Recovery room revisited

Starting to feel a lot better. I've still got some lingering chest/ear congestion, but I've got a lot more energy and feel nowhere near as bad as I did last Wednesday-Friday. Unfortunately, Kailyn's caught the crud now, so she's feeling lousy. Nothing worse that watching a 3-year-old pout all day because she feels terrible and doesn't want to do anything but sleep. It's round 4 for her, too, so I hate it for her.

It's a shame, too, because the weather outside was beautiful today. Hopefully this will continue through tomorrow.

...

Lot of famous people have died lately. Dennis Weaver, Don Knotts, and even Darren McGavin (best known as the dad in "A Christmas Story" and Mr. Madison (dad) in "Billy Madison"). Don't know why, but reading headlines about their deaths in a harsh reminder to me that nothing stays the same forever.

...

Was watching TV today, and saw a commercial where the "We got the beat" song by the Go-Go's was re-written to say, "We got the meat." What idiot came up with that phrase? I wish I could remember what restaurant/food chain was being advertised. But in today's culture, "we got the meat" isn't all that innocent a phrase to blurt out to music. Heh.

...

I want to get aggressive about losing weight and getting in shape. If nothing else, this sick season has convinced me that I need to boost my overall level of physical fitness. I'd like to lose 30 pounds in the next 3-4 months.

Checklist:

- Less Mountain Dew. I drink enough that it could be fed into my veins intravenously.
- Move the exercise equipment out of the bedroom. Right now, our treadmill and weight machine make really good places to hang clothes, but that's about it. Need to move them where they will be used.
- Eat less. Duh. Gotta quit 'value-sizing' everything I order. And start laying off a weekly routine that involves everything from Little Ceasar's $5.00 pizza to Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
- Get accountability. If I don't, getting in shape will never be anything more than talking about getting in shape.


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Yodeling

Once again, I attended band practice sick as a dog. Gotta love that. However, my voice was much worse this time than previous illnesses. Sounded like Johnny Cash trying to yodel after getting kicked in the groin. Scary stuff. Hopefully, that will all work out by Sunday morning.

Made it to the doc this morning, so I'm on medication now. Fortunately, a flu test indicated I don't have the flu. Unfortunately, I still feel pretty terrible. Guess it's going to take some time for this medication (antibiotics & heavy-duty cough/cold syrup) to kick in.

All I want to know is whether or not I should mark the end of March as another chance to get sick (since it's happened monthly since November).

Oh, well.

Whack!

So much for fighting off the crud. My simple cough/sinus illness has evolved into a full-blown immune system meltdown. I can't breathe. I'm coughing. I've had a fever of 101 (that won't go down with the combined taking of Aleve and Tylenol. Given the way my sinuses feel, it's got to be another sinus infection. Sheesh.

And the earliest I can see my doc is tomorrow morning. Great. Even their walk-in clinic is hosed up on wait time. Here I go trying to be all responsible and knock this out quick with a doc visit, and I can't even do that without venturing away from an insured doctor.

Fortunately, Stacey has extra antibiotics laying around that I will take as soon as she gets home.

Just when I thought this cold season couldn't get any worse, this happens. I absolutely cannot believe how much we've had to face this kind of crud this year. 4 times since November. And bigger and badder than any previous year.

On the bright side (and a very serious 'knock on wood'), Kailyn and Zachary's symptoms have paled in comparison to Stacey's and mine. Here's hoping this crud will be gone by this weekend.

So, needless to say, I feel 100% useless today. Only now have I even been cognizant enough to even bother to sit down at the PC and do anything.

This fever's given me the chills, too. For the first time today, however, I feel hot all bundled up in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Usually that's a good sign my fever is trying to break.

Oh, well. Better today than Saturday night.

It my look like a booger, but it snot...

Yuck.

All kinds of funky malfunctions in my sinuses and chest tonight. Gotta love that. I'm loaded with meds, but I still can't breathe out of my right nostril. Oh, joy. On the bright side, I'm not (yet) as sick as I was last time. Hopefully, I'll be able to rest well tomorrow and kick this thing in the butt before it kicks mine (like last time).

...

Spent the past two evenings getting all 'manly' and doing car repair stuff. Matt P. came over Monday evening (so did his wife, Julie, with some great-tasting cheese/beef enchiladas...good stuff) and we got the carburetor re-installed on the Mustang. Car started and ran fine... Now on to...oh, let's see...ball joints. Sounds like the next best place to start working...

