The Life and Times of Chip Cobler

A Greek New Year

2011-01-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't written any updates in a few days because I figured that my pictures said more about this trip than I could every write. It has continued to be a wonderful trip and I feel so privileged to be a part of it.

On Wednesday we took a trip to the ancient city of Delphi. We loaded onto a coach bus and drove about 3 hours to get there. This was the first time that I had really seen any ancient ruins up close. All I can really say about it was that it was amazing. As the tour guide told us stories and facts I couldn't help but let my imagination run wild in wondering what this place was like in it's prime. I am still having trouble grasping how old the things we were seeing were. Some of the writing on the stones dates back to the fifth century B.C.! Coming from America my idea of what is really old is very skewed. The pictures I put up really tell the rest of the story. After walking around for a while we went over to the museum and got our minds blown away.

On the way back home we stopped in a little village up in the mountains to do some shopping. It was a beautiful place to walk around and enjoy.

Onto Thursday....

We spent the day in Athens. Navigated the public transit which is second nature by now (not really).

Spent the morning touring the acropolis, saw the Parthenon, read Paul's speech from Acts 17 on the very place that he read it himself. We talked about Socrates and Plato and saw the places that they would have spent a lot of time. It has been very cool to talk about these people and these historical events at the very place that they happened...history coming to life.

Friday...

After all of our adventures earlier in the week, we really needed to spend some time in the classroom. We spent about 4-5 hours on Friday doing lecture. I was able to take a nap in the afternoon and spend a couple of hours reading for class. For new years eve celebrations we all gathered in the lounge, ate food, watched princess bride, and played ping-pong. Just before midnight (which was just about 4pm in Chicago) we all gathered on the roof to bring in the new year. At the clock struck midnight we all yelled, some fireworks went off, and all headed to bed soon after. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Saturday....

Another few hours spent in the classroom. Dr. Bryan continues to blow our minds which all of this philosophy. We are all enjoying the class...being in Greece is a definite bonus. For our New Years Day festivities we all went over to Sam Amis's house for an afternoon of fun. Sam is a student at Moody who's family moved to Greece last March because his dad works with the Navy and is in charge of mail. It was a wonderful afternoon with a great group of people.

Monday we are heading to the island Andros for the day and Tuesday we are going to Corinth...I can't wait.

More pictures to come.

-Chip

From Athens to the Aegean Sea...

2010-12-28T13:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our first full day in the country. We had about three and half hours worth of lecture time in the classroom studying philosophy which has been really interesting. Nothing was planned for the afternoon so a group of us decided to go and explore Athens. We are staying at the Greek Bible College which is in a village called Pikermi that is about a 45min drive to downtown Athens. We used public transit to make our journey to the city. We were led by two students from the school...public transit in Greece is way nicer and more complex than Chicago. It would have been a nightmare trying to do it on our own for the first time. We didn't really have a plan once we got to the city so our group split up and explored where ever we wanted to go. The two students who got us to the city went off and did there own thing and left us with some hand written instructions on how to get back to the school. Honestly I was a bit nervous about navigating the system without them...

We split off into two groups. Myself and two other guys decided to head towards the acropolis. We really had n0 idea what we were doing or where we were going or if we would ever make it back but it was awesome! As we headed up towards the acropolis we saw this big rock structure that you could climb up and get a great view of the city. We didn't realize until later that we were actually standing on Mars Hill (where Paul gave his speech in Acts 17). I was going to read the plaque that was there but somebody else was reading it and I got to impatient...funny how that worked out.

We weren't able to go into the acropolis because it had already closed but were did a complete loop around the base of the hill. It was really neat just to walk around and soak it all in. At about 5:30 the sun was just about down and we decided two head back. We bought our metro tickets, after some confusion, and eventually found the right train to get on. We got off at the right stop and had to transfer to a bus. I found the bus (or so I thought) and we got on. As we started going I had this sinking feeling that maybe I had read the bus number wrong and we were heading in the wrong direction...it was dark...I didn't recognize anything...not good. Finally, we made a left turn onto Marathon Blvd. which is the road the school is off of. I only recognized the road because of the blue solid line that runs its entire length to mark the route of the original marathon. A wave a relief came over me. We made it back.

Today (12/28) the morning started with breakfast and then several hours of lecture. The afternoon was left open for a trip to the beach with the group. We went to a coastal town called Rafina which is on the eastern side of the country on the Aegean sea. When we arrived we headed to the beach (it was about 50 degrees and windy). Dr. O'neal told us a story about Socrates drawing a picture in the sand...it was really neat. The rest of the afternoon we were free to explore. We just walked around the city and enjoyed the view.

This trip has been wonderful. However, I have found it VERY difficult to adjust to the time change. It is hard to fall asleep and I keep waking up multiple times throughout the night. Hopefully in the next few days things will get better sleep wise.

The most interesting thing I have found in regards to food here is that they put honey in the yogurt...if you eat it without honey it is very bitter and grainy. We also had pizza with corn in it.

I will be posting pictures periodically on facebook.

Off to Delphi all day tomorrow.

-Chip

Across the Big Pond...

2010-12-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

On Christmas day I awoke around 8am. I still needed to pack for two weeks in Greece. I pack best under pressure. I was supposed to leave my house at 11am to get to the airport. 3 hours to pack...no problem. Amidst the packing I decided to download an audio book to help ease the many hours of travel ahead of me. I chose 127 Hours which is a true story that was just made into a major motion picture. I saw the movie last week and figured I would listen to the book as well.

I arrived at O'hare International Airport promptly at 12pm and met up with my friend Andy Smith who had flown over from Detroit earlier that morning. We waited about 15 minutes until the rest of the group arrived. My dad assisted in taking our first group photo and then we said our goodbyes and headed to the check in counters. We still had about 3 hours before the flight was to depart so we spent about an hour perusing the food court before tackling security.

I had been looking forward to trying out the new body scanners that the TSA has become so infamous for. Personally I don't give a hoot what kind of scanners they use. I stepped into the machine and put my feet in the correct position. The "friendly" TSA officer who looked thrilled about his job told me to hold my hands up like I was about to catch a football. It was pretty cool if you ask me, however, he also told me not to move so I didn't know when to leave my Desmond Clark stance. I stood there for about 15 seconds longer than I needed to until the guy yelled at me to move along. It was embarrassing. Like I always say...you win some, you lose more.

Our entire group made it through security with no issues and we were quickly off to the gate just to wait another hour before we boarded.

