The Weekend

Current Listening: The Swell Season

I believe I left you all last time with the promise of me attending my first Churchill show shortly thereafter. Well folk, don't call me a prophet, but I did indeed attend said Churchill show.

The opening gig was this guy named Ian Cooke who was rated #1 act in Denver this past year. He does some pretty cool stuff with his cello and I talked with him afterward for a while and he's a really nice guy. Here's a relatively blurry image of Ian playing and singing....

[Ian Cooke]

...and a video of him playing live from his solo dvd. *Due to the format of the blog, the video is kinda chopped off on the side. My apologies.*

Here is a picture of Churchill owning the stage. They brought out the biggest crowd of any of the four acts and got asked by a few attendees, including Ian Cooke, about booking some future gigs. Nice.

[L to R: Tyler, Bethany, Mike, Amy, and Tim]

[And because he wasn't in the last picture ... dummer, Joe Richmond everybody!]

So that was Thursday night. The last two days have been spent reading and hanging out with friends here and there. I should find out tomorrow if I get the delivery job I interviewed for last Wednesday.

Now it's time to drink some hot tea and read. Cheers.

P.S. Having a roommate who works at Starbucks is incredibly practical. We have essential unlimited free coffee and tea in the apartment. And a french press. Oh ya.

Meese: Forward Motion

This is a video posted online today of my new friends from the band Meese performing their song Forward Motion while on tour with The Fray this summer.

Meese - 'Forward Motion' - Director Rod Blackhurst from Rod Blackhurst on Vimeo.

My Week: Structured Numerically (A.k.a. Home Alone and Temporarily Sick of Homework)

#1 I didn't go to the Rockies game last Friday. I helped Greg and his brother-in-law roof their house instead. I helped out Friday night, all day Saturday (which happened to be 100 degrees - the hottest day of the year), and for about an hour and a half Sunday afternoon.

[I have an idea.]

#2 Sunday night I went to an official Churchill show at a church called "Bloom." For those with more of a church background, you'll understand what I mean when I say that Bloom leans toward the emergent side of things. A lot. For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, I'll just say that the guides of the spiritual community of Bloom were really nice and hip and that the wine, cheese, and fruit bar was a nice compliment to the evening's art show/music and poetry open mic. Also, singing in the dark while standing in a semi-circle around the cranking loud band was also pretty cool, and I learned new songs about the earth and having Jesus' blood flow through my body.

[Michael Gungor (banjo) and friends playing some tunes after the art show.]

I don't say all that to bust on the place, I just find it hilarious when all the stereotyping jokes I've ever heard all come true in one place. On a positive, slightly more serious note, the dangling light bulbs aesthetic was cool looking and most of the art would look sweet in my apartment (the notable exception being the the paper mache decapitated pig head) and I did enjoy eating free cheese and crackers and fruit (Wine? No thanks. Sweet tea? Yes, please.) and the worship band was really good (a couple of the guys in the band come to Wing Stop with us on Tuesday nights) and I appreciated getting one of the band's cd's for free just for filling out a guest card and the people I met were very friendly and the "talk" given was a solid "theology of creativity."

[Churchill]

Oh ya, but I went to Bloom for a Churchill show. Churchill was asked to play an acoustic concert while people walked around and looked at the art.

#3 After the Churchill show, some friends came back to our kickin' apartment to hang out for a while and eat the worst Little Caesar's pizza and Crazy Bread I've ever had in my life (Note to self: Hot N' Ready pizzas purchased 30 minutes before closing time fail to live up to either of aforementioned advertised qualities.). I did get the Crazy Bread for free though so it was totally worth it.

#4 Monday was uneventful, as was Tuesday (the exception being Wing Stop, but it's dishonest to write down "We all hung out and talked for a couple hours." and still promote your blog as either worthwhile or engaging reading).

#5 I had a job interview this morning. I'll find out tomorrow if I am offered the job I interviewed for last week, and I should find out Friday afternoon if I am offered the job I interviewed for this morning.

