b's

new site up and running

2009-06-16T09:36:00.002-05:00

(with some work to do...)...

http://web.me.com/brandonhuff1

For privacy reasons, we have password protected it. If you would like to visit, just shoot me an e-mail or msg of some kind, or post your e-mail in a comment. We'll send you the password and you'll be good to go.

Enjoy, and goodbye to this blog! (There is a blog on the new site).

New site coming soon...

2009-06-15T18:52:00.002-05:00

Soon I will be launching a new site for both Lyndsey and I... more to come soon.

the day

2009-06-12T16:42:00.004-05:00

there are certain events in life that just make optimism reign for the moment... that there is good and there are those who truly care about this world. the future is bright...

i was pulling a vine out of a tree, and a motherbird started sounding her alarm. i noticed a nest, but proceeded anyway, and her yells turned into shrieks... it was obvious that she was willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her nest. keep protecting those little ones, motherbird.

also got to overhear/watch from a distance as one of the little neighbor boys seemed to pick up on riding a bike for the first time, as his mother/cheerleader coached. someone was putting all of their self into the life of someone else.

2009-05-04T17:22:00.002-05:00

my all-time-favorites, Future of Forestry, release their new album tomorrow... i haven't even listened to it in order to extend the anticipation...

if you like deep, thought provoking music (in both lyric and instrumentation), i highly suggest these guys. it's going to be tough to top their last album, Twilight.... work of art.

success

2009-04-24T20:36:00.002-05:00

how should we define success? our society seems to define success as being famous or making a lot of money.

it's obvious that success is a relative term. success for one person might be meaningless for another.

i define success as this, and i think it could apply to anyone: we will all be on our deathbed someday. maybe sooner, maybe later. i like to imagine myself in that moment, as i reflect back on my life. am i satisfied with the way that i spent my short time here? if the answer is yes, then that is success.

for me, success cannot be truly defined in the moment. the big picture must be examined. i have found that if i think about this as i proceed in life, i am much more likely to live a life that can someday be looked upon as successful.

addition to the family

2009-04-07T22:03:00.006-05:00

here she is... Penny. 8 weeks old, cavalier king charles spaniel (same as Harper), but different color: ruby. she's a sweetie!

MAN ON WIRE

2009-02-13T23:28:00.004-06:00

what a film... the documentary of the guy who strung a high-wire across the twin towers and danced on it for 45 minutes in the 1970's.

this was RottenTomatoes' #1 overall film of 2008, receiving a 100%.

we couldn't find it anywhere except netflix (thanks mollie!), but if you can find it it's a great ride.

open wide

2009-01-31T22:59:00.005-06:00

i've posted this lyric before, but every time it comes to my mind, it gives me the shivers...

open wide, the arms you're given
you're too alive to just stand still...

open wide, your heart as you breathe in
you're too alive to just stay here

recent music feasts

2009-01-18T22:52:00.004-06:00

i've been on a new music kick lately. a couple great bands, if you haven't checked them out yet: bon iver (thanks derek) and fleet foxes. folksy sound, harmonies, recordings are not over-produced (or maybe not produced at all). they're on the side bar.

eventful week

2009-01-16T14:03:00.004-06:00

some random thoughts....

-farewell to President George W. Bush. i, personally, have always liked the guy. i haven't agreed with every decision or policy, but i think he's a person who means it when he says he "had the best interest of our people in mind." we watched his farewell address last night, and i thought it was rather somber, and rather sad that he has to use his last days to defend himself. give him his dues.

-i started grad school this week, albeit an undergraduate course that is a prerequisite for the program. i have a much greater respect for the process now that i fully understand the $cost$ of sitting in each classroom. i'm going to learn all that i can... if i would have only had that mindset when i was an undergrad...

-plane crashes into the hudson river, everyone survives.... WOW. 100+ people on board. and every life could have been lost so easily... such a fine line. what an amazing event. kudos to that flight crew!

rights and responsibilities

2009-01-10T19:36:00.004-06:00

reading "The Last Lecture," and just about done...

so many good chapters on a variety of topics. one of the shorter and very poignant chapters is called, "Be a Commutitarian." it's the idea of rights vs. responsibilities. we have great rights in this county, and we spend plenty of time touting our 'rights.' but we forget that every right is accompanied by a responsibility (at least one). to young people, this is literally a foreign concept... all they know is that they have all these 'rights,' but don't understand that if they don't take on the responsibilities that accompany them, these rights might not last forever (myself included)... they have to be maintained.

a couple good snippets:

"We all believe we have the right to a jury trial. And yet many people go to great lengths to get out of jury duty."

"Everyone has to contribute to the common good. To not do so can be described in one word: selfish."

thoughts on the economy

2009-01-06T21:42:00.003-06:00

from a layman's perspective...

obama is proposing the idea of another big economic stimulus package. i don't know all of the details, but it sounds like it would include tax breaks for businesses, as well as tax breaks for middle class individuals, similar to the stimulus checks we got last spring/summer.

i don't know what to think of it all... my man ron paul would say NO, that this is not a solution to the greater institutional problem, so i would have to lean that way since i blindly follow him (haha).

but, i do know that i don't agree with the individual rebates. sure, i won't mind getting a $1000 check this spring.

the point of these rebates, however, is to get people spending money, stimulating the economy, and eventually creating jobs, etc. this method will not achieve this goal, imo.
1) i know i won't spend the money; i have some debts that i would love to knock out (we had to spend the last rebate check on car repairs). i'm sure a lot of people wouldn't spend it in the way that was originally intended.
2) even if people spend their rebate money, how do we know that they are spending it in a place that will truly feed a starving market?

i think that if they want this to work, they have to a) identify areas of need in the economy; core areas that will in turn help stimulate the rest of the market (i.e. the auto industry), and b) give people 'coupons' instead of cash. then we would know that any money being spent would be productive.

for example, they could give people the choice of either a $1000 coupon to go towards buying a new car, or ________________. i don't know, i just think that's a better solution than the one proposed.

side note: if there is a silver lining to this recession for our country as a whole, it's that people will have to postpone their retirement, possibly buying us some more time to figure out this social security deal. stinks, none the less. i have to assume that this will push back even my retirement.

bathroom pics

2009-01-06T09:27:00.005-06:00

home improvement

2009-01-03T21:21:00.004-06:00

i had the week off, and last weekend we started discussing doing a bathroom remodel... then we started tuesday, haha. we replaced/remodeled everything, except we didn't replace the toilet or shower. it's 95% done, as we're waiting on a cabinet for the wall... i'll post pictures shortly.

happy new year!

