Coco
Pulling the plug on TV (reference to the last post) and general busyness in life kept us, as one friend put it, "unplugged," from the world of blogging for over two months now! So for those of you left who might give reading this blog one more chance--hi, how are you? Nice to see you again--here is the latest and the greatest in the world of Cory and Farah.
Man's best friend and one happy addition to our family, Coco!
She is one sweet and playful dog and we love having her around. Waking up at 5:30 in the morning to take her out to go potty and the many other responsibilities that come with dog ownership are well worth her company, not to mention how owning a dog is in many ways parental training grounds! Don't get too excited about that last comment though! About Coco, she is an eleven month-old Maltese-Terrier and came to us from a very loving home that could no longer take care of her. It's been an adjustment for us all as I'm sure that Coco misses her family and all, but after almost two weeks together and two dog training books later (I highly recommend this one: Good Owners, Great Dogs, we're one happy family of three.
Here, Coco is pulling apart a toy that Grandma got for her. She sure likes to chew (but not on furniture, thankfully)!
By the way, did I mention that Coco is already house-broken?! :)
What a good girl!!!
And here are some pics from the past couple of months:
A brief visit with my brother Ryan just before Mother's Day. Pic taken by Eric for Mother's Day present. And yes, there is a story behind the bubbles...
And speaking of Eric, here he his!
Hilary, a friend of ours I've been teaching Japanese for a couple of months or so. She is really coming along and for me, it's been great to be speaking Japanese again... ヒラリー、ちゃんと勉強してるか？:)
Last but not least, our two favorite road warriors. My parents are on a crazy 6,000 mile road trip right now and are blogging along the way but I'm not sure if I can add a link without their permission. I'll keep you posted on that...
And for now it's back to taking care of Coco and doing my best to be a good dad and a good husband. Come on, Coco. Let's go potty!
Cory and Farah Unplugged
For some time now I have been frustrated with the undeniable lack of productivity in my life which uninhibitedly shows up in all aspects--work life, home life, relationships, communication between family and friends, personal health, personal growth, and the list goes on. Having said that, with so many things to do how is it that I have so much time to devote to television? Is TV that good? What does TV have to offer me anyway? Am I a better person for watching it so much? Does TV add to our lives as a couple? Are we using our time as best as we could be? These are some of many questions I have been pondering for months.
Between work and school and all of the other stuff that happens in the middle, Farah and I have conflicting schedules that give us very little quality time together, not to mention the fact that we are always tired. I am not complaining about the busyness of life, although a break every now and then would be nice, but I am more concerned with how we are using the time that we have away from our obligations at work and school. Just how do we improve ourselves, grow closer as a couple, and relax and enjoy life? One easy observation: TV is not the answer. So yes, it's time to turn off the noise, decrease the static, and realize that we are missing out on so much. Really, there is so much more to life than being a telehubby!
Two weeks later
As tempting as it was, shot-putting our TV set off the balcony was not an option, nor was canceling our crappy cable subscription, so we decided to unplug ourselves from TV for a week just to see what would happen. And what happened? Well, for starters, we enjoyed dinner without back-to-back episodes of Law & Order, we allowed Jack Bauer to save the planet on his own, and let Randy, Paula, Simon and the rest of America decide who to idolize. The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and our other television friends were fine without us, and most importantly, we were fine without them. Reality television versus reality, this week it was reality that won our attention. We talked more than we have in a long time, spending quality time together, and got a lot of work done this week and the last. We have to give ourselves credit as being creative people capable of finding something more worthwhile than a picture box that plugs into the wall. Farah would probably say that I have helped cook, clean, and tend to her needs more than I have in a long time, which is really best said as: the both of us are much less distracted/ more focused in general.
It's easy to fall in a rut and it's easy to form bad habits. We see some areas for improvement in how we use our time and so far not watching TV has been a great thing for us. As time goes by surely we will watch TV but only on a limited and monitored basis. No more channel surfing or sitting in front of the TV to relax, because the reality of the situation tells us that TV is not synonymous with relaxation. Entertaining it is but conducive to growth it is not.
I leave you with a few television quotes:
"Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other." ~Ann Landers
"I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book." ~Groucho Marx
"Television: chewing gum for the eyes." ~Frank Lloyd Wright
"Television has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object." ~Author Unknown
"Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home." ~David Frost
"Ninety-eight percent of American homes have TV sets, which means the people in the other 2% have to generate their own sex and violence." ~Attributed to Gene Baylos
"If you read a lot of books, you're considered well-read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you're not considered well-viewed." ~Lily Tomlin
"Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover." ~Homer Simpson, The Simpsons
www.corylundquist.com
After more than a month of life away from mi blogo neglectedo, I thought that now would be a good time to step out of the woodworks for a quick dose of shameless self-promotion. Like always, I apologize for what seems like me falling off of the face of the planet and not keeping in touch as I should. Life has been really busy with family stuff, work, work, and work, and my in-laws being in town from Taiwan. Ah, I'm so glad that it's Friday!
So anyway, to all of you, I would like to announce and unveil my photography website, www.corylundquist.com, which I hope that you can visit and enjoy, and maybe even pass along to your friends and family who might be interested in hiring me for some work. :) About the site, I'll be honest in saying that the focus of my site is broader than I would like it to be, but the truth is that at this point I don't have one particular focus group other than, put simply, people with photo projects--couples, families, actors, musicians, libraries, community colleges, etc... This will all be worked out in time and I suspect that the focus of the site will narrow as I find my place in the creative world. Lately, I've been working on several exciting photography and web design projects that have been taking up a lot of my time but it's been a good ride. I'm thankful for all of the opportunities that have come my way and I thank you for all of your encouragement over the years.
You have all motivated me so much.
Well, in case you forgot what we look like, here are a couple of recent pics:
As random as usual
AND
Clarinetist and aspiring actor, Marco.
(for some reason, photos appear to be washed out when viewed in Firefox on my Mac, which I assure you they are not; but the same problem does not exist in Safari. Does anybody know what the problem might be? Tyson? Eric? Bueller?)
Well, gotta run! Hope that you're all doing well. Take care.
Little bit of this, little bit of that.
