-- Brian Megilligan's Pink Blog --

What would you do to protect the children?

2011-08-02T23:43:00.003-04:00

At the very least, we want to protect the children. We would do anything to keep would-be predators from coming in contact with our children. We would especially keep the most reprehensible child pornographers from having access to any child, and from promulgating their wares abroad online.

What would you be willing to do to stop these villains? Surrender your name? Your home address? Your phone number? These are public bits of information anyway so what's the harm, right? What about your eighteen month web history? Maybe, what have you to hide, right?

OK, how about your credit card number? Bank account numbers?

Well, a bill recently approved by a committee in congress has been approved and is about to be offered up for a vote to become law. This bill will require ISPs (that's Internet Service Providers such as AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast, Earthlink, etc) to compile a database of all of its users and record each user's name, address, phone number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and dynamic IP addresses. For eighteen months. As this excellent LifeHacker article points out,

"It's like handing over a year's worth of browser history plus the contents of your wallet to the police. The thing is, you're not really handing it over so much as your ISP is—without your consent."

I would encourage you to read this article as it does an excellent job of pointing out assumptions and flaws contained in the hard-to-argue-with-titled bill, "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011" (PCFIPA of 2011), as well as making great suggestions on how you can circumnavigate the potential ISP tracking of your online usage.

Besides the issues and questions raised in this article, I would like to add my two cents.

What happens when an administration decides to track everyday citizens' whereabouts online and upon disapproval, issue warrants without due process? (RIAA, anyone?)
How comfortable are you with your ISP knowing where you do your banking, what investments you have, where you give your money, what political causes you support, what health issues you are concerned with, what careyou're considering buying?
How comfortable are you knowing that not only is your ISP storing a year and a half's worth of this information, but they could turn it over to the government at any point without you knowing?
Given Wikileaks, Lolsec, and Anon's ability to break into or gain access to government servers and gain information seemingly at will, how comfortable are you with your ISP's ability to secure this information about you, your friends and neighbors, and 270+ million American internet users?
Your ISP has to now manage a huge data server farm and its corresponding security. How comfortable are you with all of the necessary overhead that you will now be required to pay for?

What other concerns am I (and the LifeHacker article) missing?

You can read more about the bill here.

How to Be a Successful Worship Band

2011-07-26T22:51:00.003-04:00

After years of working with band players in various churches, participating in numerous worhsip services in various churches, hearing worship bands at conferences, and evaluating worship leaders and worship bands, I have begun to assemble a list that aspiring worship bands may find useful in order to be successful. There are some thoughts in this list for most members of the band, though I'm sure I could have given more thought to the Dobro player.

Pick keys that are too high for guys to sing, and too low for women to belt out.
Show off your chops by jumping the octave at a repeated phrase. Make sure no one else can possibly match you.
Shout out "Christianese" phrases between songs. They don't have to fit the context, they just have to sound good, amen?
Work hard at crafting all of your vowels so that you sound British or Australian.
Never sing any melody the same way twice, especially when teaching a new song to the church.
The only dynamic build you can ever use is repetitive eighth notes.
Make sure you rush those eighth notes.
Dynamics only exist in layers. "Quiet" is achieved mainly because only the acoustic guitar is finger picking at the moment.
If you're a keyboard player, try to duplicate the exact rhythms the guitar players are playing, in the exact same register.
If you're an electric guitar player, be sure to use all of your pedals at least once in a set, so as to disguise as much as possible the actual sound of your instrument.
Be sure that your stage volume is so hot that you cannot be effectively mixed in the house.
The form is ALWAYS V, V [add band], C, V, C, C, B, C, C, C, C [drums only], C, Tag.
Never change keys in the middle of a song.

Alright, I've got us off to a good start, there's more, let's add to this list!

I used to be pretty good

2011-07-15T20:45:00.003-04:00

While rummaging through my iTunes library the other day I came across a performance of Rachmaninoff's Prelude #2 in D Major. This is a recording of Yours Truly, performing at my senior recital at Cedarville University in 1994.

It's not jazz. It will take some work to listen to. I think this is my favorite piece from my recital. There were two significant challenges in this prelude. First, both the melody and the counter melody existed in the right hand. The challenge was to play the melody clearly while letting the counter melody sing sweetly over it without overcoming it.

The other challenge was maintaining left hand eighth notes while playing the right hand triplet counter melody (about a third in). It's vintage Rachmaninoff, really. I think it's not a bad performance--probably the best one from my recital, and if you asked me, I could not play it for you today. I still enjoy listening to it though.

How Books Were Made (1947)

2011-07-09T22:58:00.003-04:00

It is so fascinating to me to watch this laborious process. In a comparatively short time (since the original printing press) we have eliminated the need for all of these with e-pub books. No printing, no binding, no cutting, no gluing. Everyone can be an author. This comes with its problems too of course!

Take a minute to watch this video:

How to Build a Winning Baseball Team

2011-05-22T22:39:00.002-04:00

I have to take a moment to say something about baseball. It's been a while. I enjoy the game and the team I have followed since 1994 has been the Cleveland Indians. They enjoyed their big years in the 90s, with sellout home games, and then lost many of their best players to big contract free agency (Albert Bell, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome), or to big trades (Bartolo Colon, Roberto Alomar). They went through their "rebuilding" phase (a term teams use when their players are young and mediocre and they don't really expect them to compete). Well, this season, it may finally be paying off.

As of today, the Indians own the best record in all of baseball, have a 7 game lead in the AL central, and are highest in the league with +66 runs scored versus runs allowed.

One of the ways they got to this point was through trades. Trades of big name players, especially Cy Young award-winning pitchers (two years in a row!) is particularly painful to watch. You're giving up a proven and known quantity for "prospects." (Another baseball term that means "we think they're going to be pretty good.")

So looking at key trades over the last five years, we can see how the current team has emerged. Below is a partial list of trades. Who was traded, and who was received in return. I only included players who are on the current big league 25 man roster.

PLAYERS TRADED --- CURRENT MLB PLAYERS

Eduardo Perez	Asdrubal Cabrera
Ben Broussard	Shin-Soo Choo
CC Sabathia	Matt LaPorta, Michael Brantley
Casey Blake	Carlos Santana
Franklin Guiterrez	Joe Smith
Mark DeRosa	Chris Perez
Cliff Lee/Ben Francisco	Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson,
Victor Martinez	Justin Masterson
Kelly Shoppach	Mitch Talbot

So in evaluating this chart, one of the questions we must ask ourselves is, knowing what we know now about these young players, would we make the trades in reverse today? In other words, would you exchange Justin Masterson for Victor Martinez today? Probably not.

My iPhone Tracking Data

2011-05-09T00:21:00.002-04:00

You've probably heard all about the privacy concerns and conspiracy theories related to why Apple has been tracking your location data--or at least storing it. The news broke in recent weeks, thanks almost entirely to a couple of researchers who created a little app that interpreted the data hidden away and synchronized through iTunes to your computer.

Using the simple little app they created (read all about it here), I decided to show those who are curious how it works by giving you more than just a simple screen shot of the resulting map that you may have seen posted around the internet.

Here it is, complete with my commentary:

I should mention that there is no evidence that this was ever sent back to Apple, and further, knowledge of the existence of this file is not new information!

Fellow iPhone users, do you feel as though your privacy has been violated?

How has the internet affected the behaviour of music consumers?

2011-05-04T21:46:00.002-04:00

My Answer to a Quora question found here.

I once heard someone describe the diminished perception of the value of music this way:

Once upon a time, people used to buy their music recorded on vinyl discs called "LPs" In this medium, you could of course play your music, but you could also almost SEE your music. The music was represented in little tiny grooves pressed into the platter. You could easily damage the music you loved by scratching it with the very device intended to let you enjoy it.

A few years later, the disc became smaller and shinier. The compact disc converted the visible grooves on the LP to invisible pits on a ceramic disc. The pits were read by an invisible beam of light. The disc may (or may not) have been more durable than the LP, and access to the tracks were nearly very fast, the artwork and inserts became smaller, and more information could be placed on these little discs than the larger LP counterparts.

Finally, we have progressed to a place where an individual song has been reduced to a file on a computer. Files have little value. We drag them from place to virtual place, move them from hard drive to hard drive, they can be accessed and played instantly, but they carry no artwork other than a simple icon (maybe) electronically associated with it. The file can have varying degrees of quality that the artist and producer has no control over, and can even be edited by a user with a free software.

So from one generation to the next we move from music that you can hold in your hand and see on the grooves of a disc to music that has very little intrinsic value of a computer file-- even the EXACT music that may have previously existed on an LP. Music from the internet has been reduced to an icon on your screen.

So in one way, the internet has affected the behavior of music consumers by subtly devaluing the product itself, in part because the medium on which it exists has changed so significantly.

This may be one reason why it is so hard to convince younger folks that when they transfer a file from one place to another, they are stealing--but that's a whole other discussion.

Lessons from the job hunt

2011-05-04T01:15:00.002-04:00

As I continue my job search I am paradoxically applying for less positions and opportunities, not more. I am also refining my search and being more selective about which jobs I apply for.

This may seem counter-intuitive since I am not in a situation to be picky. I need a job.

My background brings with it a very specific and niche set of skills. Need a quality pianist? I can do that. Need a group rehearsed? I can do that too. Need an arrangement, orchestration, I can plan a worship service, conduct an orchestra rehearsal, make a drum loop. And I can do that stuff pretty well.

The problem is, no one is asking for that. At least not yet.

