Joan & Christian

Yes yes, it’s just me gushing over a font. (Er, typeface.) The video is, mercifully, only a minute and a half long.

Don’t forget about the Oxford/Stratford video below, preceding this one!

Yes, I should be sleeping. What can I say? I was on a roll.

This is obviously very late. I had started working on it not long after we got back from the honeymoon in July, but a hard drive crash (where I lost days of work) got me so discouraged that it went into the procrastination pile. Then the move, and then Christmas. Started up again last month, and after another discouraging crash (“Jesus saves”), I sucked it up and hit Command-S every other minute. So, finally, here’s Part I. Enjoy!

A few things we’ve gleaned from recent experiences:

• Don’t expect the plumber to be on time.
• If you notice a crack in the porcelain, immediately call for repair. It will get bigger and the toilet will leak.
• The presence of a relatively new furnace does not mean it’s a good furnace.
• Buliding a fire is not as easy as we thought, and a chimney flue can “reverse” itself. Here’s some help for novices like us: Hearth.com
• Birds can get caught inside a wood stove. Unfortunately, they will also die there.
• Don’t assume any toilet bowl will be compatible with your existing tank.
• The plumber will be very late.

Jesus and Satan have a discussion about who is the better programmer. This goes on for a few hours until they come to an agreement to hold a contest, with God as the judge. 

They sit themselves at their computers and begin. They type furiously, lines of code streaming up the screen, for several hours straight. Seconds before the end of the competition, a bolt of lightning strikes, taking out the electricity. Moments later, the power is restored, and God announces that the contest is over. 

He asks Satan to show what he has come up with. Satan is visibly upset, and cries, “I have nothing. I lost it all when the power went out.” 

“Very well, then,” says God, “let us see if Jesus fared any better.” 

Jesus enters a command, and the screen comes to life in vivid display, the voices of an angelic choir pour forth from the speakers. Satan is astonished. 

He stutters, “B-b-but how? I lost everything, yet Jesus’ program is intact. How did he do it?” 

God smiled all-knowingly, “Jesus saves.”

An old joke you’ve all heard before, we know. But it has special application here. Not long after we returned from Europe, Christian started working on cleaning up the days’ worth of video so we could share some clips. He’d focus for hours, still flying high from the video clips he’d created of the wedding planning and cleaning his apartment, as well as the honeymoon experiences themselves. And then … he lost everything in a computer snafu.

Yesterday, the work began again. He was happily rolling along most of the night. Then just before I went to bed, a horrid, animal-dying-in-the-woods howling came wafting out of the office. He came out briefly; one look at his face and I could only come up with two words: “Jesus saves.” He didn’t think it was funny.

Work is being saved at various progress stages now. Third time’s the charm, right? And we’re starting to plan which stories and images we’ll post. I, being the slightly OCD half, will of course proceed in chronological order. Christian may pipe in here and there with something random. But after months of promising, we will finally begin sharing some of our European travels. I’ve also finally created categories for this blog in anticipation of future joint/married life posts. And don’t forget about our individual blogs - they’re not going anywhere. (Christian - c is for… / Joan - Notebook of Memory) Stay tuned!