Friday (near perfect)

Today was great; near perfect. I slept in, went surfing (good waves), had lunch with Stephanie, laid around the house, and then had an amazing evening with friends. I will skip immediately to my favorite part of the day; dinner with friends. Jeff and Julie had us over tonight for dinner and Wii (I guess this is a new trend?). It was fantastic, the food was good and the cookies were the best. More importantly Jeff and Julie are both very good at Wii tennis. During all of the hype there was still plenty of time for legit conversation. Thanks Jeff and Julie for a great night. What a day.

Accept,
John Denton

Youth: New Year's Eve Party!

I hope that you are planning on joining us for an insane night of fun. If you like food, movies, video games, jumpers, karaoke, friends, and memorable events, then you will not want to miss our New Year’s Eve Party. Bring as many friends as possible to the New Year’s Eve Party, if you bring three friends you get in free! Here are the details:

New Year’s Eve Party : 8:30pm – 12:15am
Cost:$10 bring three friends you get in free!)
Inform: Jumpers, Games, Karaoke, Video Game Tournament, Food, Drinks, Snacks, and more. This is a great night to eat a lot of food and get a stomachache. We always try to hold nothing back for New Years, so start the year off right, celebrate with your friends at Accept. For more information call John at 951-689-5806.

All youth in attendance will need a medical consent form (download now)

Accept,
John Denton

A day with Stephanie

My girlfriend Stephanie and I normally spend our days in our offices and our nights renting movies at blockbuster. Yesterday we both had the day off and a few Christmas gifts to exchange so we headed down to Laguna Beach. We went and looked at a few surfboards then took a stroll down to Thalia street. I surfed and Steph slept on the beach. It was a beautiful winter day.

Christmas Eve

Stephanie made me this awesome ornament out of a piece of trash provided by my cousin Phil.

Our beautiful Christmas tree (thanks Joe)

Tonight I went to my aunts house for our family Christmas party. Right now I am about to enter church for our first of three Christmas Eve services. I hope your night is going as good as mine.

Accept,
John Denton

Surfing my day off away...

It was time for Phil and I to get a few waves. We were well past due for fun surf and this morning our number was called. I was super stoked on the session as you can see in this picture, I was all smiles for the entire morning. The best part was I had the chance to sit back and watch Phil get a few really good waves, and on one wave I was perfectly located behind him on the wave to see him almost get a really nice little barrel. It is a blessing to have a friend (slash cousin) like Phil who I know will always let me not only share waves but life's every moment. Once again thanks for sharing Phil. Embrace you friends, family, significant other and tell them how thankful you are for them this Christmas.

Accept,
John

Christmas Shopping

If you haven't started shopping yet you might want too. Christmas is less than a week away. I personally am just wrapping up all of my shopping but my UPS delivery guy claims to have been done sense November.

Pictures for today (my birthday tribute to myself).

I didn't need to hear that...

Have you ever heard something or seen something you didn't need to? The Mitchell Report released today was one thing that I think most baseball fan's did not want to read. This is what avid baseball fan Pat Hamer had to say when asked about the Mitchell Report, "now they need to do everything they can to stop it (the steroid problem)."

Hero of Guitar Hero?

This guy is insane. I am not a fan of the game but this video was insane. Maybe this kid should be studying for finals and not playing guitar hero. Check it out.

I must admit

Over the last few weeks I have been so consumed. There has been so much on my mind and not enough time to get it off my mind, I haven’t ridden my bike in a few weeks, I haven’t surfed, and I haven’t gone for a run. All things I love to do, they are also things that help me manage my life and slow things down. I have been teaching on preparing our hearts for Christmas, but this year I feel unusually unprepared and vulnerable. Yesterday I sat down to make a video blog and after posting it to the internet I realized I looked super stressed and decided not to post it. I didn’t want the world to see me looking like that. Today I realized its ok to be me, and I decided to post the blog anyways. So here is a brief look at my life on an 'off day' sitting around my house (I guess you could say I was having a case of the Mondays?).

What a waste...

