Rach and I went to the new Harry Potter movie this morning and I loved it.
From the way it was shot to the music it tells the story amazingly. I have been wondering for years how they will tell the story of the huge books in a 2 hour movie, but they did a wonderful job of condensing the story and still getting the important information to the viewer.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Ray Ray and I will be documenting her pregnancy on a new blog www.holohanbaby.blogspot.com.
Just got it set up today, so more will be added this week. Cheers.
Chris
The NY Times has a series of short films about people in the city. This is one about a cyclist, but the they are all worth checking out. Check it out here.
On the 4th of July there is a parade here in Prescott and we, UCYC, pick up the horse poop. We dress up and make a big show out of it, its a ton of fun. Here is our team. 
We were Trojan warriors and built a Trojan horse. The secret of our horse was that the back end was cut so we would pick up the horse poop and put it back in the butt of the horse. It was pretty funny. Cheers.
Chris
Ray and I are watching So You Think You Can Dance tonight and I really miss being around dancers. There is something in their spirit and how they carry themselves that I really enjoy and miss working with.
Also while watching I realize that while I really love music there is something about music when its backing a great dance that makes it complete. I mean I don't even own and stereo at home, I rarely listen to music, but watching a creative performance backed by a great song makes something that is way bigger than just a song and a dance. I like that a lot. Cheers.
Chris
My friend Dan fell in a climbing accident last weekend. He is still in the hospital and has a long road to recovery ahead of him. Another friend of ours, Kris, is putting regular updates on his blog. You can see his blog here.
CALIFORNIA
I spent this last week directing a High School camp at a different camp in Ventura County, California. The camp was called Forest Home: Ojai Valley and that area is wonderful. Its located about an hour and a half or two hours north of LA and its a beautiful area.
The camp went really well and it was a great group of students and sponsors to and out with.
COLORADO
The speaker for the week was named Jim Burgen from Flatirons Community Church near Boulder, CO. If you ever get a chance to check out their church you should.
DIRT
One of the main points that we are talking about at high school camps is to serve others. So one of the days we go and volunteer at different organizations and get the kids an idea of what can be done in their communities.
One of the groups went to a homeless mission called Turning Point. It is a place for people that are rejected from the homeless shelters.
While at Turning Point some students cleaned and organized closets full of clothes and supplies, some kids cleaned windows and scrubbed floors and some other kids did something that will stick with them for a long time. Every night the mission fills up so the lady who runs it has people sleep on the floor and on couches, when those fill up so has them sleep on a dirt patch out behind the main living area. The kids had the job of pulling weeds and tilling up some of the dirt to make it a softer place to sleep. After the day of service the kids talked about how they couldn't believe that people were sleeping out behind this building on dirt. I think it really put their lives into perspective and opened their eyes to how some other people live life. Hopefully they will have a greater appreciation for serving those in need in their communities. Cheers.
Chris
PAST
I figured out that last Sunday it had been 10 years since Rachel and I met. It was June 1999 and Rach was traveling with her college, Atlanta Christian College, to summer camps promoting the school. We worked together for a week at Tri State Christian Camp and I honestly fell in love with her that week. She was everything I had wanted in a wife.
Its been an amazing 10 years.
PRESENT
While we have known each other for 10 years, Monday will be our 7th wedding anniversary. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing wife.
FUTURE
As we look to the future we are so excited because in January we will be having our first baby!!! Yep, Ray Ray is preggers and we couldn't be happier. Shes 10 weeks now from everything the doctors have seen things are going well and there are no problems. She's super tired all the time, but hasn't dealt with too much morning sickness. She's only had a couple of 'crazy pregnant lady' breakdowns, but to me they were beautiful because they are just part of the process.
We are so excited. Cheers.
Chris
Land of the Lost sucked.
Like so bad that we almost left early because we could have been spending that time sleeping, rather than watching this awful movie. I know some people don't like Will Ferrell (side note: those people are dumb, sorry Jeni), but this was like nothing I had ever seen.
As the movie was going on I thought to myself that maybe its not that funny to me because its for kids. However, if it is for children don't take them because the language is bad. My Nanny would be so made at me if I wrote those words on this blog.
