Chad's Blog

Moooooooovies

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:07:00 GMT

We watch a lot of movies as a family, it's just one of our things and I've blogged about it before. Say what you want, but with a 17yr old and a very active 10yr old, both boys, getting everyone to sit in a room together to do anything as a family, is a rare treat.

So, I've seen a lot of movies, I've seen a lot of movie trailers. Mostly, you can recognize the tricks and know if the best parts of the movie make up the trailer and that's it. Some trailers grab your attention, but mostly - you just watch them and forget them and end up renting the movie later because you seem to recall the name of it. This trailer is different - this one caught my attention in a big way, so I had to Google it and find it so I could share. I plan to see this movie - probably in the theater, which doesn't happen often because of the ridiculous price...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYC1ulLHD6Y&NR=1

I've heard the book is fantastic too. Let me know if you've read it.

So, what's up with the title of this post? Why so many oooo's in the word Movie? Because I'm trying to be cute and combine two topics - movies, and cows. Specifically dairy. I won't go into a whole lot of detail (because fankly, some of it is pretty personal and a touch gross) but I've developed quite a severe intolerance to lactose (i.e. dairy products). It's been going on for a while I think, and I've been tapering off dairy products for a while - but it's gotten really severe now. Even small small doses cause a pretty good reaction. I've never read so many labels or spent so much time in the "natural" section of the grocery store. Soy milk, soy cheese (I think I even bought something called "Tofutti"!), non-dairy butter (sorry, "whipped buttery spread"), non dairy chocolate chips (more on that in a minute), the list goes on and on.

Basically, I've had to learn a whole new way to eat. It's not easy, and can be somewhat depressing. You have to watch everything you eat. Ordering in restaurants is a whole new experience too.

In an effort to find non-dairy recipes, we stumbled on this, The Kind Diet. It's technically vegan - which in the truest sense means no animal products at all. I'm good with that, as long as I can eat meat. ha! Someone called me a Beefatarian, but I prefer the word I coined: Carniveganite.

In all seriousness - there are some good recipes in there.....hence the non-dairy chocolate chips. There are some amazing non-dairy chocolate peanut butter cups in there that my lovely wife made for me. Un-real how good they are.

Which reminds me - I need to give a shout out to my wife...again. She's been a trooper through this. When I get mad, ticked, depressed, don't feel like eating, she keeps me in line. She watches labels for me. She cooks special for me. She reminds me to "step away from the Cheezit box". She's awesome. It's no wonder I love her.

So the "dairy free" journey begins for a self-proclaimed cheese addict. This should be interesting...stay tuned.

Car Fifty FOOOOOOUR - WHERE ARRRRRRE YOOOOUUUU??

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:17:00 GMT

Holy Smokes! Did you think I'd disappeared??? Sorry about that. I'm here, I'm well, I'm busy. I used to work with a lady that called that a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious). Obviously I've been busy, which is why I haven't been posting.

I have to tell you, and I've talked about this on this blog before - I'm very careful to not complain too much about being busy at work. The alternative is certainly not a good spot to be in!

So much has happened and is going on, no way can I put it all in one blog post, so I hope to get back on track and bring you back up to speed gradually.

Let's start off with something fun...movie reviews:

Land of the Lost - maybe I'm just burned out on Will Ferrell, especially after I saw Talledega Nights a few weeks ago, but I'm just not impressed with this movie. C-

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - very predictable, but a fun movie anyway. And it's never that bad to watch Jennifer Garner for 2 hrs. Ladies - you get to watch Matthew McConaughey. B

Duplicity - talk about twists/turns and really needing to pay attention - wow. I liked this, but my wife and son weren't as thrilled. At one point my son said "I'm just watching this because it's on, I have no clue what's going on and I really don't care". HA! B

Ok, that's it for now...hopefully back on a regular posting pattern...as if anyone is reading and even cares....

Know your stuff....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:32:00 GMT

The Five worst food scams...check it out:

http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/Marketing-Scams/index.php?cm_mmc=DoseNL-_-2009_10_05-_-HTML-_-hed#atuid-47c74118aa4954c4

What are you created for?

chadholtz@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:47:00 GMT

A friend of mine e-mails me a "daily devotion" - somedays it really makes me stop and think. Today was one of those days. I'll paste content here and take no credit for it, but since I don't know where it truly originates, I can't give credit either. So, no disrespect to original author, just want to share:

Joy in Serving

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
—Psalm 100:2-3

I want to let you in on a little secret: I think it is fun to serve God. Now, I am not saying that it isn't hard to serve Him. I am not saying that it isn't challenging. I am not saying there aren't times when it is depleting. But I am saying that I derive great joy from it. And by serving God, I don't mean preparing or delivering a message. I mean being used by God in any way that He would see fit to use me. I count it a great privilege to be called by God and to be able to represent Him. And if you have discovered this, then you know what I am talking about. There is a joy in it. And when you serve Him, you sense His blessing on you.

