tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77146933697316840042011-12-13T21:02:09.673-05:00This blog is about me and my son Nate - the stuff we do and believe in.Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.comBlogger541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-14414318336356048552011-12-13T20:36:00.003-05:002011-12-13T21:02:09.681-05:00

About 5 months ago, I started trying to lose weight with diet and exercise. The diet (Weightwatchers for Men) has worked well with 25 lbs. lost - I'll post about that another time. I knew I needed to exercise, too or I wouldn't stick with it. I started walking daily at a pace of 2 miles in 45 minutes, got that down to under 25 minutes and decided to start running. Today for the first time I

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-67433063896724128082011-11-24T11:03:00.005-05:002011-11-24T11:24:20.833-05:00

Today I ran/walked in the Flemington Turkey Trot. The plan was to do the 2 mile Fun Run/Walk but it didn't quite turn out that way. This was my first Turkey Trot and first event of any kind where I had a number on my shirt. I arrived early and found a parking spot at the Court House and found the rest of Team Pro-Activity for a picture on the court house steps. Pro-Activity had over 150 runners

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-84243532332700823442009-07-13T23:15:00.001-04:002009-07-13T23:19:35.206-04:00

Yesterday, 7/12/2009, I played my first "real" (i.e. non-church) gig. It was part of the Come Together Concert Series in Clinton, NJ. This is a summer series that has musicians on the streets of town on every Friday and select Sundays. Yesterday was also the annual Ducky Race so it got to be one of the Sunday events. I played with Jeanne Resua (vocals) and Wayne Dubansky (guitar). They have been

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-69052530968382874432009-06-14T22:30:00.003-04:002009-06-15T07:09:58.983-04:00

My sister Steph posted this over on Facebook because she said it reminded her of Mom. She's right - so here it is for the non-FB part of my family and those of you who aren't Steph's friends on Facebook.This is for Mom and all those who left us too soon. If the embedded video doesn't play - here is the original YouTube link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8sWwFIFlK8

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-4562392143563811052009-06-14T20:05:00.003-04:002009-06-14T20:16:51.526-04:00

I just cleaned out and refreshed the Emergency Bag I keep in the Element for the first time in well over a year. It got me thinking that a) I should do it more often, b) whether anyone else keeps a bag in their car and c) what they have in theirs. So here's what's in mine:2 bottles of watertoothbrushtoothpastesweat socks and dress socksunderweart-shirtcollared shirtsweat pantsfleece sweat

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-76682373873642327922009-06-07T15:36:00.006-04:002009-06-07T16:02:39.935-04:00

Ken Shilay, Sr. passed away today after a two year fight with lung cancer. Senior, as he was known, was my former landlord's (Ken Shilay, Jr.) dad. I got to know Senior at family parties and working with him on Junior's dream house, aka Shilay's Tara, aka The Property. Senior and I didn't see eye-to-eye on politics or some of his ideas, but he was one of the hardest working people I've ever met.

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-50806180579613239932009-06-07T15:05:00.004-04:002009-06-07T15:10:38.113-04:00

(I know, I know - it's about time I posted)In keeping with the tradition of posting a picture of the back the Element whenever there is a major update, here you go. Some fell off, some got removed, others that I collected over the winter were added. Big thanks to Alex P. for the RC sticker. That's about all the shade I get at the new apartment, btw.

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-15491414133322403332009-02-25T17:26:00.005-05:002009-02-25T17:37:08.300-05:00

I wasn't really looking for a new apartment but I seem to have found one. I knew Kenny & Monica would be moving to their new house sometime this year and figured I would probably move at that point. Even though I love my current apartment, I always thought it would be nice to be closer to Nate and to Church and cut down on my commute, if possible. I found the add for the new apartment at Clinton

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-13658588974956313152009-02-20T19:00:00.004-05:002009-02-20T19:14:28.590-05:00