Whatever, don't waste your money on this movie. If you would like to throw that money away please feel free to send it to me, I'll buy spandex shorts with it. Cheers.
Chris
The new Typomash is up. My article is on page 26 and its titled Homecoming. Check out the whole magazine there are some great articles by some really cool people. Enjoy.
Cervelo is a bike company and they have made these really cool short films about their factory team. The website is bartape.net and they are worth a look. Cheers.
Chris
Hey Guys,
I'm 30. I have come to grips with it and have this horrible feeling that the older I get to worse I become at things, not a good sign since I have possible 50 more years to live. So the way I see it from age 60-80 I won't be able to do anything successfully. Awesome.
For my 30th, Ray and I went over to Orange County and hung with a couple of our friends, Shaun and Melisa. Shaun turned 30 a few days after I did so we went to drown our sorrows in Ruby's cheeseburgers and California Strawberries (they are the best strawberries I have ever had, seriously I at about 14 lbs of them). Sounds lame, but we had a great time.
While we were out there Ray and I picked up a new laptop, ours has been jacked for months so we saved up and got a new Mac. She's cherry.
Also while we were out there I got my b-day present, an '08 Gt Peace 29er Single Speed.
Greg, the camp director, and I were talking about riding the Whiskey Off Road MTB race (its a local race of 15, 25 or 50 miles) next year on single speeds. So since our talk I have been looking for a used on that I could get cheap and that's what we did. I found her on Craigslist in OC and brought her home. She's tough on our trails with the one gear and rigid front end (no suspension), but a fun bike to ride.
I've had the chance to ride a lot over the past several weeks and it feels good to get in some sort of cycling shape where I can now go for a ride and actually enjoy it.
Hope everyone is doing well. Peace out.
Chris
We filmed a make over video for our summer program today. I've been growing out my beard and hair to make the transformation as drastic as possible. Here's my before and after.
I love that the symptoms of Swine Flu are the same symptoms you experience every time you have ever been sick in your entire life. Cheers.
Chris
I have had swallowing difficulties for a while and had a swallowgram done yesterday and they said I have a Hiatal Hernia, which is a hole in my diaphragm which allows my stomach to come through and causes me to have acid reflux which in turn causes me to have difficulty swallowing. Awesome.
A friend of mine, Mynhardt, is helping a friend with a new South African online magazine called Typomash. When speaking with the editor, she said she was wanting a monthly feature called The Norther Hemisphere from someone up north. He suggested that I do it, she and I emailed back and forth and now I am getting to write for this project.
I am excited about this because I think this will help me be more creative at work and give me an outlet to write besides here on my often neglected blog.
The site launches on May 1st (also my 30th birthday, more about that later) and we'll see how it goes. Cheers.
Chris
Camp men have trucks.
Especially the guys I work with, they are all from the midwest and they have trucks. I did't fit in because I grew up in Florida and have a Jeep (which is close, but just not 'rednecky' enough). However, I am happy to say that today I completed my transformation by purchasing a 1988 Chevy 4x4 from a local drywall company.
My new 'big ass' truck comes with a decrotive layer of drywall dust blanketing the dash and a dust mask in the glove box in case there is another SARs scare.
Its also the first time Ray and I have had 2 vehicles since about a month after we got married, boy are we fancy now. 
Oh, how sweet it is. 
Don't I look manly?
Chris
A couple of weeks ago we had a program "adventure" week for some 6Th graders and one of the days we had a guy come talk who was a 'birds of prey' expert.
He brought this huge owl and the whole time he was teaching the kids about birds of prey I swore this thing was going to attack his face. I mean this bird had the beak of a samurai sword and the eyes of Satan. You could see into its deep dark soul and tell that it had only ill intentions. Satan or not, nobody died, however I am sure that's only because we all were extremely lucky.
Here is "Satan With Wings" doing his best imitation of Lord Voldemort. Evil bird. 
See, looks just like him......except with feathers.
A bunch of people took pics with this widow maker and I was the only one it stared down. I almost punched it in the face.
