Earth Glue: Intro (12/24/07)

Well, this is some pressure. My first Earth Glue installment. I've had a lot of different thoughts on what I should feature here. So, I didn't want to give the two readers out there (hi mom, hi dad) the impression that whatever song I feature first is my favorite song, but that will come later. But before that...


I will give you a very brief music autobiography of Ben Belnap. I have been a music lover from a very young age. There is home video of me as about a 3-year-old dancing to "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. I was brought up in a healthy music environment. Some of my oldest memories involve driving with my dad in his '76 Chevy pick-up truck singing along with Bob Dylan. I remember distinctly asking my dad at about age 5 why he liked Bob Dylan so much "because he's got such a funny voice." My dad, a Dylan-fearing man, rarely passed up the opportunity to give a music appreciation lesson. Upon hearing my question, he calmly pulled the truck over to the side of the road and said, "Yes, Ben, Bob Dylan does kind of have a 'funny voice', but Bob Dylan had a pen. And Bob Dylan did a lot more for music and society with his pen than anyone who has ever been known for having a nice voice. Don't ever forget that music is much more than listening to a nice voice." Thanks, Dad.

I will leave that as the first installment of my music autobiography for all of your sakes. Of course, my nostalgia about Dylan would provide an excellent transition into introducing a Bob Dylan song as my first Earth Glue installment. However, the Bob Dylan feature will come at a later date.

I have chosen my song for today's post on three criteria: 1) it is consistent with the season, 2) it is light-hearted...an appropriate beginning since much of my music is not, and 3) it is performed by one of my top fives...Jack Johnson. This song is a classic Christmas song, but Jack added his own flare, as only he can do, by using catchy acoustic guitar along with an additional verse.

I'm confident you will enjoy. Merry Christmas from the folks at Earth Glue.

Random Thoughts of an Irrelevant Fellow: Intro

Ben here...
Here I am posting blogs about my rather uneventful life. I recognize that no one will really care too much about what I have to say. But typing my thoughts and opinions and stories will at least make me feel important to myself. So I will write my thoughts as I think someone is actually reading them to make myself feel important. Do I have good grammar? Not really. Do I have a large vocabulary for making eloquent posts? Not particularly. Will I continue to pose questions and then answer them myself? Hopefully for you, the reader, no...but I probably will.

I will primarily post stories of things that happened to me, again, pretending that people care. I will also have a music part called "Earth Glue" wherein I will post some music. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes I'll just post a good song. Be prepared to have your mind blown. Unfortunately there is no sarcasm key on the keyboard, so when I say something like, "prepare to have your mind blown," it kind of makes me look like a pretentious joker. Maybe I am. Anyway, I look forward to our cyber relationship. This could be the beginning of something very special.

A new day

It's official. We resisted long enough...and drumroll please... have officially joined blogland. My biggest reason for such enduring resistance is that I feel that my life is uneventful much of the time. What do we have to report? But after much support and encouragement from friends and family, we bit the bullet and a new day has been born. Ben is excited to post about his soulmate and greatest love (no, not me)...music, and I figure it's a great way to keep a sort of journal with pictures. So here you have it.

We are all trying to recover at our house from our fabulous vaction last week in Cancun, Mexico. My dear parents, bless their hearts, brought us all with them on their 30th wedding anniversary celebration trip, kids included. It was absolutely great. The kids were in heaven and we had a fabulouse time, though I am just now recovering from my exhaustion. I need a vacation after my vacation. My Grandma mentioned that you don't have vacations until your young children are grown, you have trips instead. I believe her.

The weather was warm and delightful. Contrast that to the current frigid Bountiful temps and our first snow. Last week, I was slathering the kids with sunscreen, and this week, I'm bundling them into snowpants and mittens. I've provided a couple of pictures to illustrate the point.

Does anyone know where one might find a never-ending bag of smarties? This is what Anna has decided she wants for Christmas. I encouraged her in the direction of barbies as she adores her friends' barbies and I have already purchased some, but she is determined she's asking Santa for "a bag of smarties that you can eat all night long and it's still full in the morning." I told her she could probably get some treats for Christmas, but aren't there any toys she would like as well? Her response? "No, just food stuff." Like mother like daughter, I guess.