Prayer.

Hey Guys,

If you all could please pray for a couple of our guys that would be great.

Last night several of our summer staff were hanging out and started playing ultimate frisbee with a glow in the dark frisbee and one of our summer staffers, Demetrius, collided head to head with one of our executive directors sons, Cameron and it was pretty bad.

Cameron chipped 3 teeth, but Demetrius was knocked really hard. The ambulance came and got him and with any serious head trauma here in Prescott they fly them via helicopter down to Phoenix so they can get the best treatment. I wasn't there, so I don't have all the details, but please pray that he is ok, it was really bad.

As of now Demetrius is in the hospital in PHX and we haven't heard anything today. Please pray for no complications, for no permanent problems and a full recovery. Thanks.

Chris

Here we go Again.

Well it seems a small group of christians are ruining it for the rest of us. A group is calling for a boycott of Starbucks because of the use of an old logo they used when the company first opened.



They are claiming it inappropriate and they are also saying her legs are spread like a prostitute (why prostitute, why not like an Olympic gymnast?).

So, I checked out their site and really looks like its more of a publicity stunt to sell a book that they are coming out with (which I imagine is so freaking crappy). Either way, I love that fact that now christians look like morons.... again...woohoo.....awesome.....yay.

Just so you know, I will not be boycotting Starbucks just because they are using a new (old) slutty logo. I guess that if they were to make me take may shirt off and wear mermaid fins when purchasing a pound of Espresso Roast then I would consider not going, not because of inappropriateness, but rather the hassle of it all. Cheers.

Chris

PS
I got a mug from the original Starbucks when we were in Seattle and it has the slutty logo on it and I think its cool. Its on my desk right now....oh no....sin.

PPS
I still don't have a phone. Oh, well.

Ring Ring Ring.

This past weekend the weather was perfect so we took the doors and top off the Jeep for the first time. It was great, I don't know we ever drive it any other way.

So Saturday morning I was taking the doors off and putting them in the garage and while I was carrying one of the doors my phone fell out of my pocket. I thought, "no big deal, I'll get it on the way out". Well, if you know anything about me you know that I get distracted easily. I forgot the phone. I finish with the doors and go to breakfast, after breakfast I drove home and guess what, I ran over my phone in the driveway.

So now I have a crushed celly (as BeanTown would say). I will hopefully get my new one this week, I'm glad I got the insurance. If you need to call me you can call me on Rays phone at night or the office number during the day. I have no idea what either of those numbers are though, go to UCYC.com for the office number and call Rachel's sister to get her number, however, I don't know that one either, sorry. Cheers.

Chri

Oh Yeah!

So New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) are back together. I have mixed emotions.

On one hand I am really excited because I was a fan (weren't we all) and while traveling with Traveling Mercies Ray and I carried our footware in a yellow NKOTB duffel bag with pink straps, so there is a connection.

However, on the other hand I am sad because this means the world is more ridiculous that it was yesterday. I mean seriously, this is one of the lamest things ever in the history of the earth. As I type this I am trying to think of something lamer to compare it to`, but I can't. Its impossible. I think if even Pope Benedict XVI put out an album of Bobby Brown remixes, it would still be cooler that Jordan Knight wearing those aviator sunglasses and singing in the rain. Hangin' Tough.

Chris

May Bread and Wine

My May post for The Bread and Wine is online today.

Its a short ditty about sin. You can read it here. Cheers.

Chris

On the Trail.

Today we went and did an adventure field trip for the 4th graders at Taylor Hicks Elementary. The kids did kayaking, slack lining, first aid, knot tying and hiking. I got to lead the hiking section and had a blast with the kids. The kids climbed on rocks and played in a creek, it was fun hanging out with them. It was a nice break from the hectic summer planning. Plus, I got in about 4 hours of hiking today so thats nice. Cheers.

Chris

The Face of Hope.

This was the face of hope for runners this morning

The Whiskey Row Marathon was this morning and we worked Water Station #2 and had a great time.