Life
My boss, Chris Herrington, called me this morning to tell me that he and his wife were rushing off to the hospital to give birth to their new baby. WooHoo! Please pray everything goes well with the birthin'.
Priorities
I was reading on Marko's blog this morning some of his notes from the Jr High Youth Ministry Summit he hosts each year and I found something interesting. There was a little brief thing about priorities in ministry and how the thing you value the most should be recieving 70 percent of your focus, time and resources. However, many times the thing we say we value the most gets the 30 percent instead.
This got me thinking how we do things here at camp and I think that we would all agree that we hold a high value to small group relational ministry within the context of our summer program. However, I think that our large group sessions recieve way more of our finances than things that foster community and relationship.
I know that within program ministry, large group "sessions" are really important, to have low quality bands, speakers, lights, sound systems etc can really distract people from the message you are trying to get across, however does it need to take up the resources that we throw at it? This applys to camp as well as to church and even family budgeting, what do you value? What gets your money?
I don't know what camp could look like if we spend more of our budget on community building projects (games, community spaces, etc). Would we suffer as a ministry? Or would we thrive by allocating funds for our primary values rather than a piece of the pie that is typically uses for attracting people? Just a thought and I look forward to where it could go. Cheers.
Chris
Here I am hanging from the wall on my repel device removing the hand holds. No, thats not a poop bucket like they use in parades. 
Here I am using a ladder to get a couple of the holds we missed, you can see in the picture, but this ladder felt so janky that I thought I was going to fall the whole time, but I survived.
Jenn, Kris and I worked on the wall today and had a great time doing it.
This morning Jenn and I repelled down and removed all the hand holds from both climbing surfaces. To do this you have to repel down and them wrap the rope around your legs in a certain way to lock off the figure 8 device. I have to admit the first time I locked myself off like this I was so freaked that I had done something wrong, but I did it right and did not die.
This afternoon we had to spray stain on the wood surface to weatherproof it. To do this you climb up again and we had someone belay us off the top and Kris and I used a spray gun to spray the stain on the wall. It was actually a cool day working in a harness, hanging above the earth.
I got a Facebook friend invite from a guy I went to JBC with and it reminded me of an awesome moment that I cherish in my heart.
It was my senior year, 2001, and one of my professors had organized a ski trip to Sugar Mountain, North Carolina. So, we woke up around 4:30 am to leave at 5 and I grabbed a quick bowl of strawberry oatmeal before we left.
We drove the few hours to NC and as we arrived Lucas and I were standing outside the van in the cold, grey light of morning waiting for everyone to unload skis and such from the van. While we were standing there glassy eyed and tired from the trip I farted. He glanced over at me with an understanding little nod and after about 15 seconds we both realized that my fart smelled jsut like sweet strawberries. Seriously, just like the ones that I ate in my oatmeal.
It defied everything that I had learned pertaining to science, logic and faith. However, it made me smile and it changed my life. It gave me hope that in all bad situations greatness can rise from it. I have been longing for a sweet, yummy smelling fart every day since. It has not returned. Cheers.
Chris
We programmed an "adventure" week for some 6th graders from Phoenix this past week and we had a blast with them. The kids got to do team builing, kayaking, slacklining, fire making, emergency shelter builiding, first aid, and other out door campy activities.
The kids were a lot of fun and we really had a great time hanging out with them. Cheers.
Chris
I had the day off today so I drove Ray to work so I could clean out the Jeep. I love riding with her to work when I have time off, I wish I could do it every day. A little small piece of me misses commuting, because its the best time to drink coffee and listen to talk radio.
On my way home I dropped in to Goodwill to see if there were any must haves. There was a massive wood carving that was hard to pass up. And they had a old orange crash helmet that I wanted soooooooooooo badly, but it wasn't in the budget for this month (Thanks Dave Ramsey, you kept me from buying something I didn't need, I love you).
While looking at old Walkmans and popcorn poppers, I noticed there are things at GW I would never purchase used.
