Can I Eat the Stuff in My Fridge?

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 also give some common sense advice like "don't freeze whole eggs" - duh!

The list is put out by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (part of the FDA) which is "responsible for promoting and protecting the public's health by ensuring that the nation's food supply is safe, sanitary, wholesome, and honestly labeled, and that cosmetic products are safe and properly labeled." I found the list on an FDA site (Science and Our Food Supply) on bringing food science into Middle and High School classrooms under an A-Z food safety guide. This is just the kind of information and education that my Mom would have loved with her degree and lifelong interest in Nutrition.

Who knew that our tax dollars could come up with such a good source of information. I may just post the Fridge/Freezer guidelines on the fridge. Now if I can just remember when the stuff went in the fridge......

Revelation Generation

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 best Contemporary Christian and crossover music—from rock to rap to worship to metal—this two-day mega-event is a great way for youth groups, church groups, families, and singles to come together for a dynamic, memorable concert experience. Last Labor Day Weekend." (http://www.revelationgeneration.org/the_event/what_is_revgen.php). I attended in two roles - as adult leader for our youth group, LifeSygns, and as an ersatz photojournalist.

I had a great time at the event, not only because of the awesome music, but because of the access I received with my Press Pass. Not only did I get to bypass the main ticket gate, but I got access to artist press conferences, including Toby Mac and Peter Furler of the Newsboys. For a while, we had access between the front row and the stage, but oddly that was taken away for no explainable reason after the first couple acts. The event took place on two main stages, the NY Stage, which had more pop and contemporary music, and the Philly Stage, which was more rock and metal. Even though performers on each stage were staggered, I spent a lot of time hustling between the stages trying to get pictures of as many of the acts as possible. By the end of the day I was exhausted and felt like I had walked 10 miles!

Here is a link to a web album of some of the shots I took during the concert (I actually took over 250):

http://picasaweb.google.com/mwcawley/RevelationGeneration2008?authkey=h8ZrgJZO8EU

Many of the pictures were taken with a lens I picked up last year (and should have blogged about :( ) - a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens. Yes, it was expensive, but it allowed me to take many of the night time shots without a flash from 100 feet from the stage.

Just to be on the up and up about the Press Pass...I have offered my pictures to the Catholic Spirit, the weekly newspaper for the Diocese of Metuchen. While not a "Catholic" event, many Catholics attended and commented on our choice of the Papal Flag as our place marker. I was actually amazed, not by the amount of Catholics, but by the fact that they knew the Papal flag. We shall see if the Spirit publishes my pictures, but at least I gave them the opportunity to cover an event that built up the faith of the youth of the Diocese.

Chrism Mass

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 would expect at an important mass at the Cathedral. (All the smells, bells and yells, as Mr. P would say.)

Bishop Bootkoski was the celebrant assisted by the former, retired bishop, Bishop Hughes. Most of the priest from the Diocese were there and it was amazing to here them all pray the Eucharistic Prayer together. The Diocesan Choir was excellent, with a brass, timpani and, of course, organ. I'm not sure I'd like mass to be like that every week, but every once in a while it's awesome to see the full ritual of the Catholic Church.

More than the ceremony of the mass, I was struck with a feeling of unity during Mass. The priests in unity with each other and the Bishop, the parishes all united in one place, and the Sacred Chrism which unites us all as anointed by God. After Mass, I noticed that in the program the Bishop put it this way:

"The Chrism Mass is seen basically and primarily as a celebration of the entire local church in its role as priestly people....It is fitting that both ordained priests and laity from throughout the diocese gather on this occasion to express the unifying leadership ministry of the bishop."

I'm thankful I could serve the Parish and experience this Mass.

Kenny's Property

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 property looks northwest and on a clear day you can see Wind Gap, PA 20 miles as the crow flies to the NE. By the time I moved to Kenny's current house/rental property in 2002, the Property (as we all refer to it) was cleared and ready for construction. I ended up helping some on the property since a) it's keeps me off the streets, b) Kenny and Senior were doing the work themselves and c) they have really fun construction equipment to play with. I mostly am a laborer but have had a blast.

