Sometimes When I Blog I Lose Confidence

Piano Men

2010-02-16T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here is the previously promised Ton Face Christmas T 09. They turned out pretty great! I think I say this a lot, but I believe these to be my best so far... I think it will be hard for me to top these ones, but we'll see.

Most of my ideas either start with some sort of meaning, or receive some sort of meaning by the time I am done with them. This shirt is a depiction of my cultural background. My father's grandfather came from Italy, and I grew up with a love of Italian food, and a family that was loud and bouterous (like any good Italian family). My mother was born in Germany, and I have visited family there twice, and love the food there as well. I don't know why I keep mentioning the food. I was born and raised in America, so therefore I can say that I am a genuine Itermican (ITalian, gERMan, amerICAN). So, this shirt is a combination of iconic symbols from those three countries, the American Presidential Seal, the German Victory Eagle and the Italian Crest.

Lauren and I got to see the progress being made on our wedding invites that are being created by an old elementary school friend of mine, Shauna Serdal. She is an incredible graphic designer, and we are both really excited for what the final product is going to look like! Shauna also gave us a bunch of postcards that she had done for her senior project at East Bay, I really was impressed by all the fun designs she has done.

Tonight we are going to see Billy Joel and Elton John in concert together. I grew up listening to Elton John because of my fathers love of his music, and Billy Joel is just and incredible pianist, so I can wait for that.

Engaged in Shirt Making

2010-01-17T00:07:00.000-08:00

I am engaged. You all know that. I am getting married on June 6th of this year. That is less then 5 months away. I am pretty excited about that.

This years Ton Face Christmas-T was delayed because an error at the printer. I finally have them now, and have slowly been delivering them to their rightful owners. This is my favorite design to date. I won't post it yet, just in case some one who is receiving one reads this post and sees the design before they get the shirt, it would kinda ruin it for them.

I am starting on the shirt for the MSM's Even Biggerer Snow trip. It will not bet artistically great, (not that anything I do really is) but it should be fun, and let's be honest with each other, how many middle-schoolers care for artistically great things? Not half as many as care about things being fun, I am sure of this.

Nate just moved into the Travis' old room, I am glad that he is here, but bummed that Travis' stay had to come to an end so quickly. But good for him, save some money before marriage!

That's all I got.

Goodnight (or morning, or day... whatever time it is that you are reading this, I hope that it is good.)

Last Post from Germany

2009-04-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

This will probably be my last post from Germany. Lauren is returning to the states tomorrow, and I shall stay here. :-(... but :-) cause I get 10 more days of Europe. It would be better if she were here to experience it with me though....

That also means I will not have easy access to a laptop to edit my pictures and post updates on my blog.

VBC will be updating our daily happenings on the VBC blog though, so if you want to know what we are doing as a group go here.

Musically Magical Wonder Land

2009-04-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

First, some pictures of Auschwitz, somber, I know.

I could sit in the caourtyard of the school that we've been working at FOREVER! I had a cool conversation with a Catholic student at the school today. It was cool, cause he was certainly a God fearing catholic, not just a go through the motions catholic. We talked, as much his broken English, and my complete lack of Polish would allow, about the importance of evangilization. He asked why we chose to come to Poland, and I told him that is exactly why we came.

I got to listen to another Trombone quartet, and added about 7 Polish friends on Facebook, I am so multi cultural. totaly unrelated. But man, it has been great making a whole bunch of new international friends.

I have also gotten to connect with a lot of students that we brought with us from the German base. That has also been fun, they are a bunch of great people. Most of them are very new to their faith, or still unbelieveing. But they are here because they appreciate the love shown by all their leaders, and are curious about the source of that love. We have seen a couple kids make new decisions to allow God to be Lord of their lives, and a couple of them deciding to recommit to serving Him as well.

We have also really connected with the other leaders from the Bittburg base. Lauren has certainly been blessed by God recently by all the solid friends that she now has in her life here. I have been really blessed especially by Brent and Joe by the way that they love on their kids, which I have been able to see closer, since Deej and I are staying at there house.

Dan and I also got a chance to sit down with the Chaplain over lunch. It was a good opportuity to pick his brain about the difficulty of being a minister to the military life style. I was very encouraged by his heart for the Lord.

This post is SO extrememly scattered, but I will not appologize, that is how this week has been. Now here are some more pictures, the reason you all really come to this page any way. ;-)

Service

2009-04-07T22:11:00.001-07:00

I have very limited time to post, so a quick little update. I now have my roles of leadership clarified on the trip. I am my sites photographer, the slide show coordinator, and the percussionist for musical worship. It is quite a lot, nd has been keeping me very busy, thus the lack of posting.

The work site we are at has been AMAZING! we are at a more upscale music school in Poland, I can't remember/wouldn't know how to spell the name of the town it is in. It is like a musically magical wonderland! But I have to run, more to come... with photos.

Poland

2009-04-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

Internet coverage is pretty touch and go out here. I am now in Poland on an old military vacation location. We are staying in an old hotel, which is pretty sweet. Deej and I got our own room.

It has been a very surreal experience so far. We are here, in a foreign country, but aren't really getting any feel for the culture here yet. Hanging out with a bunch of American kids kinda strips the foreign feel from the whole experience. The weird thing is that there still is a very stark difference in the culture still. The difference between military and non military living is super strange.

It is also very strange cause I still am having a hard time figuring out my role in the ministry that is taking place this week. As far as I have gathered so far, we are doing a cross between Christian camp and an outreach trip to the people of Poland. My job has changed so many times that I feel very disorganized. But God is good, I have made some connections with a handful of the students here that Lauren is ministering to here. I even have had a handful of facebook friend requests, which is like the confirmation that we are indeed friends.

We went with Lauren to watch her girls play soccer. All the teams from Bittburg; Varsity and JV guys and girls; owned their competition. It was a good day. I had fun taking some pictures.

We then got on a bus for the 20 hr bus ride from Bittburg to where we are now staying in Poland. That wasn't as fun, but still a pretty good experience. We stopped at a McDonalds in the Czech Republick on the way, it was really weird. It looked just like McDonalds on the outside, but once we entered the building it felt like we were in some hip European coffee shop. Super strange.

Well, tomorrow is Catholic Mass time, followed by a trip to Auschwitz. I am not super pumped about going to Auschwitz, since I have seen Dachou already, and I don't have a great desire to go and see another place that was so evil. But my Lauren has never been to a concentration camp, and would like to see it for the historical importance of it, so I am going. I will have some pictures of that and the church probably to post tomorrow, but for now enjoy some pictures from our random adventures today and yesterday.

04.01-04.02

2009-04-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today has been long, I suppose it has been two days really, but it has felt like a lot longer than that. There were a few exciting moments traveling. Through a miscommunication Deej and Lauren accidentally walked out of the security check point, so they had to go through security twice at SFO. That was funny. The connecting flight from Chicago Ohare to Frankfurt, so we had to sit a little longer than we wanted to, but it was alright. We still made it into Germany on time.

Lauren met us at the airport, and we had a fun little drive to Bittburg. We stopped of at a little town called Burnkastel, which was great. We only had a little while to walk around, but it was the perfect little quintessential German town.

After that we got to go to Dub’s soccer practice, she helps coach the high school girls team. Deej and and scrimmaged with them a little, our team one, which was cause for much celebration. After the practice they had a little BBQ that we were lucky enough to partake in. At the BBQ a fire extinguisher got knocked off the way and sprayed all over, filling the room with white powdery dust. It was incredibly funny.

We then hung out with some of the girls from the soccer team after going to the grocery store to buy some snaky wackies. It has been quite an epic beginning, and I trust that this is only the start of an amazing trip. Pray for us as seek to serve the Lord, and bring him honor.

Here are some picture to entertain.

I will be posting this tomorrow, since I do not have internet at the moment.

Cafe Santoro

2009-04-01T06:25:00.001-07:00

Vote for my parents' cafe.

Duetschland

2009-04-01T01:17:00.000-07:00

I leave for Germany in less than 10 hours. I just got done packing. I will try and post pictures and stories. I will be there until the 20th. The first half I will be With Deej, my Lauren, Lauren Wallace and her Young Life group. The second half I will be with the VBC group and they will be posting daily on the VBC blog. I am going to sleep now. Goodnight.

Lights, Camera... No Action

2009-03-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

I bought a flash for my camera. It makes taking pictures inside much more enjoyable. I was playing around with it a little bit the other day, just to see the difference between the built in camera and the SB-600 speed light that I got. Here are some of those pictures:

On-board Flash

New flash, angled behind my head to fill the room.
Angled to the left

And angled to the right

I went with the wedding of a friend of the family. It is always good catching up with the people that I grew up with. It is the first of five weddings I will be attending this spring/summer, two of which I will be a part of. Here are some pictures from that

Father and mother of the bride

I <3 Japan

2009-03-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

I have recently made two large purchases, one significantly larger than the other. They are both from Japan, and I couldn't be happier with them. let me introduce you:

This is my recently purchased car, and the other introduction is behind the scenes, I took this picture with my new Nikon D40X Digital SLR camera. I wanted to have a good camera for when I went to Germany, and I paid to much money to Uncle Sam this year, so he helped me out with this new camera.

Lauren and I went to the city this past weekend. It was a fun time, and I got to take some fun pictures, and learn how to use my camera. We went to the old arcade, and some other random fun things like sit in Golden Gate Park by the Dutch Windmill. So, here are some more pictures... Oh, I am also slowly learning how to edit my photos to give them a little more distinct look, enjoy.

Transitions

2009-01-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hello? Is any body out there?

... Probably not, but I will write anyway, it has been so long. I am not going to sit here and say, "I am really going to get back into this blog thing again!" or, "I promise to update this more." because in all honesty, I doubt I will.

But for now a few brief updates.

New House:
I moved out of Tim's house two weekends ago. I used to say that here would only be three things that would cause me to leave; Tim getting married, Me getting married, or me buying a place of my own. Well..........

None of those things has happened (though steps in one of those directions have been made). But I had been living there for 8.5 years, at it was time for a change. It has been great so far, I live with Charlie, Ben and Travis now, and the house is so chill! Not to mention the fact that I am so very close to many of my friends now, we often meet downtown (yes, there is a downtown Pleasanton) and it is great.