This time of unemployment has been a time of self-evaluation and self-discovery. I would venture that everyone who has gone through a similar situation has come to a personal assessment like I have. You almost have to.

When I first started looking, I naively applied to positions by answering a question no one was asking: "Could I see myself doing that?" What I have finally realized is that though I could probably learn skills involved in online education, brand marketing, technical writing, or IT support, and probably become really good at that stuff, I don't really have any experience in those areas. It took a while for me to move from imagining myself doing something I've never done, and thinking I could be pretty good at it to realizing I need to reevaluate many of the non-musical components of my previous jobs and ask myself a series of questions to help draw out tasks I have done that are corporate-world transferable. I have discovered that a single piece of paper is all the hiring manager or HR person has to find out what they can about me. They aren't interested in reading between the lines. I need to be specific. The statement: "Helped team communication through web sites and online tools." says very little to an uniformed reader, even though I knew everything that was involved in that task. But in expanding on this statement, I can come up with a couple of bullet points:

Created and designed web site functionality and navigation for a members-only web site.

Populated web pages with long-form text, photos, embedded scripts, tables, lists, and Twitter feeds, as well as media curation (pdf, mp3, and video uploads) using a content management (CMS) tool.

This kind of content was drawn out of me recently by a hiring manager who asked a couple of follow up questions that answered what probably should have existed on my resume in the first place.

I recently attended a Dick Hart seminar where he laid out several questions to ask yourself. Actually, he suggested to have someone interview you with these questions while you record your answers. He said when you go back and listen, you will pick up pieces that you should include in your resume that you might not have thought of otherwise.

How good was I?
What happened as a result of performing the project or task?
Did I save any money or increase revenue as a result of my effort?
How accurate was I?
Was I ahead of schedule or did I just meet the schedule?
Did I supervise people? How many?
Did I exceed my quota? Show me the numbers.
What was my role on the team?
What impact did I make?
Do results jump out at the reviewer?

I'm sure there are more good questions a mock interviewer could come up with to draw even more out of me.

What have you learned about yourself from your periods of unemployment?

Job Interviews as Dating

2011-03-31T22:46:00.004-04:00

I have taken a little break from our OBX gift vacation, which is so backwards, I don't even want to get into it. Anyway, I was called back for an interview tomorrow morning. This is a company I applied for back in January, but the person they hired didn't work out so they're moving on down the list. I'm not sure this position is for me, but I am interested to learn more.

I have related to some of my friends that moving into the interview stage in the job hunt is like dating someone. I have had a few interviews over the last couple of months. I have gone to one interview where shortly after I arrived, I knew I wanted nothing to do with the job. Of course, I was called back for a second interview. I decided to go just for the experience.

The polar opposite was an interview I had last week with a firm that I could see myself investing many years in. It just sounds like a fun job and the people there seem great. I really hope I get it.

The paranoia that goes with the waiting game can be applied to either the dating scenario or the job interview:

How did it go? Oh we had a great time. Had a lot in common, really hit it off well.
Did they like you? yeah, I think so, couldn't tell if they were just nice and polite or if there was genuine interest, but the conversation really flowed well.
Did you like them? Oh yeah, I can definitely see myself with them.
When will you hear if you got the job? I don't know. They said they would call "by the end of next week." Does that mean Thursday? Do I give up if I don't hear from them by Friday? What time on Friday is the point of no return before i have to wait until next week?
Are they interviewing other candidates? Yeah, I think they are. but I really hope I get the rose.
It's been a week since the interview, have you heard from them? No, not yet. Should I call? I don't want to seem too--um--desperate. But I want them to know that I'm interested, that can't hurt right?
Did you call? Yeah, I hope I wasn't too talky. I hope they weren't annoyed by the interruption to their day. I hope I showed the right amount of interest without seeming annoying. I hope that was initiative they heard, not reaching out to grab something not there.
What did they say? Oh, I'm still a candidate, they'll make a decision by tomorrow or "early next week."
What are you doing? Waiting by the phone.

Things I have learned from being unemployed

2011-03-29T21:31:00.003-04:00

On January 3rd of this year, I learned that my position, along with eight other full time Providence employees was to be eliminated. My responsibilities were over and I was free to go. Not the news I had either expected nor wanted to begin the new year.

My job search began the day I came home. I hadn't searched for a job since 1996. This was going to be a challenge. It has been a difficult time for our family and for me as I am forced to rethink my future and career and ministry choices. It has sometimes been a time of emotional deflation and at other times optimism to see what new things are next.

Here are a few things I have learned along the way:

I'm not the only person who has ever lost a job.
We are blessed with unbelievable friends who have done way more for us than they had to.
I will never forget even the littlest things that our friends have done for us.
I will forever relate differently to friends who go through this. I did not understand what a challenge this is when my friends went through this in the past.
Being let go from a church in the way we were means that you not only lose your job, you lose confidence in the leadership of your church, and therefore, you lose your church.
Losing your job from a church challenges your assumptions that you are supposed to continue in church music indefinitely.
It is a huge challenge to write a resume, when you haven't thought of one in nearly 15 years.
It's an even bigger challenge to write dozens of resumes, almost a new one everyday, focused in a million and one different directions.
Nobody is in the hurry to hire me that I am to start working.
Three months of severance may seem like plenty of time, but it goes by so fast.
Health insurance for the family is not inexpensive.
I'm used to working hard and seeing the results of my work. I have never worked harder than I have to find a job but I have nothing to show for it.
It's crazy to think about all the things I would be willing to do, even though I might not like most of them. Once I hear of one or two things that I REALLY want, though, I can't stop thinking about them.
From my experience, anybody who hires me will wondering what they ever did without me.
To quote a good friend: It is not up to me to provide for my family; it is ultimately the Lord's promise. I am straining to put my trust in him.

New Tiered water pricing in Raleigh

2010-11-06T10:50:00.002-04:00

You may have noticed that there has been a change to the web presence and billing cycle of the Raleigh water utilities. As I perused the site today, I discovered the introduction of a new pricing plan for Raleigh residents. From this page:

Beginning in November, Raleigh and Garner residential customers will be billed using a new, tiered billing structure with new rates. Only single-meter residences are changing to tiered billing. Apartments with master meters are not changing to tiered rates.

There are 3 tiers based on consumption. Each tier is billed at a different rate. Those who use less water will pay less.

INSIDE Raleigh and Garner city limits
Residential Water Rates

Tier 1 = 1-4 CCF billed at $2.28
Tier 2= 5-10 CCF billed at $3.80
Tier 3= 11+ CCF billed at $5.07

In response, I have written this letter to be sent to UtilityBilling@raleighnc.gov:

Hello-

I am frustrated to read that you are implementing a tiered rate program on your water usage fees. In general, when I think of bulk consumption, pricing usually goes down per unit sold. In this case, you are charging more per unit sold.

I understand the motivation behind this kind of structure. The ultimate goal is that of conservation. However, for those of us with several people living in a household, there will never be anything we can do apart from taking a two week vacation that will reduce our consumption to the 1-4 CCF per month range.

Not only are we in essence being punished for having more people in our household, we're being charged a higher rate per CCF than we previously were. (It appears that my rate was $2.65/CCF)

I find this analogous to driving to the gas station to fill up with fuel and finding out that my charge per gallon varies dependent upon the size of my gas tank. By extension, since the size of the gas tanks are generally proportioned to the size of the vehicle, it would be like charging gas at a variable per gallon rate based on how many people were in the car.

Can you please explain how this approach is a fair way to charge for a utility we all depend on? If you feel there are abusers of the resources available to us, then charge them for their usage, but don't make the rest of us bear the burden of those who (in your opinion) overuse their share of water.

Our services are out of control

2010-09-30T14:34:00.003-04:00

This is a screen shot from my phone via the PlanningCenter app a couple of weeks ago. Made me chuckle

How to Pray for Your Kid

2010-09-08T23:37:00.004-04:00

Recently, I went through Dennis and Barbara Rainey's Passport2Purity book with my son. Inside is a list of valuable suggestions on how to pray for your child. This is a list of 26 suggestions of things to petition the Lord for over the life of your child. I'm hoping the Rainey's don't mind if I re-post that list here!

Pray that God will protect your preteen's innocence.
Pray that God will bring godly friends into your preteen's life.
Pray that your preteen won't forget how to laugh.
Pray that God will draw your preteen into a relationship with Him or deepen the relationship that's already established.
Pray that God will bring other godly adults into your preteen's life
Pray that your preteen will be grounded in the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, and worship.
Pray that your preteen will learn to love the unlovely (reach out to other kids)
Pray that God will bring about tests of character in your preteen's life to help him learn how to stand strong in his convictions.
Pray that your preteen will develop humility.
Pray that you will catch your preteen in sin in order to have opportunities to train him.
Pray that your preteen will develop a larger peer group of believers that can have its own identity--enjoying music, parties, and memories together.
Pray that intellectual understanding of the changes in your preteen's body will give him cause to praise God for His glorious creation.
Pray that your preteen will respect and treat the opposite sex in a biblical manner.
Pray that your preteen will develop his own convictions about what he watches, listens to, and reads.
Pray that your preteen will learn self-control.
Pray that if your preteen is lying to you, God will allow you to catch him in that lie. Pray also that God will give him the courage to follow through with restitution and repentance.
Pray that your preteen will not give in to the temptation to use drugs or alchol.
Pray that your preteen will develop a loving and caring relationship with his siblings.
Pray that your preteen will learn how to manage his anger.
Pray that your preteen will learn how to control his tongue.
Pray that God will protect your preteen's mind from being polluted by pornographic images and ideas.
Pray that your preteen will not develop an attachment and preoccupation with material things.
Pray that God will keep the communication lines open between you and your preteen during the teenage years.
Pray that your preteen will develop biblical convictions.
Pray that your preteen will stand strong wen peers pressure him to do something contrary to those convictions.
Pray that your preteen will begin to understand God's mission for his life.

