Jeff Pre-carnate...?

A Frightening resemblance.

practice blues

Here's a blues that you can practice with. Get serious, or your blues will be lacking.

Christmas blues.

Here's an idea I had for when we get together. Let's all do some blues. Everyone can sing and play, so there should be no getting out of this. You can bring instruments, prepare some verses, scat, or just let it go on the fly (probably the best plan. I rounded up a video of Fats McPhereson and Joe Wallace demonstrating some F blues.

oh the memories...

Here's looking forward to Christmas in Jamestown:

Also featuring Joel HMS (how's my shovel) Land:

Snow day in Denver

good morning. Our church service has been cancelled. We only have 2-4 inches of snow, but its really cold......thought you northerners would get a kick out of that.

And while we're at it...

The other day I was browsing the internet and came across this studly figure. and then, as I stared I realized that I was looking at myself 20 years later. Notice the similar facial features, and it looks like I never decided to remove the mole on the left side of my face. click for bigger image.

brothers?

Wow you look sharp! Does anyone else see the resemblence between these two?

Or is it just me...

Have a safe trip home you guys and we'll see you up there in a few.

Finished

I turned in my final paper today at 6pm, and I am now finished! I don't know what to do with myself. Maybe catching up on sleep would be a good step. Joel and I are flying home Friday morning. I can't wait.

I feel this classy right now:

Nov. Band trip, finals, and such

Hey gang,
I know I promised you all some pics of the band tour but I didn't take many and several are on my phone and I can't figure out how to put them on here yet. If I do, I will. Anyway, if I could sum up the band trip in one word, it would be probably be: Interesting. From the crappy hotel (which included switching rooms three times before we got a good one, haha), to the driver (who had to make a u-turn into the right lane coming back across the border), to the performances (which went well!), and to the amazing Winnipeg Symphony. It was fun and worth the troubles and definitely memorable. I can go into details about the trip for those of you who want to know more, when we meet at Christmas time.
I have one final this coming week, then the other 5 finals are during finals week (15th-18th). So I should be pretty busy till Christmas break. I can't wait till Christmas rolls around, it shall be glorious!

AKLand

Greetings from finals week!

one week left of classes before winter break starts! i am writing from a computer lab where i am working on a video project. or sitting here for a million hours waiting for my video to save. it's been "fun" and "wonderful", actually it has been a royal disaster. let's just say that i have dropped my video art class for next semester. on a brighter note i have 25 pages of papers to write and a giant critique of all of my work with the entire faculty next week. then it will be christmas!

2009 Calendar

This is the time of year I usually start working on the family calendar. I decided this year I'm going to place orders and (sigh) ask for reimbursement. They run $20 each -Correction, I found a deal for $10 + tax! If anyone's still interested, I'll get going!

Keegan has BIG news...

Our bean is due July 15th 2009. We are all so excited for Keegan to be a big brother.

JHS Choir

Think back about 30+ years when the Prentice three were singing in the JHS Choir. I went to their Christmas concert tonight and it surely brought back memories. Then the JC Choir joined in for a number (I guess the first time ever). More memories. I'm surely grateful that everyone in the family likes to sing. No more backing out, Julie. The proof is right there on the Blog and Keegan has a good start. Would you care to try again for a church number on Dec. 28th?

Cozy

I know that having a fireplace is nothing new for the Prentice/Land family, but it is for me. Since I was young I have dreamed of having a cozy fireplace. We have been in our house for a few years but this is the first winter we are actually using the fireplace and its beautiful! I bought the screen off of craigslist, we are going to paint it brown to match the woodwork. Come to Denver and sit in front of the fire with me.

Gonna jump up and down

We've been practicing this one!

I'M GONNA JUMP UP AND DOWN, Gonna spin right around, Gonna praise Your Name forever. Gonna shout out loud, Gonna deafen the crowd, Gonna send my praise to heaven.
I will run this race and I will never stop. I'll follow Jesus till the day I drop. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When you've got such a lot, When you've got not a lot, What? Be happy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Da man on campus

Surprise B-Day Fun

My boyfriend's 30th birthday was last Sunday, so his sister and I got together and planned a surprise party for him. He was surprised, and it was a super fun party. We had about 15 people attend and some wonderful food.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I couldn't wait until Friday!
I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving.

Tour De Colleges

We've traversed the upper Midwest from the bluffs of the mighty James River to the shores of Lake Michigan reviewing institutions of higher learning. It was educational in itself and a good excuse for some family road tripping.

Thanksgiving party

I went to a thanksgiving party last weekend where we all dressed up as pilgrims and indians. There was a bountiful spread, and a good time was had by all. My costume was a piece of fabric with a hole in the middle of it for my head.

TN exercise

This is Joel, Rocco, and I getting it done.

SuccesS

Here is the answer to Michael's wish.

ps. I love this picture. the framing is brilliant.

