Music Year In Review

The topic comes a little late (seeing as how it's 2009 now...) but I figured I'd give my rundown of my favorite new albums from 2008. These are new releases that came out this past year. The usual links, with a couple songs to take a look at follows:

Honorable Mention: Ever Stays Red - On The Brink Of It All
It's hard to say that a voice is distinctive, but this band certainly has a voice that does not seem to fall in the usual categories. Combine that with some inspired melodies, and some great hooks, and you've got yourself a great album. With 12 tracks of songs that will lead you to think along with some quality lyrics, you really can't go wrong.

Download: On The Brink Of It All, Can't Explain, Look To The Hills
Website: http://www.myspace.com/everstaysred

10) Jeremy Camp - Speaking Louder Than Before
Jeremy Camp has consistently been one of my favorite artists since his debut album in 2002. Now on his 5th studio album, he has managed to find a few new things to try out on his latest effort. While there are the mainstays of his power ballads (Capture Me), and a few rockers (Giving You All Control), he's also brought in a full choir (There Will Be A Day), and enlisted the help of his wife to add some depth to some of his most heart-felt worship (Surrender). Another solid effort.

Download: There Will Be A Day, Capture Me, Surrender
Website: http://www.myspace.com/jeremycamp

9) Sanctus Real - We Need Each Other
Having not really heard much of their music outside of the hit single "I'm Not Alright", I figured I would give their newest album a shot after hearing previews. I was rewarded with 10 tracks of thoughtful rock and worship. With an opening 1-2 punch of "Turn On The Lights" and "We Need Each Other", it's really hard to not be drawn in to the album, and worship highlights such as Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly) show what these guys really are all about. Plus, pick up the album anywhere, and get free access to two additional songs for download.

Download: Turn On The Lights, We Need Each Other, Sing
Website: http://www.myspace.com/sanctusreal

8) Tenth Avenue North - Over And Underneath
The first of 3 debut albums on my list this year, and we find the worship band Tenth Avenue North. While most of the songs fall in to the mid-tempo rocker range, there are a few deviations that occur, such as the high-energy "Break Me Down", and the acoustic-driven ballad "Times". In my opinion, the album could have used a few more up-tempo moments, but the thoughful lyrics, and the overall album theme that points to Christ which is extremely evident makes up for this.

Download: Love Is Here, By Your Side, Hallelujah
Website: http://www.myspace.com/tenthavenuenorth

7) Remedy Drive - Daylight Is Coming
What do you get when you have 4 brothers who all love music? You get Remedy Drive. The 4 Zach brothers have been playing as an indie band for the past 5 years, and have now released their debut full-length album. While a little on the short side (35 minutes), the album certainly doesn't leave you disappointed when you reach the end, except that you are probably wanting more. With an overall vision of hope for the future, Daylight Is Coming will certainly leave you feeling better than you did before you gave it a spin. A fantastic debut.

Download: Stand Up, Daylight
Website: http://www.myspace.com/remedydrive

6) Anberlin - New Surrender
What it year it has been for Anberlin. If you read my music year in review for 2007, you will see that they were my number 1 last year. The stellar success that they had with their previous indie label propelled them on to the radar for the major labels to come bidding for their services. Universal music won out, and just over 18 months after their last full length studio album, here we have New Surrender. A look at the track-listing will make you think twice, as a track from their sophomore album (Feel Good Track) seems to have been ported. It has, and yet it hasn't. There have been some changes, but nothing that takes away from the song, and in fact, the hook is even better in my opinion. The inclusion of this song was the band's decision, as they felt that it was not given enough prominence on the previous release.

The album as a whole, however, continues the strong work that Anberlin has been known for over the past 6 years. The opening song "The Resistance" immediately grabs you doesn't let you go for the rest of the album. Ballads such as "Retrace" and "Breathe" really highlight Christian's vocals, while rockers such as "Disappear" and straight-up pop as heard on "Haight St." show the band rocking with the best of them. The album closes with the epic 6 1/2 minute "Misearbile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum)" which draws it's inspiration from Revelation, and is hautingly beautiful. Another fantastic effort, and a great step for a band as they continue to grow.

Download: Breaking, Breathe, Haight St.
Website: http://www.myspace.com/anberlin

5) Leeland - Opposite Way
For a young band, they really know what they're doing. These 11 tracks show a maturity and thoughtfulness that many cannot quite come close to. The intensity of the music on each of the tracks really plays in to the passion that they have, and the lyrical quality throughout is outstanding. After their critically acclaimed debut Sound of Melodies they really had their work cut out for them, but have come through the test with flying colors on their sophomore effort. With the theme of wanting to be going a different direction than the rest of the world permeating the disc, it's an uplifting disc to play through. Couple that with beautiful melodies, and a passion on display on each song, and you've got yourself a quality album. Wherever these guys are at now, look for it to only get better.

Download: Count Me In, Opposite Way, May Our Praise
Website: http://www.myspace.com/leelandmusic

4) Kutless - To Know That You're Alive
One of my favorite bands, and one of my most anticipated albums of 2008, these guys really know how to rock. I saw them live at Winterfest in Gatlinburg way back in January, and they played a preview of their new album back them, and got me excited to see what was on the way. 6 months later, in June, they released their album, and I was not disappointed. The opening 3 tracks (not including the extended-intro instrumental Sleeping City) just leap out and grab you, with the party-anthem "The Feeling", and the in your face rockers of "To Know That You're Alive" and "The Disease & The Cure". Ballads have been something Kutless has always done well, and tracks such as "Complete" and the minimalistic "You" highlight their ability to set a worshipful tone in the midst of the chaos. They also tread in to some rather dark territory on songs such as "To Know That You're Alive" and especially on "Promise You" about a woman that is being beaten. Kutless has frequently worked and helped raise money for battered women's shelters and similar types of orginizations, so you know that this is a song that really comes from their heart. In my opinion, probably their strongest album of the 6 they have released. If you don't have them in your collection and want to start, pick up this disc.

Download: To Know That You're Alive, Promise You, I Do Not Belong
Website: http://www.kutless.com, http://www.myspace.com/kutless

3) David Crowder Band - Remedy Club Tour Live
There probably isn't a more prominent worship band out there than the David Crowder Band. After their monster album A Collision they really have exploded in terms of popularity. Their 2007 release Remedy was another stellar entry in their library, and with the popularity of their albums, it was only a matter of time until a live compilation was released. Being a fan of live music, I'm always interested when an artist that I enjoy listening to is putting out a live cd/dvd album, as I feel like it really shows you the artist, much moreso than a studio album, if nothing because of the unpredictability of a live performance. Filmed in High Definition, the Remedy Club Tour Live CD/DVD album highlights the David Crowder Band in a live setting, with the album taken from two separate performances and edited together seamlessly to create a fantastic picture of what their live show is like. Their stage is covered in Macbooks which they use to play as instruments, and David Crowder even breaks out a guitar hero controller that has been programmed with the chord progressions and loops to play one of the songs with. With 90 minutes of music, worship, and rock, as well as tutorials, a behind the scences video, and instrument breakdowns for each and every song performed in the concert (for the guitar performer in you), there is plenty for music-loving individuals to pour over. The accompanying cd has all 16 songs performed from the dvd spit-shined to perfection. In all honesty, the superb technical performance from the band makes it hard to tell that it's a live album...at least until the audience kicks in. An excellent addition to anyone's live collection.

Download: The Glory Of It All, ...neverending..., Foreverandever Etc.
Website: http://www.myspace.com/davidcrowderband

2) Safetysuit - Life Left To Go
In one of my wanderings through Best Buy, I heard a song being played over the in-store radio that I actually really liked. I heard the name of the artist, and then did something that I rarely do, which is to make a purchase based on one song of an album. You know how this can end up most of the time; you like the one song that you heard, but the rest of the album is not at all like what you would have expected based on that song. Thankfully, this album was not at all like that, and turned out to be one of my favorites from this past year. The debut album from Safetysuit is an all-out pop record, but man do they know how to play. And I've been hard-pressed to find an album of 12 tracks that are as insanely catchy as these twelve. From the opening guitar hook of "Someone Like You", the repititious "whoa-oh" of "Apology", the vocal hook of "Something I Said", to the emotional closer "Life Left To Go", it's hard to find fault with the album. There is not a weak song on the album, and every song will have you singing along by the time the song is finishing, with the melody stuck in your head for days. The closer, "Life Left To Go" is perhaps their greatest song on the album, and also the one that is most different from anything else that they have on offer. The song tells the story of someone who wants to end their own life, and the call of someone who cares enough enough to tell this person that they matter to them. With a strong melody, and some vocal distortions that offer a different approach, it really stands out as an album highlight, and a fantastic choice for an album title. A sure winner, and well worth the purchase, this album has not been out of my player for the past 6 months.

