I think JT and Dave hate the new traffic cams. They call them traffic scamras. #
@jcchurch So do you have a race on the calendar you’re training for? I need to get consistent with running again. Keep it going, man! in reply to jcchurch#
Posted by Blake | Posted in My So Called Life | Posted on 25-01-2009
More random thoughts to finish out the week.
This week was a big one because of the innaugration. I streamed it on my computer while sitting in my office. I could have gone to watch it with Pat on campus at Ole Miss. But I had a lunch meeting instead that would complicate the schedule. But I did watch. I liked seeing the former presidents and their families. And Obama seemed quite confident. Though I didn’t vote for him or the nations 2nd choice either, I hope the best for this presidency.
Pat wrote a little something on his blog about watching the festivities of Tuesday from Ole Miss on his blog. It made it into the Oxford Eagle as well. I encourage you to read it if you get the chance. Justin also wrote about his feelings watching it from Starkville. Both are great reads.
But the real event of the week happened the next day when LOST began again on ABC. I watched it online the next day. But I didn’t watch the recap episode. I should have. LOST has to be careful. They are close to stretching the plot a little too far, even by their standards. For now, FNL is the best tvshow in the world.
I hate situps. But I’m realize more and more how they will help me grow older more effectively. Total body fitness would help as well.
We’ve entered into our first (and prayerfully hopeful last) situation in dealing with a lying child. But it seems we’re on the upswing. But sometimes it’s absolutely baffling what you experience with your own children.
I love online communities. They can be a chore, they can be a pain, and they can be a joy.
A little over a year ago my family and I began a transition to a new city and a new ministry. There were a lot of unknowns with it. There still are. But God has continued to impress upon me the importance of what we’re doing here in Oxford with The Orchard. And He continues to reveal to me the type of leader and man that my pastor is. And with all those things combined….I’m glad I’m where I am.
Having said that, being a Bulldog here amongst the Rebs isn’t as bad as some might think. But it doesn’t mean it’s the easiest thing in the world either. Maybe I can expound upon that later.
Music can truly transport your mind to different times and places through memories. Sometimes it’s almost a tease the nearly tangible glimpse you get with a remembered song.
Small Group started back last week for us. We’re going through Andy Stanley‘s book It Came From Within. Looking forward to the book, but the time with the people too.
One of our toilets is messed up. Won’t flush right. Won’t overflow either. So that’s good. Even ran a 3′ snake down that sucker.
Posted by Blake | Posted in My So Called Life | Posted on 18-01-2009
It’s the weekend. And it’s almost over. But why not throw up some random thoughts?
MSU football recruiting is making me a happy man. Four big announcements this weekend. Hopefully a few more to go. Scout.com has them with the #15 recruiting class in the nation right now with a few more weeks to go. We’ll see what happens.
MSU basketball is making me happy too. After a good start to the season, then a bit of a stumble it seems they’re back on their feet. I thought the season was going to stink. Now we’re 3-0 in the SEC. Even beat Arkansas @ Bud Walton Arena.
LOST starts back this week. I’ve been ready. It’s tied for my favorite tv show ever (maybe.)
Friday Night Lights finished season three on DirecTV this week and then started season 3 on NBC Friday night. I know that seems strange. But rest assured that I think FNL is maybe the best tv show ever. Amazing. Now we gotta see if it gets renewed for a new season or not.
Now since I’ve been thinking of making videos I have been researching good video cameras. I’ve realized that “good” to some people means “astronomical” to me. I’ve had cameras recommened to me that are about the same amount of money as what I made my first year working at a church. Wow. But I know there are some good ones out there.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to try to sell my Canon camera and buy a Nikon. As in the D90.
I want a new theme for my blog here. Might it make me post more?
A friend of mine just started a blog. He also just went back to MSU after working in Jackson for a couple of years as an engineer. Give him a look when you can. Head First.