I have never been too Europe or been on plain flight that was more than 5 hours. I really wasn't looking forward to a 9.5 hours flight, but it ended up going much better than I had imagined. The plane took of almost on time and before I knew it we were flying over the Atlantic Ocean. At around 6pm (CST) the flight crew served us a gourmet Christmas airplane style dinner dish. I chose the chicken over the fish. It tasted how it looked; bad. However, it was edible and I scarfed it down with ease.

I listened to my audio book for over half of the flight an periodically glanced at the tv monitors that had a gps map of our location. I was also mentally preparing for the time change that was about to rock my world. We left Chicago at 3:45pm and arrived in Rome at 8:15am on December 26th. Getting through the airport in Rome was a bit of a challenge. We had to get on a tram and switch terminals and then find our way to our connecting gate for our flight which was boarding a few minutes after we got off the plane from Chicago. We all got a sinking feeling when we turned a corner and saw a massive line at a security checkpoint....there was no way we would make our flight. However, myself and another student saw a man dressed in a nice suit who looked like he had some authority. We approached the man and he asked us if we were traveling with a large group. He then said something over the radio and said to us, "This way please." A moment later we were standing in the priority access security line bypassing the huge crowd! (SWEET) We pulled a Home Alone through the rest of the airport and made our plane with a few minutes to spare. Next stop: Athens.

We arrived in Athens and went straight to baggage claim. (I'm not really sure where Customs was but my passport was never stamped anywhere) My bag was the first in our groups to come over the belt: score. We then had about a 25 minute bus ride to the Greek Bible College and the rest of the day has been a bit of a blur. The time change is 8 hours ahead over here. They told us to try and stay awake until 9pm to help with the jet lag. It is now 9:15pm. I am going to bed.

Class starts tomorrow. We will have a 4 hour lecture almost every day in the morning and then do our traveling in the afternoons. This Wednesday we are traveling to Delphi and next week we are heading over to Corinth.

More updates to come.

-Chip

Train accident kills two panda bears

2009-02-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

We were watching John play with his Brio train set today and as he was pushing the train past the Brio zoo the train fell off the Brio track and took out the two Brio panda bears...hence todays post title.

Yesterday was very eventful. We leave for Ecuador a week from monday and in order for us to get back into Costa Rica we are required to have a yellow fever vacination. So we left the house around noon to meet David Obando at the hospital in San Jose. I am going to bullet point the process of getting the shot for ease of understanding.

Go to E.R. to find that lady who gives shot is on lunch break
Another lady says we can go to the pharmacy and buy the vacination there and bring it back and have another person give the shot.
We go to pharmacy and buy shots. Get paper work stamped by pharmacist saying we purchased the shot.
Go back to E.R. and get the shot in right shoulder...pain was a non-issue
Get the paper that the pharmacist stamped earlier stamped by the nurse saying that we were actually given the shot.
It's not over
Then we walked several blocks through downtown San Jose to the ministry of health.
We gave the paper that was stamped earlier to another person who then gave us a piece of paperwork to fill out
That same person then fills out a little yellow card which is virtually our ticket back into the country.

THE END

So that was the first half of Friday. Eric and I then traveled to a mall in Tres Rios. Youth group was at 7 but it didn't make sense to drive back home and then drive through rush hour traffic (which would be a nightmare) to get to youth group. We went and saw Slumdog Millionare at the theatre in the mall and then grabbed some food at the food court before we headed to youth group. The movie theatre here sells carmel corn and it was goood stuff. '

Youth group was fun, it was good to see everybody. It was the first night that the group had met in the new youth room upstairs so at the end of the night there was lots of food and games. They made a circle for breakdancing....I stayed far away.

Today was a pretty relaxed Saturday. Eric has been doing a lot of catching up on finance stuff so I have had a lot of time to read, play with John while watching Thomas the Tank Engine, and hang out with Caroline. I learned how to play Carcassonne with Eric and we've played twice today and I've won both times. I'm pretty sure it's beginners luck but we will see.

Tomorrow we have church in the morning. The Oscars are a big thing around here with some people on the team so tomorrow night we will be having a little watch the Oscars party. I'm not sure that I have ever watched it but I am not opposed to the idea, it should be fun.

Well, I am off to bed. Goodnight all.

From a place where it never snows,

-Chip

First Post of 2009!

2009-02-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

I will be the first to admit that I am a slacker of a blogger but hey...I do my best. I am in Costa Rica once again and am very excited for the next three weeks. Ironically my last blog post was when I was in Costa Rica last June. Maybe it's just that blogging about life in Fox River Grove isn't all that interesting. Maybe when I get home I will try it and see what you all think.

Getting here was pretty uneventful but in my mind uneventful is much better that than a huge pain in the neck. My flight out of ORD was at 6:55am so we left my house at 5am which meant get up at 4:30am to finish the packing I should have done the night before. I felt bad making my dad get up that early on his birthday but hey...life is not like a box of chocolates. I checked in and got through security with no issues. My flight was delayed about 20 minutes because the plane was making a strange noise which turned out to be a faulty cargo cooling fan. The problem was solved by turning the fan off and I was on my way to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I sat next to some woman who hogged the arm rest the entire flight but other than that it was fine. The delay ended up being a good thing because it shortened the lay-over time. I stopped in at one of the shops in the terminal to buy and over priced turkey sandwhich and a soda. After about and hour and a half wait it was time to board American Airlines flight 2113 to San Jose, Costa Rica. That plane was bigger than the first and was much more comfortable. I sat next to a father and son and the son was sleeping horozontially on the seat next to me and kept kicking me...but other than that it was fun.

My plane landed at SJO a few minutes ahead of schedule and I booked it to beat the line at immigration. I waited 5 minutes for my bag and slipped right through customs and before I knew it I was outside in the warm sun waiting for Eric to arrive. I had misunderstood where Eric wanted me to wait so he could avoid entering the parking garage but after dropping $2.50 to leave the parking garage we were on our way back to San Isidro. Caroline made a delicious casserole for dinner and John was cute as always. I was very excited that I was able to watch LOST last night...so much good.

Today I learned how to make homemade bagels. I don't actually remember how to make them but they sure were delicious. Tomorrow Eric and I have to go get our yellow fever shots for our trip Ecuador, that should be interesting. I will be sure to write about that tomorrow.

From a place much warmer than Chicago,
Chip

Can I borrow your mulch monkey?

2008-06-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Once again, the title of this post if a Corner Gas quote...you should watch it.

I forgot to mention this earlier...
This is officially the longest I have ever been out of the country

Saturday was quite a day. It was just like a saturday back home...and just how it should be. Eric mowed the hill part of the lawn and seemed to injure himself more than I have ever seen anybody injure themselves mowing the lawn. The Holland vs. Russia soccer game was on saturday afternoon so I showed my support by taking a nap on the couch in front of the TV. We went to Youth Group at Princepe de Paz last night which was nice. I saw a lot of the people I spent a week with last summer there.

