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Mark
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Homepage: http://www.markphillips.net
Posts by Mark
Man-Venture™ 2010
Jul 29th
Last year I met up with my college friends, John and Howell, in Washington D.C. (pictures here). This spring we were looking for an excuse to get together again. Out of the deep and murky waters of our brains was birthed the Man-Venture™. The idea was to squeeze as many manly activities into a visit as possible, each adding more hair to our chests than the last. Ryan was able to join us as well making a quartet of quirky Quatermains. In under a week we raced karts, did car work, played frisbee golf, hiked and camped, scaled precipitous heights, and went off-roading. We were dripping with manliness (or something) by the end. Unfortunately, we ran out of time for rhinoceros hunting, spear fishing, and volcano jumping. Maybe next year.
We had perfect weather and fully enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation. Click on the “more” button for some highlights.
Washington D.C., 2009
Jul 18th
I’m a little behind on my blogging. A year ago, my college friend, Howell, got married. This was the perfect excuse for Nicole and I to go visit Howell and other buddy John and his family. Nicole was pregnant with Cora and we left Lincoln for the first time. We spent a couple days traipsing around D.C. and then went to the wedding in Pennsylvania. Click on the “more” button for some highlights.
July the 3rd, 2010
Jul 18th
Each year on the July the 3rd, we go out on our little deck and watch fireworks set-off from the neighborhood across the way. I have no idea why they are on the third or how that neighborhood can afford such nice fireworks, but they are enjoyable enough that the next day I feel no need to drive anywhere to see more. Here are some shots from this year.
Click on the “more” button to see, well, more. –Mark.
Erie Balloons 2010
May 16th
I took a time lapse out of my bedroom window of the Erie Town Fair Balloon launch. The music is from a challenge on my Doctor Obvious Studio Facebook page. The challenge was to make a techno version of Flight of the Bumblebee. Go there to hear the results of other challenges, including a polka version of Lady Gaga, a song about cake, and more. And you can suggest a new musical challenge!
Thankful – 2009
Nov 26th
Here are just a few of the reasons I’m thankful this year. These are pictures we’ve taken, and though they may be worth thousands of words, but more can be said for sure. God is good. (Notice the dove on the mountain…)
Happy Thanksgiving!
~Mark, Nicole, Lincoln, and Cora
P.S. You can click the little square on the player above to make it full screen, and click “HD” to watch in high definition if your connection supports it (or if you don’t mind waiting).
Introducing: Cora Ciara Phillips
Nov 13th
Born at 5:10am on her due date of November 12th after 16 hours of labor (with only an hour at the hospital), Cora came into the world with a full head of hair (currently looks dark brown), weighing 8 lbs. 9 oz., and measuring 22.5 inches long. She’s a big little girl! Nicole delivered naturally and did super. She’s pretty tired but is doing okay.
Murder Mysteries!
Nov 6th
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My exceedingly creative and always entertaining friend, Bret Carter, has written 3 murder mysteries! Having put one on before, I know the games are not easy to put together. His include up to twenty characters and he aimed for somewhere between too easy and too hard. He teamed up with a business partner, they’ve tested them and are ready to go with a website and everything. There are alien, super hero, and WWII themes and all are appropriate for teens or adults. I couldn’t resist putting a plug in here: http://www.foglightgames.com/
Costumes
Nov 1st
Lincoln wore a cute Lion outfit that Grandma Marnie made.
Nicole capitalized on the pregnancy (Humpty Dumpty) and I capitalized on the recent news (balloon boy):
Lincoln has some interesting things to say:
Halloween + Blizzard = Snow Pumpkin
Oct 29th
We live at the end of a cul-de-sac. No, not the cool traffic free end, the other end. We’re having a big snow and last night I heard a plow pushing snow out of the cul-de-sac onto our yard. We noticed an 8 ft. tall mound this morning. So, what to do?
Make a snow-pumpkin of course!
Music Monday II: Epic Story Songs
Jul 6th
Over the past two years, I’ve come across 3 songs that transcend the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus format to music tell stories on an epic scale. While progressive rock often has atypical song structures and immense stories of fantasy, these songs are accessible to the masses (sill sound like pop/rock) and tell life stories.
The first has been around a while: Billy Joel’s “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant“. For seven and a half minutes it uses various musical styles to tell the rise and fall of a relationship and ties it all together with a casual storyteller-style. A “greatest hit” for good reason.
SYD on TV (or “Look! That’s the back of my head!”)
Jun 21st
Over the past couple of years I’ve recorded the Singing Youth of Denver (SYD) at various times. Recently I was recording them when the director, Lee Cole, was honored as a “Channel 7 Everyday Hero”. As I set up my audio equipment, they were preparing to film the kids. The segment aired on TV recently and you can see the video here. If you look carefully near the beginning when you see the choir, you’ll see my laptop and the back of my head. No, really, it’s my head. –Mark
India Part III: Orchids? We kid.
Jan 11th
After Jaldapara we headed from the plains into the mountains, the Himalayas to be precise. We were still in the state of West Bengal, but the terrain was to change significantly. Taking another reserved jeep, we hit the road (and believe me, it hit us back).
We could see the Bhutanese Himalayas to the north of us and we drove on the plains, often crossing rivers with little water, but wide beds of mountain gravel. During monsoon, it would be a different story.