Unfortunately, problems seem to pile on one another. After taking him home, the battery light came on in the Expedition. -sigh- Fortunately, Matt came back today to help me to test the old alternator (which DID prove to be bad), remove it, and reinstall another one. All good, and even though I'm out a whopping $175 for the new alternator, at least I didn't have to pile labor costs on top of that. Wow. So a big "Thank You" to Matt for all his help.

...

Small group was at our house tonight. Jeremy let me listen to some worship song ideas that he had, which was all good. I'm compiling quite a list of new music (always a good thing).

Unfortunately, all the music-talk isn't helping me resist the materialistic temptation to purchase a new guitar to replace my entry-level Epiphone Les Paul. It's a good guitar, but there are so many better options out there with the dual-humbucker sound. I'm very happy with my Fender American Stratocaster HSS, but it still can't duplicate the low-end crunch of a pair of humbuckers.

Must...resist...the...urge...

On the other hand, my tax return should be coming soon.

Crap. Get behind me Satan.

But alas...

I went to sleep last night optimistic that I could fight off this whole illness thing that has been brought into our house (again). I had no symptoms. I felt great, in fact.

But about 5:30 this morning I woke up with the whole throat-drainage thing going on.

YIPPEE!

Four rounds of sickness in a winter is a record. It's ridiculous. Last year, I got sick only one time (not counting the crazy pneumonia thing that popped up in March without any cold preceding it). I don't know if it's having kids that hang out with other kids or if it's Stacey's exposure to sick people (she's worked in a pharmacy for years without this happening, though). Maybe it's being a part of a community where we just keep passing around the cold bug like "hot potato."

Anyway, I'm grateful that this round didn't pop up going into a weekend. But still...I want this to be a productive week, and sickness is not very conducive to that end.

Good grief.

Round 4

Good grief.

Stacey is sick...again. 4th time since November. Guess that comes with working in a pharmacy where sick people come to you all the time.

Zachary, too, developed a low-grade fever today.

I spent pretty much all day at church, so I've limited my exposure this go-around. Hopefully, I will keep fighting it off.

...

My new Alesis keyboard amp got a workout tonight as an improvised bass amp at church. Worked like a charm, since it's designed to handle low frequencies.

Several of the guys in the youth group are starting to step forward to help with getting a youth band going. So far, I have a couple of guitar players (who are talented, but struggling with a bit of stagefright, heh), a bass player who can pretty much sight-read the music, and a couple of willing vocalists. Now all I need is a drummer, and a way to build these guys' confidence.

It'll take time, I'm sure. I laugh as I reminisce about "the Root's" first time playing with us. Practices for 2 weeks with an electric guitar, then goof-wad shows up the night we're set to play with nothing but a pickup-less acoustic guitar with now strap. He pretty much sits in the background just taking up stage space. Still, shortly thereafter, he became pretty active in the band. So I hope these teenagers will work out the same way as they gain confidence in their abilities and playing in front of a crowd.

Overall, I'm enjoying helping Kenny out with the youth group. Reminds me that it was just a few years ago that I poured my life into teenagers at my old church in Birmingham. It's an exciting ministry, and though I needed to put that past behind me, I'm glad I've found away to re-connect with that kind of ministry in my life. Good stuff...

Creative Rut

I used to write songs. Lots of them. Sometimes as many as 3 a week. I used to build things (everything from nerdy plastic models to furniture). I also had started dabbling in writing for the fun of it. But not anymore. Doing 'creative' things just doesn't feel like a real part of my life at this time...

Sure, I have time to sit down at the guitar and come up with a tune, but I never have time to develop it. Right now I must have 20 or 30 'fragments' of unfinished songs dancing in my head that I haven't found the time to really dig into.

A professor at grad school told me that if I did music professionally (which I do), I would find myself not enjoying the 'creative time' with music that I used to. Man, was he right. All my time and energy gets poured into church-related things - and that's certainly not an unworthy endeavor, but sometimes I'd like to be able to channel some of that energy back into personal expressions of music and writing...

More so, ever since I've had kids, the creative 'rut' has gotten worse and worse.

