365 Days of iPhonography

July 28th

2011-07-28T11:25:00.003-05:00

(iTunes - Matt Kearney - Hey Mama)

got paid! debit card that i got in the mail from an online account got funded today which met i could withdraw the money out. decided to take care of this at midnight and realized that the atm i was withdrawing from had no lights around it, was on the backside of a building and by some woods. maybe next time i'll wear a flashing neon sign that says, "rob me".

i've never withdrawn $2,000 before, but its intimidating having that much cash sitting on the seat next to you. don't get excited kids the moneys not for me.

tomorrow is the trip to devils lake! never been, but very excited!

July 27th

2011-07-27T11:20:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Jason Derulo. - Don't Wana Go Home)

long day at work, and had to follow this lady home for about 5 miles. awesome. miss my wife and boy.

July 26th

2011-07-26T17:37:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem)

didn't go into work today until 1. cheri and ashton left for the airport before i was up. went for a walk with cubbie this morning. kinda quiet already at the house.

July 25th

2011-07-25T17:32:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Owl City - The Real World)

laid back day. work wasn't too bad and then got home and went for a walk with the family. we have this strap on thing for ashton to ride on the front of us and he really seems to enjoy it (as you can see from the picture). tomorrow cheri and ashton fly to california and i won't see them both until this coming sunday. cheri's training a new employee in san diego and then gets back friday. just bad timing because i leave for a youth group trip with our church on friday. going to really miss them.

July 24th

2011-07-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Lifehouse - First Time)

7 years. that's how long i've been married now. definitely my longest relationship. :)

i think marriage is soemthing that people go into too lightly. some people are in a rush, while some others get married for the wrong reasons. when you let God guy you to the right person it always seems to work better. it doesn't mean its always easy, marriage is something you have to work but finding a partner that you can share life with has been one of the best things that's ever happened to me.

i love you cheri. here's to many many more years!

July 23rd

2011-07-23T17:20:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Leona Lewis- Footprints In the Sand)

tomorrow is my 7 year anniversary. wow time flys! we celebrated today by going to see machester united play the chicago fire at soldier field. oh my gosh it was amazing. it was the first professional soccer match i'd ever been to and we had great seats. ashton even enjoyed it and the stadium was sold out. i think i can say without a doubt it was the best sporting event i've ever been to in my life. i was so close i could hear rooney when he kicked the ball! haha!

night ended with cheri and i getting a nice dinner and enjoying the city. i love you cheri and i'm the luckiest guy in the world to have married you. :)

July 22nd

2011-07-22T11:43:00.002-05:00

(iTunes - Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man)

internet is down....again! writing this from caribou coffee (again). so there was a good lightning storm last night, and like any good southerner i watched it from my lawn furniture on my porch.

i was bound and determined last night to finally capture a shot of a bolt of lightning on my phone. well that shot is the result of about 200 other failed attempts. enjoy it because i think my elbow is going to need some tommy jons surgery after holding up my iphone that long.

July 21st

2011-07-21T11:42:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Bruno Mars - Grenade)

seris 66 - fail. 71% and needed a 75 out of 100 questions. frustrating because about a year ago they made it so a 75 was passing. it used to be 70% which would've met i'd be celebrating right now. i take it again in 30 days, but i think i'm going to do the series 63 and 65 this time. the 66 is a combination of the two, but i think they make it harder on purpose since you're tying to knock out both tests at once. oh well, i'll be positive and get it done next time. :)

on a bright note my 35mm dof lens adapter arrived from italy today! super excited to start shooting with this bad boy. basically it allows me to attach camera lenses to the front and have objects in and out of focus the same as film.

July 20th

2011-07-20T11:40:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - The Script - For the First Time)

my test got moved from 12:30 to 4:30. internet was out in the office in chicago - story of my life. had some time to kill so tried going for a walk in the 100° weather at the local park. yeah, that lasted about 10 minutes.

shots of the walk, and a glass globe cheri bought me in chattanooga.

July 19th

2011-07-19T11:21:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Enya - Only Time)

studying like mad for my series 66 test tomorrow. not much else to say. internet has been somewhat speratic at the office. been spending quite a bit of time at caribou coffee since their wifi stays on.

really enjoying listening to audio books on my kindle. great way to get information without reading.

shot of a very smiley kid. :)

July 18th

2011-07-18T23:45:00.003-05:00

(iTunes - Dashboard Confessional - The Brilliant Dance)

internet was out at the office today. not a big deal until you realize that everything you have to do is on a website. most of my working day was spent at caribou coffee. at least they don't require ties at caribou.

shot is of a coaster at houlihans that made me laugh. :)

July 17th

2011-07-17T22:43:00.002-05:00

(iTunes - Michael Buble - Home)

early morning picking cheri and ashton up at the airport. boy was i happy to see them!

went to visit dominick, who's doing well. looking forward to him being around more once he finished up the program he's in. God can change anyones life around. :)

spent the end of the day in schaumburg playing soccer and then got california pizza kitchen with the family.

a good day.

July 16th

2011-07-16T23:41:00.001-05:00

(iTunes - Third Eye Blind - Blinded)

lazy saturday to start, but ended up being a lot of fun. went swimming at the new beach in crystal lake - vulcan lakes with matt and madison. played some frisbee and then went swimming. water was crystal clear with about 20 feet of visibility. of course i brought my face mask and spent most of the time under the water. followed a catfish for a while. don't know if he or i was more entertained.

ended the night with celebrating wenz birthday with friends, some who i hadn't seen in a long time (hi mr. and mrs. wilkins!). not sure that i'd ever been to duke obriens (or that i'll ever go back) but it was fun haning out with friends. slept like a rock at the end of the night.

July 15th

2011-07-15T11:42:00.001-05:00

(iTunes - Yellow Card - Ocean Avenue)

kinda quiet...and lonely without the wife or little guy around. still enjoyed some time by myself though. got coffee at borders, read some, and treated myself to super 8. going to a movie alone wasn't something i had done in a long time, but it was actually kind of fun. great movie too!

July 14th

2011-07-14T16:38:00.003-05:00

(iTunes - Snow Patrol - Just Say Yes)

game tonight and it looks like i'm playing goalie....again. have to go rehearse my scene with miriam right after work and then rush home to change.

took cheri and ashton to the airport this morning for their flight to chatanooga. they're going to visit cheri's grandma and her family. wish i could've gone but work keeps me here. thinking of the good ol days (1 year ago) when that would'nt have been an issue. aye well.

shots of the inside of my water bottle, in case you were wondering.

July 13th

2011-07-13T10:36:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Michael Buble - It Had Better Be Tonight)

had a $25 gift card to barnes and noble today that i used to buy a book about creative photography. while browsing i noticed this section of books for "dummies". realized that i'd had fairly extensive experience in every single category on the shelf except for 2 - accounting and job interviews.

July 11th

2011-07-11T21:34:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Natasha Bedingfiled - Touch)

long day/night at the office. electricity is out at the house so i'm continuing studying for the 66 at the office. cheri and ashton came over so that makes things better. i'll be glad when this test is over.

July 10th

2011-07-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Dave Matthews Band - What Would You Say)

soccer. been playing a lot of it lately. got asked to play on my friends outdoor team on sunday evenings. really enjoyed it since it's been years since i've played outdoor, almost everything i've played the last few years has been indoor. guys we're cool, and the team we were playing ended up tying the game with 30 seconds left. corner kick, then headball put the score at 1-1. frustrating. good news is that the goalie is going to come help our other team on thursday nights.

July 9th

2011-07-09T22:55:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - The Fray - How to Save a Life)

old friend of mine got married today. congrats matt and genesis, really happy for both of you. matt and i did several cyt shows together when we were younger. my most memorable show that we did together was tom sawyer. one of the funnest acting experiences of my life. he was tom sawyer and i was huckleberry finn. haha! oh man it was fun!

weddings are one of those things we all attend several times a year and don't really think too much of, yet to the ones getting married its usually the biggest day of their lives (unless your on number 2 or 3).

July 8th

2011-07-08T10:43:00.001-05:00

(iTunes - Tommy Tutone - 867-5309)

mchenry fiesta days, where bottled water is $5 and the person charging you for it has the nerve to put a "tip" jar on the counter. seriously, this tipping business is getting out of hand, and this is coming from a former server. taxis i understand, serving my food at a restaurant? you got it, robbing me blind and then acting as if i should thank you? i don't think so.

ok so other then having my wallet raped it was a pretty good night. listened to a great cover band, hung out with friends, enjoyed the weather and got to spend some time with family.

shot is of the lake that the festival was on.

July 7th

2011-07-07T10:40:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Mat Kearney - Closer to Love)

youth group. haven't been in a while, since running one or just in attendance. cheri and i are going to start helping at our churches and we're both real excited about it. love working with teenagers, and now i get to work with my former youth pastor scott. everything comes full circle. :)

July 6th

2011-07-06T10:12:00.002-05:00

(iTunes - Lights - Quiet)

really met to study for the 66 last night when i got home. ended up watching the cardinals game instead. oops.

cheri went to her bible study last night with some of the girls from church, which left me and cubbie to fend for ourselves for dinner. i got jimmy johns and he got dog food. night wasn't so bad for him though, i took him on a walk.