#6 Tomorrow night is my first official, full-band Churchill show I get to go to (Bloom was minus the drummer and bassist). They will be rocking the Larimer Lounge at 10:00. Come if you can.

My Exciting Life

[Hello from Apartment 203!]

Once again, I have procrastinated in updating this blog. I believe I left you off last time with my drive out to Colorado. There hasn't been a ton of exciting stuff that has happened out here...yet.

I spend my first few days staying in Mike and Tim's apartment while I waiting for our application for the new apartment to go through. In the meantime, I filled out job applications and Mike, Ryan, Tyler and I went to Eldorado Park one day. We hiked for a few miles and took some good, Colorado-ish pictures. Then we drove home.

[701 28th St. Denver, CO 80205. Our unit is in the middle on the middle level.]

Around that time, our application went through and Tyler and I moved into the new apartment. (Mike is moving in too, but not till the end of the month). A couple days later I found some sweet furniture on Craigslist (see, I told you my life here has been exciting!). Then I applied for more jobs. Then I did homework for the first time in a year and a half. Then I applied for more jobs. Oh ya, and Tuesday nights are "wing night" at Wing Stop so I've gone there a couple times now with the crew (a bunch of Mike's friends).

[Some of the Craigslist furniture. I bought it from a guy who is

moving back to Michigan to go to law school.]

I was also greeted to the state with a big bear hug full of expensive general maintenance car repairs. I felt like a champ calling a couple places and having them fight back and forth in order to provide the best quality at the lowest price and thereby getting my business. Now my car is in full working order.

Some friends from Iowa were in town for a wedding and brought my bike out for me. I hadn't ridden my bike in years but I've been riding it around lately. It's fun. And healthy. And cheaper than paying for gas.

Yo! Speaking of cheap stuff, 2% milk out here is like $1.50 a gallon! That's so cool.

I had a job interview yesterday (Thursday). I haven't found out if I got the job, but it's the best lead I have so far so I'm praying it works out. It's for a social-worker type position. I'll give more details if I get the job.

This afternoon I'm going to help my buddy Greg do some roofin' at his sister's house. The sun is out and the weather is warm, so it should be fun.

Tonight I might be going to a Colorado Rockies game (Gerty, that's baseball). After spending a year trying to be a Tiger's fan (Go Cubs!), I now get the opportunity to pretend to cheer for the Rockies. Don't get me wrong, I loved going to the Tiger's games each and every time I went, but I didn't know a thing about the Tigers until I moved to Detroit. Too bad Cecil Fielder was hurt all season, I would have loved to see him play.

Ok, homework time. Peace out, America!

Better Late Than Never

I finally have a few minutes to update this here blog. My farewell time at Cornerstone was incredible (with the exception of a certain “whipped cream bowl to the face” incident). I am very grateful for every moment I was able to spend with my friends at Cornerstone.

My parents came out for the farewell weekend and stayed until Wednesday morning. We spent Monday packing up the remainder of my belongings from the Rudd’s house and cleaning out my office. Believe it or not, we were able to fit everything into my Civic and the trunk and back seat of my parents’ Buick.

On Tuesday my parents and I went on the tour of the Ford plant in Dearborne. The tour was pretty fascinating and included my first experience with a 3D theatre. We sat in a room on swivel chairs with screens on all sides of us. During the video, the action would happen in all directions and even the temperature in the room would heat up during the boiler room scenes! Like I said, it was pretty fascinating.

My parents and I also met a guy (read: Ford Nut) who was touring the plant for the first time while he was in town on business. Guess where he was from. You guessed it, Denver, Colorado. We (read: He) chatted for a while about the new Ford Raptor truck and then gave me his business card. I’m gonna give him a call one of these days just to let him know I have officially arrived in Denver and have every intention of taking over the whole city.

After leaving Detroit on Wednesday I stopped by Perry, MI to visit my friends Bob and Charissa Karr. They got married last summer. I was in their wedding. I wore a tux. A black one. I think I look good in black. At least I did last summer.

