Sunday Funnies

Happy Thanksgiving!

Exactly!

Just heard these songs for the first time today. The first one is exactly what I'm feeling and what I'm thinking over the last couple week. It's like Roby Duke says in a version of Amazing Grace..."I was through with God after I'd met him once, I was done loving him...to my surprise, He wasn't done with me...."

The lyrics of this song really resonate with me right now "Whatever you're doing, it feels like chaos.........." Man, it's tough. One minute I believe with my whole heart there's a God who loves me and wants the best for me, the next, I completely believe it's all made up...The next minute thinking surrender is a great idea, just to turn around and say "no way in hell I'm giving in to something I don't even know exists". From I don't need to be connected to a church, that's just lame, to how could I ever walk away from the folks I feel connected to in such a strong way....It's driving me nuts. Can't make a clear decision about what the hell I want to do. It's scary to trust God and other people to look out for my best interests. Too scary to be that vunerable... But this song explains it better than I ever could...




Like the lyrics to this song by the same group too. "If weakness is a wound that no one wants to speak of, then cool is just how far we have to fall..." Embedding is disabled, but you can see it here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2LCvCBaqVg&NR=1

Right On!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20081117/twl-obama-vows-to-close-guantanamo-bay-41f21e0.html

Yep!

New Gear!

Manfrotto 190CXPRO4 - carbon fibre

This is my first "real" tripod! Tried to stick with something that wouldn't be too heavy to carry through the airports but that was still sturdy enough to use everywhere. This thing weighs about 3lbs. Hopefully, that won't be too bad.

Acratech Ultimate Ballhead

This looks like it's going to be the perfect fit for me. Like how there's so many positions without having to re-adjust or move the tripod. Even better is that it's made in the USA!

More info. here:

http://acratech.net/product.php?productid=7&cat=1&page=1

M-Rock McKinley 524

I've been looking for a moderately priced laptop/camera bag combo rollerbag for a few months now. Got a great price on a sea green one of this. There's plenty of room for my laptop, camera gear, and all the paperwork and books I need to take with me when I travel. It's not too "ugly" to take into the office everyday either. It'll be great to have all my gear in one place when II'm on the road. My only concern now is lifting the thing over my head to store in the overhead compartments. We'll have to see how that goes.

White House Photographer Cecil Stoughton Dies

See story here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/arts/design/06stoughton.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Because of You

Unfortunately, can't add this song straight to a blog site, but here's the link.
Tonight I had 2 separate but related conversations about things that happened in the past. This song really gets to the root of those conversations so I'm posting it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLi0yBmPe0k

A New Day

What can I say, tonight is a historical time in our country. The US has elected the first African American as President of the United States. For me, the most exciting thing is that so many people turned out to participate in this election! In my county, more than 50% of the registered voters had already voted by absentee or early voting before the polls even opened today!

For the next few weeks there will be all kinds of people saying things about this campaign far better than I ever could. I'll let them....

Tonight, I'd like to tip my hat to John McCain for giving one of the most gracious and well stated concession speeches I've ever heard.

If you didn't see his speech, it's worth taking the time to do so.

Well done Mr. McCain!

Free Falling

Ok....so the last 8 weeks have been a bit...ummmm....WEIRD!

It all started when I got on this Southwest airline flight back to Sacramento. I was holding ticket A1. If you ever fly Southwest you know how very cool that is! ;-) It means I should have been the very first person on the plane.

But....as Murphy would have it, I ended up getting a couple phone calls before I made it to security which delayed my getting to the gate.

By the time I got on, there was only middle seats left and you know that's just WRONG!

Ended up getting "stuck" next to a guy that was (of course) a pastor. I swear...I ignored him the best I could...by talking only with the guy on the other side of me and then by trying to go to sleep. Had my arms crossed, eyes closed and everything. Then...he "tricked" me into talking to him by asking me a question about photography. I'll fall for it every time ;-)

We ended up talking for hours and hours over the course of 2 legs of the journey and I guess you could say we haven't stopped talking yet.

Since that day the following is examples of what's going on in my life:

• Job changed
• My company and the client couldn't figure out how to settle on a price for me so now I'm on "vacation" until that's gone then on the "bench" until I'm on the "dole".
• I went and checked out church at my new friend's house church (shock)
• Then, the next week, I went back again. (SHOCK)
• I moved back to my hometown
• I'm dying of boredom!!!!
• The church I was hanging out with live-streamed their service and made it technically possible for me to "attend" with them. How cool is that??
• One of my blog buddies and I got into a couple good discussions about Bible verses, which turned very frustrating to me cause I just don't "get it" no matter how hard I try.
• He made a remark about getting back in and being a "student" cause it was "fun"
• No, no...it's not!!!!!
• I decided to go check out a more "contemplative" church today where I could just let my brain rest and let my soul get fed.
• There, I ran into a woman that used to be a MAJOR part of my life about 20 years ago when she and her husband pastored my church.
• We talked for 4 hours over lunch!
• We're going to dinner on Weds.
• Got to talk with her daughter for a few minutes tonight too. She's a great "kid"!! Haven't talked with her in about 9 years and I 've missed her.
• I'm going to a retreat in Sacramento with the church I've been hanging out with I think.
• Life is just WEIRD....at the moment....in a very good but completely unexpected way.

Sunday Funnies

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon.

Four worms were placed into four separate cans.

The first worm was put into a container of alcohol.
The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke.
The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup.
The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.

At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results:
The first worm in alcohol - Dead.
The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead.
Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead.
Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive.

So the Minister asked the congregation - What can you learn from this demonstration? A little old woman in the back quickly raised her hand and said,"As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"

My new favorite TED Talk

I really like the way this guy uses both his left brain computer programming skills and his right brain photography skills in this talk.