New Commute:
No, I did not get a new job, but I have significantly changed my commute. My truck died - again - and this time I am not resurrecting it. I just set a donation towing, and I will soon never see it again! Fortunately, the new place is only about a mile to the ACE Train, which makes taking that a piece of cake. So I am now a full time PTC (Public Transit Commuter). I doubt that is a real acronym, but in my field of work EVERYTHING has one, so I thought it fitting.

There are other things, but I don't want to write about them, and I think those two are big enough transitions for one post.

Resurection

2008-10-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

I have been gone for a while. It has been rumored that I died. The rumors are exactly that; I am indeed alive.

Rather than try and catch you up of all the stuff that has happened in my absence of the blogging world I am just going to start up from here.

I don't really feel like typing though. The only reason I am doing this right now is to put up some artwork that I have done. so here we go:

Polar Bear Rescue Mission

2008-05-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

So, apparently my confidence has wained for some time now. Too long, some might say. So, I am back. Kinda, I don't know, we shall see.

I finally rode my bike to work today. That is only a partial truth. Work is 35 miles away. I rode my bike to the girl's (Sarah, Al, and Jen) house, which is right next to the train station, and then took the ACE Train to work. It was pretty legit, I read half of Prince Caspian today, and am almost done. Which is perfect timing, cause the movie is about to come out this weekend, and I am all refreshed on the story.

Well, I know it's not much, but it's a start, see y'all later.

Italy Beach Break

2008-03-29T21:14:00.001-07:00

Lauren recently asked me to help her design a shirt for her YL club's Summer Camp. So here it is, I think this will be the final product... Don't try to make any sense of it, it won't work.

Front Graphic

Back Graphic

Shirt Layout

Apology Accepted

2008-02-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

So, I had briefly mentioned my disappointment with the welcome/registration part of my weekend up at Hume Lake Christian Camps with the MSM. Well, apparently my comments did not fall upon deaf ears, which is weird, because I never expected them to fall on ANY ears... I recently got this letter of apology:

Dear Tony,

First, and foremost, please accept our most sincere apology. We missed the mark when it came to welcoming you and making you feel welcomed when you were registering your students with us for Winter Camp. Your (very well written) blog came across the airwaves the other day, and it got my attention! We're not only sorry, but embarrassed, as well.

You're absolutely right, Tony, you should expect more from a Christian organization, and all the staff here at Hume Lake works real hard to look after and take care of our guests. I don't have all the details of your visit with us, but I did meet with all of our Registrars and Front Office staff and shared your blog with them.

As you well know, the check-in process can be tedious with all the information we're required to get, and all the details we need to cover with our guests. Compounded by the self-induced pressure of getting everyone processed in a timely manner (due to lines forming), we sometimes lose sight of what the true purpose of registering should be--a welcoming!

Although we strive for perfection, knowing there's always room for improvement, your blog was a great reminder to help all of us focus on what's truly important ... and for that we're thankful!

We are committed to you as our valued customer. You deserve better from the Hume Lake team and we let you down. Regaining your confidence is important to us, and all of us here hope you will give us another opportunity to, once again, serve you.

If you'd like to discuss anything, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at the number listed below.

Sincerely,
Bob Plouffe

That is verbatim, emphasis, parenthetical statements and all. I was really surprised when I read the letter. I still have NO idea how they found my blog. I even checked my mapstats, and there wasn't a search result of Hume or anything like that. So strange.

As shocked as I was, it was a pleasant shocking. I was rather encouraged by the response they had to my blog and am very appreciative of their strides to rectify the situation. If it were my decision to go back there next winter for our annual trip, they definitely would have earned a second chance. Alas, that is not my decision to make, so we shall have to wait and see what happens next year.

Tornadoes

2008-02-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

I just found out that tornadoes torn apart the south Tuesday night. It's crazy that I was just there. The death toll is now up to 57 people, and still expected to climb. The multiple tornadoes, including several long-track tornadoes, ripped across five states, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I thank God that I was able to get out of there before all this went down, and pray for those involved.

On the lighter side, one of my middle school guys just sent me this picture he said he found amongst his Biggest Snow photos. I don't know if he drew it, or who did, but it's pretty awesome!

Hume N 'Bama

2008-02-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the MSM Biggest Snow retreat at Hume Lake. And man did it live up to it's name! I headed up the early crew that left the church at 10 am. (Have I mentioned before I am not the biggest fan of heading things up?) Dan has been student teaching at Cal High, so he needed another leader to be the point person for that, so he asked me to do it. I was quickly reminded why I believed God wanted me in the MSM leadership as opposed to the HSM's. It worked out alright, and we made it safely up to Hume in a timely fashion. The only bummer part about being in charge of the early group was checking in at Hume when we arrived. You would assume that at a CHRISTIAN Camp the pepople working the front desk would be full of a spirit of patience and compassion on those who are volunteering their time to serve the youth of America. Well, you would be as wrong as I was. Now, I can kind of understand, dealing with a bunch of people who don't really know what they're doing, or aren't completely prepared would get annoying. But, C'mon! it was disappointing.
The weekend was full of snow ball fights, broom hockey, more snow ball fights, sledding, more snow ball fights, snow boarding, more snow balls, snow football, and yes, a final snow ball fight. It was a great weekend, despite the fact that I felt like GARBAGE on Saturday night. I got the chance to pray with one of our students, Willie Stafford, Saturday night after he decided to give his life to the Lord during the altar call that evening. It was a very emotional event for him, and I felt privileged to be a part of that.
All in all the weekend was a great success, full of fun times and great memories. It was difficult to leave. Literally, we had the hardest time leaving. First we got stuck at the camp for an extra hour and a half after a bus got stuck on the snowy road. So we all went and had lunch in the cafeteria. Once we finally got on the road three more buses got stuck. All in all it took about 4-5 more hours than it should have to get down off that mountain. The problem was that it snowed non-stop starting Saturday night, which made for great snowball fights, but horrible driving conditions. It was more snow than they have seen at Hume for a long time. It all worked out though, we ended up getting off the mountain and home at about 10:30. I missed the Giants shutting down Brady, and successfully crushing the undefeated Patriots' dreams for a perfect season.
Once I got home from church on Sunday night I had about five hours to unpack, re pack, and get to the airport to fly to Alabama. I was able to squeeze about three hours of sleep in there as well, which was not refreshing at all after the long weekend. I went to 'bama to observe clinical angioplasty cases. It was pretty ridiculously awesome. My company wanted me to get more of an understanding of what the end goal of the research that I am a part of is. It was weird watching people have procedures done to them that I do to Pigs. But it was even weirder that it wasn't that much different than what I do. Other than minor anatomical differences, it looked just like what I do almost every day. The staff there was very nice, and though I went in there feeling rather uncomfortable, and uncertain about my presence there; they seemed more impressed that I do the procedures on animals that the doctors do to humans there. I don't know how much sense that last sentence made, but there it is. I am now home, and rested up from all this traveling, and couldn't be happier.

My Parents no Longer Have Kids, Only Children

2008-01-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

It is my little brothers eighteenth birthday tomorrow. We are all now adults. It is still a weird thing. I moved out at eighteen, so I missed a lot of the major formative years of my younger siblings (I was not completely removed, but they did move 2 hours away, so I didn't see them much). And then all of a sudden, they were driving, and getting jobs. Now my "baby" sister is on her second year of college, and talking about moving. Now my little brother is NEARLY as tall as I am and about to graduate high school. Nearly as tall, not AS tall as I am, just for clarification. Shopping for him this year was extremely easy, he is buying a new drum kit, so he only wanted cash. I was able to oblige his wishes. We had linner at Bistro 33 in El Dorado Hills, it was delicious.

We had our first flag football game of the new season on Saturday. It was very very muddy, but an equal amount fun as well. We lost to our friendly arch rival The Bengals. I got worked three times pretty hard, which is what gave them a sizable lead. I was disappointed with myself because the last time we played them I was able to completely shut down the guy I was guarding, and he subsequently took his own head out of the game. I was able to get an interception, which was nice, my first in this league. We were able to dominate the second team. Pletch tweaked his back really bad in the first game, but he was able to get two interceptions in the second game. I am unaware of his backs current condition, but shall keep you updated as necessary.

I just got back from seeing Rambo. One word: Bloody. It was extremely bloody and violent. I have to admit, I was really hoping for a Rocky Balboa caliber movie, and did not get it. The return of Rocky's character was far more rewarding, and pleasing, then Rambo. I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone. However, I was told not to see it as well, but felt the need to, simply because it is Rambo. Well, I suppose I should have taken lesson from the cat.

Bloggers being lame... I'll add pics tomorrow.

How Much Muetter Could a Muettertueterties if a Muettertueter Could Ttueterties?

2008-01-22T13:45:00.000-08:00

I was in Colorado this weekend, and I loved it so much! Man, it was such a full and Awesome weekend! I shall no let you glimpse into the majesty that was Breckenridge '08:

First of all, I went and saw Cloverfield on Thursday night, at midnight, on the giant screen. It was mediocre at best. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't adamantly endorse it by any means. JJ, what happened? It was an interesting concept though... I shall say no more, just in case you want to go see it, and don't want the movie ruined. So, that was midnight, and I had to be to VBC at 430, not the wisest of decisions, but I survived

Anyway, we arrived in Denver on time, entire group intact, with no major discrepancies. Upon arrival we were picked up by none other than Nicole Gillette, and greeted with the best hugs ever. We then proceeded directly to Chick Fillet, where we were met by Jason Farrar. It was so great seeing him, especially since he had said he probably couldn't get work off to come to Breck with us. It turned out that he could come up for one day, which was awesome. It was Farrar, Charlie, Hicks and myself in the car on the way up to Breckenridge, it was such a fun car ride. Listening to great music, having good conversation, and just being friends.

Saturday started with a drive up to South Park. Yes, South Park Colorado does (or did) exist. it was two towns past where the girls were staying, it is now called Fairplay. I don't when they changed the name, but I can only assume that they changed it after the TV show got popular. Farrar, Charlie, Elise, Jen, Sarah and I went there to have breakfast. We found this sweet little Bakery, with the nicest lady working there, she was almost too nice. Then I went to Breckenridge with a handful of people to hang out with Andy, Britlee, and Blake. Blake is super cute, it took her a little bit to warm up to me, but once she did, she wouldn't leave me alone. I love being friends with little kids, they are so entertaining.

Sunday was also extremely AMAZING. I went riding with a bunch of people at Breckenridge. It was Kyle, DeBonis, Hicks, Brad Lide, Laura Lide, Sill, Laura White, Big Wooly, Matt Howden, Bri and Josh (Bri and Josh are from CO). Man, I feel like there was one more person, but I can;t remember, I feel like a jerk, but what can you do. That was one of my favorite days of riding yet. I had almost forgotten how much I loved it, but riding with that many fun people was so fun. AS the day progressed the group started splitting up a bit, and it ended up being Brad, Bri, Josh and me getting white faced down a fatty bowl off the peak of the mountain. It was great, I was riding right behind Brad, and as we're going little avalanches came off the bottom of our boards. I felt like I was in a snowboard video.

The rest of the trip was filled with great people, fun games and awesome hanging out. We swung by Beaujo's on the way back to Littleton. I love the pizza there.

All this was good and great and all, but the best part was getting refreshed in the Lord. I have felt kind of stagnant lately, and it was good to be drawn closer to him again. It will be nice to get back into the swing of things with him. Actually spending time with him and such...

P.S. Did I mention that the Giants beat Green Bay? Making them only the fourth team to beat the Packers in a post season game in less then 35 degree weather (I think it's 35 degrees). Thus, also sending them to meet Tom Brady and the Undefeated Patriots in the SUPER BOWL.

Happy Roman Calendar Anniversary

2007-12-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

And when the large ball drops in Time Square it is a new year; the old year has passed away; behold, a new year has begun.

The recent death of a giraffe that was near and dear to my heart has made certain things not as fun as they usually are. None the less, it was a fun filled time out at the Perry Ranch for the Fourth Annual Perry New Years Eve Party. It was a night jam packed with way too much loud hip hop, dancing and awkwardly intense conversations. But, simultaneously an evening loaded with the return of old friends, possible new friends, and a lot of random wittiness combined with random ditziness! It is a sad day though, for that was most likely the last of the Perry NYE Parties.

And now it is time to start a new year. We shall see what that holds. Will it be The Year of mystery? Or perhaps The Year of the Same 'ol Same 'ol. I take comfort in the fact that as long as I am pursuing The LORD it will never be the latter, and that is my intention. So we shall see my friends, we shall see. I am sure God has some great things planned for this year, and I cannot wait to find out what they are.

Now, for the moment you all have been waiting for: The unveiling of the second annual (a lot of annual events in this post) The Ton Face Christmas T. I would like to apologize in advance to anyone who was hoping for one, but did not receive one. I have a limited amount of money at my disposal, so I had to keep the list down to those who have made a sizable impact upon my life in this past year. With that said, and with no further ado.... The shirt.

The Front

The Back

Chest Detail

Back Detail

The Chest design is actually quite old. It was going to be the second shirt by deomai.designs, the clothing company Kyle, Lauren and I tried to start a while back. The design was inspired by myself, Rachel Currie, and Lauren; and drawn by Lauren. Rachel was easily the most excited about the prospect of us having a clothing line, maybe more so than any of the three of us, so we decided to dedicate the second design to her. If you look closely, you can even find her name hidden within the artwork. So there it is, the final agonal breath of young and feeble clothing company.

The photos are thanks to Justin Bowen, the new photographer for Edge's online catalog. That website is finally up and running, so if you feel like checking out my pathetic attempts at modeling check it out. The URL is www.shop-edge.com, go to it, by clothing, support my new found career.

Bloggy Blog Blog

2007-12-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

I am done with my Christmas shirt for this year! I am quite excited, since it has taken me a legitimized amount of time. But I just approved the proof from Dennis earlier today. I am pretty excited about it (which is probably pretty obvious, since I just repeated myself). Last year's shirt was fun, but not exactly what I had wanted. I went through Custom Ink to get them printed, and they did a great job. The problem is that they were paranoid about copyright infringement, so they wouldn't print it the way I wanted it. I had to add something to the design to make it less like THE NORTH FACE logo, even though I only printed 30 (a quantity that I'm sure NORTH FACE would have never concerned themselves with). Anyway, last years shirt was more entertaining than anything, but this year the design has more artistic qualities. I think this will be a shirt that more people wear as a real shirt, and not just a work out shirt, or something like that. I had some help with this design, but I won't reveal that artist until they have been released, cause it could give away the design before I am ready to unveil it.

Death of a Giraffe

2007-12-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

This week has been interesting. I haven't posted in a long time, so I think I'm due. For some reason I haven't quite been in the writing mood lately. But after helping Tyler set of The Cond's blog, I am inspired to write something. So here it is:

I had a full Weekend. I went up to my parents house to visit my grandpa and his wife, who were here from back east. It was good to see them. I haven't ever had the chance to spend that much time with my Grandpa, cause he lives so far away, but it is always so fun to see him. It crazy to see the way he acts compared to my dad... watching them interact is like watching someone talk to a mirror sometimes, it's great.

We made another "Thanksgiving Dinner". I use the quotes because it really had nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but we did have a turkey. My little sister made her first one. It was juicy, but we didn't start cooking it until about 1730. And, as anyone who has ever cooked a turkey knows, it wasn't done until about three hours later. So we were sitting down to eat Dinner @ 2100, it was kinda ridiculous! But still very good.

In other, more narcissistic news, I am a model. That doesn't sound right even as I type, but it is unfortunately true. I would like to say that I am one of those more sophisticated hand models, like David Duchovny's character in Zoolander. Alas, that would be a lie. Instead I am the online model for Edge, the premiere mens boutique for designer clothing in downtown Danville. I find myself highly amused by this fact, especially since I am cropped out of all the photos, so you just see the clothes. But trust me, it is in fact my body that the clothes are draped over so gracefully. The website isn't fully operational yet, but I have access to some of the photos, so I will leave you with a taste of the glory to come... How's that for Narcissistic?!?!

For all mankind

This I'll keep to myself for now

I do tops too

How Does Time Fly? Where are it's Wings?

2007-11-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

It has been quite some time since my last post. I really have no good excuse... Well, maybe I do, my weeks are quite busy. I only have one "open" night each week. Which is quite fine by me, I like keeping busy, after all, idle hands are the Devil's workshop... Or something like that, right?

Anyway, here are a few of the pictures that I have recently done with Justin.

First off, the Domestic Violence that I promised about a month ago:

And these are some pictures he did last week for a lighting project:

I am aware that this isn't the most in depth post for not having posted for over 3 weeks. But it is all I have in me. My apologies.

A Wonderfully White-Trash Weekend

2007-10-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

Domestic violence, shark fishing in Alameda, Charlie's birthday at The Hop Yard. Ok, so the only white trashiness at Charlie's party was the fact that I brought him a 24 of Miller High Life. And shark fishing really wasn't white trash, but it sure sounds like it would be doesn't it?

We took a bunch of the middle schoolers shark fishing. It was quite fun. I went early with the chief to help him set up. It was a very interesting way of fishing. Craig would wind surf the line out into the bay, probably a good 50-75 yards out, and drop it. It was fun hanging out with him, helping out. I baited hooks all day with calamari. It's strange what different animals consider appetizing. It was fun, we caught 7 leopard sharks, and all the students got to touch them.

On Sunday Justin needed some help with another photo project. He had to take a photo depicting Domestic Violence. It took a while to get the lighting set up for the second photo. But it was well worth it... I haven't gotten the pictures from him quite yet, but rest assured that I will post them as soon as I get them. I can't wait to see them!

In other, completely NOT white trash news, I finally got to shave today. Yes, you're right, that is my round about way of say that Dan and Melissa had their baby. Well, technically Dan didn't have him, Melissa did, but you know what I mean. You will have to go to Dan's blog to read about him, I will not steal the thunder, as some are in the habit of doing. They had attempted to keep his name a secret until he came, but some people were relentless in guessing, and figured it out. Why must people ruin surprises?! Oh well, no worries now, *********** is finally here, and you can find out his name from Dan and Mel! And get way more photos!

No Clever Title This Time

2007-10-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have had a few more requests for designs lately. That has been fun, but strange simultaneously. I still am having a hard time believing that people actually enjoy my creations. This probably is partly due to the fact that I don't really know what I am doing. Sure, it ends up looking the I kinda want it to look. But I'm really just faking my way through it. For instance, my sister asked me to design a business card for her. She wanted it to match her website that the Mazzarello's designed for her. I think I did a good job. The only problem is that all I really did is take their artwork, and change it a little. That isn't creating. That's copying and modifying.

Or this sweatshirt that Elise asked me to design for her Westmont Dorm. Granted, I had the idea to make a barcode and change it up to say Clark, which is the name of her dorm building, in it. But again, all I did was find a barcode brush stroke online, and modify it. Again, just copying and modifying. I really do enjoy doing this graphic design type stuff, but I just feel so unequipped. like it is soon going to be known that I am just a hack, fumbling his way through this stuff.

And this is not a desperate plea for affirmation. I am not fishing for compliments at all. I guess I am just confused at why all of a sudden, in this past year I have become so intrigued by designing stuff. And why it continues to work out the way I want it to. Every time I get done with a design I think, "Wow, that came out better then I expected." And now I am getting more requests, and it is intimidating, because I don't want to let people down, and give them a dumb looking piece of artwork.

To Close For Comfort

2007-10-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

So, aparently this was to close to the Goodwill logo, so I had to change it up a little. I didn't think that it would be a big deal at all. I mean we aren't that big of a church, and we aren't trying to make money off of it. But Jay thought it could be a problem, so I had to mix it up. I was pretty bummed, I wanted to have people think of Goodwill when they looked at the poster (keeping inline with the "Thrift Store Prom" theme). But alas, a change was necessary. I think I did a pretty good job of changing it enough, but still inciting a vision of Goodwill.

Not My Idea

2007-10-09T00:47:00.000-07:00

The event that is. Nor was the title of the event my idea. The poster however, was mine. You should be there, and tell your friends. It raises money for two good causes.

I'm not Superstitious, I'm Just a Little Stitious

2007-10-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

I love music. I can remember the first time i started listening to music. I had just gotten back from a trip to Germany, and its surroundings with my Omi. There was a new station that my dad had started listening to. It was one of those stations that doesn't have any DJs, or programs, or any of that garbage. They only played music. It was KSAN 107.7. Fortunately I shortly grew out of my "only classic rock" phase.

The first CD I ever bought was Five Iron Frenzy's Ou r Newest Album Ever!. since then that single CD has grown to over 5,000 songs in my music library. According to my iTunes start listening to my music straight through and not h I couldere the same song twice for more than 20 days. I don't say this to brag, because to be quite honest, that would be a pathetic to brag about. I inform you of my taste for music to set you up for the difficult lesson God had to teach me.

