Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

Fun times at BreakThru. Lesley and Holly were acting pretty thugged out. So I had to represent as well.

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Tagged by Rick!

Seven things to do before I die:
1) Snow Ski at Whistler/Blackcomb
2) See my grandchildren graduate
3) Get season tickets for MSU’s football, basketball, baseball
4) Go on a one year mission trip
5) Hear God speak daily
6) Visit England and New Zealand
7) Have a swimming pool

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1) Touch my toes
2) Keep a straight face when I get in trouble
3) Eat Coconut
4) Go to sleep on time
5) Be an Ole Miss fan
6) Skip Breakfast
7) Sleep Late

Seven Things That Attract Me to My Mate:
1) She loves me even when I’m grumpy
2) She is the best snuggler ever
3) She is a fantastic mom
4) She loves to pray for me
5) The glimmer in her eyes
6) Her laugh when she makes fun of me
7) Really listens when I really talk

Seven Things I Say:
1) …and what not.
2) Have you heard of podcasting?
3) Right on!
4) Later.
5) I’ve only read the first half of it.
6) Have I told you this already?
7) I’ll get to it tomorrow.

Seven People Tagged:
1) Brad
2) Jeremy
3) Kevin
4) Chris
5) Tim
6) Russ
7) Lyle

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I get a call today at the office. It’s my wife. She tells me that she’s at Walgreens, but that she ran out of gas. So I’m wondering where the car is. Turns out, it is in front of Walgreens. In the left turn lane with the hazzard lights on and a line of cars behind it.

Now if you know much about Clinton, you know that Walgreens in on a corner. The corner of Hwy 80 and Springridge Road (or is it the Parkway?  same road, but it changes names a lot). And if you know much about Clinton, you know that this is the busiest intersection in all of Clinton. Honestly. So she asks, as she stands in a drug store w/ my 15 month old daugher, “What should I do?”

Yeah, she asks that question. But she isn’t really asking a question. She’s just telling me that she needs me to come help her out. So like the good husband I try to be most of the time, I tell her, “Wait right there, honey. I’m on my way.” Now really, where is she going to go?

So I go to Advance Auto Parts and get a funnel and a big blue gas can. Then get some gas at Shell. And then pull in to Walgreens and get a view of the situation. There it is. Our white, late 90′s Tahoe sitting there with it’s pretty hazzard lights flashing and a group of angry drivers behind it. So I begin the walk across the drugstore lawn and through traffic to begin to pour gas into the Tahoe. Silly people are honking at the thing. I mean, c’mon. It’s driverless. The emergency lights are blinking. But you think it’s going to all of a sudden take off? Or did you think the driver needed a nap and decided to do it mid morning at the most congested crossroads in the whole city? C’mon, silly people.

But I perform my husbandly duty of the day and all is well again after the engine finally turns over. And we did get a new blue gas can out of the whole experience!

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It came in the mail on Saturday. I charged then loaded the thing up using Windows Media Player 10. Played with it some. Then decided to unload it all and reload it with the software that came with it. To be honest, I’ve not had tons of time with it. But I think I’m liking it quite well. Seems to have a great screen, good controls, nice sound, and easy to manage.

If there is any one thing that I’m not so sure about yet is that there’s no ALL menu option when looking at an artist. I’d gotten used to it on the Zen Micro and know that the iPods have it too. It’s where when you look up a particular band or artist you get a list of their albums and also an option for ALL. So I can look at the David Crowder Band and either pick a particular CD, or select ALL and get everyone of the songs from each disc in one big list.

Not a big deal, and one I expect they’ll fix in a latter firmware release. But I’m about to crawl in bed and listen to me a sermon from Mark Batterson of National Community Church in D.C.

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One of the things our pastor wanted the staff to do was submit to him goals for 2006. That way next October or November he can sit down with us to either pat us on the back or wag his finger at us. Not really, but he wanted some measurable things to look at and aim for.

It’s sort of humbling. You know if you give your pastor, your boss, a list of goals, then you’d better try to stick to them. It’s not like making a list and putting it in a journal or blog or whatever. But he’ll keep you accountable. I don’t have the list w/ me on this computer, but maybe I’ll post it for you soon. But I’m looking forward to hopefully keeping the goals. They’re both ministry related and personaly related. And a lot seem to overlap. I think that’s the nature of youth ministry, or any ministry really. A whold lot of things you do are related to both ministry and personal lives.

Has anyone else had to do this?

But here’s to the Goals of 06!

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Man, I’m so juiced!

Less than a month to go. And we’ll be heading out to Copper Mountain, CO for some incredible times on the slopes. I’ll go back to skiing again since my last expereince on the ole SnowBoard didn’t work out as well as skis. If I went more than 3 days every 2 years, I’d probably give boarding more time. But I want to rip it up with all the time I’ve got!