We don’t have cable. And the rabbit ears don’t pick up much of anything. That’s why we love Netflix and Hulu.com. But my mom thinks since we don’t have cable we can’t figure out what the weather is. So she goes to a weather website to email me the forecast if it’s going to be cold or rain or something. I guess she doesn’t think computers in Oxford can get that info w/o her finding it first. But she’s just looking out for me.
Do any of you ever visit Pandora or Last.fm‘s sites? You can discover some cool music through them. Give them a shot. That’s where I found Owl City. [and if you've not found Owl City....then you should.]
Spring semester starts back for Ole Miss on Wednesday. So that means the busy roads and crowded restaurants and hopping night life are all about to return. But to be honest, I do like the buzz of the place when school is in session. I like it when it’s calm too. I think you can find a good rhythm there.
My wife is always wanting to be helpful. She wants me to be “successful” too. So sometimes she realizes I need a little bit of a boost to get rolling. So we talked about different ideas for a video to make for the church about small groups. But she went ahead and and started calling people setting up interviews to get feedback about why people at The Orchard here in Oxford, MS enjoy small groups.
She kept telling me she was “helping me” when really she was nudging me to help myself. But I appreciate her a ton for it. It turned out to be fun and makes me ready to do the next one…what ever it happens to be. But with a few interview appointments spread out over a few days and some friends in town over the weekend too, I pushed back the editing of the video til last night. Like really got started at about 11:30pm. And then the re-edits and tweaks that no one else would probably notice kept me going back over it. So I finished around 3am [aided by the fact this was my first time to use iMovie08] so we could show it in church today. But I’m all good.
Anyhow, here it is. It’s not perfect. But it was fun and a learning experience. I hope for more to come soon. Tell me what you think in the comment.
@JeffRodgers Yes, Tweetdeck is quite nice.I like the groups & searches you can have set up in different columns & I replied on Fbook longer in reply to JeffRodgers#
Just finished half a day with Jack Bauer in Season 4. #
Went on my first run of 2009. Took Addie with me. She had a lot more energy than I expected. 7 year olds have lots of energy. #
@aepolsgrove Indeed, it was good. You should have brought your new camera. Meant to tell you Bev read that Manning book you’re now reading. in reply to aepolsgrove#
My 4 year old is watching the Rose Bowl like it is Veggie Tales. Lots of questions. I like it. #
“Don’t get caught watching the paint dry!” : Shooter. #
@justinhjones There is tweetdeck and twhirl; both pretty cool. There are a few others as well, but I’ve settled on T’deck for now. Or web. in reply to justinhjones#
@willrambo Would you hire Coach Taylor to be on staff at MSU? Let me know when you’re done w/ S1. I gotta evangelize w/ it again. in reply to willrambo#
@abedis Throw some Ed Young Jr and Craig Grochell in there too. Maybe mix in some Steven Furtick for spice. in reply to abedis#
Buying Christmas wrapping paper at Walmart at a substantial discount. 11.5 months early. #
Friday Night Lights to air on Friday this fall makes me think that NBC doesn’t care if it succeeds. That stinks [I think]. #
@AdamCGore Ahhh. I meant this spring. Either way, bad decision on NBC’s part I believe. Might be the best show around. Do you watch? in reply to AdamCGore#
Well, it’s another year. I woke up and didn’t really feel any different. I still wondered if Jack Bauer was going to find Habib in time (watching season 4 right now). I didn’t feel any older or wiser. I was still as inflexible as I was yesterday. But I decided to do a little something about my inactivity over the past year.
While living in Clinton I went to the YMCA at least now and then. But I was no stranger to the place. And I ran some now and then around the neighborhood too. Even ran a few races here and then. But since moving to Oxford in late May I’ve been a sloth. And I’ve noticed a difference the past few days. So I’m not one into resolutions and all, but I realize something needed to change. So I decided I’d wait til January 1 to start running again. And I did.