1. Under Pants. Gross.
2. Sandals. I can't imagine wearing sandals with no socks knowing someone else did too. Can't do it.
3. Jogging Shorts. All that sweaty undercarriage action makes me want to throw up.
4 Diabetes tester. I saw this on the shelf, the thing where you prick your finger and it reads it. Even in Africa people know to not share that device. Please reader of this blog, get a new diabetes finger prick tester thing if you need one. If you can't afford a new one call me and we'll find you someone that can. Cheers.
Chris
Guys,
I hate to say that I didn't make it out to the Dollar Car Bonaza on Saturday morning. After writing about it last week and getting all pumped up I ended up having to work on Saturday. So staying up all night wouldn't have been a good idea before trying to be safe at the climbing wall for 6 hours Saturday.
I appologize from the bottom of my heart.
I still need a cheap vehicle, so if you know anyone that would sell me a road worthy car for a buck let me know.
I feel so bad that I didn't go, I feel like I am letting my blog friends down. Have a great day. Cheers.
Chris
Ray and I have only had one car for the past 5 1/2 years and I want a car. The reason being I hate feeling trapped at camp, Ray goes to work in the Jeep and I have nothing. Plus, in the summer, having a car is really nice to run around camp quickly. So, we have been trying to think of a cheap way to get another vehicle and I may have a solution.
Lamb Chevrolet is having a huge sale on Saturday and some of the cars are going for $1. I mean, you can't get a good cup of coffee for a buck!
So, Ray and I were planning on going down there to look for a nice little car/truck/van/jeep/scooter/ambulance/hovercraft/john boat/roller blade/jet pack.
Heres the deal though, I called them today to ask about the details and they said that last year they started having people line up at 4pm on Friday afternoon. So, to get a deal I have to be there Friday, which sounds so freaking boring.
So what do you think? Should I go do it? I'd love to hear what you think.
Chris
Woman swallowed whole by leopard
I thought it was one of those fake emails too, until I saw the photo below. Somehow the woman was lodged in the leopard's throat and they finally *cut the leopard's head off to let the woman escape.
She was unharmed.... Unbelievable!!
CURRENT
I have been watching the channel, Current, more and I love it. I am a documentary freak and the channel is set up to be a journalistic/documentary channel and for me that is perfect. There is a great show called Vanguard, check it out if you have the chance.
Another thing about the channel that I think is cool is that the do View Created Content, which is little shorts that people send in and they show on their channel. I really like this because it makes the channel interactive. Instead of just being a form of entertainment, it encourages the viewers to get out and produce something that tells a story. I love this idea and would love to get this Incorporated in what we do with teens.
COMMUNITY
One of the shorts this morning was about Brooklyn Kickball. These guys were documenting a group of people that get together in Brooklyn and play kickball on Sunday afternoons. I was just kind of watching it as I ate my breakfast when it dawned on me that that these people we not just playing a kids game, but they were living in community with each other.
Towards the end of the piece a 20-something girl was saying that she loves coming out to play with everyone because its really given her a group that she belongs to and she feels that she has really met a bunch of great friends through playing kickball. I believe that a need for community is something that is really important to everyone.
SIDETRACKED
While I was thinking about community I started searching local ways that people get a sense of community here in prescott, here are a few; Church, YMCA, bar/coffee shops, dog park (one of my favorites), theater, mountain biking, local adult sports leagues.
While I was looking at these different ways that people interact in town I noticed something that got me sidetracked. This is the list of banned bats for slow pitch softball. 84 BATS! That's amazing. I didn't realize there were that many different bats that one could choose from to play softball with. I love the names of the bats too, they are freaking awesome! I personally like the Freak, Uncensored, Beast Unleashed and Lady Virus. I think that softball is finally getting the hardcore street cred it deserves. I wonder what happens if you used a banned bat. Do the umps check ever batter to make sure they don't have a Liquidmetal Plasma Fusion or Anaconda Original. So, that sidetracked me for a while, I have to get back to work.
I watched Michael Moore's movie, Sicko, the other day and its great. Its all about the American health care system and I found it very interesting and informative. Of course he has an agenda that he wants to get across through his films, but don't we all.
If you have never seen a film by him you should check it out. Bowling for Columbine is also fantastic.