Check out my waste report card. After sitting in a crowded Starbucks drive through for a few minutes I began to realize that every car in the drive through only had one person in it. My 88' civic hatchback was the smallest car, most of them being suv's that sit up to eight people. I thought what a wasteful world we live in, individuals own and use these massive waste producing machines to drive around and get coffee in. You could walk, run, ride your bike, and at least car pool, but that would be an inconvenience; we each need our own car. I have heard individual waste stats before, but I had never thought about my total foot print I leave on the planet, from the things I eat, to the miles I drive, and even the times during the year I travel by air. I found this interesting waste calculator and plugged in my data, in the end I failed, calculate your waste now at www.greenprogress.com/carbon_footprint

Surf?

Wednesday 12/5/07 @ Beacons in San Diego, California

Driving Home

This is my second time in a week I have driven home from surfing with a frown on my face (view photo). Last night I rushed down to Leucadia in hopes of scoring the most recent swell. This morning there were large waves but it was not exactly perfect. Swami's looked fun but there were 75 other guys who thought the same thing, so for my second time in a week a did not get in the water. I took a few photos of guys "wiping out" and called it a morning. Check back later for surf photos.

Mae and more

Stephanie and I went to Disneyland yesterday, then we ventured over to the House of Blues in Anaheim to see Mae in concert.
The concert was awesome. Mae played a great set and we loved the concert. The House of Blues Anaheim is an amazing venue.

Here is a quick cell phone clip of me at the concert.

Top 5 things on my mind?

1. USC v. UCLA -> I am not a huge football fan but what can I say, I love what this game represents.

2. The Rain -> Yesterday I was down on the coast and it rained all day. I figure it didn't rain as much as it did yesterday all last year.

3. Youth Tomorrow -> I love Sundays, getting to hang out and share with the all of the students at Church is awesome.

4. That's so Raven -> The worst TV show ever. I watched a little this morning and it was pretty bad.

5. A busy month -> This month I graduate from California Baptist University, turn 24, celebrate Christmas, and have Jury Duty.

Youth Email

Youth:

I hope you had a great thanksgiving. I am thankful for my opportunity to know you. Thank you for all of your help making thanksgiving at Central Community a success. Without all of our youth volunteers 1500 meals could have never been delivered throughout Riverside. This week our main focus is on our new and improved Thursday night youth gathering. Thursday is now the start of the weekend at Accept so come out and take part. Starting at 7pm we will hang out, talk about topics in your life, play games, and listen to music. It is one awesome night. Once again it is Thursday night 7pm – 8pm. This Sunday you will be given the opportunity to take home a backpack and fill it up with all kinds of good things to be given out to homeless on the streets of Los Angeles, talk to your parents and see if they are interested in taking part! Continue to have a great week and I will see you Thursday!

Accept,
John Denton

David going crazy.

David works with the the youth group every week, whether he is leading worship with Caleb or making kids laugh, he has a huge impact on our youth ministry and it is great to have dedicated leaders who know how to have fun. Thanks David.

Monday.

Mondays are pretty amazing. After busy weekends I love having a little time to do nothing. Normally on Mondays I surf the internet for a few hours; google my name, look at surfboards, sailboats, and westfalias on Craig's list. After that I go to costco for no reason and at some point during my day try to get in some exercise. I would like to do more with my day off but at the same time I like my day of randomness. This week take a few minutes and give your mind a rest (spending a crazy amount of time on Craig's list is a good start).

People I spent Thanksgiving with.

My uncle Dan is really fun. This picture tells it all. It was so awesome to spend thanksgiving with my family and a few friends. I think my aunt and uncle hosted around 30 people for dinner so this picture screams, "I am ready to go to bed."
Philip will hate me for life because I posted this picture but I always seem to have rather strange pictures of Phil so here is one more. It's nice to have a cousin who is also your good friend because Phil and I always seem to get to hang out whether it be thanksgiving, independence day, or just any given day.
Stephanie is photogenic so every picture of her comes out beautiful. We spent our entire thanksgiving together, from playing an early round of golf with her family, to volunteering at the church for a few hours, then to Mission Viejo to be with my family. Thursday was great. I am Thankful for all of my family and friends.

Wow

Thanksgiving Preparation

For the last 20 years Central Community has been delivering thousands of meals throughout riverside county for our free Thanksgiving dinner. People have been cooking turkey for two days now, and tonight the rest of the meal will be prepared in order to get all of the meals out in our two hour window tomorrow. Normally the people who prepare food and deliver meals get high fives. This year I want to give my friend Bill ten up high. Each year he goes through and does the routing so these meals can successfully be delivered. He spends hours making sure the maps are in realistic groups so our volunteers will be able to make swift deliveries and return back to the church to take a few more. Thanks to everyone who makes the free Thanksgiving dinner possible.

