Technerdical PWNage

Through The Years: The Evolution of Barry Bonds (1986 - Today)

2007-08-09T14:07:00.001-04:00

Time looks at the all-star ballplayer's development since his rookie year in 1986. Pay close attention to the changes starting around 1997. He makes a pretty big change that doesn't seem very natural to me.

read more | digg story

Moving Blog

2007-06-11T14:52:00.000-04:00

I am now officially setup on a new domain and I am using a really cool wordpress plugin to host my blog on the new setup. So I have just cleared 130 posts on blogger and I have transferred every one of them over to the new domain. You can read my new and improved blog at

http://technerdical.churchpunk.com

You can also visit the new domain with other links at www.churchpunk.com

So this will be my last post on this blog via blogger. Eventually I will turn it off, so bookmark the new site or subscribe through your favorite RSS Reader.

-c-

Big updates coming.

2007-06-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

If you think I have been missing from my blog, its because I am working on a new domain to host my blog. I am way too excited about it, but that comes with being geek. But I thought I should post so that those of you who read this don't think I am slacking again. You can ask my wife how I have been tinkering away at this site and trying to teach her how to update her blog through it as well. It is totally worth the time to me though. So that is the update in short. More details to come soon.

-c-

Friday Good!!!

2007-06-01T09:02:00.001-04:00

I know that it has been a short week, but I am ready for another long weekend. Too bad this is just a regular 2 day weekend, but the best part about it is that I don't have any plans to go anywhere or any parties to throw. I am going to finish some projects and probably start some new ones at home this weekend. Should be fun.

-c-

The Microsoft Surface Computer

2007-05-30T21:37:00.000-04:00

Check out this video on the new Microsoft Surface Computer. Did you ever see the movie 'Minority Report'???? This is totally sweet and outrageously expensive.

-c-

The Guys Are Back!!!!

2007-05-30T12:30:00.000-04:00

After a short hiatus, Who Are These Guys Podcast is back online. If you are into ministry and technology then you will fit right in. It is a couple of Youth Pastor and Uber Geeks like me who put on the show. If you can handle the technerd stuff, which is probably the only reason that you would read my blog, then you should check it out. The newest podcast covers the new Pirates movie, speed reading, youth pastors with many hats all while surviving some sound obstacles.

Anyways, this kind of stuff is right up my alley. So if you know me and actually are reading my blog, you might be interested in checking it out.

-c-

Who Are These Guys

A Productive Day Off.

2007-05-29T14:20:00.000-04:00

It seems that my blog has become a weekly blog lately. I have had a lot of things going on lately. We had our weekend in Gatlinburg and I still haven't put up any new pictures from that. This past weekend we had a cookout for my Dad's birthday and a cookout for our Youth Group. So it was 2 days of hosting parties and Monday was free and clear.

Yesterday the weather held off and I got a lot of things done. We made a trip to Lowes and got a rose bush and flowers for Faith to plant in the backyard. I got all of the grass dug up for the sandbox for the kids. I also got the cars washed which pretty much guarantees that it is going to rain today.

I hope to have more stuff to post about on a daily basis now, but we will see. I am in full blown Ichthus planning mode as the event is in 2 weeks. Pray for good weather.

-c-

Pirates 3 - No Spoilers yet.

2007-05-27T00:36:00.000-04:00

Wow its late, or early depending on how you look at it.

Saw Pirates 3 tonight and it was great. I will not give away any spoilers about it.
Keith was great!!!

Yo ho, yo ho!!!!!!

Ok, I gotta get some sleep.

-c-

Technorati Profile

Phone pics from GBurg.

2007-05-22T14:56:00.000-04:00

I have a lot more pictures on the regular camera, but here are some pics that I took while driving with my camera phone. Check back soon for more pics from the camera.

The I Love Bubba Sign in Pigeon Forge.

Upside down Building - Wonderworks

The Sexy Stuff Store

Driving through the Mountains.

What is pulling this trailer?

Old School ride on the Interstate.

Good Old Cincinnati!!!!

Check here for G-Burg Pic Updates.

2007-05-17T17:19:00.000-04:00

Another Typical Day

2007-05-15T14:17:00.000-04:00

It has been another average work day full of password resets and quick tickets. Sometimes my job can be very menial. Sometimes the biggest challenge of the day is staying awake. I haven't been too bad today. Its easier if I find something really cool to blog about. At least today I get to go play golf. I think we are playing a scramble tonight, so I don't have to worry about scoring so much. It will give me a chance to just practice particularly on and around the green I hope. I have a week to get the golf scoring program in order. I pretty much have the schedule set and I have the final team members to add and then I can hopefully play with some of the reporting.

So that has been my day so far. Now, I am off to find something interesting to read on the Net.

-c-

Too much Weekend in my Weekend.

2007-05-14T14:57:00.000-04:00

I did survive all the activities over Mother's Day Weekend. We had great weather and good times at the zoo and with my family. My kids were very well behaved although they got pretty worn out too. It has been a little rough going back to work today. I just feel very tired and could use a good nap, but maybe I can get to bed early tonight. We'll see, there is always something to be done.

I am looking forward to next weekend when we get to go spend a long weekend in Gatlinburg. I hope to be able to put up some cool blogs about my adventures there, but it may have to wait until I return. I don't think I will be able to find a wireless connection down there, so you may just have to settle for my twitter and kyte.tv updates from my phone. You can see all of that information at my personal website. It looks like the weather is going to be much nicer than last year for our GBurg trip. Planning on hitting the Aquarium and the Highland Games and just spend some good time relaxing and hanging with the fam.

-c-

Bobcat in Rhino Pen at Cincinnati Zoo

2007-05-12T17:41:00.000-04:00

Today I saw the most interesting animal at the Cincinnati Zoo. I walked up to the viewing area expecting to see a Rhino, but that is not what I saw at all. It was a Bobcat!!! See the pic for more details.

Busy Weekend Ahead

2007-05-11T10:49:00.000-04:00

You probably know that this weekend is Mother's Day weekend. It is looking to be a very busy weekend for me and my family. Tonight Faith is working so I have the kids on a Friday. That won't be too bad, but I miss out on my Friday night with my wife. Saturday we are going to the Zoo and the kids will get to see Curious George. I will get to play with the new camera and hopefully catch some cool shots of the kids. We then will be stopping at Sam's Club on the way home to pick up some things for our trip to Gatlinburg, TN next weekend. Also we are going to pick up some flowers and a rose bush for Faith somewhere along the way too. The zoo trip and the flowers are her Mother's Day gifts this year. Then the plan is to plant the flowers and things in the yard on Sat. afternoon/evening.
I also have to get ready for a cookout for my mom on Sunday. My sister and her family is coming in and we are having a big grill out. I promised Faith that I would not make her do a lot of work for the cookout because it is her day too. So, my brother Mark and I are running the show. Today I am making a shopping list so that I can pick stuff up at Sam's tomorrow if needed.
So it looks like another weekend will fly on by. Things have gotten easier now that K.C. has gotten bigger and is sleeping all night. I am keeping up with the yard and the house for the most part. Things just never seem to slow down and I don't anticipate that will happen anytime soon. Such is life. I wouldn't trade it though. I love my family and I would rather have the problem of having plans all the time as opposed to boredom.
Well, I am off to do some party planning. Have a good weekend.

-c-

Skywalkers in Korea cross Han solo

2007-05-10T08:12:00.001-04:00

I came across this article on Digg. This actually has nothing to do with starwars, but the title sure seems to suggest it. I got a kick out of it.

read more | digg story

Google Searches That Lead Here Volume 1.

2007-05-09T10:52:00.000-04:00

Ok, I am stealing this idea from Josh Griffin. He usually has a long list as he gets a lot of visits to his blog and this is the first time that Google searches have resulted in a visit to mine so I get to post my very few search results that have found my blog.

xanadu ff5
j-reezy saddleback
my computer beats me in chess. I beat it up in kickboxing

It may be a long time before I have a volume 2, but this was kind of cool to see it actually is finding me in Google.

-c-

My big brother is a daddy!!!!

2007-05-08T12:01:00.000-04:00

Very early this morning my brother Matt and his wife Heather became first time parents. The little boy who has been named Luke arrived around 12:30 AM. From the story that I got at 4 AM from my wife he was 5 lbs. and 18 inches long. Everyone is doing well and hopefully getting some rest. I don't have any pictures to put up here but hopefully will have some soon.

-c-

New Shoes

2007-05-06T00:34:00.000-04:00

Check out these new kicks I found at the outlets today.
They are pretty sweet if you ask me.

How to Sink Your Sermon

2007-05-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

I found this article through Josh Griffin's blog about 10 ways you can sink your sermon. I feel that this is pretty relevant to present situations.

And if by some chance you read this Pastor John, I hope that this is helpful.

-c-

Funny Caption Game

2007-05-04T14:48:00.000-04:00

The US Government is facing some issues
testing alternative fuels.

I got this pic off of Gizmodo. It is actually a jet propelled toilet. I bet these would have been cool to have at Ichthus.

Lets play a game and see what kind of captions you can come up with for this picture. Just leave them in the comments and lets have some laughs.