Sup homies,
Last weekend we had great winter camp called Alalanche for middle school students and it was awesome! There were a couple hundred kids and the whole weekend was supposed to be a wild "avalanche" of an event and it was.
Rachel is in PHX all week for more training. She's learning about lending, which is funny because while she is doing that I am becoming more addicted to Dave Ramsey and wanting to get completly out of debt. We don't have much debt, the house (which we are still trying to sell) and the car, but I would love to be debt free.
Anyone want to buy a wonderful, georgous, well loved, Jeep? I hate the idea of selling it, but to get rid of a car payment would be great. Ray and I are trying to decide if we should sell it or attack it and have it payed off ASAP and then have a great, practically new vehicle thats paid for. Oh Dave Ramsey, you inspire me so.
Cheers.
Chris
Vegas
Yesterday was a long day at work. We left Prescott at 5:45 and drove over to Las Vegas for a couple of meetings and then drove back, we got home around 8:15.
The trip was nice and we got to hang out with a bunch of children's pastors at an area networking meeting. It was cool seeing all these people working in children's ministry and how they are working so hard to provide quality experiences for the kids they work with.
After that meeting, we went over to Pei Wei (pronounced Pay-Way, pardon?) and met with some of the youth ministry team from Central Christian Church. They have a really cool ministry going on where they run 3 or so campuses, but are teacing on the same lesson plan and doing lots of activities together. Each of the guys has their own area of expertice, from writing the material to marketing to leader development and others. We had a blast hanging with them and hopefully they will be coming to camp this coming summer with the JR High kids.
Musicals
Rachel is directing a childrens musical that will be performing in March and last night they had audicians. She said it was great seeing all the kids and being back in a theater environment. I know she will do a great job and while she loves banking, she excited to work with something artistic, even if its just on a very part time basis. I am really happy for her and can't wait to see it all come together.
I posted around the new year about a few resolutions I have and I'd like to update you on how its going.
Fast Food
Ray and I made a resolution to not eat fast food in 2009 because we are fat Americans and we like our South African bodies better. Its going great! Sure, its only been 12 days, but every epic journey begins with a step....or 12.
Coffee Roasting
I also said that I wanted to learn more about coffee, in particular, how to roast coffee. I contacted the roaster/owner of Prescott Coffee Roasters and asked him if I could come watch him work and learn about the roasting process. He said it was fine so I spent Saturday with Rich roasting several batches of coffee. It was so interesting and it made me appreciate coffee even more than I did. So much goes into a cup of coffee, its crazy.
At first I was super confused, but as we continued I caught on. Rich logs the bean temps as we go and has a whole system for how he does what he does. The amazing thing is, if your beans are only like 5 degrees warmer or cooler at the end of your roast they can be ruined. And if you end up ruining a batch that's like 8 pounds of coffee wasted, which at 10-13 bucks a pound that's a costly mistake.
So I just wanted to fill you in on what I have been doing to work towards my goals. I love to hear your resolutions and how its going with you so far. Cheers.
Chris
We have Jr High winter camp, Avalanche, coming up in a few weeks and today we shot a rules video for the event with these genaric action figure guys. I converted my desk to a studio adn we had to come up with ways to get our figures to do what we wanted them to do.
Hopefully we can put it together well and it will be as good as we hope it will be. I'll post the final product later. Cheers.
Chris
There are several times in life when you feel important. Of course, for many people these seem far and few between, however they still do exist. Here are a few for me.
-When I think of Creation and that we were made in the image of God. This makes me think that we are so important to God that he would make us and then love us even though we aren't perfect. I feel important.
-When I think that I was adopted I feel important. That someone would burden themselves with a child that was not there own makes someone feel important.
-When Rachel agreed to marry me and live the rest of her life with me. I feel like I am such a lazy bum sometimes, but to know that this beautiful woman would love me and live each day with me makes me feel important.
-When I was offered a job, I felt important. I mean, the fact that people would give me money and trust me to do a good job with teenagers makes me feel important.
There are other things that have happened in my life that has made me feel important, but what happened to day ranks up there......I got business cards.
