aunt & riley

this was taken by my twin sister while she was watching riley for us. this short video shows what riley loves the most. be warned...seductive dancing movements are in this video.

my wife is the coolest nerd ever!

this is one of my wife's math videos. this is one of the many ways she forces math onto today's youth.

i do not practice what i preach

i am a huge fan of preaching God's love and how we should show it to everyone (not just the ones we would like to offer it to), but i failed this week after arguing my case this past sunday.

some of you may not remember that my blog address/ name used to be enoch the hitch hiker. i picked this name because i have always picked up hitch hikers. i found their company some what enjoyable. some would tell stories of how they are down on their luck, how God is still a big part of their life (right up there with pot), or how they are walking across this beautiful state. some times they even brought along a turtle or snake they had found on the side of the road.

but here recently i have been avoiding picking up hitch hikers. since i have started working here, i have picked up at least 3 people who i have seen sent to jail and knowing what they have done makes it really hard for me to help them out. mix that with me being a father and the fact the higher ups at work tell us that we are not to socialize with the criminals.

when i drive past them i hurt. i hurt because i want to help them. i don't want to let fear stop me from helping them.

so i become like the type of christian i cannot stand... i pray for them and go on.

God is love... did you hear that church?

my fellow brother, who survived ministry, chad estes posted a YouTube video called white man. fun song that made my soul feel a lot better after dealing with backwater theology and the troubled teens in youth group. it is good reminder who God really is.

boys (lesson one)

this past weekend i bought jars of clay's newest album "the long fall back to earth". it is a different sound for jars, but i really love it. there is on song that i really love. boys (lesson one). it is a song to a son.
since i have become a father a lot of things have changed in me. i am really happy with life and i really want my son to be happy and to always know his father is there for him.
i didn't always feel that way. before riley was born i was not too thrilled about becoming a father. it meant i was going to lose what little freedom i had, but the moment i saw him take his first breath things changed.
this song is exactly what i want to say to him when he is old enough to understand. i am not going to be the distant father, but the father that is a best friend.

lesson one do not hide
lesson two- there are right ways to fight
and if you have questions we can talk through the night
so you know who you are
and you know what you want
i've been where you're going
and it's not that far
it's too far to walk
but you don't have to run
you'll get there in time
lesson three- you're not alone
not since i saw you start breathing on your own
you can leave, you can run, this will still be your home
so you know who you are
and you know what you want
i've been where you're going
and it's not that far
it's to far to walk
but you don't have to run
you'll get there in time
get there in time
in time, to wonder where the days have gone
in time to be old enough to wish you that you were young
when the good things are unraveling, bad things come undone
you weather love and lose your innocence
there will be liars and thieves who take from you
not to undermine the consequence
but you are not what you do
and when you need it most
i have a hundred reasons why i love you
so you know who you are
and you know what you want
i've been where you're going
and it's not that far
it's to far to walk
but you don't have to run
you'll get there in time
get there in time
if you weather love and lose your innocence
just remember, lesson one.

best song ever!

thank you tyler.

so very sorry for another pic

this made me laugh out loud at work.

google at work

i hate chocolate too!
i do have a lot in common with him.
even if ang does stop me from wearing my underwear on the outside of my clothes.

rainbow batman?

the 50's were an odd time for batman... so glad he is a much darker character again.

the boy wonder

then and now (not for too much longer, but that is another story).
the first pic makes me feel like a kid again. watching him fight bad guys and say corny lines "holy short shorts batman!".

the second one reminds me of when i found out there was a new robin. my grandpa had just past away and my dad bought me a comic book to entertain me on the drive to harlan...

i am a geek...

mid-nite madness

the other day while ironing my clothes (yes i do that. i also iron my t-shirts and jeans. go ahead and laugh) i was hit with an old memory from high school.

for some unknown reason i decided to go to UK's mid-nite madness with two of my friends. i have never been a fan of sports, but the thrill of skipping school and doing nothing sounded like a lot of fun to me. little did i know that i was going to have to wait in line for over 8 hours and be surrounded by people painted in blue and talking about things like the teams history and the new players. like i said before i was not a fan.

while waiting i discovered that it was going to be "catfan forever" a play on the new batman movie "batman forever". that made the wait worth it. it was something i could relate to. comics.

around the 4th hour of waiting a little kid turned around to look at my short friend (not going to say his name due to the fact it could hurt his feelings). he looked him up and down and said "you must be the ugliest person at your school."

