Baby name idea #7...

"Gum." Everyone loves gum. It's a fact. It's a breath of fresh air (or at least a breath freshener!) much like young Gum will be to everyone he or she encounters. Gum will be multi-faceted, possessing various skills and abilities, much like gum comes in different flavors and tapes. Like Bubble Tape, Gum will be "long on fun", and like Big League Chew, Gum will be a fun and playful alternative to chewing tobacco.

Due to the fact that Melissa loves Southern names like Peyton and Cade, we will likely refer to Gum as "Gum-bo." I am not as big of a fan as Southern names (i.e. names that you would likely hear in Memphis, Dallas, etc.) as Melissa is so by calling our child Gum-bo we would reach a lovely and palatable compromise. Melissa and I both enjoyed our time in New Orleans last year and this nickname would be a special homage to the time we spent there and the people that we met.

If you are looking for a cheap laugh (literally cheap) and a few seconds of humor, then look no further than this item that I am selling on EBAY. If you are looking for a gift for that special someone or perhaps you just want to spoil yourself, then this is the gift for you!

Melissa is doing well. Gum is making her sleepy but other than that we are pretty fortunate that she hasn't had any morning sickness or anything. The first ultrasound is on April 9th so you can be praying for that.

No baby name ideas for today. The well is dry. Actually, not really, but I need to write a paper so I don't have time to be particularly creative.

Melissa has been doing well and currently, our child is roughly the size of a lentil bean. Melissa has a book that shows, day-by-day, what the fetus looks like as it is developing. It is equal parts fascinating and frightening. The fetus has some freak, alien-looking, stages.

We took Bauer to Shadow Cliffs on Saturday. The weather was super nice. Here are a couple pictures.
Aside from the swamp water, the place is kind of nice.

Supposedly the Giants are going to be going after A-Rod next year. That would be pretty funny. Baseball season starts on Sunday. I can't wait.

In related news, VBC softball begins April 6th at 9pm. We are playing on Friday nights again. Be there as we try to defend our 2nd place title!

Baby idea #6...

"Rain." This lovely idea came straight from Amy and Cody Moxley. They suggested it due to it's obvious correlation with the gloomy weather we are currently experiencing. The present gloominess parallels their feelings over the fact that Melissa and I are going to keep the baby's name a secret until he or she is born. Amy also noted that my other name choices and explanations came across as ornery, and, well, arrogant. I have to disagree. It is not arrogant to say that my future child will excel in life, be admired by his or her peers and will likely have a multitude of nicknames and songs written about him or her. It is factual. If we were to choose Rain as our child's name I would definitely dedicate it to actor, Rainn Wilson, aka, Dwight Schrute. His work on The Office is admirable enough to warrant such a name dedication.

For a nickname, we could use the ever-popular, Rain-bo. This name would be in reference to God's promise to mankind (I actually talked about this in Middle School yesterday morning, as we continue on our journey through the book of Genesis). This nickname could help reestablish the true meaning of the rainbow and help take the focus off of the current slaughtering of the symbol. "So socially aware will young Rain-bo be." (Yoda said that to me in a dream once)

Speaking of Amy...I dug this treasure of a video up from my collection this weekend. It is rather embarrassing, both for her and myself. This was shot in 1997, at the beginning of our Sophomore year. Melissa Conley (currently Bowen) is filming. Mel and I weren't even dating at the time, let alone married, which makes Amy's immature comment at the end all the more funny.

Baby name idea #5.

"Bo." Aside from the obvious similarity to the child's last name, this yet-to-be-born baby would have the luxury of being named after one of America's greatest icons, Bo Jackson. Just as Bo knew baseball and football, our Bo will be well versed in the ways of travel, music, and linguistics. For example, during playground discussions, if a question about guitar playing were to come up, the children would surely summon Bo because, as they would say, "Bo knows guitar." Another possible scenario would probably involve a teacher asking Bo what the capital of Lesotho was, because of course "Bo knows travel." Bo would respond by saying "Maseru", and then follow by saying, "I've been there multiple times with my family."

If Bo's musical abilities were to blossom to the level of expertise, he could join famed rock band "Bo Bo", because Bo-Bo, of course, would also be his nickname. He or she would likely play lead guitar and perhaps even sing, because accordingly, he or she will have the singing voice of a hummingbird angel.

Today I had an epiphany. I now know what I am supposed to do in life. I found this amazing video on YouTube today about this guy who traveled around the world and taped himself dancing everywhere he went. Stride (the gum company) saw his original video and ended up sponsoring a second trip to even more places. Check the video out if you have time. It is pretty amazing.

Baby name idea #4...