July 5th

2011-07-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Katy Perry - ET)

4th of july was alright. mostly a family day which was fun. went out to my dads for grilling and swimming. ashton got in a pool for the first time and really seemed to enjoy it. he sure is a happy kid. didn't buy any fireworks this year which is unusual for me.

July 4th

2011-07-04T10:47:00.003-05:00

(iTunes - OneRepublic - Good Life)

one of the best sundays in a long time. john was back from congo and was at church. got to meet his girlfriend and then a bunch of us went over to his parents house afterwards for wills (aaron and kristy's boy) dedication. i can't tell you how much fun it was to just sit and talk with a bunch of old friends. pushed each other on a rope swing in the backyard which was only made to hold 100 lbs. found this out shortly after racking myself and bending my tailbone a different direction (ok it wasn't that bad, but it hurt).

kelly was also back from ihop and got to run into her. she had some super encouraging things to say to me that really resonated. its always nice when someone takes the time to really speak something into your life that you feel is from God.

night ended with dinner at red robin, and watching pirates of the caribbean 4 in crystal lake.

nice shot searnes.

July 3rd

2011-07-03T10:31:00.001-05:00

(iTunes - Britney Spears - Till the World Ends)

lake geneva is a place that i am determined to spend more time at this summer. cheri and i went up there with my dad and lilly and rented a boat for few hours and went tubing. we got a life jacket for ashton that looked like it was trying to swallow him. lake geneva is like a little resort town and even though you're only 45 minutes away from home it feels like you're on vacation.

only downside of the day was that my dad hit the water funny with his knee when i threw him off and pulled a muscle. other then that it was all sunshine, seafood and starbucks.

shots of my dad relaxing (rare), ashton hiding inside of his life jacket, and me feeling like a captain.

July 2nd

2011-07-02T10:13:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Mat Kearney - Can't Break Her Fall)

first fireworks show of the year. went to cary days with chris and wendy and watched a pretty good display. ashton enjoyed them as long as cheri had his little ears covered. he seemed mesmerized and very patriotic. :)

July 1st

2011-07-01T12:00:00.002-05:00

(iTunes - Oasis - The Shock of the Lightning)

got home from work and went for a walk with cheri and ashton at raceway woods. in enjoy walks....a lot. helps me clear my head, come up with new ideas, and its just nice to be out in nature.

had our soccer game at 9 and found out we were playing the same team we beat last week in the championship. they came out guns blazing and smoked us pretty bad. in our defense we were without a goalie which met me and two other guys tried to play the position, which is never a good idea. had we have had a good goalie i think we stood a chance to win. oh well, everyone makes the playoffs! :)

pic is of a pretty overlook from raceway woods.

June 30th

2011-06-30T10:17:00.003-05:00

(iTunes - Third Eye Blind - Blinded)

been going to the park a lot lately after work with cubbie. he's a big hit among the neighborhood kids. matt and jon came over last night to help put some of matt's stuff in the basement, going to be storing some of it there until they find a new place.

nina and matteo leave today. kind of sad to see them head back to germany, we've really enjoyed having them stay with us.

just found out this morning that some of our employees in california are leaving in about a month so now we have to find replacements. good news is that it probably means a trip to san diego in july, bad news is most of that time will be spent training. oh well.

pics are of cubbies new fan club and matteo on the teeter totter.

June 29th

2011-06-29T09:37:00.002-05:00

(iTunes - Far East Movement - White Flag)

went to the dmv yesterday. i think when designing the dmv someone said, "ok let's take everything that a spa has and do the opposite". i took an hour lunch to try and get my address on my license updated, and apparently i haven't fully paid my dues in purgatory yet. i have to go back today for the 2nd half.

pics are of katy enjoying some summer fun on natalies trampoline.

June 28th

2011-06-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - The Cranberries - Dreams)

not trying to turn this into the baby blog, just been hangin with my boy a lot recently. haha

so nina and her little boy matteo came in the other night from germany and are staying with us until thursday. kind of fun to have someone from another country staying with you for a while, its kind of like eating at an authentic chinese restaurant or something....ok not really at all, bad analogy. cheri hosted her as a foreign exchange student when she was younger and they've stayed in touch ever since.

went to a park by our house yesterday to enjoy some of the nice weather. pic is of ashton trying a slide for the first time with moms help.

June 27th

2011-06-27T10:06:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Katy Perry - Waking up in Vegas)

fell asleep watching the baseball game. :)

June 26th

2011-06-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Imogen Heap - Say Goodnight and Go)

kicked out out my own living room. ashton was watching baby einstein in the living room when i decided he would probably rather watch his father play fifa on the xbox. nope. kid starts crying hysterically, so i pop back in the dvd and he starts cooing again. i've been relegated to the guest room with the 32" while my son enjoys the 50". now i feel like crying.

June 25th

2011-06-25T12:17:00.002-05:00

(iTunes - Hey Monday - Candles)

boy was i a beaut! my new scuba diving card arrived today. i got certified when i was about 16, and haven't updated my card since that point. its been in my wallet for about 13 years now. out with the old, in with the new.

June 24th

2011-06-24T11:25:00.002-05:00

(iTunes - Queen - We Are The Champions)

to say i'm on cloud 9 today would be an understatement. last night was the championship game for our soccer league. we knew almost for certain that we would be playing the cottage. they lost one game their entire season and it was to us (make that twice now). everyone played out of their mind last night and in all honesty it was a very close game. i didn't realize until we got there that the winner got $500. that was certainly some incentive since it makes next season $10 to play instead of $60. we won 8-5 and i've never seen people happier. lots of friends and family we're there cheering for us which made the game a lot of fun!

shot is of the check we won and are applying to our next season! great job everyone!

June 23rd

2011-06-23T00:38:00.001-05:00

(iTunes - Brit Nicole - Like a Star)

long day. worked, came home and went to petland to buy stuff for cubbie to help his breath, its bad. setup a golf net in the basement and watched "unknown" with liam neeson. i heard bad things about it, but i don't know why the movie was awesome.

not sure what it was but ashton and i both found something pretty interesting on the computer screen. :)

June 22nd

2011-06-22T10:37:00.007-05:00

(iTunes - Jimmy Eat World - Firefight)

so i should probably clear the air on yesterdays photograph. it was a joke. sorry. :) its actually a iphone app called ghost capture. you wouldn't believe how many people i've flipped out using it though! haha!

ashton got a bouncy seat yesterday. his feet don't quite make it to the ground so we have a pillow underneath him. he had a blast in it though. stormed last night real bad and we were supposedly under a tornado warning. i think everyone was in their basement, but i was on the front porch trying to catch a glimpse.

ordered my dof (depth of field) adapter for my camera yesterday from italy. can't wait for that to get here. basically it gives the appearance of film when you are shooting video. my camera shoots in high-def 1080i, so i'm excited with how my stuff is going to look. now to order "magic bullet looks" for post editing.

June 21st

2011-06-21T12:06:00.001-05:00

(iTunes - Augustana - Boston)

this freaked me out. so i was going through my photo album on my iphone last night and came across one of the pictures i took at my dads wedding. does anyone else see something that shouldn't be in this picture? seriously.

i'm thinking i just caught some kind of weird reflection but regardless i am never sleeping at my fathers house again.

June 20th

2011-06-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Daughtry - Home)

best fathers day. ever. got to church and sat in the service with ashton. he liked it so much that he started making all kinds of noises and squirming. cheri and i took turns walking out in the lobby with him. cheri wore one of her wigs to church yesterday and had about 20 people tell her how much they loved her new haircut. apparently she only told about half of them it was a wig. it'll be funny to see their reactions when she shows up next week as a blonde.

after church we met up with kusha and andrea at chilis. i got some cards and picture frames of our little family for my office. night ended with me setting up a new workstation for video editing in our office at home. i'm delving back into final cut and starting to work with some friends on some stuff. stay tuned, but its going to be some fun stuff coming up!

June 19th

2011-06-19T12:35:00.004-05:00

(iTunes - Alex Band - We've All Been There)

yesterday was a good day. slept in and then got lunch at jimmy johns. went for a hike at verterans acres and then got ice cream at julie annes. ended the night with our new neighbors bringing us a cake and welcoming us to the neighborhood. totally unexpected, but super nice. we found out they are full blood polish which means i have 25% more in common with them then cheri does.

night ended with a taco bell dinner and a netflix movie. nice and relaxing. today is my first fathers day, and i couldn't be happier.

pic is of ashton getting ready to see julie annes for the 1st time.