In 2002, the septic system went in and in 2006, the house itself was really started. Lest you think Kenny was slacking in the interim, he was working on the property where I live, was doing more excavation and clearing at the Property (much to the chagrin of his tree hugging neighbor Cinny) and, oh yeah, married Monica, (I think he stopped maybe for a week for that!) and had a daughter, Amanda in 2005.



The whole build is documented on Monica's Blog, Shilay's Tara. I am the official photographer (and a contributor to her blog). I maintain a slide show of the progress on the house. It is pretty much closed in at this point, but the electrical, plumbing and finish work all need to be completed. The hope is to celebrate Christmas 2008 at the house.

You might wonder how Kenny and his dad, with help from a few friends could build this house. First and foremost is Kenny's dedication to the project - he works a full day and often spends another 4 or 5 hour on the house. Second is that Kenny and Senior own Cast Technology, a diesel engine repair shop. This gives them access to equipment normal people can't get. For example, Kenny owns a tractor, bobcat, Cat 955K bulldozer, a wood chipper that can take huge trees, a stump grinder and a genie lift. For the project he has borrowed a John Deere Excavator, a several ton forklift and other equipment. Most of all, this project is getting done because it has become Monica's dream as well so she lives with Kenny's obsession with his "White Whale".

January 1, 2008

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 anniversary - I'm not sure I've really completely dealt with the reality of Mom being gone.

Nancy and I talked about how we would celebrate Mom shortly after we arrived in San Diego. I definitely wanted to go to Mass and Nancy suggested a walk on the beach since that was one of Mom's favorite things to do, though she never made it to San Diego to walk at Torrey Pines. Mass was not easy since January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. They sang "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" which was played at Mom's funeral, so some tears were shed. Even before Mom passed away, I had begun to develop an affection for Mary. For the past several years, I join a group of friends on Fridays at 6:30 AM to pray the Rosary and Nate joins us, too as his schedule allows. Over the past year, I have often thought of the passage from John 19 where Jesus tells John "Behold your Mother" and Mary "Behold your son". Mary isn't a replacement for Mom, but devotion to her can maybe help me heal.

Nancy, Vince, Nate and I took a nice long walk on the beach on Jan. 1st. It was a little subdued, but it was a good day - the weather was awesome, it was warm, we saw a New Age prayer circle and got some great pictures of guys surfing. More than anything, it was time spent together and a day Mom would have enjoyed. We ended the day with dinner a California Pizza Kitchen (another tradition when Nate and I go to San Diego). What could have been a real melancholy day turned out to be a day well spent. I think it is because we celebrated Mom, not mourned her. Don't get me wrong, I miss her all the time, but in celebrating her, she is more closely with us.

Here are some pictures from our "Mom" day at Torrey Pines Beach:

Flashback - 1987

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.

Fun With Hand Drums

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 hand drum is much easier to transport and a little more mellow for the mass setting. I decided to get him a djembe, an African hand drum since that is what Mr. Barr plays at mass and I knew he would give me good advice on buying one. The one I got Nate is shown on the left - it is a 14 inch djembe, with goat skin head and synthetic body. It is mechanically tuned, since I figured a 15 year old wouldn't want to mess with rope tuning.


Nate has a blast playing his djembe at mass and with Lifesygns. At youth group, he can play it loud and wild. I played the djembe at youth group a couple times when Nate let me and I can tell you it is way too much fun. I also got to play it at Eucharistic Adoration in December. This was the first time I had ever played or sung at a church event and it was moving and spiritual. I decided that I needed my own drum after these events. (For those who don't know, I started out a drummer before playing clarinet, baritone/euphonium and sax). I decided I needed something different in a drum, so after some research, I chose a doumbek, a traditional Middle Eastern drum. My drum is shown on the right, it is a 11 inch, hand etched aluminum drum with a synthetic head. I play at youth group practice to help keep the beat and at mass if requested. Teen Mass is for the teens - we are trying get to an all teen band soon.