Some of my inspiration is gone, too. Nothing could get my creative juices going faster than finally reaching the top of Oak Mountain on a mountain bike on a fall day and just staring at the valley below. Wow. Inspiration at its finest. I could take in both the beauty of my surroundings and the solitude of being away from everything else for just a little while.

Or weekend road-trips to the beach with my college roommates (back in the days when 'responsibility' seemed so far in the future)... I used to sit on these rocks by the lighthouse on Tybee Island as the sun started going down. I'd stay there so long, I had to swim back after the tide came in. But I'd feel at such peace in those moments... My mind would clear, and I'd find that something deep down inside me screaming to express itself somehow. Poof. A song was born.

But working at home with 2 kids in the house - surrounded by the same unchanging 4 walls of my house - is not so conducive to creativity, I suppose.

I've got to get out more.

For me, creativity has always been one of the best ways from me to express everything from my spirituality to my emotions. I think it honors God to be creative...after all, God is obviously a creative God. I think "Sing to the Lord a new song" is so much more than a call to worship in music, but a call to tap into the deep areas of our minds/hearts/souls to find new ways to express ourselves in our own way, rather than just vomit out the words others have already said.

So it's vital to me that I figure out how to get out of this rut.

On the edge of the great horizon, where the ocean meets the sky...
Standing there at the land's end, wishing I could fly...

I just played Doom, so I want to shoot someone...um, no, not really

I'm an avid gamer. Most people who read this blog know that. I play PC games, XBOX games, PSP games...you name it. That is one of my hobbies. For me, it's fun and usually far more entertaining than watching movies or television, where you are not an active participant in the storyline.

Anyway, I have a point... (so get through the next few paragraphs and you'll find it)

So much controversy surrounds gaming. Everyone it seems (including Hilary Clinton) is seeking legislation against games - specifically, violence and sexual content in video games. People sued id Software after Columbine saying that games like Doom contributed to the violent shooting spree of Klebold and Harris. People have sued Take Two Interactive for their Grand Theft Auto Games for violence and "hidden" sexual content.

As a gamer, I'll be the first to say that programmers/distributers of games need to be more responsible. They don't need to hide hidden nudity mods in their software. They need to make sure that kids don't get ahold of games designed for adults. Parents, too, should make sure this doesn't happen.

Eric was in EBgames once, and he witnessed a mom buy her son a PS2 and a copy of Grand Theft Auto (the "poster game" for violence in video games). When she asked her son if it was a good game, he said, "Yeah, it's the best one..." Oblivious to the "Mature" rating plastered all over the box, the mother proceeded to buy her the game.

-sigh-

So, it's true, there's a need for responsibility. Just as kids shouldn't be sitting through gore/sex-fest rated-R movies, they shouldn't be playing a game that casts you as a street thug violently trying to avenge his mother's death (GTA: San Andreas). Adults, on the other hand, have better mental tools from separating the reality of the 'real' world from the fantasy world in-game. At least, they should.

**Anyway, why this rant?**

Heh. I just read a headline on GameSpot.com that prostitutes (through some organization called the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA...LOL!) are now calling for a ban of the Grand Theft Auto games because violent acts can be committed against prostitues. Prostitutes...taking a stand...against the immorality of a video game. They even state that though they are (obviously) against any forms of censorship, that games like GTA should be censored. Hmm...

First, I laughed. Hahahaha. (choke and catch breath). Hahahahaha.

Second, I laughed some more.

Third, I thought...it is just a game.

Fourth, (after laughing some more) I found myself sitting here in disbelief that an organization/institution SOAKED in immorality would be calling for the ban on something they deem immoral. Alas, the double-standard has me speechless. Furthermore, it's amazing how groups that cry for freedom from any moral standard suddenly want a moral standard when a lack of it has come back to bite them in the a$$ (just not for them).

...

For me, the real issue begins and ends with parents and teaching our kids the difference between right and wrong. Having lavished in the false comfort of relatavism over the past few years, I think it's time to wake up and realize that there are things that are right and there are thigns that are wrong. This doesn't mean I'm going to grab the Christian flag and march down the street condemning things. This simply means that in a world where "one wrong" stands up to condemn another "wrong" is messed up. And if prostitutes are trying to pick up the ball dropped by parents, then the world is truly a sad place indeed.

A game, however, is just a game. A movie is just a movie. And like any source of entertainment/information, it's up to us to be responsible how we use it.