-c-

Mobile Blogging Test

2007-05-04T14:32:00.000-04:00

As you can see from my previous post, I was able to do a mobile blog from my phone using my blog email address. It is very time consuming to type the text out on the phone, but I was planning on this anyways. As it says I cannot send pics with it and I have a 160 char. limit when sending. But hey it does work and I should be able to post this way from Ichthus. I am currently working on finding a way to gain wireless access while at the festival for free. Not sure how I am going to pull this off, but we'll see. Here's to hoping that somewhere out there I can find an unsecured wireless signal to borrow for the weekend. I have a month to be ready.

-c-

This is a test for

2007-05-04T14:30:00.001-04:00

This is a test for mobile blogging. unfortunately i cannot send pics this way, but at least i can do something.

Hiatus Thursday

2007-05-04T10:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a slow day for interesting things that I have run into, so I didn't find anything to blog about. Today is Friday and that is always a good reason to blog.

I did get my twitter widget setup in the left column of the blog so that you can see what I am doing at least when I update it. At the time of writing this, I haven't updated it since last night when I was watching The Office. So as long as I remain interested enough to update twitter, you will have an idea of what I am currently doing. I can only update via cell phone from work and that costs me text messages so I don't want to get too crazy with that yet. I basically want to be able to use it when I cannot blog for some reason. I will update it from Ichthus because I will not be able to blog at all from there. I am still wishing that I could get the mobile blogging to work. That may require a switch to a different blog, so maybe I will setup one specifically for Ichthus if I can get mobile blogging to work. I will put a link up to that if I can get it setup somewhere.

Ok, well back to working for now and searching the web for new stuff to play with. Have a great Friday!!!!

-c-

Silverlight from Microsoft

2007-05-02T22:55:00.000-04:00

So have you heard about the new Silverlight?

"Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web."

The video on that sight looks pretty cool. You will have to install Silverlight to play it. It particularly caught my attention because the song playing in the background was from Andy Hunter, a Christian DJ out of the UK. Also that one dude in the video looked like the Mac guy from those commercials of Mac vs. PC. He is the third person to appear in the video. I also think that they must have recently watched The Minority Report. They just needed some special gloves to move the data around on the clear screen.

I am looking forward to seeing what else it can do. I have read some other articles about how this is supposed to be like Flash on steroids.

-c-

Are you Joostin?

2007-05-02T22:31:00.000-04:00

Ok, after some time today I found someone to give me an invite to check out Joost. It is totally sweet!!!! I am a big fan of being able to actually watch music videos and there are a bunch on there. I haven't had time to play with everything yet, but there looks to be some cool stuff on here as well as some serious potential for growth. It does use a lot of RAM though so don't plan on doing too much else while it is playing unless you have 1 GB.

So now I have unlimited invites I guess, so if you wanna get Joost, leave a comment with your email and I will try to send the invite. I won't be able to do this from work so you will have to wait until after 430 PM EST tomorrow.

Check ya later.

-c-

Digg.com craziness.

2007-05-02T09:37:00.001-04:00

I totally missed all of the fun yesterday when the power of the people threatened to bury Digg.com. I have been reading about it this morning though and things seem to be back to normal today.

A post was added yesterday sharing the Hex encryption code to unlock DVD HD and Digg decided to remove it to protect against any legal issues. Digg users responded by repeatedly posting the encryption code 1000's of times over so much that Digg could not keep up with all of the posting. It was totally 'Hack The Planet' in reality.

Eventually, Kevin Rose posted that they were going to stop removing the posts and give in to the requests of the hacker public. This may cause for some serious legal battles for Digg, but they will not go down without a fight.

Pretty crazy if you ask me. It shows the power given to the users and how Digg was not able to do anything to thwart the mass posting. Power to the people! I guess we will wait and see if anything happens in the legal arena.

PS I got the code. Did you?

-c-

Mobile Blogging

2007-05-01T11:54:00.000-04:00

I was trying to figure out how to update my blog yesterday from my Verizon Cell Phone. I was not receiving the response and claim code after sending my text message to go@blogger.com. I did some research last night and found that there is an issue on Verizon's end and they are not allowing mobile blogging to Blogger for some reason, but Blogger is unaware of this.

I am trying to find another solution so that I can blog the Ichthus Festival in June. I doubt that I will be able to get a wireless signal on my laptop at the festival site. If not you will just have to wait until I return from the event. I may look into using Twitter as an option, but I have not completely investigated that yet.

If you happen to read this and have any good ideas, please comment.

-c-

Portable Apps Review.

2007-04-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

Ok today I was able to use firefox from my work computer without having to install it. It all ran right off of my jump drive. It was actually quicker than the IE installed on my work computer. It was so nice to have my tabbed browsing back. We still only have IE 6 at work and I am not sure when they will let us update to IE 7.

I have not used any of the other apps yet, but may try those out as needed. IF you are looking for a way to take firefox with you wherever you go, this is an ideal solution.

-c-

New Digital Camera

2007-04-30T09:49:00.000-04:00

The older digital camera started giving us problems last week draining the batteries within 24 hours while not in operation.
Saturday while we were out, I was looking at a good not too expensive replacement and we purchased an Olympus FE21o.
I went from 2.5 Megapixles to 7.1 and the LCD screen is like 4 times as big. It has a lot more features too. So I am all excited about using the new toy. So far I really like it. It boots up very quickly and I can change scene setups very quickly. This will work perfectly for our family camera.

I have a much more expensive taste for one that is just way out of my price range at the moment. Down the road though, I hope that I can get a sweet digital camera with optional telephoto lense and rapid fire pictures.

What kind of digital camera do you use?

Portable Apps - take your applications with you.

2007-04-27T13:56:00.000-04:00

Ever wish you could have your applications from your home computer on your work computer? I sure do, particularly Firefox. I just found an article about PortableApps. With this free download I can put certain applications onto my jump drive and take them with me wherever I go. Sounds pretty cool to me. I am going to try it out this weekend because I am currently at work and don't need to download this on the job.

If you have ever used this and happen to catch my posting here, feel free to comment about what you think. I will post my review of it after I have tested it thoroughly.

-c-

Car Windshield Replaced.

2007-04-26T15:05:00.000-04:00

Here is the crack above.

Below is my car sans windshield during replacement.

My car windshield deflected a rock on the highway last Friday and had to have my windshield replaced after the crack grew across the windshield over the weekend. It was really weird seeing my car with no windshield. I learned a lot from the installer about the glue and sealer that it takes to keep your windshield safe. I also scored some free wipes to remove tar and other sticky things from my car. I have a nasty splash of something on the driverside rear and these wipes were taking it right off of the car. Pretty cool stuff although I had to drop my $250 to cover the deductible for the replacement. Thats better than the $500 estimate.

-c

'Invincible' Movie Review

2007-04-26T14:13:00.000-04:00

I watched the movie 'Invincible' yesterday starring Mark Wahlberg as Vince Papale in his story about walking onto the Philadelphia Eagles. It was produced by the same people who did 'The Rookie' and 'Miracle'.

I am a sucker for these sports movies especially ones that are based on true stories. Wahlberg did great in the role as Vince Papale. It was cool also to watch the extra features where they had a lot of footage of Vince Papale on the set and working with them to help better portray his story. I was hoping for some more football footage of hits and stuff, but this really is more about the dramatic side of things, so its cool that they didn't bury the story with overdone scenese and affects.

There was one really good hit in the movie where you see Papale (Wahlberg) running down the sideline and he gets blindsided and completely taken out of bounds. He absolutely gets drilled by the other player. In the bonus features they talked about that hit because it wasn't supposed to happen. The guy was supposed to miss Wahlberg, but they misstimed something and he totally crushed him. The hit was so good and obviously very real so they kept it in the film.

All in all, it was a very cool story. I will put it up there with 'Rudy' and 'Miracle'.

Overall rating A-

Celebration of 100 posts.

2007-04-25T13:34:00.000-04:00

Yeahhhh!!! I have officially hit the 100 post mark on this blog. There is still not a whole lot of regular readers, but we'll see if we can attract more traffic down the road. Currently my family is pretty much the only people who visit here. Lets see if by 200 posts we can get some visitors that I am not related to.

-c

Kyte TV

2007-04-24T22:14:00.000-04:00

I found a new service online to share videos, pictures, slideshows, and music. Check out my kyte tv channel here or you can view the embeded video below. You can switch videos on my channel by using the left and right arrows on the screen below.

The Bad News Bears - 2005

2007-04-24T09:35:00.001-04:00

I have been catching up on watching some movies recently using my Netflix. I just haven't had time to go to the theaters that much since the kids were born.

I am a big fan of baseball and I love the original 'Bad News Bears' movies from the late 70's, but this one disappointed me a little bit. I remember watching the original as a kid and there was some trash talk and fighting amongst the kids on the team, but they modernized this one and had to give it a rating of PG-13 for rude behavior, language throughout, some sexuality and thematic elements.

I can't let my kids watch it until they are old enough that they probably will think its a dumb movie anyways. I know that it was a remake for the older generation to enjoy and that is all good, but they really turned a classic movie for kids into something that I would not let them see until they were much older.

