Well, we have been having a bit of a dry spell here in Tennessee (like many other places in the South) . . . this has not been good for my allergies.  You know what else is not good for my allergies . . . wood smoke. Today the neighbor across the road decided to burn more stuff . . . AGAIN.  There has been a burn pile of one sort or another burning like every 8 – 10 days over there for the longest time. 

Hey I don’t mind that kind of stuff every now and again, the guy has a large field and a wood line and you need to clean it out.  But our apartments are down wind and even if you have all the doors and windows closed the apartment still reeks of smoke . . . and I mean REEKS.  My next door neighbors called the fire department (or police department or someone) and complained when her little girl couldn’t stop coughing.  She went to talk to the guy across the road and I could hear her with the windows closed lol. 

In other exciting news, I need to come up with a new color / pattern scheme for the platform walls.  This past month I’ve had purple background with a green ‘deconstruction’ pattern (I didn’t pick the name of the pattern).  Here is a picture . . .

I want to do something new for September but I’m not sure what.  I don’t want to do ‘fall’ colors as October and November will likely be that way.  Also, warm colors often make bad background colors as they don’t contrast with our pastors skin tone (since he is white and tanish looking, I usually go with a cool color for the background). 

I had to draw in where the projector screne goes.

Also, we have been matching the color of the background for the songs with that of  the walls (either using a purple that matches quite well, or a green that is pretty close to the one I’m using).  So I’m kind of looking for a song background(s) that I like and then perhaps basing the color scheme off that. 

Any ideas ?

Well not much new has happenned other then things have been very busy.  Here is a slimed down version of my work week the next few weeks . . .

 Monday – Make notes about Sunday events, fix broken things, look for new media, web searching, Extreme Body Makeover in evening until 8PM

Tuesday – Staff meeting in the morning, organizing rest of week with projects, start on to-do list, Womens Ministry Video in evening (though I think I have this one covered by a volunteer) out by either 6pm or 9pm (depending on volunteer)

Wednesday – to do list, prep for Wed service, Wed service . . . out by 9 pm

Thursday – finish up weekly to do list, prep for Sunday, Mens Ministry until 7:30 or 8 or so. (this week is greeters training, next week starts mens ministry)

Firday = OFF FROM WORK !

Saturday – Band Practice in morning, work on pastors notes in afternoon (from home).  Mens ministry this Saturday evening, but not every Saturday.

Sunday – up no later then 6 am, at church no later then 7 am to open doors and power up systems, band practice at 8 am, Sunday School at 9:30 am, Church Service at 10:45 am, Lunch at 1 pm, nap at 2:30-4:00, special music practice at church at 4:30, band practice at 5 pm, church at 6pm, home by 8 pm

Why you would want to know this, I dunno.  Some people wonder what I do all day long.  Anywho, here is a link dump as I wait for lunch to arrive !

Looks like Apple has to change its commercials in Brittian . . .
HERE

Amazing new technology harneses human power . . . as long as you keep moving for 6 hours
HERE

A new powered exoskeleton to help disabled people walk . . .
HERE

And once again a company tried to cheet Microsoft . . . and failed.  But Microsoft was in the right this time . . .
HERE

Here is a cool site by a guy who does artectual projection . . . very cool !  Check out his blog section for lots of cool info !
HERE

I have been on the search for new media sites that I can download stuff from.  I’ve come across a bunch.  At some point I will add these to the links section (well, the Blog Roll or whatever it is).  But now I must go eat some lunch !

Do you ever feel like you’ve lost your way on the journey a little bit ?

Like you spend all your time just trying to make it through the day that you don’t have any time to improve the things around you ?

The last month or so has been like that for me.

The last week has been especially difficult, just due to all kinds of things happening.

And today I’m sick . . . so it’s kind of coming to a head.

Things are going to work our for the best, I know.  It’s just right now, when so many things need to be reorganized while at the same time the work load is increasing with a decreasing volunteer base, that the days are full of just trying to get the check list done with out adding anything more to tomorrows list. 

I hate that feeling.

I don’t feel like I’m growing as a person, not Spiritually, not Personally, not Artistically . . . I just feel like I’m treading water just to stay afloat. 

When things finally get reorganized and we get a few more volunteers trained I’m sure I’ll feel lost better.  And when I get over this . . . whatever this is that causes my snot glands to go into overdrive (overdrive for ME) and I don’t feel like I need to sleep another 5 hours . . . then things will be on the up and up.

Today . . . not so much. 

I was, however, able to get some new lamps for the Student Center lights and have lunch with Steph in the process . . . and that has made my day brighter.  Lunch with Steph is always fun as we catch up on the past and remember college . . . and the lamps are one more thing off my list !