Suddenly I feel like firing up Call of Duty 2 on the XBOX 360.

Bad case of the 'tuesdays'

I've said it before. I'll say it again. I hate Tuesdays. (At least until 6:00, when small group starts...then it's alright).

So today is no exception. I woke up with a splitting headache. Even now, staring at the lousy computer monitor is not helping it much. And I've got such a disjointed list of things to get done today, I don't even know where to start. So would someone please stop the beating of the kick drum between my ears?

There is some good stuff going on. First, ALL of Zachary's tests came back negative, meaning his short stature is most likely genetic (thus, "normal for him," as his doctor says). Obviously, that makes us breathe a huge sigh of relief. Second, we had our house appraised last week, and it 'weighed in' at more than $30,000 more than we paid for it 3 years ago. Woohoo! Very nice...

So I guess I need to quit whining and get on with the day...

Called REI (the outdoor outfitters place) just a few moments ago, and the operator who talked to me seemed pretty ditzy (sp?). In fact, I think the telephone headset was the only thing keeping her head from floating away. Anyway, we ordered several things Friday night from REI.com during a 50% clearance sale, and got some amazing deals, but I haven't been able to track the purchases. Fortunately, she was able to read the computer screen and confirm that my order was well on its way to being shipped, though no online status of my order could be checked at this time on my end.

I picked up a $65 sleeping bag for $20, a "Life Is Good" $75 sweatshirt for only $12, and a $150 hiking/camping backpack for only $35. The sleeping bag and the backpack are things I've wanted EVERY time I go camping, but couldn't justify spending over $200 on these things. But $55 is more reasonable...

Stacey got some good deals, like some $95 cross-training shoes for $22. Heck, we even got Kailyn a "Life Is Good" sweatshirt for $6 (marked down from $35).

I also ordered a keyboard amplifier this week. I've been keeping my eye out for a good deal, and I found an Alesis Sumo 100 amp (plenty of juice for what I need) for about 27% less than normal price (and believe me, in the realm of "new" music equipment, 27% off is a rare find). Now, I can't think of anything I 'need' musically anymore, as the keyboard amp was the last thing on a list of things I've been putting together for over 5 years.

All in all, WAY too much spendage in our house this week, but generally that's how we buy clothes and stuff...by stocking up on clearance sales rather than spending full retail. I think this is Kyle's clothes-shopping theme, too. I don't think there's anything in my (or Stacey's) closet right now that we spent full or even 'sale price' on (even the Polo winter coat that I have was a ridiculous 75% off a couple of years ago at a Dillard's clearance sale). You get name-brand, quality stuff for less than Wal-mart prices. And that ain't too shabby...heh.

Bizarro Forecasting, a trip to 'Vegas,' and techno-miracles

Okay, I get it.

Forecast snow for Friday night = no snow.
Forecast no snow for Saturday night = snow.

It's like bizarro world from Seinfeld (and the Superman universe). Everything's backwards. Opposite.

Sorry that I'm always on a weather kick. But being a weather junkie AND snow lover, I can be pretty obnoxious this time of year (even more so than normal).

On the bright side, it's snowing. It's beautiful. It may not amount to much, but I'll take what I can get. Man, I should live further north. Not so far north that I get sick of snow. Stacey's sister lives in Minnesota, and snow there is like underwear...nice when it's fresh, but you don't want to leave it on all season. Maybe I could live in Nashville...or Lousville.

But then I'd be further from the beach... Oh, well...I guess I can't have both...

On the down side...church may be affected in the a.m. if snow sticks to the roads. Obviously, we can't tell right now...but, fortunately, there's a backup plan in place if snow keeps people away.

...

Spent all yesterday evening and all day today editing a video for church in Vegas 6.0. In the end, it was only 10 minutes of video (about 6 minutes of interview footage and 4 minutes of stock 'church' footage from past events). Amazing how long that took to put together. The longest part was picking and choosing (and sub-clipping) the 6 minutes of interview footage from over an hour of 'raw' footage. Yee-ow. Still, I think the work paid off...I hope it goes over well tomorrow at church (or the next week, if the snow-thing amounts to anything more than a dusting).

...