One of my top ten favorite films is the 1981 movie, Chariots of Fire. I loved it. It is the story, among other things, of Eric Liddell, a young runner from Scotland who was a great athlete and competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. Also a committed Christian, Liddell struggled for quite some time with the decision as to whether he should run or whether he should preach. Ultimately, he went to the mission field. But in the film, there is a scene in which his sister was pressing him to abandon his career in running and start his missionary work immediately. Liddell responded in his classic Scottish brogue, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure."

Do you feel God's pleasure in what you are doing? Are you living your life well? If not, then start today by doing what He has called—and created—you to do.

Hey meester, you wanna know what's good?

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:15:00 GMT

My wife is laughing hysterically right now at the title of this post. Only one other person would get it because it's an "HTBT" (Had To Be There) moment. That's ok, I'm not going to tell the story. Sometimes it's ok for a husband and wife to have inside jokes.

Anyway - so, some things that are good that I've come across recently, or have been sent to me.

1) Can you believe this? Love the story line and I'm sure every major network does too, who isn't sucked in by a story like this? I'll be watching and cheering her on tonight: http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Sep08/0,4670,TENUSOpenOudin,00.html

2) Man vs. Food is a rather fun show to watch in our house. We all try to determine if we could do (or would ever even want to attempt) that night's episode. So, this is an interesting article: http://desmoines.metromix.com/restaurants/article/man-v-food-des/1449211/content

3) Here is a good article that Mark sent me....not good because of the content, but good as a reminder and an update to the never ending violence that our friends to the South are still facing. We won't be crossing the border on our next mission trip again, which is disappointing, but it's just not safe: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico

4) And a big shout out! 4million+ meals in 4 days....simply amazing. Great job to everyone and I'm glad I got to help at least for a little while... http://www.mealsfromtheheartland.org/

5) Finally - the Sons of Anarchy season 2 premiere was beyond my expectations. Love it. And in 60 short minutes they easily set up a whole season worth of shows. Nice. Can't wait.

Blinding flash of the obvious....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:56:00 GMT

Cops: Wisconsin Man Linked by DNA to 9 Murdered Women Had Anger Problems

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

A new word, a new adventure....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:40:00 GMT

I learned a new word today: Herpetologist - so, any time I feel the urge to complain about my job, I'll just thank the good Lord that I'm not a Herpetologist. In case you are wondering, if I understand correctly, it's a specialty within zoology that deals with snakes and reptiles and other various creepy crawlies......ahhhhh....my skin crawls just thinking about it!!! I might be the worlds biggest Anti-Herpetologist. Ok, you animal lovers - I know all about the supposed benefits of snakes, but if I never see one ever again, I'll be just fine. However, the more adventurous my mission trips get, the more likely I am to run into them....ugh.

Big news! My family (me, wifey, 2 kids) have signed up for a new adventure! Oldest is a senior in high school and just got his acceptance letter to ISU (yeah!). So, I want to do some new adventure as a family before he leaves for college. I was talking to them about a mission trip to New Mexico in June right after graduation. Even offering to extend the trip and do the Grand Canyon, etc, etc. Wasn't feeling the excitement. Now, I have the privilege of being on the Mission Board at our Church, so I'm pretty familiar with all the missions coming up. On Sunday, a family that has decided to pack it all up and change their life forever by becoming the directors of a special needs orphanage in the mountains of Jamaica was introduced to the congregation. Now, I'd met them a few times through the mission board but didn't think too much of it. As I heard the pastor talking about the special needs of the kids in this orphanage, my brain started working (usually a scary moment for my wife).