In this picture you can see a tall chimney. These were for brick-making, and dotted the area. If you look carefully on the right side of the picture (you may need to click on it to see it more clearly), there is a dump truck in the stream bed. We commonly saw piles of rocks that people were making from the stones in the river bed. They were then loaded onto trucks which took them to construction projects. At times we saw people smashing rocks by hand to make gravel.
More >
Updates from India
Nov 4th
Update 1: Missed connection in London… will now be going through Delhi. Only have 1 more minute on this paid internet connection. Adventure begins.
Update 2: Made it to Kolkata. Now, to figure out how to get to the train station. Nicole has used a “squatty potty”. I’m holding off. Delhi’s air was dreadful. Kolkata much better. Definitely an adventure.
Update 3: We are now in Gangtok, the capitol of Sikkim, India. We have been in taxies, an overnight train, jeeps, microvans, more jeeps, on trails, public buses, and a gondola. Lincoln has had (and recovered from) giardia. We’ve had southern Indians meals and those in the style of Nepali cooking. We’ve had to adjust our plans multiple times (Ryan and Amanda escorted a woman with labor issues to a hospital in Kalimpong). We are all doing well and really look forward to sharing pictures and stories!
Update 4: We are now in Varanasi by way of Allahabad (an unintentional 6 hour detour involving a missed train station). Whoah! What a city. We can add cycle-richshaws to our vehicle list and camels to our lists of animals seen. To get to the ghats (steps down to the holy Ganges river), you can’t even take a cycle-rickshaw as the “roads” become alleyways… a maze of corridors usually wide enough for a person and a bicycle (or motorcycle) to get down to the river. Speaking of mazes, you have to carefully negotiate the cow patties and other refuse. Our hotel (which we almost didn’t get to) is nice. The city is overwhelming. There will be plenty to say and I think I may have taken close to 1000 pictures… which would be worth a million words. Tomorrow we will begin the multiday effort toward home.
Update 5: We are home, safe, sound and jet-lagged. We think Nicole and Lincoln have giardia, but that should be overcome soon enough. I look forward to sorting pictures and sharing stories. Like how I almost lost our camera in London. Or the 27-second bus ride. Of any of a thousand things. More hopefully soon!
Update 6: Well, when we returned our computer had died. So I got a new one on Black Friday. And then when it was about ready, I re-painted the floor in the garage (long story), which unfortunately released so much fumage that we had to evacuate our house at 1 am to avoid the carcinogens. So we’re staying at my Mom’s house (almost a week now). When we get back to the house, we’ll try to get some pictures up!
The ABCs, by Devon
Oct 12th
My nephew made a guest appearance today in the studio. He sang some of his kindergarten knowledge “A Cappella.” I recorded it, and may have added a little music to it after the fact.
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CD Release: Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Sep 7th
We have finally released the CD of the musical “Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch”! Woo-hoo! The play is about some cowboys who sing to their cattle to keep them from stampeding, but aren’t very good at it. At some point, some sweet-singing cowgirls enter the picture as well as a no-good-do-er looking to steal the ranch. It has explosions, cows, and everything else necessary for a good time. CD’s are $12 and help Hyland Christian School. If you would like a CD, email me or leave a comment and I’ll get a hold of you. We can ship CDs for an additonal $2.
Here’s a sampler track with excerpts from some of the songs: Ranch Music Sampler
More info after the break. More >
How to Subscribe to Blogs
Sep 7th
Now that everybody and their brother’s poodle has a blog, I’m going to attempt the near-impossible. I’m going to try to write a succint post that will explain how to subscribe to these blogs. Subscribing has the benefit of being able to tell you when there is a new post at your favorite blog, be it your son’s, your son’s poodle, your favorite news source, or ICanHasCheezburger. This might (eventually) eliminate the need to send out emails saying, “Hey, go read my blog!” The challenge is, of course, that some of the people coming to our blog (for example), don’t even know what a browser is. Still, I’m hopeful I can be helpful. (For the technologically-challenged, you’ll need to click the word “more” below to continue reading this blog entry.
Erie Balloons 2008
May 18th
This weekend was the Erie (Colorado) town fair. This means 3 days of hot-air balloon launches. While the prevailing breeze didn’t blow them into our neighborhood this year, they were still fun to watch. If you watch the time-lapse, you’ll notice that the clouds disappear at the same time as the balloons. I’m sure it was all coordinated.
How to Decorate a Christmas Tree in 3 Minutes
Dec 19th
Well, you do a time lapse, of course! Watch the video below and you’ll get the idea. If you want to watch it full screen or be able to rate it, go here. Don’t get so caught up in the motions that you miss the meaning and the memories. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May your holidays be full of family, friends, and fun.
Love,
Mark, Nicole, and Lincoln
Why Do We Share Embarassing Stories?
Feb 14th
Posted by Mark in Thoughts
1 comment
Do we just like making people laugh? Do we want attention even if it could be argued that it is negative attention? I’m not really even going to addresss this question. I’m just going to share 3 of the most embarassing stories of my life. I hope you laugh.
Embarassing story #1: The Raised Eye at the Fly Guy
It was 1994, I believe. It was the last day of classes at Cornell. For those not in the know, on the last day of classes everyone at the university goes to hang out on the slope near the library and celebrates for most of the day. It’s called “Slope Day“. Even those (like myself) who do not frequent the party scene usually go to at least check out the craziness.
More >