June 18th

2011-06-18T12:48:00.006-05:00

(iTunes - Weaver at the Loom - You Can't Escape Them)

yesterday was the soccer party at natalies house. i'd never been to her place before, but wow! they had goats, dogs, cats, chickens, etc. well maybe there's no etc. that may have been it, but it was awesome. we didn't end up going swimming, but played basketball, volleyball, some soccer, cooked out, jumping on her trampoline and all sorts of good stuff. summer = the best.

next week we now play in the championship game since we won both of our games thursday night. next season i think we'll be even better with some of the people coming on to play with us.

pics are of natalie, alicia, eddie, ramiro, and jamison kicking around a soccer ball, and then eddie and ramiro eating. eddie looks pissed, ramiro looks embarrassed. :)

June 17th

2011-06-17T10:28:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Coldplay - Every Tear Drop Is a Waterfall)

long day, but eventful especially toward the end. finished the last series 66 class and it actually went an hour over. good stuff though, the notes will help. i didn't mind too much because the thought of driving back to carpentersville at 5 from chicago didn't sound like the greatest. got home just in time to rush over to the soccer game.

found that $200 had been deposited in my paypal account. that was nice. i've been posting my baseball predictions on a handicapping (read betting) website for over a month now and have a higher win rate than anyone. people can purchase your picks from you for a fee and someone apparently bought a months worth from me. haha! hopefully i can pick him some winners! as of this writing i'm 23-9 which gives me an almost 72% win rate. "say whaaaaa?" yeah, you heard me.

best news of the night was we won both of our soccer games and now play for the championship next week! i played goalie the first game and did alright, but the 2nd game i fell apart. fortunately we had another guy on our team who played and i got to go on defense where i'm used to. outdoor pool party, bbq, bonfire, and barefoot soccer later today at natalies to celebreat the season!

shots are of a picture i took that reminded me of gotham city (probably because chicago is gotham city) i think the building in the picture was wayne enterprises. maybe? and another building i snapped when going to eat with everyone last night.

June 16th

2011-06-16T09:13:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Jump Little Children - Mexico)

driving downtown chicago in the morning and then at rush hour at 5 o'clock has got to me one of the most stressful experiences in the life of a human being. people who do this daily have to be shortening their life somehow. construction everywhere, everyone is mad, pedestrians walking in front of your car while you're driving, people sitting in the middle of the intersection on a green light, ahhh!!!!

my series 66 class went well. its the same guy i had for the series 7 class. nice guy, but very matter of fact without much of a sense of humor (read: he doesn't laugh at my jokes). one more day and then back to the burbs, thank God. cheri and ashton came down to the city last night and had dinner with jake, matt, me and erin. good times were had by all, and the pirates won as an underdog which made my night.

pretty proud of the first shot i took outside of my parking garage and the 2nd one is the ceiling of where i had lunch the other day.

ready for soccer playoffs tonight!

June 15th

2011-06-15T13:10:00.006-05:00

(iTunes - 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens)

headed down to chicago last tonight and got up early for the 66 class this morning. cheri went to a bible study with some girls from the church last night and took ashton with her. most of my evening was spent trying to get my iphone to sync with itunes (which it never did). can't wait for icloud to finally be released.

shots are of the inside of the building (illinois department of revenue) where i had lunch today downtown.

June 14th

2011-06-14T09:12:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Lights - The Listening)

i never used to mind mondays. in fact i often used to look forward to them because it met a chance to move another step forward on whatever business project i was working on at the time. its been a year since i've put most of it on autopilot to go work for my dad. in some ways the sacrifice has been worth it and in other ways not. pluses and minuses to everything. i still put in a lot of time each week managing certain aspects, and overseeing projects and growth but it all has a different flavor to it. the financial industry is definitely interesting to me but i can't shake the need that i feel to create. whether it's a business, a website, a photograph, a video, even something as simple as laughter. its in creating and creativity that i feel most alive. i'm looking for it from 9-5 but finra and sec regulatory laws weren't exactly designed for free expression (i'm looking at you bernie).

heading to crash on matt's couch in chicago on tuesday night. it'll be nice to just have a change of pace even if it means i'm sitting in a class at phoenix university for most of the day. maybe i'll catch one of the brewers/cubs games while i'm there. something about eating a ballpark hotdog at an mlb game that makes it just taste better. booked a trip to boca raton today for work. haven't been to florida since andrea and kusha moved back. going to try and fit in at least one scuba dive while i'm there, might even try a night dive if i take some testosterone pills and shark repellant. there's not many things that scare me next to being in water at night, except for maybe spit-up from my son. seriously, ashton spit-up today on my lap and i almost died. think i'm being dramatic? (so does my wife) well let me chug a gallon of milk and come sit on your lap, after i douse you with 2% we'll see how cool and collected you are.

photos are of my favorite kid on the planet, and a shot i took down by navy pier.

June 13th

2011-06-13T09:24:00.008-05:00

(iTunes - Mat Kearney - Runaway)

church picnics. no matter how old i get, they're still as exciting as ever. i don't know if its the sense of community, the smorgasboard of fried food, or dunking over kids half your age on the basketball court that makes it so enjoyable. for whatever reason it seems that as people begin to age, the more appropriate and mature thing to do is to sit and talk with other adults instead of running around swinging on monkey bars and taking full advantage of the park. so call me immature, but i'll take a barefoot soccer game with 12 year olds over a conversation about what you do for a living anyday.

after church and the picnic we headed home to catch the mavs/heat game. i'm normally not as into the playoffs as i was this year, but there was something so justicey (yeah I made that up) about seeing lebron lose in 6 games. i think most of america was celebrating in someway or another last night, unless you live on a southern beach somewhere. maybe lebron will see more love next year. i think now that he's lost another championship people feel more vindicated.

pictures are of where i now sit in the lobby for church since ashton has discovered his voice, and what playing barefoot soccer with 40 friends does to your feet.

June 12th

2011-06-12T11:16:00.005-05:00

(iTunes - Two Door Cinema Club - This is the Life)

showcase went awesome! madeline and i nailed it and i have to give her props for being such a great partner. she really played the part of a word i won't say well, so it made it easy for me to act angry, haha! sending out facebook friend requests to all the people that were in the class with me. its a weird dynamic when this kind of a class is over, we've been meeting together for about 9 weeks for 3 hours each time. we've really rehearsed hard, bared our emotions and produced a great ending. it just seems weird that we now all go on with our lives. it's odd, but its the way it is.

spent saturday afternoon at woodfield mall and ate at my favorite restaurant (where i also used to work, yep i like it that much) - stir crazy. ran into an old friend at the restaurant who also discounted our meal, and then had to run downtown for the showcase. matt came and recorded most of it on my iphone and then him and jake and i all went out for dinner afterwards. i was buying since they're letting me crash their couch for 2 days next week. :)

it seems like summer is finally here which means its the very start of the 2 seasons i love the most in chicago, the summer and fall. now to figure out if i sign up for another class at act one for next semester.

picture is of the stir fry bar at stir crazy.

June 11th

2011-06-11T00:37:00.001-05:00

(iTunes - UnderOath - Down, Set, Go)

client dinner was last night for work. cheri stayed home with ashton, which then made it my responsibility to dance with every elderly/widowed woman dining with us. about 400 people in the room, you do the math. ok, to be honest i didn't mind and actually had a lot of fun. one lady even curtsied at the end of our dance, it was super cute, haha! the band was all beach boys, jimmy buffett music, with some slow dancing thrown in. everyone wore ridiculous hawaiian shirts and everyone got lei'd (had to put that in somewhere).

today is the showcase for our acting class. hard to believe that after almost 9 weeks of work its all coming down to about 5 minutes today. found out that some friends are coming to watch so that should be some good times.

you know i think one of the most wonderful gifts in life is having someone encourage you in a dream that you have for yourself. my friend matt did that for me yesterday on the phone by encouraging me towards a dream i told him i was shooting for. if you read this at some point matt, thanks. sometimes people words carry more weight with them then they realize. your words were a huge high for me and made a big impact.

photos are of the layout before dinner, clients dancing, and me wishing there were someone without a senior citizen discount to get my groove on with.

June 10th

2011-06-10T11:52:00.004-05:00

(iTunes - The Veronicas - Untouched)

playing goalie in soccer is about as hard of a thing as i've ever done. last night was my third time, but i'm actually really starting to enjoy it. i think in soccer its one of the most aggressive positions you're allowed to play. next week is playoffs for our team, and then the next season starts right up. i have no doubt watching how-to videos on youtube about playing goalie will have me playing like tim howard by next week.

~~asthon~~ (really ben, you can't spell your sons name?) ashton got some shots in his legs yesterday, i guess they're standard stuff but he was pretty grumpy most of the day after. i don't blame him, i remember thinking doctors were sadistic evil people when i was a kid, or anyone who ever approached me with a needle for that matter.

the red sox swept my yanks for a 2nd time last night. it sucked, but was kind of to be expected. watched the game until about 1:30 since there was about a 3 hour rain delay.

booked a class that i'm taking downtown next week for 2 days for the series 66. it'll be nice to be out of the office even if i'm just sitting in a classroom. i need a vacation soon. i keep thinking vegas, but any place with a beach and salt water sounds good right now.

picture is of the creek in front of oru in tulsa, my old college. took it last week when there for claires wedding.