About two years ago (I think) I realized that I had a bit of a problem. Music had become a sort of idol in my life. I found I was skipping out on important stuff to go to concerts. I prayed and decided to fast from music. No concerts, no new music, no nothing. In fact I did not listen to music at all unless it was a part of the environment I was in. God definitely honored my efforts. It was extremely easier than I thought it would be, and I found that the time I would usually spend listening to music was filled with more meaningful things, like prayer.

I have since returned to a healthier appreciation of music. One that does not interfere with what is infinitely more important, my relationship with Christ. The thing is, every once in a while I am tempted and tested, that is not so much fun. I had the opportunity to go see Jimmy Eat World at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz. The venue is super intimate, and I would have been going with some of my favorite co-music lover Dan Justin and Charlie. I even bought a ticket. But, much to my dismay, the concert happened to fall on a Tues. night. The same night as a Growth Group I have been in for the past 9 months or so. I quickly felt the conviction of the Spirit reminding me of my tendency to let music become to important to me.

I decided to skip the concert, which I hear was INCREDIBLE, and get "Jacked sounds like) with my small group guys. It was a painful decision, but I am glad I made the one" (not what it that I did an take comfort in this:

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

On a lighter note, I said I would be sharing more of my designs, so here a little gem. This was the first shirt I ever helped design. Lauren, Kyle and I started a little design project called deomai.designs. and this was the first, and only shirt we produced. The idea behind deomai was that part of each designs proceeds would go to benefit a different charity of some sort. This shirt, designed by myself and Lauren Wallace, was going to go to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

10,000 Acres, a Hydrologist's Dream

2007-09-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the student ministry leadership retreat. We went up to the pines ranch. It is a quaint little plot of land up by Cache Creek, with a cozy little ranch house on it. Don't get me wrong though, little is definitely in the eye of the beholder. The little plot of land is about 60 square miles, and the cabin, more like a mansion. Not to mention the lodge, it has a large kitchen, meeting hall, and three bedrooms by itself. The only draw back was the tap water. It all had the intense smell of sulfur, which according to our local hydrologist, Chad, was due to it being ground water.

It was a good weekend. I went hunting with Pletch and Conley, that was fun, no shooting was done, we did spot a few dows though. I had been questioning my decision to do MSM a little bit, but God used this weekend to remove any doubt. I had been struck by how much of a connection the freshmen guys had to me. I used to be one of their leaders in Middle School. Adam Drake called me constantly throughout the summer to try and convince me to be a freshmen guys leader. While we were up there Dan and Melissa had a little scare with the baby, which made them leave to go to the hospital the night that we got there. I needed to get stuff out of their car before they left, so I walked up with them. Also giving me a chance to say good bye, and pray for them a little more personally than the mass "good bye" everyone else did. While we were up at the house Dan and Tim decided it would be a good idea to have me facilitate the sessions for the middle school if Dan wasn't back in the morning. There I was, not even officially a part of the leadership team again, but being handed this responsibility. It wasn't anything to big, I just read over Dan's notes and such, but it was just a taste of what it will be like once the baby does actually arrive. Like I've said before, I don't like number one, but it worked out pretty well. Dan was able to come back up Saturday afternoon, so I only had to head up two sessions. It was good having that affirmation, and I am super excited about being a part of the MSM again.

Yesterday was a good day as well. Justin is back in school at San Francisco Academy of Art, so he is back to having weekly photography assignments. He asked for my help on a couple of them, which is always fun. The first one was a technical project using different light settings to get hard and soft light. He also had to go into a pitch black room and "paint" his subject with light. That one was funny, but hard cause I had to hold perfectly still for 30 seconds, which is harder than it sounds. The second project was funny, he had to taking a picture portraying a typical relationship. It had to be a little deeper than just a couple holding hands, or cuddling on the couch, or something like that. We went to the mall and I acted like a bored boyfriend waiting for Amanda as she shopped. I love photography, and wish I was better at it, or had nicer equipment, so it is always fun doing photography stuff with Justin.

Monkey Head Style?

2007-09-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I don't really know either. A few months ago my sister called me up and asked me if I could design a shirt for her. I explained that unfortunately, I'm not a very good artist. My brain doesn't work in a way that you give me a suggestion and I can design something about it. But I promised to give it a shot, see what happened. That was sometime in May I think.

Well, I had an idea come to mind a while back, but hadn't tried to work on it cause I had a couple of other projects I was working on, so I let that one sit in the back of my mind. I finally sat down and worked on the design this past week. It isn't my favorite work, but for putting it together in a couple of days, and keeping it super simple it's kinda fun.

Seeing as I am showing you these designs, I think I will start posting some of my other work. This is the shirt design I did for the Arizona Outreach that my church, Valley Bible Church, did this summer. This was my first solo design. It was a lot of fun, especially when I saw about 100 people wearing something I had made.

Headlands and Pride Lands

2007-09-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

I love the Marin Headlands. It is probably one of my favorite places on earth. It is incredible to me that one of the worlds most photographed places is practically right in my own backyard. I went up there on Saturday with a bunch of people, it was quite good. It was a little brighter than I desired, essentially the fear factor in the experience, but still a great time. I don't think I could ever get over that view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I accomplished something quite amazing for myself yesterday. I cleaned my room. And I'm not talking about organizing the clutter, I mean CLEANED my room. I through away three garbage bags full of stuff! I moped the hardwood floor. I took apart my closet, and put it back together. There are a few loose ends I still need to work out, but that's because I don't have enough storage space in my room. I will soon (some time this week) get myself a hanging shelf for my closet, and a small book shelf, and then my room shall be complete. Few of you will understand the greatness of this feat; save my roommates, past and present, and my parents. Let me assure you, it was quite the task to undertake, and complete in one day. It allows me to take pride in the place that I reside.

I Can See

2007-09-07T20:36:00.001-07:00

I finally got my new glasses on Monday. It has been tortures to be without them for the past two weeks. It is strange because a few years ago I would have said I am fine without my glasses. But after wearing them pretty much nonstop for the past 5 years I have definitely grown a dependency for them. And now they are back, and the world is crisp and vibrant again.

I helped my parents paint their rental house in Fresno on Saturday. I have decided that painting is in my top five least favorite things to do inlife. Don't ask me to list for you the other four things on that list, because it really doesn't exist, I just don't like speaking in absolutes. But had I a list of my top five least favorite thing, painting would be on it. It was good to help them out, seeing as my mom could not do much after having surgery on both feet.

That's all for now. Keep my mom in your prayers. She is fine, but uncomfortable, and could use the support.

Wii Love Loon Lake, and D-Bo

2007-09-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was pretty incredible. I went to Loon Lake with me family, and it was quite fun. The only annoying thing was the fact that it took as long for us to get there as it would have taken us to get to Lake Tahoe. As cool as Look Lake was, it is no Tahoe. But I am not one to focus on the negative, so I will not begrudge it that. Besides, I have never found good rocks to jump off of at Tahoe. I am sure they are there, I have just never found them. My brother knew where some were at Loon that was a definite plus. Anyway, we enjoyed our time there. Renee, Cody and I jumped off rocks, while Mom, Dad, and Janna did the adult thing of sitting around on the blanket talking... (ha ha, that was mostly for you Janna.) Cody did convince Janna and our father to jump off later. It was loads of fun, and the one rock was pretty stinking high. High enough that you had plenty of time to realize it was a lot further out of the water than you originally thought, as you plummeted towards what was sure to be your immediate death. Well, it wasn't that drastic, but it definitely did take your breath away as the realization struck you on the way down. The funny thing is I got a more nervous feeling falling through the air for less than a second than I did than I did rocketing through the sky as I fell from a plane.

Upon my return home I went directly to the Bowens house for Dan's Birthday BBQ. It was good times. We hung out there for a while, played with there new german shepard puppy. (Craig and Lynne's, not Dan and Mel's.) Dan got a Nintendo Wii from his parents. I have never played one, but have heard of the joy, so we all went over to Amanda's to play hers, cause Dan didn't actually get the system till today. It is extremely fun, I don't think I have had more fun playing a video game than I did playing Wii Tennis and Bowling last night. Maybe the first time my dad and I played Super Mario Brothers on my Nintendo Entertainment System that I had just gotten for Christmas of '87?

Up until now there have been two semi major items I have wanted to get. I say semi major because I don't really need them, and I am quite content without them, and they are upwards of a couple hundred dollars. The first is a Macbook, simply because laptops are more convinient, and I enjoy dabbling in graphic design. Plus it would be fun to have iChat, with that built in camera to talk to people like Lauren, who is in Germany right now. The second is a Nikon SLR, preferably a D200. I love taking pictures, and can't wait to have a real camera to do that with. I now have a third to add to that list. Fortunately the Wii is a far more attainable goal, being much less expensive as the two afore mentioned items. It would be a blast to have one hear at the house.

This morning I played a game of baseball with some guys. Well, they played over the line, and I attempted to participate. I am already not very good at baseball, or softball, and have never been very good. But add to that my minor loss of sight, man did I suck. I missed a handful of pretty simple fielding opportunities because I had a hard time tracking the ball. One time I didn't even move cause I could not see the ball at all. It ended up landing about five yards away from me, such an easy play. I was able to take some cool pictures with Dan's Nikon though, I still want one. I say they're cool, Justin would probably say they are alright, but for me, they are really cool. I'm sure Dan will be posting a picture or two from the game on his blog.

Why Jump Out of a Perfectly Good Plane?

2007-08-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Because it just may be the most fun thing you could do on this planet. Well, off this planet I suppose, but let's not split hairs. I jumped today, and it was incredible. I cannot even begin to describe the rush of jumping out of a plane! Dr. Jim Swick, the Chief Scientific Officer from work, is an avid jumper. He has been trying to get a group work to jump since I've started working there. It hasn't worked out until today. He actually covered all our jumps. I could have jumped for free if I wanted to today. Instead, I chose to pay a ridiculous amount of money for pictures of the jump. But I am pretty glad that I did. Something tragic did happen today though, I would tell you about it now, but a picture is worth 1,000 words, so I'll just show you.

The rest of the free fall was even more intense without my eyes covered, but it was still a blast!!! Plus, Jim told me to give him the receipt for my new glasses when I get them, so that's cool. All in all, It was a pretty great day! Oh, not to mention last night was AWESOME. After taking a lengthy nap to recover from Friturday Nightorning I went to the Creek for Burnsy-Bop's Birthday celebration at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery and Restaurant. We then went to Edge in Danville, and Charlie gave us a private shopping session. It was super fun.

