Month: December 2005

So, 2005 is almost over, and it’s time for a review. The highlight of my year was the time I spent with Mike Steele, which was relaxing, encouraging and fun. The time changed me; I sense it, and friends have commented on it too. Although the photo above is beautiful – as are many of the photos I took in the USA, the photo of the year must be this one:

I took one photo (almost) every morning I was in the US, and most of them looked like that! It was the view from my window at the Steeles’ house.

Other highlights: finally making it to Yosemite, discovering Monitor Pass and Bryce Canyon National Park, and the road from Aspen to Colorado Springs via Buena Vista; I took the photo at the top of this entry just after leaving Aspen.

After such a long break, returning to work was tough. I’m part of a great team, though, which helps. The biggest shock of the year came just after we returned to Switzerland, when our house church ceased. It turned out to be God’s timing, though! (More details on that next year.)

I’ve just sent the last Friday Fax, after almost 11 years of translating and distributing it. It is a sad moment; I’ve been involved in encouraging thousands of people for many years, and now it’s over. I’ve already received a number of messages thanking me for the work I’ve put in, which is gratifying.
It’s also a relief in some ways; it was sometimes hard to find time to translate it and get it sent out on deadline, particularly when my projects at work were in a tough phase. There were times when I got home after midnight, translated the Friday Fax – which generally took an hour – and got up in time to catch the 6:10 a.m. bus. I will not miss that part! Thankfully, that was far from the norm. I’ll enjoy having the extra few hours each week, nonetheless.
I’ll be publishing past issues at www.bufton.net/fridayfax, for anyone who is interested.

Following Andrew Jones’ advice, I’ve updated this blog’s design. The posts now adjust their width to the width of your browser window, so you don’t have to scroll so much. It doesn’t look quite as pretty for Internet Explorer users as it used to. All the more reason to switch to Firefox! You can download the theme for your own blog, too.
(I had actually already started on the redesign before Andrew’s post.)

I just discovered this hilarious site:
SatireWire | ACLU TO TAKE OVER TERROR INVESTIGATION
ACLU TAKES OVER TERROR INVESTIGATION, WILL FOCUS ATTENTION ON NO ONE IN PARTICULAR

During my time in Colorado with Mike, I watched the TV programme MythBusters a few times. Nothing which they investigated was of real significance, but interesting nonetheless. However, it looks like that’s all over now. Shame.

MythBusters Team Struck Down By Zeus

November 30, 2005 | Issue 41•48

SAN FRANCISCO—MythBusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who dared challenge the sacred explanations of the order of the universe, were destroyed by Zeus Monday. “I soared ascending to the ethereal sky, and by merest nod massed a fearsome storm, and with mine lightnings struck down the naysayers Adam and Jamie,” Zeus said in a press conference called to warn all doubters of his thunderous might. The MythBusters producers have issued a statement apologizing to the entire Olympian community and declared that, from now on, the program will focus only on myths unrelated to the Greek, Egyptian, or Norse pantheons.

MythBusters Team Struck Down By Zeus | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source

Wandering around the internet during a bout of insomnia, I found the Hubble Heritage Gallery of Images. It has some fantastically beautiful pictures, like this one, and amazing ones like this. Go ahead, count those stars!