Before my shift at Water Station #2 I went for a ride with Mike and I couldn't do anything. I tried a new pre-ride food, I had a Clif Bar and it turned out to be a bad choice. We had barely ridden anything and I felt like I was going to hurl. It wasn't the greatest moment of my life. I eventually made it home. Cheers.

Chris

Fatty.

There is a blog called Fat Cyclist that I love. The author is a guy named Elden and he lives in Utah and started this blog a couple of years ago as he was trying to shed a few pounds. Well, that guy is so funny and if you are into cycling at all you will find this site great. I suggest going back and start reading all the archive stuff, I did while we were in Africa and it was great entertainment when I didn't want to watch Zulu soap operas.

On a serious note, he wrote a while back about how his wife has been battling cancer and how she was fighting hard and things were looking good. Well in the past couple of days they have received some really bad news about is wife and its not looking good.

I can't imagine how hard it would be to going through what their family is going through. Rachel is sleeping in our bedroom and I can't imagine her dealing with what Elden and Susan are dealing with. Its really making me enjoy every moment I get to spend with Ray, she means the world to me. I just want to savor our time we get to spend together.

Please pray for a miracle, its seems at this moment thats all that can help their situation. Cheers.

Chris

Bittersweet.

Ray and I went to Scottsdale for my birthday and stayed in a hotel and did some shopping. The trip was great, however there was one thing that was kind of bittersweet.

For my birthday Rach planned on getting my guitar fixed (repaired, not neutered). See, its been all over the world and has been thrown in trailers, vans, RV's, busses, cars, truck tool boxes and airplanes and has been played for hours and hours and hours and it has started buzzing when you play it. I assumed that it was just needing a new fret board.

So Rach was surprising my for my b-day by getting my guitar fixed (one of the best birthday presents ever) and when it was taken to the repair shop she found that its almost beyond repair. There is something funky in the neck and the guy said it would cost at least $500 and there was no guarantee that it will completely fix it, THAT SUCKS SO BADLY.

To me this is more than just a faded/scratched/played out guitar, this is MY guitar. I learned how to play on this guitar, I've played for church, schools, bars, camps, conferences, Americans, Africans, Mexicans, Bosnians, Croations, friends, family and strangers with this guitar and to know I can't fix it hurts me (I get teary thinking about it and I am not one to cry often).

The really tough thing is that Pat gave it to me. For you who don't know, Pat is my aunt and she pretty much raised me. I moved in with her when I was in middle school and she was the world to me. She was like my best friend and even when I moved out for college we spoke all the time. When I was touring here in the states we spoke on the phone every day as I was driving the RV. She was the best.

However, Pat died a few years ago from cancer and as silly as it sounds this guitar was kind of that last close connection I had with her. I don't mean like I see her face in the faded finish or it says her name when I play a bar chord, but just that it means more to me than any other object on Earth. I planned on playing this guitar forever.

Cheers.

Chris

Good Stuff.

I have gotten into Flight of the Conchords on HBO and I think its great. Its about these 2 musicians from New Zealand that live in NYC and they write these super quirky songs that I think are funny, worth checking out.



The Whiskey Row Marathon is tomorrow and UCYC works a water station as the runners run by our camp. We were hoping to go get some fun retro sports clothes from the t'h'rift store and got this pic of the delivery truck. Cheers.

Chris

29.

My Birthday is tomorrow. I imagine lots of you are sitting around wondering what you could get me for my birthday so I will post an entry for Fat Cyclists site. He has a lot of great ideas.

50 Gift Ideas for Cyclists

11.20.2006 | 2:32 pm

Last year, I made the case that if you want to get your favorite cyclist a present, you should forget being creative and buy her/him the stuff s/he’s always having to buy anyway.

I still think that’s a good idea. I don’t think you can go wrong with buying a cyclist any of the following:

1. Tubes: Find out what kind of tubes the cyclist uses, and buy a bunch of them. It’s really nice to have a stash of tubes sitting in the garage whenever you need one. This isn’t all that great of an idea if your cyclist friend has switched to tubeless.

