holidays

I have found it is a bit difficult to find time to blog over the break. It is not that I couldnt get away, but time with family is what it is, thus, I do not have much to blog about for now. We have spent time with Natalie's family since Christmas and head to Keller tomorrow. Christmas was great and christmas eve at zbc was good too. I hope you all have had great times and I will definitely write again in a few days.
Sorry, nothing clever and witty to say, check someone else out for that this week.
peace
chris

away

i have been away from internet access for a while, but judging by the comments, you are either not there or dont care. either way, doesnt matter to me right now. I have had a great week and been very busy. Off to hurricanes hockey practice with a few kids today and maybe i will update tomorrow.
things of interest in the last week:
Dave matthews "driven" on vh1
Blue Christmas: Sheryl Crow vs Elvis versions
canes win twice
Duke spanks the Longhorns, whoo hoo!!
Duke beats smart kids from New Jersey (princeton)
live Nativity Pageant gose well
Christmas eve at Zebulon Baptist
and
Ahos travel on Christmas.

I will try to be back tomorrow.
Happy Holidays from chris and natalie to you all

I have been meaning to say: I am really excited abou the new GTO. I know that most of you who read this dont care much about cars, but this is going to be a great car. It is definitely on my wish list.
I also know full well that is kinda looks like a Grand Am and other typical sport compacts, but this car will blow Paul Walker and his 2fast2furious kids out of the water. Kudos to pontiac and the new GTO

Current listening: Coldplay at helios over the speakers, oops, just stopped, time for a change

the first time again

Well, I am headed to my first Duke Basketball game of the year tonight. We play Princeton and I will be among the Cameron Crazies. I will not be blue, in a speedo, or streaking tonight, just cheering while our smart kids beat the really smart, unpaid atheltes from Princeton. It is on ESPN2 at 730 eastern so you all should tune in. There is an interesting story about the rivalry on the duke athletics page if you want to read. I will be sure to let you know how it goes. Go DUKE.

sports credit

although I hate to have to do it, I congradulate the Eagles on the win last night. Ben is a big Eagles fan and though I am a Dolphins Fan, I am glad he is happy.

It is unfortunate that we cannot win in December. I am hoping that either the wheel of Karma will come back around some day. The other possibility is that we have the curse fo the perfect season: we slod out to the devil to get 1972 and it will never happen again. Oh well, at least we can enjoy every month of football except December and January.

Good Bye Coach Maurice


Hello Coach Laviolette

Our Carolina Hurricanes fired our coach yesterday. Coach Maurice had been here for 9 years and was a great guy and class act. Unfortuantely, he couldn't get the team to score goals. Hopefully our new coach will spark something so we can get back to the playoffs and make another Stanley Cup run. Go canes.

update

I am here and have had nothing really to blog about. I edited saturdays blog because whoever runs that site asked me to. I will blog more soon when I have time. I dont get internet at home becuase I am poor and I go to Helios Coffee Company to use their free access. The community and coffee are also good. I also need to correct fo my liturgical friends: Last sunday was the candle of joy in worship, not hope. I mis-wrote because we were off on the first sunday of advent, hope Sunday.
Current Listening: ESPN Radio in the car as I mooch off of someone's wireless modem.
Current reading: this blog.

saturday

Well, I worked all morning on getting stuff ready at church for a Live Nativity Pageant that the youth do every couple of years. Then I came to helios to do some research and got disappointed when I skimmed the blogs. The guy whose blog is about gay stuff seems really angry. Certainly i dont know his situation but he seems wrapped up in being a kappa sig and in making fun of people. Then I went a little too far with the reference below, I apologize, I am sure it is accepted, and we dont want smut here, there is already too much of that on the net, thanks for keeping me straight.

edited by request...

And Finally, since I have just about grossed you out to the point of mush and upset stomach, I am having a great Advent and I am really excited about Christmas. I really hope you are too. The weather has been great here is Raleigh and I have had a good amount of stuff to do that has been both productive and interesting. My prayers are with you all as we light the candle of hope tomorrow in worship. Peace to you all, and heres to happy blogging.

ps if you want to see irate carl or whoever it is, click here.
aho

1/2 the mass speaks

Ben wants another picture, so here is one and here is a like to more. Just remember, if it is racy, sofy-porn you want, I think VH1 has the Fabulous life of the Hilton Sisters on again tonight and E! has Celebrities uncensored. Me, I Got a christmas party tonight. Whoo Hoo!!!

Playing again

I am playing with my blog again. I changed the font and I like it. I cant figure out a lot of it. It is as if I am speaking a different language with someone and can only recognize 2 words of each sentence. I can spot colors, and fonts a little but it is all trial and error.

What prompted me to write is that Helios is playing Fiona Apple. Does anyone know what happened to her. This CD that is playing is great. In know it was one of those that just dabbled on the fringe of pop music for a little while, like when pop likes to get artistic, but the CD is really good for me at least. It is not just the few popular songs. Oh well, gone like the rest of them.

Check out my brothers blog, it just started, but when he gets his comments up, let him know what you think. peace

playing with my blog

one of my favorite lines from Tommy Boy is when Tommy is in his boat reminiscing about his dad who use to say...you know the rest. it aint bad, but i dont see it fit to print. Well, i have been playing with my blog, for about 40 minutes which is entirely too long for today so I am gonna "quit playing with my blog." Do you like the new colors? let me know. I will try to play again sometime. I know that I may now have the ugliest blog ever, but at least it is not the standard peasoup green. i hate peasoup, but the color is ok.
chris

weekend update

Its monday and I am back at Helios to do email, check on my silly fantasy hockey team, and blog for the two of you that read this. (i always say two of you, there may be more, but i don't want to be pretentious). We did lots of church stuff this weekend since we like church and I work at church. The youth Christmas Party was Saturday night and it was enjoyable. thirty-something youth and some adults. We had it at a cabin (thank you Estes) that could cook steak for 50 in 15 minutes, it was like texas. The present exchange went well with BOjangles "boBucks" being the popular item. The scandalous item was a red thong and the glow in the dark football and $5bill were also popular.

