Beware!

27 Days

Day 15--Really, this is a problem we all need to worry about. The Flaming Lips have sung about dangerous robots and visual artists everywhere want to keep it in the front of our minds. Be careful out there!

Church Dance

Our Church had a dance last night and I volunteered to take "Party Pics". It was a lot of fun for me and it also got me out of having to dance for the most part. This was probably my favorite image that I captured last night.

Random

Vote For Me

Vote For Me

Music 2008

My 5 favorite albums of 2008:
1. Viva La Vida............................Coldplay
2. Sleep Through The Static.....Jack Johnson
3. This Warm December: Brushfire Holiday's, Vol. 1
4. Paper Trail..............................T.I.
5. Warpaint.................................The Black Crowes

These were my 5 favorite albums of the year. Admittedly, I didn't listen to quite as wide a variety of music this year as I have in the past. I tended to find something I liked and listen to it on repeat. Another favorite album I purchased this year, which obviously was not new, was The Andy Williams Christmas Album. It is a favorite album that I remember my mom playing on the old record player every year at Christmas. It was added to my Christmas playlist on the iPod which contains 118 songs for 6 hours worth of great music. Two other albums I listened to quite a bit last year from 2007 were The White Stripes album Icky Thump and The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack. In addition to those, I spent way to much money downloading individual songs throughout the year on iTunes.

Favorite Song of the Year:
Someday At Christmas by Jack Johnson

I did not realize this was not an original Jack Johnson song until walking though the mall one day and hearing someone else belting it out over the department store sound system. When I got home I got on iTunes and discovered 45 total versions listed. I downloaded the Jackson 5 version along with the Stevie Wonder version which along with two Jack Johnson versions gave Someday At Christmas 4 spots on my awesome Christmas mix.

Favorite Concerts of the Year:

Coldplay at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City

Jack Johnson in Kansas City

The Flaming Lips in Oklahoma City

MuteMath in Oklahoma City

What music were you listening to in 2008? Who is your favorite new artist or group? Have some music recommendations for me to check out? Let me know!

NE 5th

I was exploring an area just east of downtown OKC and came across an older neighborhood that has seen better days. I liked the character of the old, abandoned buildings and wondered about what the neighborhood must have been like years ago when it was alive and vibrant.

OSU Tree

Each year, lucky Cowboy fans get a visit to their house by Pistol Pete on Christmas Day. Good OSU fans awake to find special OSU ornaments and Eskimo Joes clothing under their trees. In honor of this visit, we have a special, beautiful Oklahoma State themed Christmas tree in our living room.

Chickasha Light Festival

Here are a couple pics taken tonight in the freezing cold weather in Chickasha. We take our youth group to see the lights each year and always have lots of fun!

7 Things

Amanda "tagged" me to fill this out, so just to be cordial, I guess I will do it.

7 Things I plan to do before I die: Try to grow more "Christ-like' every day, work daily to be a better husband, father, and friend, be a foster parent, travel travel travel, become better at handling money, get in phenomenal shape, become great at photography, buy a trampoline--I have a top 50 list somewhere, so this is just a sampling.

7 Things I do now: try to spend as much time as possible with my family, read the Bible daily, Youth Ministry, mountain bike, get outdoors, listen to music, take pictures

7 things I won't do: skydive, listen to most country music, eat nasty olives, fill out surveys (except this time), pull out the shower drain to remove disgusting built up hair, I'm sure there are plenty of other things, but I am drawing blanks right now

7 Things that attract me in the opposite sex: I'm so attracted to my wife I can't even think of any answers to this question.

7 Celebrities that I admire: hmmmm, Rob Bell and David Crowder--not really "celebrities" I guess, but I admire their work, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Lance Armstrong, Angelina Jolie, Bill Murray

7 Favorite foods: Sushi, Chinese food from Stillwater, pizza, burgers, Clif bars, Fruit, Gyros

Random

Here is a picture I took of a student in our youth group on our fall retreat. This was another shot where the shutter was left open long enough to create the effects you see.

Random

Here are two pictures my friend Randy took of me on our youth group retreat to Lake Tenkiller. I took a three foot long stick that was lit on one end and just tried to make as many revolutions as possible before the shutter closed. The shutter was open for right at about ten seconds on each of these shots.

Stew in a Shoe

On my youth group's recent fall retreat to Lake Tenkiller, we played a game called "Stew in a Shoe." Two contestants squared off to see who could eat the most straight out of the can stew from a shoe. Both contestants did a great job and ate a lot of cold, nasty looking stew. Here's a picture of what remained. Anyone hungry?

Coldplay Concert

So my awesome wife got Coldplay tickets for me for my birthday this year. We had an absolute blast at the concert. Coldplay was freaking amazing live. As much as I loved the Jack Johnson concert in KC in August, this show topped it. Jana snapped some shots with the stunning camera on board her cell phone. She's been asking for a nice digital camera that she can carry around in her purse or pocket--sure would have been nice to have at the Coldplay concert! So, this year for Christmas, she is def getting a digital camera (then I can steal it from her and throw it in my camera bag).

Cell Phone Service

Here is a funny advertisement for cell phone service that I found on a wall in a small town in China. Who needs celebrity endorsements for their business when you have great stuff like this.

Thankfulness--Christina

This Thankfulness post was submitted by Christina. Thanks Christina!

I am thankful for my camera:I can capture memories not only in my mind and heart but digitally; I can share the memories with others and create (scrapbook pages) with the printed photos.

I'm thankful for the Rosenkranz family too and I am so grateful that we can communicate and keep up with each other's lives.HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Christina M. Phillips~

Thankfulness--Troy

Since all of us are obviously very thankful for our friends, families, loved ones, etc., I thought I would share a picture of something else I am very thankful for. It's my "blankie"--and it's the greatest blankie in the world. It's a good sized blanket and there is always room for it on my bed. My sweet Grandma Rosenkranz made this awesome blanket for me when I was little. I often tell people that God forbid if my house were to ever catch on fire, this would be one of the first things that was grabbed on the way out the door. Thanks for the greatest blanket ever grandma!

Thankfulness--Amanda

Amanda sent me this picture and description of something she is thankful for--

This may seem trite, stupid or dorky but bear with me...Elvis is a thankfulness of mine for the following reasons:

He's always there

He was a way for me to connect with my mother

I loved that my father loved him

He's just dead sexy baby

Thanks Amanda for sharing! She has promised to send me another picture and description soon. Hope to get more responses this week to post! Send me your pictures and descriptions of something you are thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Thankfulness

It's Thanksgiving week, and a great time to reflect on what we are most thankful for in our lives. This week I would like to display some photographs submitted by friends and family showing what they are most thankful for. So, if you would like to participate (I know you want to), then email me a picture or two or three showing what you are most thankful for in your life and I will post it this week. Please include a description of the picture and a little about your thankfulness as it relates to the picture(s). Send pictures to troyrosenkranz {at} gmail {dot} com.

Graffiti

Okay, this picture was taken while traveling a freeway through downtown San Fran. I saw it from the vehicle and thought it looked awesome so I grabbed my camera and caught a couple of quick shots. It's beautiful art (click on it to get a better view), I'm just hoping there is no gang significance to it since I am posting it to my gang affiliation free blog.