'tis the season

2008-12-23T13:06:00.006-06:00

to be blogging... terrible.

december was a busy one:

lyndsey had a neck problem that put her through a couple of rough weeks, and took us to a couple of doctors. it seems to be getting better, though...

i finally began the next step in my educational career and signed up for grad school. starting this spring, i'll be working towards a masters in CMIS (Computer Management Information Systems) at SIUE. i hope to sort of specialize in software/application development, but we'll see...

we went to borders last night, and i read 57 pages in one sitting of Randy Pausch's, "The Last Lecture." I enjoyed it so much that I asked for it for Christmas... it's the type of book that needs to be re-read once in a while to put things back in perspective...

we are looking forward to getting home and seeing the family(s)! to anyone reading this, have a safe, relaxing, giving, memory-filled christmas!

Christmas Music

2008-11-15T19:25:00.007-06:00

I love Christmas music. I do believe it's been trotted out a little early this year, however... anyway I don't mind.

My favorite artists, Future of Forestry, put out a Christmas EP, and it sounds FANTASTIC. I'm going to go buy it now. You can listen to it on their Myspace. These guys consistently put out work that, in my opinion, is way ahead of the rest of the industry... and a new album is coming soon, I believe....

The Visitor

2008-10-18T10:24:00.002-05:00

we watched a really good movie last night: The Visitor. it sounds like a horror flick, but it's nothing close to that. Richard Jenkins is great, and quickly turning into one of my favorites (Burn After Reading, Six Feet Under, I Heart Huckabees).

crazy lady....

2008-10-17T06:51:00.001-05:00

i didn't know about this until SNL did a bit on it last night (weekend update thursday has been great, by the way)...

unChristian excerpt

2008-10-12T19:41:00.004-05:00

i'm finally taking up reading again... thus continuing where i left off in unChristian. this is a research project trying to get to the root of the negative perceptions of the Christian faith. they interviewed and gathered data from thousands of people.

here's an interesting excerpt about the young people of today:

"Young adults enjoy challenging the rules. They are extremely - you might say innately - skeptical. Today's young people are the target of more advertising, media, and marketing than any generation before. And their mindset is both incredibly savvy and unusually jaded.
...Yet I would caution you not to underestimate the widening gap between young people and their predecessors. Those who think that in due time Mosaics and Busters [terms used to describe the younger generations, much like 'baby boomers'.] will "grow up" and look like everyone else should prepare to have unfulfilled expectations.
...Rather than looking for an end to the generation gap, it is important to recognize its existence."

as a teacher, i can totally see this... these kids want answers. they have a feeling of entitlement, because the world revolves around them right now... like the author says, pop culture/advertising/etc. targets them in everything they do, because they are probably the most influential group of people there is when it comes to setting trends and norms.

something to consider for those of us working with these young people, no matter the context.

i'm baaack

2008-10-11T16:12:00.001-05:00

our computer has been down for about a week (worst week ever...), but now we're back online...

what a day

2008-10-05T14:49:00.002-05:00

beautiful day today... i got out and mowed the lawn and sprayed for spiders, which we've had a lot of lately... i finally started reading "unChristian" again, so i'll post about it soon. 'til then...

the economy

2008-09-25T21:51:00.002-05:00

you may know that i have a deep respect for ron paul. one of the things that is amazing about him is his ability to see the flaws in our economy and predict what would happen (not because he's psychic, but by using solid economic theory)... you can watch videos of him several years ago, and now it looks like he was predicting the future about multiple topics, including the war and the economy (whether you are pro or anti-war, his comments preceding our invasion of iraq have eerily turned into truth). the president has proposed an economic bailout plan. here is ron's response, if you're interested.

----------
"My Response to the President"

Dear Friends:

The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.

We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.

Last night the president addressed the nation about the financial crisis. There is no point in going through his remarks line by line, since I'd only be repeating what I've been saying over and over - not just for the past several days, but for years and even decades.

Still, at least a few observations are necessary.

The president assures us that his administration "is working with Congress to address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets." Care to take a guess at whether the Federal Reserve and its money creation spree were even mentioned?

We are told that "low interest rates" led to excessive borrowing, but we are not told how these low interest rates came about. They were a deliberate policy of the Federal Reserve. As always, artificially low interest rates distort the market. Entrepreneurs engage in malinvestments - investments that do not make sense in light of current resource availability, that occur in more temporally remote stages of the capital structure than the pattern of consumer demand can support, and that would not have been made at all if the interest rate had been permitted to tell the truth instead of being toyed with by the Fed.

Not a word about any of that, of course, because Americans might then discover how the great wise men in Washington caused this great debacle. Better to keep scapegoating the mortgage industry or "wildcat capitalism" (as if we actually have a pure free market!).

Speaking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the president said: "Because these companies were chartered by Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and put our financial system at risk."

Doesn't that prove the foolishness of chartering Fannie and Freddie in the first place? Doesn't that suggest that maybe, just maybe, government may have contributed to this mess? And of course, by bailing out Fannie and Freddie, hasn't the federal government shown that the "many" who "believed they were guaranteed by the federal government" were in fact correct?

Then come the scare tactics. If we don't give dictatorial powers to the Treasury Secretary "the stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet." Left unsaid, naturally, is that with the bailout and all the money and credit that must be produced out of thin air to fund it, the value of your retirement account will drop anyway, because the value of the dollar will suffer a precipitous decline. As for home prices, they are obviously much too high, and supply and demand cannot equilibrate if government insists on propping them up.

It's the same destructive strategy that government tried during the Great Depression: prop up prices at all costs. The Depression went on for over a decade. On the other hand, when liquidation was allowed to occur in the equally devastating downturn of 1921, the economy recovered within less than a year.

The president also tells us that Senators McCain and Obama will join him at the White House today in order to figure out how to get the bipartisan bailout passed. The two senators would do their country much more good if they stayed on the campaign trail debating who the bigger celebrity is, or whatever it is that occupies their attention these days.

F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks' manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day - and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own:

Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the maladjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion.

To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection - a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end... It is probably to this experiment, together with the attempts to prevent liquidation once the crisis had come, that we owe the exceptional severity and duration of the depression.

The only thing we learn from history, I am afraid, is that we do not learn from history.

The very people who have spent the past several years assuring us that the economy is fundamentally sound, and who themselves foolishly cheered the extension of all these novel kinds of mortgages, are the ones who now claim to be the experts who will restore prosperity! Just how spectacularly wrong, how utterly without a clue, does someone have to be before his expert status is called into question?

Oh, and did you notice that the bailout is now being called a "rescue plan"? I guess "bailout" wasn't sitting too well with the American people.

