Saturday, August 27, 2005

Hay Hay & Contact Info

Sorry for the lack of updates. I will tell the story of my life recently in a later post.

Here is my contact info for those out there for would be to be in said contact ;).

Christopher Alan Bennett
5178 E Little Horse Creek Rd
Lansing, NC 28643

Phone: (336) 384-3090
Cell: (336) 977-1843

Email: ionntag@gmail.com

IM: ionntag


See yas later!

Friday, August 19, 2005

Slow Day

Not much has happened on this fine day of August. I overslept until 11 AM, not bad but I would rather get up earlier. This will be something that I will work on in the future. Went by Isabel's and had the meatballs and flank steak, decent food. I took the leftovers to mom, thought about doing stuff around town, but in the end, I said fuck it and went back home. I then progressed to mess on the net a bit and arranged photos. I got a membership on Flickr, put the pics that you have already seen but it is good that the rest of the world witness my greatness ;). I got out the camera again and tried out some close shots. Here is what I created.


I really like this shot, it is a bit blurry but pretty good for a beginner shot



Another view




Ok that is all from the home front. I need to do more in my life so ppl CALL ME!

Hasta luego!

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

This truely is a photolog...

OK, after having lunch at Isabel's (had a Cuban sandwich and fries) and getting 2nd monster containers of transmission fluid, I decided to go back to the Long Meadow and take some pics. While clouds threatened on the way there and to some extent when I got there, the sunshine won the battle for the sky and became a glorious day. Ok without further ado, I give you my, average, pics:

Here is a panorama stich that I made looking toward Lansing and Phoenix Mtn


A view of where I went to take the pics today


Country Roads


Cow Field with a Fish Pond


Tree Field


Listening Rock


Cool barn

London Pics

Store St: where I lived at in London


The Royal family on the Queen's BD


Piccadilly Circus


Kensington

Haha more pics....

Drunk with BUNACers in London


Myself at Grandfather Mtn


Amy, Shawn, and Bailey at Grayson Highlands


A view from the back of the house


I will treasure this pic


I laughed so hard, Bailey is gonna kill us in 15 years


Entrance to the wilderness


A rock cairn on the way to Mount Rogers

Stardate whenever

So I just got back from trying to take some panorama pictures from this place called the Long Meadow but it was raining when I got there, I went back up when it quit raining and when I got to the gate, there were some ppl there in an olf Ford Festiva giving me the eye so I just kept on driving. I will go back because it is one of the most beautiful places that I know of here and the Shepherds are lucky to own it.

Mom called this morning and said that Paw's heart rate was back into the 70's and his lung functions are getting back to normal. So that is good. Amy called today and said that she drove down and he is doing much better. He is even grumbling about things and we take that as a good sign. Today almost everyone I talked to asked about him and I explained to everyone what is going on at the moment.

My car really needs to be fixed. It is going through a pint of transmission fluid like Jack Daniels and Killians. The whine that my tires are making screams to high heaven. You could smell the funk of the fliud burning when I came back up from the Flatwoods turning around, not good at all.

I would go up to the Long Meadow for a sunrise photo session but I am out of fluid and I don't want the chance of me fucking up my car and not being able to get in touch with someone. Luckly, it is one of the few places that my cell phone works :).


До свидания (good bye)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Pics

Amy and Bailey at Grayson Highlands State Park in VA


Bailey and I rockin' out to my iPod

More Random Pics...

A Panorama of the backside of Grandfather Mtn


A cool rock


Bare tree on Junaluska Rd


Maw's House (my great-grandmother)


A cute one of Bailey at Amy's wedding


At a bar in DC


One of my favs...

Medical Update

As of 1:30 PM on Monday, the surgery was a success. I was out getting groceries but Mom left a message and Amy called later in the afternoon. They implanted a pace-maker under the skin near the heart and now the doctors are just waiting to see how his body reacts to the device. All in all, today has been a hopeful day.

Everything seems so quiet here without Mom and Paw here. I cooked for myself but I have a ton of food leftover. It was quite good however.

