Capturing the Spirit

Today we spent the entire day setting up the stage at church to record worship live. So Jaime and I headed off to Dales Drum Shop to buy some drum mics. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but obviously its not for the congregation to hear, but so we can record. (In case I haven't mentioned it, our worship team is trying to produce a CD.)

So we bought a 7-piece Nady mic kit, 7 20' mic cables and some mic clips. The we were off to the Guitar Center to hook up with Fran and Brandon. We got to the guitar center and were looking at a mixer. Drum mics take a ton of channels on a sound board (I was anticipating 8) and Brandon's board can't record that many with all the other equipment we were recording live. Luckily, we found out that Brandon had a 17 channel Mackie just sitting around. Awesome! So we were good to go.

Well, needless to say we rearranged the stage to get as little sound bleeding as possible. My drum kit and I are now on the far left side of the stage, and everyone else on the right. It was a struggle to set up all this equipment and we had many technical difficulties. Jaime and I had to go back to the music store for other stuff that didn't work, etc.

Well, this was wasn't supposed to take this long really. We were running out of mic cables and we had previously determined a mic cable we just bought was bad. Brandon swore that it didn't work. We had plans to just take it back. But then I said... "Hey! Did we pray over it?".

Now normally I'm not a big praying type, but I have seen this work. A few years back I worked maintainance at a Christian Camp and we were using a Farmall A tractor. It broke down and we needed it to get our work done that day. So, we laid hands on it and prayed. Sure enough it started and it ran great all day. We parked it and the head maintanance guy took a look at it. After reviewing why the tractor wouldn't start, he looked at us with a confused and shocked look and asked "You guys used this today?". We said "Yeah, all day no problems". To this he answered... "Well, because the fuel line is servered". Whoa.

So from that point I believed in praying over inanimate objects.

So Jaime and I did just that. I plugged it in with a faith that could move a small mound. Sure enough it worked! So, take that however you find it.

So, we have everything setup. There's once thing I can say... its hard to capture the Spirit. We made a CD in the studio, but God doesn't show up when you manufacture music. God shows up when His people worship. So, in essense, we are trying to capture the very spirit of God moving. That's difficult.

So that's all I have to say. We will see how recording goes!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Yep, it was cold and snowy. But Fran and Tanyan managed to pose quickly for this shot. They are so photogenic aren't they? 

Let it Snow!

Here's a picture of me walking up to "The Met". This is a great coffeeshop in North Conway. Look at it snow! 

Hanging Out

Here's some of us waiting for Auth Eileen and Bob. 

Wash Me

Our car was experiencing northern exposure. Look at the rack on her!

The Journey Ends - Part Two

So we are back in PA, but I wanted to complete the tale.

So on Sunday we headed back to Cranmore. It was a beautiful day honestly. We first drove up to a scenic vista to get some pictures of Mt. Washington. We then stopped by the little coffeeshop called Frontside Cafe and the Eastern Slope Inn. We got some incredible breakfast, especially the bannana cardamom bread. Wow!

The conditions at Cranmore were nice... packed powder. Not as good as powder, but still good. Not all the trails were open and some were pretty icy. Skiing was pretty normal.

Then, coming down one of the main blue trails I saw Fran disappear into a cloud of snow. As I got closer I saw him making his way next to a young boy that was injured pretty badly. My first thought was it was a collision but I later found that Fran, in an effort to stop as quickly as possible to help the young boy had wrecked himself. I showed up on the scene and then Jaime. Jaime went to work evaluating the situation determining which limb was injured. She quickly discovered it was his left leg and that he heard a "snap". Another man on the scene was someone "responsible" for him and seemed pretty distressed. We found out that it was the boy's last run of the day. Soon the ski patrol showed up and Jaime worked with them to get the child off in the sled and off the slopes. I volunteered to take his skis down and Jaime his poles. I think he'll be fine. He was scared at first but we saw a smile or two later.

Then we decided it was break time. So we went into the ski shop so Fran and Tanyan could purchase some turtle fur. We were prompted quickly to fill out a survey. So we did and we requested more blue trails lit for night skiing. We got a free hot chocolate from this so with our turtle furs and hot cocoa passes we headed to the lodge.

In the lodge we watched an excellent blues band. I forget their names but they were pretty good. I'll try to post some pictures. You know, I may be mixing up days here. Oh well.

