Who In The World Is Arktander? (That's An Unusual Name)

That's a fair question, since I doubt any of you or your friends have named their new baby by that name. Funny story though, Jonathan thought that would be a great name if they had a son for their second child. Instead two girls' names were needed. Well, Arktander Elekiam Andreasen was my grandfather on my dad's side. He was a carpenter but died when I was a baby so I never knew him. But his name came up in conversation every so often as I was growing up so it made an impression on me. You know how hard it was to come up with usernames in the early days of the internet? Many of us didn't get in quite as early as others and had our usernames rejected as someone had already snagged it. That's why we were usually offered our main choice with a bunch of numbers after it. So as I wrestled with finding an unusual name that nobody had it struck me that I had the perfect solution in "Arktander" with it being unlikely to be used elsewhere. Now we are asked for our email address instead but every once in a while I'll be asked for a username and I know what to answer.

Jeep Easter Egg

The idea for starting a blog (short from weblog, for personal commentary on the web) came to me mostly as a way to remember past experiences while I still can. I didn't imagine others would find it that interesting but then I read my aunt's stories written out in decades and I found it fascinating. It's the kind of thing that keeps reality television interesting and YouTube videos compelling. So what kind of things might show up on this blog? Well, I will answer that question with the things that come to mind now but I would expect that everything is fair game if it interests me. If you know me at all you should already have an idea.

I have had a list in my mind for the better part of my entire life and you tend to work these thoughts out in your mind before committing them to the spoken or written word. I would say I am organized to the point of annoyance (just ask my wife) but that's the way I am. That's part of the charm of David Andreasen. Where some find their stride in no organization at all, I find mine when there's a place for everything and everything is in its place. I'm the one who will look at a random pile of M&M's and methodically eat all the surplus colors until there is an even number of all the colors, then I'll eat one of each color until they are evenly eaten. Say what you will but we all have our foibles. Somewhere along the way I recognized that there were certain significant and recurring events that demanded my attention, and stood above the lesser happenings of life.

GOD

God is the one constant that is over all and in all of the events of every day of every month of every year of my life and He is the One who makes all the others possible. With God in your life you will make choices that honor Him, and without God in your life you will choose other paths that ignore Him. I've often said that one ignores God at their own peril. I believe that God is the One who has placed these desires and interests in me and that is why they have risen to the top. Going to church was important in our family growing up. We were there for every service and every special speaker or occasion. I played in the church orchestra, cleaned the church as I got older, and even worked on a church building project with my dad as I reached my teens. Such a background gave me the impetus to go to Bible School and enter a life of church ministry.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Do you remember the Kodak Disc camera? The Polaroid? We had both of those in my family and I remember mom being the family photographer. When you see a camera or cell phone in her hand taking pictures today, just remember that she has been taking pictures for most of her life. My first "good" camera was given to me by my uncle Paul Nelson. It was a Yashica 35mm camera that was a full manual—manual focus, manual aperture, and manual shutter speed. I took photography classes in high school to learn how to use a camera and how to develop film and print photos.

TIMEPIECES

I can't be sure of whether I had a watch before my teen years, but the first I remember was the one I got for my high school graduation. I was seventeen and it was a gold watch with a round dial and brightly lit LED red numbers. You had to press a button for it to light up with the time because those LEDs wore the batteries down quickly. But it was the coolest thing I had ever seen and was the first of many watches to come. Not only do I have an interest in watches and clocks, but my youngest son went to watchmaker's school and is now a watchmaker. It's one of the many subjects we share in during our conversations.

AUTOMOBILES

Who doesn't remember anticipating turning sixteen so you could get your license and drive? A car represented freedom and the ability to go where you wanted when you wanted. I suppose I should say the full realization of that dream normally came a few years later when you headed off to college and you had the freedom to go where you wanted. For the time being I had to haul my brothers and sisters to school and church and probably other places as well. I tried to learn all I could about cars and how to work on them and I enjoyed it.

