How is it a CD can take you back?

I just got back from a good night at youth, even with the weather it was a good crowd of kids. I just sat down and started playing the very first CD that I ever bought, Pearl Jam: Vs (1993). Actually I'm listening to the mp3's I downloaded recently. It sounds as good as I remember.

It's funny because I can remember listening to that CD for the first time very distinctly. I had just saved up and bought a CD player, I plotted for months on how I could save the money to buy one. I did all the research spent $40 bucks on a CD player you could get today for maybe $10. For any seventh grader with his first CD player the pressing question is what CD should you buy first? My taste in music wasn't quite as refined as it is now, but I still managed to pick a great CD. I probably chose it because I saw alot of Pearl Jam T-shirts at school. So I bought my first CD, Vs. It must have been the weekend because I was sleeping downstairs by the stove, we had a wood burner then, and listened to the entire CD. I remember reading all of the lyrics, checking out all the pictures on the cover. I was blown away by this new sound, these new ideas. Simply beautiful. There is no one with a voice like Eddie Vedder, no one.

I'll leave any readers that I may still have with a clip from one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs, Daughter. Enjoy.

For JJ

Taken at about 10:30pm. Just for JJ.

Holy Cow

Fall Countdown

Here's video I made to kick off things at The Alley this weekend. If anyone is interested you can check out more videos at youtube.com/captinchip302

What would Seth do to get his lunch card back?

A couple of new videos

Here are a couple of new videos that I've done. Check them out. I'm most proud of the music.

Scavenger Hunt

We did the annual Scavenger Hung at church last Sunday night. There were over 200 pictures to go thru afterward but I did pick the most creative. Check it out.


What makes this picture so great is something you can't see. Ryan drew in a little Duddley Doright mustache. Classic.

Recovery

I went to the chairopractor yesterday and he "fixed" me. I say "fixed" because I know I'm better than I was, but I'm still not good. I still grimace when I'm getting up and down and Karyn is still waiting on me hand and foot. She's been very good to me, but I suspicious that she may expect me to treat her the same when she's sick. I don't know about that.

I was hoping to take tomorrow off to test out my new meat smoker but I can't do that since I've already missed some work this week. Some time soon though. When I do it'll be a feast.

Getting old

Over the weekend at my office they did some remodeling. When I came in on Monday morning there were walls missing, furniture rearranged, and dust over everything. The word on the street is we're getting new furniture in the near future. Until then however we've got the old stuff.

So yesterday I was attempting to put my desk back to a state of normalcy and I decided that I would lift heavy things by myself. I had just picked up one piece of furniture about a foot off the ground when my back suddenly disagreed with the action that I was taking. I dropped the now incredibly heavy object and proceeded to walk around like an old man. I ended up going home early yesterday and today I'm laying around thinking that I wished my back would stop hurting. I'm going to the doctor today, maybe he'll give me some magic pills to stop the pain.....we'll see.

JJ's Baptism

Yesterday afternoon I got to be a part of a great milestone for JJ. JJ came to church camp this year and was incredible, especially since it was his first year. Shortly after he told me he wanted to be baptized, but he wanted to wait until his cast came off because he wanted all of him to be baptized. So on Sunday night I saw him and asked if he still wanted to get baptized. He said yes and we decided to do it the next night. JJ's family and some friends came out and it was incredible. The afternoon was perfect. JJ truly is a great person and I'm so excited to see what the future holds for him. Below are a few pictures from the baptism.

JJ and I (Karyn didn't tell me she was taking a picture)

Matching Chaco's how cute.

JJ trying to decide if he trusted me.

The warm embrace

Dolly Sods

A few weeks ago Karyn and I went camping at Dolly Sods and hiked a couple of trails. Below are a few pictures from the Sods. It was a great weekend. We both want to go back soon, maybe we'll catch it again in the fall.

Profile with the sunset

Look out for the bombs

The Sunset

Karyn at the overlook

The campsite

At Bear Rocks

graduation

So I'm sitting in graduation right now. As normal tha Army squeezes 10 minutes into 2 hours. How anything ever gets done I'll never know. I'll be home in about 29 hours and counting. I can't wait.

Nor'easter?

I'll let you guys decide. It's been snowing all day. We're supposed to get 10 inches today. I'm routing for a white out.