Autumn Blaze 2007

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 time Autumn Blaze featured an overtly Catholic artist who is a priest to boot. Fr. Stan Fortuna is a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a group of monks who are doing awesome things in the Bronx and other places. They live a life of poverty and chastity following the way of St Francis, relying on God and the goodness of others to feed and clothe them. Fr. Stan uses his music (a mix of reggae, beat box, rap and other styles) to evangelize. Some of the Youth Group kids got to talk to him before the show and I suspect most of the audience had no idea who he was as he wandered around the parking lot in his gray robes. He was pretty warmly received by the crowd when he performed which was cool.

The kids, as always, had a fun time - dancing and head banging to the music. It seemed that Barlow Girl and tobyMac were the favorites. Overall, the whole show seemed a bit rushed, like they had rented the room for four hours and had to squeeze in as much as they could.

Mr. P and I scored press tickets and got to sit where the reporters site for hockey and basketball. The short story is that we told Autumn Blaze we worked for the Catholic Spirit and it wasn't until the day before the event that the Spirit said we could use their name. The seats weren't that much better than the kid's and we didn't get any special access but the key thing was we got to bring cameras in. For the curious, my shots were taken with my Canon Rebel XT with the built in flash and a combination of the 18 - 55 and 75 - 300 mm lenses. Although the pictures came out OK, this concert and the Cornerstone Festival led me to upgrade my lens and flash, which I'll post about separately.

Lifesygns has been going to Autumn Blaze since it was a small concert in the fields of Zarephath. In 2003, it moved to Continental Airlines Arena and attracted even bigger names like the Newsboys, Third Day and, my personal favorite, the OC Supertones. The first couple years at CAA it seemed like the sky was the limit for this event and maybe it would have to move to Giants Stadium at some point. It seems though that interest has waned - this year the Arena was maybe half full. The cost of the tickets, other Christian concerts (like Revelation Generation) and the insistence on it being an "outreach" event all contribute, I believe, to the drop in attendance. They should get back to there roots - a fun family event.

The Return of the Blogger

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 being a "bad blogger" - I like to think I'm just keeping his RSS reader free of clutter. Paula, who I convinced to blog, has posted way more than me. Nate says it's not a competition but I do feel like a bit of a slacker.

My last post was in October, so I have catching up to do. I'll do separate posts so a) it looks like I post more and b) you won't be bored by long posts. Some items to look forward to:

• How to Play Hockey Without an ACL
• Autumn Blaze 2007
• The Milk Can Game
• Mark's New Toys
• Fun with Hand Drums
• New Year's 2008
• and more.....

I'll just try to remember what I told Paula when I convinced her to blog: It's about the writing, not who reads it.

Columbus Day Parade

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 route as Nate did by panning or dragging the little man icon around) That is almost 2 miles on a October day that hit 90 degrees (Dispute global warming now, Nate?) Nate was one tired puppy when he got home. Here is a video of NHHS performance in the parade:




For those of you that like the technical info.....I recorded the whole 3 hour parade coverage on my Tivo. Fortunately, I was also watching the parade at work, so I knew about where in the recording NHHS performed. Otherwise it would have been 3 hours of searching through opera performances and ads for every Italian business in greater NYC. I copied the Tivo file to my laptop when I got home (almost 4 hours for a 3 hour video!). I then used a video editing program called VideoReDo Plus to extract the MPEG from the Tivo file and edit out everything except the intro and the band's performance - 3 hours down to 1:42 - yes, that's a minute and 42 seconds. I then created a YouTube account (which is easy since I have a Google account for, among other things, this blog) and uploaded the video. A word about the quality....I have an old-fasioned, non-HD TV and Tivo, so the resolution is 480 x 480 and I think the upload to YouTube does some compression, too. We all know it's Nate with the flag, but I doubt anyone could pick him out without some hints.

