Merry Christmas!

John and I are back in Milwaukee, he is with Jim and Polly at St. Paul's for Christmas Eve sing along. I am tidying up the house for Christmas brunch with Diana tomorrow morning. We returned after our 24 hour "extra vacation" in Dallas, but still have not be reunited with our luggage. I am loosing hope as our small cosmetic bag made it back, but not the rest. Sigh.

Thought everyone might enjoy some pics from our Portland trip.

Diana, John and John's Grandfather's secretary, Maybell

Below are a few pics from one of the family estates that have been turned into public gardens.

The beautiful view from the Sheraton Dallas --

Merry Christmas family!

Major Jess Update

After such a crazy semeseter, I am ready to start blogging! hoo ray!

Where should I begin...

Well, our One Small Step CD came in on Saturday. They look really great and Zach and I and Jamie, our friend who is putting out the CD for us, are working on setting up a CD release party sometime in mid-January. We have just been asked to play on our public radio station (our NPR music station) on January 4th. We have to come up with an hour long live performance. However, Zach has planned on taking a class out of town that week so our participation in this event will be pending upon whether or not Zach can get out of the class.

We have updated our myspace page with information on our new album and our album cover. You can see it at www.myspace.com/onesmallstep. The more plays we get the better, so we can trick people into thinking that we are uber-popular! :)

Still working like crazy at Cherry Bomb. We had a really good day yesterday. Tons of people are looking for Christmas gifts. There was one guy who spent $160 on a rap costume for a Christmas party he was going to...that was the strangest purchase of the day.

Here is a picture of our album cover:

Here is the back:

Here is the actual CD:


Our friends Matt and Lindsey did the artwork and layout for the cd. You can see more of Matt's work at www.mattdobson.com.

Well, that's about it for now!

Love you guys!

Grant's View

Don't have much time to post with grading, but thought you would enjoy this series of photos taken by Grant over Thanksgiving.

Ben Update - December 1st!!!

Hello Family!

I had a great time with you at Thanksgiving. It was good to see everyone. I especially enjoyed the new family drink created by Jessica, lovingly named "The Stinky Ghost". The recipe (as I remember it) was the following:

• 3 parts Southern Comfort


• 1 part Peach Schnapps


• fill the rest of the shaker with ice & cranberry juice


• shake & serve

So yummy. If any of you were with me right now, I would make us one.

Here is what is going on in my life. Callidus (my company) announced a 10% reduction in work-force. I was not let go. That is good news. Ah, the joys of corporate life.

I am filming a short film with my friend, Owen. You may remember him as the guy who sang my first-dance song, along with his wife, Jodi. This is a short film for a website called Dad Labs. The short film is about a Christmas gone horribly wrong. Dad Labs is an "edgy, fun and informative show dedicated to dads and the women who tolerate/love them". You can see some of Owen's other things like "Conversations with Arden" at this web site:

http://www.dadlabs.com/home/2007/10/17/159-dado-arden-hears-music.html

It is basically Owen interviewing Arden on a tiny couch about music. Jodi Egerton was pregnant with Arden when she & Owen sang my first dance song.

In other Ben-news, I am performing Home Alone at the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz on 6th Street for the entire month of December. Here is a link to the description of the show & showtimes:

http://www.originalalamo.com/Show.aspx?id=4947

Here is a picture of me, Joe Pesci & Macauley Culkin.


I love you very much. Have a safe & happy Christmas.

Post some pictures from your Christmas break! I would love to see some snow!

Dad's 60th Birthday Surprise - The Video

Hello family!

I compiled the video below. I hope you like it. It is a brief narrative of our time at dinner leading up to the surprising of dad. The video is narrated by the one, and only, John Eastberg. Thank you, Jodi & John, for the lovely pictures I added in the video.



As you can tell, I have been watching too much Law & Order.

Love you much! I am looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Ben

Dad's 60th

A few pics from the Birthday weeked. I especially like the one of us holding up our menus.

PugPuggy's First Birthday!!!

Hello Family!

October 21st was PugPuggy's first birthday. Here is a video of the momentous occasion complimented by the musical styling of One Small Step.



I never thought I would be the type of person who celebrates a dog's birthday. But I am. And I love it.

Ben

Bartleyberg Updates

Here is a quick update of the many activities at the Bartleyberg household. Finally last night I crashed from exhaustion - but Mr. Chips (aka John) was able to just keep moving forward and still went out. I am enjoying a lovely sunny fall day today at the house, finishing up some school work for tomorrow, doing a little laundry.


We went down to Chicago a couple weekends ago and toured this house along with several others on Astor Street.


In the same day we went to a formal fundraiser put on by my WEC (Weekend College) student, Lacey. Here we are - not bad for having gotten back from a full day in Chicago about 45 minutes before this picture was taken.


John took a rare day off for his birthday and we went up to Kohler for the day with a friend to visit a really cool private wildlife preserve where we had a fantastic lunch in front of the fireplace at the lodge on a cold and rainy day. Here we are by the river that runs through the property:





We've been enjoying the fireplace A LOT. This is John building our first fire of the season. We still haven't turned on our furnace. It is fixed now, but now we are seeing if we can hold out until Nov. 1 before turning it on. While the highs are only in the 60s during the day, the house warms up with the fireplace and John and I have taken to dressing warmly around the house.



John has been giving an insane number of lectures of late. He did one on Prairie Architecture last week including this house, he did another on the Mansions around the Pabst Thursday night, we went up to Sauk City (north of Madison) last week for another on the architects of the Mansion. What I find amazing is that he never references notes - he just remembers all of this stuff.

So, I better get back to work, but just wanted to update everyone on our crazy October.

Jodi

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!! 60-years-young!

