Matter, Energy, and Life of Michaela A. Castello.

Category: Long Reads

Stories that take a bit longer to get through.

  • Forest Falls Redux

    You may recall that over Easter weekend, a few of us attempted to climb Forest Falls but were stymied by the high water levels. This past weekend a smaller group returned and successfully traversed rock and water until we made it up to the actual falls. Our sure-footedness allowed us to keep our socks dry,…

  • Exfoliating My Faith

    I have been thinking, with some trepidation, about writing this for a while now. My friend wisely pointed out that if I feel like it requires “working up the nerve to do” it’s probably a good idea. Essentially, I’ve reached a point in my life where I feel like my beliefs need to be aggressively cast off…

  • Family and Birthdays

    Family and Birthdays

    It’s been an exciting week. Mark and Mom have been visiting us for the first time and we’ve been celebrating “family birthday month.” Mark’s on July 3, Rachel’s on July 8, and mine on July 10. This has been their first time visiting us since we moved, so we’ve been trying to show them as…

  • A Connected Life

    I remember the first time I got online, typing commands into Trumpet Winsock on Windows 3 to establish a dialup connection over our single phone line. From that moment onward our house answering machine message was effectively modem sounds—I kept a computer online as much as possible. Even when I was nowhere near the computer,…

  • Joplin Trip Aftermath

    Now that we’re back I wanted to give one final update on the trip and disaster response itself. While I think everybody would agree that we made a difference, there are areas for improvement. It was interesting seeing the FEMA contractors working alongside nonprofits and church-based organizations. While their street closures made it tough to…

  • The Road Home

    Because of the planned detour to the Grand Canyon, we got an early start yesterday. We were making excellent time, but our vehicles seemed to have other plans for the journey. First, the little steel cable that engages the brakes if the trailer disconnects got snagged, forcing an emergency pullover amid smoking trailer tires. After…

  • Back in Albuquerque

    I didn’t think I’d be driving on these roads so soon after Rachel and I drove from Maryland to California. We’ve recognized a number of places we either passed by or stopped at back in July. It’s looking like our group is going to recapitulate our western journey even further with a detour to the…

  • Sense of Accomplishment

    It’s late and we have to get an early start on our drive back home tomorrow so this is going to be a bit short. We went back to the house we ended on yesterday and finished the job, as well as helped a few other folks lift some things. In the second half of…