"Ro." This name would be a derivative of the word, "row", as in, "to paddle." Melissa and I both enjoy the water and all things aquatic so naturally it would be pleasant to name our child accordingly. This name would be especially useful if he or she decided to one day try out for the crew team. The coach of such a team would be a fool to not pick Ro. In mere days, Ro would win the respect of his or her teammates, or crewmates as the case may be, and I can just picture everyone cheering for young Ro after he or she led them to victory, chanting, "Yay Ro", "You are like a brother or sister to us Ro," or, "We want to be like Ro." Oh the possibilities.

If in fact Ro was wounded in a crew accident and had to be reconstructed out of metal and various alloys, we could call him or her, "Ro-bo." This name would no doubt draw comparisons to the late-great Robocop, and justly so. Ro-bo could fight crime and keep his or her family safe. That would be so special.

Things are going quite well on the home front. Melissa is feeling well and as of yet, has not suffered any sort of morning sickness which is nice. I have almost finished editing the Immanuel Mission promo video (for John Bloom and co. in Arizona) and I will post some footage soon. It is really cool to see what the mission looks like during the school year, with the mesas covered in snow and the classrooms actually filled with students. On a related note, the Grand Canyon just opened a "Sky-Walk" above a portion of the canyon where you can walk over a bridge of sorts that has a clear walkway so you can see through to the canyon floor. No thank you.

Baby name idea #3...

"Bill." This is a common name, however, you don't hear the name as often anymore among young children. If the child wanted to pursue a career in finance or as a politician this name would suit him/her quite well.

In the likely chance that the child is short and kind of portly, we can call the young lad or lass, Bill-bo. This of course would be in reference to the beloved character of fiction and lore, Bilbo Baggins. The child would surely love this nickname as he or she would probably be a big fan of Lord of the Rings due to his/her likeness to the Hobbits. As a child it is important to be exposed to people that are not unlike yourself which is why my parents surrounded me with models and fitness videos when I was a young boy.

Melissa's lab results came back positive (as in good) and the doctors said all her hormones are within the normal limits so that is good. She is doing well. No weird cravings yet, but she is tired a lot (a sympton she had even prior to pregnancy!) We went with the Middle School to the Dublin St. Patrick's parade on Saturday. It was enjoyable.

Yesterday I played a pretty intense game of wiffle ball with Perry and Matt Ginn. It resulted in Matt receiving a huge welt on his forehead (my bad) and my shin bloody and scraped (my bad). And so, in honor of our wiffle ball game and at Josh's request, here is one of the worst movies we ever made...Poker Face. (This movie is rated PG-13, for violence and language. Be advised)

Baby name idea # 2...

We could name the child Hoe... I know that this sounds controversial and sketchy, but I assure you, it is not. You see, as a garden tool, hoes are quite useful, much in the same way our child will be for yardwork and other miscellaneous tasks. Also, if the child happens to be Vietnamese, he (or she) will have a name (or at least a derivative thereof) that is popular among his/her people, "Ho."

As if this was not reason enough, we could also call the child Ho-bo. This will come in especially handy if the child ends up homeless, and not useful as said name would suggest.

Justin and I went to the Anberlin show last night and it was simply fantastic. There were four bands total. Jonezetta led off with a stellar set. Check them out if you had not heard them. The next band blew me away. I had checked them out online briefly before the show but was still not prepared for the amazingness that was Meg & Dia. They are composed five members, including two female singers (sisters). They can sing like harmonic hummingbird angels. Check this video out below. They are incredible.

On a funny note, I recognized this guy working at the "To Write Love On Her Arms" merch table. Turns out he and his wife (she was there too) were on that MTV show, Engaged and Underage. I talked to them for a bit and they were pretty nice. It is funny that they even have a show about people who get engaged at a "young age." They were 21 and 22 when they got married. Mel and I were 23 and 22. We should've had our own show!

We are watching the Flory's dog, Peet, this weekend and he and Bauer have been wearing each other out. The weather has been super nice so we have taken the dogs down to the creek behind our house. Bauer is a big fan.
Mel and I continue to take pictures with our new camera so enjoy these sensational shots.One more thing...for those of you that have gone on the AZ mission trip in the past, you will enjoy this. Here is a gallery of school pictures for the students that attend the mission school. It was just posted.

Baby name idea #1...

"Ram." This name would be for a boy or a girl, hearkening back to the days of old when rams were revered as life-giving, food-giving, beautiful creatures of destiny.

Also we could call the child Ram-bo, hearkening back to the musclebound, Vietnam vet turned mercenary-for-hire, John Rambo, himself. That kid would be awesome; boy or girl, black or white, Ram-bo can't go wrong.

On that know, Stallone is in the process of making a new Rambo movie. I simply cannot wait.

If you have the time, cruise by my dad's work blog and leave a comment or two. He talks about being a grandfather to young Ram-bo. He is so lucky!

