A digital commonplace for a Regular Guy called Charlie Pharis

Month: August 2007 (page 1 of 2)

Non-iPod Players?

OK…suppose you wanted an mp3 player. And suppose you couldn’t afford an iPod right now. What would you do? Would you…

  • a. Keep saving up for the real thing?
  • b. Get something that’s not the real thing, but would work while you run, work out, etc.? (And if b. is your choice, what brand would you look for?)
  • c. Forget it…go back to your Walkman, and leave well enough alone?

Stuff…

Just some things in my head and my heart at the end of a long Sunday…

  • God used Lifehouse to speak to me this morning. Funny…He also spoke to our folks through their song “Storm.” Even funnier…”we” didn’t much “get” The Goo Goo Dolls a couple of weeks ago, but “we” “heard” Lifehouse today. Go figure…maybe there is hope after all…
  • Speaking of lyrics, (and speaking of Ella in the previous post), the “old” lyricists were real craftsmen with words…Told me love was too plebeian, told me you were through with me and…yes!
  • Thoreau was right…The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Sunday Night Unwind, 08.19.07…

I’m in one of those jazz singer moods tonight, starting with “Lady Ella” herself. I heard this “new” CD in Starbucks last Friday. I’ve been a sucker for Ella for probably thirty years or so – ever since I discovered jazz singers in high school. When the CD finishes, I’ll be switching over to the Ella Fitzgerald channel on Pandora. (Cool deal, that Pandora…thanks, Gary or Ken or whoever it was that first alerted me to it!)

Yet ANOTHER Whirlwind Trip to South Georgia…

Well, we got “The Boy” moved and enrolled in school in “The ‘Boro” yesterday. A few things about that trip…

  • Statesboro’s not nearly as far as away as it was 25 years ago. Even though we drive more miles, it doesn’t seem to take as long. Go figure…
  • It is still blasted hot in Statesboro!
  • The afternoon storms are still just like clockwork.
  • That almost-quaint little 7,000-student college has turned into a ginormous 17,000-student major university! 4,000+ new students are starting there this semester!
  • It’s probably a good thing they tore down some of the old buildings before “The Boy” got there. Or else those old buildings just might be telling tales on his “Old Man.” Whew!
  • Some things never change.
  • You know you’re getting really old when you notice that the current head of “The Boy’s” department was a first-year graduate student when you were there! Yikes!
  • Whoever decided that the Animal House would be better as a 24/7 fitness facility probably made a wise decision! And whatever happened to “The Flame,” “The Knights of Georgia,” and the “Skate-R-Bowl”?
  • “The Boy” has a pretty sweet place to live. (Well, except for the Moby Dick sighting at the pool yesterday morning.) It backs up to Paulson Stadium. Cool, huh?
  • And why wasn’t there a Chick-Fil-A and a Starbucks on campus when we were there?
  • As strange as it seems, it wasn’t as hard to leave “The Boy” 250+ miles away as it was to leave him 15 miles away three years ago. Go figure…
  • “The Boy” has grown up tremendously. And he’s going to add to the family legacy in “The ‘Boro.” And his mom, the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie,” and I are extremely proud that he’s our son!
  • Oh…GO EAGLES!

Loneliness Songs???

Hey, loyal readers (all two of you!)! Need a little more help…

We’re right in the middle of a series of messages called “Everybody Hurts,” talking about dealing with life’s pains, disappointments, etc. It’s just worked out that we’ve had some good success tying in some music to each message so far…

  • Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. (overall theme, natch!)
  • Better Days by The Goo Goo Dolls (when we talked about Job), and…
  • Home by Daughtry (last week, the Prodigal Son)

This week, we’re talking about loneliness…any good ideas?