Today I awoke promplty at 6:30am. Eric and I had to leave the house by 7:30 so I decided to get up early and head up to the Rancho to do some reading and praying and such. This was our free day so we decided to do a horseback ride, canopy (zipplining), cascades tour. It was really a blast. The resort was only about an hour away, up throught the mountains. We saw a tipped semi-truck on the way. We payed the toll of 50 cents and had no problems on the way there. I was the first one to mount a horse. The asked me if I had any previous horse riding experience and I said yes...though I failed to mention thats its been at least 8 years since I had been on a horse, OOPS! I also made the mistake of wearing boxers to go horseback riding. Wow... It was about a 45min ride up to the first zipline. Let me tell you, going from riding on a horse to wearing a harness...not the best combination but I digress.

The zipplining was very cool. This was the second time I had done this but enjoyable none the less. After the canopy tour they took us to this place called the cascades which was a place in the jungle with some water falls and a pool...very nice. We took a visit to the butterfly garden which was also near there. Instead of taking the horses back we took what they called "the jeep" It was really an ancient Toyota Land Cruzer that they had modified to accomodate a group. It was the most uncomfortable ride ever!...the horse was 10 times better. However on the way back we saw 2 weasles, a tiger snake and a few "Jesus Christ Lizzards" (named because of there ability to run across water). Eventually we got back to the main resort and they provided lunch for us. Then the journey back through the rainy mountains home.

I was exhausted when we got back so I showered and took a nap. Caroline made us Costa Rican style chicken fingers for dinner...which I didn't really get the difference but it wasn't worth asking, but they were good. Now I'm watching the Cubs eat up the White Soxs once again.
This trip has been wonderful since day one. I am so greatful that I have had the opportunity to come back, see old friends and live the life of a missionary for two weeks.
With all that said I am also excited to go home. I have three days of rest and then I'm off to Salt Lake City for a youth conference for a week and a half. I'm keeping as busy as I can...

-Chip

Thursday/Friday

2008-06-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

I applogize for the lack of posting over the last few days...by the time I would have time to write I would be too tired which of course leads to lame posting. Yes...I am just coming up with excuses.

Thursday:
On the campus here there is a building for temporary housing for work teams and such. The first two times I came to Costa Rica I stayed in those houses (oh the memories). As I mentioned in an earlier post a group of highschool kids were coming thursday night. So I was put on prep duty which consisted of putting together the welcome bags, sweeping rooms, making beds...oh yeah, and testing the food in the welcome bags to make sure it was ok to eat ;-) Michelle Mcqueary and I were the people who made up the prep team and it was quite a fun couple of hours. Thursday afternoon was pretty relaxed. Eric and I had originally planned to go on my free day thursday but this that and the other all seemed to happen at the same time so it didn't work out. So that evening Eric and I headed to the mall just to get away from the campus for a little while. We found some tables outside of a Cinnabon (which almost seems more popular here than in the States) and studied a couple days in the Life of Christ.

I saw an interesting thing at the mall...relating to the lack of trust everywhere here in Costa Rica. We walked past an ATM machine and there were 3 men standing by it. One man was repairing the machine, another man was the security guys watching as people walked by and the third man had a video camera and was tapping the guy who was repairing the machine. Can you guess why he was video tapping the whole thing? It was so they couldn't be blammed for taking any money out of the machine...PROOF! This fascinated me. I thought it also provided for a good joke "How many Costa Rican men does it take to fix an ATM machine?" Well the answer is really just 1 but that 1 man won't do it without somebody video tapping him and somebody else watching the people. WOW. Ok...I digress.

There was a pizza place in the mall so Eric and I ordered some pizza for take out and headed for home. We were talking about movies while eating dinner and it came up that I had never seen the movie "V for Vendetta" So of course we watched it and I thought it was fabulous. And thus ends Thursday.

Friday:
About wednesday afternoon I started to feel a little crummy, cold symptoms. Thursday came the sneezing and headaches and Friday was the peak of crummyness. So I spent most of Friday morning laying in my bed with a shirt over my eyes. Thus I have survived on expired Advil and plenty of kleenex. However, today I am feeling as though the cold is coming to the end of it's course and I have become a stronger man (wow, must be the expired advil talking).
It has been great being able to wake up around 7:30, shower and dress and go off and find a quiet place here on campus. As I have been studying the life of Jesus I have begun to realize how important it was for Him to be able to go off by Himself and find a solitary place to pray. It is so easy to do that here, there are very few distractions. However, I know I can't just wait till I am here again to find that place...the challenge is on.

Friday afternoon we went to a mall by Princpe de Paz (the church I worked with last year) to meet Jonathan (who I stayed with last year). After Jonathon arrived we headed over to Marlons house to meet Jose Luis and David Obando. We played video games for a couple of hours and then headed to youth group. YG was interesting...they made me dance, I looked like a fool but I guess it was all in good fun.

Well, thats all for now.

-Chip

Tuesday/Wednesday

2008-06-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

Mark Derosa just made his first error in left field in 29 games...
They are showing the Cubs on espn 2 down here, it is quite exciting.

Well the last few days have been full of activity. Monday had a little less activity given the fact I took two 45min naps... :-) Around 1pm Eric and I picked up Suzie (a member of the Team down here) to go look at buying a new car. I was informed that it is normal down here to go pick up a mechanic and bring them with you to look at the new car...so that’s what we did. We went to the local mechanic, picked up a guy named Jason and headed to the car dealership. The mechanic did all sorts of tests and checks to make sure the car was sound and worth purchasing. Monday night Eric and I met Sadrac and his friend at Pizza Hut for dinner and Discipleship. I couldn’t believe the number of birthday parties going on in that place. They played their annoying birthday song over the loud speaker while waiters sing and hit small instruments at least 4 times. I'm not complaining though because the pizza was fabulous.

Side story: I forgot to talk about my experience at the bank the other day. To start...there is a guy holding a shotgun by the front door who looks at you with a glare as your approach, then there is another security guy on the inside of the door who unlocks the door every time somebody comes. Then that same man has a metal detector wand and he wands you down. So once you are actually in the bank you are welcomed with 11 security cameras which are actually there more so they can watch the employees hands...lots of trust going on down here.

Anyways, on to today. Every Wednesday there is a thing called "Chicos" It's like a bible study for the youth leaders and team members here. I was glad to see my old friends Marlon, Jose Luis and David Obando. We had a few laughs remembering my trip here last summer. Chicos ended about noon and I headed down to the house for some lunch.