June 9th

2011-06-09T11:00:00.008-05:00

(iTunes - Usher - More)

i've been going downtown chicago a lot lately and i have to admit, i've really been enjoying it. i used to think that i could never live in such a major metropolitan area, but i'm having second thoughts. spent some time down at lake michigan a couple nights ago and realized that its the size of a small ocean, of course a 2nd grader looking at a map could've informed you about this, but it hit me for the first time the other night.

acted out my scene with madeline last night at o'hare again. i think we're ready for the showcase on saturday, and anyone parking on the cubs level at the airport will be glad we are done. if nothing else, we've certainly provided lively entertainment for anyone coming in on the red eyes. profanity laced breakups and tears always make for great awkwardness.

it stormed pretty hard here last night too, which for me is always enjoyable to either watch or drive in. where i grew up if we heard a tornado warning was in effect that usually means we set out the lawn furniture to see if we can catch a glimpse. i can't imagine people do this with too many other natural disasters.

picture is of me experimenting with lighttrails in a mirror.

June 8th

2011-06-08T11:31:00.009-05:00

(iTunes - Mat Kearney - Undeniable)

3 years its been since i wrote something on my blog. started reading it the other day and other then it making me miss oklahoma a lot it (and reminding me about how outspoken i am on politics) it reminded me of how much i love writing. a script, a sermon, a story, a blog, a way to creatively express myself in another way then driving more traffic to a website.

so much seems like its happened in this past year. i now have a son that i love beyond anything that i could have imagined, i've moved back to the chicago area and i'm working in the financial industry. i even get a copy of the wall street journal now, just to make myself feel legit. next 2 years are probably going to bring even more changes in my life, but i'll keep taking it one day at a time. vegas? l.a.? tulsa?

for the time that i'm here i'm going to make the most of being in chicago. been taking an acting class downtown that i've really been enjoying and put together an indoor soccer team. other then that its been lots of business building and investing. it's all good except for not having the free time that i used to. its a price i'm willing to pay for now but not forever. time is something you can never get back and to me that makes it invaluable.

saw a movie recently called "limitless". about a guy who takes a drug that allows him to use the full capacity of his brain. while the movie's not about the special olympics (too far?) it made me think about how more people would be surprised what they could accomplish by simply taking action on a high priority every single day. slow and steady wins the race but most of us never seem to leave the starting line. got something you want to do? do something today, no matter how small, that takes you a step towards that direction.

picture is of my first trip ever to seattle about a month or 2 ago to visit ketter. got to see the fish market, first starbucks, and we both ate in the space needle together. not going to lie, dinner was kind of romantic.

July 22nd

2008-07-22T20:50:00.000-05:00

(iPod - John Mayer - Say)

i found this video about a week ago online and decided to share. this is probably the most inspirational video i've seen this year.

July 21st

2008-07-22T02:05:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Coldplay - Viva la Vida)

finished designing this the other night. it took a while. its the front of a flyer were sending out to all our ebay customers to start diverting more traffic to our store. its late, i'm goin to bed, g'nite.

June 12th

2008-06-12T23:41:00.001-05:00

(iPod - Our Lady Peace - Innocent)

picture is of my new logo that i had designed. its for the website that i have going up at www.puredigitalusa.com. we're finally opening our own store since we pay out so much money to ebay just to list items on their site. check it out and let me know what you think.

i was in chicago last weekend for my dad's new office opening. i was then planning on going up again to chicago in 2 weeks for ebay live (its their national convention thingy), but then i found out about 2 days ago that my grandma passed away, so i'm going up this weekend AGAIN to chicago. in case your counting that's 3 weekends in a row that i'm in the windy city. my grandma was 92, so she lived a long life. in a way, and i don't mean this to sound bad, i'm glad she just finally got to go home. she was at the age where it wasn't a real shock to anyone, and she had been in a nursing home for about the past 2 years. there's not doubt in my mind that my mom and my aunt were waiting with open arms for her on the other side.

so if your going to be in chicago and you want to hook up on your choice of 2 coming weekends, then let me know. i gota go pack now.

May 28th

2008-05-29T00:42:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Matchbox Twenty - City Lights)

i'll write later, i'm tired. but i will say that i L-O, L-O, L-O-V-E this song by matchbox twenty and every human being on the face of the planet should read "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Timothy Ferriss (and the Bible).

May 11th

2008-05-12T01:07:00.001-05:00

(iPod - Matchbox Twenty - Real World)

10 days since my last blog...oops. today was nice. just nice and relaxing. we had a guest speaker at church today who was really funny, and next week we have jim caviezel (jesus) coming to speak! that's going to be cool. they're already prepared for all of the services to be packed out.

after church and lunch we went to a local festival called rooster days and took cheri's folks to a baby petting farm (ha i just reread that). it was fun seeing all the animals, but i saw a cow being milked for the first time and now believe i'm lactose intolerant. well after the petting zoo (and a nap...) cheri, cubbie and me drove out to skiatook lake. we didn't take the jet ski's with i just wanted to go out and visit and see how the water was. it was just a perfect day driving with the windows down, sipping slushies from sonic, listening to matchbox twenty with cheri while cubbie enjoyed the breeze out the back window.

later i met with salmon (he's from pakistan, that's his name, no resemblance to a trout) at kafe bona. he's desiging a computer program for me for ebay. and if your wondering (even if not i don't care) its been going very well. this past month we broke our sales records 4 different times. yeah heah! and were looking at opening up a kiosk at either woodland hills mall or promenade mall, or maybe both. right now we sell stuff all over the country and internationally, but nothing here locally so were going to try and get into the local market.

pictures are of a vision of heaven i had when i fell asleep in the oru chapel, and cheri petting symbolic representations of the devil.

May 2nd

2008-05-02T12:06:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Coldplay - Clocks)

so i drove about 1,600 miles in 2 days and forgot to bring my digital camera with, my bad. 1,600 miles is a long way, especially by yourself. i won a jet ski on ebay and had to drive to chatanooga tennessee to pick it up. well i got the ski and i got to try it out (oh man is it fast!) the guy i bought it from took me to a local lake and let me take it out. it does 50 mph on the water pretty easily, should be a blast this summer!

last night was emmanuels bachelor party. we went to sushi train, where they serve sushi on a train (i know, who would've thought). coy came up with the idea of opening up a competing restaurant and calling it sushi chopper where your fish is delivered via remote control helicopter. after dinner the guys went to starbucks while i went to priscillas to get emmanul a gag gift from me and jared. i walked in to quickly find myself surrounded by dildos of every shape size and color imaginable (an odd feeling) - so i made my purchase and left quickly. finally we all met back at my place and played wii tennis (i was undefeated) and opened up the gag gifts.

well its friday now and i'm hunrgy so i'm stopping. wendy's here i come.

April 20th

2008-04-21T00:53:00.001-05:00

(iPod - Andy Hunter - Come On)

life long dream of riding a mechanical bull without completely looking homosexual - check.

saturday night was a lot of fun, we went country line dancing. i'd been line dancing about one time previously when i was about 9. my memories of that first time however seem somewhat mared by the spanking i endured afterward for participating in such ungodliness (we were assembly of God back then). about 8 or 9 of us all met for dinner and then went over to the "wild horse saloon". none of us drank of course, but we all danced, played pool, and rode the mechanical bull. the highlight of my night was definetly the bull, i rode it twice which was actually a mistake as i now type this with bengay cooling every pulled muscle in my body. let me put it this way - i'm sore today in places i didn't even know i had. not to mention the stupid bull gave me the rugburn of a lifetime on my leg (which i also thought about taking a picture of until i realized no one probalby wants to see pasty guy-thigh on here).

all in all though we had a good time. pics are of the only real cowboy with us that night - john (he's from texas), me looking like i'm spanking the bull, and the hottest girl on the planet who happens to be my wife. g'nite.

April 17th

2008-04-17T19:51:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Incubus - Nice To Know You)

i found this online on youtube. just another reason to play halo 3 if you don't already.

April 16th

2008-04-16T22:48:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Coldplay - Shiver)

two documentaries coming out that i really want to see! enjoy.

