I’ve been married for 7 years and a homeowner for almost two. For the first 5 years I lived 50 feet from my parents house and therefore had access to a lifetime supply of tools. My father was a high school shop teacher, so he had tools above and beyond the ordinary. At the time I didn’t realize how good I had it. After moving into my own home 30 miles away, I soon realized that my tool collection was sorely lacking and thus began my tool purchasing days. I’ve learned a few things along the way and here’s my top 5 tools that should be at the top of everyone’s list if they’re about to endeavor into home improvement.

1. Measure Twice – If you don’t have at least two tape measures, start here. Believe me. If you do no home improvements at all, you will need this to measure out your house for furniture or hanging pictures on the wall. When we were furniture shopping I pretty much carried a 25′ tape measure with me constantly. You need two simply because they “get lost” from time to time (read: this is something that your spouse will use and won’t put it back!)
2. Step it up – again, it doesn’t matter how many improvements you plan to make…if you hang curtains, paint the walls, or just need to change a light-bulb a step ladder is essential. Depending on your ceiling/personal height you may be fine with a 6′, but a 8′ might be a good option. Aluminum or Fiberglass is also your call…if you plan to do electrical work, go with fiberglass. If you’re a heavier fellow, make sure to get one that’s rated for 300lbs. In my case I have a 6′ aluminum one rated for 250lbs, but I’m 4’5″ and weigh 125lbs.
3. Drill Baby, Drill – I’m really not sure what people did before the invention of the battery operated power drill. It is used constantly in my household. If not for drilling holes, then for screwing, tightening and just speeding up any general screwdriver job. My advice- get the best thing you can afford. I’m not particular to brand names, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Lithium Ion Makita’s. Pricey, but I think worth it.
4. Nail it, Screw it. – I had a hammer, drill, and screwdrivers galore shortly after getting married…but until I moved into my own house (and away from my father’s collection) I didn’t ever have any nails or screws or fasteners of any kind. I remember at least 3-4 occasions after moving into my new house when friends and family would be over helping me with a project and they would say “we just need some screws”…and I would say “I don’t have any”. Kind of embarrassing really. So, go out and buy yourself a few boxes…personally, dry-wall screws go a long way and are useful in a number of situations. If you’re getting ready to start a project, I recommend buying twice as many nails/screws as you need. Inevitably in the future you will need more and it’s a lot more expensive to haul yourself to a hardware store and buy them again.
5. Buy It Once. This isn’t a tool specifically, but it’s probably the most important thing to remember in this list. Jen’s grandfather shared this mantra with her and I’ve found myself echoing it to myself over and over again, often the hard way. Sure you can go into Harbor Freight and buy a ton of tools for really cheap and in some cases, I think that’s fine. BUT for the things that you know you’re going to use for the rest of your life, for tools that are going to have a long, rough life, buy the good stuff. If you don’t, you’ll buy the cheap stuff, it’ll break or won’t work right to begin with and then you’ll buy it again (and again). So it may cost 50% more on the front end, but in the long run it’ll save you.

So, there you go, my list of the tools you need to begin your collection as you endeavor into the world of home-ownership and repair. Did I miss anything? Are there other tools that are vital for you? Let me know in the comments.

While all of this was happening though…I have the distinct feeling that someone at Apple watched the concept video and thought to themselves “We can do that.”  And they did and they called it the iPad.

So, I guess the moral of the story is…if you have an idea and you want to inspire people, make sure you can follow through with it.  Otherwise, you may just inspire your competition.

Don’t mind me, just testing this.

Typing is so 1950′s…

The gear mentioned/used in the video:

Canon 7D
Zoom H1
DSLR Slate
Lowel DV Creator
Sekonic L-358

Not mentioned, but used:
Sigma 30mm f1.4
Apple Final Cut + Compressor
Magic Bullet Looks

“You know the Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: “Did he have passion?”.

I can’t help but turn that question on myself…do I have passion?  Sometimes I’m not sure of the answer.  Lately though, I’ve been finding these little pieces of art that inspire me.  They give me passion.  Some of them I’ve watched many times and always the same result, I’m driven because of them.  So, here’s to hoping that they might do the same for you:

I’ve watched this one so many times…I love all the clips, they make me smile, they make me want to experience more of life (and to film it)  WARNING: contains some cussing at the end

winter. from gnarly bay productions, Inc. on Vimeo.

I just found this one last night…it’s simple, just a guy and girl and a song.  but the dude just really gives it and I dig that.

Ben & Noelle Kilgore “live at Ida Red” from Kelly Kerr on Vimeo.

This is possibly the best piece of film I’ve seen outside of a theater.  In fact, I’ve probably paid $10 for movies with less plot, worse acting, and worse cinematography than this little gem:

APRICOT — A Short Film by Ben Briand from Moonwalk Films on Vimeo.

This was our first vacation in 6 years of marriage. Sure, we’ve taken time and visited family and our job often calls us to some pretty cool places, but it’s not really vacation…at least not how I think of it. It honestly took about 3-4 days for it to sink into my skull that my only responsibility was to have fun…to do whatever I wanted to do. Slowly the stresses and concerns of everyday life faded away and the enjoyment and pleasure modes kicked in and it turned into one of the best weeks of my life. Unfortunately though, we can’t live there, it’s just not realistic.

But what is?

We’ve been home for a couple days now and I find myself similarly unsettled to the way I was on the first few days of the trip. We spent so much time going and doing fun things, things that we WANTED to do and now that we’re back I’m finding it hard to slip back into my regular routine. Suddenly “relaxing” by watching TV just seems like an escape from the fact that my life isn’t as full as it could or should be. I need adventure…purpose…and pleasure. The difference now is that I’m not thinking about ways to just have fun, instead I’m thinking of ways to work the way I want to work, do the things I want to do, and make enough money so that I have the resources to take a vacation more often than once every 6 years.

The moral of the story is this: It’s time to start doing the things that I’ve put off for far too long. It’s time to turn of the TV, sacrifice a few hours of sleep and live in an adventure that will give me a story to tell.

I just discovered QR Codes. Maybe I’m late to the party, I know I’ve seen them around for a long time, but with the purchase of an iPhone 4 there are a lot of old things that are new again. I won’t bore you too much with all of the technical details of what QR codes are…for that you can head over to wikipedia. This is the simple version- QR codes are basically like barcodes only a lot more complex. They can contain text, URL’s, contact information, geographic locations, and so on. The appeal is that you can grab a large amount of info in the blink of an eye…and that the information is somewhat encrypted without a reader. So, it’s kind of like the old days of invisible ink and decoder pens only a much higher tech version. Of course some of it is somewhat redundant since you could just use bump to transfer contact/facebook info or take a photo of a billboard or product and just google it later…but there’s also a bit of a game attached to QR Codes. We’ll see where it goes, but it could be an interesting technology to use in the future…just as long as there’s no tattooing it on my hand or forehead!

Well, I officially have no complaint about Apple and have entered into fan-boy world. Two years ago I went on a rant after Jen’s Macbook crashed. I was pretty ticked that it was a widely known issue, but Apple wasn’t doing anything. But today that changed…they announced a recall that will either replace your existing drive or reimburse you if you’ve already replaced it.

Better late than never.

Not that this will protect you 100%, but I’ve decided to list a handful of tips that might help you to avoid having to make a panicked call to someone like me.

1. Back it up. - I don’t care how you do it exactly, but my recommendation would be to backup all of your important files to at least two different physical locations. You can do this by burning a few DVD’s, using an external hard drive, or through an online service such as Mozy. I would recommend backing up in some form at least once a week. If you go with an online service, it will do a daily backup automatically, which makes it pretty handy.

2. Be smart. - It’s pretty simple, most viruses, adware, and other malicious pieces of software built to destroy your computer lie in the seedy underbelly of the internet. If you don’t visit those places, you’re likely to avoid the bad stuff all together. Forwarded emails, Limewire or other peer to peer sharing applications are other things to avoid. Do not download or install any application that doesn’t come from a reputable source. Never click on a file ending in .bat or .exe unless you know exactly what it is and who it came from.

3. Get protection. – If you aren’t running anti-virus software you’re just asking for it. AVG Free is a good solution although it seems to be getting a little bloated. Currently I’m trying out Avast and so far I like what I see. Beyond that, an anti-adware application and perhaps a firewall of some sort would be a good base. Just go to download.com and look at the most popular (non-sponsored) programs in the category and that’s usually a good option.

4. Keep it clean. - Aside from the security programs that you should be running 24/7, I would recommend a handful of utilities to keep things clean and running smoothly. Start with keeping Windows updated. Even if you have automatic updates on, check the optional stuff from time to time. CCleaner is an app that I’ve come to really like. It cleans off temporary files, frees up space, and will also scan your registry to clean up errors. There are a handful of other programs that do similar things, but I really only use those if CCleaner doesn’t do the job first. Auslogics Disk Defrag is another one I tend to go back to often. It does the same thing as Windows Disk Defrag, but it takes a fraction of the time.

5. Google it. – Let me just pull away the curtain and tell you a little secret…after I’ve done all of the above, I go to Google and search for the exact symptoms, error code or otherwise. There is almost always an answer. If there’s not, well…it’s time for a reformat and that’s probably where you call me. In that case, do step #1, call me, and next time follow steps 1-4 thoroughly.

OR…

Instead of following all of these rules, buy a Mac. I am serious. I’ve been 100% Mac for 2 years solid, Jen has for 3, and we’ve had a secondary Mac in our house for 4. In those years, I’ve had exactly one major problem which was a hard drive failure (which happens no matter what). No anti-virus, no adware, no defrag, no registry cleaning…not even a worry about backups because Macs have that built-in.

I know Macs cost more initially, but think about all the time you’ve spent troubleshooting and fixing your PC. I have a PC at work and I’ve spent no less than 100 hours in 2 years trying to diagnose numerous issues. 100 hours x $10/hr = $1000. Enough said.

So, hopefully this was somewhat helpful. If you have any tips you’d like to share, hit me up in the comments.

A while ago we played the “Newlywed Game” at my church. It was a pretty simple and clean version and one of the questions was this: “Wives, if your husband could have any car in the world, what would it be?” My jaw dropped at the responses. Out of 6, only one said anything exotic or pricey. I think two of the responses were for a new Chevy Mini-Van. Seriously? A Mini-Van? Now, don’t get me wrong, I think there’s value in having dreams that are realistic and I don’t condone coveting what others have….but what I’m really getting at is dreaming, I mean REALLY dreaming. If you’re biggest ambition is just to survive life…wow… what’s the point!? DREAM BIG! If you never seek, if you never ask, if you never chase after something, you’re surely never going to have it. (And obviously I’m not talking about cars here, I’m really talking about life!)