A fusion group of about 11 highschool students is coming tomorrow. Fusion is the general name of teams who come down, stay on campus for a day or so and then go to host family homes to work with a local youth group for the rest of the week. Jeff Mcqueary is another missionary down here who is in charge of the fusion groups. I went with him to buy a bunch of food and other things in preparation for there arrival tomorrow. We went to Price Mart (which would be equivalent to a Costco in the States) and Mas por Menos which is a grocery store. Jeff's driving is a little bit less "exciting" compared to Erics (which isn't really a bad thing). No offense Eric...

Now I'm home. We had a wonderful dinner of pulled pork, mashed potatoes and carrots. The Cubs are on ESPN so what more could I ask for.
It rained quite a bit today so tonight was even more beautiful than normal. The orange glow of the sun shining on the tips of the mountains will always fascinate me.

Well I hope all is well back home
Which I have realized what a privilege it is to have a place I call home, where people know and care about me, the place I grew up and have grown to love...
I love it here but there truly is no place like home...

Go Cubbies!
-Chip

Lunes "Now that is a valid inquiry"

2008-06-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

So I have been told that my posts have numerous typos and such. Mind you I did pass English this year (Thank you Mr. Neff!) But I have decided that the rules of grammar do not always apply to blogging. Also, the internet is all in spanish here so the spell check in my blogging program says all my words are wrong! AHH! Ok, I digress.

Monday morning started promptley at 6am. Eric kindly told me the night before that he goes to a breakfast/biblestudy at 6:30am with the other guys living on the campus. So given I had a choice of whether to go or not, I guess I can't complain. We drove down to a little breakfast place in Heredia. It was a neat place. You get a big breakfast of pinto, eggs and bread. Now Eric asked me if I wanted cheese, and so I thought he meant cheese in my eggs which is normal. But no, they put this large recatagular slab of squeeky cheese on my plate. It was pretty nasty so I had about 1 bite and thats all I could handle. Normally I would eat the whole thing just to be polite but I couldn't! It was interesting being in a biblestudy with 5 dads. I was a little out of place but I did learn some good stuff.

After B-fast we headed up to the house and Eric and I studied 2 days in the life of Christ. I then headed up to the Casa Grande with Eric because their was a worker here grinding tile and stuff in the bathroom upstairs and it was quite LOUD. So I spent the remainder of the afternoon there, writing emails and such. About 4:30 we left to go to Michael and Andreas house to have dinner. Caroline made chicken noodle soup which I thought was fabulous but apparently Ticos didn't like it very much. Us gringo's had a laugh about that on the way home with Caroline saying, "That's what you get when you have the Gringa bring the food..." Maybe you had to be there...I digress.

If you are wondering as to the meaning of the title of this post, it doesn't have much meaning other than Lunes being monday in spanish. The quote comes from a canadian TV sitcom (which I meantioned in a previous post) Corner Gas. If you have never seen this show it is hilarious. Check it out.

So I will admit, I am very much looking forward to driving on roads that are flat and smooth and where people obey traffic laws. As much as I love the scenery here, the roads are a bit crazy most of the time.

Thats all I got for now.

Hasta Luego,
Chip

Saturday/Sunday

2008-06-15T17:58:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

I would appologize for not posting yesterday but this blogging stuff is hard work! So I am not sorry...

Well not that I've got that off my chest, maybe you would all like to here what has "gone down" in the last two days. Saturday was quite the eventful day. I awoke around 7:30, showered (mistake #1) and then remebered that we were going to go play soccer with some of the guys from youth group. Now you see, God did not create me to play soccer. I was fully aware of this before I came to Costa Rica but my understanding of that fact has only become greater. We picked up Ariel on the way to the church (which has a decent sized field) and I was fast on my way to being humiliated. At first the game was 3 on 3 which meant I was very quickly out of breath for two reasons. 1: I am not in the best shape of my life, and 2: It was a rather large field on 3 on 3. I enjoy watching soccer but I just don't have the skill. I am too clumsy and uncoordinated with my feet...and I'm white...really white. Some other guys joined us to ease the running back and forth. So other than the fact that I stink, It was enjoyable.

We headed back home, showered, relaxed and then were back on the road for Ariels house. Caroline and Ariel have birthdays close together so we were going over there to celebrate and I was going to spend the night. We started with tea and sweet bread. As the evening went on, more and more people kept showing up. Anna Gabriel (who stayed with the Berges in 2004) and her family showed up. It was cool to reconnect with Ariel and some other people who I haven't seen in a long time. Dinner was excelent...meat, potatoes, rice, beans, fresh pineapple juice...sha'll I go on? Eric, Caroline and John left around 8:30-9 and the rest of us talked and watched soccer and such. It was overwhelming at times having up to 3 around me all speaking spanish. I only took 2 years of Spanish in highschool so it has been a year since I have really had to speak it. I know phrases like "where is the bathroom?" "nice to meet you" "talk slower" "I don't understand"...etc. Ariel's mother was upset that I have been to Costa Rica 4 times and still can't speak the language. I was delighted to find out that Ariels father spoke very good English. He is a receptionist at a hotel and has to speak English almost everyday. Needless to say we got along very well. I stayed in Ariels sisters room and she went and spent the night at her Grandmothers. Generally, the Costa Rican people are not very tall so the bed was rather short...not that I'm complaining or anything. *It turns out that the clock in my bedroom was about 3 hours fast. So on top of being in a very foreign place...I didn't have the right time...thats a story for another time.

Eric picked me up around 10:15 and we were headed to church. The services down here can last anywhere from 2 hours to 4 hours...it all depends on...well I'm not really sure. So we were about 45min late...Oh well! There also a lot of dancing in the churches down here and it being fathers day...guess who got to dance? Not me of course but Eric! They called all the fathers and their children to the front and played a song to dance to. If I only had my camera! It was hilarious but Eric has been complaining about is hamstring all day...claims it was one of the dance moves he had to do.

After church we stopped at a little "hole in the wall" chicken place and picked up a chicken for lunch. The power kept coming and going as we were eating. I decided to take a nap for the rest of the afternoon. I love naps. Before dinner Eric, John and I went over to talk with Woody and place with his HUGE dog. After dinner we watched Tiger Woods make a sweet put to tie with the guy in firstplace in the tournament.

Well thats a summary of the past two days! I will write again soon.

Be Safe, Be Courteous
-Chip

Day 2

2008-06-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

So I have come to a conclusion about the traffic laws in Costa Rica.

