We Aint Got No Place to Go

Sha na na na. Sha na na na. Hey hey hey, goodbye.

...But there is still Hope

Welcome to Miami

Sometimes I feel as if my life is just like the Miami Dolphins and that I'm never gonna win!

Where Do I stand?

Where do I stand with "blogging"?

Hmm... Well think about this...
Where do I stand with...

• Country Music?
• the Indianapolis Colts?
• the show 24?
• Indian food?
• Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper?
• Chicago White Sox?
• James Blunt?
• Six Flags?

Probably not as close as...

• rock, classic rock, worship and such
• the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots
• The Office
• Wendy's and authentic Mexican
• Regular Dr. Pepper
• Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox
• anything not James Blunt
• Cedar Point

So yeah to repeat the question, "Where do I stand with blogging?"

Not as close as I once was...but I'm not saying that I won't step back.

Time To Get Excited

The Simpsons

No Jeff Simpson here, but I sawThe Simpsons Movie and boy, did I like it. I mean, The Simpsons have been one of my favorite TV shows for the last 18 years, so when a movie is made... yeah, I've got to go see it!

"Funniest movie ever!" - Comic Book Guy

Simpsonize Me

So, I noticed a lot of people have "Simpsonized" themselves. I did the same...

But I decided to lose some weight when I entered Springfield.

When Hunger Strikes

Not going to Summer Camp for awhile? (or not going period)

Grab a Snickers!

Or just go to the Dunes
...see Transformers
...mountain bike
...road trip to Petoskey...very beautiful
...look at that thing over there... creepy
...camp in tent at Pla-Mor...YAY
...kill spiders or something
...something else
...pray for Summer Camp
...most importantly dive deeper into God's word and start experiencing more and more of Him in new and exciting ways! AWESOME!!!

...bye bye beautiful

Dull Summer

This might just be one of the dullest summers I have hand in over10 years. Not much going on. Here, let me review the past 10 years and why those summers have been very exciting

1997

• One week of Prairie Camp
• Jr. High day trip to Cedar Point(hated roller coasters)
• Jr. High Summer Get-a-way -
  -One day at a water park
  -One day at Kings Island
  -a day at the mall(weird for a youth trip)
• Family vacation to Northern Michigan.
  Activities included:
  -visiting family, family reunion or something
  -Mackinac
  - shopping
  -beaches
  - campfires

1998

• Jr. High Cedar Point day trip
  -started riding roller coasters
• Family vacation to Florida
  -Basic Sarasota stuff
  -Busch Gardens
• Went with a family to Oklahoma to babysit their kids
  -Wasn't best trip I went on
  -Highlight was watching a live musical of Oklahoma outdoors at some place that I don't remember, but it was pretty cool
• Jr. High Summer Get-A-Way
  -day at the Beach water park
  -day at Kings Island(with sounds of the Supertones in the background...weird)
  -day at Cincinnati Zoo

1999

• Jr. High day Cedar Point
• Family vacation to Gatlinburg, Tennessee
  -Dixie Stampede
  -Hike up the mountain trails
• Cornerstone
  -First year at C-Stone
  -Awesome music
  -Stryper or Five Iron Frenzy? Live CD?
  -I even saw Derry Prenkert
• SEMP Chicago '99
  -probably the second best trip I've been on with youth group
  -awesome God changing trip, learned some much
  -Shawn LaRue set off fire alarms(not really)
  -Truffle Shuffle in "negative"???
• Get-A-Way
  -Day at Cinergy Field for one of the worst baseball games I've ever been to, Reds vs. Cards
  -Day at Kings Island
  -Day at the Beach

2000

• SEMP Toronto
  -wasn't as good as Chicago(for me, I didn't get much out of it)
  -still an amazing trip and in the top 5 or 6 from church trips
  -Canada Eh?
• Cornerstone 2000
  -Jeff Simpson? something paper plate?
  -Cowboys or Five Iron Frenzy? Bake beans and cream corn?
• Summer Camp
  -Day at Camp
  -Day at Cedar Point(Millennium Force opens and I'm not so scared of coasters)
  -Day at some Sports City, Go-cart place or something. Unlimited go-carts and mini golf

2001

• IMPACT Peru
  -number one trip I've ever been on!
  -great mission team
  -awesome miracles
  -God changed my life and how I looked at missions and other countries
  -FAITH
  -I love these people
  -dancing for Jesus
  -Healings, including me being healed and then dancing and praising God
• Cornerstone
• Summer Camp
  -Day at Camp
  -Day at Cedar Point
  -Day at Soak City
  -something with a video camera in the middle of the night? I don't know
  -when I got to really get to know Justin Blackwood(big highlight)

