Arkansas

Well here are a few photos from our trip here in Arkansas. (Sorry about the resolution - I took them with my Q phone and I am not the best photographer!)

This is Ashy in the truck on the way to Arkansas, she was rushing to take a picture of one of the state welcome signs - I think it was Texas.





This is what I see out the window in front of me in the morning - yes, that tree is actually purple! Isn't that wild!

That is a black snake that was run over in the road - we saw it while on our (semi) daily 2 mile walk. The chunky stuff next to it is a partly digested frog. You should have sees Ashley's face when she saw the photo.

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Day 3 - We made it!

Well the last leg of our trip was a quick 5 hour trip down the 40 from Elk City, Oklahoma to Booneville, Arkansas.

After a great night's sleep we fueled up the truck and headed East. We arrived at about 5 pm. No problems this trip!

Oh, not before my family gave me a wonderful birthday morning with my favorite thing... PRESENTS!

Well, I will update as I can with photos and stuff! (said in the best Nacho Libre voice).

Well I hope that everything is typed correctly on this post - as my wife read my blogging during the trip and said that my intelligence was falling the further East we went... duh!

I have set up my mini-NORAD style dual monitor system and I am using a 'line of site' broadband over radio network - it is kinda slow right now (kinda like an old ISDN setup).

Well, it is late up here on the hill! Till later...

Day two is for the record books...

Well, the second day of our cross country trip is done. It is midnight Oaklahoma time and I am tired - drove straight through from AZ to OK - Whew! with only two stops for gas!

Staying at the Elk Creek RV park just off the 40 at exit 38 in Elk Creek, Oklahoma. Their tag line is, "The nicest RV park on I-40". Yeah right. Well it is the safest with two, not one, but two tornado shelters - yeah, like I would leave my truck and 5th wheel out during a tornado... I have seen 'Twister' I know what happens to trucks and I ain't havin' none o'that! Well, I don't have to worry about it because the weather has been beautiful so far.

Right now I am going to hit the hay - get up early and head for Arkansas in the AM, there is only about 5 hours of driving left and I am very grateful for that.

Till then, y'all!

On the road again

Well Day 1 of our trip to Arky-land is over. We are camping for the night at "Meteor Crater-RV Park" and Subway sandwich shop. Wooo -hooo, we are in a thriving metropolitan city here.

We rolled in at exactly 8pm. The kind lady at the check in counter informed me that we got here right in time, cuz the close up show at 8! Yeah, and close they do - one of the beautiful things about being in the desert is the night sky - you see, out here, there aren't any 'city lights' and when the Subway sandwich shop turned off their lights, we were suddenly in a giant black hole - except for the billions and billions (I hear Carl Sagan saying that) of stars! Wow.

When I look up, I see the wonderous sky our miraculous God placed in the heavens for us! It is truly Amazing!

Well, Day 1 over - Will check back in tomorrow. (sorry no photos yet) Gonna try to get to 'Elk City, OK' by tomorrow night! Yet, another thriving metropolous!

We are at a loss...

Ok, Ashley and I lost our favorite 'greaser' this week. We don't even want to watch now...
How could they bump off Chad and keep creepy Austin!?!

Bye Chad! Good Luck in your career!

FlapJack Flappers and Flippers Unite!

Yes! It is nearly that time. The annual

REVOLUTION PANCAKE BREAKFAST

on the saturday before Easter Sunday. So, with that in mind, I am looking for volunteers to help flip, scramble, fry, stir, serve and clean-up.

So, if you have a yearning in your heart for that smell of freshly cooked eggs, sausage and pancakes (and you know who you are!) or, you are an individual who loves to serve, or has a knack for serving breakfast foods (prior employment at IHOP is always helpful - just kidding) please contact me ASAP so I can get you on the serving list. It is first come, first serve for helping! Don't get left out!

Weepies

I read this post from another blog this morning and initially thought, this is not making sense... until I read, "And Titanic? Sure, I cry... every time I hear that damn Celine Dion song!" Then I could not stop laughing!

If you know anything about me - and that particular song, and that particular movie - you would be laughing too!

So, I began to think, which movies make me weepy...

1. The Passion of the Christ
2. Saving the Giants
3. Rudy

I am sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now - maybe because crying over a movie ain't my thang!

