The new Harry Potter trailer (international version)!
October 26, 2008
October 25, 2008
WDW Countdown: The final video
Back to my countdown, after taking a break for our big announcement. We're under the 2 week count for our Disney World vacation!
Anyways, this is the last of the videos (I think). Some of Disney's current promo films for the parks:
Anyways, this is the last of the videos (I think). Some of Disney's current promo films for the parks:
October 24, 2008
Lost Season 5 Trailer
And now for something totally different, the trailer for the next season of the best show on TV, Lost!
October 19, 2008
October 15, 2008
Adoption Update: The rest of the story (so far)...
Last time when I updated the blog with adoption news, I had gotten in touch with my birth mother. We had made introductions and all was going well. I'm glad to tell you that continues to be the case. I've shared stories and photos over the past several weeks, and she has done the same. And with her permission, I'll share some of the details of what happened when I was given up for adoption.
As an 18-year old, Mary Ann Geiger found herself pregnant and the father was no longer in the picture. She had decided to keep the child, and felt it best to keep her pregnancy to herself for as long as possible. Fortunately, it was the 1970's and wearing a poncho all winter long (to hide any visible signs of pregnancy) didn't seem suspicious. After she was 6-months along she finally told her parents about the situation. Her father wanted to keep the matter quiet so it wouldn't hurt his career with the FAA, so he sent Mary Ann off to a "unwed mothers" home in Memphis. A few months later, on July 8th, I was born. She never got to see me as a baby. The name "John Geiger" that I mentioned in a previous blog entry was actually given to me by the State of Tennessee (kind of a "John Doe" situation). She had a name chosen, but I'm keeping that to myself for now. :)
Six weeks later, Mary Ann went to court to sign the adoption papers, legally giving custody to the Hunters. Harold and Marilyn Hunter picked me up at the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home around the same time. She never knew who was taking custody and the Hunters never knew who had given birth to their new child. But she knew I had a good home and, after some time, made some degree of peace with the situation, but always hoped we would get to meet someday. She had no other children, so there are no siblings for me to meet.
When Mary Ann was 20, her parents divorced and her mother remarried to a man named Michael who became a true father to Mary Ann. Some years later she met and married Gunner Beery and they have been a happily married couple ever since, with their (currently) nine dogs. They have traveled the world and have the photos to prove it! They seem to be a genuinely happy couple and currently live in Longs, SC.
Mary Ann was able to give me some good news about the family medical history, namely that there are no serious inheritable medical conditions to speak of with the exception of the thyroid condition with which I had already been diagnosed.
One of the unexpected things I have discovered as a side effect of my searching out this information and getting in touch with Mary Ann has been a more sure sense of self. I was talking to my friend David Price the other day about how I feel more "comfortable in my own skin" (for lack of a better phrase) since I started this process. In talking, we came to the conclusion that adopted kids have an inherent fear of rejection just because of their past. I think this is true even when you have a healthy home life growing up and good relationships with other peers. It's just something that nags at you under the surface. Now that the veil has been lifted on everything, I've felt a certain weight lift... a weight I'm not sure I even knew was there before.
So, for me, I'm finding this to be a very healthy experience, and I feel like I pursued this at just the right time too. God is good, and His timing is perfect.
So I guess the question is, what's next? Well, we continue to share emails and photos and, at some point meet up. I hope that can happen sometime in the next year, but we'll have to see how things pan out. Next year is going to be a big year for us and traveling might be hard, but that's for another blog post. I'll close out this post with a few photos of Mary Ann over the years. Thanks again to my friends for all the prayers and support as I go through this process.
-chadley
As an 18-year old, Mary Ann Geiger found herself pregnant and the father was no longer in the picture. She had decided to keep the child, and felt it best to keep her pregnancy to herself for as long as possible. Fortunately, it was the 1970's and wearing a poncho all winter long (to hide any visible signs of pregnancy) didn't seem suspicious. After she was 6-months along she finally told her parents about the situation. Her father wanted to keep the matter quiet so it wouldn't hurt his career with the FAA, so he sent Mary Ann off to a "unwed mothers" home in Memphis. A few months later, on July 8th, I was born. She never got to see me as a baby. The name "John Geiger" that I mentioned in a previous blog entry was actually given to me by the State of Tennessee (kind of a "John Doe" situation). She had a name chosen, but I'm keeping that to myself for now. :)
Six weeks later, Mary Ann went to court to sign the adoption papers, legally giving custody to the Hunters. Harold and Marilyn Hunter picked me up at the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home around the same time. She never knew who was taking custody and the Hunters never knew who had given birth to their new child. But she knew I had a good home and, after some time, made some degree of peace with the situation, but always hoped we would get to meet someday. She had no other children, so there are no siblings for me to meet.