Earlier this week, we had a maintenance window at work which included re-running about 9 cables in a computer rack. As often happens with cleanups, once I looked at the rack, I decided to cleanup all the cables - network, fiber (disk) and power. This was once of the worst racks, but we have many more to do. I'm going to be beating in to my guys to keep it neat so we don't get this bad again, but

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-23472197573728127952009-02-20T16:03:00.003-05:002009-02-20T16:12:26.884-05:00

From Lifehacker.....http://lifehacker.com/5157266/the-10-most-and-least-affordable-cities-in-the-usAmazingly, neither Boston or San Diego is on the least affordable. If they did it by county, I suspect Hunterdon County, NJ, where Nate & I live, would be on the least affordable :( Interesting that Ocean City, NJ is on the least affordable with less than 500,000. Guess everyone wants to live at "

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-58820550866534476162009-02-19T19:00:00.000-05:002009-02-19T19:21:12.323-05:00

Last night Nate & I went out to dinner for my birthday. Nate didn't really know what to get me so when I suggested he take me to dinner he jumped at the chance. We went to the Warrenside Tavern, out favorite local restaurant. It's an old (like 1700's old) tavern with a simple, tasty menu. It lives up to it's Tavern name in that the beer is plentiful and inexpensive. As I said to Nate, it's good

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-89224598447092075922009-02-16T15:45:00.004-05:002009-02-16T16:05:09.195-05:00

I was cleaning up some Little Einsteins videos I had downloaded for my neighbor Monica from her Tivo, when I noticed this image at the end of the video. Apparently, the commercial use of "Einstein" or "Albert Einstein" is trademarked. The trademark is held by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. According to various sources, "Einstein’s Last Will and Testament of 1950 stipulated

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-8098319951378138022009-02-15T17:40:00.000-05:002009-02-15T17:41:10.962-05:00

It's been a while since my last post and there are reasons (work, a cold since Jan 4th, etc.) but no excuses. The blame may lay with Facebook, which is great for quick little posts. I only got an account since Nate did and that was the agreement, but it is an interesting, if odd, community.Anyway, Nate and I finally took the Christmas Lights, that I posted so much about, down yesterday.

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-16600934992940716732009-01-01T22:47:00.002-05:002009-01-01T22:50:22.171-05:00

Greetings from San Diego, where Nate and I and visiting Nancy and Vince on our annual New Year's trip. A Happy, Safe and Blessed New Year to all! I think this will be a year of change, hopefully for the good.

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-51899648816328039172008-12-27T18:10:00.000-05:002008-12-27T18:12:04.615-05:00

As I talked about in my Christmas Lights 2008 post, I did a bit of Christmas lights this year. After I got them all done back on Dec. 18, I took a bunch of pictures of me and Nate's handiwork (would you expect anything else?). I was completely dissatisfied with the pictures, so of course I went right to Google to find out how to take pictures of Christmas lights. Some suggestions were obvious (no

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-64244423110515937712008-12-27T17:57:00.007-05:002008-12-27T18:14:16.492-05:00

This year, I put up more Christmas lights and decorations outside than I ever have in my 7 years here in Bethlehem. Some of it certainly was the fact that we had a warm weekend when Nate was here and a warm day that I took as vacation. (OK - warm meaning in the 40's for those of you not in the Northeast) I think too that since last year I didn't get to do any lights because the weather was cold

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-29249355123629521022008-12-26T18:30:00.001-05:002008-12-27T16:48:21.809-05:00

Every year, for a long time now, Nate and I have gone to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. We have appetizers in the afternoon, a big, pseudo-fancy dinner around 7 and then get ready for Mass. We try to take a picture before we head out to Mass, especially now that we are both in suits. The tripod and remote for the camera make the whole process much easier. Here are this year's pictures from

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-2072797448451304962008-12-25T14:40:00.001-05:002008-12-27T16:28:07.269-05:00

From me and Nate, we hope you have blessed, peaceful and joyous Christmas! From our house to yours, a Bread Wreath that was part of Christmas Eve dinner:May Christ's blessings remain with you long after the presents are opened and the decorations put way.Bethlehem became the link between heaven and earth; God and man met there and looked each other in the face. - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-44557227294451761202008-12-23T21:25:00.002-05:002008-12-24T20:26:34.948-05:00