Thats right, business cards.........with my name on them...........first AND last names..........that I didn't pay for...........with my phone number AND email AND company name AND title at work AND multi color company logo on them..........cards that weren't printed at my house on perferated card stock I purchased at Office Depot.
I feel important. Cheers.
Chris
I love Elliott Smith's music (the soundtrack to Good Will Hunting [a brilliant movie, the music is perfect for the feel and vibe of the story]is mostly his music). He died in 2003.
I was reading an interview with him tonight and there was a quote that I liked especially in regard to creating. Many times, artists can be their own worst critics and won't give the time for something (song, dance, play, video, design) to evolve fully and kill it right away. However, we grow so much from just producing. It's not that every idea will be great, but if you put out enough ideas there will be something that is worth pursuing. He said:
"It's very important to try all things that occur to you. You can't not try something just because it might be cheesy. It's a fine line between something that sounds like bullshit and something that sounds really cool. A lot of people agree that Picasso is the greatest painter of the 20th century, but I was told that he has more terrible paintings than everybody else too. He just painted more than everybody else! He didn't demand of himself that everything he did had to be stellar. It's sort of like, do everything and sort it out later, because you learn from your mistakes."
Its amazing to think that its been a year since we moved back to America. On 1-1-08 we landed in DC, got a connecting flight to ATL and then got a ride to Ray's sisters by our good friend Kerrey. Starting a long and tiring 2 weeks of driving, packing and more driving (over 60 hours total) to arrive at our new home in Arizona.
WRAP UP
2008 was a good year. Any time you make a huge life change there are things that take time getting settled. From touring to having office hours is a major shift for a person like me. I also struggled living back in the States for a while. I LOVED living in a foreign country. For me it was always an adventure and I loved that there was always something crazy happening (go to Africa if you have a chance, you will just smile the whole time because there is always something funny or odd happening). Plus, all the traveling we had done before moving to SA was an adventure and I struggled with being in a 'normal' life.
For Rach, I know it was a great year. Not living out of a suitcase meant the world to her. Finally getting a job as a teller and then being offered a personal banker position at Chase was exciting. She is amazing and excels at everything she does. What a freaking awesome woman!
As a couple it was a really good year also, I honestly feel that we grow closer and closer as time goes on. Rach was really there for me in my transition from the road to the office and it would have been a lot harder without her there. Thanks Ray.
RESOLUTIONS
Resolutions can be so trivial, but I think its a good way of looking to the future and finding areas in your life where you can grow and develop.
For me I want to grow in my fiscal responsibility and learn more about money. I was never taught much about money growing up and want to really develop that area of my life this year. Rachel and I will probably never have huge salaries, however the more we learn how to let our money work for us the better we will be. Or worst case I'll just start producing and selling meth, its big business around here.
I also would like to learn more about different crafts or trades. In particular I really want to learn more about coffee. If you have spent more than 11 minutes with me you probably know that I love coffee. I want to learn how to roast coffee and more about that business, its interesting to me. I've already contacted a local roaster and will be helping out with him coming up in the next couple of weeks. I am also wanting to continue to grow as a musician/producer and also learn more about the mechanical side of cars and trucks. I think its interesting, but something that is not really taught when you are raised by women.
Lastly, no new years resolution can go without something about fitness. I am fit in spurts, but never stay on track. I hope to be more active this year and eat a more healthy diet, staying away from as much processed stuff as possible. A goal that Ray and I set for ourselves (which I might add makes me sad) is to not eat any fast food this year. I know its a goal that sounds impossible to do in America, but we can try and I will keep track on here if we are able to keep that up. (I will miss you Taco Bell, Chick-fil-a and In-n-Out like close friends). We both have put on quite a bit of weight since moving back and it makes me feel gross.
I hope you all have a great New Years and would love you to post your resolutions in the comment area. Cheers.
Chris
Right now on my TV Rocky is driving fast in his car reliving all his memories while Survivor rocks "No Easy Way Out" in the background. Life doesn't get much better.
Oh wait, it will, when Rocky starts training in the snow in Russia. I love my life right now.
Ray and I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night and we both loved it. I think its a great story and the execution of the story is amazing. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett both did great jobs playing the different stages of life. Plus, the make up artists did a fantastic job making them look the ages they were playing. Check it out. Cheers.