2. Genuine Innovations’ Microflate: An inexpensive, sturdy, tiny, easy-to-use threaded CO2 (or propane, as it turns out) cartridge valve. I really don’t understand why anyone would use anything else.

3. CO2 and Big Air! canisters: Make sure that the canisters you buy are compatible with the valve your friend uses.

4. Sports food / Sports Drink / Gel: If you know what they eat, drink, or ingest (I have to say “ingest” when talking about gels, because neither “eat” nor “drink” is the correct word), buy them a bunch of it. Be careful you know the correct brand and flavors, though. As an innovative twist on this theme, maybe try giving them some Matisse & Jacks Bake-at-Home Energy Bar Mix. They work as well as store-bought bars, are easy to make, and taste an order of magnitude better. For now, you get free shipping if you buy five or more boxes, which seems like a good number to give as a gift.

5. Helmet: This is something many cyclists replace too rarely. Be sure to get the right size.

6. Messenger Bag: Everyone needs a messenger bag. My good friends at Banjo Brothers make great ones for an excellent price

7. Entry fee and commitment for support at a race: If your cyclist races, this is a very nice gift indeed

8. Smartwool Socks: Several pair of the same kind, so that as the cyclist wears them out, they’ve still got matching socks.

9. Lube: Be sure to get the kind your cyclist has settled on. It’s nice to have a year’s supply of lube sitting in the garage, just like it’s nice to have a year’s supply of tubes in there.

10. Shoe cleats: Do you know what kind of pedals your cyclist uses? Buy a new pair of cleats for those shoes. Most cyclists go through a couple pair of these per year, so they’re nice to have.

11. A Floor Pump: When getting started with cycling, most cyclists pick out a cheap floor pump. Then they regret it. But while those cheap floor pumps never quite break — allowing cyclists to discard them in good conscience — they never really work great, either. Go to your local bike store and ask the mechanic what pump they recommend for someone who uses a pump every day (road cyclists in particular pump their tires up before practically every ride), and you’ll give a surprising, exciting gift. I am not kidding. Cyclists love a great floor pump.

So thats that. Ray and I have been planning on going to Scottsdale to do some shopping since we don't have great stores here in Prescott. We are going to go down tonight, stay at a hotel and then spend tomorrow shopping. I am stoked, I think we are going to have fun. Plus there is a whirlpool in our room at the 3 Palms so thats fun. Cheers.

Chris

PS
4 8 15 16 23 42 are from Lost and the new episode was airing last Thursday night. So thats what they were if you were one of the few who didn't know.

Cali Trip.

We got back yesterday from our quick trip to California to film a couple of dramas for our 5-6 grade camps. We had a great time and hopefully got everything we need to make some nice videos for the kids.

We left at 4am on Monday morning and headed to Glamis to shoot on the dunes for our desert scenes. It was freaking hot and hard to walk around in that soft sand. One of our cameras fel over in the sand and not until later did we realize it wasn't working right. I hope we can salvage the footage from that camera or thats going to put a damper on our video. I think I have enough footage from the camera I was using so we'll see how it goes.


Heres Jarred jumping off a dune.



Here I am trying to be the "super cool director/camera guy". If you noticed I went with the thin long sleeve shirt matched with the white running shirt over the hat to protect me from the sun, it work wonderfully.


This pic was taken of on top of a dune, we call it "Digital Moses".

After we shot in the desert we hopped in the rental mini van (which was awesome for this trip) and drove to my new favorite place, San Diego. We got to the beach by late afternoon and scouted out our location for the next morning.

On Tuesday we left a little after 5 to get to the beach for a "fake evening/low light" shot. We were a little rushed at the beach because every minute that went by more people were walking by and ruining our "derserted beach" look. I was a job to keep all the condos and soccer moms out of the shot, but I think we did really well.


Heres J-rad and I walking down the beach.


Heres the dead seal that washed up on the shore while we were filming. I told a Parks and Rec guy and they came and scooped him up in a bull dozer and put him in the back of a dump truck.