Random thoughts in my head - my wife works with special needs kids at the school every day. She even had a special needs child in our home when she ran a daycare. Hmmm...check that off - good fit. Oldest is going to ISU for Physical Therapy, Sports Medicine, etc - just so happens that is what Joel did for a living before accepting this call. Hmmm...check that off - good fit. Youngest is very used to playing with special needs kids and could keep them entertained and laughing for hours. Hmmmm....check that off - good fit. Me - I'm nothing special at all, but we found out they have a carpetball table in need of repair and may like a second one built - which I've done before - and many many special projects, repairs, etc around the orphanage, which I've been getting better at with all my mission trips and Habitat for Humanity work. Hmmmmm.....good fit. Everyone in the family has some value to add. Coincidence? Are you kidding me - no way.

So, we signed up. We'll spend a week living onsite at the orphanage and helping in any way we can. Anyone that knows her want to make any bets on how hard it will be to get my wife to leave when it's time to come home??

What an adventure. I'm so excited to do another mission trip - but this time with our kids too. Wow. Humbling. Can't wait.

You can find more info at these two sites: http://www.robinsnestchildrenshome.org/ http://www.jamaicanadifference.blogspot.com/

Those in glass houses....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:59:00 GMT

I've debated linking to this on my Facebook page, because it makes me laugh out loud. Problem is, I'm sure it will irritate some people (maybe a little TOO true), and of course, I run the risk of pointing out the splinter in my neighbors eye without seeing the plank in my own....

But, I'll fall back on......it's really funny:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/20/annoying.facebook.updaters/index.html?iref=newssearch

Ooops.

chadholtz@gmail.com — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:44:00 GMT

Man, I've been bad about updating this blog. Sorry about that, to the 2 people that read this (thanks Wifey and Mom!)

I've had some recent travel for work that I wasn't counting on and work itself has been a little insane, so in free time I do have, I forget to update this. I'll try to be better.

So, to get back in the groove - some random thoughts:

1) Is it really our top priority to worry about Michelle Obama wearing shorts? It's August, they were on vacation at the Grand Canyon. How many of YOU wouldn't be wearing shorts? The recession, health care reform, etc etc, might be just a little more important, you think?

2) Urbandale makes the Little League World Series - nice job! Way to represent Iowa - good luck! And, will be shown on ESPN.

3) Parkersburg home opener for football also to be shown on ESPN next week. That's cool too. Talk about a town full of resiliency.

4) Just how many people are going to claim they MIGHT be the father of Michael Jackson's kids? Sickening.

5) School starts. In our house, that means wife back to work, oldest is a senior, youngest is a 4th Grader. Our house dynamics change a LOT when school is back in session. I think even the dogs are wondering where the heck everyone is!

6) How much do you tolerate from a cleaning service before you fire them? Understanding their price is way better than others in town - how much influence should that have?

7) I love "Police Women of Broward County" - is that odd?

8) Can't wait for Season 2 of "Sons of Anarchy" and the new season of "Ultimate Fighter - Heavyweights"

9) Just finished a great book this week on the plane. It's called "Unleashing the Warrior Within". Everyone should read it. I'm going to buy it for my mgmt team.

10) Are you ready for some football? Friday Night Lights and College Football Saturdays. Can't wait!

11) I don't care what anyone says, I love the cool weather we've had this summer. Works fine for me. I don't need 100+ heat indexes. Plus - it signals the nearing of my favorite season - autumn.

12) We got a pool table, and the family is having a blast. It's really fun for all of us to hang around the pool table and just enjoy being a family.

13) Is it really almost Labor Day? Yikes.

SWEEEEEET!

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:41:00 GMT

Don't run over me as I wander around aimlessly outside in the middle of the night with my head turned skyward:

http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-air-guard-training-081209,0,2317982.story

The pot calling the kettle black....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:13:00 GMT

Aren't these the same people that want to monitor/reduce/regulate "Wall Street" spending and pay???

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/09/opposition-emerges-multimillion-dollar-plan-buy-planes-government-officials/?test=latestnews

Eat for health...

chadholtz@gmail.com — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:02:00 GMT

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/zmod_categoryDetail.php?Best-Worst-The-Best-Food-Cures-72&cm_mmc=DailyDoseNL-_-2009_08_10-_-MainBlk-_-5

I owe Mark royalties...

chadholtz@gmail.com — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:44:00 GMT

Yep, I'm going to do it again. Mark is doing such a great job recounting the South Africa stories that I'm not going to try to top it and refer you to his blog....again....I think I owe him some royalty checks (vision of Jerry Seinfeld signing hundreds of checks for 80cents each from Japanese royalties - ha!)

