear the uniform of our armed services.  These are the men and women who choose to serve our country.  They choose to fight for our freedoms and protect us from harm.  But while they are protecting us who is protecting them?  Who protects them from those who take advantage of their sacrifice and needlessly put them into harms way?  Much like the sidearm of a police officer our military should be used as a last resort when all diplomatic discussions have failed.  Our men and women who proudly serve should know that when they get deployed there is a damn good reason why.  I salute all the men and women serving today.  May your sacrifices not be in vain.

What a bad blogger and host I have been.  How could I not have posted anything during the entire month of October?  It’s not like there isn’t anything going on in October what with Halloween, harvest parties, the changing colors of Fall.  I gotta do better than this.  So for my first post in November I give you “Boots and Reflections”.