The very people who with somber faces tell us of their deep concern for the spread of democracy around the world are the ones most insistent on forcing a bill through Congress that the American people overwhelmingly oppose. The very fact that some of you seem to think you're supposed to have a voice in all this actually seems to annoy them.

I continue to urge you to contact your representatives and give them a piece of your mind. I myself am doing everything I can to promote the correct point of view on the crisis. Be sure also to educate yourselves on these subjects - the Campaign for Liberty blog is an excellent place to start. Read the posts, ask questions in the comment section, and learn.

H.G. Wells once said that civilization was in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.

In liberty,

Ron Paul

yearbook yourself

2008-09-14T20:11:00.004-05:00

everyone's doing this, so we had to take a shot... go to yearbookyourself.com and have some fun!

walk around the world

2008-09-11T18:19:00.004-05:00

props to this guy. he is walking around the world to raise awareness and funds for blood water mission. it will take him 7 years.... SEVEN YEARS... did i mention that he is walking around the world... i gripe about having to walk so far from my car into work... it's called the earth expedition.

great show last night

2008-09-06T09:32:00.002-05:00

last night we had dear future in for a live show, and WOW they were great. these guys are solid and their sound is very meticulously crafted.... great, great stuff. i added them to my music sidebar.

we also had a local group open for them, irony rains. a guy sang and played his acoustic, accompanied by a beautiful violin and a baritone sax... they were super impressive. they're on the sidebar as well.

doink and dink

2008-09-02T22:06:00.002-05:00

this is for my lifegroup....

they get introduced at the 0:50 mark, and dink tags in at about the 2:45 mark if you want to be entertained.

new web browser

2008-09-02T17:24:00.001-05:00

from the guys at Google... it's called Chrome.

here's to you, new orleans

2008-08-31T17:55:00.003-05:00

you've been through enough, i think... now this all over again? maybe even worse?? i can't imagine having to pack up and evacuate my home and my town... having to wonder if my neighbors would make it out...

i wish you the best, and hope to be able to help out in some way.

Dear Future coming to Lifepoint

2008-08-26T22:14:00.003-05:00

If you're interested, Dear Future will be coming to Lifepoint Church on Friday, Sept. 5th @ 8pm. $3 at the door. These guys are great... you can check them out at myspace.com/dearfuture.

For more info, check out lifepoint365.com or our Facebook group.

CA comes to IL

2008-08-23T08:27:00.004-05:00

my good friend from CA is in town, so we're gonna do lunch today... such a short meeting when we have so much to catch up on, but that's life these days. today, i will let him post for me. he posted this just a day or two ago; i'll be back after he takes his turn:
-----
i haven't written in a really long time...life has been a little busy, and i've started facebooking...i think i can only handle one website at a time...i'm on vacation now, though, and have a little time on my hands to write some...

we just got back from hsm summer camp a few days ago, and i was thinking back over the week today telling a friend about it...i love it when i have those moments that i learn something unexpected...it happened at camp this week...i was looking forward to camp this year, but i knew it would be a different experience because none of the guys from my small group were going to be there...they were all on vacation or had just gotten back from long trips or something...so i didnt really know any of the guys that were going to be in my cabin...i wasnt really sure what to expect...

when i walked in my cabin, i almost started laughing...i had three guys from capo hs that were sports guys and total beach bums...i also had two guys that were into classic rock and had hair past their shoulders...another guy raises lambs for his school's agriculture program...and the last guy was a "normal" average kid that went to school with some of the other guys...immediately i thought, "oh wow, this is gonna be an interesting week."...you know how hs cliques are...i could only imagine how the beach guys were going to gel with the lamb-raiser and rockers...i expected the worst...

the lesson i learned, though, was how important it is to be quick to love...within about an hour of being in our cabin, all of the guys in our cabin were laughing with eachother...there were pranks happening, jokes being made, nicknames being formed...they guys in my cabin were so quick to love on eachother...they could have been judgmental or cliquey...but instead they chose to love...and as a result they had an incredible camp experience...

i think i need to be more quick to love...i usually get around to it...but it can take me some time...if you examine christ's example, he was quick to love...the guys in my cabin reminded me of this...dont just love...love quickly...

lesson learned...
-----

back to me: he put this into words perfectly, yet so simply, for me. i have learned that this is true in the school setting... you have to gear up to want to get to know and have fun with the kids the first day and everyday after... otherwise, you may eventually get that feeling in you, but you've lost some ability to form relationships with certain students after so much time.... maybe even after the first day or two.

this year i did a pretty good job of being 'quick to love,' rather than slow to start loving. we had a good couple of first days, and i think it will pay off for the rest of the year.

in a lull...

2008-08-21T17:45:00.001-05:00

sorry for the blog-lull... school has started and i've been of little time recently... hope to be back soon.

presidential forum at saddleback

2008-08-16T19:59:00.009-05:00

UPDATE @ 9:38pm:
my analysis of the event:

i don't think that i will be able to pick a candidate to support for a while... i really like some things that both of them want to do, and i find some things that both want to do as terrifying.

at this point, i just want to see them be real and honest. i'm SICK of political-ese, canned answers, and pandering to their 'audience.' that's one reason that i love ron paul... spin does not exist to him.

obama: i thought he did a much better job of being 'real', thinking over his answers, not being afraid of saying certain things (admitting vulnerabilities, not always having all the answers, etc.). he embraced the format: a discussion with rick warren. i think his camp took the whole 'church' pandering thing too far... quoting scripture, sucking up to warren and saddleback, etc. he dodged some questions, but overall addressed some questions straight up that i thought he would spin.

mccain: my immediate reaction is negative, because he took this 'conversation with rick warren,' and turned it into him speaking to 'his friends' and took advantage of the opportunity to address the people, rather than embracing this format (see my thoughts on spinning things for your campaign above). he did way more answer dodging and spinning than i expected; this, after all, is a church, and the church is thought of as a bit more conservative. he did an awful lot of spinning... "rick, may i tell another story?" i was impressed with some of his passionate statements about his love for this country and its people, though.

as a neutral observer, my personal opinion is that obama gained more from this event than mccain. he didn't have as much of an appearance of this being a 'campaign/stumping event,' and i think that the public will appreciate that. he really allowed himself to be vulnerable to rick warren, where-as mccain had more of an 'i have all the answers' attitude.