Thursday morning I arrived in Grand Rapids for my friend Eric’s wedding. It was also Jessica’s wedding, but I don’t know her as well so I will here refer to it simply as Eric’s wedding. A bunch of us in the wedding party played badminton, went tubing, and jumped on the diving boards on a floating dock out on the lake. It, the dock, was covered in bird poo. I think they should put a fake owl out there to war against the lesser birds.

Thursday night was the bachelor party. My friend, and Eric’s best man, Mike, had made a video that gave Eric various challenges to accomplish in order to pass the over threshold into manhood land. Some of the activities included drinking 12 Mountain Dews over the course of the night, swimming a lap in a public fountain, and taking a dip in a stranger’s pool.

On Friday the wedding party guys went golfing. Most of us stunk, but it was a great time of male bonding. Friday night was the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It was fun seeing Eric and Jessica’s friends from across the country have a great time hanging out together like old friends. One girl, Bethany, was nuts. She straight up barehanded her entire piece of cake into her mouth in an effort to win her self-initiated, “Let’s see who can eat their dessert the fastest!” contest. I think she started laughing so hard that she didn’t even win...although I’m not sure she had any competitors to begin with.

The wedding was great on Saturday. We did the wedding thing and then went for a ride in a limo to get pictures taken downtown and then got back in the limo to ride to the golf course for more pictures and the reception. Each of the couples in the wedding party got a golf cart to drive around in to the various photo locations. It’s a good thing the golf carts didn’t go very fast and that we were held financially responsible for any damages done to the carts or else there would have been a greater degree of mayhem than what actually occured (Read: Zach intentionally went full speed through every puddle and mud hole on the course).

Sunday morning Mike, his brother Ryan, our friend Greg, and myself hopped in Greg and my cars and drove to Iowa stopping overnight as my house on our way to Colorado.

For sake of length, this post has assumed the status of: To Be Continued.

Goodbye, Roseville. Hello, Denver.

I just arrived in Denver. It is late at night now. I know this because the sky outside the window is black and has been so for a while now. It feels even later to me because my body is still functioning on Michigan time (two hours later). Tomorrow I am going apartment hunting and job searching. I'll also try and update this by filling you all in on this past week. There is much to say. Stay tuned.

Viginti

[My friend from college, Dan Nichols has written his first book, Viginti, this year. He told me this past week that his book was featured on BBC's website and that I was in the picture with him on the page of the article. I'll let the article tell you about the book, but I wanted to give him a plug here on the blog because he's a super guy.]

[The pre-beard days look weird to me now.]

TLC 2009

This past week I attended Teen Leadership Conference at Baptist Bible College with some of the high school students from my church. The theme this year was "Step Up" and most of the messages challenged the students to rise above what's accepted and be leaders. From what I could tell, many of the students were challenged and got out of the week as much as they were willing to put into it.

Doc Harris and the band led a bunch of new songs including "At the Cross" by Daniel Renstrom and "Not What My Hands" by Aaron Keyes.

[Tuesday night I was able to go out to Pastel's for dinner with some of my old work friends. I worked with them all at Patsel's between November '07 and July '08.]

[Some of the guys played in a 3 v. 3 basketball tournament on Wednesday. The Cornerstone guys are Ben (the big, big guy down low in the blue) and Michael (the guy up top in the red shorts and white shirt).]

[Joseph Peterson, who got to play guitar in the band this year, and I wore matching cardigans on Wednesday night for chapel. As you can tell, we looked really good.]

[Late Thursday night after chapel I caught up with a few other Patsel's friends at JJ Bridges. Joe, Julie, and Bridget became great friends during my time at Patsel's. Nothing like good friends and buffalo wings at 11:30 p.m.]

[Johnny left Patrick with a little pizza surprise on the bus windshield. Since Patrick refused to drive the bus until the pizza was removed, Jen climbed up, took the pizza from under the windshield wiper, and took a big bite right in Patrick's face. Classic moment.]