What motivates you to work?

2010-08-09T00:02:00.000-04:00

Something New in the Church

2010-05-01T00:19:00.003-04:00

We can all think of ways in which new technology has become a fixture in modern churches. From video screens to light production to sound mixes, some in church leadership (including myself) can't imagine planning and executing a corporate worship gathering without the aid of some of these technological innovations.

The "advance" of any area will bring with it its share of critics.

With that thought in mind, I was humored recently while reading the end of the chapter entitled "The Cathedral" in Joseph and Frances Gies' Life in a Medieval City. Addressing the issue of new innovations available at the time of the 13th century, they write,

Thirteenth-century bishops are delighted with the technology that gives them their incomparable cathedrals. Interestingly enough, clerical opinion in the past was not always so favorable. St. Bernard wrote angrily to William, abbot of St Thierry, about the great Cluniac churches: "Why this excessive height, the enormous length, this unnecessary width, these sumptuous ornaments and curious paintings that draw the eyes and distract the attention from meditation? . . . We, the monks, who have forsaken ordinary life and who have renounced the riches and ostentation of the world . . . in whom do we hope to awake devotion with these ornaments? . . . One could spend a whole day gaping instead of mediating on God. What ineptitude, and what expense!"

How interesting that over 700 years later, the concerns and criticisms are the same, just the names and types of technologies have changed.

Reason to Buy Travel Insurance

2010-04-20T22:50:00.002-04:00

I've never purchased any, but I may reconsider if I ever make plans to fly somewhere for vacation!

Something New

2010-01-26T09:47:00.000-05:00

Here it is...

....there it went.

Have a great day!

Summer Project #2

2009-12-14T21:05:00.005-05:00

Our deck steps were in bad shape. They were cracked and warping and not anything you'd want to walk over in bare feet.

So we (I) undertook a project of removing the steps and the risers and replacing them with new ones.

I cut new boards to length (thanks for the saw, dad) and stained them on all sides, then mounted them back on the stringers. Here were the first few I did. It was so cool to see the boards bead up after a brief shower.

Reece was a big helper.

He was so curious, he just couldn't stand to not be involved.

Janet and I stained the whole deck.

This probably took three months from start to finish. In part, because we were also working on summer project #3...

My Dream Job

2009-11-25T23:59:00.004-05:00

Maybe when I "retire" I'll do this. I don't know, I guess you might say I already enjoy my dream job, but this would be even dreamer. It took this picture this summer at a Durham Bulls game. The house "organist" is just sitting out there in the open, doing his thing.

He gets to watch baseball every day, and make thousands of people listen to him while he plays the keyboard. I could do this.

Of course, I would take requests.

Facebook Scam

2009-11-24T22:04:00.003-05:00

I have occasional discussions with my wife about the various pros and cons of social networking in general and Facebook in particular. Even though she hasn't jumped on the bandwagon of Facebook yet, I had an experience today that should make us all think twice about our connections and who is really on the other end of the line.

In my browser I have set two perma-tabs and faviconized tabs that are always open. (Check out this great hack from smarterware using Firefox extensions). So even when I'm not actively using one of those browser windows, I'm constantly logged in to Facebook and my Google Reader.

While working elsewhere today, I heard the familiar chat pop come through my speakers indicating that someone was sending me messages. I flipped over to the Facebook tab and found that my friend Micah, whom I have not spoken with since our high school graduation, and whom, other than this Facebook connection I have shared maybe one sentence of "hey how ya doin'?" initiated the following conversation:

Micah
hey!
you there?
10:30amBrian
hey man! what's up!?
10:31amMicah
not good at the moment
10:31amBrian
what's going on man
10:31amMicah
i'm stuck in London,England at the moment
10:31amBrian
not a bad place to be stuck, I'd say? flight delayed?
10:31amMicah
i was mugged at gun point last night
10:32amBrian
oh wow...down town?
10:32amMicah
here in england
10:32amBrian
did they beat you up?
10:32amMicah
all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off me
i was hurt,bruises all over my neck
10:33amBrian
awe man, I'm sorry...did they take a passport?
10:33amMicah
i still have my passport with me
i've been to the US embassy and the cops here
they're both not helping issues at all
10:34amBrian
not working together?
10:34amMicah
they asked me to wait for 3weeks,but my flight leaves in less than 3hrs from now
but the hotel manager won;t let me leave

At this point, I'm trying to picture his scenario, the embassy, the cops, and the hotel thing. These pieces didn't elide in my head, almost as though he doesn't want to admit something--but I kept going:

10:35amBrian
because you have no credit card?
10:35amMicah
yeah to settle the hotel bills
10:35amBrian
are you there on business?
10:35amMicah
yeah
i need your help urgently

OK. I paused. At this point, a lot of questions are going through my mind. Remember, I haven't seen or heard from this guy since high school. I'm beginning to have doubts, but I continue.

10:35amBrian
what do you need?
10:36amMicah
i need you to lend me some few bucks to settle the hotel bills
i'll pay you back tomorrow as soon as i get back home
i don;t want to miss my flight
10:36amBrian
so you're there on business? why do you need ME to do that? what can't your company do that?
10:37amMicah
i came here on a business trip by myself
10:37amBrian
no one else state-side to support you? are you in business on your own?
10:38amMicah
yeah
no one to contact now
please help me
10:38amBrian
hang on a sec
10:38amMicah
ok

At this point, I'm smelling something funny, but just to get a second opinion from a guy who also knew Micah from high school, I called my good friend Dan. Right away he declared it a scam. I didn't want to be played, but I didn't want to leave an old buddy in need. Dan's idea: ask him something about himself that only he would know. Yes. Of course:

10:45amBrian
hey help me out here.
10:46amMicah
huh?
10:46amBrian
I need to verify you are who you say you are.
10:46amMicah
sure
go ahead ask me any question
10:46amBrian
what was the name of the group you founded at Kings?

I imagine at this point if the scammer is on Micah's page, he's probably glancing through his profile trying to find an answer. Notice the time that elapses before his response:

10:48amMicah
you kidding me?
10:48amBrian
nope. you would know.

And that's how it ended. He never finished the talk and we never went any further. I emailed Micah from the address given on his profile page but I haven't heard back from him. I hope our hunch was right and he's not at this moment sitting in the hotel lobby in London waiting for someone to bail him out.

What's Google been working on?

2009-11-19T18:55:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I'm a Google fanboy. Here's what they're working on. I like the way they think, though it probably scares some of you.

Summer Project #1

2009-11-13T15:12:00.006-05:00

I'm certainly no Roger Cook, but I took a crack at unifying our back yard this summer by removing a fence and some landscaping.

The previous owners of our house had a couple of dogs. The customized their (our) house and back yard for these dogs by putting in doggy doors so that the dogs had freedom to move in and out when they wanted. They also put a fence down the middle of the yard so the dogs could do their "thing" on one side and so they could enjoy the other side.

Since the time we moved in, I have wanted to remove that fence and bushes and landscaping they put down the middle of the backyard, and regain a contiguous backyard for our kids to enjoy. The yards in our neighborhood are not large, but our backyard is probably one of the largest and most private, since we are on a cul-du-sac and since there is protected greenland behind our house.

So the poject began over several weeks (read: months) as I pulled out seven bushes and other plants.

the fence posts were anchored in concrete so I had to cut them out with a reciprocating saw.

I rented a rototiller and planted grass seed.

After a couple of weeks (in October) the grass came up and I removed the straw. I only wish the rest of the yard looked as good as this single strip.

Sort by Magic

2009-11-01T21:10:00.005-05:00

Do you use Google Reader? I've written extensively about it here.

Now, Google has this clever new feature Gina pointed out on TWiG, which I think is really slick.

If you're like me, you add many web posts to your feed and sort them by category. This sort is best handled with folders. Well now there's this nifty little feature called "sort by magic" which is an option under the "Folder Settings" pull down.

What it does is sort to the top of the list items that it thinks you will be most interested in based on your browsing habits. If you've shared, emailed, starred or "liked" certain types of posts in the past, it will elevate similar items to the top of your list. It works best if you have a lot of unread items as it will not show any regard for read vs unread items.

One more way in which Google knows even more about our browsing habits and interests. Ostensibly so they can sell you another ad.

Resolute

2009-09-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

Resolute: The Epic Search for the Northwest Passage and John Franklin, and the Discovery of the Queen's Ghost Ship by Martin W. Sandler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I would recommend this book. It may seem like the last subject you'd want to read about: a bunch of 19th century Britons trying to find a way to the Pacific Ocean over the top of North America.

I'll be honest, if you had asked me if I knew what the North West Passage was before I read this book, I would have told you that is what Lewis and Clark were looking for.

OK, so some random thoughts:

• though the title is "Resolute" the book is far broader than about a boat that was lost and then found while looking for someone else that was lost.

• the whole Arctic expedition thing was about two things: Finding the Northwest Passage, and/or finding the North Pole. The one who found either first would bring both personal and national glory.

• the Royal navy was too proud to think about seeking counsel from those who might actually have experience in the Arctic. Namely the native Inuit people, who knew how to survive the year-round cold, and the whalers who knew how to navigate the ice flows and northern climates.