Nate's First Football Game

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 sing, he has never had to read music for an instrument. And even better, he had to memorize it! For parades (like the NYC Columbus Day Parade), he will get to carry the banner.

The best thing that can be said about the football game was that the Band looked really good. They did 2/3 of their field show and looked pretty tight for only 3 weeks of practice. The are doing a show based on West Side Story and the music sounded crisp (especially the solo by the Pit) and the formations actually told the story. It will be interesting to see the complete show later in the season. The field show is more Drum and Bugle Corps than what I remember from marching band, but I think that's just the way it is now. We were all symmetrical with a heavy dose of John Philip Sousa. The idea of a "Pit" or triple and quad drums never entered the mind of our director, Larry McGriff.

The football game ended a 35 - 7 defeat to arch-rival Central. It's a cheap night out ($3), so I guess I can put up with bad football to watch Nate and the Band. I have some experience with bad football - In my years at Marple-Newtown High School, the football team had some bad years, including one year where we were 0-10-1, the lone bright spot a 0-0 tie. We also seemed to lose to cross-town rival Cardinal O'Hara (a Catholic League powerhouse) by scores like 50-0. At Villanova, we had no football team the four years I was there since they had been so bad in the years previous. Villanova returned to football in 1-AA after I left and produced the Eagles star running back Brian Westbrook.

After the game, Nate and I watched the finals of Drum Corps International which I had Tivo'd. It's been a long time since I'd seen DCI - we used to watch it every year when I was a kid when we were on vacation in Brigantine. I can definitely say that watching it on a modern 31 inch TV is better than the 19 inch "portable" we had at the shore. It was fun re-living a childhood memory with Nate - he thought the marching and the drum lines (of course) were awesome and his favorite corp was Phantom Regiment. He says they have the coolest name and the sound just hits you. Alas, the Santa Clara Vanguard won - which was cool since it was the first finals in California. Nate and I are planning to go see one of the DCI preliminaries next summer if it comes to NJ or PA.

The End of Summer

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.....

1. I had to work a full day on Friday.
2. I can barely get Church and a round of golf in on a Sunday.
3. The hockey equipment and the golf clubs were in the car at the same time, soon to give way to just the hockey equipment.
4. I made bread today for the first time since the spring (yes, the bread likes to rise in the summer heat, but I can't bring myself to fire up a 500 F oven when it's 90+ deg outside)
5. I didn't buy salad stuff when I went shopping today
6. The tomato plants in the garden are turning brown and it's time to harvest the remaining tomatoes.
7. I have to wear socks with my shoes.
8. It's time to make the reservations to go to San Diego at New Years
   

Don't get me wrong - I love the fall. The days are crisp and the air just feels new and clean. Not to mention the color in the leaves. Of course it is easier to enjoy the leaves when you don't have to rake them - ahhh, the joys of renting.

Nate's a Freshman!

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 non-communication. I think it's a bigger deal for me and his Mom - it was bad enough having a teenage, but having a freshman makes feel even older.

Nate's going to be one busy kid this fall. In addition to going to class, he has marching band after school 3 days a week and pretty much every Friday night for football, he's trying out for Jazz ensemble, and I'm sure there are clubs he'll want to join. His class load is pretty tough, so much so that he could not fit in "regular" band during school. Outside of school he's still doing Tae Kwon Do and drums as well as joining the High School Youth Group at church. As my Mom and Dad always said, as long as his grades are good he can do the other stuff.