------------

this is incredibly interesting... seeing these guys answer tough questions in conversation form.

whether you love or hate mccain, you must admit that HE HAS ROBOT ARMS. it drives me nuts! i mean he literally does the robot dance by just walking across the stage.

i personally wish that ron paul was up there answering those question... i think people would fall in love with him.

freak of nature

2008-08-14T09:04:00.002-05:00

this guy's body was simply built for going fast in water... crazy... look at how long his torso is from his chest to his waist, and those crazy dinosaur arms. not fair, michael phelps.

spreading the word

2008-08-07T22:05:00.005-05:00

UPDATE, 8/9/08 @ 1:22pm:
Here is a preview of the video.

so this pretty good band, the David Crowder Band, recently did a club tour for their new album, "Remedy," through all the cool places... the Houses of Blues, etc... and they made a live dvd of one of their shows.

on the evening of August 18th, this dvd will be shown in select theaters across the country... pretty impressive... edwardsville is not on the list yet, but it says that it's constantly being updated. you can see the list of theaters (there are several in IL) on their website. spread the word and go see it!

new music

2008-08-06T18:53:00.004-05:00

if you've never checked it out, take a peek at Relevant Magazine's The Drop. there they spotlight new music/bands that are usually awesome, but largely unknown to mainstream music fans. you can listen to the albums in full online.

one of the current bands spotlighted is "The Reign of Kindo," whom you will find on my sidebar under good bands. these guys are so good, so unique... the review on the page really builds this album up as one of the best around...

other artists currently spotlighted are Brandon Heath, Seabird, The Glorious Unseen and more...

1 year ago today...

2008-08-04T07:28:00.004-05:00

lyndsey and i got married! i can't believe it's been a year! i love my wife more than anything in the world, and i'm still floored that she picked me. this year has flown by, because it has been so fun... happy anny, lynds! now we're off to celebrate!

sign

2008-08-02T10:16:00.002-05:00

this picture was taken at the end of our road a couple of weeks ago. i guess there is no spell-check on a sharpee... haha

election 2008

2008-07-29T16:41:00.003-05:00

after watching these guys in the news, this is how i often feel.... hahaha

summer...

2008-07-28T19:21:00.005-05:00

is flying by... i have three weeks until we start... holy crap. i better get cracking on my new course...

the cons of school starting: i have a lot of free time during the summer, and when school starts i will be swamped, both physically and mentally.

the pros: it's always exciting to get a fresh start and meet new students and teachers. the first week just has a buzz about it that doesn't occur any other time of the year... and it also means that autumn is coming! september and october are my favorites... bring on some chili and apple cider and playoff baseball...

the more i think about it, the more i look forward to actually going back!

lyrics: "Easier Than Love" by Switchfoot

2008-07-25T14:56:00.007-05:00

sex is one of those things... it can be such a beautiful thing; something that produces new life. but if we abuse it, it can also destroy. our culture has misused it... bob will be talking about this sunday at lifepoint. here is switchfoot's take on the subject:

----------

Sex is currency
She sells cars, she sells magazines
Addictive, bittersweet, clap your hands with the hopeless nicotines

Everyone's a lost romantic,
Since our love became a kissing show
Everyone's a Casanova,
Come and pass me the mistletoe
Everyone's been scared to death of dying here alone

Sex is easier than love, is easier than life
It's easier to fake and smile and bribe
It's easier to leave, it's easier to lie
It's harder to face ourselves at night
Feeling alone, what have we done?
What is the monster we've become?
Where is my soul?

Sex is industry,
The CEO of corporate policy
Skin-deep ministry, suburban youth: hail your so-called liberty

Every advertising antic
Our banner waves with a neon glow
War and love become pedantic
We wage love with a mistletoe
Everyone's been scared to death of dying here alone........

----------

our culture has created an environment in which teenagers think they have to have sex... if they don't, they won't be cool; they will "die here alone". so in a young person's mind, saving sex for what it was intended is so incredibly hard... it may even be accompanied by criticism from their peers. therefore for them, sex is 'easier than love, easier than life.' in those youthful years, it's simply the easy way out, or the easy way into popularity/acceptance.

but we quickly find ourselves feeling alone; finding it harder to face ourself in the mirror... what is the monster we've become? what have we done with our souls?

there is hope, and the writer of this song did his best to spread it. we need to find our own way of spreading this same hope to the young people around us.

the dark knight

2008-07-23T09:50:00.005-05:00

UPDATE 7/25, 11:54pm:
after finally seeing it, i have to agree that it is an awesome film! i'm already looking forward to the next one (hopefully)....

UPDATE 7/25, 12:50am:
just finished Batman Begins... pretty good stuff...

i can't remember the last time i heard this much buzz about a movie... and i literally haven't heard one person say the movie was anything less than amazing. lyndsey and i are usually perfectly content to wait until a movie comes out on dvd and rent (we call it the $1 club), but this one is tempting us to pay up and see it now...

top gun

2008-07-22T10:24:00.001-05:00

new top gun movie...?

cardinals

2008-07-21T16:27:00.003-05:00

UPDATE Tues. 7/22 @ 1:45 pm:
aaaaand a tough loss last night. the 9th was exciting, though. hopefully we can take tonight's game, because we get sabathia and sheets the last two...

the birds swept the padres over the weekend, and pulled themselves up within 2 games of the cubbies. the brewers are only a game behind us, though.... so the 4 game series with the brew-crew starting tonight is HUGE. i'll be there tonight and wednesday, only my 2nd and 3rd times this year. stoked!

school is coming...

2008-07-20T20:27:00.004-05:00

as the school year approaches, lifepoint is gearing up to reach out to the college community. this will be going in the Alestle's (siue's campus newspaper) big opening edition.

chronic-WHAT-les of narnia...

2008-07-19T22:53:00.002-05:00

we watched narnia (the first time for me) tonight, and it was pretty good... now i'm ready when the next one comes out to rent...

it was time...

2008-07-17T18:26:00.002-05:00

and we got a great deal from enterprise car sales. i highly recommend it; i will never go to a dealer again!

war

2008-07-17T09:16:00.003-05:00

i was watching the news about the wars going on, and am just thinking out loud. whether you are for or against the war, isn't it kind of disappointing that, with all of our advanced technology, we can't accomplish our goals or prevent massive casualties? especially in a place with decidedly inferior technology... that's not an original thought, i know.

observation: one area that we seem to be strong in, however, is protecting our big boys. you have to think that our enemies would love and are trying to take out guys like general petraeus and other high ranking officers... the guys calling the shots over there. that would be huge for their morale. but they haven't. at least we haven't heard about it. we have, on the other hand, been able to get some of their top guys.

free song

2008-07-15T14:45:00.001-05:00

Coldplay is giving away a free song here.

burn after reading

2008-07-15T08:25:00.002-05:00

Clooney. Pitt. Add John Malkovich to the fun. Then you've got Burn After Reading, a new film by the Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou, Fargo, etc...). It opens September 12th. Clooney and Pitt were classic together in the Oceans movies... and John Malkovich is simply amazing (he is from Christopher, IL, if you didn't know).

