Cook Family

Velvet Elvis Discussion

2007-07-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

So my new idea for our family blog is that we have some interesting discussions. I think we are all at an age where we have valuble input but we don't often get to spend time talking about important or not so important things. We miss you all and this is a fun way to "hang out" together. I really want to know what you all think about Velvet Elvis. I am almost done reading it and I don't know what to think about it. He poses more questions than statements which frustrated me. So if you have not read it. I say read it as it is easy and fast to read and then post your comments and lets have a "dialogue" as the famous family therapist Minuchin says.

Steelers Are 2-5, Cowher Looks For Work

2006-10-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

But, meanwhile, the Bethel Bulldogs in Bob Keibler's SPL league have won three in a row, and are now tied for first in their division with a 4-4 record!

Dad Updates

2006-10-30T20:02:00.000-08:00

Here are some new pictures. One is from the Ark restaurrant where I went with Tricia, Ralph, Trav, and Reba, and pre-natal Zion. Nice time, but the mile high piles of butter balls were really gross! And then, for your additional cullinary pleasure, a Cook Family favorite, the GA Pig! MMMMMMMM!

Hey, don't forget to continue to check out the original Cook Family blog right here! Just because we are not producing new babies, taking trips to New York for fun, and those sorts of things, doesn't mean that we don't have equally interesting things to say and post!

Dad and Sue will be heading up the hill this Thursday to look at a potential new home for MSN, a big 10,000 square feet. Lots of new projects coming in, so we will see what Secon has to offer, and who knows, maybe we will be movin' on up.

Dad had great fun in NJ this past weekend at the Northern New Jersey Chrictian Ministries Conference with Kapp Brown. Both workshops went well. I will be repeating my "Parenting Adult Children" workshop on St. Patrick's Day at the Family Ministry Conference at Lancaster Bible College!

Beth's birthday was a lot of fun tonight. Tim and Abbey made a wonderful meal, with invited guests Cari, Jillian, and Amy! Mom returns Wednesday AM just in time for her birthday with lots of good times planned!

Doug's also new weblog

2006-09-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

http://dougcook.blogspot.com/

you should go there now.

Tim's Other Weblog

2006-09-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

Due to my millions of thought-provoking classes and experiences this semester I created my own weblog at

www.timothyfreeman.blogspot.com

so, ya'll should go there if you wish to investigate the current state of my life and mind. I have been updating it almost everyday, but don't feel like you need to read it too often. I will probably also post my newspaper articles that I write on there, if you wish to read them.

Here I offer a picture of Doug climbing big stones at the FRD memorial in D.C. :

Great Week

2006-09-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

God really blessed me this week with a resolution to out IT problems, and some unexpected fun outings! Tim and I got to go to the Steelers game and sit 6 rows back. Here is a picture of Tim and I at the game, and also one of Ben and the lineman discussing the poor play of the scrubs.
Also here is a picture of Travis and I at the All Star game earlier in the summer.

Steelers Prayer and MSN Answer To Prayer

2006-08-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Steelers embark on another season a week from Thursday. I wanted to share this picture of the team praying last season as I thought it was a wonderful photo.

We had a lot to be thankful for this weekend as we almost lost all of the data on our computer network. Several days later we are thousands of dollars less in the bank at MSN, but much wiser! We have made some necessary changes to protect us against another fluke. Even though we had two backups, they almost failed as well. Always a good question to ask about anything....what is the backup plan!

N. Charles St.

2006-01-31T14:48:00.000-08:00

Spring semester begins tomorrow. This past weekend I was at an InterVarsity retreat for Ministering Across Cultures. It was pretty great, I forgot how nice it is to be in a place with a majority of christians. We learned lots of good things concerning, you guessed it, how to effectively minister across cultures. I started for the first time to actually picture what it will be like when I am in China. I am used to being in situations where I understand things extremely well. At school, usually it is me doing the explaining and teaching...so this will be great. It will be a good humbling change. Because I am sure I will not have a clue what I am doing. But at least now I am prepared for my upcoming ignorance.
During one of our breaks over the weekend a group of us went wandering around the area ostensibly looking for nana's childhood home, but to no avail. Instead I got to take a lot of great pictures with my camera.
peace.