1. Drive as fast as you feel comfortable
2. Fit Where you can
3. Pass where ever you wish
4. Stop signs are more like guidelines
5. Pot holes are there on purpose to add to the excitment

If you ask me, a car ride in Costa Rica is equivalent to a ride on Raging Bull at Great America. I have never been so greatful that we have highly enforced traffic laws in the US. The constant shifting, passing, avoiding pot holes, dogs, people, parked cars...well it gets tiring even as a passenger. I do not mean to sound as if I am complaining but more of "just saying it how it is."

Yesterday we spent most of the morning hanging around the house, Eric went up to the office to work on finances and I watched a few episodes of Corner Gas (a Canadian sitcom everybody should watch). Friday nights is youth group which is a bit of a drive from the house so Eric and I left early in the afternoon to be closer to the church and avoid rush hour. We went to a mall which has the nicest movie theatre in all of Costa Rica. It has 3 VIP theatres which means plush leather seats that recline and a waiter who brings you your popcorn or whatever you want. We decided to see "The Happening" by M. Night Shyamalan. I'm usually not one who enjoys the creepy scary jumpy type movies but I did enjoy this one. It was kinda weird but entertaining none the less.

We stayed at the mall after the movie and studied some more of the life of Jesus and then watched some soccer while eating dinner at Rosti Pollo (I love Rosti Pollo). One of the kids from youth group asked Eric if he could help him with his math before youth group so we headed over early to church. I was at Gran Visitacion de Dios one Sunday last summer so I recognized some of the students. Jose, the guy that Matt Haynes stayed with last summer was there. We enjoyed talking about guitars and making fun of Matt Haynes (all in good fun Matt). Youth group was fun. We played a game where the loser had to have strawberry jello rubbed in their hair. After youth group my Spanish speaking skills were put to the test. It was very sad but I tried my best.

We headed home after youth group. I was pretty tired so I went to bed pretty quick. Today we may go play soccer with some guys from the youth group and later this afternoon we will be going to Ariel's house (who stayed in my home about 2 years ago) and I will spend the night there.

Well, Im out again. Will update again soon.

-Chip

Costa Rica Day 1 (aka. the first day)

2008-06-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

The alarm went off at decent time this morning..7:30. I took a warm shower (which is a total blessing compared to my last 3 trips down here). Every time I come down here I realize how much I take for granted back home.

Caroline made Eric, John and I some pancakes for breakfast and then Eric and I took a tour of the Multiplication Center. It so cool seeing how much has changed in this place since my first trip in 2004. I have so many memories here. We returned back to the house and Eric and I studied a day in the life of Christ. LaterI watched a Germany vs. Croatia soccer game. Croatia won 2-1 and apparently it was a big upset. After lunch, Eric headed up to the office to work on some finance stuff and Caroline, John and I started watching Ratatouille. After a while John and Caroline went over to the neighbors house and I decided I was going to do some reading...which very quickly turned into some sleeping...1 and a half hours of sleeping. When I awoke I did some reading. Gordy Williams gave me a book on basic theology a while back and I have slowly been taking in those pages.

I headed up to the office to see what exciting accounting stuff Eric was working on. Then I took a walk around the property again. Now I'm back home finishing Ratatouille with John. Caroline is preparing dinner and Eric should be back soon. It was a very relaxing day but I am enjoying every minute of it. Tomorrow night we have youth group and I am looking forward to seeing some people I met last summer.

Thats all folks,
Chip

Planes, planes and more planes

2008-06-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

My day started at approximetly 3:50am when my alarm so kindly reminded me that it was time to get up. I showered, zipped up my suitcases and was ready to go...my dad and I departed on schedule and were on are way to the every so welcoming O'hare airport. Parking was a breeze, checking in was a breeze...of course these days there is very minimal human interaction at the airport with all these machines and such.

My dad and I said are goodbyes and I was off to the security line. I think I accidentally took a pair of my brothers jeans which are a bit big so after I removed my belt I had a little bit of trouble keeping my pants up while waiting in line...but I digress. I found my gate and then searched for food. Dunkin Doughnuts seemed like a good choice so I had a hearty breakfast of doughnuts and chocolate milk.

The first flight was painless. Left on schedule, arrived ahead of schedule (which would normally be nice but it just meant that my 3 hour layover was now longer) The Fort Lauderdale airport is nice. I found a seat by my gate and read a book for a while. After about an hour this kind lady decided to sit right by me and not leave me alone for about an hour and a half. The small talk was fine and all but sometimes you just want to sit and not talk to anybody...I digress.

About 10min before I was supposed to board the plane we get the announcement that the plane had not power. GREAT! That is the joy about traveling by yourself...you only have to wait for yourself and there is no point in complaining about the annoyances of airports because you have nobody to complain too. It is just a wonderful thing. So, we finally boarded the plane about 15min behind schedule. As we were taxiing out to the runway the pilot comes on the intercome and informs us that one of the engines has a problem and we need to go back to the gate...GREAT! But I knew that Costa Rica wasn't going anywhere and I had an iPod and a box of granola bars so I was content as can be. So only 45min to 1hour off schedule flight 2113 was off the ground and headed to San Jose. The only interesting part of that flight was the lady infront of me had fingernails that we so long she couldn't push the button to turn on the overhead light. :-)

So I arrived in Costa Rica and got on a shuttle from the plane to the terminal. I went through immigration without a problem, my bags came in a timely manner, customs was a piece of cake and before I knew it, I was out the door into a new world (or country if we're going to be technical and not figurative) Eric had a prime parking spot and we were headed for home, with a stop at the Rosti Pollo by the airport. After a wonderful dinner of "Arroz con Pollo" (one of my favorites) we were headed for home. *more on the exciting driving here later.

So I made it, I didn't lose my passport and my bags were in one piece. I would say it was a great day of travel and I am thankful for how easy it was. So now I am watching the cubs on ESPN 2 "En Vivo" with Eric. Caroline made us some hot tea and I am reminiscing about the days activities.

I couldn't be anymore excited about this trip. I will update this blog as much as I can. Thank you to all who are reading this an have supported me in my effort to be down here. I have no doubt that this is where God wants me to be right now and I am excited to see what He has instore for me while I am here.

In the words of my good friend Tigger
"TTFN!"
-Chip

Games...baseball and such

2008-03-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

The day started once again waiting for Ransom to get out of bed, then we headed over to the usual breakfast place. The Paradise Cafe is so great for two reasons...good food and FREE WIFI.

The apartment subdivision thing that my cousin Erin lives at has a small movie theatre in the main office building. We couldn't leave without taking advantage of this great little theatre so we went over to blockbuster, rented Dan in real life and spent the remainder of the morning eating popcorn and enjoying the cinematic adventure.