Some weird things I noticed looking at his schedule....Nate has gym every day 1st semester and none the second semester, replaced by Health class. Wouldn't it seem to make more sense to give the kids some exercise a few times a week throughout the year? And there is no required Art classes. Not that they were my favorite, but in art history, I at least learned about different styles and artists. Nate says there is a "Fine Arts" requirement which he'll fulfill with band. Then there is this odd class he has to take called Advanced Academic Literacies - I'm not whether it's some state mandated class. The class description says "Advanced Academic Literacies encourages students to develop basic skills across the curriculum including basic literacies in reading, writing, listening, speaking, information, science, economics, technology, mathematics, visual, global and multicultural studies." I'm not really sure what that means but the class consists of a project where they have to run a Travel Company. I guess it's kind of a life skills class. It's only one semester and Nate will be taking Java programming in it's place in the 2nd semester.

I'm going to try and get to as many home football games as I can. Partly, to relive the fun I had in Band, but also to see Nate enjoying it. As a freshman drummer, he doesn't get to play "real" drums - the get assigned either cymbals or bells. Nate got bells which he seems OK with - it's a chance to read "real" music. It also means he only has to learn the music and not any marching formations. In parades, the bell players carry the banners and such. I'll be sure to post pictures of him in Band, maybe with some of me from my days in Band if I can find them.

Bubba Burgers

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 carrying them.

For those of you not familiar with these tasty, 1/3 pound, patties of juicy goodness, Bubba Burgers are made from ground chuck. While not the lowest fat content, they seem to have the highest taste content. They come frozen, 6 to a pack and are a bit pricey at around $1 a piece ($1.25 for the Angus). They have very specific cooking instructions, which if followed, make one of the tastiest buggers around. They come in a bunch of varieties including, oddly, a low fat burger. It's all explained on the website, if you really need more info. You may have seen ads for Bubba burgers at a baseball game or, if you are a NASCAR fan, on the #21 Bush Baked Beans/Bubba Burger Truck.

On to my "new" varieties. The jalapeño is in a word spicy. I've had a lot of burgers or chicken that has claimed to have spice, but these have bits of jalapeño in them and need nothing more than some jack cheese, maybe a tomato and a sturdy bun. As for the Angus Bubba, I'm not sure words can do it justice. Picture a great Angus steak, crossed with the juiciest burger you can think of. This image probably best describes it:


We are still waiting for the Texas shaped burgers (1/2 lb. !), the "Natural" burgers and the Bubba Bacon, but I'm sure they will be worth the wait.

When You're Gone - Video

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 - Work got busy and I think just doing the site was enough "therapy" for me.

So....on to Tina's contribution. Tina originally sent me the video below to put on the MomSite. Since I hadn't been updating that, I decided to post it here. The video has 3 story lines, one of which is about an older couple where the Mom dies. That alone would be emotional for us six kids, but Tina got the extra whammy - one of the other stories in the video is about a Marine who is sent to Iraq, like her husband Gary. I wouldn't say I am an Avril Lavigne fan (too old!) but this is pretty good. Normally I'd say enjoy, but in this case, just watch.

(If the embedded video doesn't work, try this link.)

Burying St. Joseph

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. Others ones that bother me are ones that say if you say a certain prayer X times in Y days, something "good" will happen. For the St. Joseph burying tradition, I have heard it called idolatry (don't be shy Tom McG.), to a marketing ploy by Realtors, to superstition, to faith, to luck or coincidence.

What brought all this up is my friends Boom and Miss Nancy. Their house has been on the market for several months with no serious bids. They had lowered the price twice and as of the beginning of July hadn't had a nibble in two weeks. They also had a new house which they needed to close on in August. Our area of NJ is a real buyer's market right now with a glut of homes up for sale. St. Joe went in the ground on July 5th and at an Open House on July 7th, six couples saw the house and one made a cash offer which will expedite the closing.

Coincidence? An up tick in the housing market? Miss Nancy being out of the country? or St. Joe in the ground. Knowing Boom and Nancy, there was probably some prayers to St. Joe for intercession along with the burying of the statue. Maybe that's where the truth lies. Or maybe burying the statue is an act of faith, that God rewards. Not becuase it's magic, but because you put your faith in Him.