I do have to say that casting Billy Bob Thornton as the coach was perfect. He has always been very good at playing complete jerks. I just cannot imagine anyone else taking that role today. It was also very cool how they recreated some scenes from the old version almost identical from the original. The kid in the wheelchair was a funny add as well.

My overall rating is a C mainly because I can't show it to my kids until they are much older.

-c

Who Are These Guys Podcast

2007-04-23T20:50:00.000-04:00

I posted earlier commenting on a podcast that I was listening to and I promised to post the link to it later when I got home from work. So check out Tony Steward and Josh Griffin's Podcast called "Who Are These Guys"

I have become an avid blog reader and Josh and Tony are both very passionate about 2 things that I am very passionate. Youth Ministry and Technology. I guess you could call me a Jesus Geek. Anyways, if you are into this stuff then you will like their blogs and this podcast, so check it out if you get time.

-c

Josh's funny story about 'ass'

2007-04-23T15:31:00.001-04:00

I am listening to the 'Who Are These Guys' podcast and Josh Griffin had a funny story about 'ass'.

He has a devotional that he reads to his kids about donkeys and it compares donkeys to people and says, "some people can be jackdonkeys." That kills me that this is actuallyin a kids devotional book and then I get to hear a youth pastor talk about jackdonkey on a podcast. I am rolling.

And that is how we are starting off blogging on this Monday.

*************************************

3:47 PM EDIT - Now they are calling it the assisode LOL!!!!

I will post links to this podcast later.

Name Change Again.

2007-04-20T08:28:00.000-04:00

My name is Chris Walker and I have a problem. I cannot decide who I want to be when I grow up.

I got to thinking last night that there are a lot of things that I want to do and learn that require a lot of time and practice. I don't have a whole lot of free time to devote to certain hobbies and at this rate, I am never going to learn any of them. One weekend I focus on wood working and the next weekend, I edit video and make DVD's, while my guitar sits in the corner in need of tuning. I also like to keep a nice yard and spend time outside. I am beginning to think that it is very possible that I will never become as accomplished in any of these things as I want to be.

I changed the blog name again because I cannot decide the best way to represent myself in my online persona. In the past I have had simple names, funny names, and serious names. This one is more geek speak. I figure that my online identity is very much a nerd, so I should name it this way. If you don't understand the name, you can ask me and I will explain it. Depending on how nerdy you are, you may think its stupid or not get it at all.

I definitely cannot just devote this blog to one of my hobbies. So you are going to get the whole enchilada at this blog. You might see devotional stuff where I get preachy. You might see me get excited about something that only hacker and computer geeks get excited about. You might see pictures of my family and funny things that my kids do. You might here me vent about some crazy event in my life. I have a very diverse personality, so hopefully you get me and you like it. If not, too bad because that is what you are going to get here.

Oh, I updated my template. Let me know what you think about it. Have a good Friday!

-c

Physical Training

2007-04-16T15:15:00.000-04:00

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I have been struggling a lot lately with my weight gain and it has become quite the frustration of mine. It gets so much harder as I get older to burn the calories off. I know what it takes to lose the weight and there are no easy answers. I make excuses all of the time about it, but really excuses are getting me no where. I need to overcome my justifications and just make major changes to my lifestyle.

It helps me when I apply the Bible to my physical health and the verses above remind me what I need to do and encourages me to go after it. For too long, I have allowed my body to enslave me using my appetite. I need to 'beat my body and make it my slave' because my health can really slow down the plans that God has for me. The flesh is temporary, but I must take care of this vessel because it is required to exist in this world. As long as I am a slave to the flesh, I will never be as effective as I could possibly be.

Lord, I pray for your strength and guidance. Please help me to implement the discipline needed in my life no matter how painful I may think it is or how uncomfortable I get. I know that these pains and sufferings pale in comparison to what you have suffered for me. By your grace I get time here on earth to do your work and allowing myself to give in to the flesh shortens that time. This is not my home, but a layover on my way to my true home and I sometimes start to believe that this is all that there is, but this is really nothing at all. Help me Lord where I fall short and become weak. By my strength when I fall and carry me when I cannot walk. Without you I am nothing. Help me to break free of the slavery that I am in. You are the potter, I am the clay. Mold me Lord into something Beautiful.

Amen

The World on My Shoulders.

2007-04-13T13:30:00.000-04:00

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV)

Warnings From Israel's History 1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
6Now these things occurred as examples[a] to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."[b] 8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Bear with me because this is my first go at this sort of thing. I have pasted the scripture here so that you can read what I am working from. Feel free to comment about what you like, don't like, or suggestions for change.

I chose this scripture because it relates to how we respond to adversity in our spiritual lives, plus it contains one of my favorite verses that I remember when I need some encouragement.

The first 5 verses gives us a quick review of a period of Israelite History. Remember the people who came out of Egypt with Moses across the divided sea and into the wilderness following the cloud and pillar of fire while God fed them and watched over them. They saw so many cool things that if I saw them today, there would be no doubt in my heart that God existed and is looking out for me. Despite all of their experiences with Moses and God and they saw it with their own eyes, they still allowed their hearts to turn to evil ways. How I wish sometimes that God would make a visual appearance on earth today so that I could see him working directly. It also scares the Be-Jesus out of me to think about it. He does work directly on earth through the Holy Spirit, but it just does not seem as obvious to us anymore.

Verse 6 points out that this scripture history was recorded as a warning to us now. There were major and immediate consequences back in the day. All of the Israelites who came out of Egypt with Moses died in the wilderness as punishment with the exception of Caleb and Joshua who believed that God would deliver them to the promised land. After the Israelites forced Aaron to make the golden calf, Moses made them walk through the camp with a sword at their side killing each other and 3000 people died that day. God wanted to smite them all, but Moses defended them and pleaded with God to spare them. (Exodus 32) These verses specifically warn us about idolatry, sexual immorality, testing God, and even grumbling.

It is so easy to let other things in life take the place of God in our hearts. Ask yourself, where is your passion? What is your top priority in life? What will you drop everything else that you are doing to work on? Maybe it's your job, your family, a television show, socializing with your friends. These things are not necessarily bad things, but if you drop God to do something else, you have your priorities messed up. I am very guilty of this when I try to block out my time in the evening so that I can play on the computer with some little new project I am working on, or I want to watch '24' on Monday nights. I justify it by saying that I deserve my time, but if I am cutting God out so that I can relax, I am off the mark.

The last several verses are my favorite because everything up to this point makes things look bleak for me because I let God slip in my priorities a lot more than I realize. This is where we are warned that if we think we are standing strong, we need to watch our step because the opportunites to fall are everywhere. Verse 13 is the verse that gives us hope.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

Whatever adversity you face, there is someone else who is going through the same thing. Not only has others dealt with your situation, but God is right there with you and He know what you can and cannot handle. Its all in how you respond to adversity. If you believe that God's Word is the complete truth as I do, then you must know that no matter what trials you face, God will not let it crush you. The world may be coming down on you, but all you have to do is have faith and stand strong. Superchick has a song called Stand in the Rain. The chorus goes like this:

So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it’s all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won’t drown
And one day what’s lost can be found
You stand in the rain

This passage inspired me because I know that I have not been doing a very good job of standing firm lately when it comes to my time with God. I focus all of my energy on trying to carry the load of the world when I should be focused on God and just stand. There are sometimes where you just have to let go and let God. Will you weather the storms with me? We can build each other up in our times of great struggle. Sometimes all we need is to see someone else standing beside us for encouragement. You don't have to go it alone.

I hope that this has been a good thing for you. I can guarantee that they all will not necessarily be this long. It may sometimes just be a short snipet on a verse or 2. Please comment your thoughts or reactions.

Keep walking,

chris

Trying Something New.

2007-04-13T10:04:00.000-04:00

I know that not many people frequent my blog. It is probably because it is just not very interesting and if you know about it, I probably already talked to you about what I am blogging about. So why would you want to read it again after we have already discussed it? Exactly.

Ok, so I want to try something a little bit different. As a Christian with a very busy life involving family, work, and ministry, I struggle with making time to devote to prayer and bible study as I once used to. Some people get up earlier in the morning to do this. If you know me, my alarm goes off at 5 AM and I get out of bed at about 20 till 6. Getting up earlier is not an option and my brain doesn't really turn on until about 7 AM. That is a lot earlier than it used to turn on though. Early morning just does not work for me when I am going into work. If I try it at night I end up staying up much later than normal and I have a harder time waking up at 5 AM. Many times I just fall asleep praying which to me is not quality time with God and its like I am squeezing Him into my day instead of giving Him priority.

So I typically can find time on my lunch hour at work or when things are really slow I can read and study. It is hard sometimes to do that there without distractions.

On top of my personal time, I feel the need to pour out and share with my family and more specifically my youth leadership team. We all have busy schedules and are unable to have a Bible Study outside of Youth Group. I want to do something deeper than what we do with the teens because we need more to chew on.

So, my new idea is that I will use my blog here to basically post up devotionals that I do and share God's word with whoever chooses to visit here. I don't claim to be any great theologian or master of Biblical Studies, but I do have a desire to share what I take from it and I hope that it encourages and inspires you.

So this will be my pulpit on top of my regular postings. You can take it or leave it. At the very least, it will guide me in my personal studies and give me an outlet to share the things that God is teaching me.

