Ken Camp’s Neighborhood

She's such a sweetheart

My sweet cat

Vox is nice for some things, but the fact I cannot easily get my content out of the service is something I cannot ignore any longer. There's, quite simply, no benefit to me having my content on Vox versus having it on my own servers. Okay, maybe they're not my servers, since I'm using a shared hosting environment, but I am paying for them and I have a lot more access to the data on them than I have on Vox.

The stuff you formerly were looking for here is over on http://phoneboy.info. I might migrate stuff off of Vox or I may simply delete it all. Haven't decided.

This is my cat trollet and she's truly mastering the art of indulging

Taking it cool!

Just one me those shoots that I like to take, following the seasons changing.

The forest behind my apartment

Today has been an inspirational day.

I first woke up, and went about my usual Sunday morning routine, coffee, and a shower, and prepared to go to Church with my Girlfriend, and our friends from the Youth Group.

I then walked my Girlfriend to where she works, where I dropped her off thinking that she would work for most of the rest of the day, and that we wouldn't have a lot of time together. At this point, I was informed by my mom that we had a visiting dog, and that we needed to take it to the Humane Society because we couldn't find its owner. I met this little dog and was astonished at how friendly, and well-mannered a dog it was. It was by far the happiest little mutt that I have ever met. I had the child-like hope that we would "get to keep the doggy please please please" although realistically I knew that we couldn't. However, it did rekindle my love for animals, particularly cats and dogs, and remind me that some day I hope to be able to own an entire zoo's worth of dogs and cats and take care of them all, and give them love and a home.

After having dropped the dog off at the Humane Society, I was informed by my girlfriend that she was actually given the rest of the day off. Alas some happy news! We picked her up from her place of work - Onion World, in Walla Walla - and we came home. Here we watched a cute movie, The Proposal, and enjoyed each others' company, thereafter walking to a local candy store called Brights and sharing a strawberry milkshake together. This was among one of my favorite dates, because while it was nothing too special, we spent so much time just talking, and enjoying each other, it was what I call perfection.

So after that we walked home, and with some brief conversation, I was told that I should read my mom and her fiance Ken's blog at www.stardustglobalventures.com

I read Ken's most recent post, and was very touched. I was touched to be called a hero. It's one thing for my mom, or somebody who I have known my entire life to call me a hero. While it matters to me, and I do appreciate ego-building comments, it's not necessarily as powerful as when it comes from somebody who hasn't been in your life since childhood. Ken's post stardust was thoughtful, and in a way humbling. I didn't realize that he thought of me like that. I appreciate his presence, probably more than anyone can guess, with as sarcastic as he and I are with each other. But I did not know that the appreciation was mutual.

I am touched that he has expressed such a feeling of me, and that he describes me in such a good light. Some days the banter between he and I is hard to distinguish between serious and joking. But that post told me that the banter is always joking. No matter what he and I say out loud, we seem to have come to a mutual appreciation, and maybe, even on some level, a loving friendship.

Ken came into my life at a point in time that I was very angry. I'm still angry some days. And I always knew that he'd never be the same father figure to me that Ron my step-dad was, but I always said we could be "friends." Never did I truly believe that until now though. I said it to keep my mom happy. I said it to keep the peace. But it's clear to me that what I said in a shallow connotation, has become true. Ken is a friend. A true friend.

And as I've always stated, Ken and I will likely never have a father-son type of relationship. But what we have now, is a friendship, full of love, inspiration, and idolization - if that's a word. And yes I did say a friendship full of love. Because while we may both be unwilling to on some level say the words "I love you" to each other - at least I am, because there's a barrier there for me still on some level because of circumstances - we do, I believe, love each other.

So this post goes to the day, the experiences, the love, and the inspiration.
To Emily, and to the animals of the world, both stray and domestic that need love and affection, and to Ken.

I feel like I should write this, because I believe that the world needs more articles like this. More stories like this. More events like this.

As I was walking with my beautiful, beloved girlfriend, along Main street, after having gotten a smoothie with her for our usual date, we crossed the street to the other side, and as we crossed, passed an elderly couple who were also apparently out on a date for coffee. They had their coffees in hand, and walked to the opposite side of the street. My girlfriend and I then proceeded to walk down the street, to a nearby bench and sit on it. What I didn't realize at first was that the elderly couple did the same thing, across the street.

Emily and I sat together on the bench on Main street, simply enjoying each others' company, occasionally exchanging our usual loving words, among other small talk – I find that when in love, you apparently always have something new to share in conversation – when I glanced across the street and noticed the elderly couple apparently doing the same thing that we were. I was shocked, and awed, by the sheer beauty of their love from across the street.

As I observed the elderly couple I saw that they were holding hands while sipping their coffee and presumably conversing with each other about the events going on in their own lives as Emily and I were ourselves. I watched, and I realized that while there are probably older people, who have been together longer than they have, that they are still a great example of love's endurance. One would presume that they have gone through many years of ups and downs together, but they have gotten through it. Hardship, and easy times, all the same, they have gotten through it, with each others' love to guide them through the different trials of life.

And as I see this, and all of these thoughts are going through my mind, I realize that I was meant to see this, that it shows hope for the future. Hope that love can and will endure many things, the good and the bad. Hope that one day it could be us on that side of the street. Maybe that is just the simple hope of a dreamer, but what would the world be today without dreamers?

Without dreamers the world would be bleak, nobody would have accomplished anything, and there would be no happiness to be found in the darkness at all. But as it stands today, even in the dark times that the world seems to be going through, a young couple on a date walking down the street can still witness an elder couple doing the same thing, sharing similar experiences, but with many more experiences in their past. Proof that love can endure. Proof that there is something to dream of, and hope for.

So, as I started out this, I wasn't quite sure how it would go, but I had some idea of what I wanted to say. I've said it, and as I said, I think the world needs more of this.

-David Worley

September 17^th 2009.

Such beauty

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I was asked to judge a debate on the merits of the EPL, GPL, and BSD licenses.  Note that I'm not judging the licenses themselves, but rather how well each representative presented their position.

Mom eats her birthday dessert
Originally uploaded by randal-schwartz.

Mom visited me (down from Olympia Washington) for her 69th birthday. Together, we visited her childhood home in Portland (on Gladstone Street) and her next home, my childhood home in Gladstone (near Portland Avenue).

Amazingly enough, without any advance notice, the current residents of both homes let us come in for a quick tour, to see what had changed. It was weird... I hadn't been in either home as an adult. Everything seemed so small!

Afterwards, we stopped at TeBo's in Gladstone for their famous Strawberry Shortcake.