jasonackerman.com

so the denver broncos got together and threw a little party way out here in broomfield, at a park just a a couple miles from our house. so of COURSE we were there early, all up in our orange gear. there was all kinds of stuff, including the 2 super bowl trophies (you hear that seattle? TWO LOMBARDIS, just hanging out here in broomfield…), a raffle, the mascot, a couple cheerleaders, and what appeared to be a fairly short autograph line for 2 players. as it turned out, the line took the whole event to move us through, but we made it (barely). signing my hat were Broncos defensive legend Billy Thompson, and current (hopefully future all-pro) receiver Brandon Marshall.

don’t mind the smarminess of the hat, i have been more than ready to retire that one, so i thought a couple signatures might send it off nicely. photoshop made it appear even cleaner… but it is what it is, since i’m not going to wash it now.

the kids enjoyed meeting miles, the mascot (plenty of photos to be had at my wife’s journal), and becca and zoe were thrilled to get an autograph from a cheerleader. during that part i took a very restless sam down to the football field to run around. this county park in broomfield has several full size soccer fields, then down in something of a gully behind all those, is hidden a football field. i was surprised to see a fully marked out gridiron out there, yard markers and everything. i was even more surprised when i got down there and found out the whole thing was field turf as opposed to natural grass. no wonder it looked so green… and if there’s any doubts as to how much frickin’ money this county has… sheesh.

all in all, it was a fun night to hand out with a bunch of bronco fans, right here in our own town.

finally, as richard pointed out, i neglected to mention my fantasy team in my last post. i didn’t really forget, i was waiting to see if i sucked or not… but i’m playing fantasy football for the first time, really, with a bunch of the guys from compass. i showed up at the draft via speakerphone, and it was a blast. no matter how it turns out, it’s fun to stay connected with these guys. i mean, i’m sure i’ll win, but it’s fun to keep in touch also.

apparently, it’s time for me to throw down a general notes post, since i let so much time pass between entries. so in the spirit of short attention spans, we now present to you “notes from the monster files – a snapshot of recent days”.

• we went to a broncos game last week. it was one of the coolest things ever. photos to be found here.
• i’ve had several meetings with various pastors and church planters, and things are beginning to come into focus. there are still some major considerations to work through, but the reality of planting a church in urban denver is getting ever so slowly closer.
• i won’t be doing the photography thing at coors field anymore. it was fun, but honestly, it just became so much of a hassle to get down there and back and the gas and the time… ugh. it hardly seemed worth it.
• i am doing a website and logo project for a new church plant in kansas. it’s interesting, because it’s stylistically different than projects i’ve done in the past, so it will force me to be careful about injecting my own style and just be a ‘designer’. i’m excited, because i think i have a connection to do this for all the new C&MA plants in our district. this would be a pretty cool little niche service to provide.

i think that’s all the capacity i have for bulleted lists at the moment.

overall, things are good. the kids are knee-deep in school, and so far i’ve managed to get by without having to get a “real” job. that doesn’t come without its price, but up until now it’s been good. if i can keep the projects coming, while continuing to explore the church-plant options… we could be ok. i dread tax season, because self-employment STINKS for taxes, especially because due to the tightness of finances, it’s been very hard to do appropriate savings for tax planning. ugh. but that’s a worry for april 2008. for now, i’m most concerned about putting away the funds to get back to the northwest for the holidays.

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join us next time, where we find our hero frantically studying macromedia flash in order to teach a class on it, one for which he is woefully unprepared.