I didn’t run very far. But I took Addison with me so I wouldn’t have to make an excuse for going short and slow. But she impressed me. She looked like she was going to get tired, so i told her if she ran alllllllll the way to the next stop sign w/o stopping she would earn $2. I didn’t think she’s make it, but she made the corner. There was no stop sign there, but I assured her she’d get the two bucks. But as we were walking the rest of the way home catching our breath (she seemed to be racing me to the corner) she all of a sudden said “I’ll beat you home!” and took off. Wow!
I caught her and ran with her all the while encouraging her. I want her to see some things that she can enjoy and be good at. I don’t know if she likes running or just beating me at something, but I let her do both. Funny thing is she almost didn’t go running at all because we made her wear her sweat suit in the cold wind. She thought her clothes looked silly and thought people would be watching out of their windows at her running. But I convinced her to drop that concern and RUN!
So as 2009 starts I realize that I need to just go forward with some things and not worry about if anyone is watching or if they think I’m silly or goofy…but if there’s something I want to do are feel called to do… then GO FOR IT. There are bucket fulls of cliches I could give to try to spur me on, but safe to say I know I should.
So, there are a few specific things I might reveal soon that I want to get better at in the coming days. Also a few “best of ’08″ posts as well. But safe to say that blogging more regularly is something I want to get better at as well.
Twitter is interesting. I signed up and didn’t get it at first. I posted maybe once every 2 months. But then once I moved to Oxford I started really getting into the swing of it. It helps when you have people you know in “real life” using it as well. So when Pat (@tapdraw) started using it too, we both seemed to explode with it. If you don’t twitter yet, you should. It’s easy. Fun. Informative. And makes you cooler (right?)
Anyhow, I saw Pat did this, so I figured I’d give it a try. But it was really hard to cull down my twitter posts from 2008. So I’ll not put them all on the first page. But here are some highlights of my Twitter posts from 2008 [taken from about 34 pages of twitters (or 717 updates)].
This past week or so I’ve had a few conversations and read a few blogs (1 & 2)about whether I/we should tell our kids that Santa Clause is real or not. Early on, before our first kid was old enough to even talk I’d heard the idea that telling kids that Santa is real, that he’s always watching, that he has super natural powers, and will bring good gifts to us if we are nice instead of naughty can be damaging. Damaging if you line it up next to telling children that Jesus is real, always watching, loves us, and gives His grace and mercy even though we’re undeserving.
But what happens to a kid’s mind when they grow older and realize that the whole Santa thing has been a ruse and that their parents had been pulling their leg about this guy? Will they start to question the validity of the Jesus guy as well if the Santa guy reality is blown out of the water? On one hand it makes sense, but then again, I know plenty of people who love and believe in Jesus, but thought Santa was real earlier too. So I don’t know.
But the perceived dilemma was solved for us when our oldest was deathly afraid of Santa early on. Now she knows he’s not real. And she doesn’t try to tell other kids that he’s not real. I’m not sure where our 2nd one is on Santa. She’s never asked either way. But we’ve decided not to “lie” to our kids by telling them that Santa is real. A lot of people will probably think we’re scrooges for that. Especially family.
But I was surprised by a few conversations where I found similar thinking. And then I saw a series of blog posts called “Giftless Christmas” by Shaun Groves. Really eye opening. Counter culture. And cool at the same time. I know that Christmas Eve might not be the time to sit down and read through four posts, but I encourage you to read it at some point if you have children.
So after a tumultuous season of Fantasy Football things are now over. And I would congratulate whoever won, but I can’t do it now. Because how self centered would it be if I were to congratulate MYSELF for winning the the whole thing? I mean, I won the Orchard Oxford 2008 Fantasy Football League.
And it would be like tooting my own horn or something if I were to say, “Congratulations, Blake!” Plus it would also seem weird if I started talking to myself in 3rd person. My wife would give me a sideways glance but the people I work with might start questioning my sanity. And how lame would it be on top of all that? I mean, it’s just fantasy football, right?
So, since I am not able to congratulate the winner of the 2008 Fantasy Football season here with The Orchard, I’ll just post a small screen cap of the winners.
This past week or so I’ve had a few conversations and read a few blogs (