After Sunday's skiing we headed back to the hostel to get cleaned up and to find where we would meet Tanyan's Aunt Eileen. She lives in Barrington with "Bob"... I supposed that he's an uncle-in-law. We finally decided on a place IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Actually it was The Sawmill Restaurant in West Newfield, Maine. This place had pretty good food actually but the atmosphere and service was marginal. I had ordered Chicken Delgado and Jaime ordered baked stuffed haddock. We wound up switching meals. Fran ordered baked haddock and once again didn't eat much, his stomach still upset.

We chatted with Aunt Eileen and Uncle Bob for sometime. It was a bit awkward chatting with someone else's family, but we managed to make it go.

So afterwards we drove back the hostel (about 45 minutes away or so) and got ready for bed. This night we decided to share our room with Fran and Tanyan. That was kind fun, we watched The Princess Bride and fell asleep in the bunk beds. This was good because our room was quite a bit warmer than theirs so it was more comfortable.

So, we woke up fairly early, packed and headed back to Peaches. This place just rocks! Fran was getting his appetite back so he ordered the Apple Butterscotch Pancakes. Jaime ordered the same thing. They were excellent. Everything was top notch, service, atmosphere, food. The temperature could have been warmer inside, but it was 5 degrees outside. Some how Tanyan and I sat across from each other at the table and Fran and I next to each other. This was something new, and we decided, hey... why not? We quickly discovered that this arrangment confuses wait staff. Fran had ordered the exact same meal as Jaime, but his did not come out very quick. So the waitress brought a plate for them to share. Ah, perception. Oh well... it was fun anyway. I'll try to write again about the trip home!

The Journey Ends - Part One

So I didn't get a chance to write much about what happened. We've been pretty busy! I'll try to highlight it.

The first day we started by going to Peaches. This is a quaint restuarant on the way into North Conway that arguably has the best pancakes in the world. I mean, Bob's in Pittsburgh has the biggest pancakes in the world, but these were just good. All in all an excellent restaurant with great atmosphere and service.

Then we took a drive up to the EMS. We were in the search for ski pants. EMS was sold out of ski pants, but Jaime was able to find a nice pair in the Joe Jones across the street. They look and work really nice besides being slightly long. They were on sale for bit more the 100 smackers.

Fran and I discovered a little coffee shop in the Eastern Slope Inn that has excellent coffee. We were now almost prepare to drive up into the White Mountains. But first we got some diesel fuel in the Passat TDI.

So then we drove up into the mountains and I pointed out the peaks I knew from countless hours of studying maps of the presidential range (ha). In actuality I was really making it all up. Plus, you really couldn't see how high the mountains were because they were shrouded in fog or freezing fog, or clouds, or something like that.

So up around Gorham, everyone fell asleep. So I turned back around at Lowe's Store and headed for the Hostel. We got dressed and hit the slopes by about 3:00 PM.

We got the Cranmore "Come after 2 and get the next day too" deal. So we were able to ski two days for $45 each! So we hit the green trails and soem blue, and one accidental black. It was snowing so we got some excellent powder! About 3-4 inches of it. It was awesome skiing.

Around 8:00 PM we decided to wrap up and get some food. We switched out of our gear and headed to Horsefeathers right in town. I am always amazed by the quality of food, atmosphere and service. The food was excellent and the service was great despite the fact that the computers went down!

Afterwards we hit "The Met" for some coffee. Again, great drinks and we chatted with a guy that works at the hospital doing X-Rays. He said that "business was slow this year" and he hoped to "never see us again" because that would mean we had injured ourselves. Otherwise a very nice guy.

Well, I need to head off to the shower. I'll write back soon!

On The Lift

 

Stranded

Yep, there was a little bit of a mixup and Jaime launched on to the lift before I could think of it. So we got to go up solo. 

On The Slopes

Here's a shot of all of them except me! Left to right, Fran, Tanyan and Jaime. 

Artic

 

Jaime, Jason and Big "W"

 

Fran, Tanyan and Washington the Mountain

What a great picture. 

I'm am the Ninja!

Fran discovers his skiing outfit looks very similar to the kind the "invisible assasins" wear over in east. 

They Let Me Drive?

