C.C. Chapman's Blog, page 26

2014 in Photographs

Colby Brown inspired me.

He inspired me to share some of my favorite photographs I took in 2014.

They were taken with a variety of cameras and phones with each being special to me.

It was fun to scroll through all my photos and realize the places I’ve traveled, the people I’ve met and the memories I’ve formed all along the way.

Enjoy!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I can’t wait to see what photos I take this year!

Fiction Fridays – The Beginning

My daughter has told me numerous times that I need to write more fiction.

She has heard the stories about how I use to write stories when I was younger and being a creative being herself, I know she sees it in my eyes how much I’d love to write more of it.

With one of my words being ‘create’ this year and with her not letting the idea slip away, I thought it might be fun to challenge myself to share a bit of fiction every Friday.

Only time will tell if this continues on a regular basis, but by s...

Hashtags and The Future of Marketing

I don’t write prediction posts.

Sure, I get asked to contribute to them every so often and sometimes I’ll give in and share my thoughts on the topic at hand.

Lastyear, Chris Penn of SHIFT Communications sat down with me to talk about the future of marketing.

Chris is a dear Friend and I love the team at SHIFT, so I couldn’t say no.

It is fun to realize we filmed this in the early fall and then to look at everything being rolled out at CES this week. Guess I was right on a couple of things.

On the...

Challenge, Value and Create – My Three Words for 2015

The final hours of the year are upon us and I know that2014 was not the year I had hoped for.

In the grand scheme of my life, it won’t be that bad of a year, but right now it was full of disappointments and multiple curve balls that I wasn’t ready for. Yes, it also contained love filled memories and smiles. But, in my head it wasn’t a greatyear.

As I read over last years three words post, it hit me again how much I was ready to move forward and not reflect any more on the last year.

“Get Your Mi...

The Random Monday

Today is always a weird day.

That random Monday just after Christmas and a few days before New Years.

The tree is still up, there is a piece of crumpled up wrapping paper in the corner of the living room and your fridge is full of left overs. Like I said, a weird day.

Dylan is at his driver’s ed class. He is taking a sort of intensive during the holiday break. Emily is cleaning her room and cranking music. Laura is at work and I’m grinding away on a lot of little things.

Christmas was extra speci...

Birthdays and Technology

Today is my birthday. Google told me so. *grin*

One of the few things on my to do list for the day included writing my monthly post as part of the #LifeOnFiOS team.

While op-ed and thought pieces are not the usual fare for this type of post, I found it strangely relevant this morning and I hope they do too.

In the world we live in, connecting with others is almost too easy. A click of a button on one side and a click of another on the other end. Now you are connected.

For some reasons birthdays h...

Presence

Life is full of things that you never notice until they are gone.

Ever notice how quiet a house sounds when the power is off and then how loud it comes in the moments after the power returns?

Roxie hasn’t been gone 48 hours yet and I’m constantly confused by the lack of her presence around me.

I look for her when I get up. I expect her to be laying at the end of the couch. Dropping something on the floor in the kitchen I turned to see her coming to eat it.

I had to run out to the grocery store a...

Rest in Peace Roxie (2002 – 2014)

A good dog is the soul of a happy family.

We adopted Roxie when she was twelve weeks old. She came from a kill shelter in the South and the moment we saw her on Petfinder, we knew we had our girl.

Laura and I picked her up and there was some confusion over which dog was ours. The dog we had seen in the photos was the one we were playing with, but another couple was adamant that it was the one they were adopting. Being who we are, we said ok we’ll take the other one than.

The whole way home she s...

Humans, We Have a Problem

I don’t know how to write what I have to say, but I knew that if I didn’t start typing they’d never come out.

I’m a forty year old white guy living in the suburbs. I have two great kids, a loving wife and a dog who loves me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m an optimist. but passionate about making the world around me a better place.

The United States of America is a country I love with my heart and soul. But, over the last few years it continues to become apparent that we’ve got a lot of wor...

The Crunch of Snow Under My Hiking Boots

The crunch of snow under my hiking boots is a sound that I hadn’t heard in a long time.

The quiet solitude of rucking around Ashland Reservoir was what my mind needed and what my lungs craved.

Twenty nine degrees is cold, but with no clouds in the sky and the sun out in full force it was a perfect Thanksgiving weekend day.

A day to get outside, clear my head and put more miles in.

As much as I would have liked to have Roxie with me, her legs would not have done well. I knew the trail would be sli...