Left to Right: Shellnut, J-Rad, Sexy Guy and Phoenis.



J-rad in the sand.

Chris

Today, Tomorrow, Whatever.

Ray and I spent the afternoon together and had a great time. We took the dogs back to the dog park, which is becoming a Sunday tradition, and we all seemed to enjoy it. Both the dogs pooped, I picked up Damar's and Ray picked up G's, if you were curious.

We decided to have a really unhealthy/fun dinner tonight. So we went with the Kraft Mac and Cheese/Oreo meal. We've been trying to eat as healthy as possible so tonight was a splurge. We were considering adding an appetizer of chips and queso, but opted out. While I was boiling the water for the Mac and Cheese and I burned the bag of chips. Thankfully I noticed before I burned down Prescott. Heres the bag and my "oh crap, I almost burned down the southwest".



I am off to Cali for few days for video shoots.



We are leaving at 4 in the morning to get to the desert by 8 and hopefully be able to get everything done in less than 5 hours. Then we shoot over to San Diego for a beach shoot on Tuesday. If we aren't too wiped out we will drive back to AZ, but if we are zonked we will come back on Wednesday, it would be nice to get home. Cheers.

Chris

Who knew?

My post Thursday was titled:

4 8 15 16 23 42

Since then I noticed that some people didn't know what that meant. I am a curious person, so I want to know if you knew what the numbers meant or not?

Please post a comment on this post whether or not you know what 4 8 15 16 23 42 is. I'll reveal for those who don't know later. Cheers.

Chris

4 8 15 16 23 42

Oh yeah.

Shoot.

We (me, Phoenis, J-Rad and Shellnut) went to Sedona today to shoot a video for our kids summer camp. Its a video that goes a long with the skits that were written for each session.

I think it went went well, we'll see when everything gets put together. We are shooting in Flagstaff in the snow on Thursday and then taking a trip to Cali to shoot in the desert and on the beach next week. We are going to be beat. Cheers.

Chris

Dog Park and Church.

Hey peeps,

Dog Park

Yesterday Ray and I went to Church and had a great time and then we decided to take the dogs to the dog park. I was a little worried about it, Guinness hasn't been known to be the most social dog in the world. So we show up and Ray and I are both nervous about what might happen, but she (Guinness) did great.


Heres Ray playing with the toys at the dog park.

There was only one incident when a young black Lab male tried to get a little friendly and she kind of attacked him. We hear this noise and Guinness was on top of him growling and protecting her innocence. I need to figure out how I can teach my daughters that trick, it works.

Church

We live in a strange environment in the sense that we all work together and live on the camp together. However, one thing that is cool is that I think we get to live a little of what the church is supposed to look like. A bunch of people living life together in the name of Jesus, pretty cool.

Well, today I felt like crap. I felt (feel) feverish, pukey, sore, just pretty nasty and when Ray was leaving to go to work she realized we had a flat on the Jeep. So all day I was not looking forward to walking home and fixing the tire, but when I finally got to the Jeep I realized somebody fixed it for me. They took it to the shop and got it patched and everything. Thats church. Thanks to whoever fixed my tire, it saved me from taking care of it in a crappy state. Cheers.

Chris

Maiden Voyage.

I took the 29er out on a quick ride this morning before church. I got the bike Friday evening from UPS and the living room became a bike shop for while (there still a bike stand in the living room, which I think is a nice accessory, better than a plant). Yesterday, I fiddled with the brakes all day and haven't gotten then perfect yet, but good enough. What a dude thing to say "hey....the brakes don't really work......but, thats cool, I'll be alright.....".



So I threw the bike in the Jeep and headed up to Thumb Butte Park for a quick ride. I did the 392-326-367 route (which we only call 392, but for your sake I named all the trails and added little arrows on the map to show you how we ride it, your welcome).

On the map you will see where I parked and road up the road to catch the trail. The first half of the loop is pretty much all climbing, the snail marks the switchbacks that make you feel like you are going to have a heart attack. The new bike climbed well, but the sitting position is a bit different than what I am used to so that was a little strange plus the saddle was really digging into my downstairs/taint/tweenis/tweener/undercarriage really badly so I need to make a few adjustments.

