Bridge: Midtown’s Independence Day Weenie Roast from William Hartz on Vimeo.

In honor of the United States’ annual tradition of grilling processed meat in order to celebrate the anniversary of our nation’s outmaneuvering the collective might of the British Empire’s military with a bunch of farmers, The Bridge: Midtown hosted a weenie roast, aka Independence Day barbecue, in the back lot of the Liberty Center, as this was the only suitable location for fire-making in the urban heart of Elizabeth, NJ.

Combining some archaic technologies (such as “fire” and “barbecue sauce”) with the latest advancement in meat-cooking (aka the “greatest grill you will ever see”) four individuals, some young and some not so much, endeavored to prepare a vast array of weenie for consumption by both the Bridge’s Midtown group and its “Bridge, Jr tykes.

And so, while most remained inside for music and games and laughing in celebration of this, our nation’s 233rd birthday, this is the story of the brave souls dedicated to crafting the perfect hot dog.

A full set of images from the grilling and night inside can be seen here: bit.ly/weeniepics.

We’re working on a t-shirt design for a mission trip that we’re putting together for our youth program during the summer. It’s an inner-city trip (actually all done within our own hometown) so we want it to have an urban feel to it, but we’re also going (at least for now) for a 70′s retro kind of feel. This is what we have so far. What do you think?

Vote in the poll below, and if you want to take part in the discussion on the design, you can do so in the comments below or, even better, on Flickr.

This my new teapot. I had to buy it because I melted the old one. Yeah. I melted it. I’d really like to go get another cup of tea right now, but I’m really too tired to walk down the stairs, boil the water, and then bring it back up here.

The Retreat is rapidly approaching. One one hand we have gotten quite a bit already done. On the other, there is still a staggering amount of work left to do. It’s not the amount of projects left to do that is near overwhelming. It’s the fact that the few remaining projects are the big ones. The reality is I only have 2 more days to get everything I need done. I leave Thursday afternoon shortly after lunch. I wanted to get all my videos done today, but that isn’t going to happen. I hope that I can knock out my last two session videos tomorrow morning and maybe get a last-minute addition video ready also. That would be a huge weight lifted.

Also, tomorrow I need to buy things required for our stage design and for the seminar I am co-leading on Sunday morning. Then there’s the last minute teaching media that’s trickling in. I need strength for the next two days. And more caffeine.

Today I’m heading out to buy some things I need to continue the projects I am working on, doing some more video work and design work, and then setting up and running Fusion tonight at the Liberty Center. It’s going to be a late night. I’ve already told the people at church that I’m not coming in Sunday morning since I’m going to be out so late Saturday night doing stuff. Dave, the guy who helps with sound, seems a bit nervous that I won’t be there with him tomorrow, but I have full faith that he can handle it.

The Rules:
(1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating.

01. After the Fire – Der Kommissar *****
02. Youth Alive – Jump to the Jam *
03. Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard – Like a Dog Chasing Cars (Dark Knight Soundtrack) ****
04. Crosby, Stills, & Nash – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes ****
05. Alice Cooper – School’s Out (For the Summer) ***
06. Amy Seeley – Gravel Lines (EP Version) *****
07. Amy Seeley – These Walls ***
08. Kirk Franklin – Blessing in the Storm ***
09. Hillsong – All for Love *****
10. Michael Regalado & William Hartz – The Room, vol 5: Embrace God’s Way [No rating]

I can’t really see any theme that iTunes was trying to share today. I guess it was just being random.

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.