We’re closing on a house this week. It’s in an area 30 minutes away, closer to Cincinnati. People keep asking why we’re moving and what I want to tell them is that I just don’t want to live my whole life here and never experience what could be out there waiting for me.

DREAMS are out there and I HAVE to go chase them.

And by the way, if I could have any car in the world, it would be a Aston Martin DB9. “It is so choice, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up” -Ferris Bueller

At about this time last year I was really, really dreading what was inevitably coming in just one short month; our job with Radio City. The year prior we had a really bad experience and just never really clicked with any of the cast members and had pretty much said, “this is the last year” and we’re only in it for the money. Well…things changed and last year we ended out having 2 incredible months with a cast and crew filled with people that we really loved. So, now with only a month to go until we depart I find myself ‘singing a different tune’. I can’t wait to get there..

Last year as the show was winding down and we were about to head home I pulled out my journal and Jen and I composed a short list of things we wanted to remember about the year. I was afraid that we would go home and forget about the experience and the people that we had grown to love and I didn’t want that. I wanted to take the experience and use it to grow and mature. So, here is the list of things we wrote down:

1. There are always friends at Radio City

2. Winchester [and the surrounding community] doesn’t know it all.

3. It is a big world.

4. Talk to people, ask questions.

5. Non-Christians aren’t “evil”

6. Take Risks!

7. Be POSITIVE! Support each other, cheer each other on!

8. Find someone to learn from & train someone else to take your place

9. Do things just for the experience

10. If you need something, don’t be afraid to ask.

1. I love the power of the internet- how limitless knowledge is at my fingertips. I hate that it entices me so much that I burn countless hours staring at nothing.

2. I love the quietness of my town when I go outside late at night/early in the morning….sometimes it’s the closest I can get to pure silence

3. I love looking up to the stars above and being reminded of how small I am.

4. I love the heart that Jen has for animals, the innocent, and the underdog.

5. I love that she screams one minute at a bug, yet the next insist that it not be harmed

6. I love her new found joy of cooking and experimentation. whether the food is good or bad, the experience is always worth it.

7. I love the freedom i have with a few close friends to be unguarded. to truly speak from my heart with no fear of what they might think.

8. I love art. how it moves me and makes me feel emotions, even if it is sometimes painful.

9. I love getting phone calls from long time friends, especially those that have drifted away geographically. I cringe at the phone calls from relatives and acquaintances in which I know are only calling because they need a favor

10. I love the potential of the unknown future- dreaming about what might be and how fulfilling everything could become – yet I am fearful of not knowing the details of how exactly it’s going to happen

11. I like to plan things out and know what’s going to happen ahead of time, but I love it when things don’t go as planned and end in an unexpected adventure.

12. [I just experienced this one for the first time today] I love going into a good produce section and breathing in all of the smells and flavors and just thinking about how all of them are separate, incredible gifts of flavor and beauty.

The one thing I’ve realized through this process is that there is nothing I have to give to God that he doesn’t already have. When you think about giving a gift to a loved one, you’ll likely find a list of things they want or need…or maybe you’ll find something that you just think fits their personality. When it comes to God, there isn’t exactly a place to go for that gift. Which is where Psalm 116:12 comes in…it says this [from the Message]:

What can I give back to God
for the blessings He’s poured out on me?

You may be familiar with that passage, since Bono of U2 has been using it as a prelude to “Where the Streets Have No Name” in concert. The counter part to that passage I found in a song that we sang tonight at The Gathering called “I Will Not Forget You”. Here are the words of the chorus:

A grateful heart I give, A thankful prayer I pray,
A wild dance I dance before you
A loud song I sing, A huge bell I ring,
A life of praise I live before You

So, in that song is the answer- Get crazy with what you got. I know the church shutters at the word “dance”, but man, I just love the idea of truly dancing before God. Not for men to see, not for men to judge, but for the one that gives you breath, for the one that gives you a song, for the one that gives you rhythm.

Sing it, dance it, shout it, live it.

That’s what we can give back to God for the blessings he’s poured out on us.

I went to a wedding tonight that was very different from most. For starters, it wasn’t in a church and it wasn’t outside. No live music, no singing, no unity candle. But…it was still a wedding. In essence the young and nontraditional couple did things their way, but still held onto the real things that make a wedding. Loved ones were there, they exchanged rings, vows, and kisses and that was that.

I’ve been home for a few hours now and I just had an observation about it- that wedding was very symbolic of the coming generation. Give us what’s important, leave the rest, and we’ll figure it out.

I often think about the wall of books that set in my pastor’s office. It’s literally busting at the seams, there are books piled on the floor, others scattered on desks and furniture…almost all of them in someway related to the bible. [How is it that we can write volumes out of one simple book? Maybe that's a topic for another day.] When you crack open one of those books off of the shelf, what you’ll likely find is a story about a person or organization that defied the odds. They went against what was normal, what was expected, what was easy, and succeeded. I guess it’s only natural that our response to those stories is “oh, we’ll if they can do it, we can too!” So we come up with some contrived formula to make their ways fit our ways…

…but we’ve missed the point.

The point isn’t to try to copy what they’ve done, but rather to be inspired by it.

That’s what I loved about the wedding tonight and that’s what I love about my generation. We’re not going to do things your way just because. We’ll take what is necessary, what has meaning, and we’ll make it our own.

Give us what’s important, leave the rest, and we’ll figure it out.

Tonight I pulled up Netflix instant play and watched this documentary “Man on Wire”. It’s about a french man, Philippe, who back in the 70′s made it his obsession to walk on a tight rope drawn between the World Trade Center towers. The film is exceptionally well put together, with amazing photography and tons of actual footage of the days leading up to the event. What instantly drew me in was his undying passion for his art. There’s no way to explain it without just watching the film. In his words he said, “It is impossible that’s sure, now lets start working”. I just love that. How many times have you said that yourself? It’s impossible, but lets try it anyway? It seems like it’s a growing trend that we say, “eh, I think it’ll be a little too hard, lets try something else”.

anyway, that’s not really where I want to go with this. There was another quote (the title of this post) that I want to get to. After successfully going back and forth between the two towers, the cops arrest Philippe and as he walks by the reporters they shout out, “Why did you do it!?”. Philippe simply replies, “There is no why.”

There is no why.

As an artist, I love this statement. It seems too often that the things we do must have a reason. Everything is based on logic, control, reasoning… Why can’t we do things just for the sake of doing them? For the experience, for the expression, for the freedom that comes in actually creating something! Creating is something that I believe we’re all drawn to in one way or another, but most of us stop when we ask ourselves the questions “why do I need to create this or that?” or “What will I say when people ask me, ‘Why did you create this?’” I guess simply tell them there is no why.

I’m learning more and more everyday about myself. About what I should or shouldn’t be doing and the one universal truth I have come to is that I must be creative in what I do. I must create art. My problem is that I am trapped into feeling like I need a reason for it. I guess what I learned today is there doesn’t have to be a reason. There doesn’t have to be a why.

One really great thing about the internet is that you can be whoever you want to be. You can say things that you wouldn’t normally say, talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to, and become someone, or at least create the image of yourself that your life is better/more interesting than it actually is. I get this observation from looking around on Flickr and thinking “i wonder what these people are like in real life” and often I think that they are probably quiet and kind of nerdy, but on the inside they have such incredible talents and insights that only people from 2000 miles away could/would ever appreciate.

This post isn’t heading where I thought it would.

What I initially wanted to say or refer to is that it’s never too late to start fresh. People CAN change and people CAN become who they want to be in real life…it just takes a little guts to put yourself out there. I have a good friend, who is about old enough to be my dad, that recently went through a drastic life change when he found out he had cancer. I didn’t know him very well before, but the man that I know now is…well…awesome [for a lack of a better word]. He has become the man that he wanted to be, started doing the things he thought he should do, and saying the things he thought he should say…and you know what, people love him because of it – I’m one of them! So my point is simply this- stop pretending. Stop creating the “image” you want people to see…and start actually being who you want to be. Let me say that again…

Stop creating the “image” you want people to see…
Start being who you want to be.

that’s all.

A year or so ago Andy tried this experiment- he created a short album, completely for his fans and distributed it strictly through his website and iTunes. So, that’s not that ground breaking, right? well, there were two catches- first, he did it for FREE. you could donate if you wanted to, but not required. Secondly, it wasn’t just for the fans, it was in part, BY the fans. They contributed stories, letters, ideas for the songs. Andy in turn made it into poetry…but it didn’t stop there. On the last track he offered the online community the opportunity to be on the record. Just record yourself singing a simple melody and send it to him. He then spliced it all together into something wonderful. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to that album, but I know for sure that it was probably the most played of my entire collection for the past year.

Well… He did it again. Yesterday Andy released “Letters to the Editor Vol 2″. Just like the first one he invited ideas for the album and invited people to contribute vocals as well as their instruments. He provided some backing/click/sample tracks to keep you on track and the rest was up to you. And again Andy turned it into something beautiful. The icing on the cake, so to speak, was the subject of the last track- a song titled “Let Us Know You”. Andy writes, “This song was written in response to the overwhelming number of letters I received from people battling depression, numbness, and a general bleakness which barely conceals anger. I understand it, because I recognize it in myself.”

Wow.

After reading those words and hearing the song, I can’t help but be reminded of one of my favorite sites, Post Secret. Everyone is carrying around something, dealing with something, struggling with something. And for me, this song pulls all of that together in an experience that is breathtaking.

So, without further due, I urge you to hop over to Andy’s site, download the album, give a few bucks if you want, and just listen…

my friends have sent me letters
I’ve read them all and then
I tried to make sense of the stories
but I was overwhelmed

so much anger, so much pain
we’ve had to go numb to survive

[chorus]
so I am closing my eyes
and I’m praying for thos in my life
let us feel, let us love
let us be alive, let us know you

my friends have shared their secrets
and I have given mine
the anarchy of what we think
no one will ever find

in the daylight, to our surprise
our secrets are shades of the same

[chorus]

in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with You
You parted the seas
held up the flame in the night to guide us through
You drew in the sand
dropped the stones from violent hands
heard the cry of the crow
and set Your eyes on a faithless friend

You are who You are, and You are and You were and will be

That led me to a question of my own- What are the top 5 pieces of technology that make my job easier/better? Well, without further due, here they are:

5. Amazon Prime – I’ve mentioned this a time or two before, but I just love this service. Amazon as we all know has pretty much everything under the sun. Add to that the idea of getting it shipped to you in two days for free or overnight for just $4 and you have a winning combination. With gas prices and time being as tight as they are, this service just makes it easier for me to get what I need quickly and cheaply.