COMPUTERS

Near the end of college I became aware that corporate computers were shrinking in size and were being manufactured in a smaller "personal" size for individuals, hence the personal computer or PC. I got in on the ground floor of that breakthrough and was in the right place at the right time to receive old computers from friends who were upgrading to new machines. Back then, such technology was an amazing thing and I was fascinated with them. Computers would end up winding themselves through every part of life and work and became a great tool for both.

BUILDING

Early in my adult life I started a few little projects for my wife, like making a shelf or installing a door, or even moving up to a pie safe. I didn't have more than cheap tools and mostly hand tools. Finally, much later to the party, came a serious interest in construction. It began with my dad who brought me to his work projects but expanded and came full circle to the point of heading up the church building project with volunteers in Lincoln, Illinois. That major project became the impetus for numerous personal projects over the years following. Though most of these projects were born of financial necessity it became an integral part of my life and my interests.

TRAVELLING

This one came much later in life, after the boys had left home and gone on with their lives. Our family trips were normally centered around family and holidays as we travelled across the country especially during Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 1999 I was asked to join a District Home Missions trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Kathy was not amused when wives could not participate. She had always wanted to go overseas and now couldn't, while I never wanted to go overseas but was the one going. So the very next year I took our missionary friends up on their offer to visit them in Belgium. This time we were able to go together to see Ken and Marianne Barickman and visit some of the sites. When we had the opportunity to take a cruise back in 2004 my wife got the bug to travel to interesting and new places. You might say I'm making up for lost time with her as she said I always promised we'd travel "someday" so I guess I need to live in the "someday" right now.

So there you have it, a little overview of how the list began. We'll fill in some of the missing pieces as time goes on but it's always good to have a little background.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

.....Or So I Thought. (Where Did I Put That?)

Apparently that thought back in July 2012 died on the vine, as it were. Or I simply needed nearly seven more years to "think about it."

What are the chance of getting those letters?

Looking back I remember what was going on in my life. That was to be the final year of a career in ministry, though I didn't know it then. As the year wore on I was looking for a new place of ministry but having no success. In the end I got an offer to help a Christian businessman in Rockford and we made the move to the Rockford, Illinois, area at the very end of 2012 and started work January 1, 2013. By this time, I suppose, I was far more concerned about adjusting to the new job than strolling down memory lane and blogging was put off indefinitely. We ended up leaving Rockford and moving to Atlanta, Georgia, at the end of 2016. Upheaval once again. Looking for a job once again. Trying to fit in once again.

Yet this era of upheaval is different in many ways. I'm older now, and a grandpa, and such circumstances cause one to reflect on life and how it eventually unfolded. And so I had the brilliant idea of starting a blog to document some of these recurring subjects of life. Only it wasn't a new idea, as I would soon find out. In trying to figure out where to host the blog, I ended up at Blogger and—BAM!—just like that up pops my old account. And that first blog post, miniscule as it was.

My Aunt Elaine Nelson took it upon herself years ago to do much the same thing, except she put all the chapters together into a book and published the various decades of her life with her family. Since I am an extended part of her family I found those volumes most interesting and made sure I collected each one. There's something about knowing where you came from that resonates within. Perhaps my efforts will resonate with my immediate and extended family in much the same way. No doubt some of them will remember some of these events in much different ways but at least my thoughts will be put to the page.

I doubt that I will start at the beginning and work my way through these subjects methodically. What fun would that be? Neither will I take these subject one by one and cover them exhaustively till you're sick of it. No, I think I will take the random approach, weaving all of the subjects into place as would seem appropriate and building them upon each other. Every so often you hear of an individual who changes gears several times in their life, moving from one pursuit to another and focusing on just that one until the next great pursuit comes along. That is also an admirable way of living life, it's just not the way mine unfurled. Each of these have been intertwined with all the others so that it's much more like a tapestry is put together.

Anyway, that's the plan.

Arktander
(aka David Andreasen)