Element(al) Bumper Stickers

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 - nothing political. That doesn't mean no issues - it just means no "Leave Iraq" or "Vote Whoever 08".

The Cornerstone Festival was a big chance to get stickers so here are the before and after of the back of the Element:

Before & After

Cornerstone Festival - Final Thoughts

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 will talk to you after their show. The guys from Hundred Year Storm were genuinely moved when I told them about Mom and their song "Yesterday We Had it All". The other cool thing that makes the artist real is that some of them stayed right in the Holiday Inn Express with us. Kinda neat to see the Wedding on stage on Wed. night and then see them at the breakfast buffet the next morning.

Faith, God & Religion - Two things that stuck with me here....First, a reminder from Kevin Young of Disciple that God loves us unconditionally, no matter what we do. If we are separated from God/Jesus, it's our doing. Second, from Jamie, the founder of To Write Love on Her Arms, when he talked about deciding to say they were NOT a Christian organization. Jamie said he does the ministry because he is Christian and this is where God has led him, but felt he could be much more effective by not identifying the organization as Christian. Part of it (he said) was the negative connotation of the label "Christian" (how sad!) but also his organization is all about helping people wherever they are. (I started this post on Sunday morning before we left and it was interesting that the priest at church touched on both these topics in his homily.)

The Trip - Sure we could have flown out to the midwest and rented a car to go to Cornerstone, but there is something about the concept of a road trip that is special. Even with his near constant Nintendo DS playing, Nate and I got to talk about religion, politics, school, etc. He also got to see firsthand the vastness of the country and see the mile after mile of corn and soy. Despite the 2277 miles and 33 hours in the car (click here for the route), it was a fun, memorable, experience, not just for the music but the time spent together.

So that's all from Cornerstone - to paraphrase a shirt I bought...

Keep Worshiping at Full Volume!

Cornerstone Festival - Best of List

Here are a few "best of" awards from me and Nate:

Best Food: Nate - Pizza Hut Cheese Sticks, Dad - Monster Funnel cake
Best Main Stage Act: Nate - tobyMac, Dad - Flyleaf
Best Overall Act: Nate & Dad - Disciple
Loudest: Nate - UnderOath, Dad - Seventh Star
Most Fun Band: Nate - Switchfoot, Dad - Family Force 5
Best We'd Never Seen Before: Nate - Blissed, Dad - Hundred Year Storm
Weirdest Thing We Saw: Nate - Garbage Men in Suits, Dad - Guys in cow costume
Best T-shirt: Nate - "If You Don't Like Showbread, You're an Idiot", Dad - "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" (Honorable Mention to "Virginity Rocks")

Cornerstone Festival - The Trip Home

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 & surplice, standing by the ambo during the gospel and the use of pattens during communion. Not quite pre-Vatican II but they did sing the Holy, Holy and Lamb of God in Latin. After mass, N "needed" a Bizzard so it was a last stop at DQ.

Sunday night dinner was at Bob Evans, since N says we can't get them in the East. I had the Pot Roast sandwich, which will definitely be off the menu once I start the diet. We stayed at the Comfort Suites ("I've been everywhere, man" says the commercial). It was a Suite - Ok it had a half wall with a couch, microwave and a fridge. Too bad the walls were paper thin and the beds were hard. Holiday Inn Express was much better.


The trip to NJ on Monday was pretty uneventful. We went through Ohio, W. VA, and PA before getting to NJ. I hadn't been on that part of the turnpike and it brought a lot of memories both from taking Nancy to college and VU band trips. We didn't feel the need to visit Breezewood despite the memories there. One cool thing we saw on the turnpike was windmills on top of the mountains east of Pittsburgh near Somerset PA. This farm produces 9 MW of power and the windmills are 210 feet tall with a blade length of 112 feet. Annual pollution offset is 25 million lbs of CO2.

We arrived safely back home around 6 PM and after unloading the car pretty much crashed. It was a long, fun and exhausting trip.