Download: Someone Like You, Apology, Stay, Life Left To Go
Website: http://www.myspace.com/safetysuit

1) Disciple - Southern Hospitality

In the year 1992, I would have been 9 years old. I would have been playing AYSO soccer, piano, and attending elementary school in the 4th grade. In the year 1992, the band Disciple was formed. 16 years later, they are releasing their 8th full length studio album, titled Souther Hospitality. They have come a long way in their 16 years, with the jump to a major label about 3 years ago coinciding with the release of their self-titled album that has really brought them success. 2006's Scars Remain cemented their position as one of the most prominent hard-rockers in Christian music, with their song "Game On" being heard in sporting stadiums and highlight shows around the country. 2 years later, they return with their latest album, which also happens to be probaby their most melodic album ever. 12 songs inspired by their southern roots (they are local Knoxville, TN natives), the boys from Disciple have brought a different sound to their album, but still keep the rock coming.

For those that are fans of their older albums, this is almost a complete departure, as their is hardly any screaming (with the excpetion of their new "Game On" titled "321"), and melody is really the forefront of each of their songs. Title track "Southern Hospitality" opens with a little groove from the guitar, and slowly builds in to an infectious rock track. "321" will undoubtedly be the new song in sports-arenas that get the fans and team pumped up, while a song like "Liar" comes from the heart of Kevin Young, the lead singer, who was struggling with forgiveness of another.

One of the things about Disciple that has always impressed me is their strong knowledge of the bible, and if you look at the liner notes with the lyrics, you will see countless references to scripture that permeate each of their songs. The song "Whatever Reason" is the story of the prodigal son, told in Luke 15:11-32, and serves as the entire inspiration for the song, and is written from the point of view of the father, or God. "Right There" takes it's inspiration from Deuteronomy 31:6, 8and Hebrews 13:5, with lyrics like "There's nothing that's been stolen that I can not replace (1 Peter 5:10); Fear is just a distant memory, when you find love surrounds you (1 John 4:18)". If you need inspiration, you need not go any farther than listening to and reading these lyrics that Disciple writes.

The album closes on probably my favorite song of the year, "Savior". In my opinion, it is essentially the band's view on Christ, and what he is capable of doing in the lives of someone who is hurting and broken. If someone thinks that you cannot worship with instruments, this would definately be one of my first exhibits to show them that you can. Moving, heart-felt, and honest, it really speaks to their belief and love for Christ, while showing everyone what is possible. Here are the lyrics, and the song is in the sidebar.

Laughter, that's so part of her
Is something that we haven't heard
in such a long, long time
Replaced with crying, long sleepless nights
She needs your power Lord (Psalm 145:11)
Pour it all over (Joel 2:28-29)
In her darkest hour Lord (Psalm 18:4-6)
Pour it all over

Chorus
'Cause I know You love her more than I could love her (Ephesians 3:18-19)
You've already given more than I could offer (1 John 5:11)
So I put my hope in You (Psalm 39:7)
'Cause I know You can save her (John 3:17)
Jesus, Savior (Matthew 1:21)

The problem hidden inside
Is screaming something's not right
And I would lay down my world
To reach out and fix what's broken in her

Deep within every stripe is the hope that I find within You (Isaiah 53:4-5, 1 Peter 2:24)

Big News

So, Mandi and I are engaged. It became official on December 14. I'm happy. That's really all that needs to be said.

Beginning And The End

So the big news of the day is that Dustin has gotten himself a job. Exciting stuff, huh? He'll be doing air emissions testing down in the Gainesville, FL area. Essentially just testing the emissions from different companies and entities to ensure that they're within environmental guidelines. He's excited about it, and we're excited that he's gotten himself this job. It'll be interesting to see how things go. He starts training on Monday up in Cleveland, OH which will last for a month before heading back down to Florida to stay there for good. Did I mention that he just got back from Japan?

I've spent the last two weeks running back and forth between my place and the parent's house as they both, along with Dustin, took a two week vacation to Japan to tour as well as see my Grandmother who lives over there in Tokyo. From what I've gathered in the past couple days (they got back Thursday evening) they had a great time, and got to experience a lot of fun things. My dad finally saw Mt. Fuji (it took 6 trips before they could see it), and Dustin thought that they saw the next Amazing Race filming going on at one of the locations they were at. He and my dad couldn't think of anything else that required teams of two to be followed everywhere by a camera-man while they frantically ran around a park and rowed in canoes out to a little island in the middle of a large pond. I never watch it, so I wouldn't have any idea if it shows up in the future...but if they have an episode based out of Japan in the future, my family saw it happening for real.


All the while, it has been busy elsewhere. A couple weekend's ago I went to the youth retreat for our church just to hang out with the kids and help in whatever way was needed. They have it at a little camp that is specifically set up for youth retreats just outside of pigeon forge/Gatlinburg in the Smokies. It was an intense weekend for everyone involved, and I really hadn't seen so much outpouring of emotion at one of these things before. Our youth minister really is doing a fantastic job with the kids. And it wasn't a "everyone get baptized" weekend or anything like that, but just really a weekend to push them spiritually from wherever they were, and encourage them to grow. Probably the most intense part came for the high schooler's where they had a feet washing ceremony where they were all allowed to choose people's feet to wash as a showing of their love for them and their desire to serve. It was really neat seeing how they all responded to that invitation. I hadn't seen anything like that done before, and it was really quite moving. All in all, a great weekend.

I also went with Mandi up to Nashville for a weekend while she was in class. I had told her I would go with her and drive her to give her a break from the practically constant driving to and from that she has to do, as well as just to allow her time to rest since she's pretty much been going non-stop since the start of October. It was a good weekend, as I had time to work on some church things that I had been asked to do (speaking of which...I need to get that to them...) as well as a few other things over the course of two days, all while allowing Mandi time to rest instead of driving. Something on Lipscomb campus that I found amusing (as it was incredibly similar to Harding) came on Friday when I was just wandering around the campus to see what it looked like since I'd not really had the time to do that before. I sat down in a kind of square with a clock to relax, and saw some students coming out of a building. I looked at the clock and saw that it was about 35 after and just assumed that classes all got out around that time. There were quite a few students coming out of this building and going on to the student center or dorms or whatever, so I didn't think anything of it. About 15 minutes later, the campus seemed to explode as all sorts of students began pouring out of the other buildings. I turned to the first building that had emptied, and laughed to myself as I saw that it was the business building that had gotten out early. I guess some things just don't change.

While Mandi wasn't in class, we were able to spend some quality time with the Boren's, who we stayed with, and who I grew up with and practically serve as my 2nd parents. I hadn't seem them in almost a year, so it was really great catching up with them. Mandi and I also went to the ICE! exhibit which is on display each year at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention center. They hire a whole bunch of sculpters, bring them to Nashville a month before-hand, and they carve an entire exhibit out of ice. It's absolutely incredible the detail that you can see when you get in there. I had never been before, but had heard about it, and figured that this was the perfect opportunity. If you're in the area, you should really check it out. This year's theme is the Grinch and Who-vill, along with a spectacular Nativity Scene on your last stop before the door. Be warned, though, that they keep the building at a balmy 9 degrees, so take gloves (and your camera). I think that I'm ready for the holidays now.

Piano Time

So this past week has been interesting. I got a call a week ago from a lady that works at the local YWCA. They were needing music for a benefit dinner that they were putting on, and the band that they originally had asked to come and play canceled on them. She happened to know some friends of ours from church in Oak Ridge, and I was recommended to them, so I got the call. In the end, both my brother and I went and played at the dinner for about 2 hours tonight while they were mingling around and eating. The dinner was a benefit for the YWCA where they honored local women in Oak Ridge in different fields that they thought had done outstanding service work to the community. It turned out to be a pretty decent evening, and we had dinner to boot.

(Seeing as how I'm editing this 3 weeks after I started...I'll just move on to the next post).

Balloons?

The other day, they were having a hot-air balloon festival, I guess you could say, so Mandi and I decided to go on over there and check it out. It wasn't really anything more than a bunch of local artists setting up their shops to sell some of their home-made items, and having about 20 balloons or so set up and lit-up once it got dark. It was a fun time, and we actually got in at quite a discount since we ran in to a church friend who was one of the people taking payments as people were coming in. How great is that? Here's a couple pics, including the Energizer Bunny hot-air balloon, which they said is currently the largest one in the world.

