‘life’ Archive
This entry was posted November 25th, 2007 and has 3 comments.
The best part of any holiday is the time we set aside to spend with family. Over the years, some of my best memories are of times spent with my cousins during the holiday season. I’ve been blessed with a large extended family, including 18 first cousins on my mother’s side. As I grow older, the relationships I have with my cousins also grow, even if the amount of time we spend together does not.
Growing up, my cousins Ryan, Ellen and Kathryn lived right around the corner from my family. Ryan and I were best friends and spent just about every minute we could hanging out, especially during the summer. Whether it was riding bikes through the neighborhood, building forts, or just exploring, there was never a boring day. Over the years as our lives got busier, the amount of time Ryan and I spent together diminished. However, the significance of that time never has.
During the most recent Thanksgiving and Christmas family celebrations, I’ve really been struck with one thought. My cousins aren’t little kids anymore, they’re all real people that are genuinely intelligent and interesting. I would be friends with them even if we weren’t related. These are the same people that I’ve spent so many hours goofing off with, but recently we all hit this point where we were able to relate to each other as adults. My cousins are now getting married and having kids of their own, going to grad school, and following their various passions in life.
Continue reading Thanksgiving with Family
Posted in Baltimore, Chris Walbert, life
This entry was posted November 13th, 2007 and has 2 comments.
No that’s not just a clever, metaphorical title, it’s actually what I’ve been doing over the past few days.
A couple of months ago, my friend Chrissy moved to Shanghai, China to take a job as the head of youth ministry for a church there. She’s anxious for friends to come visit, as I’m sure anyone who moves by themselves to another country is. So, her brother Ron and I decided we would plan a trip to go visit.
I’m really excited about the idea of visiting and exploring a country on the other side of the world. I definitely never thought this is a place I would go, but what an amazing opportunity. Plus, we’ll be there the first week of February, which is during Chinese New Year! This trip is definitely going to be an amazing experience and one that I’m really looking forward to.
The only downside is that there are so many things you need to do before you can actually go.
Continue reading Planning a Trip to China
Posted in Baltimore, China, Chris Walbert, life, travel
This entry was posted October 31st, 2007 and has 1 comment.
I just took a quick trip to Giant to get some Halloween candy for tonight’s trick or treaters. Today is absolutely beautiful. 65 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and a nice breeze.
Since I work out in the country a bit, and not in downtown Baltimore, I actually get to see trees on my way to and from work. It’s days like today that make me especially glad that I live in the mid-Atlantic where we get to experience four seasons. It’s been unseasonably warm so far this fall, but leaves on the trees are finally starting to change.
This weekend is the end of Daylight Savings. I cannot stand when it gets dark early. I’ll have to sit outside for at least 15 minutes every day this winter or I’ll go insane. At least this means that it will be cold enough to snowboard soon.
Continue reading The Perfect Fall Day
Posted in Baltimore, Chris Walbert, life
This entry was posted October 31st, 2007 and has 2 comments.
At this time 2 weeks ago, I was impatiently anticipating the arrival of my new MacBook. For the past 5 years or so, I had been using an eMac. Sort of a less-expensive cousin to the much more popular iMac, the eMac was a rather short-lived product for Apple. I believe it only saw one generation.
So, back to waiting for my MacBook. I ordered it online on Sunday. I know, I could have easily gotten in the car, driven 10 minutes to my local Apple store and not have to wait, but for whatever reason, I decided to order online. So on Tuesday, a few days ahead of schedule, a package arrived at my office. I was obviously very excited and thanked the FedEx driver. To my great disappointment, the box I opened only contained the MacBook case, not the MacBook itself. Quite ironic, don’t you think?
So, after 4-5 calls to FedEx and another to Apple, I figured out that the shipper (Apple) did not label the box properly and my MacBook had been sitting on the FedEx truck for 4 days. The second box finally arrived on Friday, and Apple was even good enough to credit me $50 for my troubles.
