Packed. Just about ready to bail.

Happy Holiddays

In the Heights

This is the opening sequence to the musical "In the Heights." Audio only.

This show is AWESOME. Everyone NEEDS to go see this! It's groundbreaking!

Fun Times

Megan and I spent the day in NYC last week with a local theater group. Our friend Mike and his family run a youth centered community theater here in Central PA. They are doing on of the only productions in the country of the School Edition of Rent. So Mike decided to take his theater group to NYC and give them a tour of the parts of NYC where Rent was written and inspired from.

We met up with one of Jonathan Larson's nest friend. She gave us a tour. I'll put some notes by the pictures. It was a BLAST.

After the tour we had lunch, and then went uptown and just hung around for a while until it was time to see "In the Heights." This recently won the Tony award for Best Musical. The great thing about it is that it's mostly Hip Hop! So so so so so so so AWESOME!!!!!!! There was such a Latin influence in the music too, so I loved that so much. I highly recommend everyone to go see it!





This is Megan with Marcy Harriell. Marcy plays one of the leads in "In the Heights." Her characters name is Vanessa and she's the love interest of the star. We happened to be walking right by the Stage door when she walked out. People swarmed her for her autograph. When she came to us, I just asked her if she would take a picture with my wife. She was so nice and says yes of course. Mike was standing there and told her he loved her in the show, and that he also saw her when she played Mini in Rent on Broadway. She was thankful, and saw that he was there with a group of kids. She asked him about the group. Mike told her he was putting on a school edition of Rent, and that all of the kids that are on the bus are the cast. She thought that was just the coolest thing and asked if we would let her go on the bus and say hi to the kids and give them some words of inspiration. Are you kidding me?!?!?!

So she walks onto the bus, we get the kids attention. When they look and see who it is, they all lose their minds. It was a great moment. They were all so inspired by her. Great job Marcy!!!


Here's the marquee to the theater



Tough to see in this picture, but there are huge Christmas ornaments in the fountain behind us.



There's Mike counting money at the bar in the Life Cafe.



This is the Rent Wall inside the Life Cafe. Those black books you see are called "Rent Head Register." Fans of the show Rent are often called Rent Heads. So anytime someone would come to eat the life cafe specifically because of the show Rent, they would sign these books. There are THOUSANDS of notes and signature from people all over the world written all throughout the book. I took some time to read and was just in awe at some of the words people wrote. There were people who were thanking Jonathan Larson for saving their life. It was great. We all signed the book. It felt good to be part of something like this.



Funny sign outside the Life Cafe



Outside view of the Life Cafe.



I'm a big fan. All of the kids in the theater group walked right past this. They probably don't even know who Joey Ramone is. Do any of you?!?!?!



Fun art.



This is the woman who was Jonathan Larson's best friend. She's showing us the payphone that was inspiration for the show Rent. People used to call Jonathan on this phone. It was right across the street from his apartment. The buzzer to his apartment didn't work, and cell phones didn't exist. So to let him know that you had arrived at his home, you called him on this payphone and he would throw down the keys. For those of you who are familiar with the show Rent, you will see the correlation.



Jonathan Larson's apartment is the one on the top left, in the grey building. This is the apartment where he wrote Rent.



Nice view near Washington Square.



Washington Square.



Finally Megan and I visit a Dean and Deluca. For those of you that are fans of the show Felicity, you will know the significance.



Yummy yummy

Driving thru Philly

:-)

Chilling while we wait for the doors to open

En route to Starbucks

Time for lunch!!!!

Update

Right now we are being taken on a tour of Jonathan Larsons life. A
woman named Victoria, Jonathan Larsons best friend. We've seen his
apartment where he wrote Rent. As well as a few other places. We've
taken some nice pictures which I will post later.

We are having lunch at the Life Cafe in about 45 minutes. Should be
fun!!!

Where Sally dropped off Harry

Stop #1

NYC tomorrow!

Our friend Mike and his family run a theater here in Harrisburg called the Capitol Performing Arts Center. Check it out HERE.

They are one of the first local community theaters in the country to be putting on the "School Edition" of Rent. Very exciting stuff!

Anyway, they are taking a special trip to NYC tomorrow for the cast. They are going to do some filming of the cast hanging out together in NYC. For those of you that have seen Rent, you may remember that Mark is making a film throughout the show. At the end, he projects it on the wall to show his friends the movie he has finished. Many of the shots are of everyone being with each other in different parts of NYC. Our friend Mike thought it would be fun to film the "School Edition" cast in NYC. So when they put on their performance of Rent, the film they project will be them in NYC!