1:05 was the start time for KC vs. Seattle at the Surprise stadium so we headed over to the game after the movie. We have these green passes that allow us to go where ever we want, enter for free, park for free...etc. The game was good, KC lost but we enjoyed it anyway.

After the game we headed back to Mike and Erin's apartment. Since I had stayed up a little to late watching lost, I was exhausted and needed to take a nap. Erin got me a pillow and I fell asleep on the floor while the rest of the family played cards. (I drooled all over the pillow but Erin doesn't know that).

For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant that I can't remember the name of because it was in Spanish. It was a great dinner and good conversation. We spent a majority of the time telling stories about pranks we've pulled on our friends, college and high school pranks...it was great.

After dinner we headed back to the apartment to catch the elimination episode of American Idol.
Of course I finished the day with 3 more episodes of Lost. Watching this show is kind of like eating a big bowl of spaghetti, no matter how much you think you eat...theres still more.

85 degress today. The Plan...who knows.

This is Chip Cobler, signing out.
Out like Jessica Simpson in a spelling b.

Lost in Lost

2008-03-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Once again, the Yogurt Parfait hit the spot...
Vacation is a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel. That is exactly what this week has been so far. Yesterday we traveled to the local Barnes and Noble and I picked a new novel for my enjoyment, it replaced the book that was sacraficed to the toilet. We then headed back to our usual spot at the pool and spent a couple of hours basking.

I love to read for enjoyment but the down side is that often times reading puts me to sleep. After reading two chapters in my book I decided it was time for a nap. I grabbed the sunscreen and my hat and within 10 minutes of reclining in the pool chair I was out cold (actually it was pretty hot). Falling asleep in the sun is never a good idea.

After the pool we headed back to the aparment for lunch which consisted of turkey sandwiches, bbq chips and soda. I could eat that for lunch everyday. I decided it was a good time to watch some more Lost episodes...YES. When Mike got there we played some new board games that Uncle Larry had picked up that afternoon, good choices Uncle Larry. When dinner rolled around we decided to order pizza because American Idol was half an hour away. Now I am not an American Idol fanatic but I enjoy watching in with other people who are fanatics ie. the Michigan Coblers. Erin and I have been competing in the fantastic game of Egyptian Ratscrew. It has been and intense competition and the scoreboard reads 3 to 3 as of last night. But now it's time to start the trash talking......Bring it on Erin!

Around 9:30 Mike and Erin left and I decided to watch Lost....for 3 1/2 hours more. I have to admit, it gets a little creepy watching it at 1am...yeah.

Well today we are going to catch a preseason baseball game, Kasas City vs. Seattle. I am looking forward to eating a ball park hot dog and a soft pretzle...even if it's going to cost me $8.

Time to hang with the fam...Peace

Pheonix Day 2

2008-03-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well here I sit, in Paradise once again. This morning I decided to go with a Yogurt Granola Parfait and a small hot chocolate. The Parfait was an excelent choice I might say. Anywho, yesterday was quite the relaxing day. We spent the morning visting a number of local chain establishments (ie. Target, Khols, Bestbuy etc.) When lunch time rolled around we stopped by the friendly neighborhood Chick Fil' A, it was my first experience there and it won't be my last...the cookies and cream milkshake really did me in.

After the morning activities we decided that an afternoon by the pool would be fantastic, so thats what we did. My dad had just bought a new pair of swimming trunks and was excited to try those out, Ransom had just bought a bottle of tanning lotion, and Uncle Larry was deep into a new book. So the four of us guys trecked over to the pool and spent a few hours basking in the warm Arizona sun without a care in the world. However, this whole tanning thing really doesn't work for me. No matter how much I try I will never be able to tan. I only burn, turn red and then turn even whiter than I was before I sat out in the sun. So after about 30min in a reclining pool chair I decided I was too hot and so I snagged a spot in the shade and cracked open a book Aunt Becky had given me.

It came time that I needed to visit the old soldiers home (the bathroom) and because I new it was going to be a long sit I decided to bring my book with me. I found a very nice bathroom inside that pool facility that nobody was using and that was my bathroom for the next 20 minutes. (details, details, details)...ok moving on. I had set my book on top of the toilet lid and when I went to pick it up, I lost grip, the book fell.....straight into the toilet bowl (this was post flush I might add). So I went fishing for the first time in Arizona. I digress.

That evening we had a wonderful BBQ outside by the pool, we told stories and laughed a whole lot. After dinner we headed back to the apartment and played a game of 9 up 9 down. Then of course I watched 2 1/2 episodes of lost before I went to bed.

Well who knows what today will bring. Warmth is for sure. I sure do not miss the wonderful weather of Chicago right now.

Adios Amigos

Waffles, Hot Chocolate and Family

2008-03-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

It sure has been a long while since I have last posted, so at least for the next week I will have consistent updates on the excited adventures of my life. I am currently in the wonderful state of Arizona actually feeling the spring in spring break. Back home it was cold and miserable and dreary but I digress. Spring break started on Friday with a mass cleaning of the Cobler house. It was a much need cleaning plus it was snowing so we really had nothing better to do. The day was topped of with a Good Friday service at the Village Church complete with pyrotechnics. I went home and watched Saving Private Ryan on DVD to really top off the day.

Most of my Saturday was spent at church helping Jim Crouter wire a live feed of the service to a tv in the library. And I finally completed the video project I have been working on since the end of December. Finishing this project means that I am now $500 richer than I was last week. After working at church I headed over to Mark Lachels house to hang out with him Matt #1 and Danny B. We took a trip to culvers and spent the rest of the night playing Wii.

I arrived home at about 11:30, still had not packed for Arizona and still needed to do a load of laundry. At about 12:30 my dad comes down stairs (I was packing and watching sportscenter) and he said that the person who was supposed to be driving us to the airport that morning wasn't answering phone calls so I should be ready to leave the house at 4:15am rather than 4:45am. At this point I had made an executive decision to not sleep that night. I rememered that I had borrowed the first season of Lost from Mark and decided to watch a couple of episodes. Of course I was immedietly hooked couldn't stop watching. By about 2am I had finished my laundry and was fully packed and decided that I may as well catch a few zzz's. 3:30am my alarm goes off and I rolled out of bed, showered, put my suitcase upstairs and had a bowl of frosted mini-wheats. We arrived at Midway Airport at approximetly 6am and had a little over an hour before departure. Traveling with my family is an intersting thing. We spend most of the time making fun of all the people who are complaining about things and seem angry because we really don't care. We really have no agenda for this trip so therefore, there is nothing to complain about. It doesn't get much better than this.