For your birthday, I made you a virtual birthday cake. (Try to guess which Font was not on the original birthday cake)



Aaaaa, the magic of Photoshop.

Everyone who reads this blog should put one of their many favorite memories of dad in the comments. I will get it started with one (of my many) favorite memories of dad:

My 6th grade basketball team consisted of Paul Sprague, Phillip Sieve, Brian Crilly, Ryan Charleston... we were horrible. Judge Sieve (Phil's dad) was our coach. We had not won a game all year. We were playing Christ the King in basketball for St. Pat's. Dad was in the stands, as always. It was a close game and I made the winning basket with about 3 seconds left. I can remember hitting the winning basket, and (instead of running back on defense, like I should have), I looked into the stands and saw dad, raising his clinched fists. When I hit the basket, dad did a fist-pump of excitement. It was the only game we won that year. I don't remember the feeling of winning so much as I remember the feeling of dad & I being there & being excited. Thanks, dad. That was awesome... good thing I hit that shot, I don't think the St. Pat's basketball team won another game all year.

These days, after I complete a good Tech Support call... or make a good joke at one of my shows... or even finish mowing the grass, I often wish I could glance over and see dad with his fist pumped. I think it would make everything I do a little more fun.



October 15th, 2007, is a great day. Join with me in celebration of an awesome 60 years of life. Today, I pump my first in celebration of my dad, Ralph Bartley.

More sattelite images

Here are more important places in Bartley family lore.
Location A)


Location B)


Location C)


Location D)


Location E)


Any guesses?

Places in Bartley Family History Quiz

Welcome to the first "Places in Bartley Family History Quiz". This is round 1 of the quiz. The winner of the quiz receives full accommodation at the Ben & Megan Bartley International House of Luxury in Austin, TX... aka "PugPuggy's House" (accommodation is free, you have to pay for the airline ticket... sorry, not THAT big of a prize).

The rules are simple:
a) I have put satellite images of places that are very important to our family
b) everyone has been to each place atleast once, maybe more times than that
c) put a comment in this post
d) in the comments, try to guess what the satellite picture represents
e) put the number of the picture next to your guess
f) I have included little hints for the more difficult ones

Here goes the quiz...

Location #1)

Hint: This is the easiest one... even Marvin the night watchman knows this place.

Location #2)


Location #3)



Location #4)



Location #5)

Hint: this picture was taken a long time ago.
BIG Hint: closer to the time Jack was born.

Location #6)


Location #7)

Hint: Google maps could not zoom in further than this picture.
Big Hint: The red X is the spot that was important to us
Big Hint #2: That is the Ohio River making a U-shape at the top of the picture

Location #8)


Location #9)

Hint: This is the most difficult one.
Hint 2: We have all slept in this house.
Hint 3: Most of us threw-up in this house during the holidays, thanks to a nasty stomach-flu we passed around
Hint 4: Only Jen & I lived here

Airplanes, Solo-Teaching, and What-not

Hello family!
So...the last time I posted was seven weeks ago when I first began my student-teaching. The time has gone by fast! I have just finished my solo-week of teaching. I am very happy to have it over with.
A few weeks ago Zach and I went on a trip with our friends Ken and Charles to Metropolis, IL. Charles flew us in his small plane (thank you Toyota!)and we landed across the river from Metropolis, in Paducah, Ky. They are really great/fun people and we had a wonderful time with them. Although, flying in a small plane was very scary! But, I can now say I am over my fear of flying! hoo ray!

Jet Setters! - Our pilot, Charles, in the background

This is where the Ohio River and the Mississippi River meet...we saw this from the air...look how high we are! scary!
Hope everyone is well!
Love you guys!
-jess

I am pooped

Hi family,
I am exhausted from work, but thought I would send along a pictures of interest for Friday.

Alverno's world music festival was fun last weekend.

Went to a talk at the Art Museum last night and in the intense fog found Spiderman outside.

these are part of our new copper gutters that are not keep in the water - frustrating! - they'll be back next week to fix it, but WOW they look great!

J

PugPuggy & Micky Mouse Pancakes

Hello everyone!

Here are some pictures of my dog, PugPuggy. This is PugPuggy in her car-seat:


The car seat was a gift from Megan's mom. She loves to sit in it, even when it is not in the car. It is her throne.

Here is PugPuggy playing with one of her favorite toys... an old orange juice bottle. She will chase it around for hours, trying to jump on top of it. Finally, she wrestles it down and begins to chew on it:



Finally, here is something I did on accident.

... Micky Mouse pancakes. I think my subconcious is telling me I need to go to Disneyland.

Love you all!

Ben

3 Years Ago Today

... you were all in Austin, watching Megan & I get married!

Who remembers Mario Van Peebles by the pool?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005522/maindetails

How about Trey Anastacio at the hotel lobby with no shoes on?
www.trey.com

Yes, it was three years ago that Megan & I stood in front of our friends & family, telling everyone that we were going to spend our lives together.

Since we have been married, we have

• moved twice
• bought a house
• adopted a pug
• more importantly, house-broke a pug
• traveled to Asia
• visited Egypt
• toured Europe
• honeymooned in the Caribbean
• switched jobs (once for Megan, once for Ben)
• been on TV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shoCsefHsBs)
  
• gave a ride to Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd & Martin Starr after a night of karaoke
• met Greg Brady
• performed various shows around Austin
• passed 2 certification exams
• started a business (hooray Megan!)
• completed a short film (hooray Ben!)
  

Holy cr@p! We have been busy! I think I am going to take a weekend off. :)

I know I am forgetting some really big stuff on this list, too.

To celebrate our marriage, I am taking my wife to dinner tonight. Plus, I bought her some flowers. Here is a picture:


Here is a side-view:



Here is a picture of us on our 3rd wedding anniversary:


I love my wife. I am glad I married her. I am glad she loves me.