2002

• Cornerstone
  -I guess Martin Ufkin was with us
  -final Ghoti Hook show = sad
• Summer Camp
  -Cedar Point
  -Soak City
  -something involving water balloons in middle of the night or something

2003

• Senior Trip Retreat to Cedar Point
• IMPACT Peru
  -probably tied for second greatest trip(with SEMP 99)
  -awesome spiritual changes
  -overcoming a lot of tough challenges
  -Cameron Bradley
  -Justin Blackwood and oreos or something?
• July - Oct. working at Cedar Point
  -hanging out with youth when the came to park
  -making some new friends
  -riding the Magnum XL-200 whenever I wanted(if I wasn't working)

2004

• May - Oct. working again at Cedar Point
  -Fun, new friends
  -one bad thing, Relation with God was at a very low
  

2005

• Cedar Point/Camping over Memorial Day weekend
  -With Nate & Jolyn and my sister
  -MaxAir at Cedar Point
• Help out with summer small group(Freshman guys)
• Summer Camp
  -this time around a leader
  -awesome trip
  -very fun
  -Zombie?
  -Connected to God
  -Disconnected from rubbish
  -awesome small group time

2006

• Cedar Point/Camping with Kevin
  -Locked in T.G.I. Fridays
  -Truckers welcome?
  -SkyHawk
• Cincinnati Trip
  -another trip with Nate, Jolyn, and Kayla
  -Kings Island
  -Cubs vs. Reds
  -camped in small cabin
  -CUBS WIN!!!
• Summer Camp as leader, Round 2
  -Best Summer Camp EVER!!!
  -Millennium Force line in the rain
  -JUMP!!!
• Six Flags Great America
  -guy loses cell phone and it was pretty funny
  -Viper
  -Raging Bull
• Cedar Point again?
  -Meeting up with Pawel, a friend from Poland who worked in 2004
  -Sleeping in a Meijer Parking lot
  -Hanging out with some old friends
  -Something about me and I died on Millennium Force or something

Yeah, there are some fun things this summer such as

• Cedar Point
• Cubs game

But no big trips to look forward to. I was really disappointed about not going to Summer Camp and I guess that's the big difference for this summer. I was really looking forward to it! I just noticed that this will be my first year that I won't be involved somehow with summer camp. When I worked at Cedar Point, I would hang out with the group when the came. It was fun!

So I guess I should just plan trip or something to make this summer more interesting! I need to get out of here for longer than 24 hours. I need a vacation away. Maybe upper Michigan or something. I'll see what I can do!

Yeah...the Cubs are doing AWESOME!!! Man, I should have put some pictures up and made some links or something in this post...but no... I'm just too lazy! Sorry!

bye bye beautiful

I feel the need...

...the need for speed!

First time I went, it wasn't open yet due to the fact that they needed to replace some of the track. It's open now and on Monday, I'll be going back once more to Cedar Point for hopefully my first ride on this thing that they call...MAVERICK!




I can't wait! It should be fun! Lets just hope that the weather doesn't ruin anything and that there aren't any down time due to technical difficulties like all other rides. *cough*Top Thrill Dragster*cough* But seriously, Maveric wills be awesome!!!

but not to forget all other forms of the name "Maverick"...

"Ducks fly together!"

Cue "We are the Champions" by Queen




"Quack, quack, quack!"

A Turn Around?

Friends!

Cubs win!

Go Cubs Go!

But is this a start of a 6 game winning streak or is it just getting their one win of the week out of the way? Good job with the hitting though and the pitching! Very beautiful game! A nice win after a terrible week!

Nice grand slam by DeRosa in the first!

Lets forget about a week of errors! Lets just forget about Big Z and Barrett going at it in the dug out! Lets forget about Lou Piniella kicking dirt at umpires and getting ejected. Lets just have a fun month of baseball! Clean fun! And one more thing, Cubbies...you let me down a lot, but I did not mean what I said before in my last post! I will never become a White Sox fan! NEVER!!! Go CUBS!! Just have fun and show that you are a better team! I'll see you July 1st against the Brewers!(and a win would be nice!)

I don't know what to think anymore...

Chicago Cubs, you are an embarrassment to Chicago, MLB, and to all real bears and bear cubs! I am this close(fingers almost pinched) to wearing a black jersey with some "White" lettering. That's all I have to say! Bye!

When the Time is Right...

I'll have a good blog, but lets face it, I'm not as creative as my buddy Creed here!

But seriously, someone once asked me yesterday who I was predicting to win American Idol and I gave them my answer...

But I was wrong!


















O... Hello there! Are we looking for something? Do you think you are going to find it? Here?
Perhaps you already have... But then again you have no idea.

But like the title of this blog post states, "When the Time is Right" .... ;)

Nobody doesn't like Derrek Lee(Well, maybe the White Sox don't)

GRAND SLAM!!!