When Mary Ann was 20, her parents divorced and her mother remarried to a man named Michael who became a true father to Mary Ann. Some years later she met and married Gunner Beery and they have been a happily married couple ever since, with their (currently) nine dogs. They have traveled the world and have the photos to prove it! They seem to be a genuinely happy couple and currently live in Longs, SC.
Mary Ann was able to give me some good news about the family medical history, namely that there are no serious inheritable medical conditions to speak of with the exception of the thyroid condition with which I had already been diagnosed.
One of the unexpected things I have discovered as a side effect of my searching out this information and getting in touch with Mary Ann has been a more sure sense of self. I was talking to my friend David Price the other day about how I feel more "comfortable in my own skin" (for lack of a better phrase) since I started this process. In talking, we came to the conclusion that adopted kids have an inherent fear of rejection just because of their past. I think this is true even when you have a healthy home life growing up and good relationships with other peers. It's just something that nags at you under the surface. Now that the veil has been lifted on everything, I've felt a certain weight lift... a weight I'm not sure I even knew was there before.
So, for me, I'm finding this to be a very healthy experience, and I feel like I pursued this at just the right time too. God is good, and His timing is perfect.
So I guess the question is, what's next? Well, we continue to share emails and photos and, at some point meet up. I hope that can happen sometime in the next year, but we'll have to see how things pan out. Next year is going to be a big year for us and traveling might be hard, but that's for another blog post. I'll close out this post with a few photos of Mary Ann over the years. Thanks again to my friends for all the prayers and support as I go through this process.
-chadley
WDW Countdown: Video #12
And now for something a little different... Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure!
October 14, 2008
October 13, 2008
WDW Countdown: Video #10
My other favorite "old school" ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. Both before and after Johnny Depp was around.
October 12, 2008
October 11, 2008
October 10, 2008
October 09, 2008
October 08, 2008
WDW Countdown: Video #5
Various videos of Walt Disney World, including a commercial shot before opening and directed by Orson Welles.
October 07, 2008
WDW Countdown: Video #4
The Magic of Walt Disney World - an old 16mm film sold in the park as a souvenier.
October 06, 2008
WDW Countdown: Video #3
Florida's Disney Decade: A TV Special shown in Florida celebrating the 10th anniversary of Walt Disney World.
October 05, 2008
Race for the Cure 2008 in Nashvile
On Saturday, October 5th, Jen and I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure that was held in Nashville. Jen's company, Greenvale Homes, was participating in this event to show support to one of their own survivors, Kelly Ginn (Kelly, actually, was the only one of us to RUN the marathon...the rest of us walked).
Parking was across the river near the Titans stadium, so everyone got to walk across the Shelby Street walking bridge. As part of the festival 107.5 FM did something called "Bras Across the Cumberland". Bras were donated to the radio station, tied together and strung along each side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge there was a festival set up in the plaza by Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, and Country Music Hall of Fame. Here you could donate money in the name of a particular survivor, get free coffee from McDonald's, bagels from Panera (in the shape of the "Cure" ribbon) and have a group photo made while you waited for the event to begin.
This 5K marathon started by the Hall of Fame, went up Demonbreun Ave., down Music Row, around the Musica statue, over to Broadway, and back downtown, ending near the Riverfront. It took a couple of hours to finish, but the weather was beautiful and it was just a lot of fun.
Jen and I are thinking of making it an annual event. If you are thinking of participating next year, wherever you are, I really encourage you to do so. You can get more information at www.komen.org.
Parking was across the river near the Titans stadium, so everyone got to walk across the Shelby Street walking bridge. As part of the festival 107.5 FM did something called "Bras Across the Cumberland". Bras were donated to the radio station, tied together and strung along each side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge there was a festival set up in the plaza by Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, and Country Music Hall of Fame. Here you could donate money in the name of a particular survivor, get free coffee from McDonald's, bagels from Panera (in the shape of the "Cure" ribbon) and have a group photo made while you waited for the event to begin.
This 5K marathon started by the Hall of Fame, went up Demonbreun Ave., down Music Row, around the Musica statue, over to Broadway, and back downtown, ending near the Riverfront. It took a couple of hours to finish, but the weather was beautiful and it was just a lot of fun.
Jen and I are thinking of making it an annual event. If you are thinking of participating next year, wherever you are, I really encourage you to do so. You can get more information at www.komen.org.
October 04, 2008
The WDW Countdown Begins...
So it's about a month until Jen and I make our way to Orlando and Disney World. I've loved the place since my first visit when I was about 5. I also have a nostalgic bent for anything having to do with WDW from the 1970's and 1980's. Fortunately, others out there do too, and there's a treasure trove of documentaries, TV specials and 8mm films from that era on YouTube. I'll be posting some of them in the next few weeks. If, for no other reason, to get me excited about our trip!
-ch
-ch
October 03, 2008
Photo of the Day
In preparation for next week's Presidential Debate at Belmont, they've started putting a chain-link fence around a good portion of the campus grounds. Things are going to be crazy around there next week...I'm staying as far away as possible.
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