Continue reading New MacBook with Leopard
Posted in Chris Walbert, life, technology
This entry was posted October 23rd, 2007 and has 3 comments.
If you’re looking for a way to spend a little bit of time today, be sure to check out the new site FreeRice.com. Not only will you be killing some time at work, but you’ll also be building your vocabulary while helping feed people around the world.
The basic premise of the game is this: The game gives you a word and asks you what it means. You have 4 possible options. For every word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations to help end world hunger. Also, when you get a word correct, the game gets more difficult. If you get a word wrong, it eases up on you a bit.
The site is rather addictive, especially if you’re on the nerdy side of things. I’m up to level 37, but now it’s time to get back to work.
Posted in food, life
This entry was posted October 16th, 2007 and has no nomments.
After all of the drama surrounding the Chicago Marathon last weekend, it was a welcome sight to wake up to a beautifully sunny, chilly Saturday morning. The heat and humidity left Baltimore just in time for this year’s event.
I joined over 14,000 people, from other countries, 48 states, and of course throughout Maryland, for the 7th annual Baltimore Marathon. The weather was perfect, which helped fuel the tremendous energy that you could feel just walking (or running) through downtown.
Continue reading Baltimore Half Marathon
Posted in Baltimore, Chris Walbert, life, running
This entry was posted October 15th, 2007 and has no nomments.
Today has been designated as Blog Action Day, with the goal of increasing awareness about issues involving the environment. 15,000 blogs have registered and large companies like Reddit and Google are supporting this effort. Basically, the goal is to get people thinking about the environment in a different way.
I’m sure there will be many excellent posts today about easy things you can do to benefit the environment or about the effects of global warming, and so on. So, instead of rehashing some of those ideas, admittedly with less research and information, I’d like to start a different kind of conversation.
Caring for the environment is not as much a political or national issue as it is a spiritual issue.
Continue reading Blog Action Day
Posted in Chris Walbert, life
This entry was posted October 9th, 2007 and has 1 comment.
That’s right. The best show on television can be viewed on Comcast On Demand right now. Season 1 will be available until October 28. Then, hopefully they will continue playing the other seasons up until Season 5 premieres in January 2008.
I watched episode 1 last night. Even though I’ve seen it before, I still love watching The Wire. This show is just so well written and real. So much so that it can almost be hard to watch some times. Season 1 is really focused on the drug game and the battle between Avon Barksdale’s crew and the police. The most notable quote from this episode is when Carver, a detective, says this about the drug war. “You can’t call this a war.” Why’s that? “War’s end.”
Continue reading The Wire is On Demand
Posted in Baltimore, Chris Walbert, life, television
This entry was posted October 9th, 2007 and has 1 comment.
Last night, I ran my fastest 3-mile run to date. My overall pace was 7:57 per mile, finally breaking that 8-minute mile time. Yesterday was a beautiful, hot, humid October day. After a somewhat trying day at work the run was exactly what I needed.
I decided to run to the song Let Down by Radiohead on repeat. It’s a beautiful song, but not something you’d think of as a running song. For whatever reason, I just wanted the repetition of that song over and over. And each time the song restarted, it was just as good as the first time.
Continue reading Fastest 3 Miles
Posted in Chris Walbert, life, music, running
This entry was posted October 3rd, 2007 and has 3 comments.
I’m sure just about everyone saw last year’s highly praised Dove campaign entitled “Evolution”. The short film depicts a seemingly average looking woman being transformed by makeup, lighting, and Photoshop, into a beautiful supermodel. For those of you who did not see it, or need a refresher, here’s the video:
Today, Dove launched their follow-up to Evolution with a short film called, “Onslaught”. Here it is:
As you can see, Onslaught shows the insane barrage of “beauty” messages that young girls receive on a daily basis. This campaign directly supports the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, with the goal of reaching 5 million girls by 2010.
Continue reading Dove’s Onslaught
Posted in Chris Walbert, advertising, business, life, marketing, technology, television