The Grammy Award Nominations came out this weekend too. I spent a considerable amout of car time listening to my previously mentioned OutKast CD. I think it is one of the most entertaining cds I have bought recently. It makes me dance, think, sing, and smile. I like it. It even has some guitar effects that you might not think of on a hiphop album. Hurray for outkast and their 6 nominations.

That being said, I still love Dave Matthews, Dave Crowder and all of the other rock stuff that has helped me love music. I am not a music snob, I dont really have time, though I might like to be. Actually, my favorite song of the season is Robert Earl Keens Merry Christmas from the Family. Enjoy it.

Finally, On Friday, I spend a bunch of time with Free Bird. I really like this book and reccomend it. I have 30 pages left, but it is definitely worth the read. It is easy to read and interesting. You can choose to put on your thinking cap or you can choose not to and still enjoy. Go buy it, or check it out of your local library and support a Baylor Guy. peace

friday

its friday and i have not done much..nothing worth capitalizing or punctuating for.
i am trying to finish free bird becuase i am enjoying it and becuase i have others i want to start.
have a great weekend to all, or both of you...peace chris

meet the teacher

I had a first today. I went and met one of my teachers.

I have had Dr. Amy Laura Hall for three semesters and I thought I should go and talk with her. Everyone always said you should go talk to your professors but I never did. I never really had much to talk about I guess. But today, I did it.

I feel good about it. I am actually going to do an independent reading class with her next semester on Soren kierkegaard. Others may join in too, but I feel like this is a step. I actually talked to a teacher other than Buddy Gilchrest, Jeter Basden, or David Slover. Rock on.

update to link

the advent link for the devotional is here:
Followingthestar.org
The site was not up on monday when i was blogging. thanks for your interest and happy devotional-ing

funeral.

Below I make reference to a funeral I went to yeaterday. I actually went to a catholic funeral mass for a family member of a church member. The mass was nice. It was cool to be a part of a catholic service and not just write it off as wierd or ritual or old. I really could appreciat the liturgy and reverence that was present. It certainly was not as "personal" as a typical funeral service but we did talk about Jesus more than the deceased, which is always good.

I wish my best and prayers for the Moore family in the loss of their mother, grandmother, wife, etc...Katherine.

And, when you get a chance, stop by a catholic service for worship sometime, it will be worth your while to connect to the tradition of the church.
peace
chris

ps. lots of blogs come in one day because i dont blog at home. i have to save up thoughts and then write them all down at the same time. happy reading.

new cd

Well, I have renewed my membership to the popculture club. You may not have known that one existed but when you buy your first real rap cd, you find youself in this unspoken, underground club.
I have been intrigued by this new pop song by andre3000, hey ya! It was fun, catchy, creative, and I really felt like i wanted to explore hiphop/rap as an art, not just the annoying, rebellious music that my basketball wannabe friends listen to. So, I willingly took the plunge, I purchased Speakerboxxx/The Love Below on the way home from Florida.

We first listened to Andre 3000's The Love Below and were less than impressed. It was pretty profane, suggestive, and though creative, left something to be desired.
Yesterday, on a ride to Fayetteville for a funeral, I listened to Big Boi's, Speakerboxxx. I liked it alot better on a first listen than we did the other album. It is still pretty rough in places, but a more typical rap album.
I think I am going to like Outkast (fyi...two artists: Big Boi and Andre 3000 make up outkast, but have released solo albums together as outkast. I have no idea if they are gonna preak up or not.). It is better than just brash, one hit "oneder" stuff of people like vanilla ice, snow, and sean paul who i cant stand. I would suggest that if you buy it, you may want the edited version, you miss anything and you can play it with your parents in the car. If anyone has other suggestions from this new music venture that I am undergoing, I would entertain suggestions.

I am not sure what will come of my pop culture club membership, but I am looking forward to the benefits.
peace

the goings on

Well, school is pretty much done. I have 2, 4page essays to turn in by next week. I am trying to read a little now, Free Bird is my first one. It is by the guy who helped Chris Seay write his matrix book. He teaches at Baylor and I hear is a cool guy. Three chapters in, it is good so far. The main character is a musician, so any of you who like music might find a kinship with the character. I think it was nominated for some big awards too. That doesnt matter if the book is garbage, but maybe gives it some "shelf cred."

I am finding this week that reading doesnt come naturally to me. I have to make time to do it, like making time to make the bed, put away my clothes, making time to walk the dog. I may not be able to make time today to read much more though. I gotta work at church today and then, tonight, the hurricanes play at 7 and the duke bluedevils play at 9. they are playing Michigan state, who I cheer for except when they play Duke, on ESPN or espn2. Check out the game, it will be worth your time, maybe??
peace

return

we'reback. I hope everyone had a great time during the holiday. We spent time with the family in Florida, which sounds kinda wierd to say. Traffic was horrible and caused us to have to spend the night in South Carolina somewhere, (exit 33, not sure of the town.
Now it is the push to Christmas, the Advent season as Christians should call it. Parties, shopping, final tests and papers, then the lull. I hope we all can enjoy it since it comes but once a year.

in an effort to help you have a better Advent season, I want to encourage everyone to join Follow the Star. It is an online advent devotional, and I hear its good. Do it for Jesus if not for yourself.

Well, sorry I don't have anything witty or clever, maybe you could give me something. Plus, get your list ready so we materialistic americans can share with each other what we want for Chritsmas.

peace