Yes, the other game that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time now (other then Fable II) is The Force Unleashed.  The game is suppose to drop mid September (09-16-08 according to the internets) and I cant wait. At least there’s a demo comming Thursday !  The demo will be one of the early levels in the game at a Tie-Fighter factory.

However I wont allow myself to get overly excited about it.  Sometimes I get all this hype in my head for a game and then I feel disappointed when I play it because it wasn’t what I was expecting (weather the advertisements were misleading or I just got overly excited about it). 

I felt a little let down with Bioshock (though I loved the game) because I though it was going to be more . . . well I suppose more story driven like Oblivion or something.  Not that it wasn’t . . . I just was expecting more RPG in the RPG / Shooter.  They had a good balance . . . I just had it in my head that it was going to be something that it wasn’t.  I wanted more back story (not just a few tape recordings strewn about).

But I digress.

The Force Unleashed (for those who don’t already know) takes place between Episode III and IV of the Star Wars story line.  You play as the secret apprentice to Darth Vader . . . yes the secret apprentice . . . since there is only suppose to be one master and one apprentice.  Vader has you doing all sorts of things across the galaxy. 

Without going into too much detail (just because I don’t have the time) . . . you will basically be ‘bad’ (you are Vader’s apprentice after all) but will access to massively powerful Force Powers.  The developers wanted you to feel like you could do just about anything with the Force (from throwing people to grabbing things off the ceeling and throwing them to electrocuting people).  The game is suppose to constantly give you the ‘wow that was awesome’ feeling, while not giving you everything upfront, you do start with some pretty cool powers.

Reviewers who have played the game have noted how polished the game is, how the force powers are powerful and give you a wide range of options to progress through the levels with out giving you the feeling like you are just breezing through the levels, and how you have those ‘wow did you see THAT !’  pretty often.

 2.) This past Thursday and Friday the church staff attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.  This is a leadership conference that takes place every year put on by Willow Creek Church (in Chicago) and simulcast to hundreds of locations around the world . . . including The Peoples Church in Franklin TN . . . where we went to watch. 
     The summit isn’t free, but DFA pays for us to go.  The summit consists of several speakers each day, usually one or two ‘one on one’ interviews with various leaders (either in the business sector or large/innovative church sector . . . not always Christians but good leaders that we can learn things from), a few multimedia / arts presentations (videos, short dramas, etc), and a couple of talks from Bill Hybels (the pastor of Willow Creek Church).
     I have to say, in all honesty, that in years past there would be a few speakers who made a big impact on me, and the rest were . . . well I don’t even remember the other speakers at all.  So from the 10 or so people speaking, usually about 2 would have information or teaching that I would walk away with . . . leaving me very bored, stiff (from sitting in the seats for hours on end) and, in the cast of the sessions just after lunch, asleep in my chair. 
     This year was different.  There were only a few speakers that I didn’t care about . . . the rest all had good information.  I must admit, though, that I still dozed off a couple of times in the session after lunch (it was an interview and the only notes I took down were the name of the lady being interviewed . . . it was quite boring).  Most of you wont be interested in the things that I learned, but I’ll post a few things that I took down that, when you think about them, are common sense . . . but sometimes you just need to hear someone put it a different way for it to come alive to you. 

- Vision Leaks – meaning that you can show people where we are going, set a goal, but then you have to keep reminding them and reinvigorating the troops so to speak.  Vision is like a bucket with holes in the bottom, you have to keep pouring the vision in to keep it from drying up.

- If something feels funky, engage it . . . don’t ignore it – if something isn’t quite right don’t let it fester and wait for it to go away, deal with it now.  Example- If someone has a bad attitude all the time, find out what is causing their pain . . . don’t let their attitude spread throughout the whole group.

- Leaders must call foul – if something or someone crosses the line, deal with it (in love and in the right way) . . . you must set the boundries

- Take a calculated risk once in a while – challenge people with something big and ask God to rock your world

- Leadership that Matters – just because I’m leading and people are following doesn’t mean that it’s worth wild to God.  Find out what He wants and make sure we are doing that.  We are Gods plan for showing people that He loves them, we are His ONLY plan, there is no plan B.

- Leaders lead on the demanding climb, where it is only safe to go with God (not on our own)

- Don’t be a Shooting Star – you’re no good if you burn bright only to burn out

- People are like Rembrandt paintings (masterpieces) with mud on them – if we had a Rembrandt with mud on it we wouldn’t carelessly scrape the mud off . . . we would lovingly, slowly, and with great care (bit by bit) get the mud off.  In fact, we would go to an expert to get the mud off and not do it ourselves due to the value of the painting.  We must let God remove the mud.