4. Scansnap Sheetfed Scanner – from the moment I plugged this thing in I was in awe. Scanning documents used to be a big pain in the neck, but the scansnap is…well…a snap! Drop in your document, hit the big green button, and within seconds it scans and drops everything into a PDF. No more flipping through file folders looking for certain documents…all it takes is a keyword search and I have the document on my screen.

3. Dropbox/Mozy – until I actually had a job I didn’t really see the value in online storage solutions, but within the first few weeks my eyes were opened. I used a flash drive to transfer files back and forth between home and work, but I would forget it or forget to save it on the drive and it quickly became a pain. So, dropbox allows me to sync files between home and work so I don’t have to worry about what is here or there. Mozy backs up my documents to an offsite location which is particularly handy when I’m using the scansnap to scan documents and I no longer have hard copies.

2. Adobe Illustrator – oh wow, what can I say about this program…I would be lost without it! Everything from brainstorming, to print graphics, to powerpoint presentations are worked out in illustrator. At first I didn’t get it and I still have trouble jumping from Illustrator to Photoshop, but Illustrator definitely makes sense to me and I can make it do just about whatever I want. My only complaint is that I wish Adobe would make something for presentations so I could avoid dealing with Powerpoint!

1. THE iPhone. – it’s no secret that I’m a fan of this little piece of genius. It’s one of those devices that you wonder how you did life before you had it! It’s essentially a computer in my pocket, constantly within reach of the web, my photos, my music, and of course the phone and texting isn’t bad either.

So that’s it. What would be on your list?

And it does!!!

After a year of waiting, I’m finally going to become an iPhone owner this week…but not like you might think. When the iPhone came out I debated getting one, but at the time I didn’t need a new phone, Jen did. So she got one and I was forced to envy hers. Christmas rolled around and she decided to splurge and get one for me, but after some careful consideration I decided to hold off and see what was around the corner. Sure enough, just a few days later information started to surface about the 3G version…

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when the iPhone 3G was announced. I was overall happy about the announcement and especially the price, but it was short lived when the new plans from AT&T were announced. It may be $200 cheaper than the first generation…but over the period of 2 years it ends out costing $160 more…and continues to be more every month. I would rather pay more upfront and not over a long period of time (and that’s true of anything).

So, I debated and crunched the numbers over and over but just couldn’t justify the extra cost for GPS & 3G. Especially when 3G doesn’t yet cover my area. So, I hit up craigslist and ebay and eventually found an unopened first gen iPhone and bought it yesterday. It should be in Thursday or Friday and while everyone else is waiting in line and signing the next two years of their life away, I’ll quietly activate my phone from home and be happy with the upgrade.

a year of patiently, patiently waiting…and while I could have bought one long ago, I think it was a valuable lesson to be learned and I’m proud of myself for waiting so long.

With all of that said, here are a few sites and designs that I’ve been really digging lately-

Hive Modular – (here are pics) check out B002, C001, C003, & X001

Rocio Romero – LV or LVL

Clever Homes – Now House (CH1) and CH10

Nutter Home (blog) – this is a blog detailing a modern, green home built 35 miles from where I live!

If you don’t like any of these, that’s ok. You don’t have to…just don’t expect me to change

We’re spending all kinds of time debating on why we didn’t play this song or that or why we can’t have the hymns back. It’s just silly. There’s so much more out there for us to explore, why don’t we seek it out?

I just don’t get it.

About 45 minutes into the 2 hour & 15 minute drive the car freaked out. Battery light came on to start, then the temp gauge was peaking and I knew we needed to pull over ASAP. As we were pulling over I realized that the power steering was gone. After some quick checking and research we figured out that a belt broke which controlled the issues above. So yeah…the car is broke down, problem #1. Problem #2- Jen is most likely going to miss her flight. If it would have happened 30 minutes before, or 90 minutes later we would have been fine. But as it turned out we were in no man’s land…and our only option was to forget about the flight and just get the car back home. So…a call to my father and then an hour wait for him to come with the trailer.

We got back fine and the car will be OK (I HOPE!). But Jen’s going to miss her sister’s graduation and it just sucks…but what can you do. On top of all that, it was 90′ outside today so during our hour wait, Jen got a serious sun burn. I told her her arms look like imitation crab meat. (see above picture)

So…yeah, bad day. Service manual is on the way for the car, already have the parts, so hopefully over the next 2-3 days we’ll be back in working order.

The only thing that I can think of for now is to point you to this new site that I’m really digging Where We Do What We Do. It’s just as the name suggests…pictures of workspaces. I don’t know why I find it interesting, but I’m really curious about what people have on their desks, walls, etc. It also makes me want more art and a better (more modern) desk. Anyway.

That’s it for day one of the experiment. Bring on day 2!

Over the past several years of my life I’ve been known to be less than optimistic in most situations. In fact, I’ve been passive-aggressive, pessimistic, and hyper-critical of pretty much everything. Now, I’m not going to even suggest that I’m completely cured of all of this, but I will say that over the past 6-8 months I have begun down the path to setting things right.

So, why the change? Well, I can’t completely explain it, but to say it’s been a journey. Jen and I had a great experience with Radio City in the fall which gave me a new passion and love for people. Then we came home and I got into a small group with a few other guys at church. On top of that, I was given a great job and just have been blessed time and time again for no apparent reason. So, today…I’m sitting on the lawn mower, giving the grass a chop, the sun is shining and I’m thinking “wow, life is good. Thank You God!”

I could go on and on about how much God has done for me, but my words would simply fall short of doing it all justice. So, I’ll leave it at that.

It’s really been fun working things out and solving little issues…I’m looking forward to my next site already…

I have a job.

No, not a 2 month gig that has unreal hours with unreal pay. A real, 9-to-5, sitting-in-an-office-chair, job. I would have mentioned the prospect earlier, but to be honest, it was somewhat of a whirlwind. A week and a half ago my pastor called me up and told me he had a “proposal” for me, so we went out to dinner where he told me that an employee had just turned in her resignation and would be taking another job in two weeks. He said that I was the first person that came to mind and pitched the job to me. It wasn’t at all expected so it took a little time to soak in and mentally adjust to the thought. A week later I found out some of the final details and accepted the position, then today was my first day! So…hooray for me!

2. Vimeo.com – For a while I’ve been looking into an upgrade on my church’s video camera (and partially curious for personal use as well). I did a search for some high def sample footage and ended out at this site called Vimeo. Essentially Vimeo is a youtube like site, only with a much smaller community and a much stronger focus on the artistry of film making. The real bonus from the site and what sets it apart from many others is that there are hundreds if not thousands of HD clips. I have a pretty big pipe to get this stuff, but I’m still amazed at how fast it buffers and plays at such incredible quality.

3. 24″ iMac – Yes, it’s true I’ve finally decided to switch and as we speak my new 24″ iMac is on it’s way here. I will admit that there is some hesitation and wonder as to how I’m going to like working in OS X all the time, but I have a feeling it’s going to be all good. The added bonus- the ability to watch and record true HD.

And I thought my Vista issues were rough…

Yesterday Jen’s Macbook crashed…hard. She was having some trouble with it responding and went to reboot…when she did, she saw the folder with question mark flashing (pictured above). I did a quick Google search using her iPhone (no internet on my computer, because I was using HER computer to connect) and found out that it was likely a hard drive failure. A little more digging and I was sure of it…so, off to Best Buy for a new hard drive. Usually I wouldn’t do this, but with Christmas a week away and my computer being reliant on hers for internet, I couldn’t wait for a HD to be shipped from newegg. Yes, I got ripped off by my sworn enemy- Best Buy.

So…moral of the story- back up your data! I’ve been researching some backup options for a while, but haven’t found the perfect solution. With this most recent encounter, I just can’t afford to wait any longer and neither can you! Your hard drive WILL fail, it’s just a matter of time.

And yes, I am pretty ticked at Apple. This is a HUGE issue with not just her machine, but many, many others. If you have a Seagate drive with firmware version 7.01, be warned…you’re living on borrowed time. If Apple hasn’t lost it’s class there will be a recall or extended warranty issued…and HOPEFULLY a way to recover the data. anyway, that’s all.

seriously, BACK IT UP!

So…let’s work through this…
wireless adapter #1 – incompatible with Vista, crashes the system upon boot.
adapter #2 – works for 4-5 days before giving “local only” errors.
adapter #3 – works for 2 days and gives the same “local only” error.

Scouring the internet for solutions brought me back to find out there is no solution. Service Pack 1 Release…no help.

My current setup consist of a cat5 cable running from my computer into jen’s macbook and her sharing her wireless connection with me.

Anyone care to donate to the “Dave need’s a Mac Fund”? The moment I get a few extra bucks or get a job lined up after Radio City, I’m buying a Mac. I’m done with Vista.

Tonight we closed the Radio City show in Chicago and will be moving on to Des Moines in two days. It’s a somewhat bittersweet departure as I have come to really like Chicago as a whole. There’s a lot of things to do, places to eat, shops to explore, and I have a feeling that Des Moines isn’t exactly crawling with culture. Oh well, life goes on – plus, i definitely won’t miss the Chicago traffic…UGH! The run has been going exceptionally well so far. Being away from home has come as a welcome change of pace and our cast mates couldn’t be better if I hand picked them myself. I just don’t know what else to say, it’s been a really, really great month!

Beyond the normal, I’ve been trying to read as much as possible. In the past 2-3 weeks I’ve read half of book 6 in the Harry Potter series and the entire book 7. Once I got into it, I was hooked…book 7 took about 72 hours from start to finish! I’ve never read so much in so little time in all my life! And yes Jen, I know it only took you 48…but we’re talking about me here A couple days ago I shifted gears and started reading Rob Bell’s most recent book “Sex God” and I’m already about half way through it – no, it’s not about what you think…well, not really. It’s nothing earth shattering to this point, but I will say that there are definitely some positive things I can pull from it.

Christmas is just around the corner and I’m completely unprepared for the idea. I have 4 nieces and 2 nephews to buy for, which always turns into a battle against myself to find the coolest possible toy and in turn become the coolest possible uncle. Yes, I know that I can’t buy their affection…like I said, it’s mainly just me being transfered back into my childhood days and dreaming of the toys that I wish I could have. Maybe it’s some weird kind of complex?