Melissa and I got a fancy new digital SLR camera. It is lovely. We took a bunch of pictures last night as you can tell. Editors note: Melissa made me remove the pictures of her. She has a mini Dr.'s appointment today where they will take some blood tests and stuff. They will probably tell her that our child is going to be brilliant and incredibly handsome and then make comments on how wonderful the baby's father must be. Typical doctor stuff.

Viacom is suing Google/YouTube for $1 billion. That is a lot of money. I have actually had a video kicked off of YouTube (Tim Hudson Interview) by the MLB for supposed copyright infringement. Kinda lame. We'll see if YouTube wins the suit. I hope so. They have been so kind to me.

If you enjoy Switchfoot then you should check out their live bootlegs on iTunes. If you search the Podcasts for Switchfoot you will find tons of live songs from their current tour. The best part is that they are free! They recorded 6 songs from every show (including 6 from the Valentine's Day show Mel and I were at in SF) and posted them on iTunes. Enjoy.

I get to go see Anberlin/Jonezetta tomorrow night which will be marvelous. My beloved brother will be accompanying me. Now it's time for Bible study with Cody. Until next time...Good tidings!

Melissa has officially vetoed the name, Daniel Craig Bowen, Jr. That is only her and the baby's loss. Back to the drawing board. "Blade" is definitely a front runner (for a boy or a girl). Actually, we are not going to tell anyone the name until young Blade is born. At least we can try to keep one surprise for a while. We'll see how this goes..

Today is Jake's birthday. Hooray. We are about to head to lunch and I need to go write a paper. Feel free to leave any name suggestions in the "comments" section below.

Also, here is a decent article about the A's from the front page of ESPN.com's MLB section. Enjoy.

The rumors are true. Melissa and I are having a baby. That even seems weird to write. Baby. We're having a baby. Weird. That will take some getting used to. Perhaps by the time I am used to saying it, the baby will already be born and I will then have to adjust to that reality. This could be a long year. So if you are not doing anything on November 16th, come to the hospital. We'll be there. The freaky picture on the right is supposedly what a fetus looks like at 4 weeks (roughly the age of young Daniel Craig Bowen, Jr.). That's a good looking kid right there!

I spoke in Big Church yesterday which was quite nerve racking. I was really nervous but I think the Lord spoke through me and I was able to speak clearly and get out the things I wanted to say. I kept knocking my mic off which was funny.

Here is a video from that gross game we played for middle school the other day. Super gross. Enjoy.

Middle School went really well last night. Pati and co. did the music and it was awesome. I am trying to recruit her to do music for the MSM when she graduates. My manipulation is working.

I just got back from helping out in Melissa's classroom. If kids are the future, and if the kids in her classroom are pretty representative of kids across the world, then in the future, it's safe to assume, people won't be very good at math.

Looks like I am speaking in "Big Church" this Sunday. Tim asked me on Tuesday if I would be willing to speak. The good news is I only have to speak for 10 minutes but I am still a bit nervous. Sunday is Student Sunday where the youth ministries are in charge of running the main service. Sunday is also the day we will set our clocks forward. I like that day.

Today's video is the online edition of America's favorite TV show, Tri Valley Today. This month's guest was Tyler Moxley. This is the show that I produce for a local mortgage broker and Tyler was kind enough to be interviewed in the latest episode.

One last item...This Derek Jeter baseball card (and others like it) are going for about $1500 on EBAY right now. If you look closely at the card, someone from Topps inserted George Bush in the stands and Mickey Mantle in the dugout. The card is super rare which makes it more valuable. Kinda cool.

Life is funny. That is all.

Anyway...I uncovered this piece of videographical treasure this week and decided to share it with the world. This is an extra credit video that I made for my Government class during senior year. I look young and goofy and I think you will enjoy it.

I found this crazy pig picture. This is nuts. You can read the story here.

I bought the new Relient K yesterday as an homage to my youth and to my surprise, it isn't that bad. The last song is an 11 minute opus (a la Sufjan) featuring Jon Foreman of Switchfoot. I like it a lot. Another CD worth mentioning is the new record by Between the Trees, "The Story and the Song." They sound like The Format meets Switchfoot meets Copeland. They are enjoyable.

Here is a cool story about A's outfielder Milton Bradley if you wanna check it out.

Time for me to get things ready for theEVENT.

BOWEN BLOG HIJACKED.
That's right, this is Charles Lyle Meng and I have taken over Dan's blog (at least for today). Let me start by saying how legit Dan Bowen is. He really is a good kid and he really does try hard. For those of you faithful readers that don't know, I have known Dan for over 10 years, which makes me feel kinda old. We have shared many adventures, good conversations, and have appeared in countless pictures and movies together (most of which are really bad). So with that brief history out of the way, let me share some of my thoughts with you.