Thom Hickling, Sad To Say Goodbye

2006-01-01T20:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Thom Hickling, who passed away this week, as he was when I spent the most time with him. He was a good friend, music, and business associate, especially throughout the 80s when we first moved to Pittsburgh and started MSN. Always had a good word for everybody, and he always went out of his way to go the extra mile in expressing love, patience, and good will. He was a really funny guy, and always had a different perspective on reality and faith, cutting through all of the mumbo jumbo. I remember the time he and I were talking at lunch over reading Bible stories to kids, and he talked about the way people sanitize the Old Testament. "Take Noah's ark, for example," I remember him saying. " Those animals were not nearly that cute, and I have never heard a preacher or a parent talk about the smell!" He always challenged me to live out my faith in fresh ways. The last time I saw him was a couple of years ago when we had dinner at a local Baltimore resaurant in the city! What a fun evening! We tried to hook up here in the Burgh a few times the last year or two, but my schedule prevented those couple of occasions. What time he did have here after he moved to Baltimore was almost always for his kids. I will always regret that I did not make the last jam session he invited me to, and that we will never get to go that Orioles game this summer at Camden Yards. I don't believe in rock and roll heaven, but, if I did, I know he would be in the band, just because it would be so much fun.

Pirates Rumor and Tim's Stock Tips, Plus More

2005-12-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

This is Dad posting an exciting rumor about the Pirates that they might sign Nomar Garciaparra to play 3B. The rumor is probably more exciting than what will happen during the season, so I pass it along. Also, even though Tim had some bad stock tips, Apple Computers was not one of them. It is up 126% in the list year, and Tim did say it was his top choice.
The company Christmas party was very nice last night, and I finally got to sleep in this AM! Tonight Mom, Abbey, Leslie Keibler, and I are going to see the Gene Krupa Orchestra at Mt. Lebo HS with Nana and Papa after a nice dinner at Bravo. Tomorrow we are having a Steelers party for our Sunday School class after church, so it is a fun weekend.
Love,
Dad

The College Life - Tim Style

2005-11-10T07:16:00.001-08:00

The W&J Fauna...
Our one-eyed frog that keeps watch over our thermostat that we have yet to turn on...yes it has been that warm here in PA...well, and we are on the 3rd floor of an impenetrable bomb shelter that does not let air in, or heat out.
Ryan's very theological wall of truth. This is something you won't find in your average W&J Dorm room....

My Camera's version of fall here at W&J.

Condo

2005-11-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of our condo. We are going to Chicago tomorrow! Yeah!

2005-11-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

This picture is on Chicago Ave. down by Bacci's Pizza, we got there as much as we can.

I went to see Relient K and MXPX for free Sunday night and Anathallo and Saxon Shore last night for 8 bucks, all in all a good time. I'm being the good kid and updating this again.

I am switching roommates, I am going to be rooming with the guy I do my radio show with so that should be alot of fun. We got it all worked out so at the end of the semester we'll be switching.

I have to go to lunch and finish an old tesament survey paper so I'll be going now, I hope everyone at home is doing well, I will be home in 2 weeks or so for Thanksgiving, I look forward to it.

You guys need to stop slacking.

,Douglas

2005-10-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture I took from the night Mom and I went to the Pirates game and sat behind home plate. Tim and I had a nice lunch yesterday, and I had a lot of fun Imming Reba and Doug during Doug's show.

Hello Sickies

2005-10-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

You all have been sounding pretty pathetic over the past few weeks so I hope that you all feel better soon. Mom you need to rest....someone needs to force her to rest. For some reasons Mom's don't know how to rest when they are sick. So this has been a long week. Please keep praying for me and Travis about our living situation and figuring out what we should do. Tonight I am going to the movies with some friends. Tomorrow I start practicing with the youth praise in motion group to get them ready for Christmas, we are going house hunting again, and then our friends are having an engagement party. Should be fun. I tried to upload a picture for you but dial up doesn't really like that. Talk to you later