We Went Go Got It.

2007-08-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

I just got home from the overnighter with the middle school ministry at church. It was hellaciously good, if that makes any sense. Pretty much all I can say is, "We went go got it!"

We started the night off at Boomers in Livermore with a mini golfing, go-karting, boat bumping, laser shooting extravaganza. That was quickly followed up by a photo scavenger hunt. Unfortunately one of my students insisted on using his camera for the hunt, so I have no photos of some of the objects. We did pretty good, but somehow some cheating white Suburban team, who will go un-named (bbrruhuummm... Tom Sidebottom) got over 800 points. We the returned to the church at midnight for the duration, playing games like Battle Ball, Sardines, Alien Poop, Rock Climbing, etc...

Here is a clip from one game, "Pillow Fight Jousting", it may not like to exciting, or tough, but at 0300hr it is pretty intense.

We finished the event of with a walk to Burger King for some delicious french toast sticks, and cini minis. They were actually not half bad, though I only had one or two, cause no matter how good they might have tasted they felt pretty disgusting going down. There were about 35 students there, which surpassed expectations, so that was great. All in all, it was a good evening, but I haven't slept since 0700 yesterday morning, and this is how I fell, so I am going to bed.

Party, Kurama, Fiesta, Forever/Loss of a Friend

2007-08-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Today is a fairly sad day. It is the day the Parson will officially no longer work at LyChron. To most of you that has seemingly no significance. Don't worry I will not hold your ignorance against you. It is a sad day because Parson was the one person at work who really understands my relationship with Jesus Christ. You see, she understands it because she too has a loving relation with Him as well. It has been a great blessing having someone who I can have good spiritual conversations with at work. Her office was like a little sanctuary in an otherwise abrasive environment. I was able to go to lunch with for one last good conversation, it was good, and she shall be missed.

Tonight I am Going to help with the Middle Schools overnight event. It shall be quite the event, very tiring, but fun. As I thought of tonight the old song by Lionel Richie came into my head, so I thought I'd share his music video with everybody. Enjoy:

More House Boats Anyone? Ooh, Yes Please, I'll Have Another, With a Side of New Car!

2007-08-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

House boats are amazingly fun. I have determined that hanging out on a house boat is one of the most fun things a person can do. I spent my second weekend in a row on a house boat this past weekend. This time it was with VBCs high school group. It was great. I only got to spend a couple of days cause I had to return to work, but it was still an amazing time. I got to connect with some of the guys I used to work with when I did middle school ministry stuff. I was able to pray with them, and encourage them about this up coming school year.

I also got to have some cool conversations with some people I hadn't really gotten to know. That is always a blessing. I used to be so horrible at putting myself out there when it comes to meeting new people, But God has been so faithful in removing my awkward insecurities. That has really freed me up to meet some pretty great people, and interact with some cool people that I have known for a while, but have been uncomfortable around for no good reason.

Yesterday was pretty eventful as well. I went and purchased my self a "new" car. It's a '95 Honda Accord, hence the quotations around the word new, but it's definitely new to me. I will need put a little more money into it, but it is nice to have a little change in vehicular transportation. The fuel millage alone is exciting, plus the fact that I will have air conditioning, a luxury that I have not enjoyed for quite some time now.

Other than that life is pretty normal.I am going to be speaking tomorrow for the middle school. I haven't done that in a long time, so y'all could be praying for that.

Oh, and another thing you could be praying for: Shaunfen had surgery today. Nothing major, just some arthroscopic work. He had the medial meniscus removed from his right knee, and then had his patella shaved down on his left knee. He is able to walk un-assisted already, but just pray for a speedy full recovery, and that this will remove the pain from his knees. Well, until next time, you stay classy Dublin.

The Centenial State/Wyoming, Why Not?/Elevated Living

2007-08-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

Colorado was absolutely incredible. Oh man, God is so Amazing. I can't get over how much he has blessed me this summer! I went out to Colorado to help serve Foothills Bible Church by playing djimbe with Deej and Charlie to lead the time of musical worship. Jason Moog did the teaching, and Nate, DeBonis, and Timmy came to help out however they could. I flew in to CO on the 7th with Deej and Charles; Moog, Nate and Timmy were already there. The first thing we did was go to lunch and meat Cory, who is the High School director.

So here is a little side note. These past few months Jason has been doing a lot of teaching about "Moments" and the idea that God talks to us in moments. The moment might not necessarily spiritual to begin with, but in that moment, if we are paying attention, God speaks to us. It is an amazing idea, and a very biblical concept, but to be quite honest I was kinda tired of it. I had heard him talk about the idea on the Rocky Point Camping trip, and then rehash it at the Gathering for those that missed it. And all over again on the AZ Outreach for the high school students that hadn't heard it yet.

Tangent over; So as we are sitting there at Big Papa's eating lunch with Cory and Nicole, Cory asks Moog what he's wanting to teach on. I had been expecting Jason to say he wanted talk about this concept of moments, and was dreading it. Instead, he asked Cory if there was anything that the students might need to hear. Cory proceeded to explain that the two big things they had hit on that summer, and were gonna focus on in the coming year were God Moments and Spiritual Conversation. Instantly my heart was humbled in that moment. How arrogant was I, to sit there and shut down to a teaching that God was not done sharing. And it was definitely what those students needed. It was just a great reminder of this summer, and the way God has been stretching me, and perfect in His will.

We had a couple of days before the actually house boats trip, which was great. We got to hang out with Jason Farrar, who moved out there earlier this year. He's a good friend of mine, and just an amazing/ly funny guy to hang out with. Andy and Britlee also came to kick it with us both days. I used to know Britlee in high school, and it was cool to see her again, meet her amazing husband, and beautiful little girl, Blake. They are currently in the process of adopting a child from Zambia. It was great to talk to them about that. I have been to South Africa to work with Camp South Africa doing camps for homeless children and orphans there. That experience made me start thinking of the possibility of adopting someday, and it was cool to see a couple who is going through that right now.

When we got to the lake I got the opportunity to be on the freshmen guys boat. It was fun, the guys reminded me of myself at that age, especially Danny. I got to connect pretty well all four of them, Nick, Jason, Danny and Charlie. It was such a blessing to be able to be there to encourage them, and pray for them as they head into high school. But even more encouraging was to be able to hang out with their leaders. To be there to assist them, and help encourage them in their ministry was a great blessing for me. I got to connect with a good amount of the other students too. It was just such an amazing time on the lake there, sleeping under the stars each night.

Flaming Gorge, the lake we were boating on, was 6ish hours away from Littleton, on the Wyoming/Utah border. But, since we were a church group made up of more than 90 students, it took us quite a bit longer than that. It was a good ride though, we did a lot of riddles, and other types of longroadtripinthecar games. We also each shared our testimony, which ended up being another reassurance from God that he was drawing me closer. One of the students shared about a friend who was living in sin, and God was able to use my testimony to encourage the student to approach that friend in loving rebuke. It was a perfect way to end that trip.

Then, to add to that perfect ending, I had the most enjoyable plane ride I have ever had. The flight attendants, PJ and Janelle, were great. DeBonis, Deej, Charlie and I just had a blast listening to music, laughing at ourselves, recapping the wonderful time we just had, and interacting with this guy:

Over all, I wouldn't have traded this week in for anything. God had me there for a reason, and I doubt I even know the full reason yet. But I do know that I was blessed.

Colorado

2007-08-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Colorado early tomorrow. I can't wait, it's gonna be a great time. Nicole asked Deej and Charlie to come do worship for their church's house boat trip. Deej asked if I could come along as well to help with music. Then Debonis got added into the mix, he's just going to go. And then, it turned out that Moog was going as the speaker, and was bringing Nate Darnell and Timmy Johnston too. So it has turned into quite the trip. It should be pretty legit!

Going to Colorado got me thinking of Five Iron Frenzy, and one of their crappy humor songs off of All of the Hype That Your Money Can Buy called "You Probably Shouldn't Move Here". So, I went to youtube and found this gem...

Don't ask me... I'm just as confused as you are.

Fu Manchus and Molestaches

2007-08-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

On a lighter note, my facial hair under went some drastic changes on this trip as well. As a part of the training we're asked to take part in a 30 day focus. Essentially it's a month long period of time to focus on what we are about to go do in Arizona. This includes a fast. Not your typical fast that you think of, like no food for 30 days. Instead, it's choosing something that takes up a lot of your time, and giving that to replace it with time spent with God. I chose to give up texting, because i do that a lot. To much, some might say.

So far this doesn't sound very light, I know, but I just wanted to set the scene. I decided to stop shaving from the beginning of the focus, and not shave again until the end of the trip. I got Deej and D-Bo to join in on the fun. Needless to say my face was disgustingly hairy by the time we got to Arizona. It lasted the whole week we were on the mission, but on the last night we decided to have our facial hair slowly fade away.

We started with the fu manchu. This stache is ridiculously ugly. I honestly can't believe that people wear these things seriously. But man, do we not look good or what? It was funny, the three of us gathered around the little mirror in the house that Dan and Mel were staying in. There was so much disgusting hair in that sink, it was clogged up at one moment. Anyway, that was the day we left the mission.

The next morning Deej and I decided to keep the creepiness going. Obviously there are few things that you can go to from the fu, so we went for just the mustache. Now, neither Dan or myself grow a very legitimized mustache. So we really just looked like dirty men from the seventies, or some type of molester. Therefore, the mustache became more affectionately known as the molestache. I personally think my chops add to the disgustingness of my look, but Deej looks pretty gross himself.

I Love Number 2

2007-08-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever asked you what your favorite number? I personally have never understood the idea of a favorite number. My favorite color is blue. My favorite food is Italian. My favorite band is.... Well, that I can't do, there are to many, and it's always changing. But number? Who has a favorite number? That's just weird.

Well, I think that I would pick the number 2, if I had to chose. Number two is a comfortable number. If you're second you don't get all the attention, but you get plenty. You don't have all the pressure of being the first number, but you're right there to start it off with 1. If you're number two it's a pretty easy life.

I have always been a number two kind of person. At work I am the second interventionalist. I am also the go to guy for the lead tech. That's how it was at my old job too. When I used to do Middle School Ministry I helped coordinate a lot of the activities, but all under Todd. Like I said, two is a comfortable number. And I have always loved it, and greatly disliked ever having to be the number one guy.