• The people who explored and were lost or died or even returned unsuccessful in their quest were seen as heroes. This whole Arctic thing was a pretty big deal in the mid 1800's and captivated public attention, even though these explorers would leave and vanish from public consciousness for years at a time.

I would recommend this book because this vast story is well-told. There are a lot of characters spanning the approximately 80 years of attempts to conquer the Arctic, but Martin W. Sandler organizes his book well with extended end notes (that stay out of the way of the drama of the story) and appendices that are quite interesting.

View all my reviews >>

Important Information Regarding a Change to Your 411 Service

2009-08-18T21:34:00.003-04:00

Recently I received this email from my otherwise fabulous home phone service, Vonage:

Dear BRIAN MEGILLIGAN,

We'd like to share with you some important information regarding our 411 Directory Assistance service. We're expanding our 411 service to include 411 Direct Connect. With 411 Direct Connect, when you dial 411 from your Vonage phone you'll be directly connected to the residential or business listing you've requested at the new rate of $1.49, effective August 17, 2009.

Not sure of the name or business you're trying to reach? Vonage 411 Direct Connect will allow you to search by category or keyword to find listings even when you don't have a name and address.

Remember, Vonage 411 is not just about phone numbers. You can also continue dialing 411 from your Vonage phone to access movie listings, airline flight times, ATM locations and more...all for $1.49 per 411 call!

We strive to provide an excellent customer experience and want to be sure you're getting the best value from your Vonage phone service. If you have any questions, please call us at 1-VONAGE-HELP (1-866-243-4357). We operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One of our Customer Care representatives will be happy to assist you.

Best regards,

Vonage

Did you catch that? They would be happy to charge me just $1.49 a call to connect me when I dial their information service. Seriously?

I couldn't resist. Here was my reply:

Hello,

Have you ever heard of Google?

Google is this great online search engine. You can type things you're looking for into it and it will bring back results.

Google has this service kind of like yours. What you do is you call 800 GOOG 411 and tell them the city/state and what you're looking for and it returns the results pretty well.

And just like you, it connects you right to that business you're looking for. Pretty cool eh?

Oh, but unlike you, they connect you for FREE.

So as I consider which directory I'll call out of convenience knowing that I can be hooked directly to it when found, I'll weigh carefully weather I will call through the service that is gonna charge me or the service that is going to let me connect at no cost. It will be a hard decision.

Brian

So surprised I haven't heard back from them.

How did you find this blog?

2009-07-28T07:43:00.003-04:00

Google Analytics provides interesting tools that allow you to see how dismally attractive your blog is from a statistical standpoint. It's a free tool and an interesting resource.

I have been quite interested in the search terms people use to land here. Below are a list of terms people used in the months of May and June to get here.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know

2009-07-26T18:23:00.004-04:00

I enjoyed this great post from GeekDad the other day and thought I'd share my favorites.

4. The number of TV channels being a single digit.
6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.
17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’
21. 5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
23. DOS.
37. Finding out information from an encyclopedia.
45. Not knowing exactly what all of your friends are doing and thinking at every moment.
50. Privacy.
58. Putting film in your camera.
72. Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.
91. Having to manually unlock a car door.

You can see the full list here.

Worship at Providence

2009-07-20T20:01:00.003-04:00

Here's a video edited by Tim of our services over the last couple of months. It's just a taste. We get to work with some very talented people--all of whom love to serve and love the Lord! This is on the church web site, but I thought I'd spread the love here.

Worship@Providence 09 from Providence on Vimeo.

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

2009-07-18T17:39:00.001-04:00

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In high school there are certain things that you learn about World War II. Years later, there are much fewer things that you remember. There was Hitler, D-Day, FDR, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the battleship and carrier wars fought in the Pacific over little tiny islands in the middle of nowhere, and finally the first use of the atomic bomb by the US on two Japanese cities.

There were plenty of new perspectives to be gained on the war in the Pacific through James Bradley's book Flyboys: A True Story of Courage. Though the book focused on 8 specific pilots and gunners, as well as their background and families, their individual stories were presented in context--not just of the war, but of Japanese history, culture and mindset.

There were several theses Bradley skillfully presented in this book. Here are some bullet-pointed highlights:

• The Japanese and American cultures could not have been more opposite one another. In everything from the way they ate their meals, to the way they saw their place in the world, these were two very different "worlds" at war, neither able to truly empathize or understand one another.

• Previous to World War II, the primary dimensions for battle were land and sea. FDR pushed hard for the monies to invest in this new 3rd dimension, the air war. Indeed, it proved pivotal in both the Pacific and in Europe.

• Japan "learned" imperialism by observing the west. They believed they were doing the best thing for China by invading it in order to "culture" it with it's own brand of civilization. Japan as a country felt snubbed at the end of World War I when they were awarded very little territory and concluded that this was as much a racial decision against them as anything. They had been exercising the same ethnic cleansing they observed in the US as the anglo-saxon race obliterated the native tribes in the name of civility and religious conversion.

• Though there existed much honor in Japanese warriors of previous generations in the 18th century, the generation that fought World War II perverted the standards and practices handed down to them, and with a mixture of mythicism and power-hungry leaders, led the nation to believe that even in the face of hopelessness, they were as valuable in death (in war) as they were in life. Surrender was the ultimate act of cowardice and shame, even among the civilians, who, in the impending land war with the US army, would fight to the end with sharpened bamboo sticks.

• While condemning the bombing of civilians of England by Germany, the US apparently saw nothing inconsistent with bombing city after city in Japan indiscriminately. There was no urban planning in Japan. Wooden houses were built right next to large factories in Japanese cities. The Napalm burned both easily, and as a result, many Japanese civilians were killed or made homeless.

• The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not out-of-the-blue acts of desperation or experimentation that led to the surrender of Japan. The use of these weapons were actually the next logical step in the systematic bombing of many Japanese cities by B29s in an effort to delay a ground war and were used in the hopes of bringing a swift surrender. We are awed by the destruction of a single bomb, but the damage done was commensurate with what was already being done using many planes and many pipes of Napalm.

The temptation when reading a book that deals with such difficult subject matter is to confuse the quality of the book with its content. Some passages in this book were difficult to read. Anecdotes and interviews of Japanese soldiers that fought in many fronts: Iwo Jima, ChiChi Jima, New Guinea, the Philippines, and China were gruesome and disturbing. Stories of torture and cannibalism abound. Bradley uses these stories not gratuitously, but to reinforce the thesis previously mentioned about the Japanese warrior mindset at the time and also to proudly display the bravery of the American and Japanese soldiers in the face of certain death.

Yes, it is difficult to recommend a book with such material-like what a Stephen King book is like, except with real events-but the story is well-told, the research is thorough, and the book is well-cited. Reading this book brought the Pacific theater to life and gave me a renewed respect for the generation that fought in World War II.

View all my reviews >>

14 Basic Skills

2009-07-10T23:44:00.004-04:00

Recently in my RSS feed appeared an article entitled "14 Basic Skills All Men Should Possess."

Sean Percival evidently couldn't come up with one more to make the list nice and rounded. Or he got to 10 and thought of four more things. So here we go. Do you agree? Can you align yourself with these arbitrary and random skills?

Drive a Stick-Shift (check)
Hook up and Entertainment Center (check-though it would be fun to get to set up a new one some time!)
Fix a toilet (check - forced learn that one!)
Navigate a Map and Use GPS (check and check, though these seem like completely different skills to me, and the GPS one doesn't even really seem to be a skill at all.)
Change the Oil (check-yeah, motor oil)
Balance a Checkbook (check, but file this under obsolete skills-at least in the analog world. Who actually balances a checkbook? I make Quicken do it.)
Cook the Perfect Steak (CHECK- come on over some time, I'll show you how it's done)
Swim the Breaststroke (check - though there's no distance specified. That's good. I can do it pretty well, but not for very long)
Write Effectively (hmm, I think so, my blog readers can decide, and the recipients of my many, many emails can toss in an opinion here too. You know who you are.)
Dress for the Occasion (FAIL)
Sew a Button (check. I've got this one down. I probably average a button every two months)
Do Laundry Properly (check, though my kind and gracious wife usually handles my laundry, when she's away, I can clean my underwear and starch my shirts)
Handle Roadside Emergencies (check-Anyone can call AAA, right? I've changed a couple of tires in my day. Loads of fun.)
Build a Fire (FAIL. I have never started a fire without a match or lighter, but I can set up a pretty good, long-lasting fireplace fire or campground fire with good kindling.)(I miss my fireplace)

I'm giving myself 12 out of 14. Soon I'll write the "14 skills every woman should possess." That oughta get things stirred up.

Philosophy of Orchestration (Part 5)

2009-06-22T20:32:00.005-04:00

Questions to ask yourself when considering orchestrating a hymn, chorus or other song for your church orchestra:

1. Does the song need an orchestration? (dealt with in part 1)

2. Should everyone play? (dealt with in part 2)

3. Does the orchestration support the lyric? (dealt with in part 3)

4. Is your orchestration accessible to your players? (dealt with in part 4)

5. What are key considerations for orchestrations?

Finally, we consider key.

On the surface, key may seem to be of incidental importance. However, consider the following scenarios:

In general, string players prefer sharp keys while brass and woodwind players prefer flat keys.
Guitar players prefer sharp keys while keyboard players often prefer flat keys.

So the solution, then is to arrange everything for the key of C!

Initial key selection

Deciding on key starts with the melody of the song. Regardless of whether a song will be orchestrated, a song for congregational singing should be set so that the majority of the melody falls between a Bb-D range (a 10th, not a 3rd). Some would argue that C-E is acceptable, but I would not spend a lot of time in the high D-E-F range song after song or you will wear out your congregation.