without hesitation my other friend spoke up "yes, yes he is."

i laughed.

shorty got upset.

the sad thing is.... the kid was right.

that memory caused me to laugh out loud.

oh how the years go by.

what does this have to do with gum?

my son loves violence

batbed

hmmmm.... what does the term "ward" mean?

get mad

i realize that i am not the most talented blogger in the world. i know that most of my subjects do not cause one to question life, faith, and love. for the most part i write pretty basic things, but i have discovered how to get a lot of blog views.
write a mean blog.
a few weeks ago i wrote a blog on "storm troopers" and in one day i doubled my blog views. why? because i was making fun of a group of people.
this has caused me to rethink my blogging.
do i stick to my normal everyday life blog or do i go for the kill by making fun of different groups of people?
part of me wants to make you laugh when i talk about the pasty face basement dwellers, but something doesn't feel right about always making fun of people.
don't get me wrong. i enjoy being a jerk once in awhile, but the truth is... i am not that mean deep down.
so i am going to stick to what i do best. pointing out my idiotic ways. ordering square shrubs, riding a bike and cutting my leg up, getting one side of my body burned while talking to someone about cars and not having a single clue what they are talking about and getting beat up by james for picking on him (i have a cut on my arm to prove it). all of those wonderful random things that are a part of life.
so don't fear my jedi hating friends. i am going to be kind and back off. your mother's love you just like mine does (well, mine loves me a little more... i moved out of the house a long time ago).

oh how words have changed over the years

this is your life

this morning on the way to work something odd happened.
i was listening to switchfoot (been awhile since i have really listened to them) and the song "this is your life" came on. the chorus asks "this is your life, are you who you want to be?"
for the first time in a long time... i could answer yes.

for too long i have tried to live like other people have wanted. i have played the part of the missionary. i have been the good little boy who has always done what he is told. i have stood before church after church singing and preaching.
but deep down i was never really happy.

don't get me wrong. there were good moments during that time, but i dreaded getting up for work. i didn't want to be around certain people. the people i had to see everyday. God became my boss and i wasn't always too happy with him.

all of that faded this morning when i realized how good of a life i have.
i have a wonderful wife. she is always putting up with my odd habits. she keeps me grounded and she never seems to get too upset when i say something to cause a fight with her family or spend too much money at starbucks.

then there is riley. i never really thought i could fall in love with something that poops more than me. yet he makes the hardest days so much better. the way he smiles when i bark like a dog. when he laughs at me throwing clothes at him... the way he dances when he hears "single ladies".

this is my life. a life that i didn't seek out... it found me.

the other cool thing is i love my job. sure i see some messed up stuff, but still... it is a good job. i don't dread getting up every morning and going to work. i also work with some of my favorite people.

this was a little too serious of a post.. so i will say this...

poop.

my favorite cartoons as a child

he-man
she-ra
smurfs
snorks
pac-man
fraggle rock
scobby doo
superfriends
thundercats
tmnt
jetsons
get along gang
popples
duck tails
darkwing duck
the real Ghostbusters
captian n
captian planet
g.i. joe
cops
wuzzles
ewoks
shirt tales
gummie bears

hmmm.. that is all i can think of at the moment.

to the pasty basement dwellers... i am also a nerd.
i just don't live in the basement of my mom's house.

to the stormtroopers

i was sitting here trying to remember who kicked your (stormpoopers) butts in the return of the jedi, when a little person walked into the office... then it hit me...
the EWOKS killed a lot of you.

EWOKS rock!

nub and nub(check and mate)!

(for my normal viewers, i want to take this time to let you know that i am just giving some people are hard time. i am a fan of star wars, but not too serious of a fan. the ewoks were my favorite and because of that... i can never be part of the 501st... i believe that is a blessing.)

love you tyler!

for you disney freaks... mickey mouse is not funny! buggs bunny all the way!!!

surrounded by stormtroopers

last tuesday my good friend tyler phillips asked if i could video an event for him.
this event was a Q & A with the author of a book... forgive me... not just a book, but a book about star wars.

i love star wars just as much as the normal everyday person who doesn't live in their parents basement, but some people take it to the extreme.

tyler is part of the 501st legion.

what does that mean you ask?

it means he dresses up like a stormtrooper and does charity events, book signings, and what ever else a grown man may do in white plastic.

