Cathing Up

Here’s a highlight of a few items that I have actually completed but haven’t taken time to blog about.

#13 Avett Bros Show - August 14^th in Chicago. Car got towed that weekend, bought tickets for the wrong game in Milwaukee, and Mayer was subpar, however these guys did not disappoint! This is the only photo I could find. Fro snapped it with his Iphone.

# 20 Beat my Father at golf - I knew this was going to be a challenge and if there was any item on this list I may not complete it would be this one. My dad has played golf for almost as long as I can remember. And though I may have him on age and strength, golf is not about those things. Up until this summer we had never even played a competitive round. I have yet to beat him, BUT I am proud to say that of the 3 rounds we have played I have been within 2 strokes of him twice. The third: we won’t talk about that! I am making strides and I am definitely happy with my progress. He is coming to visit in a few weeks, that will probably be the last round we play this year. I’ll give it a go!

#22 Go to a midnight movie premiere - I went to Inception. I am sure you have say it as everyone has. It was great. My favorite movie all year. I was happy to stay up till 2:45 on a Friday morning to watch it.

#27 Have a snowball fight - I am going to mark this item off of my list. I never got to have an official snowball fight like I was thinking but every week walking back and forth after youth group from our church to the youth center snowballs were hurled. Mostly at the youth pastor. Proof that I have the greatest job in the world.

This has been a mixed bag, but we are caught up.

ryan

I'm not gonna give up.

So I'll be honest. I had written this blog and goal off. After some time on my balcony on a beautiful Iowa evening with a couple new albums, I have decided not to quit. I will catch up with the items I have yet to blog about. Then get back on it. Time is not on my side.

ryan

#3

This past weekend I raised money and rode in the Tour de Cure. This is a ride that benefits the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes is a very serious disease that has had a great effect on my family. When I decided to participate in a charity, the ADA is what I had in mind. Fortunately, Cedar Rapids had its own bike ride so I didn't have to go far.

If you are not familiar with diabetes here are a few facts for you:

23 Million Americans have been are diabetics

57 Million Americans have Pre diabetes

This means that roughly 1 in 4 Americans either have or are very close to having diabetes.

The World Health Organization says there are 171 Million people in the world with diabetes and that number will likely double by 2030.

It is very very scary. I hope that we begin to take this disease are serious as cancer or another serious disease. I would love to be apart of the end of it.

Ryan

All in a day

One of my favorite things to do is to drive on a beautiful day with the windows down and the music up! I got to do some of that today. I recently moved to Iowa so it was fun to see some areas that I had never been to before.

I found out one thing today. Northeast Iowa is BEAUTIFUL! Hills and trees everywhere. So gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of Tennessee or deep Southern Illinois. It definitely made me feel at home. I was driving on a two lane highway north of Cedar Rapids and I thought, I am never on two lane highways anymore. Kind of sad. This particular highway reminded me of 127 in Illinois. It always felt good to take exit 50 and know that I was going to be in Greenville in a half an hour.

Overall it was a very good day. Saw Dubuque, a massive umpire, the Worlds Largest Strawberry, a town named after me, the Field of Dreams, a bunch of Flags, heard a crappy local band play R.O.C.K. in the USA at a town festival, and 3 states in one day! FUN.

I am going to pile some pics below all of this. I still want to complete 3 items this weekend. 2 down 3 to go.

Ryan

a water tower with my name on it. It's Iowa's version of the Space Needle.

A church I liked, honestly I can't remember the town.

and then there's this...practically the Statue of Liberty, & the World's Largest Strawberry

Grimey bar with my name on it. I took this while driving and getting staired at by a local lady!

This rock was randomly along the highway.

Field of Dreams - if you build it

3 states 1 day

Write this down

This morning I woke up around 8 am and began my usual morning routine. I made myself a large bowl of Cheerios and sat down to re-watch some of last nights sports scores. Upon finishing my very typical breakfast with ESPN still playing in the background I pick up my laptop to check MSN, Facebook, and email. In my inbox I had double digit unread emails and multiple facebook notifications. Communication has really changed! Since this blog is about numbers and specifically my age, in my birth year my morning would have looked drastically different. ESPN and MSN would have been replace by the Cedar Rapids Gazette and I would have to wonder if my friends were bored, tired, or hungry and would not have Statuses to rely on. But I would have been enjoying Cheerios!!! And hopefully will in 30 more years.

I gave you this small dissertation to set up the fact that today I wrote a hand written letter. I couldn’t remember the last one I have written. Hand writing is still terrible so that made me feel at home! I’m not going to say much more about it other than I wrote it to someone who means a lot to me. I have a goal this weekend of completing 3 tasks this weekend so 1 down 2 to go.

From Cedar Rapids with love,

ryan

HU! in DM, IA!!!

