Month: September 2004 (page 3 of 3)

Testing a New Look…

I think I like it…

(Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln’s quote about General Ulysses S. Grant’s drinking): Whatever Rafael Furcal’s having, order a case for the rest of the team! Quickly!

Clemson’s Death Valley is, in fact, just like any other place in the world.

Falcons win! Falcons win!

And don’t mess with Georgia Southern one week after they get their butts handed to them by the Dawgs. Final score: 84-3!

I, Contradiction?
I noticed something this weekend.

I was setting up my spiffy new Samsung cell phone, playing around with the ring tones, etc. It’s not the “latest, greatest, top-of-the-line, whiz-bang model, but it ain’t Mr. Bell’s machine either. The ring tone I settled on? The one that sounds just like an old-fashioned rotary-dial tabletop model!

Another thing I noticed…I was playing music on my pretty up-to-date computer, while surfing the Web, and doing some other work. The sound was tremendous! Clear, clean, great! All you could ask for (on a budget, anyway!) in digital sound! What was I listening to? John Coltrane’s Blue Train. Original release date, September, 1957!

Around the same time, I was trying to find a reference in Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. My search led me to our local regional library on the Web. I went into the branch – into the branch! – and found out my library card had long since expired. But they could set me up with a new one, and they did! You talk about excited! I clutched that little plastic object like a little kid at Christmas! I was transported back to the days of C.B. Colby in our little library at home! There were books on the shelves! Actual open-the-cover-and-turn-the-page books!

And then another interesting thing happened! You’ll notice that one of my links (over there, on the right!) is to the Moleskinerie website. I discovered these outstanding little notebooks a while back. Over there, I found the article about the guy who put his PDA down and went back to the little black Moleskine. I posted this comment over there…

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a PDA ever since…well, ever since they came out, practically. For whatever reason, I’ve just never been able to make the jump from my trusty DayTimer (for appointments, etc,) and Moleskine (for my “creative” stuff) to another electronic gadget. I don’t have to learn any fancy stylus handwriting, I never have to worry about batteries running out, other tech glitches, and besides…I’ve got my wife – who knows everything and comes with automatic reminders!

I guess all this means I’ll be getting one of these next…

I, Contradiction?

I noticed something this weekend.

I was setting up my spiffy new Samsung cell phone, playing around with the ring tones, etc. It’s not the “latest, greatest, top-of-the-line, whiz-bang model, but it ain’t Mr. Bell’s machine either. The ring tone I settled on? The one that sounds just like an old-fashioned rotary-dial tabletop model!

Another thing I noticed…I was playing music on my pretty up-to-date computer, while surfing the Web, and doing some other work. The sound was tremendous! Clear, clean, great! All you could ask for (on a budget, anyway!) in digital sound! What was I listening to? John Coltrane’s Blue Train. Original release date, September, 1957!

Around the same time, I was trying to find a reference in Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. My search led me to our local regional library on the Web. I went into the branch – into the branch! – and found out my library card had long since expired. But they could set me up with a new one, and they did! You talk about excited! I clutched that little plastic object like a little kid at Christmas! I was transported back to the days of C.B. Colby in our little library at home! There were books on the shelves! Actual open-the-cover-and-turn-the-page books!

And then another interesting thing happened! You’ll notice that one of my links (over there, on the right!) is to the Moleskinerie website. I discovered these outstanding little notebooks a while back. Over there, I found the article about the guy who put his PDA down and went back to the little black Moleskine. I posted this comment over there…

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a PDA ever since…well, ever since they came out, practically. For whatever reason, I’ve just never been able to make the jump from my trusty DayTimer (for appointments, etc,) and Moleskine (for my “creative” stuff) to another electronic gadget. I don’t have to learn any fancy stylus handwriting, I never have to worry about batteries running out, other tech glitches, and besides…I’ve got my wife – who knows everything and comes with automatic reminders!

I guess all this means I’ll be getting one of these next…

Your Muse Lives Downstairs…
I’m reading Stephen King’s little classic On Writing.

I like his stuff OK, but I’ve never been what you would call a raving fanatic. This little book has some great stuff about writing – of course – but a lot of it applies to any sort of “creative” endeavor. I’ve just come across this gem…

There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think this is fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist (what I get out of mine is mostly surly grunts, unless he’s on duty), but he’s got the inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. (pp. 138-139)

He’s right, you know. We sit and wait and hope that some inspiration from on high will come to us so we can get busy doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Yet, all along, the Inspirer from on high has already changed and challenged us, commissioned and empowered us, and we need to get busy “doing the stuff.”

Your Muse Lives Downstairs…

I’m reading Stephen King’s little classic On Writing.

I like his stuff OK, but I’ve never been what you would call a raving fanatic. This little book has some great stuff about writing – of course – but a lot of it applies to any sort of “creative” endeavor. I’ve just come across this gem…

There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think this is fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist (what I get out of mine is mostly surly grunts, unless he’s on duty), but he’s got the inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. (pp. 138-139)

He’s right, you know. We sit and wait and hope that some inspiration from on high will come to us so we can get busy doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Yet, all along, the Inspirer from on high has already changed and challenged us, commissioned and empowered us, and we need to get busy “doing the stuff.”

Good Stuff from Worthwhile…

Leadership is not a matter of position. Though we cannot control our job security, we alone determine our vocation.

You can read the rest over here.

Good Stuff from Worthwhile…

Leadership is not a matter of position. Though we cannot control our job security, we alone determine our vocation.

You can read the rest over here.

The Pastor’s On the Playa…Again!
You’ve gotta check out Bohlender’s adventures at Burning Man 04!

I first heard of this guy when I read about his trip to Burning Man a couple of years ago. Pretty amazing stuff! He’s living out God’s call in his life…

I had an opportunity to meet him in the flesh a couple of months ago, but as sometimes happens, the opportunity was not to be. But he’s a friend of one of my “Redneck Pastor” buds – I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you – and so hopefully, that opportunity will present itself again soon.

Until then, I’ll just pray for him and his Burning Man team, the citizens of the Playa with whom he’ll have the opportunity to interact, and – especially – his family back home.

Oh, and if you’ve got some spare ones to lift up the Father, how ’bout let a few of ’em be for Randy et al as well?

The Pastor’s On the Playa…Again!

You’ve gotta check out Bohlender’s adventures at Burning Man 04!

I first heard of this guy when I read about his trip to Burning Man a couple of years ago. Pretty amazing stuff! He’s living out God’s call in his life…

I had an opportunity to meet him in the flesh a couple of months ago, but as sometimes happens, the opportunity was not to be. But he’s a friend of one of my “Redneck Pastor” buds – I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you – and so hopefully, that opportunity will present itself again soon.

Until then, I’ll just pray for him and his Burning Man team, the citizens of the Playa with whom he’ll have the opportunity to interact, and – especially – his family back home.

Oh, and if you’ve got some spare ones to lift up the Father, how ’bout let a few of ’em be for Randy et al as well?