April 10th

2008-04-11T00:08:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Oasis - Champagne Supernova)

i know its been a long time since my last blog, but i'm really going to try and keep it updated at least once a week if not more. a lot's happened since my last post. for starters i've dealt with more bad weather lately then i care too. i lost count of how many thunder storms i've been in and one of them ended up being a tornado as you can see in the picture.

alright well first off about a week and a half ago i flew out to kentucky to help my buddy josh ketter move back to tulsa. that was a blast. on the way back we stayed the night in nashville and got to hear some great local music, as well as eat some of the best bbq i've ever tasted. we also got hit on by what i would guess were 40 year old nurses from arizona (ketter was thrilled), but they just ended up being really friendly (and really drunk). the next day was still fun even though most of it was spent driving. we went through memphis, little rock...well i guess that was it. but yeah the trip was a blast and jared, mateo and slay made it even more fun. thanks for the good times guys.

the only thing that kind of sucked which i didn't really share with anyone as we were heading out for kentucky was i got a phone call from my sister at the airport. she told me my aunt (my moms sister) had died. she was fighting cancer like my mom did and passed away. its a hard thing to hear someone you love crying and saying that they're glad that our mom got to meet her sister at the gates of heaven. ya know, i believe in healing, i do, but i do not fully understand it, nor will i ever claim to. to be quite honest i believe there are a lot more people who die then are healed on most occasions, and i'm talking about people standing in faith for they're healing. maybe i'm wrong, and i hope i am, but it seems like i've seen a lot of it lately. when the doctor told my aunt she had cancer her response to him was that she was already healed by the stripes of jesus. she believed God, quoted scriptures, declared the Word, confessed it, believed it, fought doubt and died with my uncle praying she'd rise from the dead. all i know is this - God is a good God. he didn't kill my aunt, but she also wans't healed. i don't understand it, but i believe the Bible. i believe physical healing is real and is for today, but i don't fully understand it.

anyways, after the kentucky trip we flew down to mississipi for my aunt's funeral. my dad preached at it, and honestly it was the perfect message. after the burial site however, we noticed a storm coming in and we all started driving back to my uncles. on the way back we had to take shelter at a quizno's because the storm had developed into a tornado. in fact i later found out from my sister and cousins that it started forming about 100 feet in front of their car. they sped off the first exit and took shelter in retail store. car window's got blown out, trees were laying everywhere, but fortunately no one died.

now were safe back in tulsa, my uncle and cousins are actually doing better, ebay has reallly been picking up for us, and hopefully the weather will start to change to something warmer. pictures are of the weather in mississippi, ladies backwindshield that got blown out while we took shelter, trees that feel on the roads and buildings, actuall picture of the tornado my sister saw, what it must be like for people who live in kentucky (there is nothing there....no seriously), and a day's worth of packages for ebay (business is picking up), and video i took of us all inside quiznos (notice my dad in the background completely unbothered by the fact we might die, and is more concerned with his vegtable sub being made right).

March 25th

2008-03-26T01:49:00.000-05:00

(iPod - The Click Five - Just the Girl)

everytime someone asks me lately what i've been up to i notice that my response for about the last 2 months has been - "ebay". i have to admit its been a lot lately, but worth buying the lear jet on tuesday - oh glory! no actually i'm in the process of looking to buy another stand up jet ski for this summer. last summer i bough a sit down and a 1990 stand up. the stand up died by the end of the summer, but i also got to realize how much i loved it. so now i'm on the prowl for a good kawasaki (i wonder if their an american company). picture is of downtown and how my cat rolls.

my dad and roseanne were in this weekend, so that was a blast getting to see them and hang out. we were enjoying 70 degree weather while chicago got almost a foot of snow. i think i would like snow better if it was a warmer substance, like if it snowed pink cotton candy or something...boy that's an acid trip waiting to happen. which is why i've never done drugs, except for peptobismal, which also happens to be pink...goodnight.

March 19th

2008-03-20T00:51:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Augustana - Sweet and Low)

today is the best day of my life. well...ok first was salvation day, then probably wedding day (and night), but today probably at least cracks the top 2000. why you ask?

because....augustana's ep is out! i've been waiting for quite a while now, and even though there cd isn't out yet i just bought the 3 song release on itunes. oh-my-go-shh. its amazing. and just for your entertaining pleasure i've included their new release as the first video. the second video is the hit that took them to stardom which you've probably heard - boston. i think i may have actually met these guys once at greenville while visiting matt. i'm not sure but i hope it happened.

March 16th

2008-03-16T22:22:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Norah Jones - Don't Know Why)

i just finished watching no country for old men. we heard it was good from someone at blockbuster so we decided to rent it. its rated r, but its for violence and a little bit of language. we sit down and it starts off pretty good, then it gets better, and better, and better and then...ends. it built up to be the dumbest movie i've seen in a while. and guess what? it won a ton of academy awards!

i have therefore come to this conclusion, if a movie wins an acedemy award - then i am probably going to hate it. i get the creativity that goes into it, and that its not your usual film because it ends differently, but that still doesn't make it good. and while i'm on the topic of the left wing academy awards, i find it odd (well not really) that they raved and praised broke back mountain, but didn't want to even acknowledge passion of the christ - the highest grossing movie of all time. the reason? they said that passion of the christ was too controversial. right...and homosexuality isn't controversial at all. whatever, the producers of the acedmy awards are just gay - gay as in they're stupid and gay as in they're gay.

picture is of me performing for american idol (not really), and a moth in camo on daniel's tie.

March 8th

2008-03-08T18:16:00.000-06:00

(iPod - Killswitch Engage - My Curse)

so i finally got a copy to put up on the blog. this is the commercial that's been running on tv locally here. i didn't even know the day that it started airing until i had about 10 people come up to me in 2 days and tell me they saw me on tv. it was fun doing this one. by the way the car salesman is the same guy from the top gun motors video from a previous post.

yesterday was josh coy's birthday so we all went to pf changs to celebrate. night ended with everyone watching rescue dawn at our place. gosh i love christian bale, can't wait for batman to come out.

March 6th

2008-03-07T01:41:00.000-06:00

(iPod - Boys Like Girls - The Great Escape)

only appropriate to be posting this at almost 2 in the morning. i think i'm gona try some of the tips. found out today that i'm going to be in an easter video for our church, that should be fun.

went to barnes and nobles tonight and chilis (mmm, i love chilis). i swear for some reason this year i have been hit on by more network marketing people then i have in my entire life. i always know its them too because you'll be in a very public place and suddenly this complete stranger wants to start up a conversation with you. now i know this is the south and people are friendly, but when your browsing investing books and a guy compliments your shoes (without a gay lisp), followed by a question if i would like to make residual income, i can pretty much rest assured that he's not talking about a way to put money in berkshire hathaway (only people who read the wall street journal probably get that...and my dad). apparently if you've ever walked down the business isle at barnes or borders, even accidentally, then your a prime target for these guys that are making a lot of money, but drive an aries.

let me clear something up here. if you're thinking about doing network marketing don't. here's why. have you ever wondered why all the people who have supposedly become financially free through network marketing never stop working, all the while claiming that they keep working because they love it? (yes ben, i have wondered) well here's why - you can't stop working! the rate of people dropping out of these pyramids is greater then the people getting into them (think egyptian real estate around the exodus), in turn mr. residual income has to work his tail off to keep putting people in under people who are already in so they don't drop out. you see if the people at the bottom aren't making money then they drop out, which makes the people above them not make any money and drop out, which makes the people above them...get the picture?

that's my rant on mlm. if you wana make some real money go work at mcdonalds. seriously. not only will you be making people happy, like me at the drive-thru at breakfast time, but if you work at mickiedees for 3 years you get the right to own them as a franchise. do you know what the most successful franchise in the history of the world is? do you know that not one mcdonalds in the entire company's history has ever had to close down because of failing business? did you know ray kroc (the founder) said, "i'm not in the hamburger business, i'm in the real estate business". which is why every mcdonalds you see is located in a high traffic spot for it to do business.

this was a long post, now i want mcdonalds.

March 3rd

2008-03-03T19:17:00.000-06:00

(iPod - Snow Patrol - Chocolate)

weekend was a blast. got to see my sis, and matt. they left this morning for the long drive back to chicago. matt and i talked though and were planning a trip up to chicago (for me) then to columbus, ohio for one of jared's games, then possibly down to washington d.c to visit devin.

video is of a recent fight jared had, check out that first punch! :)

March 1st

2008-03-01T19:35:00.000-06:00

(iPod - The Wonders - That Thing You Do)

matt and andrea are driving in right now. they should be here sometime late tonight, good thing i didn't go to the mute math concert after all.

i've been reading dave ramsey's book called the total money makeover. its got really good advice in it. went bowling last night (and tied claire) then went to rodrick's house and watched a transvestite named eddie izzard try and do stand up comedy. asides from having a little bit of throw up come up in my mouth i couldn't understand anything he was even saying. speak english - the american kind, not this "i say, shall we get a spot o tea?"

picture is from california at laguna beach.

February 23rd

2008-02-23T18:16:00.000-06:00

(iPod - I Nine - 7 Days of Lonely)

whew, just finished putting up about 47 listings on ebay, i'm whiped, or whipped i'm not sure which. wiped? is this even a word? going to go meet the boys here in a bit for some dinner, and then i'm not sure what the rest of the night is going to be. enjoy the weekend everyone.

oklahoma sunsets are beautiful - this is God's country.

February 21st

2008-02-22T01:02:00.000-06:00

(iPod - 30 Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday)

okay, so i really did not intend for this picture to turn out this creepy, but then i remembered how mothman prophesies made jared dampen his pants and i went with it (just kidding jared...don't hurt me). ketter is back in town and it was a lot of fun seeing him again tonight, and i found out awesome news tonight. ketter's moving back in 3 weeks! leave it to capt. "i'm tired - can i use this blanket (seems to work well) move" to not announce to anyone until the last possible second that he's coming to town. well reguardless its good to have you back buddy, now we just have to work on trey to quit trying to make contracts with the government for weapons and move back to tulsa (lobbyist).

music video is of my new favorite band 30 seconds to mars (although i could do without the guyliner). i thought this music video was extremely creative the way they did it (although some parts are very odd), so i felt the need to share. if you watch closely you can pick up pieces of other movies in the video - i.e. passion of the christ, hero, etc. pretty neat.

oh did anyone hear that blu-ray finally won out over hd-dvd? sorry toshiba. blu-ray is now offically what vhs was to betamax, except in a much more compact size and stylish look (like britney spears before children). so what does this mean for you, well nothing if you only have a dvd player like me, but if your among the 600,000 north americans who already purchased an hd-dvd player then i have good news for you - i sell crap like what you now own on ebay. call me.