Dad Rules Fantasy Football

2005-10-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

The Bethel Bulldogs roared back from a 27-6 deficit to defeat Joe Keaney's undefeated Capital Gains team in week 4 SPL action. The Dogs acquired kicker Neil Rackers to replace the injured David Akers, and Rackers kicked six field goals to combine with Brett Favre's 4 TD passes for the win. The Bulldogs are now 3-1. Coach Cook enjoys particularly defeating Keaney and Pizutti.
My other blog disappeared as I did not know how to use it. With instruction from Mom, I am now good. Pictures coming soon.
Love,
Dad

Blog Savvy

2005-10-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

Actually Beth, I am the last one. I had to figure this whole thing out on my own. I was only told that there was some kind of website that I was to look at every week, and that I was to write something and "post"it. So I have figured it out (at least if you can read what I've written--then I've figured it out!) Anyway, my life is boring. I wake up, go to work, come home, look in the fridge, shut the door, kiss my wife, order dinner/eat out, look for house/apartment(depending on how we feel that day), go to sleep. And yes, in that order. So, Reba and I can't wait to go to Chicago and then to Pittsburgh in the next few months. We are very excited to be able to spend time away from here, but mostly to spend time with you all.

As you all are probably aware, Reba and I made our debut on "The Archives." That's the hit radio show rockin' the air waves of Chicago! Yeah, we sounded like total retards and downgraded the quality of the show by a notch, but we had fun doin' it! Thanks, Doug, for havin' us. I forgot to say "1st time, long time." Now, I'll never be able to say that. I guess it'll be "many times, long time." Anyway, glad to hear your havin' a good time with that. Maybe you should play some kind of cool trivia game so that you can get people to call in or email in, or IM. There's a radio show down here that does a game called "you can't win." There questions consist of things like "What does tequila, hot sauce, and pumpkins have in common?" You think you could google something like that, but the answer is stinking hard to find. In fact you have to listen to the show all the time to figure it out. The answer is "they are all things that rock stars manufacture." Just a suggestion.

Well that's it for now. I must go. I'm writing this at work and I definitely can't bill the time I've spent on this. Talk to you all soon.

Here I am again.

2005-10-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, this weekend was sooo much fun! I got to hang out with a bunch of cool people, I love Campus Life Middle School retreats.
Right now though, I'm kind of sick, and I lost my voice, as most of you already know. But I'm feeling better than I was yesterday.

Dinner with Uncle Ray and Aunt Beverly last night was fun, even though I couldn't talk.

Well, I don't really have much else to say except I'll talk to you all later. Bye,

Abbey

the invisible tim

2005-09-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Since there have been so many comments about i don't exist anymore, i must apologize for my disapearance. I never knew school was so busy, ...until I got here. It is great though, because I am really working Hard on my classes for once and accomplishing a lot with them, and with InterVarsity, making new friends, and catching up on the Washington and Jefferson Community. Probably the main reason i have been so busy is my classes. BUT there is great news. I got some of my big grades back today. My giant Environmental Science class Exam that i studied forever for and i thought was really hard i got a 98 on. The class average was a 71, so I was pretty excited. I thought, at best, i got an 85.

To explain my life as usual, i'll give you a story of my past two days.

Yesterday I woke up at 9, ate breakfast, wrote a 3 page paper until 10. Read for and outlined my environmental ethics paper until 11, wrote 4 pages of that paper until 12, went to lunch and leadership team bible study until 1, had class until 2:30, finished the 8 pages for my ethics page at 4, had prayer meeting until 4:30, edited my papers until 5, went to the Red&Black newspaper meeting until 6, ate dinner, had a dorm meeting until 7, went shopping for Monticello's coffee how that IV was sponsoring and set it up and cooked things until 9. Ran the coffee house until 11, cleaned up until 11:30. Went back to my dorm room and put my ethics presentation concerning my paper together. Did that until 12:30. Slept until 8, woke up, practiced my presentation. Turned in my English paper due at 9, gave my presentation and got a 99, then had my EVS class, then lunch, then another paper to write. And now I am here, finished, writing you. Hooray Friday! haha, i don't mean all that as some excuse for being unavailable...but just wanted to let all you guys know what i've been up to.

Beth

2005-09-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

So Beth where are you?????

