No? Not buying it? Ok, well then the truth that I will now convey to you is simply this: I have either been (1.) extremely busy or (2.) extremely lazy or (3.) a combination of both. As it stands it seems that I am now no longer unemployed but rather currently find myself daily walking down the hallowed corridors of Terrence C Reilly School #7 in Elizabeth, NJ as a substitute teacher. The 4th and 5th grade antics keep me rather busy during the day and, relatedly, cause me to drop into deep coma upon arrival at home. In addition, upon waking from previously mentioned coma, I then find myself either planning for the work I daily do with my 8th graders of Digital Media Technology or planning for what I do with my fine and highly intelligent colleagues of The Bridge Youth Ministries or planning for other things I do with Connection or planning for how to transition from a lowly substitute position to a full-time paid staff position at work or planning my plots for world domination. I tell you, there has been much planning going on, and concurrently many meetings (argh!). In addition there has been, as well, the execution of much of said planning. Resultantly, there has been little time to do much else, Internet related or otherwise.

Fortunately, due to being a substitute teacher and constrained to the schedule of a public school, I have been fortunate enough to have had the last week and one-half free due to Christmas vacation. Fortunate in the fact that I have had a clear schedule since December 23 but not quite as fortunate in the fact that, being substitutive in nature, I am unpaid for such time off. Alas, I am grateful for the vacation and time to sleep and Xbox and venturing out into worlds of fun and then sleeping some more. Likewise I am also excited to get back into the swing of things come Monday.

And so, I come to the end of this brief update into the past four months. I do have some photographic wonderfulness that I will attempt to post soon as I have had time to process the images I have taken since September in the past week. And I hope that our next meeting will come some time before Spring Break sometime in a few months. I hope you have missed me as I have missed you, but I will forgive you if this is not the state you find yourself in.

Clean! from William Hartz on Vimeo.

Also, it is Retreat season for The Bridge and we have Jared Hall coming this year!

The Bridge’s Retreat X: Jared Hall from William Hartz on Vimeo.

That is all.

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.