Seriously, this looks worse then it really is. I'm not sure why I look drunk or otherwise unfit to drive. Maybe there's something wrong with my face. 

Sleeping Together

Fran and Tanyan were pretty quiet on the trip and we found out why. 

Sunset

 

Great Bay

 

Time

 

NYC at a Distance

 

Solo

 

Back In NH!

Good morning to all. We are back in New Hampshire for what we hope will be an excellent time of Skiing and taking in the sites. This time we have brought our friends Fran and Tanyan Lukesh. Hopefully they find it equally charming and exciting.

We are staying the White Mountains Conway Youth Hostel. No you might say "wait a minute aren't you a little old to being staying in a youth hostel?". No... you can be any age (I think) to stay here. The only requirement is that you a) abide by the hostel guidelines and b) get out and have some fun!

The trip here was a little rough. Fran got sick off some Baby Octopus. That's right, baby octopus. To quote Fran... "You don't eat octopus, you experience octopus". Okay, so I won't go into detail. Needless to say we made it with a few extra stops.

So last night we met a family from Rhode Island: Greg, Megan and Jenny. They were here to go skiing and were very nice. So, we decided to "mean" them up a little and teach them the card game of Canasta. Megan picked it up pretty quickly. Jaime and I were their partners and Tanyan helped them learn (very well I might add). Fran was upstairs experiencing the octopus.

We are going to upload some pictures, but right now they are pretty crappy. We have like two pictures of people sleeping, and the white mountains at night, which isn't really that exciting. We didn't get out last night because we were experiencing the octopus. So hand in their for some pictures!

More Christmas Present Ideas!

Well, here's an updated list of some more items we thought of... most of these came about while we shopped for others!

• DVD-R (Writable DVDs, not CDs)
• Wiper Blades for my Jetta (2003)
• Cheap Office Chair - Now that we have a computer on a desk, we need some kind of chair. Something simple, cheap and comfy. It doesn't really need wheels, just the ability to slide on carpet.
• Rat Race (the movie). This is probably the funniest movie ever!
• Gander Mountain Gift Card - I can't find my hikers... hrm... I think I need another pair anyway as the others were getting pretty worn.
  

I think that's it for now. We keep thinking of things every now and then and forget to write them down. Ack!

Christmas Presents

Once again its that time of year when everybody corners you at Thanksgiving and asks that probing question "What do you want for Christmas?". One things we've come to realize is that as many times as you think of something you could use or want, when you're put on the spot like that, you really can't think of what you want. So, inevitable you ask for socks or underwear or extra toiletpaper. In the end nobody wins...

So this year we're using the power of technology to communicate our Christmas present ideas. This will serve as a place we can write these ideas down and tell folks to go for inspiration. So here's the list in no particular order.

• Nice Pen - For Jason, I lost mine and maybe if I had a nice one I wouldn't lose it...
  
• Queen-size Feather Bed - Jaime says the top of our mattress is just two big craters.
• Wine (6) - We have an empty wine rack... be creative. Jaime likes sweet, I like the mid grade.
• Monster Mats - These are crazy rubber mats for VW -- Jetta 2003, Passat 2005.
• Sundial - I don't know why but this is a great little gift for Jason... check out this site
• Laptop Car Charger - I saw this at Walmart in the electronics section... compatible with a Toshiba M200.
• Gift Certificates - These things are great... easy to wrap, custom amounts, and they say you care by allowing the recipient to buy what they want. Amazon, Guitar Center, Texas Roadhouse -- and things are cheaper after Christmas anyway.
• Candles - Romantic, aromatic... all around great gift.
• Hidden Hitch - Kinda expensive (around $140), but needed for the item below. For 2005 VW Passat.
  
• Rear Ski Rack - This is also expensive, but something we could use for going skiing this year.
• Ski Bags - These are bags you can put your skis in to carry them around. Hint: They are really long!
  

Please remember to not buy a lot of stuff for us, ok? The things lists are intended so that you could just buy one and we'd be really happy. I know its probably not as much fun as opening a lot of little things though.

Now, if you happen to buy something on this list be mindful that we probably don't need three of them. So, if you get something, write a comment on the post that says "I'm your mom and I got you something. Call me if you want to know". Or something like that. To post you may need to make an account so people can e-mail you too.