Look for the first posting in the very near future.

-chris

Josh Hamilton

2007-04-12T11:53:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard of Josh Hamilton yet, let me introduce you to him. He is my new favorite Cincinnati Red.

He was the overall number 1 pick in the MLB draft in 1999 out of Highschool by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He is recovering from a cocaine addiction that took him out of baseball from 2003-2005. The Reds picked him up from the Cubs in December giving him the chance to show that he can still play and stay clean.

Currently the Reds are very set in the Outfield with Griffey, Dunn, and Freel, but coach Jerry Narron has said that he wants to get Hamilton as many at bats as he can. He will be able to fill in and give these guys a night off here and there. Freel also has the tendency to get hurt, so we will probably see a lot of Hamilton this year.

He has hit a homerun in each of his last 2 games against the Diamondbacks. It really is the feel good story of the year in baseball and is fascinating to see him playing after everything that he went through a few years ago.

Ephriam's Dance Video - Never Let Me Go

2007-04-05T23:00:00.000-04:00

Ephriam really likes Family Force 5, so he decided to make a music video showing off his dance moves.

-c

Reds vs Cubs Update 4/5

2007-04-05T14:44:00.000-04:00

The Cubbies put another run on the board in the 5th, but now the Reds have come back to tie it up at 2 in the 7th. Currently there are 2 outs with runners at 1st and 2nd. Dunner is at the plate. Lets see what happens.........

A wild pitch moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd.
Dunn took passed ball 4 and Conine scored from 3rd. The Reds are leading 3-2.

Reds vs. Cubs Opening Series Recap and In Progress

2007-04-05T13:44:00.000-04:00

Opening Day was on Monday. It was a beautiful Spring Day and the Reds had a big day against the Cubbies beating them 5-1 backed by a couple of Adam Dunn Homers.

Tuesday was an off day.

Wednesday night as the flurries came down as the weather can fluctuate in April, the Reds could not generate much offense only scoring 1 run and losing 4-1 behind a good 7 inning performance of Bronson Arroyo.

Currently I am watching the MLB Gamecast update on ESPN.COM. The game is tied after 4 innings. This is the first that I get to see of Kyle Lohse. He gave up the one HR to DeRosa, but other than that he looks solid from what I can tell watching on the Internet.

Surviving

2007-04-03T09:15:00.000-04:00

This week will be very different for me and Ephriam. Faith and K.C. are in Florida for the week. We all drove down to TN to see Faith's family and her, K.C., and her mom flew out on Sat. morning. Ephriam and I spent the rest of the weekend with Faith's dad. Ephriam and I then drove back home on Sunday so that I could go back to work.

So this week, Ephriam gets to spend the day with grandpa all day until I pick him up after work. I think that he knows that his mommy is gone, but he doesn't say anything or react to it. He stays pretty well entertained so he doesn't think about it all of the time. He has been a very good boy so far, even on the drive home. We have one more trip by ourselves to pick Faith up and then the car rides will be much better again.

I miss them both a lot, but my one big bonus for the week is that I have more free time after Ephriam goes to bed at 8 PM. I don't have to feed and chase after K.C. so I am getting a lot done around the house. Yesterday, I cut the grass, cleaned up the kitchen, and folded laundry. I still have a lot more to do, but I have 3 more nights to do it all. I am hoping to have the house caught up before we leave on Friday.

So that ends my posting drought. If we stay not busy at work, I will probably post more later.

-c

The Busiest Weekend

2007-03-26T09:35:00.000-04:00

This past weekend has definitely been my busiest weekend of the year and I wasn't even at all of the events. Faith had more going on, I just had to watch the kids for a while. Here is the recap.

Friday
Started with Mark coming over for dinner and an EDGECORE Meeting (Thats Youth Leadership). We transitioned into Fantasy Baseball draft for about an hour and then back to more Youth Meeting. That all completed around 11 PM and then we hung out for a while and Mark and I watched the new James Bond Movie - 'Casino Royale' Very good movie.

Saturday
Slept until 10 and and went to help my friend with his computer wireless network problems until about 1. Rescured Ephriam from the baby shower that Faith was at and went home and he took a nap. Hung out with Mark for a while and watched 'SWAT' while Ephriam slept. Gave Ephriam some lunch when he woke up and waited for Faith to come home from the party. When Faith got back, I headed out to get the oil changed and make a little run to the grocery. I returned in time to pack the car back up with the children to go to my nephews' combined birthday party. We all finally returned home about 10 PM and crashed.

Sunday
The kids were sleeping in so Faith went to church and I stayed home to take care of the children. After church I got some work done in the yard before Faith went to do the real grocery shopping. Ephriam napped while K.C. played on the floor and I worked on some things in the house. She went down for a nap and Ephriam woke up so we went and played outside while I got the grill ready to cook steaks for dinner. We ate dinner and then left to drop the kids off at Matt and Heather's before heading over to Youth Group. We had Frontline Bible study and finished up the series on the Wheel. Then for the EDGE we all walked down to Flubs and ate ice cream. Picked up the kids around 9 and returned home around 10. Bathed the kids and showered then we crashed too.

All in a full weekend let me tell ya. Hopefully most weekend will not be this busy.

-c

Baseball is almost here!!!!

2007-03-19T11:55:00.000-04:00

I am very psyched up this week because Friday is my Fantasy Baseball League Draft night. I will spend the next several days creating my draft sheet to determine who I want to draft for my team. A little more than a week after that is Opening Day. I will finally have a sporting event to look forward to. My Bearcats were a doormat this year and didn't make any tournaments. So they were done for this season about the time that they gave Huggins the boot. I look for them to improve because Mick Cronin is a good recruiter, but it will take some time. It was just weird not following college ball this winter. At least the tournament has been putting up some good games to watch.

But now it is time for Spring, warm weather, popcorn, peanuts, and cracker jacks. I can honestly say I don't care if I ever go back. So bring on the big leaguers and hopefully I will have a good draft on Friday.

-c

Spring Cleaning

2007-03-15T08:30:00.000-04:00

If you are like me, you actually look forward to Spring Cleaning. I may not like the cleaning part so much, but I like the warm weather returning and I like to open up my house and make it smell nice again. Its time to shake off the stanky Winter. Here is an article about different things that you should remember to do when doing Spring Cleaning.

How to Organize Spring Cleaning

Springtime is the traditional time to remove the winter blues from your home and make it ready for the long days of summer fun. It's also a good exercise in taking stock of your home and its contents. Just make sure that you share the work--and the credit for a job well done.....more

Neflix Hackers Article

2007-03-15T07:55:00.000-04:00

Here is an interesting article that I came across about The Rise of the Netflix Hackers:

In less than 10 years, Netflix has grown into a $700 million DVD rental
powerhouse, shipping more than 1.5 million DVDs a day to its base of 6.3 million
subscribers. But the very systems that have made Netflix so successful --
everything from its sophisticated recommendation engine to a profit-maximizing
formula that determines which subscribers get movies first -- have proven
irresistible to hackers, who are constantly looking for new ways to crack,
manipulate and reverse-engineer the company.

Case in point: Just weeks
after Netflix took its first, long-awaited steps into the digital delivery arena
by rolling out its Watch Now
instant viewing feature, which allows users to stream some movies and TV shows
over the internet, one hacker claims to have figured out how to bypass the
mechanism that tracks and limits a subscriber's viewing time.
Read More Here

MidWeek - Summer trying to return.

2007-03-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

Not a whole lot to report so far this week other than Summer decided to return here temporarily. It was 79 degrees here yesterday and they are calling for a chance for snow this weekend. The whole family went for a nice walk yesterday after dinner. K.C. took her first ride sitting up in the double stroller. She really enjoys being outside. Ephriam had fun too. He is going to be a lot of fun to play with outside this year. The other day we kicked a ball around outside while I was manning the grill. He just gets a little bit excited. Well I will enjoy the warm weather while it is here. Hopefully the warm weather will return quickly.

-c

Is it Springtime yet?

2007-03-08T13:10:00.000-05:00

So we are only a few weeks from what I consider the unofficial beginning of Spring - MLB Opening Day. As far as I am concerned, if Baseball is being played, then it is Spring. Now I just want it to get warm and it is going to start kicking into the warming trend around here this weekend. It is supposed to hit 60 this weekend. I am really looking forward to Sunny with a high of 75, but I will take all that I can get in the short term.

My fantasy baseball draft is coming up here soon. Hopefully I can make a good run like I did last year only I won't have to win my way through the playoffs. Its always a lot of fun until your team is stuck in the basement. So at least it is fun until June for most of us.

So here is to warmer weather and cookouts........

-C

I'm Back!!!!!

2007-03-05T12:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it has been several days since I wrote here, but for a change I actually have a good excuse. Last Thursday, I logged in to blog about something and it would not let me because my blog had been marked as a spam blog. It would only let me write drafts. So I had to wait 2 days for Blogger to examine my blog and then unlock it. So Saturday it finally unlocked, but I was way too busy this weekend to to update anything, so now you get this and hopefully more later.