Speaking of shopping, we’re heading out tomorrow to hit a couple shops that they don’t have around home (ie H&M) so I better get to bed so I can wake up at a decent time. Until next time…

The image/numbers up above are a little speed test for my new “turbo” internet service. 3-4 months ago I called asking about the service, but it was additional $20…too rich for my blood. Then 4-5 days ago they called offering a “free” upgrade…with the monthly charge of $5. I took it. So I went from 7MBps to 15MBps…and I now have the fastest internet service I’ve ever used anywhere. It’s pretty cool…of course, I’m about to leave in a few days, so the timing could have been better…and Vista still is sucking the life out of me…

It’s funny how the house shifts when it gets cold…we usually keep the air on during the summer…somewhere between 68-70 degrees. When winter is here we push it to like 72-75. It doesn’t make sense unless you’ve lived in an old house. The floor is FREEZING and the thermostat just doesn’t quite get that concept yet.

Speaking of houses…we went and looked at one a few days ago. It wasn’t “perfect”, but it was very, very nice. It’s kind of frustrating because I really didn’t want to like the house…i wanted the inside to be junky and require too much work…but it wasn’t bad…at all. With a little paint and some minor renovations it could be a great place. Of course there’s always the minor issue of money that comes into play. We’ll see what happens.

10 days until we head off to work. I’m a little excited but also a little hesitant…with each year that passes our roots grow deeper here in Ohio making it that much more difficult to leave. With that said, I know it will be good for us to get away, to have contact with “the world” and make some money.

Jen is still a knitting fool. She started the process last year at Radio City and now a year later I don’t think there’s anything that she can’t do. I’m curious to see how her talent is used during the run…maybe she’ll become the mentor to some prospective knitters? I’m still waiting on some socks, or a hat, or even a sweater. Seems like everyone else is in line before me. Oh well…I’m glad to see her find something she’s so passionate about.

well, that’s about it for this round…at the rate i”m going I’ll post again sometime in 2008. jk. maybe as life gets more interesting, so will this blog. stay tuned.

…it’s just because I got Halo 3 today (and it’s awesome).

Life will return to normal…eventually.

Guitar- 1974 Guild Starfire IV, $1200 Pics here.
PDA – Dell Axim x51v + extra battery, $200
DVDs – CSI Season’s 1-5, $50

Also, I might be selling these two items:

iMac G4 (1ghz, 768mb RAM, 80GB HD), $500
Nikon F100, $250

if you’re interested, comment to this post or email me silentfool [at] gmail.com

I figured out today that my computer has been causing problems for about 3-4 months. I attributed it to the router or other things for a while…but I finally decided to do some troubleshooting and narrow down where the problem was coming from. So, i found the problem- Vista. Normally this is the point when I would try to fix the problem, but my attempts only led me farther down the rabbit hole. I was working with the network settings and now Media Center won’t work, which has nothing to do with the network. Then it got worse and currently I can’t hear any audio at all. I’m sick of it.

As soon as OS X Leopard is released or begins coming free with the new Mac systems, I’m buying one. That’s that.

First, the iPhone. No, I don’t have one…but, my wife does, which is almost as good. Let me just say, this thing is amazing. All the naysayers that have complaints are frankly, just big babies. It truly is life-changing-amazing. We’ve already had several experiences where it saved us a ton of time, not to mention a few bucks. Google maps is worth the price of admission alone!

Have you got the picture yet? I really like it.

Is it perfect? no.

You can’t replace the battery, EDGE isn’t as fast as it could be, the audio jack is annoying, and it’s pricey. But when you put it up next to every other phone on the market…it kicks major tail. So, pending there aren’t any big announcements from Google or Apple in the next 4-5 months, I’ll probably be getting one too.

*I started this post before the price drop and was ticked for a good 24 hours, but they just announced a $100 kick back for the “early adopters”. more on this later*

That brings me to the second topic, which is related, this site called seeqpod.com. I found this site through a iPhone app search. I was pretty impressed with it and just realized today that it’s even better when you have a full pc and not just the iPhone. I won’t spoil it and tell you too much since it’s fairly self explanatory…but here’s the basic gist – you search for a song, any song…you find it, you add it to a playlist…you play the song…instantly. INSTANTLY. Sure, you’re not going to find every song known to man, but there’s a lot out there…and it’s quick and easy and just cool. So check it out before it gets shut down by the RIAA.

So back to Apple…I am truthfully nearing the fan-boy neighborhood (meaning, i really, really like apple). This $100 rebate is just unheard of in the tech world…and the fact that they’re doing it, makes me want to keep coming back to them, and that is just plain old good business. I keep working with their systems and learning how their stuff works…and with each new line of products I am just amazed. Truthfully, the only thing holding me back from going full out Mac is #1 Price, #2 MS Office is not pretty and #3 no Media Center. Sure I could boot into windows or do parallels and run my MS stuff, but media center won’t really work with TV recordings.

So anyway, I’m really babbling now. I should probably draw this post to a close before I allow you to find out how big of a geek I really am…or maybe it’s too late.

I like technology, but I sometimes wish I could leave it behind for a simpler life.

I like photography, but days and often weeks pass without pressing the shutter once.

I like music, but I’ve never wrote my own song or formed a real band.

I like graphic design, but I don’t know much of anything about flash, css, or php.

I could go on and on…  I don’t know if I’m just afraid to commit to something out of fear of failure or if I’m too proud to let the other things go.  or ???

Today while out on the golf course I told my friend Doug, that “the name of the game is consistency.  You don’t have to be the best, just know what you’re going to do and that’s enough”.  I guess some of that logic could be used here.  It’s not that I want to be the best in all the world at whatever I do, but I do want to find consistency and know that I am good enough.

It’s obvious that I don’t blog very often, but it’s not by choice. I just can never come up with enough to say or the right way to say it. While I was thinking about that, I ran across several other things that I just don’t do enough of. Visiting a couple of friends who are into photography I was reminded of what it’s like to shoot everything, everyday. My photography has turned into a formula instead of art. Likewise I saw a movie that made me want to play guitar, and write, and record video, and edit…

This isn’t the first post I’ve wrote like this and it probably won’t be the last. But I’m ever so hopeful that I can make the effort to do the things I wished I was doing more.

Warning: This post is a sure sign of my of geekness…if you find yourself interested in the post, you may be in danger of becoming a geek yourself.

Ok, with that out of the way…I have a few serious infatuations…sure I love all kinds of tech, but that’s so broad and ever changing. Beyond my general interest in computers, gadgets, and multimedia, there are a handful of things that I just like to look at, no matter how many I already have, or how many times I’ve looked before. One of those is pens, which I’ve mentioned in prior posts, but the one I want to mention this time around is flashlights. That’s right…flashlights.

I know you may be saying, how can that even be interesting at all!? Well…like everything else, technology is really changing the flashlight world. LED’s have taken over the market and made battery life last for hours when it once lasted minutes. Sure, LED’s aren’t generally the brightest, but they last and they get the job done. Well…there’s more good news from the LED tech…they’re getting brighter. In fact, a lot of the LED lights on the market are surpassing their incandescent counterparts.

So, here’s a little personal history…about 6-7 years ago at a family reunion a cousin pulled out this little tiny flashlight a “Princeton Tec Blast“…it took 2 AAA batteries and was nearly as bright as a 3D Maglite. A few days later, I had one…it was small, durable, bright, and had an OK battery life. I thought it was the end all flashlight…until I went to work in the theater biz. Backstage is pretty dark and in order to direct traffic backstage a lot of the crew used these Scorpion Streamlights. These are about the size of a common AA Maglite, but much, much brighter. In fact, the brightest flashlight I had seen…the only downfall was the battery life-50-60 minutes max. And not only that, but they use these CR123 batteries, which can cost as much as $15 a pair…so I never busted out the bucks for one of those.

So…fast forward to today…I was browsing through walmart or target and happened upon the flashlight section and my fascination was piqued again. I nearly bought a generic scorpion-type light but decided that like all things, i should do some research first and make sure it was a decent light in comparison to the others out there. Well…turns out it was an ok light, but while in process i found “THE light”.

Are you ready for this…

it’s a… “Fenix P3D CE“.

Whew. It just sounds tough doesn’t it!? Ok, ok…maybe not. And maybe I’m way too excited about a flashlight…but I just think it’s really cool. It’s LED based, takes two CR123 batteries (which have since dropped in price to $1-2 each)…and is smaller than a AA Maglite. Not only that, it’s also 80% brighter than a Scorpion Streamlight and the battery lasts almost 2 full hours (on high)! To put things in perspective, this site, Flashlight Reviews, has reviewed over 750 lights…and there are only 23 that are brighter than this one…and most of those are twice the price and about 20 times the size!

I know, I know…why do you need all that light? i don’t know…i’m sure there are other lights that would get the job done…but isn’t it nice to know that you have one of the brightest, most durable, lights in a nice little tight package that you can carry anywhere, right? Well, I sure think so. It is pricey, I will warn you, but in comparison to the competition, it’s a pretty good deal.

Anyway… that’s enough of my geekiness for one day I guess. I’ll try to post an update/review once I find the cash to buy one of these little things.

Just sat down to listen to some music today and this song caught my attention. I’ve heard it many times before, but for some reason the lyrics really struck me. I guess it deals with a similar topic that I’ve been dealing with for a while- that no matter what the person looks like, no matter what they’ve been through, no matter what they say or do, they are still human. They still have a heart somewhere inside…and it beats just like mine.

Heart Still Beats
by Brave St Saturn
The girl in the alley kneels with exhaustion
She’s guarded by the skinny guy who limps from some infection
Behind a veil of bleached thin hair her eyes tell a story
Like a photo of Berlin, December 1944
She’s looking for a handout, she’s been high for several weeks now
She’s too far gone for whoring and the money just gave out

And her heart still beats inside
And the blood runs in her veins
A remnant of life remains
Her heart still beats inside

The man finally comes to the door, I’ve seen him several times
He always looks pissed off and his sunglasses stay on
I think he got his biceps and tattoos while in prison
And it doesnt seem to bother him when he says “go to hell”

And his heart still beats inside
The blood runs in his veins
A remnant of life remains
His heart still beats inside

The thought it comes to my mind, to somehow intervene
But it could bring me trouble, and what can I do anyway?
It’s hard to be effective when it happens so often
To see a life unraveling, through drawn venetian blinds
I’m sickened by compassion, I’m stifled by my limitations
Anesthetic apathy, come take the pain away

And my heart still beats inside
The blood runs in my veins
A remnant of life remains
And my heart still beats inside

Oh God, we need you here
We’re sinking fast and we dont care
The evidence is all around me, on both sides of my door
Our hearts beat

www.virb.com

*thanks to notcot.org for the link.