Soccer has been ongoing, and our team is doing alright so far. We didn't play all that well yesterday, but still managed to pull out a 2-2 draw. Mandi has been playing quite well recently, and even completely schooled a guy on the other team a couple weeks ago. I don't think he really did much else the rest of the game after that. I have to say that I was quite impressed. It's still been fun, which is really the main thing, although there seems to be more and more teams that are really complete jerks. And not just the guys either, but even the girls on the teams are jerks. I'm really not liking the fact that everything was combined in to one league like it was, but what can I do about it? At least our team is pretty cool.

Other than that, not a whole lot else going on. Dustin is still looking for a job, so keep him in your prayers as that goes on. Work is going without too much trouble. We're busy, but not overwhelmingly so which is really about where we want to be at. We're having an open house this week in honor of the company being around for 10 years, so I spent a lot of the past month taking pictures of people and all the instruments at work that I'm allowed to for displays that were set up and such. I guess it really is a big deal to have been around for that long, especially with the start that they got. It should be interesting. Just have to see how many people actually show, considering that they sent invitations out to probably around 1000 people. Should be a good time, nonetheless. One thing is for sure though...we won't be working hardly at all that day.

Pain

This past weekend was spent in Tuscaloosa, AL at the 2008 Club Sectionals Ultimate Frisbee tournament. Unfortunately for me, given untimely injuries in the previous months, I was not able to participate as a player, although I still wanted to be there to see friends and just enjoy a weekend away. I assumed "coaching" duties, and basically handled everything off the field to try and help play go without too much of a hitch. The subbing and such seemed to work well, and it seemed like everyone was alright with how I handled it, so hopefully that was the case. The team did well, finishing 5th out of 12 (our highest ever), even with finishing our last game with 8 players (when you play with 7) since a number of our team had to leave to get to the airport in time to get home. For having not played together in so long, our team played remarkably well for a number of games, with quite possibly our best games coming in the morning, which is absolutely unheard of. We destroyed the 2nd-ranked team in our pool 15-5 on Sunday morning, which for an Apocalypse team is absolutely huge. All in all I was quite pleased, although I wish I could have been playing, but I'm glad that I was able to do my part. Hopefully everyone on the team that played has mostly recovered from their injuries and sore muscles at least most of the way by now. For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple pictures and a video of the action.

3 Months in Review?

Man. I don't even know where to start. I'd actually completely forgotten about this over the past few weeks...or months apparently. There has been a lot going on though...let's see.

The first was the trip to Mexico in late June. The trip ended up going quite a bit better than I had thought it might. I rather enjoyed going, and look forward to going back again. Mandi and I met a professor at the college of Monterrey, who just so happened to be a physics professor. He wanted to give us a tour of the college, and we ended up seeing where he worked, both at the college and at the local high school. His boss also ended up offering me a job should I want to go down there at some point. How crazy is that? It seemed more like just a nice comment, but while we were walking out, the professor said that she was serious. I guess things are just a little more laid back down there. It was a great trip though, and it was good working with the church and the kids especially during the VBS. I ended up driving while down there (that's quite a trip), as well as leading singing for the VBS (in Spanish no less). Mandi and I also got some good time working with the members from the church and the kids that went along. All in all, an excellent experience, and one that we hope to go back on next year...although there are a couple changes that we both hope would be made.

Dustin has completed his internship working with me this summer as of Friday. He's now in to the fun phase of hunting for a job. Hopefully he'll be able to find something that he's looking for and excited about soon, but in the meantime he'll continue to stay here and look around.

I made a trip to SC to visit a Mr. Paul Murphy and hang out for a day or two while Mandi went to see Tara. It was nice to go back, seeing as how it had been quite a while, and I even got to witness how a Murphy vacation gets underway. It's really quite impressive when you sit back and think about it. I'm assuming that it ended up going well.

The summer was spent playing soccer, and getting injured in the process. Unfortunately, that is ruling me out of the frisbee tournament coming up this weekend since I haven't been able to really run or anything for a bit. It's healed up now, and I've slowly gotten back in to running and stuff for soccer, but it's too early to get back to it. Plus, I haven't touched a frisbee for about the whole summer, so I'll be going as the official subber for the team. I guess I'll fall under the idea of a coach. That sits fine with me, and it will definately be good to see some old friends that I haven't seen for a while.

We're once again coming up on the new soccer season with the Champions League getting underway starting tomorrow, and European leagues having been in action for a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to it, as usual. World Cup qualifying is in full swing, with the U.S. team having posted 3 victories in their first 3 games of the semi-final round of CONCACAF qualifying. They are definately struggling when it comes to having any quality forwards...but for the time being it's not as pressing an issue since the competition is still fairly early. However, once the finals roll around later on next year, they'll need to start producing the goods. Hopefully they'll be able to pick it up, and get the offensive end going better.

The new TV season is about to pick back up. Say hello to House. Mandi and I just got through watching most all of season 4 on DVD over the course of the past week or so to get her caught back up, so I'm excited to get things back under way. Last season ended under some pretty strenuous circumstances, so it will be interesting to see how things get resolved with the new season.

One of my most nerve-wracking moments of the summer came a couple weeks ago when I ended up speaking at church on Wednesday for our class. As things are currently, we have all the adults (i.e. college and above) in a single class that has a speaker that rotates around between different members of the congregation each week. I spoke on the need to have a song in our hearts for God. I basically took some of the church's most well-known songs (Amazing Grace, Just As I Am, and Take My Hand, Precious Lord) and by telling the story behind why they were written, showed how people need to have a song for God through how they live. The video is what I played at the end just to try it all together. The video is taken from David Crowder Band's Live DVD, with the Scriptures added in by me, plus I just wanted to try and see how the video thing worked. It's just a taste of what I attempted to do. Overall it seemed to go alright, so hopefully it was able to make something of an impression. The song's title, "I'm Just Trying To Make You Sing" basically sums up the message that I was wanting to get across. Enjoy.

The Month In Review

Hello again...another month has absolutely flown by. What might have been happening you might ask? Quite a lot. Let's get started.

First off has been soccer on the weekends. Our team ended up second in the league I think, after getting wins for the past 4 or 5 weeks in a row. Mandi had quite possibly her best game ever this past weekend with some stellar defense. She even set a pick on someone on the opposite team. Quite impressive. On a much grander scale, the Euro 2008 tournament has been going on, with quite a few excellent games (Turkey vs. Czech Republic being one). There is one more team in the semis to be decided with Spain playing Italy tomorrow afternoon (ABC 2:45 ET). There have been a number of surprises so far (France's no-show, Turkey's continued escapes, 0 free-kick goals) and it has been exciting, so I'm looking forward to seeing who makes it on past tomorrow. It should be a good game.

A major event that Mandi and I participated in late last month was a week-long kayaking clinic. Over the course of the week, we worked on all things kayaking, and got to the point where both of us could flip up from an upside-down position while underwater. The end of the week trip was going down the Hiawassee river on about a 6-hour trip filled with rapids and playtime. It was a good week, although it definitely had it's rough moments, but all in all turned out well. Given my dreams of drowning and death prior to it starting, it worked out alright I guess.

I have been drafted in to play softball for our Oak Ridge church league team over the past couple games. This has been interesting given the fact that the last time that I played softball was about 3 years ago. Suffice it to say that I figured I wouldn't be doing all that much, but then I got stuck at 2nd base. Apparently I've got more softball skill than I gave myself credit for, as I've managed to get a number of nice plays in each game on defense. The same cannot be said of my hitting ability though. Basically, my hitting strategy is to make contact, and then out-run the play to first base. Since it's not an overly competitive league, this generally works out all right since you can count on at least 1 bobble of the ball before they can get the throw off. Just don't get me up to bat with 2 outs since...well, I'm by no means a guaranteed man on base.

My brother has also been golfing a lot recently, so today Mandi, Dustin and myself hit the driving range since there was no ultimate being played like they thought it would be. It was quite humorous to start with, although by the end of our buckets I would say that we were all hitting them fairly well. At least for once a decade golfers. I bet anyone that actually plays would have been watching us and wanting to kill us for our lack of technique and whatever else, but we had a good time killing an hour hitting.


We also went camping with our church group near a friends house that has some property by part of a lake. It was a fun couple of days with swimming, grilling, badminton, some diving for frisbees off of docks, fishing, and general fun just hanging around outside. The pic is just a little panorama shot I was playing around with on my camera. The function would probably work a little better if I had a tripod to keep it steady on, but oh well. Here's also a picture of some fire, since you really can't go camping without a fire. Although, I guess when it's 85 degrees outside you probably don't need a fire, but it's still good for making s'mores. Or for recalling funny stories about fires not being lit by fireworks for big camp presentations.