While pulling the video from camcorder for my project, I realized that the tape heads needed to be cleaned. Okay, such is not blogworthy. But... Being Jonny A.D.D., I got side-tracked and pulled out my old JVC DV camcorder that hasn't worked in 3 years. I quit using it when refused to play tapes, and bought the Samsung we have now. At that time, it acted like the heads were dirty, but eventually gave me some EO4 error code (whatever that means) and wouldn't eject a tape. Anyway, I picked it up, plugged it in, and...as expected...it didn't work.

Being technically 'saavy,' though, I decided to force the tape to eject. (I think I hit it with my hand a few times, too). Then, miraculously, the tape ejected. Woohoo! But...still had the error code.

Amazingly, after turning it on and off a few times and starting and re-starting a tape, the code FINALLY went away. Still no playback, though.

But after running a cleaning tape 10 times (you're not supposed to do it more than 3), TADA! The once-dead device is now (knock on wood) working again. Weird.

Amazing what a little head cleaner and a hard smack with the palm of your hand will do to a broken piece of electronics.

I blogged about this because this made me happy. So sue me. With some of the other stresses in my life right now (see previous posts), I'll take what I can get...

"That's the worry..."

Such a phrase is never a good thing to hear from a doctor. Especially in this case, where the doctor is Zachary's doctor.

Today was his 9-month checkup. All in all, I expected a good one. He's developed so much in the past couple of months it's amazing. He's started talking (well, babbling syllables that don't sound like crying), crawling, pulling himself up to a standing position in his crib, and sitting up for long periods of time. He laughs and smiles more than ever before. He has 6 teeth (more than some Lawrence County folks...heh...j/k). He got over his cold pretty fast. He stays up and plays for long periods of time. All in all, pretty impressive, considering that he did little or none of these things just a short time ago.

Unfortuately, he's literally stopped growing. He hasn't gained height or weight since his 6-month doctor visit. And that is a mystery, even to the doctor.

It's so weird. He started out so HUGE! And he grew like crazy his first few months of life, dwarfing other babies in the nursery at church. But now, he's the smallest. A peanut among coconuts.

So, "that's the worry..." Figuring out why may take some time. It could be as simple as being 'normal' for him (genetically), and he'll advance in big spurts like a lot of babies/toddlers do. He may just be like me and grow slowly and generally be smaller than everyone else his age.

Or it could be some sort of protein deficiency. They took a lot of blood from him today to run tests with. Not sure what all is involved, but the doc should call me tomorrow with the results.

Or it could be something worse. The doctor mentioned 'cystic fibrosis,' which is a life-shortening illness. I'm supposed to take Zachary to Hunstville sometime next week for the test.

So right now, I hate this. Not knowing. Fearing what I may know soon. And worrying about my 9-month-old son. Knowing that the cause for his lack of growth could be normal for him or something very serious.

The doctor told me his gut instinct is that this is probably normal for him. I know I had growth problems when I was a child, though I don't think I ever just stopped. And though I'm no giant, I turned out relatively normal. So I hope his doc's instincts are right. And I appreciate his thoroughness in wanting to figure out why.

But it's going to be hard to sleep at night when a phrase "it could be normal" is shortly followed by, "I want him tested for cystic fibrosis." On the bright side, he's got no other symptoms that suggest this latter condition (no wheezing, no recurring infections, etc.). But still...even the suggestion of getting him tested has my heart and mind all tied up in knots.

Just keep this little kid in your prayers while we 'wait and see.'

Two inches?

Hmmm. Funny how that 2 inches of snow they were calling for last night looks a whole lot like rain. Maybe Alabama snow is different from the Georgia snow I grew up with. In my experience, Alabama snow is clear, wet, and warmer than the frozen powder I used to get in Georgia growing up.

Heh.

I also find it amusing that the ONLY headline in the Decatur Daily this morning reads, "Look outside, it might be snowing." Heh. Gotta love going to press with something then having it simply NOT happen.

Why can't Alabama meteorologists figure this one out? Did they ride the short bus to meteorology school? Was 'meteorology' an elective they took at truck-driving school? Were they shocked to learn that they would not, in fact, be studying 'meteors'? Does that blue screen they stand in front of giving forecasts cause brain damage? Or is it that they simply like tormenting children (and adults) who were looking forward to a day off for a snow day?