Anyway…the Reds game just ended (they won!) so I think it’s time to get off here.  One last thing to brighten your day…check this site out:

Farmers Only  -too funny.

I’ve been watching just about every Reds game I can. I don’t know why but for some reason baseball strategy finally started to make sense this year and it has made watching the game a lot more fun. I’ve always liked to watch, but now I just understand a lot more about it. The Reds haven’t been doing so hot this past week or so. Their relief pitching seems to be the weak point and their offense could use a kick in the pants as well.

I undertook a huge sound renovation project at my church which has taken the better part of the past 3 days and looks like it will take the better part of tomorrow as well. It has been a lot of work…for something that most people will never notice or see, but I think in the end it was all worth it.

And finally, our church announced this week that Doug Thompson will be coming on staff to be the “Pastor of Discipleship” (something i knew unofficially for some time). His primary work will revolve around the 20′s age group, but he’ll also have a hand in student ministries. To say I am excited about his arrival at my church would be a huge understatement. I’ll admit that I was initially a little hesitant that we didn’t hire someone for leading worship, but after meeting Doug personally all of my doubts were laid to rest. It’s going to be a great year at W3CU.

In any case I think that global warming is completely bunk…and even if it’s not, there’s little to nothing we can do about it.  We would probably have about as much luck in attempting to stop earthquakes from occurring.  It’s just ridiculous and a waste of time and money to research if the globe is 0.4 degrees warmer this year than it was last.

With all of this said, this is one of the most intelligent and well written articles I’ve read on the topic:  Why So Gloomy?

part two of “that’s amazing” – the local weather.  I’m sure a lot of you have been effected by it but I’m still completely boggled by what has happened over the past week or two.  6 days ago it was 80 degrees.  I was outside in shorts and sandals…the very next day- snow.  I know Ohio is kind of weird, but we’re talking 45+ degrees of variance in 24 hours.  crazy.  I’ll be glad to have the warm days back again.

and the last part of “that’s amazing” – Easter at W3CU.  2-3 months ago when I arrived home from the Radio City gig there was already some buzz going about Easter.  As time progressed my pastor developed a vision of having 800 in service.  One small part of the preparation was to send out a mailer to 3000+ people.  Being the aspiring graphic artist that I am, I took the project and ran with it.  So 2 weeks ago we sent out 3170 mailers.  Additionally there were 1800 handed out personally by our congregation.  I also had a hand in a couple of other projects, but my role was pretty limited in it’s reach.  Most of it fell to the personal contacts that our people made to their friends, family, and co-workers.  To be honest, I didn’t think we would ever reach 800.  I thought 600-700 maybe.  Now, keep in mind that I live in a town with a population of about 1200 or so.  The biggest “city” is Hillsboro, 30 minutes away with a population of like 6000.  Our church normally runs around 375…so jumping to 800 was no small feat.   With all of that in mind- we did it…806 in attendance today.  I mean, that’s just insane, we doubled our attendance!  Not many churches can do that, I don’t care who they are.  Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not all about numbers…but those numbers represents lives.  And today we had a direct impact on the lives of 806 people.  The service was great, one of the best I’ve ever experienced and I can only hope that a fraction of the people felt the same way and will dig in a bit more to our church and more importantly God.

Jen has been gone for the past 9 days and I have to be up in about 5 hours to pick her up at the airport. I think she had a good time with her family in Washington, but I’m REALLY looking forward to her return. Besides the normal stuff like cooking…I really get lonely in this house by myself. I can’t imagine living my whole life unmarried.

Politics are on the horizon. I go through phases I think…I got so burnt out from the last Presidential election, it’s taken me almost 3 years to recover. I don’t really like any of the candidates so far. I’m hoping that Fred Thompson (yes, the actor) might consider running. I was a big Bush backer back in the day…but it seems like he is just, without going into details- wore out. My political views are changing some too…I’m starting see the world as a bigger place than I once did. I’m still a conservative for sure, but I see both sides of the coin a bit clearer than I did a few years ago.

I’ve picked up yet another hobby in the past couple months- RC cars. Ever since I was a kid I always loved anything that had a remote control. I got a little cheap RC buggy for my birthday when I was probably 10-11 and I ran that thing to death. This past Christmas I asked Jen for a “real” one, like the type you buy at a hobby shop. For lack of better gift options, she bought it for me. Unfortunately it isn’t much fun to stand outside in the cold to run the thing so I had to wait for warmer days and I just recently started playing with it regularly. It’s really a lot of fun. I told my dad it reminds me of the feeling I get when I ride my dirtbike only there’s no threat of getting hurt.

One last thing. If you haven’t heard the new Jars of Clay album, Good Monsters, stop what you’re doing and go to iTunes, Amazon, or to your local shop and pick it up. It’s just one of the best albums I’ve heard in a while. Well, I’ve been addicted to Andrew Osenga‘s album The Morning for a while, but it’s a little more of a specialized taste, whereas I think just about anyone will like Good Monsters.

Anyway, that’s it for this edition. I’ve got to get some sleep so I can get up in a few hours. Leave some comments people!

It’s always a lot easier when the person who has passed on was a Christian…and even easier when that person has lived a long and fruitful life. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for those closest to him, but easier than it would have been had either of the above been untrue. It was a nice service…and I was reminded of my past encounters with the gentlemen as a child. He always had a pocket full of candy and if you approached him following any church service he was always happy to give it. I think he found pure joy in making children smile. He was a good man.

so that’s that.  On a completely different topic, I found this fun little game online that I would advise everyone to play-

50 States in 10 minutes.

The name says it all…you have 10 minutes to remember and enter all 50 states. The hardest part for me: spelling Massachusetts! I forgot one the first time I played yesterday (Iowa), but I’ve got them pretty much down now. Remember, no cheating!

This isn’t the first time I’ve become self aware of my distractions and I’m sure it won’t be the last.  However for the moment I’m going to try to break free of my laziness and do something of worth for the next few days- read.  I have a stack of books on my bookshelf, some I’ve read, some I haven’t…and a few I have no intention of.  In any case, I’m setting new goals for myself so that I might actually read some of those books.  On the list:  Mere Christianity, Now Discover Your Strengths, How to Give Away Your Faith, and finish Searching For God Knows What
This isn’t of course all about books, it goes farther than that.  It’s about me doing what I say I’m going to do and putting action to my words.  With that said, I think reading is a good start.

I have this drawer in my desk that is stacked full of CD’s and DVD’s…some of them from last century (not too different from my MP3 collection).  So, my next goal is to go through that drawer, clean out, organize and throw away all of the junk that I no longer need.  It’s really weird how organization makes me happy…even the thought of it makes me happy!

Beyond those things, I should probably mention that I did sell the Wii’s on eBay successfully.  I put them on for 3 days and both sold within 36 hours.  I was a little scared because the market is getting more and more saturated and therefore prices were dropping.  I ended out undercutting the competition by $10 and that seemed to do the trick.  Oh, I should also mention that I did only sell two.  Of the other two, one went to my friend and the last one found a home in my home.  I knew that Jen would come around after playing with one for a while and of course I was right.  Everyone I’ve came in contact with loves the thing, even my sister whom hasn’t played a video game since like Pole Position!  It’s really a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to what games are on the horizon.

The last bit of news is that I’m trying to dig back into investing & finance.  Our church is starting this 13 week class called Financial Peace University and it has me thinking about such things.  We went to the orientation and were debating on whether we should take the class or not.  In the end I decided that I probably already knew most of what would be taught from reading several finance books in the past and what I didn’t know, I could easily find out just by reading the book Financial Peace (thereby saving me about $75 bucks).  While I think the program is probably really good and of huge value to a lot of people, it just didn’t seem to be what I needed personally.  Instead, I’ve been digging around on Amazon looking for investment books that will teach me more about the market and how to trade wisely.
Anyway, that’s it for this edition…I know it was a long one, I guess that’s what happens with the updates are so few and far between.

Well, as you can see I found a Wii.  Actually I found 4.  It all started on Tuesday…

*begin dream sequence*
I woke up and checked my email and a few websites I frequent.  One of those sites is this “Wii Tracker” which basically is just a list of places that carry the Wii and whether or not it’s in stock.  To my surprise that morning it showed up as “in stock” for the first time since…well November I think.  So I started clicking away, adding it to my cart, checking my shipping address, credit card, etc.  Meanwhile I hoped on the phone to call a friend of mine.  Her husband has been pining over the Wii for a while…in fact he has already bought games for it.  So, i asked if he had one yet…by the time she said no, I had already completed my order.  a few hours later i received a shipping notice and today it arrived via UPS.   This afternoon we went to do a little shopping I had to pick up a few things and while we were out my friend asked me to purchase a couple of accessories.  So, we were hunting around a bit…We had dinner in the food court at the mall when i noticed there was a Wii sitting in the window of FYE…and that we should check there for accessories.  We went in and quickly found out that they didn’t have anything.  The salesperson said “no, we don’t have anything but games…in fact we just got a shipment of the systems in.  we have 3 of them.  i looked at Jen and said “lets buy one and put it on ebay”.  She agreed so, out we walked with a Wii (#2).  We did a little more shopping, hit Sams and Toys R Us…then i thought…you know, if we can sell this on ebay for profit, why not do it with 3!  So…we rushed back, ran into the store and bought the other two (#3 & 4).

Jen felt a little guilty…”poor little Jimmy isn’t going to get a Wii because we just cornered the market!”.  I said “it’s supply and demand honey.  We have the supply, so lets take it to the demand!”.

I feel a little weird knowing that there are 4 Wii’s in my house and I can’t touch them!  It’s driving me crazy!  Anyway…
In other news Jen has been knitting like crazy.  If she would get her blog fixed, you would know this.   She asked me to post this picture and ask “which is cuter?”

Let the poor man say I am rich again
Let the lost man said I am found again
Whoa, let the river flow
Let the blind man say I can see again
Let the dead man say I am born again
Whoa, let the river flow
Yeah, yeah, yeah, let the river flow.

Let the river flow
Let the river flow
Holy spirit come
Moving power
Let the river flow.

Let the poor man say I am rich again
Let the lost man said I am found again
Whoa, let the river flow
Let the blind man say I can see again
Let the dead man say I am born again
Whoa, let the river flow
Yeah, yeah, yeah, let the river flow.

