There's light outside, there's life outside

Apple has just made the life of a college student even easier than it was before. They have introduced a program that will offer podcasts of class lectures and other important information which will be downloadable to an Ipod.

If this was around when I was in school I would have never gone to class. I would have slept till noon, then while reading the paper over breakfast I would have listened to what I missed on my Ipod. If I needed to take notes I could pause, fast forward and rewind at my leisure.

This is a great tool for students to use practically and not just to become slackers like I would have. I just think it's really amazing what Apple is coming up with these days. Not to mention they've just switched to using Intel chips in their computers which makes them two to four times faster than the G processor chips.


And is Mike Piazza really worth what he's getting from the San Diego Padres???

In that red dress there's no contest

I've grown pretty tired of so many people criticising the NSA and the Patriot Act. Yes! The government is using top notch surveilence to read our emails, tap our phones, have us on camera. It is a strong invasion of our privacy and steps over the lines of the consitution a bit, but I mean come on. It's not like the government is trying to spy on us to expose Tom for having an affair with his next door neighbor Susy by tapping a phone or find out that little Tommy cheated on his science test by reading an email he wrote to a friend. This is a highly protective measure that I would hope most of the liberal left would accept with open arms.

However, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is receiving a lot of flack for what the government is doing and he, like I, believe that a lot of people are mislead in their understanding of the intent of this process. I mean do people really think that some CIA agents are sitting in a room listening to funny, taboo, or depressing phone conversations and then gossiping about it? Of course not. They're not even wasting their time on that. And not to mention wasting our money. They are invading the privacy of those who have shown signs of being a threat to the US and its allies.

When Gonzales spoke at a Georgetown Law School forum, several students stood in front of him with their backs turned and others stood outside the room with signs that read, "Don't torture the Constitution."

Great, let's keep every bit of the Constitution word for word and if something horrible happens then.."well at least we held to the Consitution!" (I hope you're hearing my sarcasm. This is stupid. Creeds were meant to be broken, laws altered and constitutions changed. We cannot let ourselves believe that abiding soley by the Constitution will keep us a great and safe nation.

Sorry for the rant>

Now has anyone seen the Rolling Stone cover with Kanye West dressed as a black Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head? I'm not sure if he's saying that he's the "Saviour" of hip hop music or what, but I think that's taking it a little too far. I agree that he's getting peoples' attention with the things he's doing and saying, but openly admitting that you're addicted to pornography in an interview, then laughing about it is not the attention that I would deem positive.

I'll stop moaning for now until I have something more uplifting and positive to write.

Logic will break your heart

Lately I've been doing a lot of research on XXX Church. They are a client of ours at my new job and it's two young married guys (both pastors) who decided to leave their respected roles and start traveling and preaching on what many consider a taboo subject: Pornography.

They've been trying to bring into the open what most Christians have kept under a heavy blanket for many years. They are not trying to expose people to one another, but they are trying to expose the many risks and dangers of pornography. It's pretty awesome and it's really cool to see the men and women that they've really helped in the past couple of years.

And to top it off they travel to porn shows nationwide with shirts that say "God love pornstars" and banners that say "Do you have the balls to stop looking at porn?" And more than that they have a 40 foot inflatable penis named Wally the Weiner.

It's all really funny, but it truly gets many peoples' attention. And personally I think this is an issue that many Christians have needed help dealing with in the past, but have felt too ashamed to ask question or reveal what they were dealing with.


Now a segue:

Belle and Sebastian will be playing at the Ryman Auditorium in March with The New Pornographers. Hopefully tickets are not too much, because that would be a good show. I could get much Indie cred for going to this one.

This is me at my darkest

So NASA is going to Pluto.

That's kind of impressive. Traveling some 400 billion miles at a speed of 360,000 mph.

I think it's cool that we're sending amachine the size of a piano to explore ice on a planet that has nothing to do with anything except it's the coldest and furthest from earth. Maybe that's were Lex Luthor has been all these years.

Speaking of Lex Luthor. Has anyone seen the previews for the new Superman movie? I had thoughts that it wouldnt be the same without Christopher Reeve in it, but the new guy they brought in is a pretty spot on match. And the previews look pretty amazing.

Check it out on Apple Trailers

Killed by an angel

There are somedays when listening to anything but "The Rising Tide" by Sunny Day Real Estate is just unacceptable.

Now how about that Colts / Steelers game? Overturned bad calls, fumbles on the one yard line, and shanked field goals by the best in the biz. It was crazy, but it was good and maybe this will give the Seahawks a better chance at taking the title.

Who am I kidding? I could care less about the NFL. But that game was still exciting.


I've been learning lately how to be an ambassador for Christ. It's really not an easy task, but it's outlined pretty well in 2 Cor. 5:20. It required things that are hard to do all the time, patience, strength and many things that I don't always want to do, but are very important for me to fight through so that Christ may work in my life and also so I may represent Christ the way He requires.

what good is just one note?

So the word on the street is that Brad got Angie all knocked up (is that the right term for that?)

And there is some crazy stuff going on in the middle east...I'll discuss more when I have more time. It should be good.

In the summer rain

My good friend Matt Stokes has a good write up on Sufjan Stevens' album "Illinoise." Click the link and go read about it.

I do agree that Stevens had one of the (if not THE) best album of the year. At each listen I find something new and fresh. This album certainly deserves top honors of '05

Other albums that fall into the category of best of '05 are as follows. (sorry for repeating myself)

Sigur Ros - "Takk"
Mew - "And the glass handed kites"
My Morning Jacket - "Z"
Norma Jean - "O' God the Aftermath" (yes really!)
Discover America - "Psychology"
The White Stripes - "Get Behind Me Satan"

Ok so let me touch on two of these records. First Norma Jean. Their music, however chaotic, is perfectly planned. Not only is it a beautiful mess, but the recording and production on the record is flawless. Their new vocalist, Corey, was an amazing addition to the band coming from his former band Eso Charis. The vocals a perfect and his raw singing is unmatched in hard music today. And the drumming on this record is beyond great. It's unpredictable, timed perfectly, and is appropriate to every bit of music on the record.

Second, The White Stripes released "Get Behind me Satan." I have never been a white stripes fan. I've never been a skeptic, but I really feel that their first two records were too easy to put together and Jack White's potential as a songwriter was wasted on short, silly, choppy songs. This new record, however, show White at his songwriting best. The songs are extremely unique, well though, well put-together and just more fun to listen to than any of their earlier stuff. So don't think I'm jumping on the White Stripes bandwagon with this one, because, trust me...I've never liked them before and it takes a mighty good record to make me like someone I haven't previously liked.

Well it's been a crazy '06 so far. Hopefully some fun stuff will come up that I can praise, make fun of, or just report in general.

We have the facts

Ok.....so while I'm without permanent residence I am a little slow on blogging. But since I took a look back at 2005 I will take a moment and look ahead to 2006. Here are some things I think are going to be great.

1) I am going to be buying a house!
2) Christopher Guest's new movie due out in September featuring Ricky Gervais from The Office
3) The new season of 24
4) I have a feeling that Apple is going to be unleashing some pretty mind-blowing products this year. Check out AppleRumors.com for more of what's to come.



There's a lot more that I'm looking forward to in sports, music, tv, movies, books, politics and life in general. I'm also hopeful for a lot of things such as a resolution in Iraq. I'm really ready for them to have a legit government situation worked out so we can pull out of there. I'm all for doing what it takes to establish things over there, but it would be great to bring our soldiers home and to maybe relieve some of this international tension and domestic federal financial trouble.

I would also like to see the MLB adhere to a "one strike you're out" policy when it comes to steroid use.