- No Perfect People Allowed – our job is not to change people, but to cultivate the soil that they grow in.  God will change people, we must allow them to grow.

 - Franciscan blessing that’s cool . . .    

“May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.       May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.     

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.” 

Well a lot of time has gone by since I last updated the blog.  That’s because I’ve had like ZERO free time . . . well not counting the couple of hours I spend playing Civilization Revolution in the evenings . .  . but by that time of day I don’t feel like writing an update to the Blog.

So, big things that have happened in the past week or so . . .

1.)  Monday before last (August 4th), I got a new fish tank.  And not just any fish tank, a 65 gallon (fresh water) fish tank !  I bought it for a good price from a family in the church who is getting a new salt water tank.  This thing is HUGE ! 
     They even gave me all their ‘old’ fish . . . being freshwater fish they wouldn’t live very long in a salt water tank.  So I’ve got like 20 of them !  Moving the tank was . . . fun.  Fun in that I’m-glad-it’s-over-now kind of way. 
     But everything is set up, the water is all PH balanced and dechlorinated and conditioned and all that good stuff with the fish now swimming around happily in the tank.  I only have a low quality picture of it I took with my phone before there were any fish in it, but I’ll take some new ones soon. 
     They only problems I’m having are that the water is still a bit cloudy (even after cycling for 5 days and 3 days now with fish), and I’m getting foam at the top of the tank from the air bubbles from the under gravel filter.  I’ve tested the water for Nitrates, Nitrites, PH, and just about every other thing you can think of . . . even had the fish store people test it too . . . everything looks fine.  I’ve turned the bubbles down to a bare minimum and STILL I get foam at the top of the tank.
     Oh well, it’ll probably clear up on it’s own.

This past Thursday and Friday was the Willow Creek Conference, but I’ll make a separate post about that.

Also, INATSM 7.5 is this weekend.  INATSM is our semi annual youth retreat, it stands for It’s Not About The Sound Man (which is a lyric from a song that Pastor Barry used in the first one . . . talking about all the things that Christianity is NOT about and focusing on what it IS about . . . growing closer to God). 
     For a retreat that’s ‘not about the sound man’ . . . there sure is a lot of stuff for the sound man to do lol.  We take a small portable sound system out there (two subs, two full range speakers, a 12 channel sound board, amps, a few monitor wedges, CD player, laptop) and that’s about it. This time, however, the camp where we have the retreat has installed a video projector . . . so we’re bringing another computer to do the words for Praise and Worship with. 
     It’s a lot to set up and take down, and a long way to drive (well, only about 30 minutes truly . . . I just drive it several times before the weekend is over) . . . but the youth, and me too, always come feeling like we got closer to God.  And I suppose that’s what it’s all about. 
    I may take my 360 along and play some Civilization Revolution too.

Which brings me to the last part of the update . . . Civilization Revolution.  What a cool game.  It’s SOOO nice to NOT play a first person shooter once in a while. The1Shagg and DrJones both have it, but we have yet to play a game together (all three of us in one game).  While it took a bit to get the finer points of city management down (even now I still find out things that I didn’t know), and sometimes you have to be careful look as the stats of a unit before you sent it out to battle . . . it’s a very fun and simple game to pick up and learn.  A general co-op type multiplayer (where the humans are playing against the computer) takes about 2-3 hours to finish.  The maps appear to be generated new each time (I haven’t seen a repeated one yet anyways and sometimes the resource allocation can be a little uneven or spread out so much that you cant take advantage of anything).  In short, a very good game.  Simplified from the PC versions of Civilization, but still requires a bit of a learning curve.  I have beat the game on level one and two on the difficulty setting, there are 5 total.  Number 3 difficulty (king I think) is giving me some difficulty lol.

Once again, I’m waiting for Big Blue (the audio computer) to convert Sundays sermon to a 48kbps .mp3 . . . so that means it’s time for a link dump !

 Some truly alarming news about the power for border agents.  I’m not one of those people who sees goverment as having too much power.  I think that to be safe, you have to give up some of your personal freedom . . . I’ll spair you going into that in more detail.  However, this new law will allow border patroll agents to conficate your laptop, ipod, or any other storage device and go through your data looking for copyrighted material.  They can even send it to other places to have it searched.  They need to put more provision on this . . .
HERE

Just incase you dont want to walk anywhere ever again, and grow even more obese, you can get one of these things . . .
HERE

New metals used in electrolysis make is cheeper . . . may be able to power a house useing solar power and watter . . .
HERE

Just in case you’re keeping up with Optical Computing (and, I mean, who isn’t ?), this is a cool story . . .
HERE
or if you dont know what Optical Computing is about go HERE

Oh, and here is a cool thing called Quantum Entanglement . . . very cool HERE