Here and Now

How is this possible? We're rearranging the living room to accommodate the air conditioner and I gather the DVDs and the cases together and get them organized.  I put the kids' DVDs in some racks: I put my DVDs in some racks: And then I have 35 DVD cases without DVDs and 17 DVDs without cases.  How does this happen?  They are all (but one*) kid DVDs that are mismatched...or unmatched...or whatever. So, somewhere in the house (almost certainly in the "playroom" or in the girls' room - maybe in the garage, now that I think about it) are a bunch of DVDs and cases - mismatched, probably the wrong DVD in the case or something...ARGH!!! And, really, I know how it happens.  The kids put a DVD in a player (we've had DVD players in all three rooms upstairs and in the car so there's lots of opportunities) somewhere and then take it out, set it aside, or put it in the wrong case (lots of reasons that can happen, too - especially i

Found Online I found this online the other day.  I've been sloooowly losing weight (I'll talk about that, sort of, later this week) but I saw this earlier this week and chuckled because this is something I've said before - a quote I got from my friend Bob years ago.  He also used to say, "The doctor says I have to watch my weight - so I am - I put it right here in front so I could see it clearly" :)

From Morguefile ...Still Dies.... I found this quote the other day: Every increased possession loads us with new weariness. -John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900) I remember a home security system commercial where a guy says something like, "I can finally go on vacation and really relax.'  You know, he can't relax on vacation unless he knows that his stuff at home is safe and sound.  We have too much stuff. I get what Ruskin (who was  quite a character ) is trying to say, assuming he said this*.  New things, more things, they weigh us down in so many ways.  Yet we go on accumulating, don't we?  I have seven guitars, yet I still talk about getting another.  Why?**  We get bigger houses, TVs, smaller phones, replace our iPads (heck, three years ago they didn't even EXIST) with the next generation, get smarter phones, smarter cars, and on and on it goes.  For what? I talked with a guy a while ago.  He was clearing out his aunt

Friday night we played at the Crossing - "we" being the Tidioute worship team: me, Steve, Keith & Cathy, Lisa and Dan.  We had a pretty eclectic set list.  We played a number of standard modern worship songs like "Mighty to Save" and "By His Wounds" but we also did some Gospel style songs like "I'll Fly Away" and a country song "Long Black Train."  Steve sang a couple rock songs: "Where The Streets Have No Name" and Needtobreathe's "These Hard Times." We had some technical problems, sound was fair - but it was a ton of fun and the place was packed.  I hope the Crossing did decent business Friday night.  More importantly, I hope somebody was blessed.  I know the band sure was.

From Morguefile C|net has an article about how  Amazon is changing the rules for books and movies  - how Amazon*** is re-inventing (some would say destroying - crushing all competition - um...well, you get the idea) publishing by making it easier and faster, among other things.  They're taking some risks on some unique books (the example they use is  Jeff, One Lonely Guy  - which sounds sort of like  Post Secret , only phone messages and texts...  So, I guess it has potential - it's probably worth a read - almost certainly the kind of thing you can just pick up and read a page or three and then put down again for a week or three... And so Amazon has some exclusive content - paying, for example,  $850,000 for a memoir by Penny Marshall  and there's an incentive program called  KDP Select  that I found an actual user review of  here . So what?  Well, so Amazon isn't just the most convenient RETAILER now, Amazon is also creating content.  Publishing is relatively e

One wonders if our sign writer graduated... Oh, that's too mean, I feel bad already...

Yeah, geek moment.  I found this from a link from a link from  theforce.net 8 Lines That Would Have Ended Star Wars Real Fast  - heh, from the website "dorkly" :)

Found on Facebook - presented without incriminating comment :) ** **Truth is that at first we BOTH hogged the bed, which made for some wee hour tussles - but after almost 21 years we really can share a bed pretty well now.  I just thought this was hilarious :)

Poor Dog... From Morguefile ...I won't put it on the internet." Last words before the shutter clicks and the embarrassing picture is taken.  And, well, you know how this ends.  Of COURSE it goes on the internet.  Why else would the picture have been taken in the first place?  Who takes an embarrassing picture and keeps your humiliation secret - just a private little snickering moment between me and you, right?  But wait.  The whole world needs to see this... I get it, I guess.  We all know secrets, and they're REALLY hard to keep - especially if they're funny or embarrassing, or embarrassingly funny... But seeing the recent news about  a Rutgers student  who used his webcam to spy on his roommate, maybe intentionally, maybe not, and planned to do so a second time purposefully and invited others to watch, though the attempt failed -after which the roommate  committed suicide , what does private mean?  Who do you trust? Okay, so most of our embarrassing mome

From Morguefile EDIT: I just read this amazing post by Jon Acuff about  Loving the Unlovable . Go read it now.  I'm not kidding. END EDIT... Yesterday Paul Peters* wrote  this great post  on his  blog  about who he wants to see in church.  You know, the unchurched people of the community.  He says he wants his church to be a place where people who aren't likely to go to church...go to church.  I get that.  That's awesome. And that will get you in a lot of trouble.  Oh, he's ready for it.  And I bet most of Church180** is ready for it too.  But there will always be some who just want what always has been or what makes them comfortable or what makes them happy. I read a great article a while back about what the new worship wars should be: older people demanding electric guitars and loud drums in worship, telling the sound guy to "turn it up" and young people asking for hymns and the organ.  You know - thinking of someone else besides yourself  in wor

from Morguefile I closed the book and looked thoughtfully at the cover for a moment, sighing.   Who does that?  I've read stuff like that in (generally badly written) fiction and I see people in Hallmark Movies do that...but I just did that.  I mean, what has happened to me?  When did my life become a cheesy made for TV movie? Hope it has a happy ending...