Let the river flow
Let the river flow
Holy spirit come
Moving power
Let the river flow

Kind of repetitious don’t you think?  I mean…seriously where is the art in that?  where is the meaning?  And here is an old hymn for comparison.

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Now that is art.  Pure poetry circa 1882

With all of this said, I can’t help but think of how God must have immeasurable patience and grace in order to put up with us. Every time we say “I’m going to pray more” or “I’m going to start reading my bible God, I promise” and we don’t follow through…how does God tolerate us?
Seems I’m not too different from the people I’m frustrated with. so, since I know they won’t change, WE won’t change, my only hope is that God can give me the forgiveness, patience, love, and grace that I need to not be angry with them.

So God, please grant me the patience today.

I recently learned that one of my favorite bands, Over the Rhine moved out to an area in the country just a short distance from my home. It seems that I’m not the only one that thinks Ohio is nearly paradise, this is what they have to say about it:

My mind is refreshed when I remember that I’ll be back to the place I call home in just 7 short days. I can’t wait.

two other things to note…i imported all of my old entries from 2004-2005 when i was using movable type, so there are now over 200 posts to trudge through if you wish.  I also upgraded to WordPress 2.0 on the back end (should have long ago!).  I love the changes so far.

alright…two posts in one day, it’s a record!

last.fm is essentially a streaming music service, but it’s oh so much more than that! It’s like myspace in that it’s somewhat social and you have your own profile page, but instead of pictures and comments its mostly about the music. The basic rundown- you type in a few artist you like, hit play and it generates a streaming audio station based on similar artist. If you download an iTunes plugin (which i recommend doing), it will automatically upload a list of what songs you’ve played recently and in turn it will help you find more music you might like. It will even give you HTML code that you can put on your myspace and/or blog to let people know what songs/artist you’ve been listening to (something i plan to do soon). On top of all that, when it plays a song it gives you full disclosure about what you’re listening to…usually a biography of the artist, discography, and links to purchase the music. AND…you can recommend music to your friends with a simple click.

it’s not without it’s downfalls…for instance iTunes or other online music store links would be a nice touch, but since theres no partnership i understand why there’s not. Also there’s no “back” button…so if you’re wondering what the last song was that you heard, you’ll have to dig a bit to find out.

overall though, a great experience and something I would recommend if you’re in the mood to discover new music or would like to share your favorites with others…it’s better than fm or satellite radio that’s for sure…NO commercials, decent quality, and a HUGE selection.

Boston has welcomed us with open arms. The crowds have been amazing, the sushi is never ending, and the subway (or “T” as it’s called) is extremely easy to navigate. Not much negative to say other than it would’ve been nice to have a hotel with a laundry room, but I understand why they picked this place (it’s right around the corner from the theater).

2 weeks till Christmas, 3 weeks until we’re home.

It couldn’t come soon enough.

I’ve read another book since I last posted – “Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell. As I was reading it, I didn’t think it was that great…but in retrospect I’ve found myself meditating on quite a bit of his writings…I’m on to another book now, “Searching for God Knows What” by Donald Miller. It’s good so far, but I’m only 1/4 into it. We just don’t have as much time to read here, but I’m sure I’ll finish soon.

I’ve been craving creativity if that makes sense. I just realized yesterday that I haven’t done anything of creative value in a month and it’s starting to eat away at me. So today I worked on my church’s website, glanced at some photography here and there, and I believe I’ve found inspiration to begin shooting again. I realized tonight that I’d lost the art of photography and got caught up in the portrait/people snapshot craze. So once I get some decent shots, I’ll hopefully get them up for all to see.

anyway…it’s late. so, i’m off.

It has been a very introspective couple of days. I keep thinking about the things that Donald Miller said in his book and wondering if I can really make the changes in my life that I desire. Several times he wrote about trials in his life and coming to the resolution that he needed change. He prayed about whatever it was and sure enough, God moved in him and things got better. I’m not looking for an overnight solution, but I hope I can make strides toward what God wants for me as well.

Everybody hurts as the song says that’s playing in iTunes… Some of us don’t know what to do with those feeling of anger, regret, or loneliness and soon those feeling grow into something else and in turn people become something separate from the person that they once were. Donald Miller talked about growing up in the church and always hearing about the dark and evil world…that it was a horrible place and the people out there were just waiting to devour him, but once he found himself in the “lion’s den” so to speak, he realized that his “enemies” were just people like any other. Today, I find myself in a similar place…I grew up in a small town, on the far right republican, religious side of life, but living in close quarters with New Yorker’s who have a completely different belief spectrum than mine doesn’t scare me…rather my heart moves for them. Don’t misunderstand- I don’t feel pity because they live a different lifestyle than I do…but I can’t help but wonder what has brought them to where they are. Was there a time when they believed? What brought them to where they were? I know that some have been wronged by the Church and for that I feel embarrassed. The church historically has been far too intolerant of those that don’t believe the same as we do. I feel that we’ve made so many mistakes over the course of history that we likely will never be able to rectify the things that have been done. Yet in the end, the Lord will tarry…and all of this, ALL of it is His will, although I struggle to understand that.

With all of this said, my personal struggle is fairly simple- how do I connect with people? how do I show them unconditional love? My personality tends toward the quiet, reserved, and shy…so I’m struggling with how to break out of that in order to get to know those around me. Again, refering back to “Blue Like Jazz”, Don mentioned something that he did while planting a church that really impacted me- he went out of his way to love others, not so he could invite them to church, just for the sake of doing it. In turn God blessed him and the church did grow…but even if it didn’t, would his impact have been lessoned? I don’t think so. And that’s what I want…not to make friends in order to invite them to church, although that would be nice…more importantly, I just want to show them God’s love through my life and hopefully that will be enough. I am ready for those changes to happen, so that it may be so.

One final thought as I close this statement was in Blue Like Jazz and again in the church service this morning, it went something like this-

“Most Christians are told that they are to live for Christ in the world, when instead we should live in Christ for the world”

I hope and pray that tomorrow when I wake, I will take a small step toward dying to myself and living for others.

It was a good…no, a great book- a life changing book, a revolution waiting to happen in the hearts of Christians.

I’m still processing all that I read today and I probably will go back over it and write some notes…and eventually blog about it in detail, but for now I just wanted to say what a great book it was…so if you haven’t already, go pick it up.

The one thing I will comment briefly for now, is one phrase Donald Miller said about loving others- “love isn’t a commodity” as he put it. It doesn’t have to be earned, it is a free gift to everyone and we should learn to share it with everyone, not just the people that we agree with politically, socially, or spiritually. I really hope that I can learn better how to love others absolutely unconditionally.

I know that song is supposed to connect us with the fact that we are all human and we are all the same, but I can’t help but contradict it and say that it’s a very big world out there.

Growing up in a small town has taught me many things…and one of those is that your world is as big as you make it. I know some people from home who’ve barely left the state, who have only a handful of friends & family, and their world is very, very small. On the other hand I know people who have left for college, a career, or just to discover what else is out there…and for them, the world is a very big place.

What I’m getting at is that we all need to see the world through a larger perspective. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and as I’m stuffing myself to the breaking point, there will be people on the other side of the globe who won’t even have enough clean water to sustain them for the day. How can that not bother me. How can that not bother you?

…I am selfish, I am spoiled…I am your average American and it grieves me that my heart is as hard as it is.

With all of this said…

As the holiday season approaches, we’ll all be in the spirit of giving…some will spend hundreds or thousands over the next month on stuff for their friends and family all of it in which they don’t need or don’t even want. So, I want to encourage you, that while your in the spirit of giving, you consider giving to people outside your “small world”. Sure “Toys for Tots” and other charities are nice, but I hope that you’ll think about the bigger picture. Here are a few organizations that I would recommend giving to:

World Vision
Compassion International
Invisible Children

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

life:
We open the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” tomorrow night in Chicago. It’s been a great couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to those a head of me. So far my experience with the cast and crew has been a very good one, minus a couple here and there. We definitely miss a few things about Nashville, namely our dresser and another cast member (unnamed to protect myself), but where they are missed, others fill the gaps. That’s kind of the thing about show-biz…you can’t get too attached. I’m also beginning to think more and more about the “big picture” when it comes to my life and am hoping that I can have a career that will support my family apart from jobs like this.

political:
the mid-term election finally drew to a close last night. I have to admit, I’ve fallen away from politics over the past 2 years. I think I just got burnt out during the last presidential election…maybe I’ll get back into it eventually. Anyway, I think it’s clear that the democrats won this round, but all it really proves to me is that people grow tired of politics and politicians. The democrats will come in, change a few things and a few years later the tide will turn again because the public will be tired of them and want something else. We’ll never be satisfied. With that said…whether you’re a democrat or republican, I think we can all agree that we’re happy to see the election over. NO MORE ADS! WOOOHOOO!!!

faith:
I’m happy to report that God is still at work in my life. I’m continuing to grow, even though I often stray from where I should be. I’m thankful for His grace. Jen and I went to Willow Creek for the first time last weekend and were blown away by the place. Not only is it huge, but the production side of things is just amazing. With that said, I was happy that the message wasn’t lost in all of the tech, music, and drama. The place made me want to go back…and bring friends…and that’s what it should be like. I’m learning more and more everyday what it means to be a Christian and I can only hope that my knowledge won’t go into the recesses of my brain, but rather find action in my life everyday.

Jen started learning to knit today and she just told me “maybe knitting IS my superpower!” …somehow I don’t think so, but it was funny none-the-less.

So, we’re in Myrtle Beach for Radio City rehearsals…things are going really well so far with only a few more days until we head off to Chicago to start shows. We picked up the new show really quickly, the cast is very good…so, we’re off to a good start all around.

Anyway, it’s 3 1/2 minutes long (3mb) and mainly I talk about my experience with a new Macbook and Jen being gone. A technical note that I didn’t mention in the podcast- I used “Garageband” to create it and used the built in mic on the macbook. Maybe if I get into it I’ll invest in a better mic.

Alright, that’s it. Enjoy!

::silentfool podcast – episode one::

Now I could go point by point and debunk the whole thing, since practically nothing in it is based on fact, but there are plenty of other sites that do that (links at the bottom) So, I’m going to just point out the major logical flaws.

1. If it was true, the film makers would be dead. – If the US government would actually plan such a horrific event, spend billions upon billions of dollars, and kill thousands of innocent Americans don’t you think they would actually want to keep it covered up? Have you never seen the movie “Pelican Brief” or “Conspiracy Theory”? If “Loose Change” was true, I think they would probably have killed the film makers long ago (they first started on the story in 2002).