The Afternoon Lull

2007-02-27T14:18:00.001-05:00

So I am kickin it at work right now. Not too busy, just chillin and have to do some work every once in a while. This probably means my phone will start ringing off the hook here any minute. I am currently jamming to the Family Force. I am still riding pretty high from their concert on Saturday. It gets me so pumped up about Ichthus. I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about all of the projects I want to do. Here are some of the things that have been rolling through my brain. I need to purchase and install some closet organizers so that we can fit more crap in our closets. I want to build a little project and play table for Ephriam big enough to put his GeoTrax set on and play with his cars. I am also getting my ideas together for painting this spring and summer. That is all short term projects I hope. I have a lot of ideas for the basement too, but I can't afford to do it all at once and time is always a major factor. Ok, well my phone is starting to ring again. There is my thought of the day.

Xanadu

2007-02-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

Here is a pic from the Concert on Saturday. Me, Xanadu from FF5, and my bro Mark. Xanadu is there professional dancer/ hype man/ roadie. He's a cool cat.

Slammin!!!!

2007-02-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I typically update this everyday from work and occasionally on the weekends, but we have been getting killed at work. Its amazing what the change in Daylight Savings Time dates does to really screw up Microsoft Outlook Calendars. I haven't had much time to even think let alone Blog. So I will give you the recap of the last several days.

Saturday my wife and I were able to experience something we hadn't had in a very long time. A night with no children!!!!! Ephriam stayed with his Uncle Matt and Aunt Heather for the night and K.C. stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. We got to take our Youth Kids to a concert featuring Decyfer Down, Fireflight, Family Force 5 and Disciple. It was Faith's first concert in over 2 years because she didn't have to stay home with the children. It was a blast. We mainly went to see Family Force 5. They put on a pretty wild show. Disciple was really impressive too. I had never seen them live before. We had a good time and our kids had a blast. The only rough part of th night was that we had to stand in the freezing rain outside for 45 minutes before going in. There were 8 of us all huddled under an umbrella and icicles were forming on the ends. But it was well worth it.

Sunday we had to get the kids back and we ran the nursery during church this week. The family took naps after church and I cooked dinner and got ready for the Frontline Bible Study and Youth Group. We had a good crowd show up for the final week of the Dateability series. Thanks to Justin Lookado for the help on that one. It's good stuff and the kids had a good time with it. They especially liked the quizzes. YG seems to be in a very good development state right now. It took a while for things to recover from Winter break, but it is really starting to pick up. We have some kids that are really getting excited about things and I feel like they are really soaking up the teaching. So I am very encouraged right now with the way things are going. I pray it continues and that our ministry can very extremely effective. Its all about the PDYM - props to Doug Fields and the crew out at Saddleback.

Well, lets see what this week has in store.

The Great Birthday Adventure

2007-02-22T08:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my 28th Birthday. It turned out to be quite the eventful evening. My wife had run out to the store to purchase the new TobyMac album for me and was supposed to meet me back home to go to my Parent's house. As I was at home waiting for her, I get a phone call from my dad. Faith was at Target and she had a flat tire. She had called from a payphone because she forgot to take her cell phone. Did you know that pay phones cost 50 Cents now? Crazy!! So I headed out to Target to rescue her. I changed the tire and put the donut on the van and graciously accepted my birthday present from her. I then drove the van to have the tire repaired or replaced and made it in just before the shop closed. So I will be able to pick it up today and everything will be back in business. The hardest part was figuring out how to get all of the tools in and out of the vehicle in their convenient storage location. I still haven't put the Jack back yet. I will probably do that this weekend. So there is my fun story. Here are pics of the flat in the back of the van and the donut.

Power restored 15 years after Hurricane.

2007-02-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

Have you ever lost the power in your house during a storm for a few hours? It can really suck when you can't get into the fridge or you lose your AC or heat. The biggest thing that I miss during a power outage is the Internet. A few hours is not a big deal. But try 15 years without power.

A Florida woman who lost power due to hurricane damage has finally regained electricity, CBS 4 reported this weekend. Sound normal? Well, the hurricane that knocked out her power was Hurricane Andrew, which hit 15 years ago. The woman, who didn't want her full name released, had been living in her Cutler Bay home without power since August 24, 1992.

Read More.

Check this video from J-Reezy

2007-02-16T21:13:00.000-05:00

This is a video that was made for a Youth Ministry Conference by a Youth Pastor out in California. The song is starting to get stuck in my head. Hope you like.

Valentines Day Hair

2007-02-14T13:35:00.000-05:00

Here is my special Valentines day hairdoo. I spent about 45 min outside with a sock hat on working on this special hair style in honor of Valentines Day. Actually I could care less about V-Day, but I still went outside to see what I could do about my icy driveway. Not a whole lot without building a fire or using a hair dryer. Hope that your V-Day is ICY!!!!

Global Warming????

2007-02-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

Did anyone notice that as soon as Winter kicked in around here and especially in New York, the news is no longer flooded with articles fearing the Global Warming trend. I saw last night that places in New York have gotten like 120 inches of snow. I guess if the ice caps melt, the polar bears can move to New York. Honestly I wish Global Warming would kick back in again and bring Spring back to us.

Hair of the Day - Elvis

2007-02-08T16:58:00.000-05:00

So today I was referred to as Elvis at work by one of my coworkers. I guess because I had the little curly thing going on in the front today. I have a natural wave in the front of my hair too, so that adds to the effect.

Thank you, thank you very much.

More Snow and Working From Home.

2007-02-08T07:35:00.000-05:00

I know that the Groundhog said it would be an early Spring, but I am ready for a really early Spring. On Tuesday we got about 5 inches of snow starting in the early afternoon. I left work early to avoid the ugly traffic and bad roads and worked from home the rest of the day. Wednesday I worked from home too because the roads were still pretty ugly looking and since I have the ability to work from home, it was just safer that way.

I got the driveway cleared around noon. The sun was shining so that helped a lot with some melting. Ephriam and I played some in the snow, but his gloves don't work very well against the cold so he had to go back inside.

I have another hair pic to put up from today, but it will have to wait until I get home because I forgot to bring the card reader for my cell phone memory card. Check back soon.

My Hair

2007-02-06T19:57:00.000-05:00

Today someone at work mentioned that they look forward to walking past my cube just to see what my hair is going to look like each day. For those of you who know me, you know that I would rather not mess with my hair each day if possible. That is why most of my life I have enjoyed having a short hair cut. I can wake up each day and go about my business without worrying what my hair looks like. Well, lately I have taken it to a whole new level. I have let it grow out on top, and I still don't try to do anything with it when I wake up. Whatever it looks like when I get out of bed, is how it is going to look for the rest of the day. Sometimes its all spiked up and other times it lays down nicely. Sometimes I have a nice Fohawk and other times, its just plain bed head. I just really don't care and I like to be able to spike it up on occasion if I want to. So its sort of a compromise between me and my hair. So I am going to post from time to time on my Blog pictures of what my hair looks like that particular day. So this is my first posting of my magical changing hair style. Enjoy!

Pretty much stickin up everywhere today thanks to wearing a sock hat in the cold.

First Post in February

2007-02-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

One month closer to Spring. Its also a great month for Birthdays. Hint hint...

So I downloaded some new podcasts last night. Most of them cannot keep my attention. I was excited that Flicker Records posted another one. I like to listen to that cuz you get to learn about new bands and hear some of their tunes. I also listend to one by Dave Ramsey. He is a cool financial guy who happens to be a Christian. He tells ya like it is and it has been very inspiring to me. I think that I am going to talk to my wife about some things we should try to do to better our financial situation. I also listened to a lot of my regular ones like the Simply Youth Ministry Podcast and MLB Baseball Today. The Baseball one isn't very exciting right now, but it will be as the season approaches.

Soon, I will be able to report here on the Fantasy Baseball season. Whoohooo!!!!

Ichthusiasm

2007-01-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, you can expect to hear a lot about Ichthus from now until the end of June. My brain pretty much lives there for the time being.

Last night we had our first Ichthus kickoff meeting for the Youth Group. We had several people there and it was pretty cool. My DVD went over well. It officially made everyone sick of pickles. The Rad & Tad skit did not go over the way that I wanted it to, but we will continue to work on those characters and work them into some other things. Faith's intro was a lot of fun though I must say.

Now I have a lot to do to prepare and organize the trip, so I should be pretty busy with that for a while. And then once we get people signed up I have to coordinate all of the traveling and tent assignments as well. It will be here before you know it.

Countdown

2007-01-26T15:08:00.000-05:00

I found an easy countdown to add to my page. Currently we are counting the days to Ichthus. There is so much to do in so little time. If you like the countdown you can click on it and go to where I got it. They have several variations. You can add it to MySpace too.

Almost Friday

2007-01-25T21:59:00.000-05:00

Well another week is almost through. I wanted to post because I am tired of seeing the picture of Dale Gribble when I go to it. So whats new? We got our new dishwasher today. The old one just wasn't hackin it anymore. Stuff was coming out kinda crusty and the plastic stuff was filmy. Faith has been doing a lot of hand washing this week, so she is way happy to have the new one here. We are going to the Newport Aquarium this weekend. It should be a good time. Well thats all for now. Maybe more tomorrow.

