Year / 2007

by Greg

GregsHead.net Updates

If you haven’t noticed, I have made a few more slight modifications to the blog lately. After adding the main category tabs at the top of the page, which allow for neat sorting by theme, I have also been cleaning up the sidebar. I added links to all of my various websites (appropriately titled, “Greg’s Websites”) and I also added a link to the podcasted audiobook of my book There’s The Steeple… Here’s The Church. If you haven’t checked that out yet, there’s a good deal of audio up there now. I believe about 4 segments worth (about 30-40 min). More to come on that.

I also cleaned up a few of the links, and added a few more. AND, at the bottom, there are several places you can click through to get fun/valuable services for you (Apple computers & iPods, Amazon, Netflix, web hosting, spam blocking, etc) and those places give me a commission for the sale. Nifty way to support Greg’s Head.

I will continue to tag older articles for better sorting with the tabs above. Who knows, the tabs may change a bit as I do. So stay tuned there.

For now, have a go at that sidebar content. (That was for the late Steve Irwin…) 🙂

by Greg

Center Stage

Today as I was running an errand or two around our small town, I noticed that some people probably see our home a bit differently than we do.

First you have the tour guides, some of whom may even live near here year-round, who guide the happy tourists who come from all over. And, obviously, you have the tourists, who come from every corner of the globe. But, mostly from Utah. Then you even have the yellow t-shirt mob of Christians who, with the best intentions, have come to crash the party for the misguided Mormons.

And all of this takes place on the streets of our usually quiet little town.

It’s really very odd, and for a moment today I tried to imagine what it is like to visit this place not realizing that 50.5 weeks of the year it’s just “home” to a few thousand regular folk, like we the Campbells. And, if those tour guides are just flying in for the little 10 day site-seeing marathon… what do they think of our humble home town?

All the world is a stage, yes, but for 10-12 days in July, center stage in the lives of anyone connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Palmyra, NY!

by Greg

Favorite Flavors

Perry's White Lightning Ice CreamOur grocery store had Perry’s ice cream (from Akron, NY) on sale last week, so we picked up a couple half gallons. One was a new flavor, White Lightning. It’s dark chocolate ice cream, with streaks of white mint goo throughout. I had a dish of it for the first time last night and, it’s instantly in my top five favorite flavors! If you have access to Perry’s, and your store carries that flavor… go get some!

That got me to thinking about what my favorite flavors are… here’s a quick list I came up with: (In no particular order, because really… I like ALL flavors!!!)

  • White Lightning from Perrys
  • White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl from Young’s. (White chocolate ice cream, with swirls of raspberry goo (what else do you call it?) and chunks of chocolate. It’s fantastic!)
  • Cherry Chocolate Chip from Edy’s. With Raspberry Chip Royale a close second!
  • Cherry Panda Paws from Perry’s. (Little chocolate/cherry cups with swirls of fudge in cherry ice cream!)
  • And I do like a variety of specialty flavors… Perry’s Sabres Sundae, Bills Stampede Sundae from Turkey Hill, and any of Edy’s specialty flavors (like the Loaded Butterfingers one!!! Awesome!

There’s a lot more, but that’ll have to do for now. Gotta get outside and get to work! More on that later…

Enjoy your ice cream!

by Greg

Ten Years and Counting

Jennifer Campbell
Today I got to tell the story of how God arranged for me to marry Jen. Our friends Ryan & Charmagne (he’s not Ryan… he’s Chi.) were over for the day and somehow I mentioned that Jen & I never dated, and that piqued Charmagne’s interest, enough that she asked me to share our story. How did we come to the decision to just get married, without dating?

It’s a long story, that I will save for our book, but basically, the re-telling of that story helped remind me of a lot of great things God taught me during the time he prepared me for, and “brought” Jen to me. (Genesis 2 says that God “brought [Eve] to the man” and Jen and I believe He still does that today, if we let Him.)

Ten years ago today, July 16th, was an amazing day that I had many times thought might happen – and many times thought would never happen. When I met Jen in 10th grade – at age 16 – I was told she was “the kind of girl you could marry”. Our introducing friend did not specifically mean me – it was the generic “you” – but, it was prophetic.

Ten years ago today we were hanging out together as friends, rehearsing a song we would sing together for the wedding of some friends, and as we talked – like we had done so many times before – we opened our hearts to each other and were able to share the love we had then, and have deepened since.

Jen said to me, “I can trust you with my heart.” I said, “As my love for God grows more than I could have imagined, I am amazed how my love for you grows too.” And later in the conversation, “This [what we were then saying] sounds like marriage, to me… can that be??”

It can.

Within 24 hours, we had thought through not only the shared thoughts and feelings of the past night, but the thoughts, feelings and experiences of the past seven years. Spending life together, as husband and wife – best friends, confidants, partners, mates… was perfect. Who better to go through life with than your best friend? The person you most enjoy being with, and sharing your life with?

That person for me is Jen. I am a people person, and love to be with people and have a chat over a bowl of ice cream, or a cup of tea or something. But there is no one I can confide in more. There is no one I want to be with more. Sometimes we don’t get to enjoy that as much these days (10 years and 4 children later…) but it is more true than ever.

I love you, Jen. Every part of you. I am blessed beyond words that you decided to marry me 10 years ago. We have both grown in our understanding of and ability to love each other over that time, and I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years brings us. You are constantly in my thoughts, and I am not me without you. You might not feel like that’s true, but it is probably a deeper truth than I can even know.

Thank you for loving me for ten years. I hope we get ten more. And then another ten more. And then another. I could not possibly have been given a better person to spend my life with. God is amazingly good – and we know his timing is perfect.