Key is almost always an issue of planning. Besides the establishing the primary key of a song discussed above, consider how small changes can have a large affect in the overall sound.

For example, suppose we have a song that sits well melodically in E. The guitar players love it because it's a nice open sound on their instrument, and the chord changes are accessible. The bass player likes it because E sets nicely as the tonic and the lowest note on a four-stringed instrument. For five-string players, they can drive the dominant strongly on their low B string.

But suppose we take the same song and move it down just a half step. Now we've effectively cut off the ability of the bass player to dig some nice low notes on his instrument. The lowest tonic he can play is almost an octave higher than it was a minute ago. This is also true for the dominant. The guitar players will no longer get that nice open sound out of their instrument. Acoustic players will likely play with a capo in a more familiar key, like G, but the chord sounds will come out differently because of the resulting change in register and voicing. (I would love for guitarist to chime in here and comment about their experience in this area).

Experienced players understand that alternate keys are part of the church music world and are flexible enough to make transpositions in their head when capo-ing, and finding the right notes at the low end of the bass through chord inversions. It is important, however for the orchestrator (and/or band leader) to anticipate a different sound from the rhythm section by altering the key, even by such slight amounts.

Key changes within a song

An example of key setting dilemma on the orchestral side of the coin comes from Darlene Zschech's "Shout to the Lord." This is an interesting song melodically because it spans an 11th from verse to chorus. This automatically limits the key choices for the arranger. Set the key too low and no one will be able to sing the second phrase of the verse: "...my savior..." Set the key too high and everyone will be screaching through the chorus: "....power and majesty, praise to the king...." So your choices are somewhat limited from MAYBE Ab to as high as C.

The original arrangement features a dramatic key change midway through the chorus so this adds more planning on the part of the arranger. The original recording of this song begins in A with a move to B. This isn't a problem for the players on the album--there was no orchestral arrangement on that original either--just a band! However, attempting to orchestrate this song for church orchestra throws some challenges for some players playing in A. As if that weren't bad enough, moving to B can cause even more clams as players forget to sharp the A's!

This problem is easily solved by moving the song up to Bb. Now the second-phrase low note is rased to an A, and the orchestra has two easy keys to play in as the song moves from Bb to C.

The catch? Now the tenors are reaching for an A in the final chorus!

Orchestrate to the keys you may someday play the song in

If you are introducing a new chorus, complete with orchestration, one of the least anticipated issues is that "someday" we may want to do this arrangement again, but in the context and flow of the future service, the song will need to be transposed down (or up) a step.

There are two approaches you can take here. The first is the "plan-ahead" approach, leaving room for your instrumental voicing to work just fine either up or down a step from your first key. This means that your brass players have been given parts that have margin on the high end. It means that your sax and string parts aren't already reading notes written at the very bottom of their instruments' capabilities.

The second approach is to orchestrate it in a key that you're likely to sing or play the song in and orchestrate to that key. Then, when it's time to do the song again in a different key, you take the time to re-do the orchestration in spots that take your instrumentalists out of their range.

I have been forced into the second approach by not taking the time needed to plan in the first approach! This takes practice and experience.

Pick any new song you'd like to introduce. Put it in a median key, then orchestra with the intent that the song may be used a 2nd or minor 3rd in either direction. This will save you so much time down the road. Assuming you use modern notation software such as Finale, transposing the music is a very simple mouse click or two.

Here is an example of bad planning.

This orchestration works nicely in C. But can you find the trouble spots if I were to take this down just a half step to Db? Violin II of m 30, beat 4 would be out of range, and the viola in m 31, of beat 4 would also be out of range. Moving the song up a step might prove challenging for an inexperienced bass player in m 31 on the high notes.

It is dangerous to spend so much time at the low end of an instrument--especially a whole section of instruments if you think there is a chance the song may someday move to another key! In this case, I would be forced to redo the Violin II, Viola, and Cello lines in this passage to make it all work.

One final consideration related to key that is worth noting is how the notes of a resulting transposition fall on an instrument. For example, the original trumpet line below

would probably be more attainable for your players in concert F than in concert E:
In this case, I would probably bump the key down one more half-step to concert Eb so that this crazy line falls easier on the horn and the player doesn't have to fight such a crazy key. (I would also probably put the 2nd example in Gb rather than F# if I had to leave it!)

Orchestrating for church orchestra is a craft. It requires knowledge of strengths and weaknesses of your individual sections, understanding timbres in varying ranges of instruments, likely doublings, good key selection and more. Each church orchestra is as unique as the people and personalities of which it is comprised. Hopefully the principles given in these posts will be useful and transferable to your setting.

"Made Me Glad" Made ME glad.

2009-06-01T22:07:00.005-04:00

I will not divulge my list in its entirety, but one of the songs in my "five star" list for a very long time has been Travis Cottrell's arrangement of Made Me Glad. Part of it is the song, part of it is the arrangement, part of it is just that it is fun to play.

I'm still processing our time from Fusion Conference this last weekend. One of my personal highlights was playing "in the band" for Travis and his singers. If you've never heard Travis, he's more than a gifted singer, he's a great leader of worship. More than that, he's great a shepherding a group of worshipers into understanding more about God and declaring truth. He's a real encourager.

One of the other great things about having Travis here is that he brings some really great singers with him. They were all so gracious, putting up with long days, teaching a couple of sessions on vocal techniques, and singing in a Friday night concert and leading Sunday morning services. I think we just about wore them out.

One of his singers was Julie Goss. I've decided I'm a forever-fan. She can sing so passionately and warmly on songs like Revelation Song, but she can also open it up.

She creates the highlight for me in the midst of the weekend's highlight when she lets it rip on Made Me Glad, especially in the chorus return on the key change after the bridge. I couldn't get enough of that every time we played it, and fortunately we did it four or five times this weekend. We could have done it a few more times as far as I'm concerned!

We worked hard at being the best band we could for these talented singers. In some ways, they made it easy. In other ways, I felt at times like I was on the edge because I ceded musical control of my "domain." I normally know what to expect. How many times of this, how to end that, when to start the next thing. In this case, it was a lot more wait and see, or maybe more of "get-ready-to-loop-that" But it all worked out great.

Thanks once again to Travis and the gang (Seth, Nirva, Julie and Lici) for making Fusion weekend such an enjoyable and entertaining one! You guys are talented and humble servants!
Thanks to Alan for the photos!

Four Star Songs

2009-05-24T16:37:00.005-04:00

I've been working outside a lot lately-staining our deck and replacing the warped and splintered steps and risers. While doing my work, I keep the ipod running, usually catching up on the podcasts I listen to: Buzz Out Loud, This Week in Tech, Mac Break Weekly, Mac Geek Gab, This American Life, among several others. Sometimes, I actually use my ipod to listen to music.

There's a slick tool in iTunes called "Smart playlists" and it lets you have iTunes automatically sort your songs in any number of ways and it can auto-update, so you don't have to actively manage it. One of the ways I've recently decided to use the smart playlists is by using the track rating system. You can give a song zero to five stars. I've created three play lists: A five star, four star, and three star list. Anything song not fitting into those categories doesn't deserve to be on a list. Especially not a smart playlist.

I have another playlist that contains only songs that don't have a rating. When I'm driving around town I'll shuffle songs from this list and add my rating as I go. When I sync the iPod up to iTunes, the folders automatically get updated. In my "unrated songs" smart folder, I have 4,264 unrated songs.

I've gone through about 300 songs so far and I'm already digging my four star playlist.

The five star play lists are all time favorites. Songs that I will probably never not like. There are only a couple songs in that list so far.

The four star play list contains songs that I'll always stop and listen to. I like them for reasons ranging from fun to sentimental, to technically enjoyable, to great performances, etc. Basically, my criteria for giving a song a four star rating is that when it randomly comes on I say "Oh yeah!"

So far I think I have 39 songs in my four star playlist. I'm being vulnerable here. Don't judge me.

All About Glory For You - Mark Condon
At Last - Etta James
Autumn Leaves [Take 2] -Bill Evans
Bye Bye Blackbird - Miles Davis
Celebration - Kool and The Gang
Dreamlover -Mariah Carey
Everlasting Love - Stevie Wonder
Feels Like Redemption - Michael English
For The Honour - Parachute Band
God Great God - Kurt Carr
Gravity - Embrace
Hear My Worship - Jaime Jamgochian
Hosanna - Kirk Franklin
Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
How Can I Not Sing? - Lakeview Worship
Hungry - Kara
I Fall in Love Too Easily - Bill Evans
I Give You Worship - Ashmont Hill
I Live to Worship You - Ashmont Hill
I Won't Be Afraid - Ashmont Hill
The Last Jesus - Kirk Franklin
The Love Of God - MercyMe
A Love That Will Last - Renee Olstead
Magniﬁcent - Tulele Faletolu
My Life, My Love, My All - Kirk Franklin
Oh What Love - Cindy Morgan
One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey
The Reason - Hoobastank
Run, Baby, Run - Sheryl Crow
Song of Glory - Ashmont Hill
Take My Breath Away - Berlin
This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) - Natalie Cole
Under The Inﬂuence - Anointed
We All Bow Down - Kara
What If - Jadon Lavik
When I Fall In Love - Keith Jarrett
Without You - Christina Aguilera
You Are Good - Israel & New Breed
You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine - Lou Rawls

Next Year's Halloween Costume

2009-05-23T21:06:00.003-04:00

If I ever actually DO dress up for Halloween, this is how I want to go.