These pictures were taken with my b-day present, which was a new camera. It's a Canon PowerShot S5IS. I had been wanting to get a digital camera for a while, but had never really seriously looked around for anything about one. However, when my b-day rolled around I figured that it was what I was going to get. I've been quite pleased with it, as it's got a quick shutter, so there isn't a lot of blurred pictures, even during action shots, it has a 12x optical zoom so you can get far objects large in the frame fairly well, it's got some cool features that have to do with accenting or even eliminating colors, the cool panorama feature, and it even takes video with stereo audio included. All in all, it's been a lot of fun playing around with it and taking pictures and videos just to see how it holds up. The only thing that I really have yet to do is to use the cables included and hook it up to a big-screen tv and see how the picture and video transfers when seen on a large set.

So...I think that's just about all the high points from the past month of action. I'm thinking my next post will be on what Luke questioned about regarding US soccer players, especially with the more engaging World Cup 2010 qualifiers coming up (after the exercise tomorrow against Barbados).

The Finals

This past weekend marked the end of the middle school soccer season (as well as my birthday, coincidentally enough). The weekend was spent at 4 soccer games in a tournament setting. Saturday went well, with the team playing alright and soundly beating our opponents. So much so that we could play everyone, which is always nice. Today, however, was a different story. Everyone seemed a step slow, and didn't seem to have the desire to win. We barely scraped in to the final with a 2-2 draw in the morning game, which allowed us to advance on tie-breakers. The final started brightly enough, with our team getting 2 goals in the opening 10 minutes. After that, it was all down hill though. I think the team figured that they were going to coast the rest of the way, and allowed the other team to get a goal back before half-time. After half, our team just didn't show up. We ended up losing 6-2. What can you say though...sometimes it's just not your day. They had a good season though. We had a 7-1-1 record, and scored 56 goals. I can't say that's all that bad.

Due to Whit's questions regarding how the leagues around Europe interact with the Champions League, I'll go in to a little explanation. I think it's fitting, seeing as how the premier European club competition has it's final on Wednesday at 2:45 ET on ESPN 2. The first all English final features Manchester United and Chelsea. There really isn't a whole lot between the two teams, with United just beating out Chelsea to the English Premiership title, although if Chelsea wins the Champions League, I think they will be alright with losing out. It might not be the most exciting of matchups, although an early goal will open the game up. I'm hoping for an early goal, and a United win.

But how did we get to this point? The process really starts two seasons earlier. UEFA (the European governing body of soccer) assigns points to the individual leagues around Europe based on the performance of the individual teams in European tournaments. I guess it really starts even earlier, since these points are determined for the previous 5 European seasons. They are given points (2 for a win, and 1 for a draw) in competition, with the point total then divided by the number of teams from the country participating. So, if 3 teams from Spain played, with a 6-2-4 record, they would have 14 total points divided by 3, for a coefficient of 4.667. Each country that's a member of UEFA is totaled this way. Then, based on their coefficient, the number of teams that are allowed in to the competition are decided. The top 3 get 4 teams, the next 3 get 3 teams, the next 8 get 2 places, and everyone beneath gets 1 place. To make things even more complicated, there is a second tier of tournament competition in Europe known as the UEFA Cup. The point totals are used to determine placement for this as well. That means that the number of teams from a league are determined based on how the teams do 2 seasons prior. In other words, the points are determined in 2007, in order to be used for the 2008-2009 season, and not the 2007-2008 season. For more in-depth discussion, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficients#League_coefficient.

Now, the top teams from the coefficient calculation are given 2 automatic places into the competition. These are determined in the previous league season, with the top two teams at the end of the season given the automatic berths. If that's not incentive to play in every single game to win during your regular season, I don't know what is. Did I mention how much money a team gets for being in the tournament? The next teams down play in a play-off with top qualifiers from other leagues that didn't get an automatic berth. Convoluted, huh?

After the qualifying rounds are played, we have the group stage draw. The top-seeded teams are placed in a bowl together, followed by the next group in their own pot, until all 32 teams are accounted for. This is to help keep the stronger teams from being placed all in the same group. Each group of 4 plays a home and away series over the course of the first half of the season. Matchday's 1-6 are played from late September until late November/early December. After these games, the top two teams from each group advance to the knock-out stages. which kicks off once February rolls around. The 3rd place team from each group drops down in to the UEFA Cup competition at the mid-point of that tournament. The 4th placed team is finished in Europe.

The knock-out stages are where the tournament really kicks off. The teams play a home and away series, with the winner advancing to the next round. For the duration of the knock-out rounds, away goals count double in the event of a tie. In other words, this encourages the visiting team to go on the offensive. For example, say the first game of the series ends in a 1-1 draw. The advantage here is with the visiting team. In the second leg of the series, all they need is a 0-0 draw or a win to advance. However, if they draw 0-0, the visiting team is at a disadvantage. Their home game requires a victory, as any sort of tying draw will see the visiting team go through. This set-up really leads to some intense matches, where people know that they either score or go home. Even with this set-up, there are draws where away goals scored are equal. In this case, the second leg of the series goes to a 30 minute overtime period, followed by a shoot out if the scoreline hasn't changed at all.

The round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals all follow this format, with the winning teams advancing on. The final, played in mid-May, is a one-off game, with the winner taking all the glory. Victory allows celebration for the night, but no guarantee of being back in the competition the following year as that is determined by the final league standings of the individual countries. It really makes each team play for the whole season, as not finishing in the top 2 or 3 teams means that you most likely won't be playing in Europe, at least on the big stage. This tournament really is the best of the best, as it is the solid performers from the individual leagues around Europe that were able to play at a consistently high level throughout their entire season. It's what makes it the best club soccer tournament in the world, at least as far as European teams are concerned.

Hopefully that was a semi-coherent explanation of how the tournament as a whole comes along. It's hard, especially in comparison to American sports, to think how the way your team, and really your entire league, finished 7 seasons earlier can affect your placements so much. If you want to see some great soccer, tune in Wednesday at 2:30. I know I will. At least by recording it.

For future reference, the US Men's National Team has some great games coming up against England at Wembley (May 28), Spain (June 4) and Argentina (June 8). All these games can be seen on the ESPN family, either on Classic or ESPN2. Plus, this summer marks the European Championships, played every 4 years, where 16 teams from around Europe will play for national pride. The entire tournament will be broadcast for the first time on ESPN in the US. Here's looking forward to a great summer of soccer.

The Feeling

Dustin's graduated. It's pretty crazy to think that my brother has finished up his undergraduate college education. I spent this past weekend in Gainesville, Florida in order to attend his graduation ceremony. They split up the college of liberal arts, since it would have been about 2000 people total going in one ceremony, so we had the early session. Now, I don't know exactly how many people graduated at Harding during my walk, but I figured this had to be just about comparable, and I felt like my graduation took about 3 hours. Well, they defied my expectations...and managed to do everything they needed to do in 2 hours. I was impressed. I hadn't heard names read that quickly as students walked across the stage at any graduation I've been to before. The students all had a card with their name on it, getting rid of the need to have a specific list and order to go by, and they simply handed the card to the reader who would spout it off as quickly as possible and move on to the next one. The ceremony started at 2, and we were out the door by 4. I think more graduations should subscribe to the auctioneer style of reading off the names.

Today we drove back down to Atlanta to drop Dustin off for his final national frisbee tournament. He was flying out to Boulder for the week before college nationals kicks off next Friday. He won with Florida in 2006, but they lost last year at some point around the quaterfinals I believe. He's fairly certain that they've got a good shot again this year, but of course they'll have to play well as always. We'll see what happens when next weekend rolls around. Speaking of frisbee...I need to go and vote about captains for the team for the upcoming club sectionals...in September...since when did we do stuff early?

Since we were in the area, we went to the Georgia Aquarium, located in downtown Atlanta. This is the only aquarium in the world to hold whale sharks, and it has 4 of them. They are housed, along with a number of other fish and small sharks, in a tank that contains about 6.2 million gallons of water. The wall of glass holding this in is 2 feet thick, and consists of 6 panels about 50 feet high that were molded together by heat once they were brought on site. It really is a pretty spectacular place to go see. It was even featured on the Today show a number of months back, so if you're ever in the area, I would certainly recommend it. Plus, just across the street, you can go to the World of Coca-Cola if you so desire.

I'm fairly pumped about the next few months of music, as there will be a number of releases which I am looking forward to (in case you hadn't seen the ever-growing listing on the right). Right near the top of that list is the new Kutless cd which releases in about a month on June 24. They released a single for download for free on their website yesterday, so off I went to get it so I could get a little sneak-peak at the album. I'm a fan of it, so check it out if you've liked any of their stuff before. It'll take about 2.5 minutes of your time...or probably about as long as it took to read through what I've written today.

