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Best of Eugene 2011

I vote every year in the Best of Eugene balloting done by Eugene Weekly. I noticed as I was voting this year, there is a new category, “Best Blog.” Now, I want to be careful to not be accused of ballot stuffing or anything like that, but I think there are a lot of you out there (or at least a bunch… well, maybe a few) who like thesimpleHOUSE and might like to vote for my blog.

I think the prize is simply recognition in the Eugene Weekly and bragging rights around town. But my thought is if you enjoy my blog and would like to vote for me/it, I’d be delighted. Please only vote once and please only vote if you really like my blog. Don’t vote for me if you feel sorry for me. (There’s nothing to feel sorry for. I have a very blessed and happy life. If you’ve read my blog, you’d know that.)

It’s just so many of the local places I like have been recognized in past “Bests of Eugene”: Cornucopia (amazing burgers), Sweet Basil (best Thai food around), Papa’s Soul Food (best BBQ), Full City Coffee, the Willamette River Bike Path, among others, that when I saw the blog category, I thought, “Hey, I blog! Maybe I can shamelessly plug my site.” So I am.

Voting has to be done by September 25. And you have to vote in at least 10 categories (I think). So if you like thesimpleHOUSE, visit Eugene Weekly’s Best of Eugene voting link and vote for us (and at least nine others).

Thanks!

And, by the way, I took the photo for this blog a couple of years ago at the Eugene Celebration. My wife and a friend of ours were walking back to our car and I saw this couple strolling in front of the Hult Center. I grabbed my camera, took a quick shot and it turns out this has become one of my favorite pictures. And it’s a picture that captures the essence of Eugene and why I love living here so much.

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Kampuchea 2011

My wife and I recently returned from a week and a half trip to Cambodia. We went with a team from our church to work on helping to build a church in a village near Takeo as well as paint at a school near the same village.

While there, we accomplished quite a lot for 13 people, but the work was back-breaking (the building project) and tedious (the painting project.) During our few days working, we found ourselves saying things like “all we really need is a back hoe” or “an air compressor and paint sprayer would sure make this go faster and easier.”

Yet a simple comment from the missionary we know there gave me pause and created some contemplation. His remark was “Yes, but with that, you’d probably have just put about 5 or 6 Cambodian people out of work.” As I thought about that, I thought about my desire to live a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle.

Maybe all our time-saving devices aren’t necessarily the best things for us. Things like styrofoam cups are easy, disposable and cheap. But a glass cup is more durable and better for the environment (even if we have to wash it each time.) Disposable diapers are easy, but are clogging up landfills. What would happen in our society if we went back to returnable, washable milk bottles? We’d create (or restore) a whole segment of industry that we’ve lost.

And I think we’d restore some of the relational connections that we’ve lost with technology. We Facebook our friends, but how often do we actually meet them in person for coffee? Or lunch? Or dinner?

As my team in Cambodia was painting shutters, we had some very wonderful times of conversation. Talking, philosophizing, getting to know each other better. Did it take longer? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Maybe as we live our lives, we should consider the face-to-face relational things more. Seems like it would help us politically in our Country (that’s a whole other post…) as well as with our desire to live a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle. I encourage you as you Facebook that friend, to see if they want to get together for coffee. Live. In person.

I think you’ll be glad you did.