We’ll be taking about 40 people up there and have some great times of worship, teaching, and community building as well. Started out as a YOUTH trip, but looks like we’ll have quite a few of our college students going as well. I’m looking to take the laptop with me and hopefully get some internet coverage while there somewhere. If not in the condo, then with some WiFi at a restaurant or lounge. That way I can have pics and updates straight from the point of interest!

Last time I tried to write by hand, then type it in later…didn’t happen

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Last week I had a busy morning. I was supposed to be going out of town before lunch. But before that I had a meeting at church. And before that I had to get my 2 daughters to the child care room where my wife works. But before that I had to get them fed, cleaned up, dressed, and ready. I had to do all that for myself…and pack!

So it was a hectic morning. Lots of rushing around and all. And my 4 year old, trying to be as helpful as possible, was being a big Mother Hen for my 14 month old. She was trying to help with shoes or her jacket, or tie her shoe laces. A number of things that showed she was being a loving big sister. But little sister wasn’t feeling the love. At all.

She’d respond with a pretty sharp “Aaaaahhhhnnghhh!” over and over. I kept telling Addie, “Sweetie, just leave her alone. She doesn’t want you to do that.” A few seconds later…., “Aaaaahhhhnnghhh!!!” “Honey, just leave her shoe there, I’ll get it in a minute. Just back away from the baby…please.” All this while I’m trying to decide which clothes looked the cleanest to take with me.

Finally, I’d had one Aaaaahhhhnnghhh to many. And I lost my patience and yelled at Addie. I told her that I’d asked her, I’d told her, and instructed her to leave her sister alone. So just sit still and don’t move until I said it was time to get in the car! There. That felt better didn’t it? But no it didn’t. And as I walked back inside form putting some thing in the car, there she sat in the garage on a paint can. Head dipped. Shoulders slumpped. So I picked her up. Took her inside and stood her on my bed so we could see eye to eye.

“Honey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. I was wrong to have yelled at here. Will you forgive me?” She told me yes and was not really in a bad mood from all the drama. Everyone was now fed, dressed, and ready to go. So as we drive down the road, I hear her say, “Daddy.” Yeah? “Don’t you think you need to ask God, too? ” Ask him what? “You know. Ask God to forgive you too since you yelled at me?”

Holy cow! Here this 4 year old is calling me out on my need to ask God for forgiveness. Who does she think she is? Heh heh. She was right. Yes, you’re right. I should. And I will. Thanks for reminding me. I was proud of her. Makes me think we’ve taught her a few things that are good. Plus it humbled me. But then she says, “Well?” Well what? “Well, aren’t you going to ask Him?” She was ready for some praying action right then and there!

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Well, I have been planning to go back and swap my no good (but brand new) video iPod for a good one and get to listening to it. I even spend a bit of time working with iTunes to get my music/podcast library in order. But just before I left to go to Circuit City for the swap, I looked on Amazon.com again…and there was a change.

All weekend there’d been an “Out Of Stock” notice for the Zen Vision:M. So it could be 2-3 weeks before they’d be able to ship one of those puppies. But now they say they are in stock and would ship out in about 24 hours! That means I could have it by the weekend if mail works right for me. Oh the drama.

So I actually get up to the counter and give my receipt and everything w/o knowing my final decision. But I hear the words “refund” come out of my mouth. So I got home and ordered a Zen Vision:M. So instead of listening to podcasts of a sermon on my new, sleek, black Video iPod while I fall asleep, I am waiting for Mr. Postman (or Mr. UPS) to bring me a different kind of player. One that supposedly has better sound, better video, better selection of file formats, and not as “sexy” and popular of a choice.
I’m either going to be elated or slightly disappointed. I went with the “maybe better than” instead of the “definatly good“.  I only hope the reviews were correct and not fluff…

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Well, Friday night I’d decided to get the iPod. The vast availability of accessories and integration with iTunes was the clincher. But by the time I get up Saturday I’d decided to get the Zen Vision:M. I figured I’d give it a shot and I had 30 days w/ the return policy at Circuit City. So I go to Circuit City w/ my gift card and a little extra money and can’t find the Zen Vision:M. So I get online there in the store and find out that they don’t carry it. And neither does Best Buy, CompUSA, or just about anywhere else…except Wal-Mart!

But a quick call lets me know that they’ve never even heard of it in the store. So I end up getting the iPod. Come home and after a quick trip to see Clinton win the 5A State Championship in soccer and then a supper with guests, I begin to load up my iTunes library.

I use iTunes for podcasts, but never had imported all my other songs before. So this takes forever and then it has to convert all my WMA files. So I go to bed. Wake up with over 2000 songs, sermons, podcasts, and a few random videos. So I do the big drag and drop and hop in the shower.

And I get out to a stupid error message. Now the whole blasted thing is locked up. And I have to go back to Circuit City to exchange it for another iPod (unless I end up asking for $$ back and trying to get the Zen online.)

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