Judging by the trailers, it seems to have a bit of the Oceans feel to it... good humor and chasing after money.

conan

2008-07-14T09:42:00.004-05:00

conan o'brien has been gradually overtaking letterman for my favorite late night guy. here are a few of his recent political jabs:

"Today’s New York Times has once again raised the issue that John McCain may not be eligible to be president because he is not a natural born U.S. citizen. Apparently, McCain was born outside of the 13 colonies."

"This week, Barack Obama, true story, campaigned on an Indian reservation and the tribal chief adopted him. Yeah, the Indians actually prefer Obama to John McCain, because they still remember when McCain took their land."

and another one from the guy conan will soon replace, jay leno:

"According to the Washington Post, Barack Obama and actress Scarlett Johansson are email buddies. Apparently they email each other back and forth. So, you've got a 23-year-old gorgeous, blonde actress emailing a married presidential candidate. Well, what could go wrong there? Not to be outdone today, John McCain admitted he had been exchanging flirty emails with Angela Lansbury."

lyrics: "This Too Shall Be Made Right" by Derek Webb

2008-07-11T23:39:00.005-05:00

in this tune, derek points lots of things wrong with the world... very moving.

may i emphasize that the statements he makes are being declared as unfortunate truths or unfortunate opinions of people in this world... when he says that "there is a time for children to die," he is commenting on the terrible state of our world, and his hope for what is to come when these sufferings are no more (just in case you only skimmed one or two lines and misinterpreted...).

the 4th & 5th verses are the most powerful to me... Jesus calls us to a higher standard; in his 'kingdom,' there would be no war, no settling the score... no trading in people's lives for our own comfort...

a video that someone put together corresponding to the song is at the bottom. enjoy!

----------
people love you the most for the things you hate
and hate you for loving the things that you cannot keep straight
people judge you on a curve
and tell you you’re getting what you deserve
and this too shall be made right

children cannot learn when children cannot eat
stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
children dream of wishing wells
whose waters quench all the fires of hell
and this too shall be made right

the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
and this too shall be made right

there’s a time for peace and there is a time for war
a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
a time for babies to lose their lives
a time for hunger and genocide
and this too shall be made right

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
and this too shall be made right
----------

not quite there...

2008-07-10T14:42:00.004-05:00

...God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature... Genesis 9:6

...He rescues the poor at the first sign of need, the destitute who have run out of luck. He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out, he restores the wretched of the earth. He frees them from tyranny and torture— when they bleed, he bleeds; when they die, he dies. Psalm 72:9

this is yet one area where we fall short of living as we were created... and i am the guiltiest of all. the culture i live in has taught me to take care of myself. but i can see the tide turning, not only in myself, but in our society.

alice

2008-07-09T13:06:00.003-05:00

this coming school year, i will be teaching an introductory computer programming course, which i am pretty excited about. it uses a fairly new language called Alice, which allows the students to create 3-D landscapes and program the characters and objects to do different things... the goal of the program is to get kids interested in programming and teach the concepts, without exposing them quite yet to the complex code involved. if you're interested in this kind of stuff, you can download Alice for free here.

derek webb

2008-07-07T13:10:00.004-05:00

if you are a fan of derek webb, you can go to noise-trade and pay what you want for his newest album, the ringing bell. this website offers fair trade music, with just a few particular artists being offered.

derek used to be a member of caedmon's call, until he left several years ago to pursue solo work. he has written so many good songs, and has become somewhat of a controversial figure in the 'christian' circle for using strong language in his music and touching on topics such as politics, social justice, and war... basically he doesn't sugar-coat things and writes with raw emotion and honesty. good stuff.

god as father

2008-07-02T21:57:00.004-05:00

i think everyone struggles with this... when bad things happen to people, we ask, "why?" more specifically, we hear things like, "why would God do this... he must have a reason and a plan." i have a problem agreeing with that...

there is a common belief/view where people see God as a sort of 'dictator'; a puppet-master, if you will. where every event is dictated by God himself; therefore, he must have a reason behind it.

there is another view that sees God as Father. the metaphor is simple; think about if you were a father (i can't relate to that very well...)... do you dictate every move you child makes? maybe while they are super-young, but eventually you want them to be able to make rational decisions for themselves, and to become self-sufficient.

in his book, "understanding God's will," kyle lake gives this example: if your son is going to college, you don't say, "you are going to this school and majoring in this." you support them and give them advice and help guide them, but ultimately you want them to choose their own path; hopefully a path that is going to lead them to a fulfilling, meaningful life. you teach them how to live, then let them live.

i see God as father, rather than dictator. i have a hard time believing that when a four-year-old girl gets cancer, or gets killed in an accident, it was 'God's will.' isn't God's will for us to have life to the fullest? when bad things like this happen, i believe that it is caused by our human-ness... we've messed things up; we've gotten out of the bounds that were created for us... we drive machines way too fast; we eat artificial crap that we shouldn't eat... etc., etc...

i feel like i've blogged about this before... my apologies if i have... the book i mentioned is excellent, by the way.

claiborne on cnn

2008-06-29T19:34:00.005-05:00

i haven't been watching cnn this weekend, but i just went to cnn.com and found shane claiborne to be on the headlining story... shane is doing a speaking tour called "Jesus for President" (based on the book), which has apparently attracted the media's attention during this election year.

weekend

2008-06-26T21:51:00.005-05:00

a couple of friends spent last weekend with me... we did some fast eddie's on friday and some breakfast, grilling, and home-run derby on saturday. i love these guys... we've grown up together, gone to school together, played in moderately successful bands together (right), lived together at college, launched water balloons and pin-pointed them on innocent bystanders from roughly 75 yards away, and lots and lots of other crazy stuff. here's to carson and brian for putting up with me for several years.

holy crap

2008-06-25T15:10:00.002-05:00

no big deal, but we are just on the verge of finding another Earth, a twin-Earth in fact, in another star system...

tribute

2008-06-25T11:33:00.009-05:00

This one goes out to my buddy Danny, who is doing some AWESOME stuff out at Saddleback, as the PEACE Coordinator for student ministries. Keep up the good work, Danny! (this dude is a big deal... we're talking regular meetings with Rick and/or Kay Warren...)

