i know this is two entries for one day, but it was too much for just one!

one of the things that's kinda been hard for both Stacy and i since we've moved down here has been losing our old group of friends. there were a lot of things that we were happy to leave behind when we both chose to move down here, but one of the things that kept us there for so long was our really tight group of friends. we've sorta been mourning the loss of our group lately.

anyway, it's fun to reconnect with them from time to time and when we realized that today was going to be the season premiere of Lost, we thought it might be time again. of course, everybody being scattered around the state, not everyone could make it. (Kit couldn't come and, as always, we missed Dana and Jen.) but, we had fun nonetheless. plus, the new season of Lost looks like it's going to freakin' ROCK! (check out the free 8:15 recap on iTunes... it's awesome! it recaps three seasons of lost in 8 minutes and 15 seconds and is hysterical. a good reminder of where we've been for longtime fans and a good way to catch new fans up to speed.)

anyway, so Kirsch, Amanda, Brianne, Erica, Ashley, Stacy and i gathered here in "the h" for the premiere. but, i thought it was a little girl-heavy, so i invited Tyler to come to. impressively, Tyler totally held his own with our sarcastic group full of girls he didn't know.

as usual, Kirsch made cake (yum!) and we all watched the premiere and were blown away. then, because you just have to, we all played Guitar Hero III™ for an hour or two. the perfect ending to a perfect night. (actually, the perfect ending came when i got to go to bed. after the doctor, carrying a three year old around Disneyland™ all day and then a little party, i was exhausted!)


(Ashley rockin' the Guitar Hero)


(Erica watching the Guitar Hero... up close!)


(Stacy and Amanda chillin on the couch)


(Ashley lost. sad.)


(Erica's into it)


(couch dwellers)


(catching Tyler mid-rock)

if you've been around me any time in the past month, you know that i have this annoyingly persistent cough that just won't go away. finally, i went to the doctor today. he gave me drugs. i hope i get better.

(the Mountain Dew™ was not prescribed by the doctor but is my own drug of choice.)

after that, Stacy and i took her nephew, Chino to Disneyland™ for his 3rd birthday. here are the crappy pics i took on my iPhone™. Stacy has the good ones on her camera.

i had a dentist appointment this morning, so i went up to see my dogs for a few minutes. gotta love em.

as usual, Tuesday is Target™ day. tomorrow is Ashley Otani's birthday (happy birthday, Ash!) so, i needed to get her a card and whatnot. we found this new line of cards by a guy named Jim Benton that's pretty entertaining. (some of the phrases on the cards included "nobody's perfect... but i'm as close as it gets," "it's cute how you think i'm listening," "exercise hard... eat right... die anyway," "don't blame me... i was born awesome," "please put all criticisms in the form of a compliment," "i'm not saying i'm cool... that's your job," and "i sincerely want you to genuinely worship me.")





- barnes

when i woke up this morning, i just felt like the mohawk had lived its life.



for a few years now, i've been doing leadership development with the high school service team at Yorba Linda Friends. even though i'm not there anymore, i've continued my work with them because they're awesome and i love working with them. tonight was my first time back with them since September.


(that's Emily, Vicente, Jeremy, Alex and Kaysie from left to right. Daniel's in the back.)

no photos for today. sad.

okay... so there wasn't really snow in Orange County. but after several crappy weather days, from a brief period of time today, the clouds parted and the mountains in the distance were revealed. and though they are not in Orange County, the snow on them could be seen from Orange County. it was beautiful.





of course, by 4.00pm, the clouds were back and by 7.00pm, it was raining once again.

tomorrow... thunderstorms! :-(

barnes

i'm braindead. another full day of paper writing. however, i ran out of room writing on the windows of my office and had to move into my bedroom.

sometimes, when i have a paper to write or a project i'm working on, i do my brainstorming on the windows of my condo. that was my day today.

holy crap on a stick!*

i've been waiting for this day for over a year now. i heard about it. i read about it. i even saw pictures and clips. but nothing could do justice to describe how awesome U2 3D actually is

of course, you all know how big of a U2 fan i am. i've seen them live 8 times (once on the PopMart Tour, three times on the Elevation Tour and four times on the Vertigo Tour). i have all their music, bootlegs, dvds, rare cds and b-sides. so, one would think that, no matter what, i would absolutely love this. this may not be true.