Philosophy of Orchestration (Part 4)

2009-04-23T23:35:00.005-04:00

Questions to ask yourself when considering orchestrating a hymn, chorus or other song for your church orchestra:

1. Does the song need an orchestration? (dealt with in part 1)

2. Should everyone play? (dealt with in part 2)

3. Does the orchestration support the lyric? (dealt with in part 3)

4. Is your orchestration accessible to your players?

I once heard a conference speaker make a statement that went something like this: "Your church musicians should be better musically right now than they were a year ago."

When we as church music directors put our "music educator" hat on, we would hope that yes, eventually everyone will become better the longer they are under our direction. Though there are issues in practice related to just how far musicians under our tutelage can advance (see Maxwell's Law of the Lid), we always want to see areas of weaknesses progress to strength, tentativeness turn to confidence, and technical sloppiness woodshed to crisp dexterity.

If we worked with a static ensemble, in which no member quit and no new members joined, the goal of constant musical growth might be attainable. This could be achieved if everyone did their homework, almost daily individual practice occurred, an omniscient director provided appropriate challenge for each member, and everyone showed up to rehearsal.

The closest I've ever seen to this scenario was a college ensemble. Even professional ensembles do not have the idyllic luxuries given above. What church ensemble of "weekend warriors" could ever muster that ideal?

Our volunteers have lives. They like to play and sing. They see it as ministry and service. They may even see your rehearsal as a place of musical growth, but you have turnover. People get sick. Their kids get sick. They can't make rehearsals. They have a job that keeps them from the first 30 minutes of rehearsal, they have finals to study for. On and on it goes.

On top of that, people leave the ministry and volunteer to work in the (ever-needy) children's program. They move away, they leave the church. Enthusiastic 8th graders want to play. The 70-something clarinetist wants to dust off his case again and join the ensemble.

These are perfectly legitimate and realistic circumstances for people coming and going in a church music ministry. Building consistency and growth is an ongoing challenge involving constant reminders and seeking out teaching moments in the music to help your ensemble grow and improve. Sometimes it's two steps forward and a step back. Sometimes it doesn't feel like you're moving at all!

How does one orchestrate for and prepare an ensemble with such turnover? Here are a few ideas, please offer more if you have any!

Orchestrate to your strengths but challenge the weaker sections. This is easier said than done, of course, but it's something that needs to be kept in mind. I once had a clarinet and oboe player beg for me to write something in an orchestration that really challenged them. I kept everything around them pretty "vanilla" and give them interacting lines. They paid me with a bag of Doritos.
Remember that your strong section may not always be strong and your weak section may dramatically improve! Over a seven or eight year cycle, I've seen a church orchestra with a strong cello section, FOUR oboe players and a fairly week horn section change to an "average" cello section, NO oboe players and a ripping horn section. Your writing needs to adjust to those needs, and you need to not always assume that your sting section will be missing a viola.
Pair an experienced player with a beginning player. This will succeed if your seasoned player is brought in on your plan from the beginning. They must know that their role is not to play all the solos, encourage the newer player(s), and impart whatever wisdom about their instrument they can without being condescending. This works only with the right personalities.
Allow beginning players to be a part of rehearsals only, until they are clearly contributing to the whole ensemble. This is a great way to bring rhythm players along who are not used to following chord charts. It's also a great way to get a violinist into the orchestra. Help give them confidence in their playing by surrounding them with other experienced players.
Write for the middle. I'm thinking skill level here, again realizing that the trumpet section may not always be your strong section, for example. "Writing for the middle" should still including some challenging passages to keep everyone on their toes.

One of the best ways to illustrate "writing to the middle" is with the following illustration.

This represents three different ways a similar idea could be written for trumpets in this cadential passage. (1) is the most challenging passage. The rhythms are tricky, there are accidentals scattered around, and the line is angular. This could be played by moderately good players, but it may not be as easily read by moderate players. This is the lick that will bring your rehearsal to a screeching halt!

You can see that the second example simplifies some of the rhythms, removes the high note, thereby reducing the angular nature of the line. Everyone has a different way of coming up with these lines. I usually sit quietly at my work station, play the melody or sing the song in my head and imagine what I would think a cool horn section line would be, then I try to peck it out on the keyboard. In the midst of this process, it may be a good idea to determine what the most fundamental elements of your lick are. Strip away some of the ornamentation (yes, in a Schenkerian sense) and see what you can do to "say" something similar to your original intent, but with a little less complexity (such as example 2)

Example 3 eliminates the opening syncopation all together. The line emphasizes the same basic notes as the first example, and in essence says the same thing, just in a simpler way. If we think of music in terms of a language, then example one was spoken by an articulate college professor and the third example conveyed the same thought through the vocabulary of your average high school student.

Another musical element that should be taken into consideration is the key you arrange in. This will be discussed in the next part.

No Smoking, Please

2009-04-19T22:31:00.003-04:00

As a parent of a ten year old I make a conscious effort to evaluate the world as a ten year old might. More specifically how I remember evaluating the world when I was a ten year old.

I spent most of my childhood years in a small Swiss-decedent town of Berne, Indiana. Like many small towns, it was full of charms that invoke the "good old days" sentiment, but really, had I stayed there all my life, I know my view of the world would be much different than it has become. For better or worse.

One of the things about being a kid in this little town is that you owned it if you had a bike. Riding my bike within a radius of about 1.5 miles from my home would pretty much cover the entire "town" section of Berne. I loved it. As I became 11 or 12 years old my freedoms increased and my parents granted permission for me to ride across town to the park, to the swimming pool, and even to get my hair cut.

I mention the hair cut because I have specific memories of going to get my "hairs" cut. My dad always took me to McKean's Barbershop. Bill, I think was his first name--though I was never allowed do address him as such--was a "sponsor" of one of my little league baseball teams. I think that meant he paid to have his shop's name mentioned with the team name, i.e., the McKean's Barbershop Rangers, and maybe he paid for the team t-shirts we wore.

Anyway, I have distinct memories of his shop. He was always very friendly to me. I had a booster seat I sat in. His shop had that hair spray-aftershave-shaving cream smell There was always the hair on the floor, AND when kids were done with their hair cut, we were awarded one of those Bazooka Joe bubble gum pieces with "1 cent" printed on the front. There was this ridiculous piece of gum, which lost its flavor after exactly five chews, and a Bazooka Joe comic inside that was never funny.

When I finally came "of age" to ride my bike to his shop by myself, carry the $3.00 he charged for a kids cut with me, and declare I wanted a "tapered" cut--even though I had no idea what that was, I felt I had arrived. I was grown up. I even locked my bike up on his little bike rack he had out in front--like some one would actually try to steal MY five-speed bike.

I went into the shop and waited my turn. I don't remember much of who was there that day, except for one man. I remember him because he was a large man. With a beard. It was probably his motorcycle out front too. He seemed friendly, but he looked mean. And most significantly, to my sheltered mind, he smoked.

I don't mean I thought he smoked because I was close enough to smell it on his clothes or in his breath. I mean he was sitting there in this little room smoking.

Did he know that was bad for him? Did he know it was probably--no--it WAS a sin? Who's gonna tell him he really shouldn't be sucking on that cigarette? I wanted to be offended by the smoke, but it was kinda cool the way it streamed out of his mouth--and nose. It intrigued me that the smoke could come out of his nose as well as his mouth. On TV, I had only seen it come out of people's mouths. This was new information. Could he achieve the "inhale" portion of the cycle by sticking the cigarette in one of his nostrils? I didn't know,

It was my turn to get my hair cut. I sat facing him, at least as long as Mr. McKean pivoted my chair in his direction.

It was building up inside me. I had to say something. He has to be told the truth about his habit. But he's not going to listen to me. A kid. A kid who just rode to get his hair cut on a bicycle. I have to be funny. I have to be direct. But I have to sound convincing, authoritative, and maybe intelligent. Maybe I'll shame him into quitting his habit right here. I'll say something so pithy, I'll put it in such a way that he's never thought of or imagined before thereby prompting him to squash out his smoke stick and vow to never take it up again.

So this was my chance. I thought long and hard about what should be said. So I mustered up the courage. I watched as he sucked in the smoke and exhaled through his nose.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like a fire-breathing dragon when you do that?"

What followed can hardly be described as a chuckle. Not even a laugh. Maybe more of a guffaw. Not just from him, but from the others waiting for their hair cut.

"No," he said. "I don't think anyone has ever told me that."

I did my duty. Judgment had been handed down. He'll have some things to think about now.

Philosophy of Orchestration (Part 3)

2009-04-11T20:24:00.003-04:00

Questions to ask yourself when considering orchestrating a hymn, chorus or other song for your church orchestra:

1. Does the song need an orchestration? (dealt with in part 1)

2. Should everyone play? (dealt with in part 2)

3. Does the orchestration support the lyric?

Early church fathers (i.e., those leaders immediately following the apostolic era) debated the use of song in the church. Some were against it for reasons of association. The Graeco-Roman practices of worshiping the gods involved instrumental music accompanying singing. The usage of instruments added a sensual and emotive component that worshipers allowed themselves to be caught up in. The church fathers denounced the parallel practice of using instruments in the church for the music's intertwining role in wrapping emotion with theology. The music, they felt, poisoned the rational understanding of the Psalm's teaching.