I like turkey. I like stuffing. I like sausage. On holidays, when I cook I try to combine these by making sausage stuffing and cooking it in the bird. (Yes, Food Police, I check my temperatures so I don't kill myself or Nate). I have found easy and complicated, tasty and not so tasty recipes over the years. This year, Google coughed up what has to be the easiest recipe EVER.Cook 1 lb

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-6985744908538939672008-12-22T20:30:00.002-05:002008-12-22T22:03:58.963-05:00

Yesterday, as often happens, I decided to make bread. I figured since Christmas was less than a week away, I'd see if I could find a recipe for a Christmas Bread. Most of what came up was recipes for Stollen, which is like fruit cake, or Panettone, which is kind of cake like and has to be cooked in a special pan or paper liner. After exhaustive searching (and by that I mean I actually went to

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-80566334273140265672008-12-08T21:07:00.003-05:002008-12-08T21:14:41.434-05:00

I'll admit, I saw this post on the Ironic Catholic Blog, but I figured it was so good I'd share it too. In honor of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, here is Bobby McFerrin singing Ave Maria with the crowd at a concert.

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-52096684695974423422008-12-07T17:14:00.002-05:002008-12-07T17:26:42.940-05:00

Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Thanksgiving was only 11 days ago. The only Christmas decoration I have up is the wreath Dad sent me. I just got my first Christmas card (Yea - N&V!). Despite all that, when I went to Lowe's this weekend, ALL of their Christmas decorations on sale for 50% off! At first I thought maybe it was just a one day sale, but no, everything was marked as clearance. (

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-66660625910742092872008-10-17T21:30:00.001-04:002008-10-17T21:33:59.526-04:00

As I have mentioned before, the back of my Honda Element is covered with bumper stickers and magnets. Now others are getting into the act....It started last year after Autumn Blaze (who knew it would be the last one?), when I noticed that someone had put a Star 99.1 magnet on the Element. I assumed it was someone from the LifeSygns Youth Group, but no one ever 'fessed up. Then at Easter, someone

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-63440771915664653102008-09-10T20:34:00.002-04:002008-09-10T20:38:15.351-04:00

I often wonder as I look into my fridge whether that lunch meat I bought a week ago or that chicken that has been in the freezer for six months can still be eaten without making me sick. Amazingly, the FDA as published guidelines about this. They admit the guidelines are conservative, (which is fine with me and Nate) and give recommendations for both the fridge and freezer for many foods. They

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-54472391950142031892008-09-01T21:00:00.002-04:002008-12-27T16:46:30.830-05:00

It seems somehow appropriate that my 1st post in a long time is about a Christian Music event, since my first postings in this blog were about the Cornerstone Music Festival. On Saturday, August 31, 2008, I attended Revelation Generation in Frenchtown, NJ for the first time. To quote their website, RevGen is "the premier Christian festival in greater New York and greater Philadelphia. With the

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-59370286405723153352008-03-18T20:45:00.002-04:002008-03-18T19:45:48.019-04:00

Last night I attended the Chrism Mass for the Diocese of Metuchen. This is the mass, always held during Holy Week, where the priest of the Diocese recommit to their vocation and the Holy Oils used during Sacraments are blessed and distributed to the parishes. My pastor, Msgr. Andy, asked me to attend as Immaculate Conception's representative. The mass was filled will all the pomp and ceremony you

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-16279738880032584162008-03-06T20:34:00.001-05:002008-03-06T20:38:42.697-05:00

Long before I met my landlord (and friend) Kenny Shilay, he purchased a piece of property on Jugtown Mountain in Bethlehem Township, just outside of Bloomsbury. It was where he planned to build his dream house - a house he would build with his own hands. Kenny and his father, Kenny Sr., worked weekends to clear the trees, stumps and brush so a house with a incredible view could be built. The