I ordered a new Russian language book to go over in the hopes that I will be sent somewhere in the Peace Corps that speaks Russian. Голоса (golasa) "Voices" seems like a pretty good book. There is a corresponding Интернет site (sound that out).

Ok to the sound of crickets outside, that is all from the Inane Rambler


Peace

Monday, August 15, 2005

The Ups and Downs of Life...

So, alot has happened in the past few days...

My father, who is really my grandfather but I have lived with them all of life, in at Carolina's Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. He has been in the local hospital here in Ashe for the past week because his heart-rate has dipped down into the 40's last week which led to him having weak lungs which led to his bronchitis and kidney trouble. After a week, the lungs and and kidneys were back to normal but his heart-rate was still very low and on Friday dipped down into the 30's. The doctors decided to go ahead and implant a pace-maker. The problem is that he has a mechanical valve in his heart, so he is in Charlotte being preped for the procedure. They should go ahead and do the surgery on either Monday or Tuesday. Today, they put him in the ICU ward but that is more of a precaution than anything else. If you are the praying type, say a small prayer for him and if you aren't, think really good thoughts.


On the good side of life, Adam and I went hiking this weekend on the Appalachian Trail up to Mount Rogers in VA. Mount Rogers is the highest peak in Virginia coming in at 5, 729 feet. From where we parked at, a place called Elk Garden, we figure that we hiked around 11-12 miles. Needless to say, I am quite sore today and I will be for some time.

Later that night, Adam and I went to eat at The Library in Boone. The "view" there was quite good, and the food was too. We hung out at John and Kindal's and then went to Cafe Portofino. All in all, it was a very good night ;-).

Here are some pics of the hike:


A field half-way to the summit


Some boulders there


Adam leading the way


Which way to go???


On the road again, aka the Appalachian Trail


A dead Fraser Fir due to acid rain


Almost to the car....



Ok that is what is going on in my life. I didn't go pick huckleberries this weekend but never-the-less, I have had a very good time and a sad one too.


More to come...

Friday, August 12, 2005

Thesis Topic and other stuff on my mind

I am writing my big paper on the concerns that the EU has on Turkey gaining accession to their club. I think it is an important topic, especially for the future of Europe and the Middle East over the next half-century. I hope to have a working draft finished by Oct.

My Ford "Exploder" isn't doing so well. My transmission fluid is leaking out, the front tires severely needs to be religned, and to top it off, I am pretty sure that I need new spark plugs and cables. Fun times! Attention to car buyers out there, DO NOT BUY ANY FORD EXPLORER MODEL!


That is all.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Random Pics I Like

Here are some of my fav pics that I have collected on my laptop, most of them are from my time living in London. Enjoy.

A cool abandoned barn in Watauga Co, North Carolina


One of my fav pics from my time living in London


The Eye and Big Ben


Stonehenge

Here We Go...

As I sit in a coffeeshop currently without electricity, I have started a great service that I give to the rest of the world, i.e. this blog. I, Chris Bennett, am currently living with my parents after graduating from grad school, not technically but I will get to that in a minute, from Appalachian State University. Currently, I am in the process of applying to the Peace Corps. I hope to teach English to students in Eastern Europe, maybe, hopefully, in Ukraine, Romania, or Bulgaria. I took 3 semesters of Russian so I have, at least, a basic understanding. I can at least sound out words. Woohoo!

Living with the parents is very different after spending seven odd years living away from home. I quite enjoy the fact that I do not have to pay rent or pay for food but, lets just say the constraints of being under my parents wings are not exactly to my liking. Oh well...

The electricity has came back on!

My sis is coming back home this weekend and we all are going huckleberry picking at a place called Mt. Rogers or officially Virginia Highlands State Park up in VA. It is always fun as our whole extended family who is living in Ashe goes. I promise to take pics to show you flatlanders who have never seen or heard of a huckleberry before.

Here is a pic of my home




Ok that is all from my first foray into the wilds of blogland. More to come and more pics of where I live too

Chris