We arrived in Pheonix about 9:15ish and waited for our bags for 45 minutes...and while most people were complaining about waiting Ransom and I were having a great time making fun of how bad my dad is at text messaging.

Well apparently we are leaving. There is more to come...Time to enjoy the fast moving air molecules...

TTFN

2007-08-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

Why the world is not ready for vista...

2007-08-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

I like computers...but I would not consider myself a computer geek. I know what your thinking..."Then what defines a computer geek?" A computer geek is somebody who thrives on the latest deals from Frys or tigerdirect. A computer geek is somebody who thinks the "Geek Squad" is a cult. A computer geek is somebody who knows more about your computer than you do. Personally I don't believe that I fall into any of these catagories. Now...to the point. I recently purchased a new laptop computer. I will admit that I was very excited but you would be to if you were in the same situation. The computer is great except for one thing...VISTA. Now over the last few months I have seen many mixed emotions on this new OS. I didn't know who to believe so I decided to wait to experience it for myself before I had my own opinion. But now I have experienced it and I do have my own opinion...YOU STINK VISTA. I was at a Jr. High camp this past week as a part of the tech team and there were two instances where an extra laptop would have been very useful. I thought to myself..."well i've got a new laptop we can use it." However when we tried to use it I got the message that no PC user ever wants to see..."Compatability Problem." My heart was broken...I thought my new HP and I had gotten off to a good start...I was wrong. XP was out for too long before Vista was born. Too many sweet programs were created for XP that cannot be used on Vista. I must stop here before my tears start to fall on the keyboard...

Until Nextime,
Spud

Day 2: The Banjo Plays On.....

2007-06-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

Where do I start? The more I think about this story the more I don’t want to tell it again but I’ll fight through it. At the time, going for a little canoe trip down the Huron River seemed like a fantastic Idea. We tried to get some kayaks but the place we normally rent them from was out. Fortunately Anya’s mom had a canoe that she was more than happy to let us use. So Saturday morning Matt and I packed a cooler full of sandwiches, soda pop, and carrots. Once we were all packed up we headed for the Dexter Bakery to get some doughnuts for breakfast. Now we were ready and we headed off to Anya’s moms house to start our journey.
We were about to launch the canoe when my cousin Dave walked up. This was our first mistake…talking to Dave. Dave has been down the river many times and he told us, “When you get to that spot with the big danger signs that say “’Keep RIGHT”’ you can go left, it’s really not that bad.” Now being that Dave is older and wiser than I (or so I thought), I figured that It would be ok to go left. This was our second mistake….listening to Dave.

Finally we launched the canoe. Matt Haynes was in the front and I was in the back steering, or trying to steer. Our journey started with no problems, the weather was great and my sandwich was even better. About an hour goes by when we get to those big danger signs. My first thought was that we were going to left but in the back of my mind I thought that it was a bad idea. But with a little peer pressure from Matt we ended up going left into the rapids, completely ignoring the warning signs and all that stuff about drowning. As soon as we hit the rapids we got stuck on a rock. Next thing I knew were sideways against the current. As we sat there stuck not knowing what to do I hear Matt from the back of the canoe say, “Chip, I think were going over!” Yup, before I could process what he had said the boat was upside down and we were both in the water. In a moment of shock I looked down stream and saw my paddle floating away, and then I looked over and saw the cooler float past me. Of course I’m thinking to myself, “Forget the boat, grab the food!” So I jumped over the canoe and started swimming for the cooler, all the while Matt is standing helpless staring at me. Finally, Matt gets the canoe free from the rock it was stuck on and it floated down to me full of water. At this point I realized that the boat had completely fallen apart. Both of the seats were broken and the bars that held the boat together had broken off the sides. Oh, and there were two cracks on either side of the boat were slowly letting water in.
The worst part was, 1. It wasn’t our boat and 2. There was still another two hours left on the River. Matt’s phone was now broken and I had lost my sandwich. However, about 10 minutes after this small disaster I saw my sandwich in the plastic bag floating down stream ahead of us.
When we finally reached the end we had to get the canoe out of the river which turned out to be a daunting task. Though there just happened to be a homeless man sleeping behind the Dexter Mill where we had parked the car. The man kindly helped us get the canoe out of the water and then there was an awkward 20 minutes of waiting for Aunt Becky to come with rope. Fortunately the man didn’t do anything crazy.
The rest of the afternoon was spent repairing the broken canoe. Thank goodness for fiberglass repair kits and gorilla glue. We even bought paint to match the color of the canoe. I would even say that the canoe ended up in better shape than when we got it…but maybe not.
This ends the story of the canoe adventure. If I have learned anything from this trip I would say two things, 1. Always follow big orange signs that say “DANGER” and 2. Never EVER listen to anything that Dave Cobler ever tells you…you will probably end up wet or dead. Fortunely Matt and I only got the wet part….

Those stupid banjo players....

2007-06-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

It all started about a week ago when Matt Haynes asked me, "Chip, when are we going to Michigan again?" I didn't think much of it until I realized that I didn't have to work Fri-Sun. I asked Aunt Becky if she wouldn't mind having some company for a couple of days and of course she said "Yeah Baby." Matt's parents were a little hesitant in letting me drive there son on a 200 mile road trip, but after a little convincing, no problem...I asked my dad if he would let me go so it was set, MY FIRST ROAD TRIP! Thursday I had to work till 4 o'clock but I got off 1/2 hour early. Earlier that day I had bought 2 quarts of oil and while putting it in I realized that I didn't really know how to read the dip stick (but nobody needs to know that). So after work I packed up and headed for Matt's. We headed over to thortons to gas up and pick up some snacks for the road. At about 4:30 our journey had begun. I now know the true meaning of the term "rush hour".....enough said. Once getting around the Chicago madness we had no problem. Matt played the combined role of DJ/Navigator...though he sucked at navigating (but I didn't say that). We arrived at my second home in lovely Dexter Michigan at about 10:45 eastern time. We were welcomed by Uncle Larry and my cousin Erin. It turns out that Aunt Becky had made up two beds in guest room downstairs but Matt and I preffered the couches. For those of you who don't know, Matt Haynes is nocturnal. We put in the movie "The Fugitive" and after about 20 min I fell asleep. At about 2am I wake up and Matt is watching another movie while playing with his laptop. At this point I was pissed off because the TV was still on so I went into the guest room
END OF DAY 1

DAY 2....coming soon

I never really was big into cars...

