Here’s the second part of the news show from a few days ago. This time they tackle sin, grandparents, lying to parents, and books.
And sadly the memory card had gotten full, and things ended too soon. But they still had a good time with it.
Category: Blogs
Ever since Addie got a mp3 player with a voice recorder she’s played around with making her own “news podcast” as she calls it. She would invite her sister to do the news with her. They’d have fun with it, making up silly things while we were on a road trip. They’d sit next to each other in the van and record themselves, then listen back through together and just laugh and laugh and laugh.
This weekend I discovered them making their first video newscast. I have to admit that I have laughed more at this the past few days than I ever would have expected. The following video is about the first half of their first newscast. They said they’ll probably make more in the future.
Looking back on the archives I brought over I realize there were times when I would post quite often. And it’d be about pretty much whatever. I didn’t have to have anything big or grand to post about. Maybe it was about being in downtown Jackson and my brakes not working. Maybe it was an old Friday’s Feast. Maybe it was just about my sleep habits. But what ever it was, I just posted.
But somewhere along the way I started almost worrying about what I’d write. Would it be interesting? Would anyone care? Would it get a comment? So I’d get stuck in over analyzing things and try to think of the right thing to write about or say. And that would basically freeze me into inactivity. And I’d not post. And then since it had been a while since my last post, I thought I needed a “really good one” for my come back. So then I’d over analyze the next “really good” post. And then I’d still just think, “I should write something tomorrow…”
So no promises, but I intend just to write. And if no one reads it, well, so what? It should be fun, right? I mean, sure, still put some thought and effort into things. Each post shouldn’t just be a stream of conscious. But it doesn’t have to be the next award winning writing either.
I remember when I posted my first real post I ended with these words:
What sort of voice will the blog have? Will it focus on specific things, or anything goes? How personal will it be? Well, it’s still little more than an embryo…so it has lots of growing and maturing to do before it develops a recognizable personality. I hope you hang around with me to see how things go.
And while I know it’s no longer an embryo, I think maybe my blog is going through puberty. It’s experiencing some changes. And is trying to figure out it’s place. There was a time when I thought I’d blog mainly about MSU sports, or Christian culture, or what happened to me and my family today, or what tech stuff I wish I could own or whatever else. But instead of trying to find a niche and impress anyone in particular, I think I’m just going to write what’s on my mind. We’ll see how it goes.
There was a time I’d never heard of the word “blog”. That time ended back in 2002 when I came across this thread at Site Point Forums. Hmm, an online journal of sorts. So I tried out Blogger.com that people were recommending. I posted a few times, but it didn’t stick. And I wanted my own domain name.
So I bought statedog.com. It was name I started using in ESPN’s College Basketball Chat back in 1996 when Miss State went to the Final Four. Then I started using it on message boards. So it seemed like a good fit. I didn’t know what script to use, but I went with MovableType. It seemed like the stud at the time. I read some other blogs by now that were using MovableType. And it was free. But a bugger to install (it was Perl based back then.)
But to shorten the story, I set up a blog StateDOG.com using MovableType. I ended up running into some issues with MT. And tons of spam too. I converted to a new script called WordPress and loved it. But for a few various reasons I ended up stopping blogging. But I still had the itch. I picked it back up at ASmallTwist.com. I was able to acquire my own name as a .net so figured I must use it. So BlakeThompson.net started up as my blog. Lots of bouncing around for all my blogging, right? There were probably about five or six hosts too.
But this past week I was able to get everything together. I combined all my old blogs with my current blog. It took a few days of mistakes, broken databases, import issues, and upgrades, but I was able to finally get all the old stuff, ever way back to my first post on my own domain, here in the archives. Sadly the comments didn’t make the trip from 2003 to 2010. But I got the meat of the old blog. There are probably some broken links here and there. I know there are some missing pictures. And a lot of what used to be linked to might not even be in existence these days (blogs come and go, you know).
But sit back and look through some of the history. I know there have been some starts and stops. But my intent is to be here to stay. And I’d like for you to be here with me. So, is anyone still reading this thing?
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)].
During my absence I’ve been quite busy.