Danny and I used to work together at Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon, IL, until school kind of forced me in a different direction and this job sent him down a different road. He is one of those people that I call if I am feeling down about where I am at... he is somehow able to inject me with hope; to get me out of my 'local bubble' and see the big picture and the role that we all play in it. We will work together again someday...

talking dogs

2008-06-24T13:31:00.003-05:00

these dogs are awesome!

new ads

2008-06-23T23:21:00.002-05:00

i added some advertising to my blog to see if it brings in some cash-flow (doubtful)... feel free to click them... sorry if some of them are pretty dumb... i have no control over what gets advertised, though it says they try to make them relevant to my blog posts.

panda sneeze

2008-06-23T14:31:00.001-05:00

this is great... and it's had about 16.7 million views on youtube.

lyrics: "Hear Our Prayers" by The Glorious Unseen

2008-06-22T21:19:00.005-05:00

i invite you to check these guys out for some unique, creative, passionate worship music... super authentic. for this guy, the songs came first, then people who loved them encouraged him to share them by making an album... not just, "let's make an album to sell."

---------

Hear our cries Lord,
Hear our prayers.
Take our burdens,
Calm our fears.

God will you make us
A people that love You.
Please take our offerings
That we set before You.
God hear our prayers
That we're lifting up to You.
God see our tears
That we're struggling to see through.
God, hear our prayers to You.

In our weakness,
You remain.
When we're broken,
You sustain.

God will you make us
A people that love You.
Please take our offerings
That we set before You.
God hear our prayers
That we're lifting up to You.
God see our tears
That we're struggling to see through.

God hear our prayers
As we lift them to heaven.
We're praying the angels
Receive and embrace them.
The hopes of the empty,
The cries of the broken.
We're reaching our hands out,
Oh Lord will You hold them?

garfield

2008-06-19T20:00:00.004-05:00

from Relevant slices:

it's Garfield's 30th birthday. side-note: apparently, when you remove garfield himself from the strip, it gets a little funnier...

my personal favorite was June 17th's strip.

synopsis of a dream i had last night...

2008-06-19T15:26:00.003-05:00

tiger gets loose in town
tiger comes to high school, terrorizes students outside
tiger gets in school, apparently wants to eat me for lunch
tiger chases me
i use a student as a human shield
tiger turns attention to said student, and i get away

i can't explain this one... the human brain just mystifies me sometimes. i still feel bad for the kid...

ruh-roh

2008-06-17T10:33:00.004-05:00

according to this article, some internet providers are thinking about charging their customers by their bandwidth usage - i.e. you use the net more, you pay more.

i kind of welcome it as a great reason for me to cut back on it and do more constructive things... kind of like when we had to cut back on our cell phone minutes because our bill was through the roof...

trunk monkey

2008-06-16T12:39:00.001-05:00

i will be checking this option box next time i buy a car...

weekend

2008-06-15T20:45:00.003-05:00

this was an eventful weekend... a friend came to town to hang out thursday night; we watched the nba finals at bww and saw a great game.

i attended a bachelor party friday in the form of a cardinals game (all-inclusive area, scoreboard patio)... cards got beat down 20-2, but it was enjoyable watching so taguchi return (now playing for philly) and aaron miles pitch the ninth.

yesterday, a co-worker and i went up to another co-worker's campsite to kick it... played some bocce and other yard games and just lived the simple life.

it was a sad weekend, however, in the fact that tim russert passed away unexpectedly... i grew up watching at least part of Meet the Press every sunday morning before church (well my dad did, but i grew to appreciate it over the years and even watch it when i can now). the guy was a tremendous figure in the american landscape; he made it his mission to hold politicians accountable and always bring out the truth... not merely to smear politicians, but for the good of the country and our governmental system as a whole. it is said that when a guest came on his show, tim knew everything that person had said or written down since the 1st grade... you couldn't flip-flop on him. sadly, his pouring himself into his work (maybe to exhaustion at some points in this presidential election) may have contributed to his health. there was a great tribute today on Meet the Press; they simply left his seat empty and relived some great memories of tim.

motivation station

2008-06-11T20:16:00.003-05:00

I'm a teacher, and I'm off for the summer... and I know some of you are like, "lucky!" and "you suck!" and "you no-good couch potato!" But I swear, if you saw what I just put up with for 9.5 months, you would agree that the break is justified! Anyway, I did nothing today, and I'm not proud of it. I had plans to get some things done... didn't work out. I have to get motivated.

The problem is that I'm easily distracted by two things: tv (espn) and the internet (perusing my daily sites... blogs, news, sports, music, etc...). Yesterday I turned off the tv and stayed away from the internet for 5 hours or so. It was great. I got bored. So I had to find things to do, and low and behold, those things were productive... lots of reading, a couple household chores, errands, yard work... I'm going to make a strong attempt to do this more often...

done

2008-06-10T10:44:00.005-05:00

finally done with "Everything Must Change." maybe i'll post some more on it when i finish digesting it (a daunting task)... a must-read. next, i'm moving on to "unChristian," by Gabe Lyons & David Kinnaman. it's a book of extensive research on why so many people have negative perceptions of the Christian faith... and therefore refuse to consider the way of Jesus.

news-worthy

2008-06-09T20:29:00.005-05:00

"slices" from Relevant Magazine:

a new washing machine is being developed that will use merely a cup of water per cycle; your clothes won't even need to be dried, eliminating the dryer as well.

the new iPhone will be better and cheaper.

zeppelins are making a comeback! maybe an alternative for more efficient air-travel?

slow movement

2008-06-07T10:08:00.003-05:00

an interesting movement is taking place among American workers: the "slow movement."

here is their homepage.

it looks like they're even trying to create legislation to help people slow down!

fish/immobility

2008-06-06T16:32:00.004-05:00

i went fishing yesterday morning with a buddy from work. we were in the boat from 5:45am to 12:45pm... my legs were STIFF when we got out (more on that in a moment)! here is a big bass that he caught; altogether we came home with 25-30 nice fish to eat.

stiff legs and all, we had a softball game last night. before the game, i noticed that i couldn't really stretch my quads out... they just wouldn't move past a certain point. aaaaaaand sure enough after a little running in the outfield, and eventually topped off by running to first after hitting, i think i pulled both quads... if that's possible. immense pain! i had to come out, because running even leisurely was out of the question; the legs just wouldn't move. i still had to bat once because it would've been an automatic out if i didn't... coach dan said to just stand there and hope for a walk. so i did... and struck out looking. i should have swung, then hoped it fell in for a hit and gotten a pinch runner... oh well. i think my team is mad at me. tell them to try and run with two pulled quads! i'm turning into an old man waaaay too early...

my footprint

2008-06-05T06:22:00.000-05:00

i added some new links (myfootprint, trade as one, cooling creation). trade as one is really cool... check it out. my footprint is a quiz you can take to see what your carbon footprint is. after taking it, they tell me that if everyone lived as i do, we would need 3.76 earths... interesting.