Chris
Ray and I had a great Christmas at home in AZ this year. We both agree that a winter Christmas is waaaaayyyyyyy better than our summer African ones the past 3 years. However, we didn't have a white Christmas like we thought we would, instead we had a rainy, muddy, cold, nasty Christmas. Oh well.
We got up and opened our presents this morning. Ray got a bunch of Bath and Body Works stuff from me, including a sweet new robe. Plus she got some great gift cards, scarf and nice nativity scene candle things from her family.
I got some Jeep stuff, WOOHOO! A Daystar dash panel to hold cell phone and other sundries. I also got some grab handles, a little took kit and flashlight to keep in the Jeep. Besides Jeep stuff I got a couple Xbox games, a sweet hat (kind of like the one in the link, Ray hates these hats, hahaha) and a couple of gift cards from family and friends.
It was a nice Christmas. I hope you all had a great holiday and have a wonderful new year. Cheers.
Chris
Christmas Eve is a great night. Ray and I went to church and on the way home picked up some sushi and some Red Truck and then made a fire and watched some Christmas Vacation. Doesn't get better than that. Cheers.
Chris
My friend's, Justin Unger, song, "In You Alone," is up for Song Discovery Independent Song of the Year. You can help by voting; follow the link below to vote (Justin is the 9th song listed in the first category).
http://www.worshipleader.com/praise-awards
He's the worship leader at the church Ray and I go to. I also get to play with him so it would be cool if he won this award. Cheers.
Chris
We are getting our first real snow over the next few days, I love when it snows. Cheers.
Chris
Heres whats been going on with us.
-My best friend, Chad (and his wife), came to visit for his 30th bday. We had a blast hanging with them, hadn't seen him since 2005.
-I'm learning to work with After Effects and I love it/ hate it when I can't figure out what I am doing.
-The worship leader at church, Justin Unger, has a couple of albums out and I am getting to play electric guitar for him for a couple of shows coming up. Thats going to be fun.
-Ray and I got a Xbox 360.
-Its supposed to snow in a few days, I hope we get a couple of inches at least.
-Ray is kicking butt at work, I am so proud of her.
-I love Christmas time!
-I love my Jeep! I'm getting a little lift and she's gonna look sweet!
-Rachel and I have met some cool friends in town, that neither of us work with, and its fun getting to know new folks.
-I'm so lazy and can't get motivated to work out.
-I am in love with eggnog.
Thats about it. Cheers.
Chris
Ray is still in the certification process to be a banker at Chase and today she passed her second test that she needs to be licensed. She had to drive up to Flagstaff for the test and there are a couple of youth ministers up there that we work with so I got to go along and have a couple of meetings while she was taking her test.
She has one more test and then she starts her training for her position. I am so proud of her and the work she is doing. Right now all she does is study, all day, every day. I know she can't wait to be done with studying and start being a banker. Congrats Ray Ray. Cheers.
Chris
A fun video from beyondrelevance.com about how silly church can be at times. I love the crappy logo with the diamond plate background, classic. Cheers.
Chris
We got a tiny bit of snow this evening. Its cold out today, but its supposed to warm back up this week. Ray and I drove up to a higher elevation tonight to see how much they got and it was a couple of inches. Cool. Cheers.
Chris
I have always wanted to learn how to ride BMX and yesterday morning I took a bike down to our local skate park to teach myself how to ride the ramps and bowls. IT WAS AWESOME!
The bike rides so smooth and its great riding up and down the ramps, around the tight bowls and jumping the jumps. I was too chicken to drop in to a quarter pipe.
So today I went to another park in Prescott Valley and taught myself to drop into the quarter pipe, I was so freaked, but made it no problem. Then right before I left I tried one last time and crashed on my head and elbow, I wasn't hurt, but I saw the most beautiful starts. Haha. Cheers.
Chris
I am excited about what happened last night in the election, congratulations Mr. Obama.
I know that people tried to not speak about or even acknoledge publicly the fact that Obama was a black man and I am proud of America for that. We as a country have come so far that we aloud policy and hope to guide us rather than the color of a candidates skin.