The European soccer season is quickly drawing to a close, with many of the final round games being played either this weekend or next weekend. In Spain, Real Madrid has already clinched the title, and they were applauded on to the field by the arch-rivals Barcelona. As if that were not humiliating enough, they were trounced 4-1, allowing Real to sweep them for the first time in about 20 years. Ouch. The English Premiership also has a day of tense games tomorrow, with the title and relegation teams being decided over the course of hours. Manchester United and Chelsea are tied on points, with United having the lead based on goal difference. Should United win, they will retain the title they won last year. Any other result would require Chelsea to not win in their final game. At the other end of the table, 3 teams are battling to keep from being relegated, or sent down a division. There are 2 more relegation spots left, with each team needing a win to keep from going down.

I would like to see something similar to this in American sports. There really isn't any drama at the end of a season, except for who will/will not make the post-season. Sure, it's disappointing if your team doesn't make the cut for the playoffs or whatever, but there's always next year. There's no threat of being sent down a league and having to play your way back up, you just are humiliated for a season at not advancing out of the regular season, and come back again next year on level terms with everyone. I know nothing like that would ever happen...but I think it does make for a better over-all season, knowing that every result counts, and that not getting the results can see you demoted.

At any rate, it's nice to be back home, as it's been an incredibly long week. It was non-stop at work from Monday at 7 through about Friday at 3:30 or so...and I'm just worn out. It's time to just kick back and relax for the night, which is quite an inviting proposition.

Never Going Back To OK

It's strange, how stuff really can get in the way. Some of it is important, and some of it really doesn't matter at all. Things have been going well for the past few weeks since I last posted a quick update. Work is good, if slightly on the stressful side due to the volume of work expected of us recently. There are just projects that continue to come up, with little or no time to take a breather. It's good, as a whole, since that is what makes the company money. It's bad, from a personal standpoint, because there is never any time to further train me on things that they are wanting me to do. All 3 of us are essentially running around like crazy all day, with me doing the surprisingly large number of things that I can do on my own, and my two bosses more or less trying to keep their heads above water as people keep coming to them with rush work needing to be done in a day (or even less). Hopefully there will be something of a break in the near future, as one of my bosses will again be out of town, and there are a number of things that I'm needing to learn how to do to be able to help out more. With how things are going right now, though, I don't really see that happening.

Soccer is actually going surprisingly well. We are 4 games in to the season, and have won all of them, with scores of 6-3, 6-3, 4-0, and 5-2. They seem more like a set of tennis box scores for the end of a match. We're (the coaches) are not entirely sure whether our team is a lot better than we would have thought, or if dropping down 1 division from where we were last year put us with a bunch of teams that are not anywhere near as good as they were last year. It's a strange predicament. I think we have a better team this year, but not to the point where we're scoring 4 or more goals per game. It's a good place to be though, as the kids are having fun, and we're able to play everyone, whereas should things have been like they were last year, there would maybe be 2 subs out of 5 that we would play, with the other three never getting in. So I guess for all involved, we're doing alright. The soccer that I am playing (along with Mandi) has also finally gotten under way after all the weekends rained out. Unfortunately, they've scheduled many of our games at 5, so we only play a half, but it's been fun nonetheless.

Probably the biggest news to have occurred in the past few weeks is that I will be going with our church on a mission trip to Escobedo, Mexico. I'll be having to work extra before and after since I don't officially have any time off, but we'll be down there for a week working with a church that our congregation sponsors, and putting on a VBS. I've heard that I'll even see Whit while I'm down there, although I wasn't sure if he would still be there come the end of July. It just kind of came up as an opportunity, and I thought it would be one that would be worth taking advantage of. Now, for next year, to have some vacation time and squeeze in camp as well as this would be fantastic.

It has certainly been an interesting couple of months. Although it's been somewhat sporadic due to scheduling conflicts and events, I have been teaching our small group on Sunday evenings. All of you that know me know that I am of the quiet variety and often do not speak. It was difficult at first, but has gradually been getting easier. It's a lot like it was for teaching labs at UT while I was there, in that you're pretty nervous your first few outings, but it gets better as time goes on. I've been teaching on prayer, and it's been a good study for our group, I believe (certainly not based on anything that I have done personally). Some people have been turned off by it I think, since our numbers aren't as big as they are on Sunday morning, but a lot of it, in my opinion, is that a number of people in our group don't want to get in to anything except the superficial. Mandi and I both get that impression a lot, just based on how things go in class Sunday morning, and discussions that have ensued. We've also discussed it a lot between ourselves on how it seems that few people wants to be pushed, but simply show up and have a good time, and throw in a little "spiritual" discussion on the side.

I don't know, but it seems like that is such an easy place for everyone to slip in to. It's like those "highs" you get when you go on a mission trip, or to a retreat or something that is a little out of the ordinary that makes you feel so different for a while...and then it's back to your usual self. The fire that you had is gone, and everything just degenerates back to where you feel comfortable, which is an area where you aren't pushing yourself to grow or to think, but just to go through the motions for another day. I'm not saying that I'm always on a spiritual high, since I know that is not how things go, but it does seem hard for people, in general, to want to get back up to those peaks without some extraordinary event. I don't know if it's even a general trend for people to not want to be pushed while at church or devos or whatever...

I have to say, that doing these lessons, and needing to take time to study and prepare and everything has been a good experience for me. I'm even to the point now that I'm enjoying teaching and stuff, and hopefully I'll be able to do more of it in the future. I just hope that the feeling that I have while I'm doing it doesn't wear off the second my time to teach is done. I know it's impossible to never go back to OK, but I hope that, at some point, I'll be able to find a way that I can keep it from happening so easily. And maybe that will encourage others to strive for more as well.

Move Me

Once again, it's been a while. However, as I type this I am sitting in my new apartment that I have been moving in to over the past couple weeks. Slowly, but surely, things are starting to get settled in. There's still a lot of boxes laying around, and I'm finding random things that I had forgotten I even had, but it's starting to get cleaned up. So that's essentially the thing that's been going on. Couple that with the usual work, as well as soccer coaching and stuff, and well...the weeks just fly right on by.

Work is still going quite well. It's been busy this week, although not quite to the point that I thought it would be since my boss has been out of town all week visiting his family. We've gotten some new instruments to play around with at work which has been exciting. It's an updated system to what we've had before, but it makes everything easier, so now things that needed to be done with polaroids and a ruler can now be done all on the computer screen while you're working with a sample. It's good stuff. I've also been running the project that was assigned to me a couple weeks ago to do on my own, so it's enough to keep one going through the day without realizing where the hours are going.

Soccer has improved since the incidents of earlier in the month. The team still isn't as good as you would think a group of middle schoolers would be, but we've come to realize that and are just trying to make it fun, while hopefully getting the ones that really are far behind in terms of skills a little bit better. We'll see how it goes. There are possibilities for it to be a good year, but just as many for it to turn out pretty horribly. We're just really hurting at a number of positions that are key, such as not having a true forward, and a goalie situation that really is not all that great. But what can you do?

At any rate, just wanted to throw something up here. I've got the weekend to get things cleaned up some more with Mandi at a girls retreat for the weekend, so I'll be cleaning and relaxing for the most part I believe. Hopefully I'll get back to putting up some things of substance in the near future.

Dizzy...

Wow...I hardly realized that it had been a full month since I've updated this thing. Times around here have been busy, for both good and bad reasons I guess. To start, middle school soccer is going...but not well. We had to cut the JV team after having them practice for a month due to a number of kids just quitting, and mostly down to people not turning in paperwork to commit to the team when we've got to have all the info and money turned in by this Friday. And, of course, we've now got the angry JV kids parent's emailing us about why we don't have a team and how come we can't keep both. It's really not that hard, when you're required to have 15 players to make a team, 8th graders must be on varsity, and you have a total of 29 people signed up with 13 of them being 8th graders. There just isn't a way to make it work. Last year, we didn't have any problems with the parents, they were all nice, they were supportive, they worked with us. This year, I guess they figure since we did it for a year we're pros with nothing else to do, and they complain non-stop about every decision and how we're not in constant communication with them 24-7 about why their kid isn't on the roster. I don't know. I realize that parents want their kids to be amazing at everything...but we're not going to put 6th graders on a varsity team with 8th graders that are 2 feet taller, especially when the 6th graders, quite frankly, really don't know how to play soccer for the most part. There were a number of 7th graders that we were sorry to cut, but when you have to cap your number at 18...there's only so many you can take. The head coach just about quit last week because of the constant complaining for all the parents...it's just ridiculous. If they want it done better, they should do it themselves. Sorry, just venting there I guess.