2007-06-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks I have discovered that if there is one man that I would seek good advice about life from, It would be my uncle Larry. It is because of him that I am writing this blog.(more on this later) Story: For those of you who don't know, I drive a 1993 Plymouth Voyager that has 177,000 miles, no A/C and a rebuilt trans. Now being a 16 year old driver that makes just enough to pay for gas, driving a "sweet" car just isn't high on my list of priorities so I have to make do with the mini-van. I made a trip out to the local Auto Zone to see what I could find to make the van as cool looking as a van can look. I purchased new plastic chrome hubcaps and to my surprise I have received a number of compliments (now whether people are just trying to make me feel good I'm not sure). Uncle Larry was in town at the time and so I was telling him my future plans for my car to which he responded, "Chip, every dollar that spend on that mini-van is a dollar that you can't spend on something else." I have really taken this statement to heart and have since not spent one dollar on that van.

I think that the van was a little upset by this and decided to leave its lights on in the parking lot while I was in church. Of course leaving the lights on makes the battery upset and when the battery is upset then the engine doesn't start and when the engine doesn't start then Chip is late for work and when Chip is late for work, who is there to make the world sandwhiches? The moral of this useless story of "car vs. man" is that we all need to take a break every once in a while, look at the sky, enjoy the flowers of summer, see all the happy or not so happy people strolling by, and make sure your stupid lights are turned off!

Much delayed ramblings....

2007-04-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

First, I want to apologize to the 3 people that read my blog for not posting in over 2 weeks. It’s not that nothing has happened; it’s that everything has happened and so I haven’t had time to write it all down.

People might think that the last few weeks of school before summer are the best…but I must disagree. Teachers always end up cramming everything that they didn’t get done earlier in the semester into these last few weeks making school my least favorite place to be. Anyway, I’ll stop complaining…I just had to get it out there.

Life at Jimmy Johns is ok. I have realized how lucky I am that I don’t have to live off of minimum wage. I have also come to the point where I can confidently say that if I never saw or ate another Jimmy Johns sandwich again I wouldn’t shed a tear. Last Friday my bosses left for Vegas to go the annual Jimmy Convention, and of coarse as soon as they leave the store starts to fall apart. The drains under the sinks began to fail to do their job so consequently I have spent more time with a mop in my hands than actually making sandwiches. So last night I ventured to the freezer to grab some frozen bread only to discover that the freezer wasn't really “freezing” and also that it was making noise that a freezer should not make…you get the picture.

VCB is busy as always. The Good Friday service went very well. We just started our preparation for the Costa Rica/Nicaragua trips that club rock is doing this summer (more on this later).

Failure to blog

2007-04-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well, It's been a couple days since my last post. I guess I realized how easy It was to have a busy schedule. A lot has happened since Saturday morning. I hung around the house most of Saturday afternoon, started a few projects like 1) cleaning my room and 2) painting a wall in the basement. Surprisingly my room did get clean but I only got to "prep" the wall before I could paint it. That night Ashley, Liz, and Lindsey all came over and we painted Easter eggs...WAHOO! It was actually a really good time. My dad taught me how to hard boil eggs, a skill apparently everybody should have. Ashley asked me if they could all borrow some of MY t-shirts so they could run out and play in the rain (don't ask me why). I had to reassure myself that these girls were in high school but I guess they like playing in the rain...or so they thought. They all came screaming in about 3 minutes after they went out. Apparently they weren't big fans of the the hundreds of worms that were crawling about my driveway. Ransom, Matt Haynes and Sarah Ray all arrived later that night and we all just hung around the house, played games, laughed...all that good stuff. Haynes decided to spend the night so he chilled in Ransoms room. I of course was still out in my tent, as content as can be. People think I'm weird because I sleep in a tent in my backyard, they're probably right but I do it anyways.

Sunday was a typical Sunday. We went to Sunday school and then I ran the cameras for second service. Every week after church we usually spend at least a half hour trying to figure out where we want to eat lunch but this Sunday I decided that I wasn't going to wait. I yelled, "I'm going to Chipotle!" And guess what? Everyone followed, It was amazing. So we spent a couple of hours at Deerpark "shopping." Ministry team started at 3pm so we were all back at church then. It was a good meeting... the "new band" (Myself, Matt Haynes, Matt Yager, Joel Smith) got to begin practicing with each other. Over the next few months were going to start playing a couple of songs every Wednesday night so we can get better.

After Volleyball, we all headed over to the shop for movie night. That was a lot of fun. We played pool, shuffle board, ate Jimmy Johns, look at cars...you know, the usual. I got home around 9:30 and slept outside in my tent again.

Monday was pretty uneventful at school. After school Danny helped me with a music video that I was making for my health class. It was really cheesy but for what It was I thought it turned out pretty good. I got to show it in front of the class today and they seemed to like it. Last night I was in the tent again and mother nature decided to that it would be funny to bring a huge thunderstorm my way. However, that didn't stop me from sleeping in the tent, in fact, I think it made it a much better experience.

Well here I am now, sitting in the Club Rock room. I didn't have much to do tonight and I love being here so I just came here to blog and drink my Starbucks. I talked to Matt Yager for a while and convinced him to help me with the Good Friday service coming up in a couple of days. That's it for now...enjoy the pictures.

Home sweet home...

2007-03-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! This is the first time I have had the chance to stop and think since I got home yesterday from Phoenix. Soon after we had arrived home Ashley came over to show my dad and I pictures from her trip to Hawaii….yeah that’s right….Hawaii (I was a little jealous). Of coarse my stories didn’t compare to hers but none the less we talked for a good 2 hours about the past week and all of our adventures.

After Ashley had left, Matt Haynes decided that he was going to come over; so he did and we decided to get some food at Panera Bread. While eating dinner we made our plans for the rest of the evening’s activities which were...go to Matt’s house and play cards. I was motivated to play cards because I had just been with 6 other Coblers for a week and if you know the Coblers you know that we love cards. But to my luck Matt didn’t have any playing cards so I had to make a journey to the nearest Walgreen’s to find some. The funny part of this pointless story is that we didn’t actually end up playing cards.

Randomly at Matt’s I decided that I wanted to sleep in a tent last night and Matt agreed so we slept in a tent in his backyard. That brings me to where I am at now…the same tent but in my backyard. Don’t ask me why I am doing this; I guess its just being outside.

Well, it’s almost 1a.m. and I should probably get some sleep. Tomorrow is Saturday and there is no telling what the day might bring. Goodnight…

Phoenix Airport 5:15 a.m.

2007-03-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

Well its over...but it was awesome. The whole family got up this morning at 3 o'clock (nothing unusual for the Cobler family) and headed for the airport. This trip really was an amazing time to be with my family, to get away from school..... and of coarse, away from Jimmy Johns. We had no agenda, no plans...just relaxed and went as we wished.