pathways

2008-06-04T12:38:00.007-05:00

we have been talking about pathways to experiencing God this week at church. the nine discussed were naturalist, sensate, ascetic, enthusiast, activist, caregiver, traditionalist, contemplative, and intellectual. here are mine and why, in no particular order (i have trouble ranking them):

sensate: God's creation enamors me. when i hear pleasing sounds (music, birds, babies crying), when i see things (art, nature, beauty), when i smell and taste goodness (a good homemade meal), it makes me think of the wonderful creation all around me... people say they look forward to going to an event where they'll feel "God's presence,"... i don't get that, because these things i mentioned above are God's presence to me... they're everywhere and inescapable.

activist: i think that God created us in a certain way, and that his ultimate "will" is for us to be able to live and enjoy life to the fullest - just like he intended. and that often when the bible speaks of the 'Kingdom of God', it's not talking about life after death, but life here on earth. therefore our job is to try and bring this life to fruition. to help end oppression, poverty, suffering, hate, etc., etc... how we (or i) do that is the tougher question for me. but i want to do something.

intellectual: one of the things that has always frustrated me is when people make the argument that being 'intellectual' implies that one can't believe in a higher power or divine being; that science and religion don't mix, etc... i believe the opposite, making it sort of a mission to help people see that the 'intellectual' things of this world actually point towards the God that we believe in. i think that our faith isn't as blind and science-hating as some people make it to be... i think that when we make a scientific discovery, we are doing what God would want us to do: explore this great place he made for us. he created us with brains and a curiosity for the world around us... i feel like when we find out more about the world, we find out a little more about God... and that not everything in the bible was intended to be literally interpreted, and that when we refuse to acknowledge that, we're being naive... slippery slope, i know...

random Harper pic

2008-06-04T12:37:00.001-05:00

thought it would never come...

2008-06-02T20:53:00.002-05:00

my emotions can best be summed up by a certain guy named alice, at the 00:46 mark...

new look...

2008-06-01T23:21:00.003-05:00

it was time for a change. i may be playing with the look for a few days...

this one goes out to...

2008-06-01T19:47:00.004-05:00

the moolatte from dairy queen. hot & humid day, you've got nothing on me.

into the wild

2008-05-31T00:20:00.003-05:00

we watched "Into the Wild" tonight; pretty good flick. very moving and introspective, questioning the society that we live in and the need to have any material possessions or wealth to be fulfilled; in fact, proposing that having such things prohibits one from living life to the fullest. this struggle is vividly portrayed as it ensues in the mind of the character... good film-making.

i'm in love...

2008-05-27T22:38:00.004-05:00

chex mix sweet 'n salty honey nut. ate a whole bag tonight... what.

reading: Everything Must Change

2008-05-24T15:46:00.005-05:00

I'm still reading "Everything Must Change," by Brian McLaren. I just got through a great chapter, though. The book touches on the global crises in the world today, and how we as a human race (Christians needing to be the catalysts) should respond. To understand that, he goes back and examines the crises back in the time of Jesus, and how Jesus reacted to them and ultimately changed humanity.

In this particular chapter, he describes the Roman Empire of the day, and how it was supposed to provide this "prosperous life" for everyone, but in fact only provided that for an elite few... and how everyone had "freedom of speech, religion, and thought" - as long as your speech, religion and thought agreed with the imperial policy. The chapter ends with:

"...if their religion came into conflict with the patriotic ethos of the empire - perhaps by doubting the supreme, divine authority given to the emperor - they'd better keep quiet about it, or they may experience the dark side of the empire: the cross." (read: crucifiction) "How ironic that the cross - the icon of the dominating Roman framing story - became the icon for the liberating framing story of Jesus..."

Another part of the chapter that stood out to me was how women were treated in the empire. "A woman's primary job was to bear as many sons as possible to be soldiers to protect the empire." There were high death rates in childbirth, as well. "The average girl in the Roman Empire had to marry by the age of fourteen and begin bearing children immediately. Simply to maintain the population, the empire depended on her to raise five children to adulthood, on average."

In the footnotes, he adds to the discussion. "This reproductive pressure helps explain the great appeal of celibacy in the early Christian movement. Celibacy wasn't simply a privation; instead, it represented liberation from an oppressive Roman system that valued a woman for her ovaries and little more. In contrast, a celibate woman in the Christian community was valued for her virtue, her piety, even her mind and work."

This reminds me: I used to think of the Old Testament laws as sort of an 'instruction manual'; that they were written in the beginning, like guidelines made for humans before they even existed.

But over time I have seen that this isn't correct; that these laws were written by people, and were borne out of the time and culture that these people lived in; they were responses and reactions to policies/lifestyles/philosophies/etc. that they knew weren't consistent with God's idea of life. With guidance from their creator, they formed these laws in order to try and become a people living the life God created them to live... not to oppress themselves, but to liberate themselves.

random Harper pic

2008-05-23T20:07:00.003-05:00

lyrics: "Sacred Place" by Future of Forestry

2008-05-22T22:51:00.002-05:00

Come into this sacred place
Come into my heart and sing Your song of grace
Pull me safe into the deep
Pull me in to where the depths of love meet

Sing, sing over me until dawn
Pull me safe into the deep

Come and carry me away
Come into my heart and turn this night to day
Come into this sacred place
Come into my heart and sing

'Cause I can hear You now
And You're the only sound
I give You all my love
You've rescued me

You embrace me, and You calm me
You persuade me, You console me

God Has Set Things Right

2008-05-20T17:15:00.002-05:00

But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus.

Romans 3:21 (The Message)

song added

2008-05-18T21:50:00.000-05:00

i added a new song to my artist profile... you can check it out here.

this is an instrumental song that i recorded back in college, while i was student teaching. i distinctly remember hearing and writing the little repeating melody down during class...

you have to give this one until the 1:15 mark before you bail on it; that's where all the action happens. i don't remember why, but i let the intro drag out forever.

summer is approaching....

2008-05-17T01:07:00.005-05:00

we had a good old grill out tonight. nice weather. a little washers. a good night. i'm staying up late tonight for the first time in i can't remember how long.... it feels weird. my friend brian is staying here tonight, we've been playing some wii.

i'm thankful for the beauty around me... in my yard, in my neighborhood, in my town...

summer is approaching and i'm starting to get pumped and inspired to do some stuff.

we still have a big weekend ahead, in that my brother and his family may come visit tomorrow, and we have a church picnic sunday. good night!

recordings

2008-05-11T23:08:00.002-05:00

i made an artist profile on myspace, so that i can upload some recordings from my computer. if you want to check it out, click here. i'll try to keep it updated and post new songs... i'm hoping that it will motivate me to record stuff more often... right now, I'll record a song, then not touch it again for 6 months. enjoy!

bbq here we come...