How about you?

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Because of your generosity and kindness, my daughter, Ashley Scarlett Bambrick has supassed her goal of selling 703 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies!!!

That means that she will be able to 'Bridge' to Cadets by walking over the Golden Gate Bridge! Wooo hooo! She is very, very happy about that!

The best part is that because of all of your kindness and support to our soldiers that are deployed around the world - her troop was able (thus far) to buy over 600 boxes to send to the men & women who serve our country! Yeah!

Nothing says home, like a box o' Girl Scout Cookies, eh?

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN,SOOOOOO MUCH!

Ha ha ha... Chloe... Ha ha ha ha

I just came across this post on another blog. I had no idea that Chloe is a stand up comedian... and based on this review, I don't really know if she is... hmmm... perplexing!

Oh My Achy Breaky Heart...

Well the lineup is final for the next season of one of the craziest 'pseudo' reality shows....

Dancing with the Stars has released the season 4 lineup...

Laila Ali - Muhammad Ali's daughter

Billy Ray Cyrus - Hannah Montana's Dad

Clyde Drexler - NBA

Joey Fatone - NSYNC

Shandi Finnessey - Miss USA 2004

Leeza Gibbons - Entertainment Tonight/Extra

Heather Mills - UN Goodwill Ambassador

Apolo Anton Ohno - Olympic Gold medalist

Paulina Porizkova - Supermodel

John Ratzenberger - Cliff from Cheer's (filled in for Vincent Pastore, who withdrew)

Ian Ziering - Beverly Hills 90210

Well I don't know about you.. but my money is on Apollo to take the glitter ball trophey!

Screen it!

I have been looking for a long time to find a proper background screen for my Q phone and just happened to stumble on these:

These are GREAT!!!! I got the last one for my good friend Tim Lasch (mostly cuz it will upset his wife - she's a LA fan.... but she's still cool anyway!) Hey Tim, notice the name... ANAHEIM ANGELS!!!

Now if I can only find a T.U.L.I.P. screen my collection will be complete!

...missing

Well, I haven't blogg'd for a while - cuz I have been very, very busy - - - arrrgh, swore I wouldn't use that excuse again!

Nevertheless, I went on a luncheon date with my wife and daughter to "The Corner Bakery" at "The Block at Orange" today and had great pleasure of running into a few of my former co-workers when I worked for that 'other' company. I sure do miss those guys. Shout out to Dave Derosa, Jim Weider, Jim Irons, Marc Leath and Chris Spenser! Nice to see you guys today.

The sad news is that the 'other' company is really not doing so well. According to the general consensus the workload for review appraisers is nearly non-existent - yet the work for the Due Dilligence guys is really good (hmmmm.. guess all those 'pushed' values are coming back!).

Oh well. Cheers to the old gang! Keep banging those deals out!

WELCOME !!!

Hey everyone! Let's all Welcome Christopher Lytle to the blog world!!! (a resounding hazaah is heard among the land)

You have got to go to this blog and see how funny, thoughtful (pensive), inspirational and unique our Bellflower Campus Pastor is... He is GREAT! Check his blog out and leave him a note to say welcome to the blog world!

Just a note though... other than his sick admiration for Braveheart - he is a great guy!

Welcome Christopher!

Valentine's Day '07

For this Valentine's Day/night we decided to go to the "happiest place on earth" with our good friends the Lasch's. There is nothing like spending an evening at Disneyland to celebrate any event!

We spent the majority of the evening at 'Rancho De Zocalo' having a fantastic Mexican dinner, then went on a couple of rides. Of course the evening started off with Michelle chasing down "Captain Jack Sparrow" aka, Matt from Revolution. He is really good - got the vocals down as well as the physical similarity!

The evening was really quite fun - as are all the times we spend with the Lasch family - they are really funny folks! Oh, did I mention that they have a lifegroup - yep, it is Thursday nights at their house in Long Beach! If you aren't in a lifegroup yet - you should check theirs out!

Here are a couple of pic's from the night.

The tram ride over

Pics of the kids and moms on Big Thunder Mountain

Well now I have done it...

Trust me... As I contemplated blogging about this movie - I am greatly concerned with the fact that I will no doubt offend a very good friend of mine! But I cannot, NOT say a few things about this movie.