Well, it seems that God is not as content as I am having me be the number two all the time. That is one thing I saw changing in my life last week in AZ. And the cool thing is, I didn't hate it as much as I used to. It still wasn't my favorite, and I tried to avoid it at first, but he wouldn't let me. I didn't want to do the basketball camp unless there was someone else who would be the VBC point person. Dan was exactly that, but when we got there Jerry decided to have me run a lot of the exercises and games, because I have a loud voice. And I was alright with it. I was the only adult with experience on my kids club site, so I had to take lead and kind of direct it. There were some other things too, and it was great feeling at peace about it all. Knowing that God had put me into those situations because I could handle it with his help.

To Tired for a Title

2007-08-03T01:16:00.001-07:00

I am to tired to think of a title, but I thought I might do a little to update about Arizona. I must say that this was hands down the best summer outreach that I have been on with VBC. Not necessarily because this years trip was so great, which it was, but more because of where I am with God. This year started out pretty rough, I was holding on to some sinful habits, and they were finally revealed. That started a painfully long process of God bringing me out of that, and renewing my relationship with him. Last years AZ was HORRIBLE for me, but God once again proved his faithfulness buy restoring me. And to be quite honest, I don't think I have ever been closer to God, and my desire is only to draw closer and closer to him. I said closer way to much in that last sentence.

Any way, I definitely got to witness God move in my life, and use me in ways I never thought I could handle on this trip. I'll go more into that at another time, I just needed to put something down. So, something that was amazing about this trip was the fact that my little brother, T.J. (but more affectionately known to me as, and some of you as Cody Ray) joined me on this trip. I was super busy with Basketball Camp, and was also being purposeful not to monopolize all of his time, so I didn't see him that much. But it was extremely encouraging to watch him serve God and others. It was also super cool to see how quickly and easily he assimilated into the group. I love how we have grown closer in the past couple of years. That is mostly due to me maturing, and discontinuing my role as oppressive older brother, which constantly reminds me he is happy for. So, that's it for now, if I continue I am only going to start rambling.

PS sorry there aren't any pictures yet, I didn't take my own camera, so I'm still waiting to get copies. I'll get some up ASAP. Here's a cheater way to hold you over till then though: Arizona Outreach Blog

I'm Back

2007-07-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been back for 1.5 days now. I know I'm slacking on this blog, I know. But here's the thing, I have been going non stop since I've been back. Not to mention that so many great things happened this year I still haven't figured out where to start, and am still processing a lot of information. And finally, I want to wait till I get some pictures so you can have a well put together blog to view....

So I promise an update is close at hand...

AZ '07

2007-07-19T23:04:00.001-07:00

I leave for Arizona tomorrow. I'll be gone for 10 days. It'll be really good. I won't be updating my personal blog, but we'll be maintaining a blog about the trip, so check it out. Pray for us as we go to show the Navajo people the love of Jesus Christ.

In other news, Lauren Wallace left today to go to Germany for 2 years. She's going to be working with Young Life on a military base there. There was a breakfast for her at the house today so she could say goodbye to a few of her close friends. There were a lot of tears falling in this house. Pray for her as she leaves all the people that she knows and loves, and that God will bless her obedience in this difficult time for her.

This is Why

2007-07-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, root canals are not as bad as everybody makes them seem. Granted, it's not something i would like to ever do again, but it really wasn't unbearable. The worst part is the fact that it takes about two and a half hours. I wasn't sedated for the procedure, I just went with the local anesthetic. I didn't feel any pain, but dang, sitting there for two + hours with my mouth as wide open as I can make it gets super uncomfortable. But all in all, it did not ruin my day. It helps that I'm not a super anxious person though.

Most People Don't Like Dentists

2007-07-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

I went to the dentist today, Doctor Steve Chew. I am not a super big fan of the dentist. Dr. Chew is great though. I hadn't been in forever, and my teeth were super plaqued up. Oh, it hurt so bad to get them cleaned, but I survived. Unfortunately my lower right molar (#31) has a huge cavity in it. Steve was surprised that I didn't have any pain in it because apparently the cavity was all the way to the nerve. He said that usually a tooth that bad would keep people up at night with the pain! I'm getting a root canal done tomorrow, should be lots of fun... Here is a crappy scan of my pre-op X-Ray, I'll show y'all what it looks like post-op tomorrow.

Hot Chocolate Rocky Chalet Foreign Pageant Weekend

2007-07-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

What a weekend. I did so much. Friday night I went with a bunch of people to the tenderloin district in the city to give out hot chocolate to the homeless people in the area. It's a program run by YWAM in the area, the hot chocolate is just a way to show that we cares. But more importantly, it serves as a great way to start a conversation about Christ with them. It was good, I met a guy, Big Al, who supposedly played for the NY Giants one year. He really didn't want to hear what I had to say about God, but it was cool just to have a chance to love him for a moment.

After the hot chocolate evangelism I met up with Justin, Dan and Lauren at Bottom of the Hill to see Rocky Votolato. it was pretty great. I had never been to that venue before. It's a pretty small place, but it was great. We got close enough to the stage for Lauren to get bumped in the head by a guitar while one of the bands was setting up. We also got Justin a bottle cap, guitar pick and set list; all left on stage by Rocky. Rocky was incredible live. I really enjoy his music. Here is a sampling.

Yesterday i returned to the city with some people from work. My boss is quitting, and she's a pretty legitimized boss, not to mention just a fun/funny person. Since I am not going to be at work for her last two weeks, I wanted to have a chance to say good bye, so a few of us spent the day in SF. We went to restaurant near Ocean Beach called the Beach Chalet Brewery. We had appetizers and a beer sampler. It was great cause Amanda (my soon to not be boss) was expensing everything except the alcohol, and since I didn't drink, it was free! After the Chalet we made our way over to the Miss ion District to have dinner. We went to a place called the Foreign Cinema. It's a really nice restaurant that projects old movie in the outdoor patio dining area. We didn't eat there late enough to have the movie start, but the food was amazing! I also figured out a fun mode on my knew camera called panoramic stitching, check it out. Joe (goatee) was sitting directly to my left, and Adrainna (sun glasses on head) was sitting directly to my right. I didn't do it perfect, as you can tell by looking at Amanda's (other woman) left arm, but still really cool!

Today was the family celebration of my sisters' Birth-Month Pageant. We went to Folsom Lake and hung out. It was pretty cool, I got a little to much sun though. It should turn into a pretty good tan in a couple of days hopefully. I got my sister a really sweet silverware wind chime. I think I was more excited to give it to her then she was to open it. But she is super into silverware jewelery and decorations, and I'm super into giving thoughtful gifts, so I was pretty stoked! My brother came home with me because he is coming on the Arizona Outreach with me this year. He'll be staying with me all week before we leave, so we should have some good times together. But now I

Giraffes Aren't Scary

2007-07-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

This is Krissa.

This is a Giraffe.

Krissa is afraid of giraffes.

This is Krissa's fridge

When she gets home on Monday she's gonna have a lot of giraffes on her fridge!
Courtesy of Lauren Wallace and myself.
(her dad helped too.)

A while back Jason Farrar, Lauren and I made a whole bunch magnets out of stuff lying around Cathy's house. We proceeded to cover her fridge with them. It was an amazingly fun time! Since then Lauren and I have also done that to Tim's fridge for his birthday, which happens to land on April Fool's Day. While we were magnetting Tim's fridge Lauren had the great idea of collecting little giraffe stuff to magnet Krissa's fridge. Today was the culmination of months of gathering and planning! It was pretty great. I only wish that we could be there on Monday when she comes home! So funny!

Matthew is Long

2007-07-10T22:52:00.001-07:00

So I haven't blogged in a while. It's been a crazy/good past couple of weeks. Seeing Live Free or Die Hard, camping in Grass Valley, going to see Transformers, cooking a fatty Fourth of July feast with Amanda for a bunch of people, planning and executing a surprise party for Lauren. I know, that was way to long of a sentence, but that's how I feel about the glory of my past couple of weeks.

The thing is, none of that has been the best part of the past few weeks. There have been two things that far outshine anything on that list. The first thing has been God's faithfulness in showing himself to me. I have been recently stressed about some fairly major decisions I have to make coming up. Not super stressed, but just over analyzing, as I tend to do, everything possibility. I have been reading "Experiencing God" and it was talking about how God doesn't always show us all His plans, instead, he expects us to trust Him one step at a time. Like Abram, he only told him to leave his home land, and his offspring would be a great nation. And Abram got up and left, not knowing where he was going. He trusted God with no real idea what he was getting into.

The great thing is that when God shows me something everything tends to line up, and all come together. To be able to have faith in God, real faith, it needs to be able to grow. What better way to have my faith grow in God then to get to know him better? I recently sat down with a friends dad who at one time had the majority of the New Testament committed to memory. He had done it to be able to know the God he trusted better, and like the author of Psalm 119:11 says, "that I may not sin against You." Gary was also talking about how your faith needs to grow on Sunday. It's great, I was so impressed with the passion of Don (my friend's dad). I want to have that desire to know God better, and that ability to draw from His Word in any situation. Please pray for me as I set out on this difficult, but rewarding venture.

The Train is as Inconvenient as the Truth!

2007-06-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Al Gore has a wonderful movie that he made last year. It revealed to the whole world the imminent peril we are all facing from Global Warming. The idea that we are each contributing to our certain doom is truly An Inconvenient Truth! To be honest, the thought that every day I drive to work is another day I cause a poor little polar bear to drown to death really got to me. How could I be so cruel?! I know Gary would agree with me whole heartily when I say that we must do all we can to stop global warming from turning Davis into beach front property! I will not contribute to the death of our mother, so, I have determined I will ride my bike/the ACE Train to work.

Let me tell you, as honorable as it may sound, it is a freaking pain! one that I have yet to complete. I got the closest I ever have this morning though. I have been to tired the past few weeks to attempt this dubious task, or, I have had to get into work earlier than the train would allow. For instance, this Monday I got into work at 5am, the earliest train doesn't get close to work until 6:35. Anyway, I determined last night that today would be the day! But as I rode my bike, a 20 year old Feorelli road bike that I got from Tim, to the train I ruptured the back tire. I was not prepared for such a catastrophe, so I had to call up Deej to come pick me up. I'm sorry little bear, but today, you will not be able to find an ice drift on which you can float safely home. They have all melted because of my lack of preparation. I only hope that Algore and Gary can forgive me for failing the planet.