Chris

Tax Fugitive = Real Life Dale Gribble

2007-01-19T15:28:00.000-05:00

Fox News reports a Tax Fugitive Edwared Brown is holed up with armed supporters in his fortress-like house after being convicted of tax evasion. I read this and I could hardly believe the striking resemblence and personality to Dale Gribble of the King of the Hill show on Fox. Dale is always paranoid about the governtment. Quote from Gribble, "Guns don't kill people. The Government does." I just thought this was really funny. Enjoy.

Netflix to offer movies to download.

2007-01-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

This week Netflix will start to offer an option called 'Watch Now' that will allow customers to view movies on their computer instantly. Right now it is only limited to personal computers excluding Macs, so you will not be able to view it on a regular TV. This is also supposed to prevent people from pirating the movies. You can read the whole article here

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/01/16/instant.netflix.ap/index.html

Jack Bauer is back.

2007-01-15T22:21:00.000-05:00

You may or may not have realized that '24' Season 6 had its 4 hour premier last night and tonight on Fox. It is one of my favorite shows to watch and it is already living up to its 5 predecessors. Now I know that some people think that it is a hokey show and if you check it with reality, you have every right to laugh. How does Jack's regular phone that I can buy from Cingular do everything that it does? In Season one he pressed a thumb print that he had cut off of a dead man against the screen on his phone. He scanned it and sent it to CTU to ID the dead man. Where can I get those kinds of cell services? Or when does Jack use the restroom? I like to make fun of it too, but I don't like it because its unrealistic, I like it because its a good intense story with cliff hanger after cliff hanger. It is really quite remarkable everything that happens and how it all fits into one 24 hour day.
So anyways, no spoilers here if you haven't seen it. Just know that Jack is the man.

Chris

Crossover to Blogger.

2007-01-15T14:41:00.001-05:00

I want to apologize if my import of Blog entries did something crazy to your multiply site. I don't even really see mine. Supposedly I was able to import my blogger entries and update from there to here. I am testing it to see what happens. If it all still stays crazy, I will clean it all up.

Chris

Testing Multiply

2007-01-15T14:37:00.000-05:00

I am testing a new community site called Multiply and supposedly I can update my BLOG here and it will automatically import into the Multiply community.

I guess we will see.

My New Addiction - Warning NERDS only!!!

2007-01-12T14:31:00.000-05:00

There is a new online game happening right now at www.vanishingpointgame.com.

Evidently there is a countdown until the launch of Windows Vista and there are all of these puzzels and hidden secrets you can solve while earning points to win some really cool prizes. The grand prize is a trip into Orbit, and you can also win the new OS when it releases and free Zunes. I am always into free stuff so I have been spending way too much time working these puzzles. I think I enjoy the puzzles more, it doesn't matter if I win anything.

So if you feel like registering to win and try some puzzles, use my email hersch23@hotmail.com as a referring person so that I will earn more points.

If you play, say hi to Loki for me.

c-dub

Finding the Groove

2007-01-10T12:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we are back to a normal work schedule and a normal baby sitting schedule and hopefully a normal and regular sleeping schedule. Yes, K.C. is starting to regulate her schedule now and I am trying to figure it out. Faith says that she is trying to follow Ephriam's schedule. That would be wonderful. I am just glad that I am finding more sleep now. I had to get up in the middle of the night to feed her the other day, but that was better than being up all night trying to get her to go to sleep.

So now I am back to trying to keep all of my responsibilities in order. I have my regular things that I gotta do at home. My favorite thing is playing with my kids and sometimes I let a lot of other things slide because of that. I have my actual job doing computer support and I have a lot of things to do for Youth Group. I am finding much more time now that K.C. is sleeping more. I am able to keep up with a lot of other things now that I was letting slide to gain a little more sleep.

So we'll see how things go as I try to keep everything working.

Chris

New Years Resolutions

2007-01-04T09:18:00.000-05:00

You always here about people making new years resolutions to quit smoking or lose weight. The advertisements switch from Christmas to self improvement the week between Christmas and New Years. I used to try to come up with resolutions, but I always found that ideal changes were way too lofty and broke most of them. So in recent years, I make myself some goals that should eventually lead to bigger changes.

I am on board with the people who want to lose weight. For me it has been a struggle in my changing lifestyle from college to career. I used to walk around the campus all of the time between classes and to different events. I was poor and didn't eat out that much either. So I got a lot of exercise and didn't eat as much. Now I get little exercise sitting at my desk all day and I tend to eat out more because of convenience. My starting goal for this year is to change some of my habits. I am starting with my eating habits because those will be easier to change while it is Winter time. The exercise thing will be a little easier when the weather is warmer.

One of my other goals revolves around Youth Ministry. I know that I talk a lot about YM on this blog when things are going on and my wife makes fun of me. Recently I have been a bit down about YM I think because I need little breaks. Its very hard to go full speed for 4 or 5 months on top of other life changes like having babies and changing jobs. Sometimes I feel like I carry most of the weight and it gets heavy after some time. The Christmas break is perfect for me because we had about 3 weeks off from YM and now that I am starting to let the YM juices flow again, I get excited. I just have one worry and that is stupid numbers. I admit that I hate numbers, but they are required to have a ministry of any kind. We have been slowly slipping lately and I think it is because our kids are growing up and finding other things to do. They can drive and get jobs so they can choose between making money or coming to Youth Group. I went through the same choices when I was in highschool. But it gets discouraging when only 2 people show up to your Christmas party even if they are cool people and we had fun watchin Frosty. I have side tracked from my goal idea a little, but this gives you an idea of where my heart is at. Back to the goal. My goal is to focus on keeping up with my YM responsibilities and taking time to renew my heart before reaching the burnout point. My team is helpful when I need a break, but I am still looking for something to keep me driven in the hard times. Please pray for me on that. My second YM goal is to do more reaching out. Because of my worry on numbers, I want to find ways to attract other kids to come. Don't get me wrong, it is not about having a large number of kids, but I want to have enough kids to have an effective group ministry. We will continue with individual discipleship if that is what we get.

So for those of you out there who are making resolutions. Good Luck with that and pray for me and my 2K7 goals.

c-dub

Happy New Year 1 Day Late.

2007-01-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

This Blog sucks so bad that I cannot even wish a happy new year on time.

Anyways, I am back at the office today. It was nice working from home for the Holidays, but it got frustrating sometimes because I wanted to get so much more done at home than I did. I definitely have to say that I do better at my job when I am in the office just because there are much fewer distractions. Now I am just trying to busy myself at work because we still are not that busy with tickets yet. We have gotten a lot of password reset calls though. That is pretty typical following a long holiday.

So here are the quick updates of my life.
- Ephriam turned '2' on Dec. 29th. He is becoming quite the little boy.
- K.C. has now been Ferberized. AKA she sleeps in her bed all night now.
- The Ichthus Website has launched. I am getting excited already.
- Christmas is over so I am looking forward to Springtime and warm weather already.
- I am still lame and need to put more pictures up on this Blog.

There is your 1st update of 2007.

chris

We Survived Christmas!!!

2006-12-28T11:47:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this is a picture of our living room before the chaos. You can see the 2 completed toy chests that are bigger than the kids themselves, but really cool. We got Ephriam up at 7 AM and he stumbled down the hall and ran straight for the presents. He then about fell into them because he was still groggy, but finally settled on playing with the Lightning McQueen car until we had to take it away so that he would open other gifts. We finished up presents with the kids and a little breakfast before we headed for Toledo. The chaos continued there all day. The kids were pretty pooped. We returned home very late that night and slept most of the day after Christmas. We are still in the cleanup stages and I am going to be opening boxes for Ephriam and K.C. for the next several months as they discover their new toys. It was a blast, but now I am ready for some rest. I will post more pictures later.

Chris

Another Sucky Post

2006-12-18T12:54:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been very bad about posting to my BLOG. I guess that is part of what makes it suck so much. I do actually have a sort of excuse though for last week. I have been getting ripped apart by a cold for a week now. It has gotten a lot better than when I started. Fortunately I was up for the Walker Christmas gathering this weekend. Nobody likes to be sick at Christmas.

So I have to apologize for my BLOG being more sucky than normal. Its not fun if there is not new stuff posted to it all of the time. But I won't promise that this is anything more than my blog that sucks.

So I survived round 1 of Christmas events. Everyone made it and it was very different because it was 65 degrees outside. We actually hung out in the garage some which worked out because we could use the room with the size of the family. Ephriam got a lot of cool toys. He finally figured out that we open the wrapped gifts, so he started helping others with opening their gifts. He will be a seasoned pro by the time everything is over and done with. I am very excited about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It will be nice for Faith and I to share our Christmas together and then watch our kids and the Santa Claus Experience.

Now I just need to survive a few more days at the office and then the fun can begin. Well, hopefully I will have more to post about this week.

Chris

2 Weeks Until Christmas

2006-12-11T15:18:00.000-05:00

Do you have all of your shopping done? I completed the major stuff on Saturday. I still have a few odds and ends to get. I need some good stocking stuffers. Now I just have to find time to wrap everything and I have a couple of toyboxes to finish. Saturday will probably be the big finishing touches day. It will be here before you know it.

Survived the Party Weekend.