At the top of 392 its all downhill and the bike handled great. I don't know if it was the bike or the lack of brakes, but I rode that section better than ever. Awesome.

So that was the first trip, it was fun and there will be plenty more fo' shizzle.
Cheers.

Chris

Obligation and Christmas.

Obligation


Sometimes in live you may not be overly enthusiastic about something, but you still have to do it. At times this will be your job, you don't want to go, but you have to in order to provide for your family. Other times it may be your marriage, you aren't stoked about it at that moment, but because of your commitment you work through it as a couple.

Well, this morning I had one of these moments, with going mountain biking. I had zero (0) desire to get out of bed, drag myself out in 30-something degree weather and pedal my (the camps) bike around on dirt and rocks in the hope of having fun and become thin. But, out of obligation to Coyne I did. See, we made plans last night to ride and I knew nobody else was going (Gregs running a marathon soon and has taken time off of riding, Kris is sick, the Jones are filming something for camp, Jarred's a puss, Mike doesn't ride unless its over 40 degrees, Fisher is racing this weekend and won't ride today) so I had to go.

We ended up having a good time. He took me on some trails I had never ridden and that was cool to learn some more of our trail system, in some case "trail" would be an over statement, it was more like "dried up creek full of rocks and branches that were washed down stream in the snow melt". So, I didn't end up riding very well, but it was still fun.

Christmas

Heres the latest news concerning my bike from UPS.

Your Tracking Information
Status: IN-TRANSIT
Last Scan: 4/18/2008 4:35:00 AM IN TRANSIT TO PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ US
Carrier: UPS
Expected: 4/18/2008
UPS Tracking Number: 1Z30VR960336728809
Scan History:

4/18/2008 4:35:00 AM IN TRANSIT TO PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ US
4/18/2008 4:34:00 AM DEPARTURE SCAN PHOENIX, AZ US
4/18/2008 12:26:00 AM LOCATION SCAN PHOENIX, AZ US
4/17/2008 8:19:00 PM ARRIVAL SCAN PHOENIX, AZ US
4/16/2008 12:46:00 AM DEPARTURE SCAN MESQUITE, TX US
4/15/2008 11:02:00 PM LOCATION SCAN MESQUITE, TX US
4/15/2008 9:44:00 PM ARRIVAL SCAN MESQUITE, TX US
4/15/2008 2:24:00 PM DEPARTURE SCAN JACKSON, MS US
4/15/2008 12:11:00 PM ARRIVAL SCAN JACKSON, MS US
4/15/2008 8:03:00 AM DEPARTURE SCAN MONTGOMERY, AL US
4/15/2008 2:27:00 AM LOCATION SCAN MONTGOMERY, AL US
4/15/2008 12:57:00 AM ARRIVAL SCAN MONTGOMERY, AL US
4/14/2008 9:00:00 PM DEPARTURE SCAN FT. WALTON, FL US
4/14/2008 8:09:00 PM ORIGIN SCAN FT. WALTON, FL US
4/14/2008 7:13:00 PM BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED US

NOTE: The times listed in the scan details are local time.

Status as of Friday, April 18, 2008 7:00:01 AM Pacific Standard Time

If you notice that its in transit to Prescott Valley, well Prescott Valley (PV as the locals call it) is our little sister town and that means I will get my bike today. Its like Christmas without the Bailey's. Cheers.

Chris

Live Performances.

I got to see a couple of live shows on TV tonight.

First, Ben Harper. I love Ben Harper. I want to see him in concert so badly.

Second, Justin Timberlake. I am not a huge JT fan, however I appreciate that he is a great performer and his live show looked awesome. I imagine if you were a young lady or Chad Brown it would have been a great event to be at. The mix of music, lights and dance was really amazing. Plus, I didn't know that he was a piano player, he was playing with the band at one point and was really good. Pretty cool.

I Love Music. Cheers.

Chris