i mean... i've seen them a lot. i've seen (and own) all the dvds and everything. so, if there's something new, it had better be pretty good. honestly, there was a part of me that was worried that i might not like this at all or might get bored seeing something i've seen so many times. i couldn't have been more wrong.

even if you're not a U2 fan, you need to see this movie. the use of 3D is AMAZING. it really redefines the movie entertainment experience. it's not over-the-top, in-your-face 3D like you'd probably expect. it's way more subtle than that most of the time. simply put, it feels like you've been given an all access pass to walk around stage, through the audience and into the amazing graphics during a U2 show. when Bono looks you straight in the eye and sings "Beautiful Day," you feel like he's literally standing right in front of you, making eye contact and singing to you. when the crowd jumps up and down and undulates like the sea, you feel like you're right in the middle of it. when the guy in the row in front of you pulls out a joint and lights up, you can smell it. (oh wait... that might just have been in our theater.**)

my only complaints are that they could have done more with the interactive graphics. during songs like "The Fly" and "Love and Peace," the graphics people do some pretty cool stuff to immerse you in the song. however, it seems like this could have been done a bit more for consistency and just because it's pretty freakin' cool. also, i wish they'd have done a few more songs. as it stands, it's slightly under an hour and a half. U2 shows generally run around two and a half hours. not that they should have done the entire setlist, but it would have been cool to see songs like "City of Blinding Lights" or "Mysterious Ways." however, these are minor quibbles in comparison with how amazing this thing really is.

this film will set a new standard for how movies will be made. in fact, it already is. the company who made it (3ality Digital) has studied and perfected the 3D process. they've eliminated the aspects of 3D that made you get headaches or feel seasick before. it really is nearly perfect. and, in the past few months, as people have been experiencing this within the movie industry, the studios have announced a large number of 3D films for the next two years. so seriously, check it out. right now, it's showing at IMAX theaters only. starting on February 13th, you can see it in regular theaters as well. oh... and if you do go and see it, make sure to stay through the credits for one last song and an amazing 3D graphics display.

check out www.u23dmovie.com for more info and online ticket buying too.

-barnes

* this quote stolen from my old friend, Tracy Cynaumon who now has some other last name that i can't quite remember right now.

** seriously. he lit up right there in the movie theater.

morning people

so, i've never been a morning person. never claimed to be. never was willing to put in the effort to be. i'd rather sleep in or be grumpy in the mornings and then be a perfectly pleasant person in the afternoon, evenings and into the night. lately, i've been feeling the need to change.
i would never have admitted it before, but i've always envied morning people. they're so bright and cheery and i feel like they get so much more out of their days than i do. a week or two ago, i decided that i would make myself over i would become a morning person. i mean, i like mornings. they're beautiful (sometimes) and seem like a very useful time in the day. i've just never been able to enjoy them due to my penchant for late nights. Sunday, i decided that today would be the day i began my transformation.

this morning, my alarm went off at 6.30 am. (VERY early for me.) i immediately hit snooze. at 6.40 am, again it went off. again i hit snooze. 6.50 am... snooze. 7.00 am... snooze. but then, before i could fall back asleep, i felt guilty and got my sorry ass out of bed. (just because i work at a church now, doesn't mean that i'm not going to say "ass" anymore. sorry if that offends your sensibilities. also, keep your eyes open for "damn" and "hell.") anyway, i threw on some clothes, grabbed my MacBook™ and my morning Mountain Dew™ and headed out to the cold of the balcony for a little morning alone time

it was a beautiful morning (as you can see from the pictures i took). as if God were saying "see? this is what you've been missing, you idiot!" anyway, because i snoozed so long, my time was cut a bit short. (stupid having to go to work.) but i got a chance to catch up on the news, drink my Dew™, read Isaiah 40, talk to God and take some pictures before heading off to the shower. could i be a morning person? perhaps. but it will take some effort and dedication. i hope that you all will support me on my quest to find the morning person within.

guy's night

if you know me, chances are that you know that most of my closest friends are not of the male variety. it's not intentional (or maybe it is on some subconscious level) but i always seem to end up with more friends that are girls. lately, that has been changing a bit. so, tonight we had a guy's night here at "the h." (by the way, in case i've never mentioned it, my new place is referred to as "the h." this started because it is the "H" model and when we were looking at places down here we referred to it by its model designation to differentiate between it and the other units we looked at. now it seems to stand for "hell yeah!" or something like that.) anyway, so guy's night.