In Obama's acceptance speach he spoke about a 106 year old black lady that voted and he talked about all the changes that she had seen in her life and how far we have come from when she when born (a gereration out of slavery). It gave me goose bumps and made so proud to be an American.
Is racism over? No. However, I am hoping that this sets us on a path that allows people to be seen as people and not as the color of their skin. As a man or woman rather than a black man, white man, asian woman, hispanic woman etc. We can, hopefully, all just be the people that God created us to be.
Do I agree with all his policies, no. However, I do think he does have the ability to unite this country if people will allow him. I don't think everyone will, but I hope and pray they can, so this country can continue to be the greatest country on earth.
Congratulations Mr. Obama and I pray God gives you the wisdom and strength to lead our beautiful country through the next 4 years and beyond. Cheers.
Chris
PS.
Heres Obama's speech.
I am so excited that its election day!
I have been watching and debating and praying and thinking about this election for so long that I am so pumped that its finally happening today. I remember watching the 2004 election in the Traveling Mercies RV in a campground in California so I look forward to sitting up late, getting a bottle of wine and enjoying watching this thing unfold.
Right now I am babysitting, my friends, the Herrington's, kids while they go vote. How cool that we live in a place where we can openly elect our leaders. God bless America.
Go Vote.
Chris
90's music rules!
I realize every generation believes that the music they listened to in high school was the greatest, but all other generations can kiss my Beck/Joan Osborne/STP/Pearl Jam/Alanis Morsette/Rage/3rd Eye Blind/Couting Crows/Nirvana/Everclear loving rear. Palabra.
Chris
I miss you all and I am now returning to my blogging roots, like a prodigal that misses the comforts and love of his home, I return with a tear in my eye and desire to be accepted as I once was. Or whatever.
I don't know why I haven't been blogging, I just haven't. Maybe my life feels so much slower than it used to that I don't feel that I have anything to write about. Or maybe because I'm not working in such a creative environment that I don't feel like I have new ideas of things to write about. I don't know, either way, I am back.
I started my basic Tri training 2 weeks ago and now I am starting to try to ramp it up. Been swimming and running, need to get some miles on the bike in. However, its going well and I look forward to December 6th.
Rachel is taking her series 6 test tomorrow. She needs this to be a banker at Chase. Shes stressed, but I think she will do well. Shes really been working her tail off getting ready for the test. Please pray she does well and can relax a little after its done. Cheers.
Chris
I have been such a crappy blogger over the past several weeks, I am sorry.
A ton has been going on, but at this moment at my desk I can't think of a single thing that has happened. I will try to compile a list and let you know.
I am going to be doing another tri in Dec. For you who don't know I did a tri in South Africa last year, it was awesome! Since moving back to the States I've been wanting to do one, so now I am. Its a short 'sprint' tri in Phoenix December 6th. I will start training on Monday, thats 9 weeks out. I trained for 5 weeks for the one last year, so this should be nicer for me. I plan on spending the first couple of weeks just getting back into being active and then get on it until the race. Cheers.
Chris
I am taking some of our high school staffers to Scottsdale this weekend for a leadership conference thing led by Hope International University. I think it will be a nice weekend for the guys going.
In addition to taking the guys down there, Herrington, my boss, and I are leading worship for the event on Sunday Morning.
Hopefully Ray will be able to join us Saturday night after she gets off of work. Its a fancy hotel, so you know.....word up. Cheers.
Chris
Our really close friends Tim and Suzy just had their first child, Oscar Elijah Bomgardner. Suzy and Rachel grew up together in Savannah and its so great to see they have a healthy little boy. I can't wait to meet him in person.
Tim and Suzy, we are so excited for you both and we love you guys.
Chris
I found a great online art website called spraygraphic.com
Cool art from around the world, check it out.
Lived it up in San Diego, here's a few pics, will have more later this weekend.
We swam and surfed and body boarded and went to Sea World and toured a aircraft carrier and ate a ton of candy and bought a hat, but of all these cool things we did I loved doing mundane, everyday tasks in a wetsuit and surfing with by buddy Tye.