Closing in

I'm closing in on the end of my stay here. I'm certainly not gonna miss this place. I've got a few pictures from Boston that I'll post soon. I gotta keep you coming back for more.

stuck

So I'm stuck on the train going into Boston. We've been sitting here for about 30 minutes. They said another train to pull us the rest of the way to Boston was on it's way. The picture is a girl that's stuck with me. I've been keeping her brother and sister entertained (well trying to). Well one little boy offered me $20,000 for my phone. I'm out.

unChristian

I'd like to give you a few quotes from unChristian, but that will have to come later. The premise of the book is that Christianity has an image problem. When you mention the word Christain most people's negative perceptions are hypocrtical and antigay. Whether that's true or not that's the preception that we have with what the Barna Group calls "outsiders." It taints people's view of Christian and Christianity. Do you think Charles Barkley has an unChristian view of Christianity?

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day folks. I don't get to spend it with my first love, I do however get to spend it with my second love the Mountaineers. They're currently beating Rutgers, but the game's not over yet. I went to class at 7am today and left at 7:30pm tonight. That's a long day. Especially when you're looking at document reference numbers.


I took a couple of pictures the other day of Jefferson's car so that you guys can get the full affect from My Crazy Day. Now don't get me wrong I'm not knocking Jefferson's car. It's just that this isn't the most ideal vehicle to travel through NYC. I'd prefer maybe a black Lincoln with tinted windows and a driver named Charlie. You know something classy.

I'm considering going to see The Blue Man Group. They perform regularly in Boston and it looks like I may get a day or two off. I'll probably just go by myself, but if any one wants to come up here and go with me let me know. I'd kinda like to just go and explore the city a little bit. I think it'd be fun.

I'm almost half way through my time up here and I'm looking forward to getting back home. It'll sure be nice to sleep in my bed again. Karyn might be completely moved in by then though so I might be staying with my parents for a few weeks before we get married.

One more thing for the 4 people who actually read this. I've been rolling around Galatians 4:8-11. Any thoughts? Specifically "not that you know God, but the God knows you." I love it and don't fully understand it at the same time. Use the comments folks.

The Search Continues

So I think that I've finally lighted somewhere when it comes to this car search. I've been changing my mind every 5 seconds. I really want to go with a 5 door Subaru Impreza (it's a wagon basically). It's got all wheel drive, and it gets reasonable gas mileage. I'm a little fickle when it come to stuff like this, so I'm looking for a little feed back. Take a look and tell me what you think.

For the creative folks

For all you creative folks out there you may want to check out this great blog. John Chandler has encouraged me to become more creative. For me that means getting a handle on all the things I've got going on simultaneously. Check it out.

Honeymoon

Everytime that I talk to Karyn she reminds me that it's only 47 more days (or whatever the count may by on the day) until she becomes Mrs Chip Bennett. She is very excited, and so am I. I would have to admit though I'm much more excited to be married than to get married. The getting married part comes with choosing colors, wedding favors, and menu's. How should we decorate this? Who's going to do that? It's alot of planning for one day. I'm proud to say that I've been involved in plenty of those desicions. I'm happier to say that Karyn has been wonderful and taken care of most of the things I could care less about. The part of the wedding planning that I care most about however is the honeymoon.

We've been blessed with a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. When we were in the decision making process and Mexico came up I knew that any resort area that we went to in Mexico was likely to be surronded by poverty. I didn't like the thought of being the rich American that spends more on a plane ticket to get there than some people make in a year. So I started researching and found an organization called CompassioNetImpact ran by a guy named Ric Lehman. I got in touch with him and asked if we could connect with the things that he was doing while we were down there. He was more than willing to help us out. So while we're enjoying our honeymoon we're also going to get a chance to jump in and get a little dirty helping with Ric's minstry. We're not sure exactly what we'll be doing because we'll see what the needs for the day are and just kinda jump in. When I first started searching for an organization that works with the poverty stricken in the area I wasn't looking for a Christain organization. It makes me happy however that people doing good in world are driven by the love of Christ.

At our reception Karyn and I plan on taking up donations that we would give directly to Ric and his ministry. If you want to give and aren't going to be at our reception get in touch with me and we'll work something out.

You can check out some of Ric photo's of Puero Vallarta here.