2008-05-10T12:49:00.003-05:00

lyndsey's parents are in town this weekend. last night we ate and Red Robin and watched "Lars and the Real Girl" (wierd, but good movie). this morning we ate at a local diner, Fiona's, went to some yard sales, and now we are heading over to a bbq to help out the students at our church who are going to a camp this summer.... pork steak here we come!

digitial short

2008-05-08T21:02:00.001-05:00

lyrics: "Open" by Jason Morant

2008-05-07T18:22:00.002-05:00

It's time for something more real than all these words
While the least of these are broken and dying
We count the pearls in our purse
It's time to live in love
It’s time to live in love

So open up your doors
Let the Son shine out into the night you're hiding from
Let your hearts bleed with love because when all is said and done
Love's the only voice that's heard

With all that we've been given and all we hold to be true
We've thrown away the one key that unlocks the door
We ourselves crawled through
It's time to live in love
It’s time to live in love

Open up your doors
Let the Son shine out into the night you're hiding from
Let your hearts bleed with love because when all is said and done
Love's the only voice that's heard
So let your love be heard

Silver and gold have we some
But is that enough to buy a single soul
A ticket to go home
Silver and gold have we some
But is that enough to buy a single soul
Or our own way to the throne

shocking experience

2008-05-05T10:17:00.011-05:00

UPDATE, 1:56pm: for the record, my dad has the honor of "best joke": he says i have another thing to put on my music resume; that i've been a conductor.
-----
just want to thank everyone for being there for me this weekend... i took quite a jolt at church. i went to the ER for an ekg, and everything looks good (not that there was any real concern, just wanted to get checked out)... the nurse was a guitar player, and as he was printing out an ekg report, he acted like he was reading, "it says you need to sell any guitars to your ER nurse... hmmm...." it was pretty funny. he was fond of one of the guitars i was playing, my friend Carson's '81 Firebird.

Anyway:
1st of all, thanks to Bob & Dan, and everyone else (I don't know who else was up there) who helped tear the evil guitars away from me. i can't thank you enough!

2nd, thanks to those of you checking up on me, making sure i'm good to go. i really appreciate it!

also, thanks to my wonderful wife for taking care of me! (she didn't get to see it happen; she can only hear the stories)

but again, i'm fine, i have some cool looking marks on one hand from where the strings were digging in, but everything's good. one thing that i'm super glad i don't do is wear my wedding ring on Sunday mornings (can't play with it on). i've heard about people having to get their ring cut off because of stuff like that...

as for the picture, i googled "shock", looking for a shock warning label or something, and this was one of the first things that came up... i just thought it was funny.

young chuck norris

2008-04-25T18:18:00.001-05:00

no description necessary...

baby nephew

2008-04-21T18:54:00.003-05:00

We have a new baby nephew, Collin Matthew! He was born Thursday evening to my brother and his wife - their second. Some of you know or remember their daughter, Sidney, who was the flower girl in our wedding.

earthquake

2008-04-18T22:27:00.006-05:00

I will remember this day forever! Everyone has an earthquake story, so here's mine:

At about 4:30 am, our dog Harper wakes us up, like any other night... like he needs to go out. Lyndsey and I are negotiating who gets to take him out when the window in our bedroom starts shaking violently (we have old, rattly windows). Lyndsey freaks out that someone's trying to break in, and has her phone out ready to call 911... I keep saying, "It's just the wind, it's just the wind...". Then we realize that we can hear other windows in the house shaking.... WEIRD... She immediately said it was an earthquake, but I stuck to my wind story. Until I woke up later and watched the news... I didn't feel our house shake at all, but it sounded like the windows were going to bust out!

The animal stories I've heard are the most fascinating. Our dog woke us up not two minutes before it hit; could have been coincidence, but I don't think so. When it was over and I did take him outside, I noticed that it was eerily quiet, except for some dogs or coyotes howling in the distance (again weird). On the news, a lady called in and said that the birds were singing before the earthquake hit, but she noticed them stop and silence fell for a few minutes.... then the quake hit. How freaky would that be? When I got out of bed about an hour later, sure enough the birds were back to singing like crazy.

random Harper pic

2008-04-15T17:44:00.004-05:00

Look closely, this one's tricky.... it appears that Harper is licking his paw, but the truth is that Harper is asleep... It is very common for his tongue to stick out a little when he sleeps, but this day his tongue was out AN INCH...

Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan

2008-04-14T16:19:00.003-05:00

I recently finished "Naked Economics," by Charles Wheelan, and I dug it. Economics and its theories don't usually bring to mind words like "excitement" or "fun", so this guy tries to explain some of its theories through events in human history. Very interesting... For example, he would start out by describing a time or people in history and something interesting that happened over time; then would explain exactly what happened from the point of view of the economist...

Economics are at the heart and soul of human existence. As societies develop and evolve, there is a science that dictates how fast they can grow/develop in a healthy and non-destructive way (i.e. market regulations, etc.). I will definitely follow this one up with "Freakonomics" and "Undercover Economist."

lyrics: "Gazing," by Future of Forestry

2008-04-13T09:04:00.002-05:00

Have I mentioned that I like these guys...? My FAVORITE!! Enjoy.

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From this blessed morning
My love constant has been pouring
Pouring out like rivers to Your heart
Glory bells are ringing
I can't keep myself from singing
Singing out like rivers to Your heart

Oh, Lord, I have found my place in this home, this home inside of You
And here, my Lord, I can see Your face
In this home, this home inside of You

Like a child I'm gazing
Into wondrous grace
For You have been the love that fell like sun upon my face
Like a child I'm gazing
Into wondrous love
You're taking me to places that my heart is dreaming of

Broken I was crawling
And You saw my tears were falling
Falling down like rivers to Your heart
When my world was folding
God, You saw my prayers were flowing
Flowing out like rivers to Your heart

Hear the sacred songs that touch the earth and the sky
See them rise until they move like stars within Your eyes

mascots

2008-04-10T20:40:00.000-05:00

Mascots are always good for a laugh or two....

Books

2008-04-07T15:33:00.004-05:00

I had lofty ambitions for my book-reading this year... I had two books done when January ended and things were looking up and up. But I just finished my third..... "Naked Economics," by Charles Wheelan. Good book! I'll post something on it shortly...

Meanwhile I'm starting my next, "Everything Must Change," by Brian McLaren. Time to buckle up and get challenged...