February 20th

2008-02-21T01:19:00.001-06:00

(iPod - Sara Bareilles - Love Song)

so today i was tired. really tired to the point where i took an hour nap, something i almost never do. i don't really even remember much of what i did today, let's see....took packages to the post office and fed ex...put up some new listings...realized i had about a dozen missed calls on my cell phone (if your one of them i'll be in touch)...went for a walk...and played some wii (the only video game system cheri will play with me).

oh i also found out josh ketter (another missed call) is coming into town this weekend (yipee!). it should be fun and there's talk of going to see mute math and matchbox twenty either this weekend or next in okc. good times ahead for the weekend. much love, g'nite.

February 19th

2008-02-19T20:24:00.000-06:00

(iPod - 30 Seconds To Mars - The Kill (Bury Me))

lots of thoughts. first off everyone needs to check out the band listed above and the song. i'll admit it may be one of their only good hits (i don't really know), but i l-o-v-e it. what's interesting to is the lead singer is also a hollywood actor. he was the brother of nicolas cage in lord of war, which was a rated r movie with nudity in it that no one should watch...but if you did, isn't that awesome?! the brother part that is not the nudity part....anyway. i'm also thinking about going to film school somewhere eventually now. i honestly think it would be between n.y., l.a. or regent university (that's pat "stick my foot in my mouth a lot" robertson's school. no, i kid. heck, i grew up on the 700 club, but regent has an awesome film school. see, someday i'm going to make at least a couple of hollywood movies that will actually be in theaters and everything (humble i know, but its true) and i figure i should probably get some actual training in it other then just an undergrad.

my final cut pro training from one of my profs in college was basically something to the effect of "awight eweryone, jis get in der an twy to fwigure stuff owt." (he had a speech impediment, its cruel but admit it your lauging). so i'd like something a little more in depth to say the least. i just don't want to leave tulsa anytime soon, so we'll seen when this happens. i'll obviously pray about it before any final decisons, but don't worry oklahoma i'm not going anywhere soon.

in other news, we just hired a cuban (whose name I still can't write or say, so i'll just refer to him from here on out as castro) - castro to answer emails and print off labels for us. he's actually a really cool guy from miami. he told cheri and i how he actually came across the ocean from cuba on barrels lashed together. pretty amazing. but we're really excited about castro, i think he's gona do great. he was a little surprised too when we met him for the first time. cheri walked in first while i was finishing up a phone conversation in the car. i walked in and he was surprised to see i was just a little older then him, he said he thought i was going to be 40 years old which isn't saying much for cheri (gold digger). all joking aside, welcome aboard castro!

February 18th

2008-02-18T17:46:00.000-06:00

(iPod - Coldplay - Fix You)

so in relation to my february 16th post, this is the music video for the song i heard on the old navy commercial. i don't know who this girl is but more emo kids should try to model her appearance instead of the current death meets mr. t look. although i have to be fair and note that she does have two disgusting (sexy) lip piercings in the video.

i am ready for summer. january through april seems to get colder each year (al gore you liar) and sometimes i wish i had hibernating abilities much like a bear. you know that feeling, you go to sleep and 8 hours later you wake up and it felt like 20 minutes. maybe i just need to migrate more south. the problem seems to be the farther south you go the more older people become. go to florida (or God's waiting room as i like to call it) and you'll see exactly what i mean. when its not high school kids, or jose serving you breakfast at mickeedees, but elvira who just turned 92 you get the feeling that maybe where you were living wasn't so bad.

.........have a nice day.

February 17th

2008-02-17T18:30:00.000-06:00

(iPod - Eve6 - Rescue)

alright, two slightly different videos, let me explain. first is vantage point which is a movie i've been waiting a while to see, so long as its not rate arrrrrrr (stupid pirate impression) then i plan on going to the midnight showing.

the next is ann coulter on fox news talking about how she will campaign for hillary should it come down to a mccain vs. hillary election. i think the way things are shaping up as of right now obama will most likely be the democratic contender, but we'll have to wait for texas and ohio to tell us for sure. so here is my dilemma, do i (a) vote for a republican who i can't stand and is not a conservative (who may as well be running as a democrat, much as guliani should have done), (b) vote for a democrat and show the republican establishment that we want a conservative candidate and not some (stupid) maverick pretending to reach across the isle only to benefit liberal agendas, or (c) (this is the longest sentence I've ever written in my life) not vote and let the democrats win. i dunno.

here's what i'm thinking as of right now. i may be leaning on the side of ann coulter that says we need to let a democrat in for God willing only 4 years. let them do stupid things, like raise taxes, cheat on their wives (or husbands), continue to ruin the economy, etc. after four years conservatives will remember what was given to us last time (mccain) and we rally around a true conservative leader. i think this could be similar to reagan going into office after jimmy "waste of skin" carter. let me make one more point here as well for all the huckster fans out there (i'm not completely apposed to him, i like his stance on the flat tax). being a christian does not qualify you as being a conservative. i actually voted for mitt romney because when it came down to it he was the most conservative guy left in the running (other then ron paul who had a snow ball's chance in hell of being elected).

again, these are just my thoughts and i haven't even decided for sure what i'm going to do about the election, i guess we'll have to wait and see.

February 16th

2008-02-16T14:55:00.001-06:00

(iPod - Lights - February Air)

well i said about 2 months ago that i'd post this up, but this is our new place. finally a homeowner, muwahahaha (dont' mind the garbage stage center). we moved in here in december with the help of our dear friend jonathon coates - thanks for helping us lower the weight bench by shoe strings over the old balcony. it backs up to a field in the back which is nice if you enjoy scenery and barnyard animals.

we thought about maybe sending this out on a ministry newsletter and saying "thank you for your sacrificial giving", but then figured that people might think i got my own televsion show on tbn. :) no, all joking aside this is from being a dork that does ebay for a living.

in other news i heard a song on an old navy commercial that i liked a lot and listed the artist above. she's pretty good (even though she's canadian), and is currently unsigned, you can check her music out on myspace though. i've also had about 10 people come up to me this week and tell me that they saw me on tv (not tbn). apparently a commercial that i shot with some guys from our church is being used by a local car dealership in the area. i'll get a copy and post it soon it was pretty funny.

Januray 22nd

2008-01-22T17:40:00.000-06:00

(iPod - LouderMilk - Estrogen, Oxygen Aches in my Teeth Again)

i know...its pathetic. my daily photographs blog is turning more into yearly oddity that i feel like highlighting blog, but nonetheless here i am.

this video actually exploded on youtube and ebaumsworld about a week ago. my friend emmanuel actually shot the video at nordaggios and apparently this lady had been arrested before for making scenes in places.

you'll notice too that she shrinks the window on the computer and doesn't close it. she was actually writing a letter to mike huckabee warning him that black people were going to kill him. the workers found it after she left. hmmm. you would think in the south it would be white people wanting to kill obama, but who am i to speak on behalf of rednecks.

just to clarify this woman was from arkansas, not oklahoma (no offense stacey, if your reading this - go razorbacks!).

October 22nd

2007-10-22T16:30:00.001-05:00

(iPod - Dashboard Confessional - Gold Digger)

i just got in from l.a. and i'm beat. it didn't help that the flight back was full of reps from herbalife. why do network marketing people insist on annoying you? its 3 in the morning, i'm tired and the guy with cigarettes in his pocket next to me wants to tell me how i'm unhealthy if i'm not taking their supplements. well excuse me there half-a-lung but last time i checked i was avoiding anything with a surgeoun generals warning on it.

so i know i haven't been posting as much as i would like, but then again no one posts comments on my posts that i'm posting, so that's why i haven't posted many posts (save bianca).

pictures are my first ou game last week against missouri. we stomped em and it was a great game. trey's car got towed at the end of the night as you can see in the picture.