I love you today, ten years ago, and from here forward as long as I am able.

by Greg

Picky Eater

RiceWe were invited to join some friends tonight for a little campfire in their back yard, complete with S’mores! I know Steve from playing basketball together for a few years now, but we’ve not gotten to spend much time together with the rest of the families.

Somehow the conversation migrated to my time in Venezuela. They asked if I was fluent in Spanish, and I said that I wouldn’t say fluent, but I do alright. “What I am ‘fluent’ in is making the Venezuelan national dish!” I explained the whole Pabellon meal with it’s various parts: rice, beans, shredded meat, and arepas. Steve’s wife said, “That all sounds great. I wouldn’t eat any of it, but it sounds great.” We all laughed, and Jen said, “Well, at least the rice, right?” To which she replied, “No. Don’t eat rice. Never had it.”

NEVER HAD RICE? I was simply dumbfounded. I asked, “You’ve never had any white rice… ever?” Never.

I asked her if she knew that she might be the only human being on the planet to have never eaten rice. It’s the main food most of us eat around the globe. Rice and beans. EVERYWHERE!

This is the most amazing food fact I have heard a person utter recently. Just simply the most amazing.

What’s not to like about rice? How can a mom of three children have lived her entire life without ever having eaten ANY RICE??!?!?!??!?!

Wow.

I asked her if I could post this story on my blog tonight, and she gave permission. She’s rather proud of her picky-ness I think. She says there are only about 5 things she eats. Hamburgers, hot dogs… french fries. Her husband chimed in, “And, pretty much any breakfast food…” So, McDonald’s and Pancakes… nice! 🙂 I said to her, “How are you still ALIVE??!?” 🙂

I am just still amazed! Nice going Picky Eater! You are definitely the champion in my book!!!! 🙂

by Greg

Ice Cream Update: Week 2

The Chis are here. We have already had homemade ice cream and Chill & Grill. (It’s National Ice Cream Day, ya know???!!) And I think we’re planning to have a bit more before they leave… 🙂

Wanted to give you an update on the ice cream consumption for week two of July. Let’s see…

  • 7/8 – We stopped at Dairy Queen in Medina, Ohio on our trip back from visiting my family. Hawaiian Blizzard!
  • 7/9 – We were tired from our trip, so the best I could do was some Breyer’s from the freezer!
  • 7/10 – We had ice cream with some friends at Dairy Ann in Farmington, NY
  • 7/11 – Again, a little ice cream from the freezer was the treat for the day!
  • 7/12 – A tiny treat from Chill & Grill did the trick on Thursday… but of course, had some more from the freezer a bit later!
  • 7/13 – Had some ice cream with fresh raspberries for lunch on Friday!!!
  • 7/14 – Enjoyed some ice cream at Chill & Grill with Friends, and then came home and made about a half-gallon of homemade vanilla ice cream!!!
  • 7/15 – The Chis came over from Buffalo to eat at CHILL & GRILL and we had some home made ice cream cookie sandwiches. (I made the chocolate chip cookies yesterday, and we squeezed some of the homemade ice cream in between two cookies using the ice cream sandwich maker from Pampered Chef. And, I’m thinking we’re not DONE!

More to come! There’s an entire 16 days left in NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH!!!!!

by Greg

Lurkers

You know who you are. You are the ones who read this blog regularly. Perhaps even stopping by daily. You know the ins and outs of life in the Campbell home – and even crazier, life in GregsHead. But even though the link below invites you to comment… you never do.

You… are the Lurker.

So tonight, as a CD Release Party for some friends of ours I met a guy who might fit that category. He recognized me from various things our family were wearing. 🙂 Things I have mentioned here on the blog. Turns out he’s a friend of another friend, and has been reading the blog for a while. But I can’t recall (m)any comments from Shane… 😉

So here’s my invitation to anyone out there who has been reading this blog but not had a reason, urge, or any other compulsion to add their two cents (or even just say hello) to GregsHead.net. If you’ve left a comment before, you’re welcome to here as well, but this post is for anyone and everyone who might fit the Lurker bill. This is your chance to come out of the shadows!

🙂

If you still don’t want to comment… that will be just fine. Glad you’re reading along. 🙂

by Greg

Busy Tonight?

Our Music...
Jen & I will be singing tonight at a new coffee house in Webster, NY. If you live in this area, and happen to stop by the ol’ blog page before 7:30 or so… come out and join us. New place, don’t know what we’ll get, but I just went through the songs we’ll be doing and it’s a lot of fun stuff! (Absence makes the heart grow fonder perhaps…) 🙂

Click the banner above for a link to our latest e-news which has a link to their site, which has directions.

(Clicking is fun!)

Did you even know that we are musicians? 🙂

(It’s hard for me to remember that sometimes these days…)

by Greg

They’re Baaaack

The annual Hill Cumorah Pageant is on!
When I went out for a “quick” visit to the post office today, I was reminded suddenly of just what is going on this weekend. See, in the middle of July, our town hosts the largest outdoor pageant in the world. Yes, folks… I said THE WORLD. Our town boasts a population of just about 3000 people on a good day. But over the course of a year (mostly in the month of July) we have 250,000 visitors from around the world come to see where the events leading up to the beginning of the Mormon church happened.

That makes for a LOT more congestion on our streets. 🙂 My usual 2 minute trip to the PO ran me about 6 I think. 🙂

Oh well. It will be over in less than two weeks. For now, we just get to see what it’s like to live in a bigger town. 🙂