On Friday the 25th (yeah, that's this Friday) night, the Tidioute worship team will be playing at  The Crossing  in Warren.  I'm pretty sure we start at 7:00. UPDATE: WE DO START AT 7:00!!  We're doing a kind of eclectic mix of songs.  Some worship tunes, a Needtobreathe song, some country gospel (yeah, who would've thought that would happen?).  Should be a good time :) Photo by Brandon C. Reed* Brandon's Flickr Photostream *That's a shot of my '83 Fender Elite Strat that Brandon took a year or so ago.  It's a great guitar, unique and powerful sound, push button pickup selectors, active electronics - noisy as heck sometimes but I love it.

Or, well, if you don't need them...go ahead...

Found this online and, well, how true is this? I don't think this is EXACTLY true... Lori still thinks I'm charming and funny...sometimes...  And tedious sometimes.  I don't think she ever thought I was hilarious.  We're not yet to Shutup, though... :)

...again... ARGH!!!  Have you ever tried to unroll the aluminum foil...and have it slip out of your hand...and TRY to catch it...only to have it slip from your grip yet AGAIN...and unroll at least twelve or fifteen feet? Yeah...  Here's what it looks like when you try to re-roll it... Sigh...

From Morguefile Jon Acuff in his book Quitter, "I look at starting any endeavor kind of like swimming. You can read all the books you want about swimming. You can participate in blogs about swimming and buy magazines and study videos of swimming online for hours and hours. But if you waited until you were perfect at understanding swimming before you started swimming, you might never get in the water. And you'd never learn to be a great swimmer, because you have to get wet a lot first." from IMDB (the show "Big Bang Theory"): Leonard Hofstadter : I'm just saying that you can't approach this intellectually.  Sheldon Cooper : However do you mean?  Leonard Hofstadter : Remember when you tried to learn how to swim from the internet?  Sheldon Cooper : I did learn how to swim.  Leonard Hofstadter : Yeah, on the floor.  Sheldon Cooper : The skills are transferable. I just have no desire to get in the water.  Leonard Hofst

I saw this and, really? Now, I can't imagine how nervous I would get being on TV and being in the final round...but still... Then I found others... Now, I kept thinking glove... still... And you can look at YouTube for lots of others...some NSFW...

From Morguefile Yesterday, Jon Acuff posted a blog post about  Missing Sunday School  from his blog  Stuff Christians Like .  He says he misses Sunday School, not sure how he feels about "life groups" or "small groups" or "home groups" or whatever. But it got me thinking. Is Sunday School too old school to survive today?  What do you think?

A couple images from how I spent two weekends ago - Paul Baloche leading worship and David Crowder, well, just being David Crowder.  Been Keen took the pics - he's a guy from my last church who was there and has a ton of great pics on his Facebook page.

...why do you appear in the shower when my daughter is getting in? And where were you when I showered a half hour before? Bleah....

From Morguefile Steve Guttenberg on c|net posted an article asking the question,   "When Did Music Become Unimportant?"   He makes some good points - music is generally in the background everywhere now.  That's a good and bad thing.  So there's more music than ever around us.  And because of that, we take it for granted more than ever, I suppose.  He talks about the  Loudness War  that caused music to lose all dynamics - necessary if music is always in the background* - causing music to lose, maybe, its heart and soul. Guttenberg also says he fears that bands will no longer record music since there's not nearly the market for recorded music that there once was.  I think he missed the boat here.  First, I believe there will always be an intrinsic NEED in some musicians to record their music.  For some, the recording is the "definitive" version of the song - the artist's complete vision that is difficult (for technical or personnel reasons) to re

Seriously, what does this even mean?

From Morguefile “I would rather regret the things I have done than the things I have not.”  -Lucille Ball I love that quote.  How true!  How many people just sit on their hands afraid to move because...of what?  What are we so afraid of?  Yeah, don't take it the wrong way - I mean, I suppose she might have meant something bad by it, I don't know.  But here's the thing.  I want to talk about fear and risk. I don't care what you're doing - teaching, parenting, waitressing*, working customer service**, loving your family, hanging out with your friends***, living life...  Why are we afraid to take a risk?  What's the worst thing that can happen, really?   Yeah, I'm not talking about doing stupid things - but trying to do AMAZING things.  Walk up to someone and hand them the keys to a car and say, "You need this more than I do."  Yeah, I know, that's pretty out there.  It shouldn't  be****, but I know it is.  Let's scale it down a

Yeah, I couldn't resist...

So my denomination's once-every-four-year world wide gathering called  General Conference .  At this gathering some of the ways in which United Methodist's do, well, church (the running and hierarchy, mostly - though some theology, too) is decided upon by majority vote*.  The other day, if I read things correctly, the Conference voted to end the longstanding tradition of "guaranteed appointment" for many** clergy.  That is to say, some of us (full elders, I believe associate members) were guaranteed a church as long as we were not retired.  Now, that's not the case. Some people are upset. I'm not one of them. Okay, I get why some people are upset - and many have made their arguments - just Google guaranteed appointment and the word blog and you'll get a bunch.  Some legitimate arguments, many not so much.  Some have complained that the denomination made covenant with them when they entered the ministry: I give up my right to say where I live (well,

...I've been pushing to get ready to go to  Christian Musician Summit  on Friday and Saturday.  Looks like two great days of breakout sessions and worship with Benton Brown, Paul Baloche, City Harmonic and David Crowder. Awesomeness :)