Odds are, if you forecast snow in Alabama it's either going to (1) do nothing or (2) rain. Reluctantly, I figured this out a few years ago. I believe in exceptions, and there have been some significant snowstorms over the years. So I hold on to hope. In fact, the cold weather pattern we're settling into for February would suggest that snow is at least a possibility. There are two more small opportunities this week, with the real opportunity possibly materializing this coming weekend. I'm going to go with the odds that it will only rain, but when cold air is in place, anything's possible for the rest of the month.

I'll give them this. Last night at about midnight, the weather.com radar showed a LOT of snow over our whole area. Only problem was, NONE of it was hitting the ground. It was all up there a few thousand feet then evaporating before it could reach the freezing masses of excited (or whining) people below. Given dynamics like that, maybe forecasting snow really is tricky.

So maybe that elective weather course in truck-driving school at least taught them something. Maybe there's one near here I can sign up for myself.

Yee-ha!

A short bus for the spiritually challenged

Spiritual and moral convictions can be pesky. Just when you think you're okay with something, a conviction can creep into your subconscious and begin to eat away at whatever recent habit or thought pattern has been given too much time lately. Inevitably, the conviction activates the guilty spot in our brain which makes us second-guess some potential wrongdoing that is (or might be) happening.

A bunch of youth from our church just got back from a D-Now weekend. Apparently, the topic was "purity." Though the topic dealt primarily with that ages-old youth-related topic of sexual purity, I think the real meat of what the kids learned was how to examine their lives and determine the things that have crept in that need 'removal.' And I have to admit, it's impressive to see how 'conviction' has taken hold in some of these guys'/girls' lives in a way that's inciting them to make some real changes. Without going into too much detail, I will say this much: More than one person walked away changing some signficant things about their lives. And believe me, I mean that in a good way (as far as I could tell, none of them developed a 'holier-than-thou' attitude towards their own spirituality; they simply want to better their spiritual lives).

...

So now, I'm thinking...

And I can't help but admit that I'm a 34-year-old male who's allowed all kinds of stupid stuff into my life. Small habits have become big, bad, nasty ones. Name the issue: Anger, foul language, illicit conversations about things that probably shouldn't be the subject of illicit conversations. What else? Materialism. Gossip. Etc. Etc.

This is hard to talk about without going into a lot of detail, but maybe this will make sense:

Though I love the amount of freedom and lack of legality I've found in a real relationship with Christ, I have to wonder sometimes whether or not that freedom is often perverted as an excuse to say/do things that are simply not appropriate for someone who should be about following Christ.

Is it okay to laugh at really crude jokes? Is sexual innuendo appropriate during conversations? Is yelling at the a**hole who just cut me off in traffic just a natural way of venting anger? At what point does exercised freedom become sin? You know, that's a very difficult question to answer.

Right here, right now...is not the time to deal with these individual things (true examination of these things is not simply a 'quick' answer that's so easily spouted by so many). Rather, I just want to be thinking about it. The real question is, "What things do I allow into my life that have no business being there?" To be honest, I don't want to look at my life with that much scrutiny. Who would? After all, I will most certainly find things that are detrimental to my spiritual walk as well as my emotional well-being and even my physical health, right?

...

If you evade legalism for so long (which, honestly, can only be a good thing overall), I can see how it can become increasingly easy to have our desire for 'clean hands' and 'pure hearts' fade over time. After all (in my church circle), we want to reach the unreachable....people not accepted in other churches. I want to feel comfortable around people who struggle with everything from depression to sexual orientation issues to drinking/drug issues... I want them to know they're not judged. I want them to know that they're loved by God and God's love for them is not something withheld until they get their lives in order.

At the same time, I don't want to get so caught up in 'connecting' with people that I allow things to thrive in my life that could only damage my own 'connection' with God.

Make sense? I'm not talking about that cheesy, legalistic pursuit of holiness so often found in churches today. You know, "Thou shalt not drink." "Thou shalt read thy Bible 10 times a day."

Nothing like that.

Just a real effort to determine where impurities - things that cause 'disconnect' with God and with others - have entered my system...and learn to filter them out.

...

If I can watch a teenager who's spent a weekend thinking about purity realize that her relationship with her boyfriend is detrimental to her relationship with God... if I can watch her come home and make a very tough decision to break off the relationship with that boyfriend...

Then I ought to be able to have the cahoneys to look at the things in my life and allow conviction to move me to make changes, too.