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-39398961247375814042008-02-28T20:50:00.002-05:002008-02-28T20:52:27.493-05:00

January 1, 2008 was the first anniversary of my Mom's death. As has become tradition, Nate and I were in San Diego for New Year's with my sister Nancy and her husband Vince. Since this is our tradition, we were, of course, with them when we all found out Mom had passed away last year. If I had to find out such news, there was no one I'd rather have been with. I wasn't sure how I would feel on the

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-1327001232989076102008-02-26T20:18:00.005-05:002008-02-26T20:37:59.151-05:00

Paula, my ex-sister in-law and a faithful commenter on this blog, as well as the author of Dave & Paula's Road Trip, sent me the pictures shown below. They are from Labor Day 1987 and, yes, that is me with Paula's son Jimmy who is just turning 21! I feel old since Nate is a high school freshman, but Paula must actually be old since she has a son who can now legally drink.

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-54477816035816713212008-02-17T15:01:00.001-05:002008-02-17T14:59:50.930-05:00

As some of you may know, Nate has been playing drums for a number of years. His lessons have always been on set, but he has played "regular" drums in concert and marching band. Last fall, Nate decided that he was going to play drums at church with his Mom's Praise Band, Pacem, as well as with the yet unnamed Lifesygns band that plays at Teen Mass. While he could have played his set at mass, a

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-58380182383559062942008-01-29T21:30:00.000-05:002008-01-29T21:36:47.750-05:00

On Oct 13, 2007, the Lifesygns Youth group headed out to Continental Airlines Arena for NJ's biggest Christian Music Concert - Autumn Blaze. Artists included Fr. Stan Fortuna, Thousand Foot Krutch, Barlow Girl and tobyMac. I'll include a few photos here, but I have also created an album on Picasa - http://picasaweb.google.com/mwcawley/AutumnBlaze2007?authkey=8ZjUj9VNvCw.This year for the first

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-18921520888812219722008-01-28T21:30:00.000-05:002008-01-28T21:36:47.448-05:00

One of my resolutions this year was to blog more. Well, here we are at the end of January and this is the first of the year. I could come up with a lot of reasons, but it really boils down to a chest cold, a torn ACL (which I'll post about separately) and work which has left me little energy when I get home at night. None of those are really good reasons, but here we are. Mitch accuses me of

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-61968157045259393942007-10-12T22:25:00.000-04:002007-10-12T22:24:20.769-04:00

On Columbus Day, the NHHS Band marched in the 63rd Annual Columbus Day Parade in New York City. Nate carried the American flag, since they don't make him push his bells down 5th Avenue. The parade route is 35 blocks down 5th Avenue, north from 44 th to 79th St. (Google Maps has street view for NYC - if you click on the man icon, you will see St. Patrick's Cathedral. You can pretty much see the

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-59445364994775400332007-09-17T20:16:00.000-04:002007-09-17T21:30:25.613-04:00

North vs Central (9/7/2007)OK - so despite the title, Nate has been to football games before but this was his first NHHS Football game performing in the Marching Band. As a Freshman drummer, Nate is in "The Pit" (that's him on the right) which is where the various forms of bells and other non-marching percussion hang out. Nate is playing bells which is funny because, although he can read music to

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-31045847004860718682007-09-15T18:10:00.000-04:002007-09-15T18:07:20.959-04:00

The last couple nights it has dipped into the 50's at night here in New Jersey. It was reminder that summer is coming to an end. Of course, Labor Day has come and gone and Nate is back in school but here are some other reminders I thought of.....I had to work a full day on Friday.I can barely get Church and a round of golf in on a Sunday.The hockey equipment and the golf clubs were in the car at

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-20806873702679390552007-08-30T19:45:00.000-04:002007-08-30T19:41:23.693-04:00

Today is Nate's first full day of High School. He seems to be pretty non-plussed by the whole idea. Granted he was at the High School for Geometry last year, but in general he doesn't seem excited or displeased with going back to school. Maybe it's just his personality or being a teen - Band Camp didn't seem to excite him that much either - or maybe he's just doing that teen thing of