2. Nothing like 9/11 has ever happened before. The movie spends a majority of the time trying to explain the reasoning behind why the towers collapsed that day but the closest thing they could find to compare was back in 1945 when a B-25 (they lied and said it was a B-52) hit the Empire State Building. FYI- A B-25 weighs 1/10th that of a 737, goes half the speed (max), and carries 1/35th the fuel. So how does that compare exactly? There is nothing, NOTHING that compared with the impact on that day…and besides, unless you’re a structural engineer, stop pretending like you know more than the experts.

3. What did we gain? Just looking around on the internet a bit and you can read that 9/11 cost around $500 billion…that doesn’t count the war that has followed. Overall, probably closer to $1 trillion. Oh, but we did it for the oil right? Not even close…if Iraq cranks it out they might be able to export $5 billion a year, in addition to their pre-existing commitments and after they pay off the debts to other countries. So, in about 200 years we’ll break even! Even in the brightest, most optimistic outlook there is no way that the financial cost was worth it.

So those are 3 major logical points to debunk the whole thing, in addition to all of the others which are outlined in the links below.

Don’t believe everything you see.

Internet Detectives
9/11 Myths
Screw Loose Change
Wikipedia – Loose Change
Debunking 9/11

They released digg 3.0 a couple months ago which was basically just some nice eye-candy and some new topic categories. This in turn, opened up a lot of social, political, and religious discussion in the comment section. should be a good thing right? um, no. Here’s what I don’t like:

#1 digg is filled with 14-30 year old men dominantly who like to talk about how great they are and bash pretty much everyone else. there’s no balance, no tact, nothing.

#2 it’s supposed to be democratic, but it’s not. If you state a comment or post a story that someone doesn’t agree with, it gets buried (censorship anyone?)…so more and more we see only one side of the political, social, and religious spectrum.

#3 90% of all the “news” that comes across the wire is just regurgitated headlines from other sites…by the time it gets to digg, I’ve probably already read it somewhere else…if it is original or new information, it’s literally a race to see who can post it first and get as many diggs as possible before the other guy (usually the underdog) does.

I did a quick search on Google and it seems that I’m not the only one. http://www.google.com/search?q=hate+digg

Of course posting our secrets on a webpage isn’t going to save us from anything…but their (as well as my own) hope and prayer is that sins will not only be confessed to others anonymously, but that the sin will be confessed to God.

It’s an interesting idea.

The thing that really struck me, was that after reading just a handful of them I started to get a picture of just how much sin hurts us…how much the devil tempts us all. So many people have thrown their lives away because of some addiction, so many marriages are falling apart because of distrust, so many are struggling because they just don’t feel loved anymore. There’s just so much hurt in this world… and seeing this site, makes me realize that not only are those people out there hurting, but also that they need someone to share that pain with or otherwise they wouldn’t be saying anything at all.

So…I guess my prayer is that those people who are hurting would find a place where they are loved…where they can share their struggles and pain…where they will be forgiven.

So let it be.

You should check it out if you have the chance…semi finals are starting in the next couple days.

With only 5 hours between me and my alarm clock, I’m up, wide awake. I laid in bed for a while trying to force it, but I eventually realized that it just wasn’t going to happen. So, I got up…and for a few brief moments I wrestled with why it was that I couldn’t sleep…was it the Taco Bell I had for lunch, the Pad Thai I had for dinner? (were the two dueling in my stomach?) Well, while that may be part of it, I soon began to wonder if it wasn’t God trying to get my attention.

I’ve been giving about every waking hour of the past week to ministry. If it wasn’t on the webpage(s), it was for the children’s ministry, the youth ministry, the sound equipment, etc, etc…while all of those things are good to think about, they have a tendancy of fighting for my attention over God himself which is the true reasoning behind it all. I get so caught up in the technical issues and forget about why I’m doing it. So…tonight, God has given me the chance to catch up.

I’ve been reading through Acts lately, just trying to get a better grasp of what the church is supposed to look like, but I’m still not too sure about anything. My questions are not complicated, but they remain hard to answer. I just want to know what the modern church in America should look like. Are we really where God wants us to be or have we drifted so far away that we can’t hear His voice over our own? Are we who he wants us to be? Am I who He wants me to be?

Reading about some of the early believers sometimes sends chills down my spine. No matter where they were, if God spoke they listened (and if they didn’t they were struck down!). God had a plan for even those (Paul) who persecuted believers. So, when I read those things, I wonder if God still speaks to people like that today? With all the distractions of “American life” that hit us everyday can we even hear God over the noise? Are we listening?

I hope that I am…and if/when I’m not, I pray that God gives me the chance to learn how…no matter what the hour may be.

It’s not that I haven’t had the time or the motivation of words to speak, but moreso the lack of motivation to share what’s on my plate with the world.

Just a short run-down: spent 2 weeks with Jen’s youngest sister in town, 5-6 days in Missouri, then 12 days in Washington (state). So, basically I’ve been gone for the better part of the month. We leave for RC in two months which I believe will probably fly by…and by the way, we’re not doing Nashville…don’t ask me why, because I really don’t know, but we took an offer to do Chicago/Boston instead. I keep telling myself “it’s only 2 months, it’s only 2 months…” Other than that it seems that life outside of the entertainment world is slowly creeping into reality. It’s been a nice life for the past 3 years, but it had to end sometime.

Some good things going on at church lately. I’m really excited about some potential changes, but I’m not really at liberty to say much at this point.

anyway, sorry it’s so short and uninteresting, but i need to hit the sack. i keep telling myself it’s jet-lag, but the truth is, I just need to get to bed earlier! alright, i’m out.

Friday night we went to a movie with our friend, Justin and did a little shopping. We saw “Miami Vice” which after some contemplation, i’ve decided, wasn’t that good. (i found this review that sums up my thoughts pretty well: Filmcritic.com ). Saturday we had baby-sitting duty most of the day with two of my nieces. They were easy to handle and we had some fun…Jen did most of the work, of course (while I mowed the lawn). Later in the evening we went to a wedding reception for my friend, Chad. He got married a month ago up in Michigan, but since a lot of people couldn’t be there, they came down here for a little get together. It was good to see them…but sad to know that it will likely be months if not a year or more before we see them again. Today was exceptionally busy…woke at 6:45am, at church for band practice at 7:15. Played for our two worship services, then went home briefly before leaving for my neice’s birthday party. It was fun, all the kids were as cute as ever. Then we came back home and i took a little cat nap before church tonight. We had the big VBS finale tonight and then a party-type event afterwords for the kids. Party is probably an understatment…carnival, festival, mini-street fair is closer to reality. it was really great event…i’m sure the kids loved it.

so…that was the weekend. tomorrow is our last day to get things straightened out before the real chaos begins. Jen’s youngest sister will be here Tuesday morning for a 2 week stay, after which, we’ll be heading out to Washington for a couple weeks. (hear that kipp? we’re coming to see you!) while it’s sure to be busy, I’m looking forward to every minute of it.

anyway, better get to bed so i’ll have energy to burn tomorrow.

All I want is for the barriers to be broken down and for God’s people to come together. nothing more…no amazing worship band, no preacher, no boundaries. Just us and Him.

Fitting just perfectly with this post, this is part of the passage I read tonight in my devotions, found in Acts 2:43-47:

“A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity–all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.”

I digress… there are really a couple things that always hit me after reading those types of posts. First, it’s a big reminder (read- smack in the face) that there is a big, lost world outside the limits of Winchester. Where I live just about everyone believes in God…sure they may not attend church regularly, or their church may be a little different than mine, but generally everyone believes. It’s weird to think that our whole country used to be that way (what happened?). So, when I begin to realize it, my heart begins to hurt because I feel like there’s more I could/should be doing for the Kingdom, but I don’t know what those things are and I don’t know how to accomplish it. None-the-less, it is good to be reminded of such things.

The second thing that enters my mind is usually a question. and while there are many versions of it, it is essentially the same question: “Why do I believe what I believe?” This only brings on more questions about traditions and faith which can quickly consume me. I do believe that having these questions is a healthy thing, but I also know that it can turn deadly if I dwell on them too long. In any case, the one question that I’m asking myself currently is “Why am I right, while so many others are wrong?”. By that I mean, there are dozens of religions…muslim, Christian, hindu, etc. Even within the Christian faith there is Catholic or Protestant, then after that, denominational differences, and deeper and deeper until it finally rests at me. So, why is my church’s belief right, while the Baptist are wrong? What about the Catholics? I mean, the Catholic church was THE first church…maybe they’re right? I know that a lot of the things that differentiate us are minor, but I just wonder, who is right? (and where am I wrong?).

anyway, i know these are deep questions…they are probably questions that aren’t bad to be asking myself…but I have a feeling that I’m not going to find the answer…at least not on this planet.

A woman in my church passed away today. She has been fighting cancer for the better part of the past 2 years and lost the battle somewhat suddenly. When they announced it tonight I think most were surprised, some were heartbroken, but I think beyond that there was a little bit of joy and peace in all of us. Her struggle was finally over, there was no more pain, no hurting, and she was finally at rest. Her husband was there tonight…I couldn’t believe it honestly…but I think it was a testiment to what God has done in their family…and I think he knows that it’s what she would have wanted.

Tomorrow I’m playing in the band at her funeral. It was her request that there be praise music sung…I was surprised to find that the music is very upbeat. Which just confirmed with me that she was at peace about her life ending…and she wanted us to have that peace and reassurance as well. So while it may be a time of mourning and reflection here on Earth, she is celebrating her new eternal life in Heaven. Hopefully we can share just a few minutes of that celebration with her tomorrow.

I have a new addiction…it’s called “Web 2.0″. There are some disagreements about what exactly Web 2.0 means…but to me it’s just a term used for the newer generation of websites that are more interactive. I don’t mean you go to them to play games, but rather you decide what you want from them. They’re “user friendly”. Instead of me trying to describe it, how about some examples.

Netvibes – make your own page using RSS feeds, POP mail, Gmail, news, weather, etc. All customized by you, for you. Want to move a section to another spot on the page…just drag and drop. [via the power of AJAX]

Joe’s Goals – if you are list driven, this site is for you. You can make a list of things you wish to accomplish daily, bi-daily, weekly, etc then just click away to mark them as “done”. You can even add negative things like, spending too much time on the internet.

Meebo – this is an IM web client. Basically you can log into your AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, and GTalk accounts all in one place…without downloading a thing. Really good news for users of multiple computers, particularly those that are locked down.