I Have Arrived

2005-09-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I'm the last one. I really have no idea what to write in here. I had a cello lesson today and I finally got to book 4 in the Suzuki books. I'm now working on a Sonata in C Major by Jean-Baptiste Beval. I got 3rd chair in orchestra on saturday which is really good because then I don't have to play the boring cello part. Also I pretty much couldn't have gotten principle because the girl who did has
"senoirity" on me. I would like to point out however that she's in 7th grade.
In other news I still am not happy with my 10 page paper topic, which is Irish Immigration to the U.S. If any of you have have an idea it would be appreciated. Anyhow, I would like to point out that I haven't talked to Tim in almost 2 weeks...at all. I talked to Reba today for a total of 10 minutes and 51 seconds :).
Let's see...Campus Life small group is going to be at our house again, that's exciting. Oh and we played this really stupid game at church on wednesday. It was called something along the lines of Amazon Women....the worst name for a game ever. Anyhow all the girls had to try to pull the guys out of the crazy human knot that they were holding themselves in. Also we were supposed to be taking Elise home, except she disappeared. Abbey and I had to run all over the church a million times and we couldn't find her. Finally I stubbled across in, where else, the narthex. Honestly...
Just so you all know, Tiny's still alive, Samurai Joe is still alive and all of Tim's fish are still alive. Just thought you should be reassured. I suppose that I should go look up my Romeo and Juliet words now. (By the way I discovered today that my Romeo and Juliet book was Reba's once upon a time.) Anyway, now that I have told you all a million things I'm done.
Oh one more thing, for anyone who doesn't know. Mom and Dad bought season tickets to the Symphony for my birthday.

Beth.

The College Life

2005-09-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

^ Wrigley field ^
So I've been here for 6 weeks or so now. Classes are going well, classes were light today, one ended early and once cancelled. I got a ticket to go see mewithoutyou and Coheed and Cambria this weekend, that should be alot of fun. I've gotten to a place where I never have to go buy tickets because my friends will just sell me theirs when they find out they are busy. I posted some some more pictures here for people to see http://photobucket.com/albums/y200/dougwardo/ . I have to write a 12 page paper this coming week.....I should probably start on it now, but it's doubtful that I will. I'll be home in about 3 weeks so be ready.

Alrighty Then

2005-09-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Well now that Abbey has helped me figure this out I can say hello. So Tim how goes it, I havent talked to you in ages. Now I heard that you have attempted to call me but it doesnt count unless you leave a message and I do have a cell phone you know because I am never home. So I will continue to await your call as I am a caring and patient sister. Your other brother is quite communicative and I have talked to him a bunch of times and would like to talk to you too. I keep hearing about you but that also does not count because I am your sister not your grandmother. Glad to hear though that you are doing well and about intervarsity. Did you find a job yet? I am her working and I have to go to court today, always thrilling. I know at least one of my kids is going to get locked up today. Glad that we do not have any family members that are getting locked up. How did we all turn out so decent????? I am not usually into dumb jokes but I thought that this one is pretty funny, maybe because I am in a dumb sort of mood....I already e-mailed it to Doug.

A panda walks into a bar, sits down and orders a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun and shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands up to go, the bartender shouts, 'Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your sandwich!' The panda yells back at the bartender, 'Hey man, I'm a PANDA! Look it up!' The bartender opens his dictionary and sees the following definition for panda: 'A tree dwelling marsupial of Asian origin, characterized by distinct black and white coloring. Eats shoots and leaves'.So stay out of bars or you might get shot!

Hope you are enjoying your day. Is it beginning to feel like fall up there yet?? Every time I look at one of my magazines with fall stuff in it I get sad. I realized after coming here that fall is my favorite season. People think I'm funny because I decorate for fall here, but hey at least I can pretend that I dont live in a place that perpetually has the same nasty weather and I do mean nasty....unless its the dead of winter in which case the heat here is torrible and it might be cool enough to wear jeans and a tank top. Okay so I better go and do some real work now. Love you all! Reba

Test

2005-09-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Test

He's a Columnist AND a Turtle

2005-09-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well, since my camera battery is dead... and have not yet gotten the charger for it, you don't get any pictures of me at school. Instead, I've got some new ones from SLT friends. Me at the turtle store:

Also, I'm writing a colum for the Red & Black Newspaper now. Since you all can't get the printed edition, you can have it on here(mum and dad i am bringing you the print editions if you want to wait). I've written 3 so far. Here's the first:

Elegies of a Quasi-Environmentalist:
Fishsticks and Bottom Trawling
I have never been intensely devoted to either side of any environmental argument. I have littered and I have worn the orange vest on the side of the road. I have knocked over trees just for fun and I have planted them. I even once killed a frog just to see what would happen, and then, a few days later, stopped my car so that the gimpy bird could hop slowly out of the way. While it seems that the majority of my life I may have been subject to a kind of bipolar environmentalist condition, I think I was really just completely ignorant. It seems, now that I am an intelligent college student, I can no longer claim ignorance nor do I want to. The problems concerning the environment are evident, important, and our responsibility; they are not a political, religious, or social agenda, nor are they merely for scientists, vegetarians and “tree-hugging hippies.”
So now, as I sit and begin to ponder environmentalism, my brain instinctively tells me go to the Greenpeace website (www.greenpeace.org). Seeing as I am nearly always a slave to my intellect, I fly to their propaganda-laced page and see what they have to offer my inquiring mind. At the top of the page, the motto stands out: “Greenpeace exists because this fragile Earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action.” This all sounds nice, peaceful and productive but further down the page I see a group of fishsticks in the shape of a hand flicking me off. The caption for this witty photograph is thus: “This is what bottom trawlers say to protecting ocean life. Let’s give them the (fish) finger.” While Greenpeace is talking about solutions, change and action, they are really being unproductively crass. Granted, bottom trawling may not be good for the environment, but somehow I doubt that they would stop trawling because of these flick-happy fish sticks. No one stops being a bad driver because they get flicked off by whomever they almost hit on the road; it usually just makes them agitated and worsens their driving even more.
This is the kind of problem that exists in much of today’s environmental conversation. While many people could care less about bottom trawling, those who do care seem to be addressing the problem in an entirely unhelpful manner. And so, I am striving to strike the balance, to create a written space where bottom trawlers are not given the finger by a box of frozen cardboard fish and where the actual topic of environmental protection is addressed. The only problem with this is that most people simply do not care. So, friends, I do not ask you to care, just to listen.
To address the topic of bottom trawling, you should know what it is. This is something that Greenpeace does not do. On the website, if you click on the angry fishsticks, it takes you to a page that mentions some bad consequences of bottom trawling and immediately asks you to sign some petition. Bottom trawling is in fact a rather terrible, but effective means of deep sea fishing where large vessels drop extremely heavy nets and literally scrape the oceans floor with them catching everything in their way including endangered species which were not part of the “intended catch” and ruining much of the coral reefs, marine mountains, and ocean habitats.
Essentially, the fishing method is comparable to using dynamite to kill ants: entirely effective, but unnecessarily destructive. Unlike Greenpeace’s attempts to put a stop to it, which are entirely ineffective and unnecessarily destructive. Currently, many scientists, environmentalists groups (including Greenpeace) are working towards a moratorium on all deep sea bottom trawling but have accomplished very little. Essentially, in order to really enact any change, Greenpeace and their constituents will have to convince the European Union other governmental systems with a logical, persuasive argument as to why bottom trawling is truly detrimental and why we should care. This is something that cannot be done with fishsticks, but with real, thoughtful conversation.

2005-09-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well mom wanted me to post something... so here goes.

<---This is a lovely rose that we had in our yard the other day. It was fantttaasssttiiiccccoooo.

So, this weekend I'm going on a Campus Life Middle School retreat, which should be fun.

Not much really going on though, besides that. Saturday I had my Band Festival, I was playing quads and it was pretty fun.

Byeeeeeee

Abbey

Howdy...

2005-09-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hello family, this is Abbey. I miss all of you that aren't living in the house at the moment, and I hope that you're having fun wherever you are.

This is the new family blog, and mom gave me permission to badger you if you don't post SOMETHING at LEAST once a week.

So get to it, and I hope you're doing well.