Kit, Tommy, Jer, Tyler and Timmy came over and we had pizza and played Guitar Hero™ and watched Swingers. doesn't sound too crazy or out there exciting. but you know, it was pretty cool. as we were talking, i realized that i'm not the only one who has trouble just "getting together with the guys." so, it was pretty nice to be able to do that. i think we'll have to do it again soon. (i'd post pictures.... but it's a guy's night... you really think we took pictures? what... for our scrapbooks? please.)

mourning people

of course, the big news today was that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment. first, i want to acknowledge that this is indeed a tragedy. i liked Heath's movies (never saw Brokeback... but i liked the ones that i saw), i think he was incredibly talented and i am still very much looking forward to seeing him as The Joker in the upcoming The Dark Knight. having said all of that, watching the reactions of the people at work today as they found out was priceless.

our office area (which we refer to as "the bullpen") houses about 30 desks surrounded by offices. somehow, nobody shouted out "oh my gosh... Heath Ledger died!" at any point. instead, each area of desks seemed to find out on their own in various ways and have a variety of reactions. from the guys, it usually was something like "wow... bummer" or "ah man... that sucks!" but from the girls, it was a whole other ballgame. Stacy was quite distraught. mostly because (and i just realized this) i think she thought she actually might have had a chance with him or something. (not that i'm worried about it. i mean, she knows that if Penelope Cruz comes along... ) anyway, other girls reactions varied from near tears, to looks of befuddlement. however, my favorite, by far, was from Raelyn, our middle school intern. though the news had been circulating for nearly two hours, i was sitting at my desk when i heard Raelyn shout "NO!!!!" (it was actually more of a shriek.) i looked over at Ashley and we both said... "she just found out." she immediately stopped doing whatever she was doing so that she could get online and get details. Tyler was trying to meet with her and finally just gave up. when he came over for guy's night he told me that she ended up being useless for the rest of the day. (considering that she only interns one day a week, that's a bummer.)

well, that's all for today. tune in tomorrow to find out how amazing U2 3D the movie turns out to be!

barnes

today was weird because it would be beautiful and sunny one minute, raining the next and then beautiful and sunny again the next. who can keep up? here's a picture outside ROCKHARBOR tonight. i just love the streets when they've been recently rained on. (that smell of rain on asphalt is almost intoxicating.)

this weekend, we had leader training for kidsROCK (our Children's Ministry). Stacy and i developed and co-led a class on creative teaching and classroom management and it was pretty much awesome. we have amazing leaders/teachers/volunteers.


a group doing the "human knot"


good discussion


they were very excited

before church, i finally got around to taking Christmas down. here is my light fixture sans Christmas red lights.



i LOVE my guitar hero. after church tonight, i came home and played for an hour or two. so great!

i went and saw Cloverfield today. i don't know if it was because i hadn't eaten, or what, but the whole shaky-cam thing made me almost throw up several times. i mean, i almost had to leave the theater a few times. as far as the movie goes, it was pretty much exactly what i expected. i liked it, but it wasn't the end all that everyone has been making it out to be. anyway, i enjoy going to the movies alone, so this was a nice morning escape for me. (except for the near-vomit experience.) and yes... i know this isn't a picture i took. but it'll have to do.

so, Stacy was getting her hair done today and i stopped by to say hi and saw Mardi Cork there. she was coming from getting her hair washed or something and i thought she looked like a nun, so i took a picture.

what i'll remember about this day is that Stacy and Michelle stayed at work till 6.00pm trying to balance the Winter Camp budget. (you should have seen the excel spreadsheet and color coding!)

it only comes a few times a year. when it does, i count down the days, go in late to work and sit up and pay attention. it's Apple Day. the day when Apple decides to unleash some new awesome products on the all too suspecting public. pretty much... when i think of today... this is what i'll remember.



the macbook air. www.apple.com/macbookair

since we worked all weekend, Stacy and i both got the day off on Monday. we took our beach cruisers and went for a bike ride.


(our bikes parked outside of Juice It Up!)

