Election '08

My job is to keep you informed, again, if you so desire. Check out his debate response at the 4:00 mark.

ONCE, The Frames, The Swell Season

Great night. Lyndsey and I just watched a great movie called "Once." It's halfway a musical, with some great original music... set in Ireland, and two musicians meet and make beautiful music together... the lead guy is Irishman Glen Hansard (lead singer of The Frames) and the gal is Czech Marketa Irglova. Great movie, up for a couple Oscar nom's, only drawback is a lot of language that is inappropriate for the kiddos.

This also opened the door to me for the band The Frames... why didn't anyone tell me about these guys! Awesome! If I formed a band and wrote music, this is what it would sound like.

The duo from the movie also does a side project called The Swell Season... sounds a bit more mellow, I am a fan as well...

Be sure to check out these pieces of work... you're in for a treat.

Shane Claiborne

I am 80% of the way through Shane Claiborne's, "The Irresistible Revolution." It's rocking my world. When I finish it, I'll post a summary and what stuck out to me... for now I'll just say that this guy worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, spent much time in Iraq while it was under complete attack (just being with innocent people who were being bombed), and now lives in a community he helped found called "The Simple Way," in an area that is known as the slums of Philly.

He has been arrested numerous times for standing up against unjust laws that oppress people, and there is a file on him at Homeland Security (they think he's a terrorist, because he travels so much and his reason of 'loving and helping the world' is just too radical for them). All in all, he's just trying to live a life that would look like Jesus in this day and age... it's very interesting.

FL Debate Ron Paul

My hope is to inform you on his stances, if you are so interested... because you won't see this in the media. If it doesn't interest you, feel free to navigate away from here.

This isn't the whole debate, just a collage of Dr. Paul's responses.

football and skip-bo

it's a big week for football fans... conference championship week. needless to say i'll be on my couch all day... even though i'm not a huge football fan, i love to watch a good game with playoff passion.

during the games, however, lyndsey and i will be having a little skip-bo tournament... and in many ways it parallels one of the games today.

lyndsey is like the patriots; she is undefeated (hate to admit) and likes to brag about it. i, on the other hand, am like the chargers... the obvious underdog due to past results, but you wouldn't know it by my pompous attitude and trash talk like i'm the champ... you know the drill.

the doctor is in...

in my book. i am hesitant to come out and support someone, for many reasons, but i have to support this guy... it's one of those gut feelings for me. like i've said before, i don't agree with everything. but i agree with a lot of what he says. and i can see sincerity in his face. i believe that he wants the best for the country, for the world, and for humanity.

one thing i'm not going to do is tell you or anyone else to vote for him. all i ask is that you consider Ron Paul in your decision, and not ignore him like so many are. take a look at his views and wrestle with them; agree with them or disagree with them. i encourage everyone to make their own decision, not based on anything anyone like me says. you won't offend me if you hate this guy.

i just wish the media would give him his share of coverage, which is so powerful. he just finished 2nd in nevada, for crying out loud... but not a mention of his name in terms of coverage. is this our america?

lyrics: Robbie Seay Band

I want to state that I love this band, before they get huge... this song is actually being featured on one of the American Idol commercials... so it's only a matter of time, right?

"Rise," by Robbie Seay Band
-----
Slow down, be still
Let go, we will
Be here, be now.

If you choose to love,
To know that the call
Is to give all you are
To give love away

Rise, rise, people of love rise
People of love rise,
Give yourself away


Slow down, just breathe
Be still believe
Be here be now

Slow down and see
It's all you need
Be loved and free


And to hear the call
is to give your love away

We're not safe
But we will rise
People of love rise
Give yourself away
-----

This is an obvious call for people who care about the world to act on those beliefs... not just talk about it but do it.

I love the line, "and to hear the call is to give your love away"... Jesus didn't just go around speaking spiritual ultimatums... he showed people a truly better way of life; he gave himself and his love away in all that he did.

random Harper pic

harper doesn't like baths...

politics

i don't want to turn my blog into a political blog... but politics are a part of our landscape and shouldn't be ignored.

i haven't decided who i would vote for yet, and i will most likely not join a campaign and go crazy over it... but i love to discuss it.

i do know that i am intrigued by the candidacy of ron paul. there are some things that i agree with him on, and some that i do not. but i am almost convinced that he is the only guy up there who either a) isn't in it for himself, or b) isn't up there just 'pandering' for votes. he is going to speak his mind... and if america doesn't agree, he has stated that 'then it's just not his time.'

i'm not trying to endorse anyone; i just think that he has some very interesting things to say, but nobody wants to listen (nobody that really matters, politically speaking).

i just watched the SC debate... he clearly did well in my opinion (whether or not you agree with his philosophies, he stood his ground and justified his stance better than anyone), and 33% of people voting say that he won the debate (at the moment via their text message poll). the next highest is 20%. but no one's talking about him... one guy on the station just posed the question of whether "ron paul should have been included in this debate."

i find this fascinating... why won't anyone give this guy credit for really gaining a huge following and some momentum... foxnews won't admit it. they even denied him from participating in the last debate. fascinating...

it almost reeks of censorship...

be the pack leader!

I'm a big fan of The Dog Whisperer... Cesar does a great job of showing humans that once they start being balanced, their dogs will start being balanced... that our dogs are just mirrors of ourselves. His therapy is usually geared more towards the dog's owners than the dog itself.

I just finished his book, "Be the Pack Leader"... it sounds like a cliche motivational book, but it is full of profound, simple statements and strategies for not only taking control of your dog, but your life (let's all sing around the fire now... haha).

His philosophies about life in general intrigue me. He is all about combining research with our own observations. In the animal kingdom, everything is communicated non-verbally; body language, etc. It is just the same for us humans. The energy that we project speaks volumes more than the words we are speaking (this goes beyond the standard '90% of communication is non-verbal' statement... it is about an overall state of mind and self perspective). He really just wants us all to have fulfilling, balanced lives. Hmmm...sounds familiar...

Cesar Millan is doing what we are all created to do, in my opinion: rehabilitating, restoring, and rejuvenating people; putting pieces back together and creating beauty from what is often a terrible situation. He simply does it in his own unique, gifted way: by rehabilitating dogs and helping people realize that they have value on this earth.

We all play a part in this bigger story. We all have gifts, abilities, experiences and resources that give us a specific role. He is doing his part... are you and I doing ours?

nascar

doug, this is for you... hilarious.


NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast'

long week...

i've been running non-stop this week... i'm going to hang 'em up tonight and take it easy.

we rang in the new year at a friend's house, good times.

wednesday i went in to work to get ready for the next week or so.

thursday we woke up to a frozen water line (the only one i didn't leave dripping all night). so lyndsey got to monitor the situation all day while i was at work... it thawed at about 11am... and when she called and said the laundry room was filled with water i thought we were in trouble (busted water line), but coincidentally the washing machine had just been overloaded and water was running over, down into the washer, onto the floor, etc... very refreshing. i spent that night trying to figure out ways to keep the pipes from freezing again; insulated the crawl space vents, bought a space heater to point toward the pipes, etc., etc... was a long day!

saturday lyndsey and i drove up to the chicago/rockford area and back, with a wedding happening in between.

but it's been a good new year thus far. we are thankful for our friends and family, and overall we tend to take for granted that life's pretty good right now. thanks for reading!