Imagination Cubed – i’m not sure how useful this is, but it’s pretty cool. It’s basically just a whiteboard where you can draw, chat, and share ideas with other people. the great thing is that there’s no registration required…just invite a friend via email or IM and you’re ready to go.

Vyew – similar to Imagination Cubed…but more for sharing pictures and other stuff. It will take screen shots so you can point out things to unfamiliar users…also can show maps to people. very handy i think…and something I will probably actually use!

Alright, so that’s a good roundup for starters. If you find yourself addicted like myself, check outMashable for a HUGE list of stuff.

thanks to Josh for getting me hooked. and an appology to Jen for yet another geek post. I’m sorry. maybe next time it will be something you want to read.

Once we arrived and got settled into our hotel we headed to the LPA convention (Little People of America). It was my first LPA event, of any scale, ever. To put it lightly, it was WILD. Think high school prom, on steroids, mega hormones, and alcohol, then shorten everyone by 2 feet. It was an experience.

In any case it was really cool to meet a few people in person that I’ve kept track of online via the power of myspace. And it was good to get my feet wet with the LPA.

So, yesterday, July 4th we went to a baseball game. The Reds (my home team) just happened to be in Milwaukee so that worked out nicely, we got tickets right behind home-plate and one row in front of the pitcher’s wife and daughter…so needless to say they were GREAT seats, even if the Reds lost. After the game we chilled out, then found some fireworks to watch.

Today we got up and went to the Radio City audition which I’ve been anxious about for the past 3-4 months. It went pretty well and i think we’re both just happy to have it off our minds. It’s out of our hands, and completely in God’s at this point so we will be praying until we hear word sometime in the next 3 weeks.

So…that was my week…whew! It was fun, but I’m glad it’s over!

I won’t say what I dreamt about last night other than to say it was a good dream and no it didn’t involve anyone else.

Some of these thoughts have brought up bigger questions- I wonder if God is in my dreams? Does he put those thoughts there? Does he use dreams today as he did in the Bible to speak to people? How can I tell if it’s from Him?

Ok, this all sound crazy I know…but I wonder…

my computer is a blessing and a curse. I know how to do a lot with it and there are some really great skills I’m developing, but those things aren’t fulfilling. there’s no eternal result.

so, I’m going to try to do better. i don’t know how exactly, but tomorrow I’m going to promise myself that I won’t spend more than 3 hours on here.

—–

a friend pointed me to this great site to help with setting daily goals for yourself. if you’re like me and need all the help you can get, you should check it out: Joe’s Goals

I’m also considering a podcast to go along with the new changes. Not that I have an abundance of things to talk about, but i think it might be a fun project and a good learning opportunity.

stay tuned.

My latest life theory is that there is a true lack of “benchmarks” in life. I think this can go all the way to the core of our being all the way to how we spend our money. And while audio equipment isn’t the deepest subject to point to, it’s a passion of mine, so i’m going to talk about it for a second.

What is good sound? when you go to the theater to watch a movie, is that good sound? when you go to best buy and hear a set of “Bose Acoustimass” speakers, is that good sound? To most, the answer is probably yes. But the question is why? I mean, here’s the truth, neither of those actually give you great sound. It’s just that people have “benchmarked” those things as being “the best” and therefore measure everything on that scale. But to the audiophiles out there, Bose is about the worst thing you could buy. So either A) people haven’t heard what good sound really is or B) they can’t tell the difference. In either case society at large is being led astray by marketing ploys and ill informed sales people.

Just something to think about.

The big news is of course that tour is over. In just 2 days it will be a full 3 weeks that we’ve been home and while the time hasn’t been completely perfect, it has been very good. Here’s a little excerpt from a something I ALMOST posted one week after arriving home:

“…the word that comes to mind is “bliss”. Being home is so much better than I ever thought it would be. I find myself waking up each morning just so happy that I’m not waking in some anonymous hotel room. I wake up, I smile, and I don’t stop smiling until my head hits the pillow again at night. Things like going to get the mail, going to church, and visiting with friends all just warm my heart- I know that sounds kind of silly, but it’s so true.”

So yeah, being home is good.

I’m going to end with that, since I don’t want to overwelm you. I promise, I will post again before Sunday. until then…

It has been a good three years and something I wouldn’t trade for the world, but I believe the time is right for us to depart. We didn’t plan for it to end like this, none-the-less it must end sometime and it seems natural that this be it.

On the horizon of things to come there is nothing but uncertainty but I will face that uncertainty with faith that God will carry us through whatever it may be. For now I look forward to the coming days when I am reunited with my family, my church home, and my physical home. I can’t wait to hug my nieces and nephew and just give them the assurance that I’m home to stay this time.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again…there’s a song that I like to listen to right before I go home…it just reminds me of how content I am in Winchester, only in Andrew Peterson’s case it’s “Shiloh”. Anyway, here are the lyrics:

Rickety fence and a rocking chair
The smell of my father’s pipe
Cackling goose in the summer air
The garden is green and ripe

Better get on home to Shiloh

With all of that said, Jen and I have been on a little bit of a spending binge lately. With the tour schedule being so heavy we literally haven’t had the time to spend the money that we’ve made. Of course with any purchase on tour, if it can’t fit in your suitcase it’s pretty much worthless…so that limits your options severely. Now that we’re going home we’re thinking of all these things that we want for the house. For me it’s primarily sound stuff…I started my home theater system 2 years ago and have been anxiously awaiting the completion of it ever since. so, I have a subwoofer and rear speakers on the way. The sound is going to be awesome! so you should come by and check it out sometime (unless you’re burglar). Jen has been looking more for the more vital parts of the home…like seating. We bought a chair so we can now officially have someone over and not be forced to sit on the floor. We haven’t made a lot of decisions beyond that, but there’s probably a bookcase, bed frame/headboard, and curtains in the not so distant future. All just parts of growing up and settling down I guess.

Which reminds me, May 8th will be our 2nd anniversary. Hard to believe that we’ve already spent 2 years of life married to each other. It’s been a great 2 years and I know that the best is yet to come. We’ve spent nearly every hour of every day together for 2 whole years…incredible!

Alright, the album I’m listening to is winding down (Shawn McDonald – Ripen), so I believe this is my cue…I’ll leave you with this quote I read on Shawn’s site:

“Opportunity may knock only once but temptation leans on the doorbell.”
-Anonymous

With that said, not a lot going on currently. We just finished a week of “overnighters”, meaning no days off. Thankfully this next week is going to be considerably slower. We have the next two days off in St Louis. Jen’s parents & youngest sister are flying in for a few days while we’re there. It will be great to spend some time with them and also fun for them to see the show (they’ve never seen it).

The countdown continues to the end of tour, just 19 days and 10 hours. I don’t know that I’ve ever been more excited about going home! I just can’t stop thinking about all the things I want to do!

Anyway, time to pack up and leave yet another hotel room. Check back in a few days for more.

PS: the subject- “#91″ refers to the fact that this is my 91st post. Woohoo…only 9 away from 100!

woohoo…27 days!

The Purpose of The Church

I’m beginning to wonder if we have any idea what “Church” is supposed to be like.

Oddly enough I had an audition yesterday for a web-based commercial for Altoids. I won’t know for another week or two if I got it or not. Either way, it’s cool…it was worth it just for the experience of auditioning. It’s just kind of funny how I keep running into the entertainment business eventhough it’s not my chosen profession. My comment today to Jen was “A lot of actors work a lot of other jobs until they can find an acting job, whereas I am working acting jobs until I can find another job”.

NY is an interesting city…I very much have a love/hate feeling for it. It’s fun to visit and it’s not bad in small doses, but I can’t imagine living my whole life here. There’s no space for anything, no driving (for the fun of it), no grass or trees, it’s just cold ( and not temp-wise). On top of that there’s just always this fear of people freaking out for whatever reason…walking in silence is a dream…silence at all is a dream! But there’s a lot to do, a lot of places to eat, a lot of culture…but I think I’ll stick with Winchester OH for now.

Speaking of Winchester, one week from today we’ll be home for a much welcomed, but very brief visit. After that it’s the home stretch…only 6 more weeks until Barney is over. In the words of Bill Mallonee, “I’ve got summer in my veins”

Long story short, there are no good solutions for someone in my shoes short of having one custom made by hand which is extremely expensive. Then I found giffinguitars.com. Roger Giffin decided some time ago to create a smaller-scale model called the “Micro”. I was put off by the high prices, but I was pretty impressed since I have seen nothing even that has such workmanship in a small scale.

For whatever reason I decided to email him and just say that I admired his work and wished that I could afford one…and then 12 hours later I got an email saying that he had a demo guitar that he would sell for a very discounted rate. So…I’m getting a new guitar! I won’t bore you with all the details, but let me just say, this is probably the nicest guitar I will ever own,or play for that matter. It’ll be a few weeks before I get to lay hands on it, but here’s a pic for now:

giddy as a little school girl…

anyway…

The Barney tour continues and is starting to wear on Jen and I… I think our touring days may be numbered. Of course that number could be like 300, but there is a day coming when we’ll start working a regular 9-5 and actually living out of a house instead of a suitcase. That day is growing closer and more real every day. We had a (too) short break in Ohio a few days ago and I think it only made it worse for us. Ohio is just…home.

Well…it’s Toronto for the next 3 days, then back to the states…Chicago & NY are just around the corner. I think the next two months will probably be more fun than the last…even if not, summer stars in just 2 months on May 13th.

mmm…summer in Ohio (and michigan, milwaukee, and seattle). Can’t wait.

Instead take a look at this site: Fluid Effect (click portfolio, before & after) and smile. Even the stars don’t look THAT good.

Nikon D100 DSLR (6.1 megapixel)
+ vertical battery grip (MB-D100)
+ 2 batteries
+ AC adapter ($65 value),
+ boxes, manuals, and original accessories
+ 28-80mm lens listed below, if wanted
– paid over $2100, asking $750

Nikon F100 SLR (film camera)
bought it from a friend, he used it for about a year then sold it, I haven’t used it at all…I think I have the manual.
– original cost $930, asking $450

Nikon SB-80DX Flash (box, accessories, manual)
– asking $200

Nikkor 45mm f/2.8 P Lens (more info here: http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/lens/mf/wideangle/45mmf_28_p/)
– asking $200

Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 G Lens
- $50

This shot isn’t exactly “photoblog worthy”, but while we were in DC this little squirrel approached us more bravely than any other I’ve ever seen…if I saw the same actions coming from something larger like a dog, i might be fearing for my life. This thing litterally ran out in front of us and stopped, got up on it’s hind legs and just waited for some food…