New CD's

After my visit to Earshot Music last weekend, I came away with some pretty good CD's:

Longwave's "There's a Fire"

Stellastar*'s "Harmonies for the Haunted"

Sigur Ros's "Takk"

Nada Surf's "The Weight is a Gift"

And finally,
The Decemberists' "The Tain, EP"

Back to the A-T-L

This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending the Oasis/Jet show at the Hi-Fi Buys amphitheater in Atlanta with my good English friend Nick. I have to say that Jet was better than I thought they would be. Straight-forward, no frilly light show, loud as all get-out ROCK. It was old-school guitar-driven party rock and Jet actually looked like they were just up there having a blast.

Oasis, on the other hand, was a stark contrast. They didn't play quite as long as I thought they would (only about an hour and 1/2) and seemed to take themselves a bit too seriously. But I suppose that's the Gallagher brothers for you. Noel had this thing going where he would just walk off stage for no apparent reason in between songs, then come back out and stand at the edge and...well...just stand there. I wasn't so much disappointed with Oasis as I was pissed off at the sloppily drunk and obnoxious band of idiots that strategically positioned themselves directly in front of Nick and I. That wasn't going to distract my enjoyment of hearing some of the older Oasis songs off of "...Morning Glory." To their credit, they did end the night with a good cover of the Who's "My Generation" in which they really cut loose and rocked out.

All said, it was a good show; I left w/ my ears ringing and that always means something good happened.

To Cap it Off

And to cap off the weekend, we had a great Sunday at Newspring. Not only was the service simply the most relevant, creative, and well produced salvation messages I've yet to see, but we had 4,433 people show up over 4 services (a new record) and 47 people come to know Christ. I'm so thankful I can play a small part in all of what is going on there. God is really doing some incredible things!

Read Perry's Blog on the service.

Six Flags in the Big A-T-L

*see pictures below*

I had the pleasure of attending the fascinating world of Six Flags over Georgia this past Saturday with Kylie, Amber, Lori, and Heath. I had not previously met Lori and Heath before, but they proved to both be good sports and didn't chicken out of riding the good rides (even ones I wouldn't ride like those freefalls *shiver*). God even hooked Kylie and I up with free tickets from some generous girl as we stood in line to get in!

I must say that culturally speaking, Six Flags is an experience in the...well...it's just an experience. I was quite taken aback by the amount of scantily clad women and even CHILDREN there were. At first it really irritated me, but I reminded myself that these are the people that Jesus loves and with that being said, I should try to love them as well. Kylie and I made it a point to try to be as nice as possible to the ride attendants; I'm sure they have a pretty tough job and sometimes a simple "thank you" will do more good than anything else. With some people, even doing that won't make any difference in their day (I.E. the giant swing girl).

I was a bit disappointed that the park had to close @ 8pm. My favorite time to ride those rides is at night. But we managed to ride all the good rides at least once (and those silly little swings twice). The rides I enjoyed the most: The Giant Swing, Superman, Batman, and the ever popular Scream Machine. I had to teach Kylie and Amber that riding in the back car was by far the best way to go. Don't ask me about the whole physics of it, but for some reason, you go noticeably faster back there.

All said, it was a pretty good trip. No one puked, got robbed (although we did give some $$ to someone in need) or beaten up. You really can't ask for much more when you're in the A-T-L. Props to Lori for lending her car and driving ability to take us back and forth! And to Heath, don't get your hopes up about Miami...all good things must end!

Six flags group

Myself, Lori, Amber, Kylie and Heath

Girls

Lori, Amber and Kylie at Six Flags over GA in the ATL!

(Poor quality, I know. I curse my stupid camera phone)

At Last....

Already my weekend is off to a great start. My life here in Anderson is complete at long last. Earshot Music recently opened up a second store on Coffee Street in Greenville. The setup is quite frankly the best small music store I've seen. It only contains roughly 6,000 titles, but boasts a full service coffee bar, DVD's, and multiple flat screen computer terminals that let you search, listen to, and burn tracks off just about any CD. The staff even seems to know what they're talking about. I spent a good while discussing new and old CD's and bands with both the employees working. If ever I had my own music store, it would not stray far from this.