2006-12-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

I did it!!!! I made it through the weekend of parties. Friday was a nice dinner at the Pastor's house. Saturday was a nice dinner and some dancing. Sunday was chillin with our Youth Kids and watching the coolest Frosty video in the world.

Some highlights
- Watching all of the kids play together by the Christmas tree.
- Ham!!!!
- Roast Beef!!!!!
- A date with my wife and no children.
- Winning $40 in gift certificates.
- Slow dancing with my wife and flirting.
- I transformed into one of the Village People for the Y.M.C.A.
- Again, the coolest Frosty video in the world. Sorry I will not post it on You Tube.

50 Posts and nobody cares!!!!!!!

2006-12-05T13:17:00.000-05:00

I did not realize today that my last post was my 50th post on my BLOG that I am still convinced is only read by a very few people. I have even thought about anonymously commenting to my own BLOG just so that it looks like people read it.

Actually I have gone one step further to prove that nobody reads this BLOG. I am currently tracking how often this page is accessed with Google Analytics. So far after 1 weekend it has been accessed from my home and my work and 1 other person on a Fuse account. I am assuming that was my brother Mark. He only checks because he wants to know what his prize is. I am still trying to come up with an appropriate prize.

So I don't really have anything special to share to mark the crossing of the 50 posts mark. But I think that I will change the name of my BLOG again. Its not like anyone will notice anyways.

Ginormous Toyboxes

2006-12-05T10:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of my Secret Santa Project. Its not really a secret, but Ephriam and K.C. are too young to know the difference. These toyboxes are huge. I hope that they like them.

The Holiday Marathon Continues....

2006-12-04T12:18:00.001-05:00

You have to be special to get on my calendar between Thanksgiving and Christmas I tell ya. There is no such thing as a down-time weekend this time of year for me. Let me give ya the recap.

Friday was about as relaxed as it gets right now. We had pizza and watched Mickey's Christmas Carol with the kids at dinner. We then spent the rest of the evening making room for our Christmas Tree. We discovered that we were so not using our hall closet. It now contains the wagon and the double stroller among many other items that were stacked up in our living room. The biggest challenge was getting all of the toys put back in Ephriam's room. We now have limited number of toys in our living room and most of the space is dedicated to K.C. Ephriam got over it on Saturday when the Christmas stuff came out.
Saturday I had to do some work from home so I completed that in the morning. At noon we dropped the kids at Grandma's and headed out to the wilderness to find our Christmas tree. It didn't take us long to find the perfect douglas fir to cram into our living room. We brought it home and set it up and gave it some good water to drink. We got the lights on the tree and the star while Ephriam wasn't around to get into things. Then we went an picked up the kids and brought them home to decorate the tree. Ephriam was a tad bit excited about the tree to say the least. We spent the rest of the evening decorating around the house for Christmas and we still haven't finished.

Sunday we had church in the morning where we as a family read a devotion and lit the first candle of the Advent wreath. That was pretty neat and Ephriam was well behaved. We had lunch after church and then picked up the Youth Kids to go wrap Christmas Presents at the mall as an outreach. That was a lot of fun. We came home and had some dinner and I spent the rest of the evening working on the toy boxes for the kids. For the most part they are built. I just need to get the hardware to attach the lids and we need to put their names on them. They are going to be really cool when they are done. Definitely very huge.

So now I go back to work for the week and next weekend we have Christmas parties to go to on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Fun fun. Ok, well I gotta get back to work.

Chris

Sanctus Real - Live

2006-12-01T22:08:00.000-05:00

Here are clips of a Sanctus Live Show the other night that the drummer Mark posted tonight. Hope you enjoy the show.

Sanctus Rocks!!!!

Where's Walker?

2006-11-30T12:39:00.000-05:00

It has been 2 whole weeks since I posted. Mark, I appreciate your comments. Your prize is coming soon. "Its a Major Award!!!!"

So where have I been the last two weeks? Thanksgiving took a big hit and so did Christmas shopping. I have been going outta my head trying to figure out how I am going to get everything done that I need to do. Its just outta control. I have come to the conclusion that it never really stops.

I also wanted to see how long it would take for people to notice that I wasn't posting up here, and as I figured nobody reads this so nobody said anything. I guess my life is just not very interesting.

So I think I am going to change the title again to the Blog that nobody reads. I think that it is more theraputic for me to share my thoughts anyways. Its one way that I can communicate with my wife too since we work opposite schedules. Maybe eventually my life will get interesting and people will want to read it. I guess I do have to give credit to Mark because he has actually commented twice. I owe him a prize.

I wish I had more time at home to BLOG because then I could put some cooler stuff up here. Currently I only BLOG from work so I don't have access to cool videos and my pictures at home. It will get better at home when K.C. starts sleeping all night. Hopefully very soon.

Ok, so that is my update for now. Catch ya later.

chris

Title Change - Can You Hear Me Now?

2006-11-16T15:18:00.000-05:00

I have decided to change the title again because I often get the feeling that I am just blabbing to nothing but the wind. I sometimes wonder if anybody out there is really listening. Am I not speaking loud enough or to the right people? Is it too much to ask to hear a response? Sometimes I feel this way with God, but for the most part, He is good at responding. Sometimes it is better if he waits to answer because it will make more sense later.

These feelings really come to me when I see what is really happening in the world around me. It is painful sometimes when I pay too much attention to the world and I see the pain around me. It also hurts when I see people who are completely blinded from the Truth. When I put on my God spectacles, everything is very clear and simple and there are so many people missing out on His love. Yes, it is discouraging and frustrating when I am trying to fight the good fight, but I know that the war has already been won. My goal is to draw people to the side of Victory.

In light of things at Park Ave., I am beginning to wonder where my next step in Ministry will be.

Update on happenings at Park Ave.

2006-11-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

I have to update a little on our church Board Meeting last night. It was budget night which is never a very fun meeting. We are really going to have to cut back on things this year and it appears that we are going to have to cut salaries as well. This of course will be decided by our Staff Parish team. This does not bother me too much as long as they do not cut the Position of Youth Director all together. I know that we have a smaller group, but it has become a very effective group lately. It takes time to build a good fire that will not flame out quickly. I still feel that there is work to be done there, but without the position I am not sure what will happen. So I have a feeling of insecurity over the whole situation, but if that opportunity goes away, then it will allow for more time at home with my family.

The part that really hurts us I think is the fact that our budget is being cut by 66%. I find that it will be very challenging to do a lot of things we are used to in the past. I believe it can be done, but I am not sure how attractive our ministy will be to our Youth. This is all really my core human being reaction to the whole situation. My mind is already trying to come up with solutions to the new obstacles. And if you know me, I can really dig in for a good challenge. Nobody said this would ever be easy.

So I have to say that I do have some peace about the situation. I will leave the decisions up to the church. It is their responsibility to prayerfully consider what is best for Park Avenue. God will provide what is needed to continue to minister to our kids even if it isn't through Park Ave. It is not my responsibility to look after them all of the time. God is in control. I choose to server Him wherever He will have me.

Please pray for our church and our ministries.

Chris

Christmas Music - Friday @ Noon.

2006-11-16T14:40:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow one of the local radio stations will begin broadcasting Christmas music all the time through Christmas. The launch is at noon tomorrow. I like this because I am a big fan of Christmas music and I don't have to worry about having cd's with me. Plus you get a pretty good variety. Check out 99.9 FM to hear it tomorrow.

My Space Update.

2006-11-15T14:36:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I updated My Space with a new template and song. I hope that you like it. I need to update my picture again too in order to go with the theme. Let me know what you think either by commenting there or here.

Chris

40 Days Until Christmas

2006-11-14T15:41:00.000-05:00

Yes there are now only 40 more days left before the big day. You know I like that Christmas stuff. Now I just have to figure out how I am going to accomplish everything between now and then. At least Faith isn't pregnant and tired or sick. I should have my helper elf back in action this year. I also have 2 little helper elves in training. Ephriam loves to help me when I work on stuff. Eventually I think that he is going to be my tag along helper.

So it has been another typical work week. We have been a little busy with things, but not too bad. The time seems to fly by when Christmas is approaching. I only have 3 Youth Events to run and that is it for the year. I think that I finally have my Christmas list done, but I am sure that I will add to it as time goes by. We are doing our shopping for the kids this weekend. That will be a lot of fun. I have one of the toy boxes almost complete. These things are monsters. But they should be pretty cool when I get them done. Well its almost time to leave work. Gotta go.

Chris

How did I end up with such cute kids?

2006-11-13T14:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know its because their Mom is such a hottie. Although they say that my son is my little clone so I must have something to do with it. These are pictures that they had done today and I made Faith send pictures to me at work so that I could see and post it. I just can't get over how big they are getting. Well, there isn't much that I can say to make them look any cuter, so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Chris

Guess what starts tonight?????

2006-11-10T12:56:00.000-05:00

The Bearcats play their season opener tonight against Howard University. It will be interesting to see how things go although I am not too worried about Howard U. I was looking at the pictures of the new players since I don't know anyone on the team anymore and its a whole bunch of new faces. I have to admit that I still have the itch to want to see them win, but I have really toned down how I used to plan my life around the basketball schedule. I really like Mick Cronin and I think that he will be successful at UC, but I can't stand that Nancy Zimpher. What can I do?