In addition to the filming, they are doing a "tour" of the places in NYC that Rent was inspired from. They will be spending some time in Alphabet City, and checking out some homeless shelters. Also, a close friend of Jonathan Larsen will be giving them a tour of where Jonathan did his research and wrote Rent. We are all having a late lunch at the Life Cafe.

To top it off, we are ALL going to see the musical "In the Heights." Check out the website HERE. It won the Tony for best musical! It's supposed to be AMAZING. Megan and I are THRILLED to be going to see it.

I will be posting things throughout the day, so stay tuned!!!!

:-)

My wife is cute

Almost done

Extreme Yum

Yum in my tum

New toy

Making breakfast while rocking out to "Roll Over Beethoven"

Hmmm

I guess it snowed.

Cooter

I've seen this maybe 1 million times in my life. A friend of mine, Ethan, and his alter ego Cooter discussing the show.

Whoa

I told myself that I can't condem something I have never seen. So I
decided to suck it up, and see what the fuss is all about.

I'm only 10 minutes into this and it's already disturbing.

Not sure how or why people would think there's truth to this.

I'm curious to see what comes.

A couple leaves have fallen today

My little town

I miss the Pacific Ocean on a daily basis. I absolutely LOVED living on the beach in San Diego. It was amazing to be able to watch the sunset behind the ocean every night.

But I do love my little town. This time of year is especially beautiful. I thought I would share some pictures of my little town, Mechanicsburg, PA.

Only Hope

Great song by Switchfoot.I've always loved this song, especially when performed live with just an acoustic guitar. This is a cool version of the song with acoustic guitar, and a cello. Great sound.

I thought of this song again during all of this political mumbo jumbo. My brother Matt made a good point in his on blog HERE. He said that ultimately the president is not in control, and neither is anyone else in our government. God is the one in control. I think this song paints a great picture of that concept. God is our Only Hope. He's the one and only that guide us on our path.

Check out the video, and you can read the lyrics as you watch.

Enjoy!!




There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write
Over and over again
I'm awake and in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over and
Over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

Sing to me of the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
And laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have
For me over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

I give You my apathy
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

True Class

Ya know, I've been on here talking about my vote for Barack Obama. My belief in his plans, etc etc etc. When I look back on some comments that were made by myself and by my family, I wish it could all have had some more class.

I wanted to share this video with all of you. Not because it's John McCain conceding to Barack Obama. But I think it's important to see the complete class this guy has during this speech. I wish some of the people that attended this speech woudl have had the same class, as I'm sure he does as well.

But boy were his words inspiring. This is a rare moment when we hear someone state his opposition to his rival, but his love for his country and support for the new President. By support I mean dedication to helping, not nessecarily with Obama's opinions.

I can only hope that Barack Obama takes advantage of John McCain and his willingness to assist with the new administration that will be sworn in in January.

It is a huge honor for Barack Obama to have won this election. I'm sure he knows that. But the honor is only magnified by having someone as respectiable as John McCain. I may have my opinions on what John McCain's policies. But I will never try and state he is not a respectable man.

This guy

I hope this guy would be proud of me.

Exciting Treat

I've decided to escape to McDonalds during my break today. I never get
to enjoy their breakfast. Today is the day!!!

Sent using Brian's iPhone

Be happy

I just wanted to put a happy picture here to lighten the mood.

:-)

My wife and I

I was looking through pictures on my iPhone and I came across this
awesome picture. I've always loved this picture, but I especially and
drawn to it after these past couple days.

This picture represents what I think Megan and I should do. Just walk
away. My wife gave me a pep talk, and suggested that I just let
opinions be opinions.

We just need to try and live with the fact that there are people in
this country who truly only think of themselves. They have no interest
in trying to help others get back on their feet.

It's amazing how much I've been thinking about all of this. It all
started when a family member told me that I've condemned God and that
I'm going to Hell. I never realized that being a part of a team that
is focusing on helping people get back on their feet would be my
ticket to Hell.

I'm also stunned at people I'm close with sticking by issues that they
have done ZERO research on.

Ya know, it is possible to live in the greatest country in the world,
and still have MANY things to improve upon. It's also possible to live
in the greatest country in the world, and have plenty learn from other
nations.

I love all of my friends and family. There have been a few moments
over the past few days that have caused me to be pretty embarrassed to
be related to them.

Ok that's it. I will just pray for my family that they do some
research so they can really understand that health care is a SERIOUS
issue, the war is a SERIOUS issue, and this country needs some serious
change. Even John McCains last TV ad talked about how the McCain
administration will bring the change this country needs.

Ok back to work!