I have never seen this movie until this point - and I really could have continued to live my life without EVER seeing it. This particular type of movie is the reason why I don't want to watch 'R' rated movies - the violence, vulgarity, nudity, language, sub-plot liberties taken from the historical fact (read 'hollywoodness') detract from what could have been a very good movie.

Don't get me wrong - I know that epic battles are hard to depict without some bloodshed being shown - but there was nothing - NOTHING left to the imagination in this movie. If you ever wondered what it looks like to have someone run-through with a broadsword, limbs severed with axes, head crushed with mallets or faces smashed in with a mace (ball and chain) you can enjoy seeing them in this movie. Not to mention the violence of attempted rape, the promotion of adultry (which detract from the good deeds of the real Sir William Wallace) the hints at homosexuality - - - gosh, I could go on, but why.

I think that this nearly 3 hour movie could have been shortened by an hour by removing alot of the extra-story telling that wasn't necessary. Sir William Wallace was indeed a warrior, a violent warrior - but he was also a very educated man who was very skilled in language, customs and war. But the movie seemed to focus more on the war and less on the other attributes of Sir Wallace.

This is a rare sentence you will ever see in my blog - but nevertheless it must be said. If you want to know about Sir William Wallace, read a book - Don't see this movie.

I am beginning to see a trend in all Mel Gibson directed movies.... hmmm.....

I do have a favorite line from the movie, "In order for an Irishman to find his equal, he is forced to speak to God". I love that line - being Irish myself!

Enough said?

Facing the Giants

My wife and I have decided to change our movie viewing habits - mostly that means we have decided to only view movies that are more glorifying to God. I initially thought, great, no more good movies.. only PG13 and under... nothing good is available with a rating that low... boy was I surprised!

This is a great movie!

SEE IT - BUY IT.

I watched this movie on the recomendation of a friend - who knows I am NOT a sports person - but knows that my heart is deeply moved, when I see God's spirit move upon the life of an individual. I also am moved to tears when people choose to follow Jesus for the first time. Let's just say that this movie moved me more than once!

This movie is so inspiring to me for numerous reasons. Check out the clip, then read the rest of this post.




This movie was made by a Georgia church with a $100,000 budget and an ALL VOLUNTEER cast. The reason this movie was made... as they say in the additional DVD stuff... because the church BELIEVES they can make a difference for Christ from their church in Georgia.



The writer/director went to his pastor and said that he wanted to make christian movies and the pastor supported his desire. Gave him funding and promoted the making of the movie to the congregation.



The movie is inspiring as it shows what God can do in a person's life if they surrender Lord-ship to Him. (I often wonder why people won't do this right away - before hardship strikes... but I digress) and live life 'for the glory of God'. The movie is also inspiring to see what a single church can do if they submit to God and place God first in all they do...



My new favorite saying is, "What's impossible with God... Nothing coach".

Movies... Movies.. Movies.

Here are some of my latest movies...

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

A updated version of "Harold and Maude". But without all the smut.

A cute little film of an unexpected friendship that is a mutual healing.

Good film.

Stick It

I liked this movie. A great story of having to face your past.

I liked the way the movie actually got you into this girls life!

Gymnastics is second to dancing in my book! Go ahead - fire away with the comments... I don't care. I am secure in my masculinity.

Aquamarine

This is a cute - pre-teen girl movie. My daughter loved it. Except for the rather revealing mermaid...

24 Season Premiere Party!!

Tonight Dawn & I (Ok, so it was mostly me) hosted a 24 season premiere party. 11 Friends came and joined the BBQ and 4 hours of Jack Bauer kick'n some terrorist butt!

About 2 hours into the show my TV just turned off.... and look how surprised we were! Ok, so this was just a staged picture - in case you didn't figure that out. But man oh man, what surprises did this show have.... Our faces did look like this many times!

Seriously though - If Bobby hasn't convinced you to start watching this show yet - you don't know what you are missing....

Jack Bauer truly is the Greatest American!

Movies!

Here are a couple of more movies I have seen this week... Yeah, so I like to watch movies - it helps relax me!