P.S. My tongue is pressed firmly against my cheek as I write this.

Prosaic 4

2007-06-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

I went and saw Fantastic 4, Rise of the Silver Surfer today. And I must say, I rather enjoyed it... Not because it was a good movie, for it was not, but because I learned a new trick. Allow me to explain the situation:

I saw Fantastic 4 a while ago, after it had gone to DVD, and it sucked. Literally, I don't think it had any real redeeming factors... That's an exaggeration, it had good effects, but other wise an utterly lame piece of theatrical work. Knowing this, I really had very low expectations for this long overdue sequel. Hence the new trick, if you set the bar EXTREMELY low, and go to a matinée, you cannot be disappointed. It's just not possible for the movie to exceed my expectations, because I had none. The sub plot of the four hero's trying to coupe with being celebrities was retarded, that acting was garbage, the dance scene was ridiculous... On a positive note, all the stuff with the surfer was pretty cool. But would not recommend anyone going to waist there time, though it is only 1.5 hrs, to see this movie. Oh, and the shameless corporate plugs... there flying vehicle is a Dodge Hemi!!!! Seriously, how stupid!

All in all, not so fantastic.

What a Wonderful World

2007-06-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

I see walls that are great, a henge of stone too.

A Disney German castle, and Timbuktu.

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world....

There are 7 wonders of this world. Among them are the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Of those seven wonders, only one remains, Giza's Pyramids. They have now been classified as the seven wonders of the ancient world.

There is an organization that is now trying to come up with the seven wonders of the modern world. Their aptly called New 7 Wonders. They have chosen 20 new possible wonders, and have posted them on their website. They have put it to a vote to determine what the new wonders will be.

I decided to be a part of this historical occasion. It was actually kinda hard to narrow it down to just seven, But I did it. My two favorites are Timbuktu, and Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. Seriously, how could I not choose Timbuktu? Were it not for this glorious place Garfield would never have had a place to ship nermal to. It has been a source for comedy as long as I can remember. Not to mention the fact that it has been a catch phrase forever! All the way to Timbuktu.

Then there's Neuschwanstein. Does any body else notice the strange resemblance of this castle to another world famous castle? That's right, Neuschwanstein actually served as inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland. If that does not make it deserving of inclusion in the New 7 World Wonders, I don't know what does! Not to mention the fact that I have actually been there, and other than the Statue of Liberty I have not seen any of the other World Wonder hopefuls.

I also chose Stonehenge, the Great Wall, the Colosseum in Rome, Petra in Jordan, and the statue Christ Redeemer in Brazil. Now I am a part, all be it small, of world history. They are going to announce the new wonders on 7.7.07, clever isn't it? I'll let you know how it turns out.

No Fear

2007-06-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

It has been a long couple of months. I have felt rather unmotivated, mostly because work has taking all the motivation I can seem to muster. The past few days however, have been amazing! I went to the gym for the first time in about two months. I ran two of the past three days. I went down to Starbucks to read and pray for a couple of hours. I needed a day like today, and for that I praise God.

I wanna share a little of what I read today. I love it when Jesus tells it like it is, doesn't hold back:

"Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. "What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. "So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

SF is Super Fantastic

2007-06-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

I spent two nights in the city this weekend. I don't really go to the San Francisco very often, so that was quite the feet.

The first night I played chaperon for some Foothill High School seniors. They were going to senior ball and didn't rent a limo so Deej, Emily Lauren and I drove them out there and then hung out in the city till they were done. We ate as this chill little New Orleans style jazz and seafood place in North Beach. The music was great, and the food was delicious. I ate half a chicken. Literally, that what the description on the menu said. "Chicken Mosca-Pan sauteed half chicken with roasted garlic, fresh rosemary, thyme, a splash of white wine and roasted potatoes." Any way, after dinner we chilled and listened to the music for a bit. We also just walked around a park, well, Lauren and I went and took some pretty cool (or possibly cool/possibly SUPER Lame) pics, I haven't seen them yet cause they're on her camera. Meanwhile, Deej and Emily found a park bench and acted all coupley, and Deej tried to act all candid when we turned the camera in their direction. Got to love him! (I really do)

Last night I went and saw mewithoutYou at Slims with Dan Bowen and Jake Foster. I absolutely love Slims. Possibly my favorite venue for a small show in the Bay Area, yep, my hands just touched the floor. MewithoutYou is, hands still touching the floor, the strangest live performance I have ever seen... And I loved it! You need to read about their pre-show festivities, so unique. They are pretty much hippies. There music is cool as well, but not for the pop at heart, only like the singles of the album type of listener. They are definitely for people how can enjoy a band even though the singer can't. But they play well, and have some great lyrics. O, they also invite people to play on stage with them! No one did, which I surprised me, but how sick is that? I am going to learn a strange instrument and play with them next time they come through.

I was buying a shirt and the merch guy told me Aaron, mewithoutYou's lead singer, was wearing the same hat that day. I was wearing my Invisible Children Africa hat. So as we were waiting between sets I totally saw him walk through the crowd with a similar hat on! Dan suggested I go and offer to trade with him. I didn't want to do it right then cause he was talking with a bunch of people it looked like he knew, but I figured if I saw him again I'd totally do it. We were waiting outside in between sets and he walks out and totally notices my hat and tips his to me, like John Wayne would if he were alive today. So I just blurted out, "Yeah man, you wanna trade?" He hesitated for a second, but it really looked like he wanted to, but had to decline because it wasn't his. It's probably for the best though, I like mine a lot more, and that dude sweats like no body's business! You could see the sweat dripping off his face from the back of the room while they were on stage. He did say that if he got permission he would, but I never saw him again. He was a nice guy, stranger than.... something really strange, but a nice guy.

Getting Down Dressed Up Again

2007-05-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

While I wait to get my pictures ready from this past weekend I am going to play some catch up, and get you some better images of dressed up rapping. I started with an amped up version the old "band photo".

Here're a few more:

And now, another video. I'm about 60 ft. above the ground at the beginning of this video:

P.S. I'm open to suggestions on what else would look cool rappelling.

Denver Train

2007-05-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Jersey. It was a wonderful trip! I really enjoy the time I get spend with my extended family. It sux that it only happens twice a decade. I will give y'all a fuller report once I have pictures to add to the experience, but for now here's a little video of Denver (my Webkinz source) and a train. I took it on my phone, which is why the quality is so amazing!

Webkinz. Haven't You Ever Heard of It?

2007-05-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Come with me on a journey. A voyage if you will, to a magical place. A world full of awe, and excitement... And fluffy little stuffed animals that you can adopt, name, feed, build houses for, and maintain their emotional and physical health. Yes, that's right, I am speaking of Webkinz World. In case you have never heard of it I will attempt, to the best of my ability using my rudimentary knowledge on this subject, explain this magnificent paradise.

Webkinz is essentially Ty Beanie Babies, and Tamagotchi melded into one slightly larger, and much more cuddly, stuffed animal. Only, they come with way more than a boring little poem to describe who they are, or a stupid key chain. No, no, no my friend. They come with so much more indeed. "Like what?" you ask. How about a secret code, like the one on my cousin Denver's tree frog he adopted today; HYX8DCF...... really? Did you seriously think I would promote identity theft? Do you know how many people are victimized by that a year? How many lives are ruined!!! Well, maybe you should read up, educate yourself.

Now, where was I? Right, Webkinz adoption. You can adopt a Webkinz pet at your local toy store. The animal comes with a tag, a social security number of sorts, which allows you to finalize the adoption process online at www.webkinz.com. Once you have chosen your pets name you get a certificate of adoption. Now you are ready to enter Webkinz World, and start building a house for your Webkinz. Of course, being the parent of an adopted pet is not all fun and games. You have to provide for their physical and emotional needs. To do this, you must have money, Kinz Cash, which of course requires getting a job. Or playing arcade games, whichever you prefer.

The best part is the fact that you are not alone in Webkinz World. You can make friends there, and invite them over to you Webkinz's house to play. You can also play arcade games against them, and chat with them using a super scaled down wannabe AIM type program. Don't worry, the Chat software is set so you can only use pre programmed statements. No personal information can be shared, remember, identity theft is no laughing matter.

So, that is Webkinz. I would like to thank Denver for the very thorough education I received today, he was my sole source for all information concerning Webkinz I could EVER want to know.

In other news, I met my cousin Danny's fiance (I don't know how to put the backwards ` over the E) today. Her name is Margritte (I'm sorry if I spelled your name wrong) and she is wonderful. she will fit into the Santoro family quite well. Plus, her family is very large, which is good, because so is mine. Any way, even though I am a bit of an agoraphobic (not really, I just like to pretend, and don't really like larger parties) it was very fun.

P.S. I realize that I used the agoraphobia reference based on a common misconception, but I am hoping that y'all caught the point I was trying to make.

Dressed Up to Get Down

2007-05-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

So, I'm sitting in the middle of Cleavland Hopkins International Airport, right in front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum store. My flight has been canceled, it's a connecting flight to LaGuardia. I'm headed to New Jersey to with my siblings to attend our cousins wedding. It has been a pretty eventful trip so far. It started in SFO with me getting stopped at the security checkpoint because of my favorite belt buckle. It's the one that looks like a derringer hand gun They made me go back out and either give it to someone who isn't going to be flying, mail it, or try and check it. Fortunately I was able to do the latter, but not without giving the lady behind the ticket counter quite the fright when I set it down on the counter in front of her. But, no harm, no foul.

When I got onto the plane I was sitting next to a doctor from SFSU. It was kinda funny. He moved out here from Chicago to do his residency. I got to talk medicine with him for a little bit, tell him about the interventional work I get to do. He told me about a report he's working up on Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). It was a cool, random interaction.

That brings me to my current location. Sitting in Cleveland waiting for the next available flight to NY. Updating my blog, listening to my iPod and enjoying some Starbucks. I feel so adult. ha ha.

I got the pictures of dressed up rappelling from Justin. The one above is our "band" picture. The problem is, I'm an idiot. Long story short, in the rush of final packing last night I transferred the pictures wrong, and the ones I really wanted to post are inaccessible at the moment, so you'll have to wait longer to get the really good ones. But here's something to whet your appetite. I also have a video that I'll have to figure out how to get on to video Google or You Tube. So, hope you enjoy.