October 9th

2007-10-10T01:18:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Incubus - Digg)

well the river tax got voted down 53% to 47% for tulsa. i voted yes, but i understand why people voted no. it would've been better to just have a citywide tax instead of county wide. oh well, i guess i'll get used to the smell of dead fish while playing frisbee golf.

so tonight cheri and i went to jared's to watch richard and lindsay roberts on larry king live. none of us were sure what to expect, but apparently they were as it looked as if they had practiced what they were going to say a thousand times. they of course denied the allegations, and to their own credit cleared the air on a couple of things, but still didn't answer most questions. it looks as if their gona go down kicking and screaming on this one. i wish they'd both just step down and do the university a favor.

night ended with me watching my first and last episode of law and order ever. man talk about a violent gnasty show, just another reason why fred won't be getting my vote (go ron paul!) www.ronpaul2008.com

video above won over 35 short film awards, watch it you'll see why. :)

October 8th

2007-10-09T01:16:00.001-05:00

(iPod - Michael Buble - Comin' Home Baby)

just finished watching the karate kid. oh, the 80's.

so if you havn't heard, ORU has been in the news lately. and if you guessed for corruption and money laundering then you are right! not as if students haven't know about this for a while now, but leave it to a charismatic rock star to make all of us look like morons.

why can't we just have preachers who care more about the congregation then lining their own pockets? do we really need to have a lear jet, nice cars, mansions, and lots of cash to spend to have the favor of God? the western christian (charismatic) mindset needs to realize that there is more to the gospel then making yourself live lashily. "sure thousands are dying needlessly, but my jag just turned over 10,000 miles and that's gota stop." maybe we should look at someone being Jesus to people, like U2 helping raise awareness for africa...but wait, nevermind their not a "christian" band.

am i against money? no, i like money....a lot. and a lot o' money i do like. but if i were to start living extravegantly off of people's giving to my ministry that would be wrong. if you go make your own money from your own endevours and you want to live like a rock star then more power to you. just don't shout from the pulpit that God favors you because grandma's giving of her socail security check helped pay for your lexus.

however, let me balance that last statement by saying (*looking intently into television camera*) that i believe the Lord is showing someone right now that they are to sew a seed of a lexus(s) into ben piershale ministries. (the one with a v8, gps, leather interior, the works) you know who you are...just obey.

August 29th

2007-08-29T13:22:00.001-05:00

(iPod - The Album Leaf - The Outer Banks)

this weekend will be exciting, both my dad and sister are coming into town. i think you understand the importance of family once you get older and how much it really means.

i got to hear john bevere speak the other night and it was really challenging. God spoke to me on several different things at the meeting and i can honestly say he was by far (and ususally is) the best speaker at word explosion.

in other news, cheri and i are finally looking at purchasing our first home (yipee!). we've been renting so far, but i think we found one that we both really like. i'll try and post pics soon as well as keep this thing updated more regularly. peace be with you (and also with you).

p.s. - cheri doesn't know i posted this. :)

August 6th

2007-08-06T23:44:00.000-05:00

A standards-based browser and quicktime are required to view the video.

(iPod - John Mayer - Back To You)

ministry packets are almost done and ready to be sent out. how exciting, i'm actually getting setup as a 501c3 (no taxes) and we're doing our first crusade in november. God is good. tomorrow cheri and i shoot the final video for our ministry dvd and take pictures. ebay is going good and thank goodness july is now over. everyone is outside having fun, so no one bothers to shop online.

went to okc (that's code for "oklahoma city" for all you yankee folk) for the weekend and visited trey. we had a lot of fun just bummin around and playing ncaa football on his 50" flat screen HDTV! oh man, i coulnd't believe how clear it was, i could see every pore on jay leno's face.

in other news, i'm ready for a vacation. nothing big, just a nice little weekend getaway. suggestions? last time it was branson, which was fun, but how shall i say this?....old. maybe dallas or something.

i've been trying to tinker with adobe after effects. the above video is not mine, but is certainly inspirational. also sold the stand up jet ski yesterday after realizing i didn't want to put in the time to fix whatever's wrong with it. we still have the sit down, but i think we'll sell it next summer and upgrade. at least i got to ride it a lot this summer and figured out a new passion.

may the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

July 26th

2007-07-26T16:46:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Yellowcard - Way Away)

we finally freaking closed on this house. oh my gosh this thing took forever, but finally (on our anniversary) everything went through. by the way this isn't our house, we flipped it to another couple who wanted to live in it. cheri and i were joking that maybe next year we'll be closing on our own house. :)

in other news i think we need to get out of iraq (or at least have a time table for withdrawal). i'd like to see a republican win the 08 election, but i don't know of anyone who would really do good (other than Ron Paul who I would love to see win, but probably won't). aye well - there's always canada.

July 22nd

2007-07-22T23:24:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Story of the Year - Until The Day I Die)

today was one of those days that you just feel good to be alive. pastor george spoke about being balanced in the body of christ (something all of us charismatic folk could hear about a time or two) and how as christians we can't overemphasize just one thing. he gave an example of how some preachers will know everything about what the bible says on money. they can go a mile deep on the subject, but their view of scripture is one inch. he talked about the same thing with grace, demons, etc. we can't overemphasize on just one thing.

today i did something that i haven't done in a long time today and that's to play a game of soccer with friends. after watching david beckham the other night i guess we all felt inspired to show off our skills, so we all headed over to oru for a riveting game of "football". cubbie and cheri watched from the sidelines as i took a faceplant to the ground after having my feet swiped out from under me by jared stealing the ball.

night ended with cheri and i renting an old mel gibson movie - ransom. man that guy can act. i don't know what jared's picture is, but it accidentally came out kind of creepy looking.

July 21st

2007-07-21T22:40:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American)

today was fun. cheri and i drove around tulsa looking at the parade of homes that the city has going on. basically its lots of different builders showing off very pretty homes they've built so that they can get more exposure or have people request them to build their home. we even went through a million dollar home that was worth more like $500,000, but overall we had a lot of fun.

later that night we met up with trey, jared and josh over at the fox and hound to watch david beckhams first game playing for the u.s. it was pretty awesome watching it. galaxy almost tied (we lost by one point to england). night ended with a long walk and the cats keeping me up all night terrorizing the furniture.

July 20th

2007-07-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Jimmy Eat World - Pain)

today was interesting, josh and i went to about 10 different restaurants to see if they wanted to be on the savings card we're putting together. we got one at least! :) i told josh if he can do door to door cold sales he can do anything. its tough but once you get past the first one it starts to get kind of fun.

afterwards we decided to go swimming (again). the night ended with cheri and i going to barnes and noble and being blown away at how many kids were dressed up like witches and wizards (the new harry potter book came out tonight). no pics on that since i forgot my camera, but boy it was sad. nothing like teaching your kid about witchcraft at such a young age. met up with trey and jonathan at carabas where i had two girls staring at me. i stared back and kind of embarrassed them. i thought they were just being goofy, but i later realized that i think they recongnized me from the church drama this past sunday. oops. cheri and i got home and watched the pelican brief - great classic movie.

pictures are of josh thinking he's awesome and the original photo of me from below.

July 19th

2007-07-20T01:53:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Future of Forestry - All I Want)

today i got to hang out with a person i've been getting to know better lately - chris munch. he's my drama director at church on the move and an all around great guy. i have to admit i was almost star struck by him the first time i met him since i used to show all of his videos at youth group. when you get to know him though you realize he's a normal person to, but just really funny.

the attached video is one that chris did for oneighty a couple of years ago, i almost died laughing the first time i saw it. i think the original song is by a group called the imperials, but the idea is what would happen if a praise band followed you around as the soundtrack to your life.

the picture of me is either demonic, the next installment of super villians for spiderman 4, or what the ninja turtles would have really looked life if they lived in a sewer.

July 18th

2007-07-18T15:07:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Saosin - It's Far Better To Learn)

so my underwater casing for my digital camera finally came! water proof to 16 feet and it only cost 30 bucks. josh coy and i tested the durability of it in the local apartment pool and i'm glad to report there is no leakage.......anyways...

today felt like i got a lot done, or at least cheri got a lot done and i felt good that she accomplished so much for the both of us. i'm still sore from taking the jet ski's out, but i'm getting better. now with my handy dandy casing i'll post pics soon of everyone out at the lake.

remember to vote for ron paul! www.ronpaul2008.com

July 17th

2007-07-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla)

back by popular demand i have decided to start up the blog again. hopefully this time i actually intend to keep it going. what i will try and be posting is pictures, videos and basically anything else that i find creative.

i actually just finished shooting a commercial on sunday for this car dealership and this was one of the other ones they had already done. the used car salesman is actually my church drama director chris munch. enjoy.

April 15

2007-04-16T01:53:00.000-05:00

(iPod - John Mayer - Back To You)

church was good today. we had our basketball game at 5 today and we won. i got some good steals and rebounds, but no shots. tim was finally there today so that helped (he set the all time 3 point record for ORU basketball). off to mazzios afterwards. i also found out that kyle and steven have myspace accounts. we're now offically friends...or at least when steven approves me.

everyone met at Kaffe Bona (as usual) for a game of Cash Flow on my compter then back to my house for a bonfire. coy had a lady friend there tonight. i can't remember her name, but i think she's from turkey or something. the picture of satan above is actually trey...just to clarify.

April 14

2007-04-15T01:23:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Lovedrug - Happy Apple Poison)

today was borrrring. i felt really bad because cheri was finishing up taxes and I ended up hanging around the house trying to be helpful but not doing anything. i faxed a paper for her, I guess that counts for something. so taxes are finally taken care of - thank God for Turbo Tax.

we got a bite to eat at P.F. Changs tonight and then I went hot tubbing over at Jared's with everyone. i also just found out some sad news tonight, Ketter is moving in 2 weeks to Kentucky. apparently he got the job with Amazon and they need him there soon. man, i'm really going to miss him.