so we arrive at the event and first thing we are pointed towards the "receiving room" (insert jokes here. jokes only please.). then i witness the true nature of a fan. they share stories of the force. what rebel they are hunting at the time. what their armor is made of. very interesting... i leave the room to go look at books.
finally the time comes for me to record this earth shattering event.

tyler and the rest of the stormtroppers escort the author down to the stage.

the crowd is silent.

the sun is setting.

the ones who haven't left their parents basement in years let out a sigh of relief.

the sun no longer can burn their pasty white flesh.

the author begins to speak.

the crowd soaks up his every word.

i wonder what in the world he is talking about.

am i not a true star wars lover?

am i just a wannabe?

i allow my mind to wonder while recording.

i start to make fun of the people around me.

my friend nate is standing beside me. i look to him to laugh. i look to him to help me make fun of the "mole people", but i discover he is also a mole person. maybe not the the extreme as the rest of the crowd, but he is one of them deep down.

i feel out of place.

i feel like the black ball in a bag full of white ones.

i feel very cool.

many of you may read this and think i am being rude, but i am not.

it turns out that i really enjoyed myself.

sure there were some dorks, but who am i to judge. i read comics. i wear superhero underwear.

it was just nice to feel cool for a few hours.

below i am going to paste the article my friend tyler wrote of the 501st. that is all i am going to say about that.



Troop final roster:
Tyler - TK
Justin - TK
Tony - Clone
Darren - Boba
Cadet - TK
Deb - Officer
Mike - Jedi
???? - Rebel Trooper
Angie - Photographer
Betty - Betty
Ben - Angies handler

Early morning trip report:

I got there with a handler (Tommy) around 6:15 and by that time Justin, Cadet, and Mike (Jedi) were already suiting up in an upstairs room. Made contact with the girls runnin the show for us, super sweet ladies who laid out some simple plans.
Tony and his son got there and we started suiting up. The girls from the store brought Aaron in and introduced us. We got some books set back and went ahead and got them signed. Darren showed up about 20 mins before the event started and had a record setting time gettin into his Boba. Then we had a surprise guest show up, Deb came and asked if we needed her to suit up in her Officer, that was a dumb question. It really helped having someone who could hear and see. We also had a last minute rebel like the ones on Tantive IV show up so we had a nice set of targets.

7:05 we roll out escorting Aaron to the fountain area. There was a nice crowd gathered waiting for the Q&A and a pretty nice crowd out in the store waiting for the 501st! We were positioned behind the stage during the the Q&A. They gave us a nice intro then let Aaron talk and he even mentioned us in one of his stories. Then gave Aaron a nice easy to follow escort to his signing table, we stood guard and let him get situated then moved out to mingle with the crowd. As soon as we moved a good portion of the people around the signing area moved with us.

Lots of parents had brought there kids out to see us and they moved away from the line which actually helped people in the line move through faster. We had a good time takin picks and entertaining the kids big and small. We handed out lots of tattoos and cards, it seems like gifts will really open up shy or scared kids to the bad guys.

I think we made contact with some potential recruits and actually had one guy there acting as a handler who is interested in some of Coreys clone armor. There were some really great moments too, I had an excellent moment with a kid that was a little timid of the troopers. We played a game of "copy cat" or what ever you call it where I mocked all his actions and words and he really opened up and had fun and lost his fear of the TK's.
Tony had a great moment with a young fan that he can tell you about. Just around 9:10 we noticed that we had an extra TK who turned out to be TK-Tim who had snuck in on us.

We hung around until everyone had went through the line to get their book signed. The last person was the Pres of the KSWCC and his little kid was standin there singing the Star Wars theme it was pretty cool to hear a little voice belting out "Da Daa Dun, Da Daa Dun, Da Daaaa Dun Dun"

Then Aaron posed with us for the mandatory group shots with buckets on and off. He finished signing store stock and then I gave him a ride to TGI Fridays to eat with us. We kinda overwhelmed them with our big crowd that late but they were awesome and took great care of us. Aaron seemed to have a good time just relaxing and hanging out, he said he really appreciated what the 501st did here and everywhere. We ate, we talked, we laughed, we rolled out around 11:30. TK-Tim assisted in givin Aaron a ride downtown to his hotel. Aside from the wacky troubles that seem to follow me and him on all troops everything went like clockwork.

Excellent troop MSG, wish some of the TN guys could make it but understand that its hard to do a late troop on a weeknight.
Im sure there is more that other people want to add like (Betty and Angie gettin in trouble for talkin) and pics to come.

--
Tyler Phillips
TK-1143
www.501stso.com

link