There was even debate among in the early church as to whether singing should be allowed at all. An interesting passage from St Augustine, in his Confessions hints at a tolerance, though with some reservation, for the use of melody:

Sometimes too, from over-anxiety to avoid this particular trap [being fascinated by the pleasures of sound] I make the mistake of being too strict. When this happens, I have no wish but to exclude from my ears, and from the ears of the Church as well, all the melody of those lovely chants to which the Psalms of David are habitually sung; and it seems safer to me to follow the precepts which I remember often having heard ascribed to Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, who used to oblige the lectors to recite the psalms with such slight modulation of the voice that they seemed to be speaking rather than chanting. But when I remember the tears that I shed on hear the songs of the Church in the early days, soon after I had recovered my faith, and when I realize that nowadays it is not the singing that moves me but the meaning of the words when they are sung in a clear voice to the most appropriate tune, I again acknowledge the great value of this practice. So I waver between the danger that lies in gratifying the senses and the benefits which, as I know from experience, can accrue from singing. Without committing myself to an irrevocable opinion, I am inclined to approve of the custom of singing in the church, in order that by indulging the ears weaker spirits may be inspired with feelings of devotion. Yet when I find the singing itself more moving that the truth which it conveys, I confess that this is a grievous sin, and at those times I would prefer not to hear the singer.

The words have always carried the most significant importance in song in the church--as they should, since it is by the words we teach and admonish one another. To the early church, however, the idea of having instrumental music exist only for the sake of the music would have been rejected outright. The melody always serves the text. The singing always serves the melody (even to the point where having too good of a voice is a distraction). The instruments always serve the music, and so on. Here we have a heirarchical order given that looks something like this: text->melody(chant)->singing->instrumental accompaniment.

Not until the Renaissance did the idea of instrumental music apart from singing begin to surface. So foreign was this notion to the church that instrumental music began to develop on a path outside of purely religious contexts. Art music has followed an interesting historical cycle where it first serves a non-musical function, usually that of ceremonial pomp or aristocratic dance, for example, but later evolves into an art form too complex to simply be precessed to or danced to and progresses to art that must be listened to in order to be fully grasped.

Fast-forward to the 21st century church where the text of a song now has to compete to be heard among modern rock-style bands or in other contexts large-scale instrumental ensembles. The art of music has changed so much since the early church, but centrality of scripture, at least in evangelical churches has remained. This text of scripture must be carried along attentively by the instruments so that the communication of the lyrics are not compromised.

Modern day churches have issues to deal with that the early church could not have dreamed of. We have a worship leader, sometimes a "team" of additional singers, and other times, maybe even a whole choir of people to help proclaim the text as clearly as possible. If this isn't enough, we are fitted with words projected onto a screen, or at least words printed on paper or in a book. We have amplifiers and loudspeakers. We can buy recordings of the songs sung in churches to help us learn them. We can hear these same songs on the radio from time to time, giving us all the more opportunity to become complacent about the text!

How do we use an orchestra to enhance the text being sung?

One way to enhance the sung text of a song through orchestration is to not use an orchestra at all. This was discussed at length in part 1, but for the sake of clarity, the fundamental question of if a song needs an orchestration should be revisited. Even if a song should have an orchestration, it does not have to begin at measure 1 and continue without rests to the very end! Surprise everyone and have the players play through the verse, then drop out at the chorus, the place the orchestra is usually added. Use spacing wisely to keep from distracting from text that it sung only once. Build up the orchestral accompaniment where text is often repeated and well-known, like the chorus sections.

If you struggle in an acoustic environment where the use of certain instruments overtakes everything else going on musically, use these instruments in interludal sections. Strophic form often used in church music lends itself well to this and as the arranger, you are free to make these interludes longer than a standard end-of-phrase turn around. Extended introductions or "outros" (classical "codas") can also serve this function for your players.

Appropriate melodic doublings can be used to enhance the text, particularly in quiet parts of the song by solo instruments. I have found that this works particularly well when the instrument is scored at least on octave away from the vocal line. An oboe line playing a melodically reduced line (in the Schenkerian sense!) about a male solo, a French horn playing a reduced line beneath a soprano line, three-octave strings (Violin I, Violin II, and Viola) locked in octaves accompanying a large and dynamic choral section are just a few examples of how this technique could be used. Scoring in octaves also forces the other instruments to be used cautiously as you want the octave line to "cut," so you must be careful to build light accompanying lines around it.

Everyone wants to write great horn lines, maybe something like what you might hear here. But even if you had the chops to write something like that, it is unlikely you'd have players with the chops to play something like that, and if you had that magic convergence of talent and skill, the congregation would have no idea what to do with it. Especially if they're trying to sing along! I have found (the hard way) that some of the best horn lines are not complex. They never compete with the melody of the song, they are attainable by your players, and they almost always work best at the end of phrases or when the vocal line is resting. File this suggestion under "less is more." A great example of spares horn lines can be heard in Stevie Wonder's Sign Sealed Delivered, I'm Yours. Even in the 30 second sample you can hear how simple the horn lines are. In the gospel world, We Worship You from Israel Houghton has some complexity in the horn lines, but most are fairly simple. This is also a great example of how using the orchestration at the octave can enhance the melody. In this case, the trumpets are in octaves.

These horn line examples bring up another issue that church arrangers are often faced with: Individual player skill level. Stay tuned for part 4.

Twitter Spam update

2009-04-04T18:24:00.003-04:00

Here is an update from my adventures described in this post.

Today I got an email from a service I use that tells me when people stop following me on Twitter, called Qwitter.

Here's what it said:

Hi, BrianMegilligan.

Oh! Nuts (OhNuts) stopped following you on Twitter after you posted this tweet:

is studying laundry room ventilation.

Check out OhNuts's profile here:

http://twitter.com/OhNuts

Best,
Qwitter

It's nice when the spammers "unfriend" you.

Philosophy of Orchestration (Part 2)

2009-04-03T08:36:00.000-04:00

Questions to ask yourself when considering orchestrating a hymn, chorus or other song for your church orchestra:

1. Does the song need an orchestration? (dealt with in part 1)

2. Should everyone play?

After considering the issues and weighing the options from the first question, and the conclusion is made that an orchestration would both serve the congregation and the volunteers well (and not just for this one time, but potentially in an ongoing manner over repeated uses of the song), the question of who should play needs to be addressed next.

In some cases, this is an easy answer. If your ensemble is small, it would not make much sense to exclude the lone violinist, for example, because you don't want to "write this one for strings."

If you have the benefit of a fuller ensemble, however, it makes more sense to think in terms of sections.

We tend to think of orchestral sections in terms of style. For example, we often think of the string section accompanying the ballads, with unison or multi-octave lines in the big sections, and warm "pad" voicings in the smaller sections. We may also think of using only the horn section (and by horn section we usually include the saxes while excluding the French horns and tubas), only on the "cookin'" songs.

Here are some oft-overlooked combinations that may be useful as well.

On the ballads, consider adding French horns or certain solo woodwind lines, particularly clarinet or oboe.

Consider how well-voiced brass can strengthen what the string section already brings to the table. Particularly in circumstances when the string section is small, a well-placed and well-voiced brass ensemble sound in key spots of the arrangement can add a great deal of depth in a given passage.

The percussion section is often overlooked. If your church is fortunate to have timpani, and a timpani player, a well-placed roll (or rolls) can add great drama to a song. Along with the timpani, the more affordable suspended cymbal can have a similar effect, as well as the still more affordable wind chimes or mark tree.

Sometimes beginning orchestrators avoid using these instruments because they are unsure how to notate their parts. This would be like leaving the lights off the Christmas tree because you don't know how to replace a bulb on the line. Neither is hard to do, and just a little research can bring about great results.

Something that could stretch both you as an orchestrator and director is to use sections in unexpected ways. For example, treat a ballad only with brass, or write some grooving string lines for an upbeat tune. In addition to pushing your own creativity, it will force your players into being used in ways they may not be used to, which will ultimately only enhance their musicianship.

Consider arranging only for the woodwinds. Plenty of songs will support this, we just rarely think of the woodwind section in this way. Listen to some good woodwind ensemble writing to remind yourself of how to maximize the timbers. Include the French horn as well. If you have a skilled cellist or euphonium player, you may be able to substitute those voices for the bassoon.

Many times, it is a strong musical decision to include the whole orchestra. This addresses the "worth it" factor discussed previously and it usually forces the arranger to think in broader terms about a particular hymn or chorus.

In the case of a large hymn arrangement, built for the full fanfare forces of choir, organ, and congregation, find ways to include the whole ensemble, for sure.

Issues that need to be considered include those of repetition vs through-composition, determining the climactic moment of an arrangement, and writing to the strengths of your sections.

The answers to issues concerning orchestration style and more on instrumentation are answered in the next question, given in part 3. (stay tuned)

The Socialist Solution to the Crisis

2009-04-02T23:09:00.003-04:00

An interesting Op-Ed appearing in the Wall Street Journal today from
POUL NYRUP RASMUSSEN, the former prime minister of Denmark (1993-2001). We could be much closer to global socialism and a one world government than we think:

The simplistic dictum of more markets and less government -- championed by Reagan, Thatcher and their ideological heirs -- has failed on a momentous scale. In the White House, President Hope has replaced President Tax Cuts for the Rich. As we go into the G-20 meeting in London, even European conservatives such as Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are calling for a new global financial architecture, better financial regulation and a crackdown on tax havens. The previously unimaginable idea of a "Global New Deal" is suddenly on many people's lips.

Worship Matters: Book Review

2009-03-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God by Bob Kauflin

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you follow Bob Kauflin's blog, you know that his routine of answering people's questions about church music ministry is done very deliberately. He doesn't rant. He encourages right relationships first. He emphasizes biblical principles, and in the end he'll get around to answering the question, an answer that usually seems more obvious once he cuts to the heart of the issue, and what is really important. It is no surprise then to see his book written in the same style, and with the same patience we've come to expect from him. Worship Matters is more than just another book about worship, and it is more than a little commentary and list of suggestions on how to "do music" better.