Vote for a hero

A young woman from Bismarck, Anne Mahlum, is in the running to be CNN's Top Hero. She is a runner, and has started a program for homeless people to run with her - to get motivated, to find support and encouragement, as well as get in shape. It's called "Back On Your Feet". As one of the top ten finalists, she has already received $10,000. Her program is growing and expanding, working with job training programs, and now she's in the running for Top Hero and $100,000. Her dad, who is on Tom's basketball team, said that anyone can go to www.cnn.com/heroes and vote for her. There is a story about her at that site, as well as some short videos. A very inspiring story and a worthy young woman.

Keegan at the Zoo

Ben took Keegan to the zoo recently. He was more interested in climbing on the benches than he was with the animals........he does have good form, as you can see.

THE MARCHING EAGLES

The Kennedy Eagles marching band was back this year after about an 8 yr lapse. New leadership and increased numbers in the band program over the past 3-4 yrs (and a LOT of volunteer help from people like Carolyn) made it possible to do this again. Marching replaced regular class for the combined bands this first quarter. Their Marching Band set included "Kung Fu Fighting" "Play that Funky Music" "Pick Up the Pieces"

A classmate (Ruth) and myself have been working on an outdoor public sculpture on campus as part of the requirement for my spatial arts class. We made this giant piece out of discarded bottles that we collected from around campus. It was amazing how beautiful it was- considering we used trash to make it. I've been really interested in exploring the use of discarded and found objects as opposed to traditional art making supplies. Besides being cost effective, it challenges the notion of what is art and what can be made into art? I really enjoy taking something that is nonfunctional and purposeless and repurposing it to give it purpose.


It was also lovely to have my family up for the weekend :)

News From Chicago

We had a great trip down to the Windy City Thursday through Saturday. I think the falling barometer chased us all the way to WI.

We got to help out with the kids at Bethel's Graffiti Zone on Thursday, went to an art show that Laura organized, Ate out for some tasty Mediterranean and Mexican food. Met most if not all of Laura's housemates, got Jeff an official campus tour, and stopped for brunch with the Wennstroms on the way home Saturday. And yes it feels like November now that we are back home.

Here is a shot of the artist in her studio space.

The whole nation has been hearing about the snow in the Dakotas. All the stereotypes about North Dakota have been reinforced. But it actually was a pretty major storm. We got 9" in Bismarck, and you all know that when wind is involved, that means 2" in some places and four foot drifts in very inconvenient places. Our driveway was mostly clear, but on the front steps and under the deck was a different story. School was called off on Friday, and before 9 a.m. the neighbor kids were ringing the door bell asking if they could sled on our hill.

The weather didn't change our plans much. We stayed home on Saturday and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls in Michael's old room, soon to become Tom's more spacious office. Our streets are still icy, and the snowbanks are probably here to stay unless we get lots of sunshine and warmer temps.

Tom did decide that he should dig the rest of the carrots out of the garden. So after digging through a snowdrift and some mud underneath, he brought in two large bags of crisp, organically homegrown carrots. Wish I could offer you all free samples. The taste always reminds me of Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Ruby's garden.

Belated Halloween

Without further a do, here is the picture of our 80's Aerobics Team "Planet Fitness"


from left to right: Vanessa Hottie Boddie, William Quadtastic Vitaman, Stephen Steelabs Rodriguez, and Damien Firm Buns Salmonslinger.

actually: Hannah (my old roomate's girlfriend,) Luke (my old roomate,) Max, and myself.


to say the least, we attracted quite a crowd and burned thousands of calories.

Consider your Monday officially brightened!

music history and theory

I spent Thursday through Sunday in Nashville for the Society for Music Theory and American Musicological Society joint conference. Basically Geek Central. Almost every person there had a PhD in some kind of music. It was what I imagined a Star Wars conference to be except everyone was talking about diminshed 5ths, extended harmonies, authentic cadences, and chromatic mediants.

Anyway, it was mainly listening to presentations of papers all day. Here are some of the ridiculous presentation titles:

"'I sing, I laud, I pray, I teach': Hymnbook and Catechism in Hamburg, 1558-1598"
"Auditory Stream Segregation and Schubert's Piano Sonata in Bb"
"The Tristan Progession as an Energetic Voice Leading Paradigm"

It was pretty cool to see all of this research and to see what these guys really do, but.....let's just say I was ready to come home when it was over. Is this what I want to do with my life? hmmmm.........

I'm a Free Man!

Well, after a surprising unanimous vote, along with encouragement from my buddies............

Mr. Chin has been freed from Beard prison. For awhile he could see the light and a way out, but he was still stuck behind the bars. Then along came a rebel named Sergent Shaver, who busted through the bars and freed Mr. Chin for good.