The other thing that has taken up my time has been the whole being sick thing. I'm pretty sure that most everyone in the country was sick this past month, and I was one of them. I'm still coughing a little bit, but it's substantially better. I'm guessing that it's not good to cough for a week straight, but I hate going to the doctor, and then there's that whole insurance thing. On the bright side, I've made it through most of the past few days without really coughing any, so that's been a definite bonus. Boo on being sick.

Tomorrow is a big day, as far as work is concerned. I get to go out and be a project lead on something, which coincidentally enough is for SRS in Aiken, SC. So, perhaps in a couple years, if we continue doing work for them, then I might have a couple contacts down there if we decide to head that way. It's doing micro-hardness testing...which I won't go in to detail about, since I really don't know anything about it. The idea is basically that you're looking at tiny areas (microns), and seeing how surfaces and substances react to having a load (weight) place on to them. It'd be like taking a slab of concrete, setting it up, and then dropping a 500 lb mass on it, and seeing how it deforms. Just on a micron scale instead of something you would see out in public. It should be interesting, and I'll get to play with some expensive equipment.

In church news, I'm leading our Sunday night small group study, which is focusing on prayer. It's been good, I hope, and we've gone through about 2 weeks thus far. (On a side note, I just got interrupted by another irate parent. I don't even know how he had my phone number.) It's been good stuff in the group, and I've managed to steal a few ideas from things that went on at Harding. So it's been good stuff, and certainly something for our group that I don't think many of them have experienced before. Hopefully things will continue to go well. At any rate, just wanted to give an idea of what's been going on.

What Could Be Better

Man, I sure am doing horribly on keeping this thing updated recently. It's been busy, but then again, who hasn't been busy. The job is still interesting, even after a month, and I've been doing a little bit of new stuff every day, which has been good. This past week was especially hectic as one of the 3 guys on the team (including me) was out of the office for 4 days (that was not me). He was on an interview up near where his family lives, so hopefully he can get that job and like it and move up there to be with them. That meant, however, that I got to do a lot, and basically was more busy than I have been at any other point in my time there.

Soccer with Cedar Bluff has been going for about the past 3 weeks now as well. It's looking shaky at the moment as far as getting two teams goes. We've got 27 names of people that have showed up at some point, but only about 21 are regularly making it to practice. We need to have 30 consistently in order to have 2 teams, so hopefully we'll make it. Otherwise we'll have to cut a number of people, and that will not be any fun. Good thing I'm not the head coach that has to make the final decision though. Haha!

The thing that has been taking a lot of time up recently has been the planning of this 55+ dinner that our young professionals group is hosting. It's going to be a lot of fun, but Mandi and I are having to spend a lot of time getting things organized and finished up in order to get it moving. We're slowly getting there though, as we'll have invitations and stuff ready by tomorrow, and I'm working on the slideshow as we speak . I haven't ever used Windows Movie Maker, but it's a pretty handy little gadget, as far as basic video editing is concerned. Hopefully it'll turn out well in the end. The main thing will be getting pictures from all the couples attending to include in it, since the theme of the dinner is "Remember When...". So we're wanting pictures from their wedding and recent pictures as well at this Valentine's dinner. It should be good stuff.

And on a completely random note, how about them Giants? I caught the last 2 minutes of the game, but that was enough for me. I'm just glad they beat the Patriots. Then again, who, outside of Patriots fans, isn't? Note this day, as it'll probably be the only day that I talk about football.

Island

As many people who write these things probably do, I had grand schemes of posting more consistently, and further even having compelling things to blog about. And here we are 3 weeks in to the year, and I've failed miserably in both aspects. Even tonight, I really don't have anything of interest to talk about. I just felt compelled to put a little bit up here since it's been right on a week since I last updated. How lame.

The past week has been busy as well. The job is continuing nicely, although today was quite slow. I put together a long string of left-over paperclips from all the paperwork that I go through while I'm there, I read the news (a lot), I went to a training meeting which lasted for about 30 minutes, and then I started playing around with new computers and equipment trying to get it working. I also saw how you etch a surface of a metal (you get cool chemicals like HF, HCl, and HNO3) and place it on top of the metal, and let it eat it away. It's used to see the grain boundaries (the way the material is fitted together I believe) in a failure analysis, since they're investigating a piece of something that broke during use. Pretty intriguing stuff. Tomorrow morning we're bringing the heavy-duty stuff. I've also been sick with some sinus/head cold symptoms, although it has finally passed I believe.

On a pretty exciting front, our small group is putting on a dinner (for Valentine's day, but not until the 24th) for the 55+ group at church. We're cooking for them (there's a professional chef in our group), and having some games, a slideshow, and pictures of each of the couples that comes that night. I think that it will turn out to be pretty cool stuff. Mandi and a couple of the other people in the group are planning, and I'll be helping out with some of the slideshows and game things. Speaking of games, we're putting on a Newlywed Game type thing with a few of the couples, and a couple from our own group and seeing how they do. So if you can think of any good questions to ask either the husbands or the wives, let me know.

It's been bitterly cold here the past few days. Really since about last Thursday. I know, it's really nothing compared to those northern states, but for getting down to 12 and 13 degrees around here, it's getting pretty cold. I envied the Murphy's in AmSam when they posted the other day about the temperatures. Those were days that I wished I lived on an island as well...Hopefully, in the next few days, I'll have a post of substance. But until then...

Say All I Need

It's been hectic. I've felt as if I should put something on here many times the past few weeks, but just haven't had the time/energy to do so. Work has been going exceptionally well. In the past 2 weeks I have learned how to use a plasma etcher, coat samples in carbon, prepare samples for viewing in a TEM (transmission electron microscope), prepare bulk samples of asbestos (which comes in a variety of sizes), get some basic introductory walk-throughs on using the TEM and the SEM (scanning em), basic training in working with hot (in the nuclear sense) materials, as well as some of the entry-level stuff of logging samples, and handling the paper-work. It has been action-packed almost every day...except on those days when they're working on the classified work they are contracted on...in which case there are some interesting articles on Google news, and some not-so-interesting articles that hold some special kind of appeal on those days. All in all though, it's been a lot of fun.

I had another company calling today wanting to talk with me about possibly working with them, and I've been trying to interface with them, but with being at MCL from 8-5, it's hard to find a time to contact them. We're working on setting up a phone interview I think, but given the relatively short amount of time before my trial period is over...I don't know what will happen exactly. But I guess it doesn't hurt to keep the options coming until I've got something firm. I feel like we're just about there though...

I'm signed on to once again coach the Cedar Bluff Middle School Giants Soccer Team. Man, that's a long school name. But if it's anything like last year, it should be a blast. The only difference being that this year I'm working at a real job, which I don't know if they'll allow me to take off at 3:30 on practice days...hopefully I can find some kind of schedule that will allow me to leave early on those 2 days of the week and let it work. If not...I guess I won't be able to coach. It would be a shame as well, since I really did have a lot of fun last year, and there will be a number of the same kids coming back to play since I think that we only had 3 8th graders. And we've apparently got some incoming 6th graders that are pretty good and have played competitive for a number of years...so we should hopefully have a very good pair of teams. I'll just need to find a way to bargain for my working hours.

Last night was fairly interesting. As I think I've mentioned before, I've been playing basketball fairly regularly (at least once a week) with some people from church and elsewhere that play in a 3-on-3 league. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am absolutely awful at basketball. I have managed, however, to see some signs of improvement. Yesterday was a fairly significant step forward, as I managed to score about 10-15 points per game (we played 4 on 4 full court to 50), and was fairly consistent at hitting my lay-ups off of steals and quick breaks. You may laugh, but those lay-ups were pretty dang hard to hit...when I was all by myself...standing still beneath the basket...and had about 3 attempts before someone caught up to me...yeah... But last night I was actually making them on the dribble, and I even got my 3-pointers to go in. Now, I have a terrible shooting technique, since I shoot from my shoulder. I think Mandi told me that I shoot like a girl...and I probably do. But I make it work, and nobody outside of brother has blocked me yet, which is strange since he's the shortest person that I've played against. At any rate, my "signature shot" is dribbling across the top of the arc from left to right and putting up my shoulder-level shot which banks in off the backboard. I guess it's pretty unconventional, but I get it to work about half the time. That's about what MJ shot from behind the arc, right? I actually have no idea on that one... At any rate, it is turning out to be a lot of fun, now that I can actually contribute in some way besides turning the ball over after missing easy shots.