Glacier Flickr Set

This guy has a good set of pics from Glacier National Park. Makes me want to go even more...

Photo Bugs

I have a few friends that are pretty good photographers. I'm sure they'll appreciate this. Dialogue of an expensive camera in the hands of an amateur.

Alabama 37, Carolina 14

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Alabama/Carolina game in Columbia with my parents. I had an absolute blast. Not only did Alabama crush Carolina (good write-up here, but I also had the best time just hanging out with my parents. That was the most fun I've had with them in a long time. Even better was the fact that so many Carolina fans left early so leaving the stadium took half the time! Go Cocks!

Other than that, I've been thinking recently about what passions and convictions God has placed in me. I seem to have the strange ability to be kinda good and a lot of different things instead of really good at 3 or 4 things. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. I've often wished that I could have a great overriding passion and gift like many of the people I see around me do. In fact, I think I've spent some major portion of my life trying to find it. That being said, I know that God designed me for something, but I can't readily look at myself and the things I take interest in and say, "That's it!" My interests and gifts seem so broad and diverse that I can't fathom how that will get tailored into a specific avenue of pursuit.

That's possibly why I've been feeling a bit restless lately. I guess the thought of just picking up and moving to some distant part of the country appeals to me because...well...it looks like an adventure and an adventure is something I want to be a part of. That pursuit after God is an adventure. And so is taking a leap of faith to move somewhere totally new and rely on God to provide everything. But then again, it could be right in front of me here in the great megaopolis that is Anderson, South Carolina.

Restless

Been feeling especially restless the last few days...like I just want to sell all I have and head out somewhere far away. Weird. Can somebody actually benefit from doing so? Would God ever call someone to do something like that? What if?

I've also been thinking a good deal about what in the world God is up to...but I guess that's why we trust.

I just called one of my coworkers in to pop a zit on the back of my neck but she wouldn't do it...oh well. What is life if you can't find someone to force the white puss from your pimples? (Now Andrew, that's just gross).

I need to make it to the lake this weekend...not many more days of warmness left. Plus Michael and I are still trying to master the single-ski slalom, and it must be conquered before the winter sets in...we are not promised functional legs (or a boat) for tomorrow!

Enough of this randomness.

Weekend 9.9 - 9.11

Since I've gotten a "real job" I've noticed that my weekends tend to be uncommonly busy. I guess I try to pack as much into them as I can. This past weekend, I had a chance to go see Coldplay at the Verizon amphitheater in Charlotte, NC. All I can say is they rocked! It was one of the best visual presentations I've seen in a live show not to mention the music. I had tickets to sit on the lawn, but an old friend of mine from Charleston called and said she had a ticket for me to sit about 15 rows back from the stage. Sorry Nick, Heidi, Crystal, and Amber...destiny called and I had to answer! They ended the concert playing "Fix you" and "Swallowed in the Sea", my two favorite songs from their latest. What a great show...

After the show, Crystal (after subjecting herself to driving up there) graciously decided to drive back as well. I had to get up @ 5am to go play Air Force for the weekend and needed the sleep. Thanks Crystal, you rock...hard!

Saturday night I got to finish watching the Carolina/Georgia game (stupid 2-point conversions) and the Bama/S.Mississippi game. For those of you who aren't Bama fans, their wide receiver #4 (Tyrone Prothro, what a great name) is an all around athlete. Just check out the catch he made. (WMV file via al.com).

Sunday I learned something very important: When I become a dad, I pray I have boys. For the first time, I saw my niece Kathryn start crying b/c her dad got on to her about something. Oh boy, if that was my daughter I'd have the spinal cord of a wet noodle...

That was my weekend in a nutshell...next weekend I'll either be at the Bama/SC game or the Clemson/Miami game!

My Soap Box

Finally a politician says something that remotely looks like real forward thinking. Now I don't necessarily advocate abandoning New Orleans, but come on: You build a city that averages 7-12 feet below sea level virtually surrounded on all sides by water and in an area of the world prone to hurricanes then expect Nature to just comply? Anybody smell ignorance?

Before/After Pix of New Orleans

Wicked satellite pictures from Global Security here.