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-1245786903934782382007-08-30T19:10:00.000-04:002007-08-30T19:09:47.537-04:00

Yes, it has been a while since my last post and I really have no excuses. Sorry, Mitch that my first post in a month is about non-Kosher food, but the arrival of two new varieties of Bubba Burgers in my local ShopRite was too much to pass on. We always had regular and onion but now we also have the jalapeño and Angus. All the flavors have been around for a while, but the store just started

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-82031586580731566682007-07-31T22:25:00.000-04:002007-07-31T22:26:10.664-04:00

This is my first post about my Mom, with some help from my little sister Tina. Though I think everyone who reads this blog knows me, just in case, here's the history....My Mom passed away suddenly on January 1st of this year. In hindsight, I wish I had this blog to put some of my thoughts and feelings down back then. Instead, I put my energy into the MomSite. I haven't updated it in a while -

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-85772051261719674902007-07-16T22:11:00.000-04:002007-07-16T22:32:18.897-04:00

From the title, this could be a post about the lack of attention St. Joseph gets in the Catholic faith, but, no, it's about the tradition of burying a St. Joseph statue in your yard to help sell your house. There are many websites out there about this practice - here is an example. Traditions like this have always seemed a bit like mixing religion and magic and I have always shied away from them.

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-74156980844332607202007-07-09T20:21:00.000-04:002007-07-09T20:29:04.515-04:00

As many of you know, I have a bright orange Honda Element. It's a fun car and it even gets (sort of) decent mileage - 25 mpg. After seeing an Element ad where they cover the back of the car with bumper stickers, Nate and decided to do the same. The bumper stickers show the places we've been, bands we've seen and things we believe in (sort of a moving version of this blog). There is only one rule

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-11008172640839575982007-07-04T21:06:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.967-05:00

Some final thoughts, impressions, etc from our trip....The Music - We found new bands and styles we liked, we realized that we really don't like extreme hard core and found out it's really cool to be in the front row (at least Nate did). How many kids can say they saw Switchfoot from the front row? The other cool thing is that the artists are so accessible - the sit at their own merch tables and

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-33062350084120594472007-07-04T20:42:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.968-05:00

Here are a few "best of" awards from me and Nate:Best Food: Nate - Pizza Hut Cheese Sticks, Dad - Monster Funnel cakeBest Main Stage Act: Nate - tobyMac, Dad - FlyleafBest Overall Act: Nate & Dad - DiscipleLoudest: Nate - UnderOath, Dad - Seventh StarMost Fun Band: Nate - Switchfoot, Dad - Family Force 5Best We'd Never Seen Before: Nate - Blissed, Dad - Hundred Year StormWeirdest Thing We Saw:

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-12805570308235744282007-07-04T20:15:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.969-05:00

Sunday morning was time to say goodbye to Galesburg and head off for Columbus, OH our stopover for the way home. We headed to Corpus Christi Church more mass before hitting the road. I had been told Catholicism was a bit more conservative in the midwest and Corpus Christi was certainly old school. I was transported back to being Nate's age at St. Anastasia's with the altar biys wearing cassock &

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-17455427438547182182007-07-04T12:12:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.970-05:00

Saturday's lineup was loaded up with the Cornerstone's "base" - hard core rockers. The Main Stage featured Norma Jean and Underoath as the headliners. Underoath had the coveted closing spot, which has been POD's for the last couple years. (POD is in the studio this Summer - good we get a new album, but bummer they didn't do Cornerstone).As I said in the Friday post, Nate and I still had shopping

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-90516491129818369502007-07-03T18:23:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.971-05:00

The Cornerstone Festival is held on a 500 acre farm near Bushnell, IL. Where is that, you say? Go to Peoria, IL and head another hour west or go to the Quad Cities and head an hour and half south. As Boom says, "Welcome to the prairie". It is corn and soy beans as far as the eye can see and boy can you see - it is flat. I think the highest elevation I hit was a railroad overpass. Oh yeah, in