April 13

2007-04-13T23:49:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Lovedrug - Thieving)

one of the best feelings in the world is discovering a band that is extremely talented but also not well known. i bought Lovedrug's album the other day on itunes and I haven't stopped listening to it. funny thing is they came to Judson College while I was going to school there, but I didn't go to their concert, oh well my loss.

so last night I thought either a burglar, demon or an untimely santa clause came in through my balcony door. we had a big storm last night, which means cubbie sleeps in the bed, and apparently I didn't latch the door to our balcony shut all the way. needless to say I awoke to Cheri telling me she thinks someone came in the house. sweet, i'm going to go around my house in my boxers with a baseball bat hoping to find someone. maybe I'll find some other guy in his underwear with a ball. :) we found out the wind must have blown it open, so as I went to shut it I found my cat on the railing of the balcony apparently contemplating suicide. we got ezra in and then worried that maybe titus had already jumped, fortunately we found him in the living room.

up early to meet our new realtor we'll probably be working with, and then a vegetarian sandwich for lunch (i'm trying to cut back on the McDonald's). night ended with me beating cheri (that sounded bad) at two games of Cash Flow at Kaffe Bona. man, that game is addicting. now its off to watch the patriot at 12:00 A.M....i really need to get on a better time schedule.

April 7

2007-04-08T00:08:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Good Charlotte - Break Apart Her Heart)

tonight was a lot of fun. i love seeing U2 in concert...just kidding, that's actually the stage at my church. :) Ho yeah! i was curious what Church on the Move would have for the easter service, and like expected it was nothing short of amazing.

right now we seem to have this arena rock theme going on with the message series that pastor george is doing. i love it. it also made it more special because my dad and roseanee got to come to church with us tonight. and yes we sometimes attend church on saturday night...are you keeping the sabbath?

April 6

2007-04-07T01:50:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Coldplay)

a fun thing for me is to introduce people who are close to me to each other. today I got to introduce my dad and roseanne to all the wonderful friends I've made down here. we had a blast today hanging around CityPlex and just talking to friends. i think sometimes conversation can be one of the most fun things to do. picture is of ORU from the view of CityPlex.

after CityPlex, we had dinner at Cheri's parents, which is always good. we all got onto the topic of gold dust and feathers appearing in church services. to be honest its a bit for me to stomach, but God can work anyway he wants to. my pastor joked about a woman in the 70's who used to place feathers on peoples shoulders when she'd pray for them until finally a camera caught her doing it. it was actually a goose feather. that's why its the Holy Ghost not the Holy Goose. :)

all I know is God is awesome and He can do whatever he wants. incidentaly if the Lord is reading this you can feel free to drop a gold bar in my Bible at any church service you please. wouldn't that be awesome! you would have the biggest turnouts to here you preach! forget about gold dust, Ben Piershale's got gold bars falling in his meetings!

night ended with a free Chai at Kafe Bona (thank you whole punch card) and the end of Braveheart at Trey's. you know I've seen the ending of Braveheart about 8 times, but I've never seen the rest of the movie. aye well.

April 5

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

(iPod - Sigur Ros - Saeglopur)

today I got to do something that I haven't done in a long time, we visited Ponca City. its the small town in northern oklahoma where I grew up. it was really pretty nostalgic just going through and seeing all of the spots where I grew up. roseanne and cheri got kinda bored, but my dad and I loved it.

this is a shot of my dad at the spillway at a park I grew up at. good times and good memories.

April 4

2007-04-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

(iPod - The Goo Goo Dolls - Here is Gone)

my dad and roseanne finally got in today at 11:30 at night. oh well, good talks and a late dinner at IHOP made it all worth it.

today was a bad day for cubbie. we used to take him to the local vet to get groomed (critter cuts), but last time cheri went in to get him they said he couldn't come back anymore. apparently he can be pretty onery if he's getting groomed and he just tends to pee on everything and everyone to spite them.

this is the result of cheri buying clippers and always having a dream of being a beautician. cubbie is in therapy, please pray.

April 3

2007-04-04T01:48:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Joy Williams - Run)

finally made an offer on a house. cheri and I were calling about another property that a bank owned and found out that they had a list of foreclosures in our area. we found this one and it met all of our criteria, now we just have to wait to see if our offer gets accepted. if it does I'll own my first home without ever living in it...is that odd?

night ended with late night conversations with coates in the living room. coates, if your reading this I really like talking to you, even thought I sometimes fall asleep while doing it.

April 2

2007-04-03T01:27:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Josh Groban - Oceano)

starbucks with coy - also known as coffee with a Canadian. thanks for the pose Coy, no doubt Abercrombie Kids will come knocking down your door for a contract. :)

after starbucks cheri, josh and I all met up with everyone else again for tenderly delcious Buffalo Wild Wings. in case anyone is wondering the wings are chicken not buffalo. just clarifying that since I actually had to explain it to a blonde once.

April 1

2007-04-02T00:56:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Augustana - Sunday Best)

i...am...tired. got up at 7:30, performed for both services this morning, went home and slept for an hour, headed back to church for the basketball game only to find that we had six guys total...i felt like I was going into cardiac arest on the floor. afterwards we went to celebrate our 9 point loss at Mazzio's where the staff is oh so friendly (sarcasm). cheri and I found 12 more junkers, met up with trey, coy and jared at Pai Wei and then went to Night at the Museum at the dollar theater.

speaking of the dollar theater - i honestly think only my friends and I were speaking english. guess what people this is America, learn the language. if you want to come here legally wonderful! but illegals are taking up jobs, not paying taxes and turning once nice places into ghetto crime ridden areas, believe me I just drove through a lot of these neighborhoods earlier tonight.

and speaking of illegal immigration, I just want to say that I am for building a wall between here and Mexico (props to Ross Perot for the idea). i would seriously be willing to pay considerably more taxes to get that baby up. i think actually we should build two walls and on the second wall it should say "Wall #2 of 50". that way any illegal immigrant would think that if we're crazy enough to build two walls that we probably built 50. :)

March 31

2007-03-31T04:53:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - The Ataris - Boys of Summer)

tonight was my first time ever to take the stage at Church on the Move. i made the drama team about a month back and got called to perform for all four services this weekend. what a blast. i'm really starting to meet all sorts of cool and interesting people at my church and I'm grateful for it. i have never seen a church as organized as COTM. i didn't realize everything that goes into pulling off one of their services but man, its a lot of work. they practice from 2-5 on saturday, then do the 5:00 service and the 7:00 service. the next day they're at the church at 8 to do the 9:00 and 11:00 service. those guys are commited, but it pays off huge when the service is actually underway.

i called on some of the junker homes that Cheri and I found. one lady threatened to call the police on me if I called her again...so I did. :) i'm really having fun learning about a new area of business. after the services tonight we met up with Coy at Starbucks and then met everyone else over at Buffalo Wild Wings in Broken Arrow. if you are reading this and you have never been to Buffalo Wild Wings, you NEED to go. its amazing.

night ended with a walk and its up early tomorrow at 7:30 for the other two services. now if I only wasn't going to bed at 3:00...

March 30

2007-03-31T00:13:00.000-05:00

(iPod - Goo Goo Dolls - What a Scene)

tonight my life was changed forever. my friend Josh just passed the CPA exam, which from what I understand is very difficult to do. he wanted to celebrate by taking six of us to the nicest steak house in town. i did not know that he was going to pay for all of us. i ordered an 8 oz. steak and I could not believe how good it tasted. let's just say we all owe Josh for about the next two years.

lame picture I know, but its all I got.

oh, and the guy in the back farthest from the camera was Mr. Oklahoma. :)

March 29

2007-03-30T01:49:00.000-05:00

(iTunes - Hillsong London)

blogging at almost 3 in the morning, this can't be good. i finally got to experience my first real good Oklahoma storm today! man it was intense. garbage cans were flying down the street, cubbie was going crazy, the rain was pounding against the house and I loved it! you almost forget what those are like when you haven't lived here in a while.

if you don't know, this picture is of the skyscrapers that Oral Roberts built. it used to be called the City of Faith and was actually a christian hospital, but now it mainly serves as a huge office complex. the building itself has always fascinated me though. it blows me away to see a 60 story skyscraper with two side buildings almost equally as tall that were completely built by fundraising - amazing. just for note - the three buildings (one of which is not pictured) are supposed to be the exact dimensions of Noah's ark. the length, width and height are what the different buildings are. you start to understand why it took over 100 years building that sucker by hand. :)

today was just a good ol relaxing day. we went to cheddars with some friends and had a guy named Matt try and witness to Trey in the bathroom. we all thought trey was having the bowl movement of his life, but apparently it was a divine appointment. matt is attending rhema bible school and told Trey that he has a heart for India and youth...hmmm. i think he's coming with us in November. always so cool to see God placing the right people in your path for his purposes. jonathon and I played way to much Halo tonight, although I have to admit he's getting better, maybe one day he can aspire to be like someone I know who places more significance on their Xbox ranking then what their GPA was in college...i can't say who that is though. :)