I'll try and update the rest of the stuff on the page over the next couple days as it is fairly dated, but for now, I've said all that I need to say. Enjoy the new song by OneRepublic.

Here It Goes

Usually, when there is a long break in posts by someone on a blog, it means that they have been exceptionally busy. For me...that usually just isn't the case. However, in this one particular instance, it really can be attributed to that. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

About 3 weeks ago, I sent in an applications on the recommendation of a friend. While I was doing that, I happened to see another position that I thought I might be semi-qualified for. So I sent one off for that as well. I wasn't expecting to hear much, with the Christmas holiday coming up, and figured they would end up like many of the other things that I've sent off. I'd picked up dog-sitting for a family from church for the Christmas break as they were going to be in Europe, so we (my brother and I) head off to go to the house and see the dog and let them explain to me everything that they're going to want me to do while they're gone. While there, I get a phone call, and it happens to be from one of the employers that I had just sent a resume to. They wanted me to come in the next day and meet with them to discuss possibly working with them. Of course, I'm thrilled, so I go in the next day, and after about 3 hours of talking with a number of different people, they say that they want to bring me on. It's a small company, and so they want to have a trial period to allow both of us to feel out the position and see if it would work. They ask me to come in on January 3rd to get started, and I agree, going away happy.

The next morning, I wake up and get a phone call from the other company wanting me to come in for an interview with them as well. This position is with a large coke-producing (the burned coal variety, not the beveridge) company called SunCoke. I went in for my interview with them on the 2nd of January, which worked out nicely. I would be working with them as an enviornmental engineer, doing some management work, and travelling to their sites in Indiana, Virginia, Ohio and Brazil to see that everything is being done correctly and that everything is being done in an enviornmentally safe way. They said they'd get back with me in a couple weeks time either way. At this point, I don't really know what I would do if they offer me a position as well...it's kind of a good position to be in I guess.

The small business is called Materials and Chemistry Laboratories (MCL), and they are a small forensic research company. Basically what that means is that they find out what things are that people don't know. Or maybe people do know what it is, but they want to know the exact composition of the materials. Really, it's just a bunch of work to tell people that they have certain metals, radioactive elements, asbestos, or whatever else they can manage to fit into things these days, inside of their buildings, samples, or any other thing that they send us. It's a bunch of chemistry (I know, I'm a physics major...), but it's been enjoyable for the past couple days. I've already prepared samples for a TEM (transmission electron microscope), which is a multi-step day-long process, I've atomized carbon to coat samples, and of course I've done the grunt-work of logging in samples and updating the computer files. But it's been fun, and I think that I would enjoy working there for the next couple years.

The reason for going to the second interview is that the position at MCL that I'm in currently is classified as a temporary full-time position. As I said, it's about a month-long trial period, although I really feel as if I've fit in over the past two days. The people are also training me on just about everything, and not just having me log data, which I would have thought would have been the majority of the work if it was more trial than just a safe-guard for their overall business and everything. I guess you can't really hire on full-time with a substantial salary if they're not sure the person will stick with it or work well for them. So it does open up the option of taking the other position if they decide to hire me...it's really a tough call. Mandi and I had a good discussion about it the other night for a couple hours just weighing everything, and didn't even really get to a conclusion. It's just a lot to think about, and will be even more to consider if it does end up that I get an offer for the other one. I guess that it's a lot better position to be in than I have been for the past 6 months though.

Throw in New Years Eve celebrations (I'm going to have to get pictures off Mandi's camera of our "Ugly Christmas Sweater Competition" sweaters and put them on here), time with the family, hanging out with Dustin, playing some volleyball, Mandi's upcoming birthday, and just all around general holiday craziness, and it's not all that hard for me to see where the past week has gone. It's been a good Christmas/New Years, and it's been a good week, albeit a very busy one. A belated Happy New Year to all who read this. I, for one, am looking forward to what 2008 has in store. So, here it goes.

Frank Caliendo

My brother showed me this impressionist, and I've always been a fan of people that can do good impressions, and this guy is great. Check it out for some great impressions of John Madden, Al Michaels, Pat Summerall, George W., Jeff Goldblum, and even Letterman and Paul from the band. It's great stuff. In addition, I put in my favorite song from my best album from this past year in the player. Check that out as well. I hope that everyone's had a great Christmas, as mine was fantastic. There have been some excellent developments on the job front, so I'll put up a little about that in a couple days. In the meantime...brainificate on this.

Music Year In Review Pt. 2

We now move on to the conclusion of the two-part music series. As before, a brief description with a few download-worthy tracks, all for your future listening pleasure.

Honorable Mentions (Part 2):
Rush of Fools - Rush of Fools
Another debut CD (I think I got a number of these this year apparently...), with a lot of potential. It's hard to appreciate how quickly things moved for the guys in this band, and they are all still quite young, from what I know. But seeing the results gives them a solid stepping-stone for future work. Mostly worship-oriented, the guys do a solid, if not spectacular, job, with a couple gems thrown in the middle of everything. Another group to keep an eye on in the future.
Download: Undo; When Our Hearts Sing; Already

Fuel - Angels & Devils
They've been out of the picture for a while, and after their lead singer quit the band, they went on a long hunt of finding a replacement, with a well-known decline from American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry. In the end, they finally found a singer, and with the songs already written, went right in to the studio. I liked this album better than the previous releases, if only because the production seemed to be cleaner, giving a better feel for the melody. Again, many of the lyrics are throw-aways...but what do you expect these days? For some solid rock sound, though, it's works fairly well.
Download: Gone; Wasted Time; Scars In The Making

Relient K - Five Score And Seven Years Ago
For a band that's been around for a long time, I hadn't ever really heard of anything until this album was set to come out. It makes for an enjoyable listen, with a number of catchy tunes, and a fair amount of wit within some of the lyrics. Even so, you can still see the message that they are trying to convey. This is a band that I can see growing on me, and maybe one day I'll pick up some of their previous albums.
Download: Must Have Done Something Right; Come Right Out And Say It; Devastation And Reform

5) 12 Stones - Anthem For The Underdog
When Mandi first put in one of their albums one of our caravaning trips back home from Harding, I basically had the same thoughts that she did. They can write some good stuff, but there's too much screaming and pointless overly heavy stuff in there. Fast forward about 5 years, and you've got their latest release, which has effectively eliminated the screaming, and replaced it with some solid songwriting and hooks. This album hardly bears any resemblance to their debut effort, and is the better for it. It's hard to find a weak spot in this album, as each song is performed well.
Download: Lie To Me; Broken Road; This Dark Day

4) Matchbox Twenty - Exile On Mainstream
This is probably more from personal bias than anything, because who would think that a compilation album would be a top album of the year? At any rate, this was one of my most anticipated releases for this past year as they are a band that I've always liked since I first heard them. Many will remember their singles Push and 3 AM from the late 90's, and from that fame, they held a high degree of popularity for the years to come. Even after 5 years, and no subsequent releases, this greatest hits package still came out at #3 on the Billboard best-sellers the week of it's release. For anyone that's been a fan, the main draw is the 6 new songs, while anyone that hasn't gotten any of their previous albums can get all 11 of the radio hits that this band put out over the past 10 years. If the 6 new songs are any indication, the next full length album they put out will be some of their best work yet.
Download: How Far We've Come; These Hard Times; All Your Reasons; Push; 3AM; Unwell

3) Mainstay - Become Who You Are
This band was an exceptionally pleasant surprise when their debut CD came out last year, so it was somewhat unexpected when I learned that they were going to be putting out their sophomore disc this year. When it did come out, I ran out and got it practically the next day. This album differs quite a bit from the first in terms of the material used in the writing process. This one is a much more personal album from the perspective of the writer and lead singer. There are songs about his family, his thoughts, and his personal beliefs, praises and struggles. It's mellow for the most part, and just an all-around good listen for a bit of praise and encouragement.
Download: Become Who You Are; Where Your Heart Belongs; Island; When You Come Down

2) Dizmas - Tension
Their debut was a disc that I personally could have cared less for. It was all screaming, not very melodic in my opinion, and just didn't seem like the type of band that I would come to appreciate. With their second release, however, I was surprised (as were many others, no doubt) by the change in their direction, and the level of musicianship that immediately became noticeable; what had been obscured by the screaming in their first release came to the front. What came out of it was 12 songs with infectious hooks and strong melodies. While some of the lyrical content can be vague, and sometimes plain silly (Dance, Shake It Off), there are just as many that have excellent meaning with a little thought. Again, for those long trips at night, or the late-night study/work session, you can't go wrong with Dizmas' Tension.
Download: Play It Safe; This Is A Warning; Sun

1) Anberlin - Cities/Lost Songs
I'm cheating here and including 2 CD's that were not released at the same time, but they make a solid double-album impression, and given their overall stellar quality, I felt they both merited an inclusion. When I first heard Anberlin earlier this year, I had no idea about them. They were simply a band name that I had seen, looked at the back of the CD, and read some of the names and saw that they were associated with a number of bands that I am a fan of. I went back, and listened to the most recent album they had put out (Never Take Friendship Personal), and was immediately hooked. Here is a band consisting of Christians that is able to make music that is open for everyone, without completely bashing the listener with theology. They have toured extensively with a number of well known mainstream bands including Fall Out Boy, which allowed them to share the message of Jesus over the course of the tour with them.