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-36112791855607940762007-07-02T23:24:00.000-04:002007-07-03T17:26:38.576-04:00

A diversion from my postings about the Cornerstone Festival to tell you about the Garmin Nüvi. This is a GPS unit and one of the coolest gadgets I own. (www.garmin.com/nuvi) I have the 350 model, as do N&V. It is about the size of a deck of cards and contains maps and listings for the entire US. In a nutshell, you look up where you want to go and it gets you there. It has voice prompts and

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-11941985292386252162007-07-02T23:05:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.972-05:00

The merch tents - which officially are called the Exhibition Tents - were host to a varied group of organizations promoting all sorts of causes. Below is a listing of ones I found interesting, not that I necessarily agree or are promoting them:The One Campaign - http://www.one.org - This is group that is working to end global poverty. They are a coalition of secular and religious organizations

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-76289427296665082162007-07-01T22:12:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.973-05:00

Friday, we headed down to the Festival around the "usual" late afternoon time frame. N had seen a promo for a band called Blissed that wanted to check out and we both wanted to hit the merch tent before the nighttime acts on the Main Stage. We were pretty excited since the lineup was Pillar, Flyleaf and Switchfoot. Friday night is a short lineup of music, since they have a worship service around

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-24868763402801223882007-06-30T15:02:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.974-05:00

As I said before, it's a pretty eclectic group of people here at Cornerstone. In theory, what unites all (or the vast majority) is that we call ourselves "Christians". So what does that mean with such diversity? I'm sure there are people here who wouldn't consider me a Christian being Catholic and all and others that would look down on the kids in black with bullets for a belt. To me, it's simple

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-49159078340673028042007-06-30T12:17:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.976-05:00

Before heading out today, we got ear plugs and had lunch at a Dairy Queen which we can't do in the East. Pretty much same quality as a Wendy's I'd say.The main stage bands were supposed to be Pigeon John, Skillet, Anberlin and Relient K. Unfortunately, Relient K's bus caught fire on the PA Tpk, so they were a no-show. (http://www.timesreporter.com/index.php?ID=69670&r=1). They are just one of the

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-32954573764134300212007-06-30T11:42:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.977-05:00

Nate and I headed back to the Festival around 4 and got to watch a thunderstorm pass just east of us and the festival. I love how you can see the whole storm and that it is a lot further away and bigger than it seems. Not sure I could live in a flat tree-less land but it's cool to visit and for N to experience - he's been East coast/west coast but this is his first visit to the Heartland.We spent

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-83955882392596593512007-06-30T11:05:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.978-05:00

Wednesday is the first "official" day of Cornerstone, not just for me and Nate but for the music and everything else. You can actually get there on Monday to setup camp (N said no camping and I agreed) and Tuesday have some music sponsored by some of the record labels.N and I headed to the Festival around noon to get the lay of the land - I had no idea what to expect. Even though things were just

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-28455719721220490832007-06-29T16:35:00.000-04:002008-01-29T22:04:36.979-05:00

OK, so maybe Friday of the Festival is a bit late to start blogging on Cornestone, but the idea to stop sending email and start blogging only came to me last night. Hey, I'm 43, not 23 and part of the texting and blogging generation. Anyway, a lot of the blog so far will excerpted from emails I've sent - cheating? sure but their my emails. Thanks to Boom and Nancy for putting up with my long

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7714693369731684004.post-31636714521150341862007-06-29T15:30:00.000-04:002007-06-29T15:38:53.204-04:00

OK everybody, I've decided to jump into the blogoshpere. A couple inspirations - first, I'm doing a blog at work for a weight loss contest we are having (more on that in future posts) and second, I've been having such fun writing about our trip to the Cornerstone Festival that I figured I'd use a blog rather than typing the same thing to lots of people in email. And, oh yeah, posting pictures

Nate's Dadnoreply@blogger.com1