The End

In other words, I'm clean-shaven! I felt sad and weird for a second or two while I was in the process of the shave, but it is a nice change. Below is a few pics: Before & After style!

Tomorrow is the last football game of the season for the Jimmies and it looks like it will be played in a little snow, so that should be interesting! Even though pep band was cancelled for the game due to weather, I still plan on going and cheering for the good ol' Jimmie squad! GO JIMMIES!

May the blogs continue to bring joy to our hearts,

Austin

Half Boy Half Tiger!

Hello everyone! I finally figured out how to contribute to this blog instead of just lurking : )

So Keegan is now 21 months old and has a big personality and a mind of his own...which made Halloween a bit more difficult this year than last. We had a tiger costume for him, but since he was not interested at all in the hood portion of the suit, he went as a super scary Half Boy Half Tiger (covered in chocolate).
Then we did attempt to sneak his Tiger hat on... as you can see, he was not at all thrilled and immediately removed it.
All in all it was a very good Halloween.

Election Day

When our friends Dean and Rebecca asked their daughter, Maggie (9) who she wanted to be for Halloween, she said "Sarah Palin". Rebecca's reply was: "well you probably won't get much candy in our neighborhood!" I hardly recognized her in readers, make-up and hair color. Colorado may be a swing state, but we live in a decidedly liberal neighborhood. I hope everyone voted and enjoys watching the coverage.

Halloween

What did everyone do for Halloween? What did you dress up as?

I was a flower garden, I wore a bunch of different floral patterns... everyone said I just looked normal.

and into the fall we go

I'm very pleased to see the participation we've had on the blog so far. I trust you are all enjoying it as much as I am.

It's starting to get much cooler here. This makes the bike rides back and forth to school a little bit nippy. Nothing I can't handle of course, I'm just saying. Anyway, to combat the cold air, I'm posting this picture of warmer memories from the summer. As you may know, we stained the house this summer, and this picture was taken upon completion. A very happy time indeed.


Today's highlight was this: I was in the library, looking for a few sources, when I got a text from my roommate: "Free chili Alumni." This meant there was free food nearby on campus. Turns out there was a chili cook-off/contest. So I tried as many kinds as I could. What a perfect meal for a cool night. Free food usually tastes good no matter what.

Easier to See in the Dark

Ben was able to fix the settings on my night-time pumpkin picture- thought you might like to see this one-

Cheers!

Sigh...another railing

Our church building has numerous stair railings that are potentially unsafe because of the gaps between the bars below the railing. I've been doing some retro work with the welder. This is #3 of 5 stairways needing attn. It's a big project by the time I buy steel (180ft) , cut to size, weld, grind, prime & paint. This was harder because there's nice carpet. Welding and grinding create sparks flying everywhere.

Halloween

We had an awesome time carving pumpkins this weekend, so I thought I'd share some fun pictures! They looked great all lit up, but those pictures didn't turn out too well. These were all hand drawn- no stencils used here! Mine is the Mummy, Ben's is the scary tooth pumpkin, and his sister and brother in-law did the witch and pirate. What fun we had!

Poladroid

Ok, so I should be going to bed about now, but I got distracted by this freeware that turns your digital photos into polaroids. Complete with sound effects. www.poladroid.net

JC and the Man Cave

Well, it has been nice to hear from all the family members, now I guess it's my turn to inform everybody on what is going on at JC and the Man Cave. I'll be going on band tour to Winnipeg, Canada on Nov. 13-15, which is coming up pretty quick, so that should be pretty fun. I will blog about the tour later, and maybe I'll be able to take pictures or get a souvenir or something like that while I'm in Canada! HAIL TO THE LEAF!!

Anyway, since elections are near I thought I would post my own question, so here it is. Now I know all of you have seen my chin beard, and I know you'll probably laugh, but I was wondering if I could get a family vote on whether to leave it on my face or shave it cause I can't decide for myself. If you could post your answer, shave or no shave, that would be great! I just figured it is time for a change, since there is supposedly going to be CHANGE once the next president is ushered in, haha. I got my absentee ballot on Friday and it feels weird to be finally voting. Crazy huh!

Some of you probably want to know the Man Cave is, so here's some pictures of it:

From left to right - Entryway, my roommate Kenny and his cove, my roommate Devin's corner, my part of the cave (bunk shared with Anthony, my other roommate) and desk area (don't worry, my computer isn't gone, i just used it to take the picture, haha), the entertainment center (Devin is pictured at right) and our furniture.

Sorry about the 2 1 2 1 format, it woul've been 3 3, but the blog isn't wide enough to fit it that way. Hope you enjoy them despite the format!

I hope to get better pictures of the room and of my roommates and I in the future, but for now this is all I got. I can't believe October is almost gone, but for every week that passes, I get more excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas break! Hope all is well, from the suburbs to the windy city to the rocky mountains to the plains to the good ol' south!

Nothing but love,

Austin