Tonight was a big one for me. #11, Go to see a band you have never saw live. When I first put this on the list I new that not just any band would do. I wanted to see a band that I love and have never taken time to go see. I wasn’t just going to see a random show (which I often times do). Technically, I have already saw Michael Franti and Spearhead this year, but I wasn’t going to blog about that.

Tonight I at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines I went to see Hillsong United in concert. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to see them live. They have affected my ministry for many years. I want to comment about a couple of things about this experience tonight.

First, Hillsong United is TOP NOTCH professionally. Dates on this tour included: Boston, Philly, NYC, STL, Paris, Belfast, London. It would have been easy for them to sort of put it on auto-pilot for Des Moines. We were EASILY the smallest city that they played and they had NEVER been to Iowa at all. We in no way, shape, or form got there second rate show. They completely brought their A-Game! Best light show I have ever saw at a concert HANDS DOWN, sorry John Mayer, Milwaukee was good, but not like this. They played for over 2 ½ hours!!! Longest set I have ever been apart of. There drummer was amazing. I don’t know his name, but I am going to find out. He did wear a Cubs hat the entire set L I hope he gets rid of that before the Fox Theatre in StL tomorrow night.

Secondly, the obvious one, as a worship leader, I can’t go to something like this and not get totally psyched. Spiritually speaking the worship was phenomenal! At one point we were singing a chorus on some song and the lights were going INSANE and the drummer was also going INSANE and I was taken back by all that was going into worship at that moment. I wondered what it is going to be like in heaven?!?!?! Crazy crazy.

I also found out just tonight that Hillsong is opening a branch in NYC!!! This excites me. I will probably never go, not even sure I would want to, but I know that city NEEDS someone to reach it. I hope that they do as they not only are in Australia but also Europe.

Pics didn’t turn out great. I didn’t take too many. I wanted to worship.

Ryan

Oh Hi blog, there you are.

Hey, its been well over a month since I have blogged about my list so I will catch you up to date. I tried sushi and LOVED it. It didn’t taste like swank or pretension at all J It was REALLY REALLY good. I also had the chance to take my parents out to eat. This is always fun. We went to Granite City here in CR. Its my fave resturaunt so far!!!! I will try to do better so you all can get full stories.

Later,

Ryan

Disappointed in this one

Tonight I watched yet another of my 10 movies that I have set out to watch this year. This evening I took in Raging Bull. This film really shouldn’t need much of an intro. It is considered by many to be Scorsese and DeNiro’s greatest achievement.

I’ve got to say that I was disappointed in this movie. It should have been a slam dunk for me. Boxing. Mob references. New York. It has all the makings of what I would like, but for whatever reason it didn’t do it for me. I found my self just a bit bored.

I’m not going to say much about it because I don’t want to ruin an all time movie for you with my opinion. Here’s the thing, that is what is so great about art, there are no right or wrong answers. In math and science, we find absolutes. 2 + 2 = 4. 10 - 7 = 3. However with art, you can have whatever opinion you want and the beauty is YOU ARE NEVER WRONG!

Not much else to say tonight. Just a few movies to go.

Hello Basketball, Where have you been?

I can still remember the first time I went to see a Saluki game. 1995. Paul Lusk hit two free free throws with no time left to beat Evansville by 1 point. From the moment on…Maroon and White! With players turning over so fast in the college game, it’s nice to remember people like Lusk, Ashraf Amaya, Chris Carr, and Kent Williams, every now and again. I’ve been to Cardinal games, Rams games, Iowa Hawkeye football, Assembly Hall in Champaign and for me NOTHING compares to the Arena when the Dawgs are good!

You can see my love for the Salukis. When I decided that “going to see my favorite team play a road game” was going to be on my list I had them in mind. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to the McLeod Center on Campus at Northern Iowa and see the Salukis play. McLeod is a GREAT venue to see a game at. It was built only 3 years ago.

We arrived at the game an about 45 minutes early and decked out in our maroon! The arena holds around 7,000 people and we were definitely in the minority in out SIU gear. Like the only 3 people. In the ENTIRE room. I was glad to see the we didn’t have to sit by drunken Frat boys when we came to our seats. While Snaz and I were getting popcorn, Hef was approached by our new friend Chad. Chad worked for the SIU athletic dept. and asked if we wanted to go sit behind the Saluki bench!!! Def made my afternoon J

Unfortunately, the Dawgs lost by 3 points in a hard fought game. But we did get texts and calls all day from our friends and family asking why we were on ESPN!!! Overall, it was a great time. Good friends. Good basketball. This is one of the things that I miss about home the most. Basketball is not that big in Iowa…what’s wrong with these people?!?!?! Any way, I am going next year so if you want in let me know. I hope to see my new friend Chad again, so we can hang out with the Players parents & Boosters!!!

Here is an undated list....I'm getting there!