Ralph (the guy who runs the camp in Idyllwild) told us that his wife is a "burger connoisseur" and that she said that the best burger in town was to be found at the Shell station. what? i know. but they even had a sign... "best burger on the hill." hmmm... we had to find out!




they weren't that good.

barnes

so, in case you hadn't figured it out, this weekend was Winter Camp for ROCKHARBOR. we joined forces with some old friends at Mariners Church (Jen Epperson) and at High Desert Church (David Robles) that we'd worked with at Yorba Linda and it was amazing! (i was the speaker and the mohawk went along with my talks.) it was such an amazing time and the kids were fantastic. i'm so proud of Stacy for it all. she came up with the idea to do it, decided that we should plan our own camp (even though it's WAY more work), put the whole thing together with our team and made it awesome. as far as me being a camp speaker, it was a great experience. i'd been wanting to speak at a camp for a long time, so this was very cool for me.


(Stacy, me and Ashley hanging out during freetime)


(me speaking on stage)

anyway, camp was really cool, but i'm also really glad to be back in my own bed and out of the freezing cold.

barnes

i know that this is two daily pictures today, but this one had to be posted. i got me a haircut! yes... it's a mohawk. yes... it was for a purpose. yes... that's hair all over my shoulders.

when we got to camp and started setting up, about a million things went wrong at one time. it was pretty amazing. the biggest (for me) was that everything for the entire weekend was going to be run through my computer and i'd brought up the wrong adapter for the projector. (the one in the picture.) i called people... i googled the area for an Apple Store... i tried it all. then i stopped, closed my eyes and asked God to just help me relax and present a solution to the problem. i'm not kidding when i say it was less than a minute later that the camp host/manager guy showed up and had the exact thing i needed. and just in case that wasn't enough, right as he showed up, i got a call from my friend David who was on his way up and said that he had found the part at a Best Buy. amazing!

in the chaos of preparing for Winter Camp, i took a few minutes to visit my dogs. the german shepherd/chow mix is Baby. we've had her for 13 years or so. she's very old and not doing so well. Scout (the jack russell terrier) was an impulse buy a few years back. i saw him in the mall and had to have him. (note to self: research dogs BEFORE you buy them) anyway, it was nice to take a few minutes out of a hectic day and run around with the dogs.

i spent most of the day in the office prepping for Winter Camp and this weekend.

so, last night, some of us went out to French 75 for dinner and we were talking about life and stuff. my good friend, Ashley Otani, mentioned that she had a new camera and that her New Year's Resolution was to take more pictures. this got us talking about taking pictures and recording our lives when we came up with a fantastic idea. what if each of us were to take at least one picture every day? what if we could look back at a year and have a picture to represent every day of that year? how cool would that be?

so that's what i'm gonna try to do! a picture every day. and i'm going to post them here. some days, you might just get a picture with a caption. other days, it might be a whole blog. just depends. i'm going to start with a picture from last night of us at the dinner table since that's where this whole things started. here's looking forward to a whole year of pictures!

- barnes

in another life, when i was a teacher, there was a show that began during the first month of my first year in that profession. it was called "Alias." this was the first show i watched from the first episode to the last. it was like a mini-movie every week. it had action and adventure, romance and sci-fi, conspiracy and drama. plus, it introduced the world to Jennifer Garner. it was amazing. it aired on Sunday nights and the discussions in my classes on Monday morning would, inevitably, center on the happenings of "Alias" from the previous evening.

was Sydney going to get caught? did Sloane know that Syd and Jack were double agents for the CIA? was Irina really good or really evil? are Syd and Vaughn ever gonna hook up? what's the deal with Rambaldi? where was Sydney during those lost two years?

these were just some of the MANY questions that this show left us asking over the first two seasons alone. it was like nothing television had seen before. yes... over the seasons, it lost its way a few times. but... even at its worst, it was more enjoyable than most of the stuff being produced.

anyway, the reason i bring all this up is that Stacy and i recently decided to rewatch "Alias." and you know what? it's just as good the second time! and it's so cool to see now, because this is the show that set up the successes of shows like "Lost" and "Heroes." it was the first show (at least, that i watched) thatmade every week a cliff-hanger and had an over-arching plot that ran the course of the series. (it's also kinda cool to see where shows like "Lost" and "Heroes" clearly learned from the mistakes made by "Alias.") all this to say, "Alias" (and Sydney Bristow) kick ass and if you haven't watched the show before, do yourself a favor and get the DVDs. (or borrow mine.) you won't regret it.

-barnes