Here's the latest - more of some of the "fun" stories and non-"work" side of the trip, but still an important part. http://lostiniowa-markymark.blogspot.com/2009/07/misc-africa.html

Point of order, however, I would like to correct a severe mis-statement in Mark's latest recap - it is not true whatsoever that "it happened a lot" that I wasn't looking at the road, therefore causing us to bottom out frequently!! Although I don't dispute the bottoming out part - we were in and old van (called the "Kombi") that had about 6 inches (maybe) of clearance, driving on a mountain "road" with 8 inch boulders everyone and a center crown in the road that was about 10 inches higher than the tire grooves. And, oh yeah, just for fun - we had anywhere from 8-11 people in said Kombi.

A little background - the first time we ever made the trek up the mountain, I think it was about midnight local time, after flying 20+ hrs and driving another 4 to get there. The next morning Brad (our Missions director) says "You think you can drive that Kombi?" Keep in mind, this is South Africa - the steering wheel is on the right hand side of the car and you have to shift (all manual transmissions) with your left hand and the Kombi had a questionable clutch. So, I said, "SURE!" Dr. Blessman than says "You think you can find your way back up the mountain to camp?" Keep in mind, we had made the drive exactly 1 time, in the middle of the night, in a severely jet-lagged state of mind. So, I said, "SURE!" (hey, I'm always up for a little adventure). They then proceed to hand me the keys and say "Congratulations, you're the Kombi driver for the week"....ha! But it was a heckuva lot of fun, I have to admit. Mark's right, some of the best laughter of the whole trip happened on those Kombi rides up/down the mountain to "Amani Camp".

But....where are all the jokey-jokemakers when this happened????

That's right - that's me and Brad changing a flat tire on the Kombi, late at night, while everyone else waited inside.

And not only was I the Kombi driver, pit crew/tire changer, I was so much more, even cooking up some eggs for everyone for breakfast:

So, there you go - Mark's recount is awesome, and hilarious, with just a few additions and clarifications by me. But I must say, Mark was a good window wiper and rightfully earned his title of "Johnny Goggles" for game spotting.

Interesting tidbits...

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:21:00 GMT

Often we hear stories of animals in captivity that people ignorantly forget are truly "wild animals" by nature and they end up getting hurt. Well, here's a little different twist on that story:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2560871/Beluga-whale-saves-drowning-divers-life.html

Uhm....how bad do you want/need that tan?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535220,00.html?test=latestnews

Ok, just how many terrorists HAVE you met?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32200951/ns/us_news-security/

And finally, I won't even get into how things are so wrong with this whole situation, start to finish, over the last week or whatever it's been....I can only imagine how "stupidly" we must look to the rest of the world.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2009/07/28/williams-gets-cute-over-beer-summit-white-house

This, that and a few things in between....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:27:00 GMT

Dr. Blessman, who heads up Blessman Ministries who we partnered with for our South Africa trip has updated his blog with some good commentary and pictures about our trip/group. Check it out here.

Spent the weekend constructing walls for Habitat for Humanity houses. Our church has a huge summer festival and as part of the festival this year, we partenered with Habitat for Humanity in an effort to construct all the walls for 6 complete houses in 3 days. I'm happy to report that we got about 5 3/4 houses done and really, we could have gotten all 6 done, but the last house had a few issues with the plans and we ran out of materials about 45 mins before our "end time". Nevertheless, everyone is thrilled with the progress and what was accomplished. YEAH!

Have you ever seen Joe Rogan’s blog? I’m not necessarily condoning it, but the kid in me has to admit that he makes me laugh…some of the posts are really bizarre and I skip them, but some make me roll on the floor laughing…He’s got some good UFC 100 stuff on there now and a recap of his deviated septum surgery/post surgery appt that made me laugh out loud.…

Movie reviews from the weekend:

12 Rounds - ok, I know Hollywood has gotten pretty extreme in what is even possible in the realm of real world, physics, and human tolerance, but this is a whole new level of unbelieveable. Now, it's an entertaining movie, but even my 9-yr was saying "Oh yeah, right - like that could ever happen!" Overall, probably a B for action/adventure, but a D for believe-ability (I maybe just made that word up)

Eagle Eye - some parts just as un-believeable as 12 Rounds, but more entertaining in the fact that you didn't know what was coming next (not predictable) and a lot of the stuff could possibly happen, so it makes you stop and think a little bit. B.

We have an appointment for Senior Pictures for our oldest tomorrow and a college visit set up for August...are you kidding me?!?!? Talk about feeling old!