Have I mentioned that I like weekends? In about 3 more hours my freedom begins. I actually have a Saturday where I don't have much planned. Now we should be past the kidney stones thing cuz they always mess with my free Saturdays. So I am hoping that nothing crazy comes up this weekend. I really need to get some more things straightened up in my basement and I want to get started on the toy boxes. I need to put together my list of things to purchase and go pay a visit to Lowes. I have some plans that I am going to modify a little to make it simpler. Hopefully I am capable of making these things. So I kinda have some plans for this weekend, but its nice that I don't actually have to go anywhere.

Well if you think to watch the Bearcats tonight they are on local channel FOX 19. Hopefully it will be a good game for them to get used to playing together.

Have a good weekend.

Chris

Uh Oh, I missed more days.

2006-11-08T13:24:00.000-05:00

It is so funny how I have a hard time posting to this BLOG just once a day when I read several other BLOGS that post between 5 and 10 times everyday. I guess its all about time.

I post to this BLOG in between things that I am doing at work. Sometimes I can write it all at one time and sometimes it takes me a couple of hours because I get busy with work. So far I have spent about 45 minutes typing out these few sentences.

I keep telling myself that my time will free up more as the kids grow up a little bit. Ephriam is pretty easy to look after as long as you pay some attention to him. K.C. can still be very high maintenance, but she is getting better about playing in her seat and sleeping longer at night. Eventually we will get there. It will get interesting when Ephriam and K.C. start playing together. Ephriam has become much more into her lately. He gives her hugs and sometimes tries to cuddle with her a little too much. We still have to be careful, but I haven't seen him take a swipe at her head lately. I need to put up some of the newer pictures of them. I should make everyone who reads this BLOG give me suggestions about what pictures to put up here. Just comment on the page and let me know.

Well, I am going back to work now. It took me an hour to complete this entry.

Chris

Ack I missed a couple of days.

2006-11-03T12:49:00.000-05:00

Ok, so Wednesday, Faith had surgery to remove her kidney stone. I worked from home for the day, but my break time was all used to help keep up with the kids and take care of Faith. Yesterday she spent a lot of time resting as she recovers. It is very painful what they do to you to remove kidney stones. I hope that I never have to do that. Anyways, I feel like I have been busting my butt a lot lately between regular work and stuff at home.

Last night I picked up dinner, cleaned up dinner, protected Faith from Ephriam's atomic splash hugs on the couch, did laundry, comforted K.C. when she had gas, took a shower, and made a quick trip to Meijer. That is a lot for an evening. Somewhere in there I checked email and ripped a few cd's as well.

So life is busy as usual. Tomorrow, I get the day off from the kids because my mom and I are making our annual Christmas shopping trip. It is always a good time for us to get together and we go to the Outlet Malls up towards Columbus. We don't get there very often so its cool to go to the different stores. I also get to start listening to Christmas music officially.

Ok, so that is today's update.

Chris

Trick or Treat

2006-10-31T13:07:00.000-05:00

Yes it is good old Trick or Treat night here. It looks like the weather could be yucky so we'll see what kind of a turn out we will have in the way of trick or treaters. I will be taking Ephriam out either way, but K.C. may not go out if it is raining too bad. I don't need any sick babies. It should be a good time either way because we get together with my family and have a little party in the garage. Its fun to see all of the costumes on the kids.

Well, we are hopefully going to finally have some closure to the issue with Faith's kidney stone from Hell. They have decided to do surgery to remove it tomorrow because she is swelling quite a bit and it isn't moving. So I have been cleared to work from home tomorrow so that I can get her to and from the hospital. I know that it is going to be so nice to work from home and it will suck to come back into the office on Thursday, but it really is fortunate that I have the opportunity to do that. But hopefully this will take care of the issue and stop bothering Faith.

We are 54 days from Christmas and the Christmas music is about to begin in my house. It is time to get festive. There are so many things to do between now and Christmas and there really isn't that much time. "Just hear those sleigh bells jing a ling ring ting ting a ling too." Ok, I have been ready for some time now, but that doesn't make me any less excited. "SANTAS COMING, SANTAS COMING!!!!!"

Ok, enough for now.

Chris

Another Unpredictable Weekend

2006-10-30T10:03:00.000-05:00

It was another fine weekend that went by way too quickly. I think that something out there likes to try to find new ways to take time away from my potentially productive Saturdays. Last weekend I kind of expected a little and I did get to accomplish the biggest things, but this weekend was a return event of Faith's kidney stone. I will get more into that in a minute.

Saturday is the only day that I consider my day off. I work my regular job Mon-Fri, and Sundays I spend half of the day at church between services and Youth Group. So my Saturdays are in a way sacred because that is when I try to get as much done as possible. Last weekend my plans in reorganizing the basement were to begin. I was supposed to have most of the day to work on it, but I was going to have to watch the kids in the Morning because Faith had to work that Friday night. Normally she does not work on Fridays. So I figured I would be able to start by early afternoon, but that turned out to not be the case because I needed to show Faith how to get to Parky's Farm. I had to go out anyways to purchase the wireless router, but then we had to take a trip all the way down to Winton Woods so that she could find where she was going. By the time we got back it was dinner time and I went to pick up some pizzas. So I finally got to start rearranging things sometime after 5 PM. So I didn't get as much done as hoped. It has been the ongoing project all week when I have a free minute here or there. So my plan for this Saturday was to try to put a major dent into the project as well as some other yard work that needed to be completed.

So Saturday morning I am up and ready to get moving after getting to sleep in a little bit. The only thing we had planned was to go to the Zoo in the late afternoon for their Halloween night. I also needed to make a trip to Sam's. Well, Faith starts saying that her back is hurting again like it did when she had her kidney stone a couple of weeks ago. As it got worse she decided to go visit the emergency room and I took care of the kids. So that pretty much shot my Saturday free time in the foot. Faith finds that it is the same kidney stone that she had before and she never passed it as she had suspected. So that is very frustrating. I did finally get to do some work on the basement late in the evening, but it is still a work in progress.

Next Saturday is a shopping day with my mom. As long as everything goes as planned, I should have no babies or distractions and I can enjoy the day getting some Christmas shopping done. Its a tradition that my mom and I do every year. So hopefully I will actually get a free day for a change.

Thats all for another exciting weekend in my chaotic life.

Chris

Overslept....Arrrggg

2006-10-27T11:42:00.000-04:00

No this is not Pirate day again. I had a good night with K.C., that wasn't the problem. But I remember when my alarm went of this morning, I hit the button to turn it off like I was going to get up and then I didn't get up. K.C. woke me at 20 til 7. I had to have her and Ephriam at the sitters and then go to work. I am supposed to be there at 7. Well, not today. So I got here a little before 8. So I will work through my lunch today to make up my time. Its so frustrating that I have this waking up problem sometimes. Although I have to say that since I got an extra 2 hours of sleep I am feeling quite refreshed. When K.C. starts sleeping through the night, I am going to sleep like a dream. She is getting close though. She was down last night at 11 and woke up to eat at 3. That was the only time she was up. Hopefully she is finally gettin the message from daddy that she had better shape up because she ain't no different than Ephriam. I ain't puttin up with much crap even if she is the little princess that she is. She doesn't have that much pull yet. I must stand my ground. Ok, well back to work for me.

Chris

Last Night......

2006-10-26T13:08:00.000-04:00

It was soooo nice to be home last night. The kids got their baths and to bed at a decent hour. I was able to spend some QUALITY time with my wife. It seems we get to spend time in passing lately. So when we do get time to catch up with each other it is a really nice thing.

My brothers came over for dinner and it was delicious. Mark does a very good job on pizza making. But I am not sure if he was feeling yucky last night or if I pissed him off because he left pretty early. Matt stayed the latest which is unusual, but it was nice to hang out with him. We also got the love seat moved into my basement as well. Now I have a nice place to cuddle up with my wife and watch movies. That is if the children ever give us the opportunity to do so. We have had XMen 3 now for like a month and haven't watched it yet. That is kind of the way life goes when you have kids.

It is almost the weekend again. We are taking the kids to the Zoo for Hallzooween. They can collect treats and see some cool stuff. It should be fun. Our next trip to the zoo will probably be for the lights. I am a little bit excited about that. Well, I guess I should do some more work.

Chris

I got some sleep.

2006-10-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

Faith actually got called off for the whole night last night and I got to sleep for more than 4 hours. It would have been more, but I keep staying up to watch the World Series. The Cardinals won last night to take a 2-1 series lead. I expect the whole series to be pretty good.

I got some more of my basement organized last night too because she was home. I am getting closer everyday to making it more Ephriam usable. There are still just a few things laying around that he doesn't need to get into. Very soon though the space will be useable again.

Tonight we are having Wed dinner at my house because mom and dad will not be around. Mom is probably going to need a grandkid fix before next week. We should be getting the love seat tonight too since we will have Mark and his truck. I am adding that to the space in the basement as well. I have actually opened a lot of room up down there by moving the desks. The office area is a little crammed, but the living space is much more open.

There is my update for today. Check back for more later if you are interested.

Chris