Tristan + Isolde


Great movie about the war between Britania and Ireland. I thought it was a chick flick - but with Ridley Scott directing, there is plenty of battle scenes for the guys!





Monster House

Stupid movie. Waste of time.







How to eat Fried Worms



Funny movie - only boys will get it. Brought back a ton of memories as a kid growing up hanging with my buddies and doing really stupid things...






Step Up



Great movie. I like any movie that has good music and dancing. Ok, there I said it. I like dancing movies. Especially when conflicting dance types are used to bring people together. I liked this movie.





The Wild

There are only 2 reasons to like this movie. Keifer Sutherland does the voice of the Lion - kept waiting to hear him tell the other beasties to, "Lay down your weapons!"... Never happened - although there was some Jack Bauer moments where you 'think' that Sampson is dead.... but is he really... heck no. Just like Jack, he is there to save the day, world, Island, etc... The second reason is that Eddie Izzard is the voice of Nigel the Koala Bear. If you have never heard Eddie Izzards comedy - you should. He is very, VERY intelligent and can turn historical facts in to humor. (Eddie Izzard is not for kids - but it is funny).

Internet connection and the "Q"

Tomorrow Chris Hoff and Lynnae Cavender will be married. Wow! So, we packed up our 5th wheel and headed out to Apple Valley today. I took two hours off work and zipped down the 15 freeway, parked in their driveway, fired up my laptop, hooked up a 2nd monitor, jacked in my Q and BAM... instant broadband connection to the web.

I was back to work and surfing the web in an instant! This phone is the best electronic investment I have made in a LONG time!

Verizon has this 'additional' fee they want to charge to sell you a 'special connection' cable (it is a stinkin' USB cable) and then charge an additional $50 a month to connect. Well, thanks to the internet saavy contacts I have and the surplus of USB cables in my garage - for a one time charge of $30 (for the connection software) - I use my 'unlimited web' access and piggyback on that to connect my laptop! It is a gem! Faster than DSL!

Now I can be anywhere (anywhere there is cell service) and work! Nice.. time to fire up the ol' dodge, hook up the 5th wheel and get back to cruising the countryside!

Gym time

Part of my new routine of working at home is to go to the gym each morning with my wife. Dawn & I joined the new 24 hour fitness in the Buena Park Mall - it doesn't open till May (or so) so until then we are going to the 24 hour on Knott & Lincoln. It's a smaller place but we like it so far.

I really enjoy spending time with my wife doing this everyday. I used to go to another gym when I worked at the Block, but I didn't enjoy it as much. Although, I had a personal trainer there - now I get to be the personal trainer. It's fun!

Oh, this wasn't a New Year's resolution either - We don't do those.

A few recommendations.

Ok, a quick confession to make... while I am now working from home on a dual monitor PC system, I have found that it is much easier to watch a movie while working than ever before.

With this in mind, I share a quick suggestion for a couple of movies I have recently seen (only one while working).

They are:

Barnyard

I really enjoyed the humor in this movie - but I have a question... do male cows have udders? hmmmm?

The Lake House

Great movie - yeah, it's a chick flick... with a twist... I am just glad that I understand the whole, "Time/space continuum" thing! This one had Dawn confused at the end!

Just My Luck

Ok, so it's a Lindsay Lohan movie... don't hate me. It is ok, kinda cute... Not a chick flick - more like a 12 year old girl flick. Great message at the end!

The Devil Wears Prada

Great movie. I didn't want to see this one - cuz I don't like... ok, I should use a stronger word, but won't... Meryl Streep. Bleeech! But, much to my surprise I was able to keep my stomach contents intact and actually enjoyed the movie. It reminded me alot of the place I used to work... I won't go into detail as to why. GREAT message at the end!

Well that's it for now. I have 6 more movies to watch. I will share my feelings about them later. Have I told you all how much I enjoy working from home!

I am sorry!

Hey readers... You know who you are!

I am very sorry for not posting anything new in a while. As you have read in my previous post I have started working from home and since starting that process (which was supposed to give me more time) I have found that every minute of my day has been sucked up with work or figuring out how to maximize my time while working at home. Ergo, blogging has suffered.

And I am sorry!

Welcome Christina!

Hey guy's, our pastor of Belong and Grow has started blogging!

Go check out her blog here: Christina Walker