I Like Starbucks, but I Don't Drink the Coffee

2007-05-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was so incredible! I am still so pumped from last night... OK, so, I've been meeting with a friend of mine, Jason Dowden, for the past couple of months. He does not have a personal relationship with Christ, yet, but has wanted to learn more about what Christianity is all about. We have been going through the Gospel according to Mark. I wanted to introduce Jason to Jesus Christ. Not that Jesus Christ that has been tainted by a corrupt world, but the true Son of God, that can only be found in His Word. We were reading through Chapter 9 this week, and two amazing sections penetrated Jason's heart.

First was the account of John trying to stop a man who was casting out demons in Christ's name because the man was not following them. Jesus rebukes John and explains that just because the man wasn't physically following Jesus and the disciples around, that didn't meant he was against Christ. In fact, "no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me." Kind of like how Christians will say they are right, and Catholics aren't. That was something that made the Christian religion hard to swallow for Jason. But I was able to explain to him that the title of Christianity was not the point. That you could say your a Christian and be so far from it just as easily as you could be Catholic and have a real saving relationship with Christ. That what it really boils down to is your understanding that you're a sinner, Christ came, as the Son of God, gave up his life for you so that you could be saved, and live in that. I know that sounds super simplified, but that is the basics. Accept your need for a savior, and then live for Him. Jason said that took allot of pressure off him, he didn't like the way Christians say one thing and do another. I reminded him that I am not perfect, that I am human (not that he really needed me to point that out) and that if he was going to base his understanding of Christ solely on how I live and act he will be disappointed. And that goes for any person he does that with. But if he looks to God's Word to see who He is, then he will be satisfied in who Christ is.

The second big break through came from the story of the father who doubted Christ had the power to remove the demon from his son. The father said, "I believe, help me in my unbelief!" That was a source of some confusion for Jason. Like, how could some one believe, but not, at the same time. It was an awesome opportunity to explain the way The Lord meets us where we are, and then helps us grow. That he doesn't expect us to have all the answers, and then He'll accept us. Instead, he wants to accept us how we are, and then help us in our unbelief. I explained like teaching a baby how to walk. How you wouldn't just lock him in a room and say, "OK, start walking. I'll come back and get you when you can make three laps around the room without falling." No, you stand there with him, and first you help him stand up. Then you hold his hands as he takes a few wobbly steps. After that you take a few steps away and have him walk to you. And so on, and so forth, until the child is walking on his own. Jason appreciated that analogy, and said he understood what I was getting at. That has been his biggest problem with this whole thing. He says he sees my life, and Tim's life, and other people who love Jesus, and he desires it. He wants to believe in Jesus as a savior, but he can't act in faith. He is a type that requires proof. So if anyone would like to be praying for him that would be amazing.

We meet at Starbucks, and if anyone has ever had a conversation with me about things I'm passionate about you know how excited and loud I can get. Needless to say as I was talking through these ideas with Jason I was extremely excited and passionate, and probably pretty loud. When I was finished I started to apologize for getting so worked up, but I stopped. I retracted my apology and said that I am glad I get this excited about stuff like this. Christ excites me, and describing what He is in my life does too, and I do not apologize for that. The cool thing is that Jason said he appreciated my enthusiasm as well. I really feel God working in his life, and am continually praying that his heart will be softened to The Lord, and that he will accept Christ as his personal Savior.

And now, I shall leave you with an off topic, yet poignant quote, that I ironically got of the side of a Starbucks cup last night:

People don't read enough.

And what reading we do is cursory,

without absorbing the subtleties

and nuances that lie deep within.

-David Stone

2007-05-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

I went to William R. Greenaway's memorial service yesterday. It feels weird calling him that though, I grew up calling him Grandpa-Bill Greenaway. He was not actually my grandpa, but he is the grandpa of one of my closest friends growing up. It was an amazingly beautiful service. There were allot of people there. All of them had been touched by his life in some way. It was great to see the legacy he left behind.

I remember the last interaction we had. We were at a friends wedding, and I walked with him to his car at the end of the night. He was tired, cause it had been a long day, so I helped him walk by letting him hang onto my shoulder. it wasn't that far, but the whole time he was intent on hearing where I was in life. He wanted to hear how I was doing in my walk, and make sure I was getting into the Word on a regular basis. It wasn't that long of a conversation, but I will never forget it. He was a man who committed his entire life to the Lord, and encouraged me to do the same. Valley Bible Church, the church I still attend, and the church he played a big part in founding, has a motto: Lovers of God, Lovers of people. Grandpa Bill Greenaway was the personification of that statement.

if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.

Isaiah 58:10-12

2007-05-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

i just got home from seeing leeland play at cornerstone. it was different then i expected. i went prepared for a concert, but walked into a time of worship. not saying that a concert can't be worship, but i mean it was corporate worship through music. like leeland was just another worship band from a different church. it was great. exactly what i needed. such a great, peaceful ending to a long day.

i found out tonight that leeland (the lead singer) is only 18 years old. that just blew me away, cause there is allot of depth to his lyrics. it's pretty obvious that he has a real connection to god, like he really loves christ. that was cool.

something else strange happened tonight as well. towards the end of the set he started praying. he was playing the piano the whole time he was praying. and then, as he prayed, he started sing his prayers. i don't mean he was sing songs in the midst of his prayer. he was turning his prayer into a song, singing the words. but the ting is, that wasn't the weird part. the strange thing is the fact that it didn't bug me or trip me out. i was totally able to appreciate that he was communing with god. that was a way for him to reach out to god, and praise him, and call out to him. now, i doubt that i'd ever do that myself, and a few years ago i probably would've just laughed at him. but no tonight, god totally softened my heart to the idea that worshipping him is as contained as i make it out to be sometimes.

PS. leeland's drummer is awesome.

2007-05-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

i went running today with shaun. there is a very intense set of hills over by my house that we ran... they remind me allot of the circus... it was beautiful. the sun was setting as we ran, and when we got to the top of the last hill, looking over dublin i was overwhelmed with joy. it kinda came out of nowhere. but as we stood on top of the hill, looking out over the valley i was struck with the sense of how blessed i am. you see, there i was up on the hill, and as surveyed the valley it struck me that so many people down there were probably sitting at home, stressing about work, or school, or their marriage, or their friends or........ the list could go on forever. and there i was, having worked 12 hrs today, knowing i'll probably have a good 13-14 hr day tomorrow, and that my truck doesn't have ac, and i'm sure there are other things i could find to complain about, but i didn't. i don't. it's an amazing feeling, that freedom that comes with surrendering everything to christ. this was today. there are days where i do let the "troubles" of this world drag me down, but today, none of it matters (i say with a shrug of my shoulders).

so shaun and i just sat there in silence before god for a moment, taking in the beauty of the sunset, and thanking him for our freedom. we also prayed for those hurting and lost they laid, spread out across the valley below us.

did i mention the sunset was beautiful.

2007-05-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

so, i usually have monday's off. i know, i suck. but for the last month i haven't had my monday's off, and it has been hard, and kinda depressing. you see, my monday's are typically some of the most fun days i have throughout the week. so not having them was lame.

well, i got my mondays back, and it was glorious! oh man. rappeling is one of the most fun things a person can do, in my humble opinion. walking over the edge of a cliff and descending with practically no fear, but jut enough to give you a rush, it's great!

anyway, shaun, justin, nate and myself decided to rap down in dress clothing, figured it could make a good photo opportunity. it did. unfortunately i won't get those pictures till justin is done making them look great in photo shop. which isn't really unfortunate at all because he does some amazing work with ps, it just a bummer cause he's super busy with school right now, so he probably won't get to it for a while.

but anyway, that was my day.

2007-05-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

so, super randomness, but not really... i just got a call from my old boss who i am friends with, jim delano. he is on of the owners of bishop ranch veterinary center in san ramon. any way, he has me house sit/baby sit for him still, and was calling to see if i could stay with his kids some time next week for a couple of days. unfortunately i have to work, wich is a bummer cause those kids are awesome, and fun to hang out with. without the conversation being driected this way at all, he starts asking me about where i'm at with my current job, and how much i'm making at work. which isn't really that random, cause he's always acted more like a second father in that respect, even when he was my boss. he then told me that he would call me again later next week to make sure i had applied for a credit card so i could establish enough credit to be able to acquire a home loan in the future. he then preceeded to offer a possible business investment in a piece of property for me that i would be able to earn some equity in, with his help. seriously, he's got the money to do it, and wow, so random, but not really. i'm just so caught off gaurd right now, and blown away. i don't really know if this will actually culminate in thepreviously mentioned partnership, but it's kinda an amazing gesture. god blesses me with the most randomly blessing relationships.

now that i've written this all out i'm kinda feeling like, "dang should i put all this out there?" cause now i'ma have people asking me about it, and if it falls through it'll be kind of annoying. but you know what, i'm gonna put it out there, and if it something that god wants to make happen he will. and if he doesn't i can deal with telling people it didn't work out. so there it is, if you feel like praying about this i wouldn't be upset...

spiderman is for cynics

2007-05-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

ok ok ok, yes, i'm something of a nerd, but i totally went to the spiderman 3 midnight showing last night. was it worth it? well, seeing that i only got two hrs of sleep, and the movie was mediocre at best, probably not. i did enjoy the movie, but not as much as i'd hoped, though that could have been due to the fact that i saw it with a bunch of cynics... and the previews were super lame.

but enough of my negativity, i've recently decided that life is infinitely better when you take time to notice, and involve god in even the "insignificant" things in life. not that this is really that knew of a thought for me, but i've begun living that recently. for example:

it has been a long couple of weeks at work. or months? i don't know, kinda lost track, that's how it's been. anyway, i felt it really catching up to me last week, so i asked my accountability friends to pray for sustained energy, and possibly an unforeseeable break from it all. well, on wednesday the C-Arm we were using for our study decided to bomb at 1500, so i got to leave "early". usually i would chalk that up to luck and move on with my day, but this time i immediately stopped and thanked god for the much needed respite. it was pretty great. i got to go help set up sound at church, have some dinner with some friends, do some reading, and still go to bed early enough to get a whole 6 hrs of sleep!

Decided

2007-05-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

ok, so i've decided on the final design. sorry, but in order to maintain rights to the design i will not be posting my final decision. but y'all will see it when it's printed.

on a side note, i think i will actually try to start posting on this blog... but, as my title alludes, i have a hard time writing about myself cause it's like, "who wants to waist their time reading about me". but then i think about it and figure out that shoot, i enjoy reading up on my friends lives, like d-bo and dub, so perhaps people will wanna read about mine. so from now on i will make an honest attempt at posting.

that is all.