The 31 List

1. See a show at the Ryman Auditorium

2. Compete in a race

3. Participate a charity benefit

4. Order off the menu in Spanish

5. Set up a website or blog 12-12-09

6. Go pro sports stadium/park/arena that I have never been to

7. Read a book I should have already read 12-28-09

8. Volunteer at a shelter

9. Visit a capital city

10.Watch my favorite team play a road game 2-6-10

11. Go to see a band that I have never saw live

12. Give blood 1-15-10

13. See the Avett Brothers in concert

14. Sleep under the stars

15. Go to a live classical music performance

16. See the sunrise

17. Watch 10 critically acclaimed films that I have yet to see

5 down, 5 to go

18. Learn to ice skate

19. Begin to learn to play the banjo

20. Beat my father at golf

21. Buy and wear a suit

22. Go to a midnight movie premiere

23. Attend a parade

24. Try sushi

25. Take a road trip alone

26. Learn to make REALLY great gumbo

27. Have a snowball fight

28. Write a handwritten letter

29. Take my parents out to dinner

30. Travel to a new state

31. Finish losing 100 lbs.

Happy Super Bowl,

Ryan

Make Him and Offer He Can't Refuse

Hi. My name is Ryan. Up until last weekend, I had never watched The Godfather. There I said it! It felt good to get that off of my chest. I can’t believe it had taken me this long to watch this movie. It is as good of a movie as I have ever watched. I love it. What I remember thinking after it was done is, I can’t believe this came out in 1972!!! At this point, it is almost 40 years old and to this day it is fabulous! It reminded me of so many movies that are made today. I wish I could go back and watch it in context. See what else was coming out at the time, so that I could compare it. I am sure that would only add to my love!

The movie is about an aging crime boss that is head of an Italian Mob family in NYC. As you watch this film, you realize that it is much more about family than it is about crime. The movie dances around Michael’s relationship with his mob boss father. Family was everything to these people.

Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton are all in this movie and all considerably younger than I am used to seeing them. It was cool to see this now that all of these talented actors are on the backside of their career.

Overall I loved this movie, I can see why AFI had it at #2 all time on their 2007 list. So far, I am halfway done with my movie task of Watching 10 Critically Acclaimed Films that I have yet to see. The Godfather has been BY FAR my favorite. I have a hard time believing any of the rest of these films. FYI the movies that I have left on my list are: 2005, 2002 and 1998 Best Picture winners: Crash, Chicago, and Shakespeare in Love AND Raging Bull (1980) and The Graduate (1967).

　

ryan

　

Here's Lookin' at You, Kid

Sorry this has been a few days coming but last week I watched Casablanca. I would hope that a movie like this wouldn’t need an introduction, but to list a few of its credentials it won 3 Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and was #2 on AFI’s Top 100 movies list.

The main character, Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, is faced with a decision to give up the woman he loves for the more virtuous cause of her husbands in his fight against Nazi-Germany. It was really just a War/Crime/Government/Love Triangle, that proved to be pretty good. The movie was released in 1942 and in 2010 I can say that I enjoyed it. In our day and age for something this simple to be this good is about the highest compliment I know to pay.

Stay Warm,

Ryan

Friday, Bloody Friday

I can cross another item off my list today. I gave blood for the time in a long, long time. Overall, I can’t say that the experience was all that enjoyable, but the ladies at Mississippi Regional Blood Center treated me very well. I’m just not all that into needles and blood and that sort of thing. Just not my cup of tea, but giving blood isn’t about MY enjoyment and that’s why I did it. So get on Google and find out when you can donate.

I couldn’t help but remember the last time I gave blood. I was a senior in high school and I didn’t really like needles any more then than I do now. It was the spring and on the baseball team. There are few things in life better than baseball, but early season baseball in Southern Illinois means a lot of rainy practices and on those days it was soft toss and sprints in the gym. I disliked needles but I REALLY disliked sprinting. So my good friends, Kyle Beck and Keith Welch decided to donate blood with me, because of the whole “no strenuous activity for 12 hrs after giving blood rule”. We got free cookies and t-shirt and out of indoor sprints….WHAT A DEAL!

On paper this seemed great, in actuality, not so much. I didn’t take advantage of the whole free cookie. I didn’t eat enough and nearly passed out on our flowers in the front yard of good ole MHS. But…we did get out of practice that day! Which if it were only me may not have been that bad, given the fact that I only 7 official at bats that year ( 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 1 glorious, off the wall double at Caterville J ), but Kyle was team captain and Conference MVP and Keith broke our schools batting average record in his senior year. Needless, to say coach wasn’t happy! BTW to give you some background on our coach…if Hulk Hogan and Mr. T had a love child…it was him. So we sat in the girls gym, in street clothes watching our teammates hit off of a pitching machine and the next day, when we were at full strength, they watched Kyle, Keith, and Myself RUN!

I am glad that I gave blood today because I had all but forgotten about that story. After a brief stint playing college baseball Kyle ending up in the St. Louis area and Keith is back at our Alma Mater coaching JV basketball and doing a great job I might add. I have said this already, I love stories.

Blessings,

Ryan