Yes, life has kept me on my toes with a few Christmas parties and family duties. But the main thing that has seemed to be on my mind was the coaching search at MSU. And after the “resigning” of Coach Croom the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the whole Bulldog Nation has been astir. But two days ago it seems we finally put the rumors and speculation to rest in the hire of Dan Mullen.
So maybe now my life can go back to semi-normal. I won’t have to be checking the message board and blogs and twitter feeds quite as religiously. It seemed I was a hawk for information, and a purveyor of it as well. I’d have people telling and asking info a lot. Now I guess we just figure out who the rest of the coaching staff and signees will be!
But that was partly to blame for the absence. The other parts were just staying busy with a family of five in the midst of holidays. Fun stuff. But I’m really looking forward to it. The tree is up, gifts are under the tree, some more gifts need to be bought, and weight is being put on I think.
But I’m back to blogging again. My wife checks here often and tells me “When are you going to post something new!?!, so I expect to flex the blogging muscles as we plow through the holidays and into a new year.
I have been a subscriber of Relevant Magazine for about the last five or so years. It is a magazine aimed at Christian 20/30 somethings, but is not overly cheesy or cliche. I really like it. And I like their website a lot too. There’s new stuff up every day and they have great new music to find too (along with some older favorites). But the editor/publisher, Cameron Strang, has been sort of in the public light recently because of his acceptence and then decline of an invitation to pray at the DNC. He covers that quite effectively here.
But his First Word column in the magazine is usually a well thought out perspective on some important issues. The column in the Sept/Oct issue is a real thought provoker I believe. You can read the entire article here, but I’ll include a few quotes below as well. Let me know what you think.
I’m someone who tries to think independently and objectively, rather than simply follow what the pundits tell me to think. Because of that, I’ve realized I cannot fully embrace either political party. Both sides of the aisle have some great ideas and goals. But both also have areas where they simply get it wrong…
<snip>
The problem is, many Christians vote these convictions, but that’s largely where their personal involvement in the issues stops. Are the government leaders we vote for meant to do our job for us?
<snip>
I’ve heard that only 5 percent of people who attend church regularly actually serve in any way. I’ve read that if every Christian in America actually tithed 10 percent of their income, we would have enough financial resources to wipe out global poverty.
There’s more power lying dormant in pews around the nation than any government could hope to provide, and that’s where our focus should be.
<snip>
If you have a passion for an issue, rather than judging someone who doesn’t share that passion or viewpoint, just go do something about it. Give your life to it. Be the change you want to see.
It’s not up to Washington, it’s up to us—and I say it’s time we step up and lead the charge. But that means with our lives, our finances and our actions every day. Not just Nov. 4.
Last night The Orchard was a host for a screening of the new Invisible Children Video, GO. You probably remember me talking a bit about it last week.
Suffice to say it was pretty amazing. The turnout was less than we expected and hoped for, but the event itself was a blast. The roadies from the IC were great. Very helpful, knowledgeable, and genuine. The movie was inspiring. It told the stories of three out of 15 high school students who were allowed to go to Africa and see the effects of the money they raised.
In turn it inspired some of them to make an even deeper commitment to helping the cause of children in northern Uganda.
And The Lyric Theater….it’s freaking amazing [or freakhog amazing]. It’s a great venue for a movie for sure. And I look forward to seeing some bands in there soon. But even the Roadies said that normally while the movie is showing they hang out at the merch table because they’ve seen/heard it so many times. But they said that The Lyric Theater in Oxford was by far the best venue they’ve been to in terms of video quality and sound quality. They said it was like watching the movie almost for the first time again.
All in all it was great night. Hope to have a better attended event next time. I think we learned a few things about getting the word out too.
Lastly, here is an older video from Invisible Children. It shows a bit about their Displace Me Campaign from a couple of years back. The more I see from these guys, the more I’m amazed with their video production skills. Plus, this video has one of my favorite songs in it too.
If you want to spend a little time on a blog with some interesting writing, check out Writer Dad. He’s a dad who writes. Pretty simple, huh?
But something he said today was pretty profound. It was at the close of a post he made about catching some kids messing up his neighborhood. This is what he said:
…the mothers and fathers of today should be paying more attention to the mothers and fathers of tomorrow.
Wow. Very true words.