Cubs 11 White Sox 6

Oh, I love this!

Ted Lilly or "Ded" Lilly

I don't know, but in this picture he kind of looks like a dead old guy or a zombie or the Sith or something. You decide!

And everyone makes a fuss about this guy's age.

It's that time of year again...

...time to re-unite with some old friends! Are you ready?

CUBS WIN!!!
CUBS WIN!!!

Tents, Cedar Point, and Summer Goals

Tents
So I begin with telling you about my previous weekend. Well, I worked all day Saturday and got off around 9:30 PM. Well, I know I was invited to go down and stay with my brother Nate and his wife, but I told them I wasn't sure that I would make, because of how late I had to work. Well, When I got off, I decided I was gonna drive down to their new house and randomly set up a tent in their backyard and camp out. Then when they wake up the next morning and look in their backyard, they would be like, "What the heck is this about?"

So I drive to Fort Wayne and I get there around 11:15 PM and I see that the lights are off, so that means they are in bed, probably watching tv, so I knew that I had to be quiet. I also didn't want to alarm the neighbors. So I grabbed my tent and went to the backyard to set it up. Now, I'm not good with setting up tents and stuff and thats in the day light. Now I had to worry about setting up a tent in the dark. Some howI did it. So I open it up and i throw my sleeping bag in there.

Now, I'm not gonna go into detail about the people that live far back behind them. They are late night people and I really don't know what kind of organization they are, but they had some camp fire going and were all yelling and running around. Me, being the person I am, someone who worries alot, I start to feel a little uncomfortable about all these strange people. So I layed down in the tent, but then thoughts ran through my head, "What if they are wondering who I am and why did I just set up tent to sleep in?" I tried not to let that bother me, but then I started to worry about if my brother sprayed weed killer around the backyard. I didn't want to get sick. Those people started yelling and getting louder. I wanted inside!

So I called my brother's cell phone and I was like, "Nate, can I come inside to sleep?" He was like, "What do you mean?" I'm like, "Look in your backyard." Then he looks and sees the tent and is like, "What in the world?" I start laughing. He comes outside and we start talking. I was asking me how I set it up in the dark. Yeah, I was amazed too! We spent a few minutes outside and then went back inside where I slept on his couch. It was an adventure!

Cedar Point
So yeah, I went on the Cedar Point trip. I said I was gonna go camping, well... I didn't. I was kind of a strange trip. It was fun, but then again, it could have been better and I could have not spent as much as I did. I should have just joined The Simpsons group or something. I chose not to write about the Cedar Point trip. You will have to ask me I guess.

Summer Goals
I guess I have some summer goals to share with you.

1. To have my blog read by The Derry Prenkert
2. To be apart of the leadership of Summer Camp for my third year
3. Kickball?
4. Shed a few pounds
5. Maybe to have more of a consistant blogging schedule
6. Visit Cedar Point, Six Flags Great America, Kings Island and at least one other amusement park. One down, 3 to go

My evening in a "Turtle" Shell

After returning from the store, I drove in to the parking lot of my apartment complex and as I was driving the 5 mph speed limit, I noticed something in the middle of the drive and it wasn't a rock...

It was this little guy. A turtle.

I drove slowly around him, stopped the car, looked down and I could tell he just wanted to be somewhere safe. I felt sorry for him. His little turtle head sticking out(hehe). His little eyes. I was just like, "oh heck no!" So I parked the car, picked him up and put him in a bucket and set out on an adventure to free Willy(if that was the name I gave him). I remember when I was younger, I would used to catch these things and show them off. So I decided to stop by my parents house show my sister my new little friend.

So we both set off to release our buddy to safey and freedom. We drove out that one place near the golf course off of CR 7. I put the little guy down in the water and just watched him. He stuck his head up a few times, looking back at me. Maybe it was taking a breath, but the way it came out and looked at me, I could tell there was a little "thank you" like stare. He was happy! Happy to swim around! Happy not to worry about being ran over! Happy to maybe find other turtle friends. It was sad to see him go, but hey, thats how it goes.

So I am 2 for 2 on leading animals to safety this year. Lets not forget the dog incident. But yeah, I guess in a way it feels good to help nature out, I don't know. Man, The Office was pretty good tonight. I love that show!

bye bye beautiful

Its what happens next!

Tomorrow night
The Office (the Best Show ever, period)


Sunday
-Mothers Day, show love to your mama
-We are all going down to Fort Wayne to hang out in Nate and Jolyn's new house

Monday
-Ohio
-Camping Here!


Tuesday
-The Roller coaster capital of the world

-But Minus Maverick

And those are probably the only exciting things that are happening this month!
Well... other than this...

and maybe this...

bye bye beautiful