Sean Connery is the sexiest man alive (even though he might be dead by the time I'm done writing this).

No matter what anyone tells you, the original Pokemon are the best.

A 30 year old that still plays Magic the Gathering is not as cool as A 30 year old who still plays with Pogs.

The Oakland A's will make it to the payoffs this year and choke.

Orville Redenbacher has the worst name ever. He also has bad hair and bad glasses. I don't mean to make fun of dead people but, seriously, look at him.

Grey's Anatomy is not a good t.v. show.

P.T. Cruisers are lame.

Sun Glasses are over-rated.

Worst vanity plate I've ever seen: "CROOZIN" (on a P.T. Cruiser).

Pink is not the new black, bow ties are.

Contrary to what Deege says, Hitler was not "misunderstood."

Nothing beats bacon.

Toilet Paper is better than Kleenex when it comes to a runny nose.

Fax machines are annoying.

Whoever said "People lie, watches don't," is a brilliant philosopher.

That's all I got.
Dan, thank you for this amazing opportunity. Sorry, I'm not that funny.
Charlie

I am back from the Men's Retreat safe and sound. It was a really amazing time to be away and hear from a really good speaker and spend time with friends. I am incredible sore. Reason being, I played a bunch of sports consecutively that my body is not used to. I played tennis with Jake and Deej for an hour. I am horrible. We then played basketball with several other guys for an hour or so. I suck. We then proceeded to play frisbee golf (Jake, Howden and I). I can't throw a frisbee to save my life. I then lost to Jake at ping pong in 10 consecutive games. I'm still not talking to him. We then played volleyball. Of these sports, I am probably the most proficient at volleyball but that is still not saying much. I consider myfelf to be fairly athletic but it just so happens that I am absolutely putrid at most of the sports I attempted. Having said that, I had a great time.

We stayed in a cabin called "Fiddletown." This became a running joke with my cabinmates and I (Deej, Moog's, Steve Rego, Matt Howden, and Jake). I was the mayor of Fiddletown and Deej was...well...you'll have to ask him.

Argo's friend spoke and it was really powerful. He was a really gifted speaker and it seemed that he has something to say that was relevant to everyone that was there. Funny thing was that he spoke possibly even faster than Argo, but you could actually understand him. I could go on and on but needless to say I had an amazing time and am looking forward to my next trip to Fiddletown.

My grandma emailed me a couple pictures of my great great grandpa, whom I had never seen before. It is pretty cool to be able to see someone that I am closely related to but have never met. The picture on the right features my grandpa (far left), my great great grandpa (center, holding my aunt), and my great grandpa (right). It is easy to see where I got my stunning good looks from.

I know that this is a long entry but I thought I would include a couple of A's Spring Training pictures for your enjoyment.

I am about to leave for the Men's Retreat but thought that I would update the blog real quick. Three items of note for today.

One: Stephen Colbert's new ice cream, "Americone Dream", is now in stores and as such, I want to eat it.

Two: We played a game for Middle School on Wednesday night called "Buddy the Elf", where two students created a spaghetti/candy meal similar to the one made by Buddy in Elf. This picture doesn't even begin to demonstrate the extreme grossness that was, "Buddy the Elf."

Three: I haven't uploaded any new videos in a while because I have been busy editing the Arizona promo video (the one that I filmed in December) so today I will leave you with a special video treat that I did not create.

This is one of the greatest scenes from one of the best shows ever, Arrested Development. Indulge.

Half day trips are fun. I just took one. Deej, a guy named Jon (a friend of Breitbart) and I, drove to Rocklin to hear Nick speak at his school's chapel. There were about 300 people there and he did a really good job. He attends William Jessup University (formerly San Jose Christian College) and it is cool to see him thriving in that environment. He is a gifted speaker and I was glad that we got the chance to go up there. We left at seven and got back by three. Just your basic half day trip. (Enjoy this beautiful picture of Perry and I gazing at the sunset)

The big news around the canyon, or more particularly, in my home, is that I will be going to Hungary/Ukraine/Romania in April with Gary Darnell and Chris Klein. I booked my plane ticket last night. We will be going to support the missionaries over there and my role will be to document said trip on video. A Hungarian pastor named Bodi is trying to raise funding to build a new church building in Hungary as well as a senior center. Bodi does a lot of speaking in Ukrainian schools on sexual purity and we will be accompanying him on such an endeavor. We will also be documenting orphan and gypsy ministries in the countries we will be visiting. I will discuss more of the details later. You can pray for the trip as it is in the planning stages right now.

Today's horrible video is an announcement video that we made for the high school group in 1999. This video features a very pre-pubescent Chris Conley. Simply hilarious. Enjoy