I tell you...it's humbling to not feel as much passion for my own purity as a teenager who's only spent 3 days talking about it is.

A "Lap" Dance and the S-word.

My laptop is back up and running. If you didn't know, it's been out of commission for over a week. The cooling fan sputtered and died, and the processor started overheating...and with the 3.2 P4 in this thing, it only ran for 5-10 minutes before it powered it self off to avoid system damage.

The only thing that makes this blog-worthy is the ordeal I had in getting the part then repairing the PC. Naturally, since the PC is a Dell, I called Dell...certain they would have the part I needed. After I bounced around to 5-6 different service/sales reps on the phone (4 of which could barely speak English...gotta love outsourcing), I FINALLY was able to talk to someone who could identify the part I needed. Too bad nothing is that easy. Turns out they didn't have the cooling fan assembly in stock (with no ETA on its arrival, either). Just as well. They wanted close to $100 for it, anyway.

So I went the PC surplus route. Bought one last Monday used for $20. Got here Thursday. Not too shabby. Pulled the system apart today, replaced the fan, and...voila! Wait, voila nothing. System wouldn't boot. Fortunately, I googled a solution and now the PC is purring in my lap like it should be :-).

Silly thing is, this whole problem was caused by a sticker of some sort within the fan assembly that had come lose and stopped the fan (burning the motor out). Nice design flaw there, Dell. That's strike 2. (Strike 1 is your absolutely idiot-driven customer service).

But enough with that. I'm happy now, and the fan is purring on/off like it should be. Groovy.

...

Tomorrow if our first service with the new subwoofer. I hope it goes well. We spent an unbelievable (but necessary) amount of time at rehearsal Thursday night tweaking the sound from the sub and the sound in our in-ear monitors. Wow, that was tedious. But the time spent seemed to pay off in the end, as our in-ear mix sounded better than ever and there is now some much-needed 'thump' in the room.

Then, tomorrow night, it's off to the church-wide Super Bowl party. Woohoo! That's always been a good time. I hope this year is no exception.

...

I heard the S-word today for the first time in an offical weather forecast. S-n-o-w. I can only hope. I know I live in a community of 'snow hatas', but give me a break. As far as I can remember, we haven't had a real snowfall in Alabama since like 1996 (or, really, 1993 if you want to count snow that actually stayed on the ground for more than a few hours). Tomorrow night/Monday morning is supposed to be the 'iffy' hour, so here's hoping. I know Kailyn would love it. Heck, I would, too. Here's hoping...

Still, I won't give up hope if it doesn't snow. I think our biggest snowfalls have actually occurred during the first week of spring (I know the Blizzard of '93 happened that week...I'd just gotten back to school from Spring Break when it hit). Plenty of time left...

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Got an invite today from the E to go to Nashville. Crap. I had to say no. Just had too much going on around here. (Besides, I got the 'scowl' from Stacey accompanied by a "You can go if you want to, honey," which really means, "If you go, I'll smack you upside the head."...Heh.). But I'm definitely up for a trip up there again sometime soon. I'm long overdue, I think...

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As I'm typing all this, it would seem my blog habit has once again been reduced to "Guess what I did today!" blog entries. Which is sad, because there's been some pretty deep and creative things happening in my life as of late. I had a conversation with Chad the other night which really got me thinking about some things (mostly spiritual)... If I can find time, I might dare to blog about the things that's gotten me thinking about.

Good stuff...

Thump

Spent a good portion of the day/evening tinkering with the new Mackie 18" subwoofer at the church. I think it sounds phenomenal. This evening, Stacey, J-mo, Eric, and I went up there to see what we though of it... All of us agreed that even at mid-volume levels, the sound from something as simple as a CD playing even sounded much clearer. "The muddiness is gone!" Eric said. It was also amazing to feel the thump of the kick pedal in the room. Not deafening. Not muddy. You could just feel it.

Woohoo! There's something so powerful about music when you can feel it. That sensation and the newfound clarity will hopefully translate into a much better musical experience on Sunday mornings.

We've got a pretty powerful set of songs for Sunday morning, so arrival of the sub is quite timely. The youth are participating in a D-now weekend, and the bulk of the service is dedicated to their experience. Consequently, I picked songs I thought would be applicable to that theme. Now that there will actually be low frequencies driving the song, I'm more pumped about it than ever.

Ahh...anticipation.