if you can read this, you're literate

i've decided to end ths the way it started.

about my dog.

she's still around. still crazy. but every bit as loving.

plus, she's responsible for sarah even talking to me after the first time we met. so i owe her big time.

and now, we're adding to the chapman hounds. thursday, sarah and i bought this little guy.





he's a siberian husky.

i grew up with an alaskan malamute as one of my best friends. that dog could out drink anyone in a soda drinking contest and had the best dog burps of any canine i've encountered yet.

so it'll feel like home with a husky around.

tonight we bought his food dish and a dog whistle. by the way, don't ever waste your money on a dog whistle. you can still hear it. it's not inaudible like in the movies.

it is very audible and very annoying.

i could post some cheesy blog about being loyal like a dog. or make jokes about fleas. or make a list of the reasons that dogs have it so good.

but i won't.

i just wanted to end this on the same note i started off with. (did you notice i still used capital letters in my first post? weird.)

i still want to be like millie. i think anger is one of the emotions i understand the least. i don't know why we would be given anger. it hardly feels like anything positive. it causes mental and physical anguish. been to blame for starting wars and riots. it's such a problem that sometimes people have to take classes to understand how to control it.

definitely my least favorite emotions. (or HEmotions if you're t.d. jakes)

when my blogging days are revived, i hope to be less angry and more focused. focused on what, i haven't quite decided. maybe i should focus on decision-making...

and just to justify that i'm not crazy for wanting to be more like my dog, i leave you with this quote.

"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." - Edward Hoagland

Posted by erichapman at 1:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

i've been thinking about this for a while now...

i think i have one post in me after this.

in fact, that's what i've decided.

there was one point where i thought i was just going to start a new blog in a new format and start all over from scratch. there's a lot behind the scenes here that i don't feel like blogging. and that's kind of when i decided that it wasn't worth having a blog if i don't feel like blogging something important in my life.

that combined with the fact that i've got this list on my plate right now...

1. getting married in 7 months
2. a 500 person guest list
3. full-time school
4. full-time job
5. getting in shape to soak up austrailian rays
6. moving to peoria at the end of march
7. still having time to do the stuff i need to do

that almost sounded like one of those "priceless" credit card commercials at the end... sorry!

with all this going on, i just don't have time to post. i figured, better to not post at all than have weak posts. there's an analogy here about a fence that i can't come up with right now...

"strong fences have strong posts, but weak posts make for strange dogs pooping in your yard."

or something.

basically, i just haven't had time for blogging, so i'm done.

but when i come back (oh yeah, blogging is here to stay. just b/c i'm done for now doesn't mean i'm done forever), it probably won't be on blogger. i wary of getting on wordpress jsut b/c that seems to be the fad right now. but it does have some very nifty features.

and thanks to a suggestion from megan, the new blog (whenever i decide i've got something worth listening to) will be focused. it will have a definite theme. if i'm going to be critical about leadership, it will be professional and clearly stated. if i'm going to journal married life, it will be candid. if i'm going to record the jeep project, it will have lots of pictures.

so, i'm off to write my last post on blogger. thanks for all the comments, opinions, and your sides of the stories. i appreciate all of them, positive or negative. i've never deleted a comment. to me, it just goes against all that blogging is here for.

we are the new free press. we all have an opinion on something. we have our passions.

and our generation blogs them.

thanks again, readers. see you in another rss feed.

Posted by erichapman at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

why is it called the "u.s. fish and wildlife society?"

aren't fish considered wildlife?

Posted by erichapman at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

i don't think i ever blogged about the ted haggard thing. probably b/c it's the news and i just don't pay much attention and there are enough people with an opinion on it out there that i don't think my opinions are strong enough to even communicate.

but this is where i do have a strong opinion. the one who outed ted haggard visited pastor haggard's old church from where he was fired. the one who outed him also admitted to being a male prostitute.

and he got a warm welcome when he came to new life church.

i'm really glad that with all the bad press surrounding this debacle that there can be some positive attention put back on the church.

some people might not see this as positive, but if you consider yourself a Christ follower, i think the warm welcome approach is the way to go.

the bottom line: God used this situation to get one more person in the church.


i don't know what the future holds for mike jones, but i would like to see more follow-ups like this.

Posted by erichapman at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

thank you to anyone and everyone who has prayed for us and supported us and even gone along with us to see this house.

we got notice this afternoon that our offer was accepted. we close on march 30th.

i can't say thank you enough. this was one of the most stressful things to do that i have ever taken on. i'm actually looking forward to moving in this spring. it will probably be the least stressful aspect of buying a house. and i know we had a ton of prayer.

so from the bottom of our heart, thank you.

now come over for some s'mores on either of the two fireplaces or on our handy goodwill special purchase, the " electric s'mores maker!!!"

see ya at 230 w. hanssler place
peoria, il i don't know my own zip code now

oh well, at least it takes me far away from the poo smell of the south end of pekin.

Posted by erichapman at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

don't cut out early...

you might miss out on the surprise ending!

Posted by erichapman at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

i have to give it to granger's executive pastor, tim stevens.

here is a perfectly good example of someone recreating a popular sermon (almost down to the same imagery), yet mr. stevens gives them credit!

now, the creative team might feel differently. think if you created an awesome advertising campaign on a taboo topic (the shock value is already there, and advertisers are already programmed to look for the 'different' and 'illicit'), and then someone a few hundred miles away does almost the exact same thing about a year later.

i imagine that i wouldn't take that news too well.

...unless i had a leader like this that reminds me that we're all on the same team. they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

whatever.

i don't like having my ideas ripped off.

think about this... if you invented roller blades, and then a month later you see kids riding around on roller blades of someone else's design.

that's disappointing.

but tim stevens didn't use that old cliche' yet he was still very nurturing.

his attitude wasn't one of selfish jealousy to be the first kid on the block with a sex billboard. and i think i could follow suit with that.

the way he approaches this brings up something in my mind that i know, but i easily forget.

we are on the same team. so why waste time bickering when there are lost to be found?

Posted by erichapman at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments