happy trails to me

Every day I sit down and think through the things I need / want to accomplish in a day. Every day sitting down to blog makes the list. I have a list of 20 things that I'd love to rant / post / think / talk about. Then the day ends, nothing is posted, and I feel guilty about it. So I've decided to take it off the list for a while. We are going through a stretch in life where most non-essential services are being shut off due to neglect and time. When the time comes to choose between being with friends over coffee or blogging about whatever -- those human folks must win out.
So this is good bye. To all four of you. For now anyway. I don't see much chance of picking it back up in the near future, but who knows. I'll leave everything up for now for my reference if nothing else. If you want me to let you know if and when I start up again, feel free to leave a comment or email me and let me know.

The silhouette in the sunset is me.
j

ps -- that means the book blog is going away too.

happiness is...

...wi-fi in your house. Coming to you live from the living room. Time to test out how far the signal goes.
j

wednesday morning randomness

New Napoleon Dynamite sightings. He and Pedro are doing ads for the Utah State Fair, go to Napoleon's Sweet Ads on the left. All I say is "do you see any flippin' sasquatches around here?"

ysmarko points us to a church with attendance-based salaries for staff members. Healthy, no?

I finally saw What the Bleep do We Know? last night. Wow. Great film, really well done. There's some amazing stuff and some really goofy stuff, but if you bring the context of Christianity into it, there is a lot of God to find there. If you bring most other contexts to it, you could wind up more in love with yourself than most of us already are. Interesting stuff.

On the church sign front (always), we have this entry from the loving folks at Woodland Hills Baptist Church in Tyler, TX. I refuse to link to their site, but you can Google it if you're looking for an email address to share your thoughts on the subject.

On the far more hopeful church front, check out these videos on Katrina from theworkofthepeople.com. While you're there, consider making a donation to the church communities that are directly working with evacuees and survivors. (Note:WHBC in Tyler would not be on that list)

Happy Surfing.
j

dang it, i said please. . .

"Out of this tragedy, the focus of America is going to be on these [hurricane] victims, and inflamed rhetoric in the United States Senate is just not going to play well now. This is a time of healing and compassion and reaching out to people....Judge Roberts can, maybe, you know, be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good." -- Pat Robertson

Needs no comment from me...hurry up on that extradition to Venezuela.
j

better late than never

I always throw out happy birthday to the family as they roll around. I haven't had the chance yet, so I'll say it a couple of days late.
To my partner in crime and fellow world traveler and the most amazing wife and mom on the planet - Happy Birthday! See, this one wasn't so bad, was it?

For the record -- there was much celebrating on the actual day. Ted's. Need I say more? (probably if you aren't from around here)

Birthdays are good stuff.
j

no time to post today

I'm off to Kansas City for this.
Wagons North.
J

live blog from inside new orleans

Via Andrew Jones

This is a blog from some guys holed up in a high rise in New Orleans. It is complete with running updates / commentary, amazing photographs, and a live cam feed watching the streets around their building.

Unreal
j

and the winner is. . .

The award for the most ridiculously over-the-top inflammatory statement crafted for the sole purpose of being excerpted into reviews and articles in order to get people to read your book goes to....
Roy F. Fox in Harvesting Minds : How TV Commercials Control Kids.

It goes a little something like this.
In talking about Channel One, the "news and information" channel pumped into schools that also brings thousands of commercials a year to a captive audience in the classroom.

America has not held so many people captive for purposes of selling for profit since lines of ragged slaves clambered up on the auction block.

I must say, I'm no fan of commercials or advertising in the classroom, but dang man.
Swimming in the rhetoric
j

seen driving through town today

This bumper sticker...

This is not the first time God has spoken through a BUSH

I would like to note that God also spoke through Balaam's steed.

Apparently my cynicism was waiting for me in the car.
j