Back to the music, though. Cities is an impressive 12 songs, ranging from infectious (A Whisper & A Clamor) to epic (*Fin - which runs almost 8 minutes in length). It's a solid rock record, and while some of the lyrics will make you wonder, there are just as many that will make you think. This has constantly been in my player since I got it back in February, and it's one that I have yet to tire of. Lost Songs, on the other hand, is a collection of rare and unreleased tracks that have been compiled to finish contractual obligations before they move on to a major label this coming year. There are a number of B-sides from each of their CD's, acoustic cuts that are probably the most impressive, some fun covers off of bands that I don't really know, and a couple demos that don't really vary that much from the album cuts. Even with these demos, the album is surprisingly strong for a compilation CD of rejected cuts, with some stand-out tracks that make you wonder how they weren't initially included with the CD they were written for. All in all, for some solid pop/rock with strong melodies and excellent overall quality, you really can't go wrong with these guys. Look for their next full-length album of new material in the middle of 2008.
Download: Cities - A Whisper & A Clamor; Inevitable; The Unwinding Cable Car; Dismantle. Repair.
Lost Songs - The Haunting; Dismantle. Repair. (acoustic); Naive Orleans (acoustic), Uncanny

So there you have it. My top 10+ albums that I've gotten this year. Get you some. Oh, and a Merry Christmas to all...(if I don't post again soon).

Music Year In Review Pt. 1

And now for your reading pleasure, the first in a two part series. Being that I am certainly someone who loves music, and loves listening to music, I'm once again giving some of my top album purchases from over the past year, as well as a few that I found on the side or through other people. I figured I'd do a top 10, with a little review of each individual album, along with some honorable mentions. I'll also list a couple of the tracks I would recommend for downloading if the artist appeals to you. If you like anything that I've had in the player the past year, then most of these songs will be coming off of those albums. Of course, I know that not everyone has the same musical taste as me, so this is probably more for my own personal benefit than yours...but I'll do it anyway. So here we go. My personal top 10 albums of 2007 (with a few bonus cuts).

Honorable Mentions (Part 1):
The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum Soundtracks - John Powell
Composer John Powell did some excellent work in these two films, providing an exciting musical score to go along with the frenetic action shown on the screen. The Bourne theme (instantly recognizable in 'The Drop' on the Bourne Supremacy) is followed throughout on both discs in many different variations. When I watched the Bourne Ultimatum, I was as stoked about the music accompanying the scenes as I was about the non-stop action. That's saying something.
Download: Supremacy - The Drop; Berlin Foot Chase
Ultimatum - Tangiers; Waterloo

Barenaked Ladies Are Men - Barenaked Ladies
In disc 2 of a two part presentation (Are Me and Are Men), we find the Ladies back to some of their wittiest, most fun pop/rock. In my opinion, this is the stronger disc of the two, with their lyrical goofiness and touch for a melody supremely evident. After their mis-step (in my opinion) on their album before these 2, this shows them back to their best. For me, any band that can put out 30 quality tracks in 5 months has more going for them than simply the ability to craft a catchy tune or two.
Download: Angry People; Maybe Not; Why Say Anything Nice?

Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
This one is almost like a guilty pleasure. After their smash debut, they took 5 years to record their sophomore album. It's the same approach, with Adam Levine's smooth voice going over groovy beats, mixed in with some songs that up the ante. Granted, most of the lyrics are throw-aways, and some of the songs just really don't do much for the album (Kiwi, anyone?), but it's hard not to get caught up in the beat and groove of the other songs. When the lyrics don't take away from the song, there is a good, easy melody to ease you through the day, and I would challenge you not to be tapping along by the end of the disc.
Download: Nothing Lasts Forever; Goodnight Goodnight; Back At Your Door; Makes Me Wonder (Clean)

Alter Bridge - Blackbird
You would think that a band composed of 3/4 of Creed wouldn't really be anything worth talking about. But Alter Bridge, with the addition of Myles Kennedy as the lead singer, is anything besides Creed 2.0. Their sophomore album follows in the vein of their debut, with melodic rock that's nothing more, and nothing less. With some slick guitar solos and great melodies, as well as some fairly insightful lyrics, you get a new band that has gone and made everyone forget what band they used to be in.
Download: Brand New Start; Before Tomorrow Comes; Blackbird; Watch Over You

10) Thousand Foot Krutch - The Flame In All Of Us
This is one of those bands that I didn't really think I would like all that much the first time I heard them. They were too much of a rap-rock, almost screamo type band, of which I have a hard time appreciating. However, with each release, they have transformed from the rap-rock they used to pursue to more of a simply hard rock vein. And while I am not huge on ultra-heavy rock, these guys manage to make it fun, and even have good melodies to go along with their lyrics describing their spiritual journeys and thoughts. And even though they are known as a hard rock band, I am always a fan of their ballads that are, to me, incredibly insightful and sincere. An excellent way to keep you awake if you're making a late-night drive, and almost impossible not to sing along with.
Download: Falls Apart; What Do We Know?; My Home; Wish You Well

9) OneRepublic - Dreaming Out Loud
For a debut CD, these guys have been around for a while. They are one of the most popular bands on MySpace, and they had a hit single when Timbaland remixed their song 'Apologize' early on in 2007, except that they didn't have an album out to take advantage of their new-found popularity. Dreaming Out Loud remedies that problem, giving 12 tracks of melodic, piano-driven pop/rock. It's a testament to them that 'Apologize' in it's original form fares far better than the remix version, although if you pick up the disc you will get both and be able to decide for yourself. While very reminiscent of The Fray and Coldplay, they do just enough to be their own band, while crafting a number of memorable songs. Look for this group of Christian guys to do big things over the next few years.
Download: Apologize; All We Are; Say (All I Need); Goodbye, Apathy

8) Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
This band has been around for a while, yet they didn't make it big until 2001 when 'The Middle' hit airwaves. After the last album's mostly dark approach, things are brightened up again for this 11 song journey. Described as emo (does anyone really know what that means?), the majority of the songs focus on relationships. Then again, what songs don't focus on relationships? Jimmy Eat World still knows how write a hook, and on practically every song you get drawn in immediately from the get-go. Ranging from the fun of Electable (Give It Up), to the huge album closer Dizzy, there is a little something for everyone in this one.
Download: Carry You; Here It Goes; Chase This Light; Dizzy

7) 33Miles - 33Miles
It's not often that you get a band that has more than a taste of country in the Christian Music scene. 33Miles, hailing from Nashville, changes that with a record that is more or less country, right down to the fact that the majority of the songs are ballads. The lead singer does not possess any type of twang or drawl (which I appreciate), but the musical arrangements will definitely remind you of some of the more contemporary country artists out there. For a debut CD, this is a solid effort, and there is certainly potential, as their musicianship really shows throughout in outstanding melodies and excellent harmonization. Throw in strong lyrics, and you've got a great disc. Look for more from these guys in the future.
Download: What Could Be Better; Stand Amazed; I Can't Deny; When I Get Where I'm Going

6) Lifehouse - Who We Are
They've gone through quite a few changes since they first came on the scene with that song that you couldn't get away from back in 2000. It was called "Hanging By A Moment" if you've forgotten. However, the past 7 years have seen numerous changes in the make-up of the band, with lead singer/songwriter Jason Wade remaining as just about the only focal point of the band since then. The past 2 releases have seen Lifehouse moving from the more grunge inspired rock of No Name Face to a more piano-driven sound. In my opinion, it's an improvement as this has allowed the song-writing of Wade to shine through. The melodies are clearer, the hooks are better, and the lack of all the guitars has given a cleaner sound to everything. With Who We Are, I think they've found a balanced mix of guitar-driven songs with the more laid back ballads. This album also contains one of my favorite songs of the year in Storm.
Download: Disarray; Whatever It Takes; Broken; Storm

Part 2 will follow in the next few days. There has been a development on the job hunt front...so hopefully there will be good news to talk about soon.