Candy!

Most people who spend any amount of time with me know that I like candy. There are a few kinds of candy I really enjoy, but trolli brand peach rings and sour octopus are my favorite. Trolli candy is sometimes hard to find but after a recent trip to Win Co (a really cool employee owned grocery store...well about as cool as a grocery store can get) I discovered they have types of Trolli candy that I did not even know existed. Why do I eat so much candy? Why Trolli candy? I am not sure. I just love the way it taste.

Video Blog: My Week and More

Video Blog for you. Click to play!

Phil having fun.

When Philip is not directing award winning films he spends his time in the water. I hope you enjoy todays picture of my friend Phil doing his thing at beacons. Do something fun and exciting today!

Artivist Awards

We all walked down the green carpet together.

The Crew (left to right): Cameron Bird, Zac Baney, Philip Hamer, and Myself

The award: Best Feature Film - Children's Advocacy

Sunday night was awesome. Here is a look at our night through cell phone photos. Driving back and forth to the Egyptian theater in Hollywood was crazy but no complaints. It was fun getting to take part in the Artivist film festival and seeing my good friend and cousin Phil win an award for all of his hard work on the film Glue Boys. I have a new found respect for movie stars who walk down the red carpet at awards shows and can hold a smile the entire time. After standing with the rest of the film crew for five minutes of pictures I was exhausted. Thanks Phil for letting me share in your big night.

Sewing

I have taken up interest lately in sewing. My first project was this iPod case I made last night, I am proud of it. My next project is going to be a pair of surf trunks. We will see what happens with that.

Artivist Film Festival: Glue Boys

The Artivist Film Festival was awesome. My cousins Philip Hamer directed the award winning film Glue Boys. Stephanie and I jumped at our chance Saturday night to sneak on to the red carpet (it was actually green carpet) and take this picture.

Pictures

Check out pictures from all of our youth gatherings and events at acceptym.shutterfly.com

Another Monday. Another Mountain Bike Ride.

Mountain biking is a great way to get in an hour of exercise and to have a ton of fun (check the picture of me having fun). Last month I managed to talk my dad into buying a mountain bike. I have been riding for about a year and have enjoyed every minute I have spent out on the trails, and figured my dad would enjoy it too. He loves it, now he is trying to convince his friends to get into mountain biking as well. You don't have to go out and buy a mountain bike to find new ways to exercise, you might enjoy a walk in the evening, going to the gym, or even giving yoga a try. Turn off the tv and get outside.

Accept,
John Denton

Saturday Morning

Stephanie and I ventured around Laguna this morning. We had breakfast at the Cottage and then walked down to Thalia Street and sat around on the beach (thats a really long walk). On the way back we grabbed starbucks, and then sat around and talked some more. We had a great time and enjoyed our morning together.

Halloween

Halloween night is always interesting, I sat around and ate lots of candy and had a few spooky cookies. Stephanie handed out candy to little kids as they walked down the street and I smiled. I figured most of you would get a good laugh at these spiderman pictures.

Last Night

You will not want to miss tomorrows blog either. I will post more interesting pictures of Stephanie and I having fun (and yes those are hand carved pumpkins Steph and I made last night).

Mountain Biking

What a fun morning. My dad and I enjoyed a morning of mountain biking in sycamore canyon. Check out this picture of my dad, we had just climbed a rather large hill.

Tech Support

It never fails. Something has gone completely wrong with your computer, ipod, network, or whatever else seems to consistently break. You spend hours trying to fix it; you go through the standard trouble shooting routine, make sure it’s plugged in, check battery life, etc. Finally you humble yourself to call tech support; a mixture of frustration, irritation, and the hope that you might just stump the tech support person, lead you to make the call. After waiting for an hour on hold you finally are connected to a person, two minutes into the call, after going through the exact trouble shooting methods you have already attempted, your problem is fixed, one more easy solution to your massive problem. You thought for sure you tried that same method earlier, but somehow tech support fixed it.

Accept,
John Denton

My Desk

Well. Like most people I too have random things on my desk at work. What kind of random stuff do you have on your desk? Stephanie made me this change collector; for all of my spare change.