Summary

Bob Kauflin's book Worship Matters is a very useful guide for church music volunteers to music directors to worship leaders, to senior pastors. The book's primary focus, however is on worship leaders. He takes his time patiently addressing each topic, even sometimes repeating himself, but not to anyone's detriment. The book serves as a healthy reminder to those who would lead worship-musical or non musical, as to what is important and what should be remembered, and what can safely be discarded.

The book is divided into four main sections. The first deals with the worship leaders in five short chapters. What is important, what should be important? what are the things the leader should love? what are things the leaders believe? what are the things leaders practice? what are the things leaders model?

It is a great centering area of the book for worship leaders to ruminate on even before proceeding further along in the book.

Part two of the book deals specifically with what a worship leader does. Here he presents his definition:

A faithful worship leader
magnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ
through the power of the Holy Spirit
by skillfully combining God's Word with music,
thereby motivating the gathered church
to proclaim the gospel,
to cherish God's presence,
and to live for God's glory.

He spends the next several chapters exegeting his own statement, exploring and giving insight phrase by phrase. Here Kauflin gives a nice mix of scriptural, philosophical, and practical teachings and suggestions for understanding the worship leader's role.

The third part to his book explores what he terms "Healthy Tensions." Using the following principles, 1. Do what God clearly commands. 2. Don't do what God clearly forbids. 3. Use scriptural wisdom for everything else.

Even though he spends time expanding on these tensions, I find that the most insight is gained by pondering the existence and identification of the tensions alone. Not meant to be a comprehensive list, Kauflin lists the following:

Transcendent and Immanent
Head and Heart
Internal and External
Vertical and Horizontal
Planned and Spontaneous
Rooted and Relevant
Skilled and Authentic
For the Church and Unbelievers
Event and Everyday

The fourth part deals with Right Relationships: Church, Team, and Pastor. It is always good to be reminded of healthy relationships, and their importance, particularly in church leadership. This section of the book was probably the most meaningful to me, as with great humility Kauflin framed healthy church leadership relationships in light of submission to the pastor, seeking to give encouragement, seeking biblical steps in resolving conflict, nipping personal pride, and seeking evaluation and reproof. Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid."

The end notes to this book contain a robust annotated bibliography, short on music sources and heavy on theology. This is no surprise as his writing is rich with scriptural references and one of his fundamental perspectives is that the worship leader, just as all followers of Christ, should first seek to be a theologian.

Some favorite quotes:

A worship leader who barely knows the Bible can't be a faithful worship leader.

We're good theologians if what we say and think about God lines up with what Scripture says and affirms. We're bad theologians if our view of God is vague, unbiblical, distorted, or based on our own opinions.

Misconception: We know God better through music than through Words.

When we're dodgy about our theology, we're really saying we want our own Jesus.

[God] never gets tired of hearing believers' almost-in-tune, somewhat together, faith-filled offerings of worship.

If our doctrine is accurate but our hearts are cold toward God himself, our corporate worship will be true but lifeless. Or if we express fervent love for God but present vague, inaccurate, or incomplete ideas of him to those we're leading, our worship will be emotional but misleading-and possibly idolatrous. Neither option brings God glory.

If you have a role in leading worship in church or parachurch, this book will be well worth your time. Whether you're the primary worship leader, a "chief musician," a volunteer, or a senior pastor, I highly recommend this book and it's valuable insights to you.

View all my reviews.

Philosophy of Orchestration (part 1)

2009-03-27T21:23:00.002-04:00

I had a lot of fun gearing up a for a little presentation I did today at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary's orchestration class. The professor, Joshua Waggener, asked me to give some perspectives of "real world" church orchestration and techniques for writing for rhythm sections.

I blew it all out in a matter of fifty minutes. So much to say, so little time. Those poor students.

The following represents the beginning of some things we discussed related to orchestration and your orchestra. The context was specifically church orchestration since that is generally the orientation of the music program at SEBTS.

The first question to ask yourself when considering orchestrating a hymn, chorus, or other song for your church orchestra:

Does the song need an orchestration?

Here I could write almost an entire blog post in response to this question. (in fact, it turned into one!) As music staff we probably don't wrestle with a bigger question: just because the orchestra is sitting there, does that mean they should play? Or asked another way: What is a reasonable amount of material to expect an orchestra to play on?

The tension here lies in the "worth it" factor. If you have three services in the morning, as we do at Providence, is it wise to ask your orchestra volunteers to come and make themselves available for all three services in order to accompany one anthem and a hymn? As servants, we would say, yes, they should be happy to come in and play only the refrain of just one hymn and be glad they got a chance to serve.

A steady diet of this, however would strongly affect their morale and before long, there would be very little orchestra left for whom to orchestrate!

The flip side of this coin, and frankly the side we error on more than the other, is to make a programming decision based on the fact that the orchestra is scheduled to play. An observer might perceive this as the tail wagging the dog. Honestly, this is sometimes the case as we occasionally are forced to change what we felt was an already strong service plan in terms of flow in order to satisfy the "worth it" factor for the orchestra volunteers.

Being forced to make decisions like the one above is wrought by everything from bad planning on our part to an overall lack of quality arrangements available to us. Sometimes, however we are blindsided by another factor: partial orchestrations.

On a day in which the entire orchestra is scheduled, we may plan a service and congratulate ourselves on how frequently we managed to involve the orchestra. Upon closer examination, however, we realize that on song A, B, and D, only the strings play, while on songs C, and E, only the brass play, and on song F, the lone orchestrated hymn selection, the woodwinds get to play.

Planning well requires answering the original question: Does the song NEED an orchestration? If it is decided a song could be enhanced by an orchestration (another subjective decision), the project needs to be set into motion weeks in advance of the service, not only for the sake of the arranger, but for the sake of rehearsal.

But let me just be clear about this one thing: Some songs in the pop world, Christian or secular or not bettered by the finest orchestration. Some band-led songs often need to stay that way. Any attempted horn lick or string line can diminish the pathos of the song in it's original state and derail the emotive qualities of a song. Again, a subjective call, perhaps, but would we really want to try to add to All the Saints Join In, or This is Who I Am? Great skill would be required both by the arranger and by the performer!

Upon answering the question in the affirmative regarding the need for an orchestration, we have several more to answer. (Stay tuned)

Twitter Spam

2009-03-26T23:43:00.003-04:00

There have been questions by observers for some time now about how on earth Twitter will ever monetize its service. Recent news has added fuel to the speculation, but in the mean time, I have found how quickly and clever business can be in attempting to recruit customers.

Recently, through the power of suggestion via a podcast I was listening to, I developed a hankering for Jelly Beans. So I tweeted:

Within a half an hour I was being followed by Oh! Nuts, evidently a snack company (I haven't given them the satisfaction of actually trying to find out) who probably scouted out the key words "Jelly Bean" on a service like monitter. Later in the day I received the following @reply:

I haven't followed any of their links, but judging by their many @ replies, it appears that someone has a full time job of scouting certain terms on twitter, and turning their tweet into a direct marketing opportunity. I guess we're gonna have to start blocking until the folks at Twitter figure out how to make money off this scheme.

Are Rebates Worth it?

2009-03-19T23:16:00.002-04:00

I recently bought 4GB of memory from a Tigerdirect retail store close to my house. The appeal for this particular brand was simple. I could get "4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800Mhz" RAM for $20.00. Yeah!

First, I have to pay $45.00, the get my $25 rebate. The catch, of course, is the rebate process. I can just picture the execs sitting in a room dreaming up ways to help people loose heart in cashing in on their rebates.

The process begins by going to a CompUSA (really?) web site, typing in the part number I purchased. (This was not easy to find, by the way). So after typing "C13-6082" into the little form, I get a list of possible rebates I could be eligable for depending on the date of my purchase. Once I find my date range, I have to download a pdf document that then instructs me to go to ANOTHER web site to really begin the rebate process. OK.

This web site is happy to send a check for $25 in 8-10 weeks (really?), or in 5-7 days, they'll send me a gift visa or wire me money for a small $3 fee.

No thanks.

I click to get the full rebate of $25, even though the value of the dollar will probably fall enough to make it worth the $22 I am now being offered to get my rebate sooner.

So now, after surrendering my address, phone number, and TWO email addresses (just in case), I am directed to another pdf to print. I then receive an email (at both addresses) featuring these instructions:

Verify all fields on the rebate application including name, address, order number, serial number etc. are filled in completely and the information is accurate. The name and address that appear on your invoice or purchase receipt must match the name and address on your rebate application.
Print out and Sign the completed rebate application. (Your rebate application cannot be processed without your signature)
Attach all required documentation as specified in the rebate application including your invoice and the UPC barcode. Depending on the rebate offer, Serial numbers and other proof of purchase may also be required. The rebated product must appear on your invoice or purchase receipt.
Send your completed and signed application along with all required documentation to the PO Box address indicated on the rebate application. For your convenience the rebate application contains a mailing label with the address preprinted.
Be sure to have your completed submission postmarked on or before the "postmark by" date on your application. This date is usually 30 days from your original purchase date.

Why is the signature so important? If I can produce the serial number, surely all this could be done instantly and online.

I am going to do it all. I am not going to give them the satisfaction of "forgetting" to complete the process, thereby giving them an 80% markup!

The question I have yet to answer, and may never really know for sure: "Is it worth it?"

Why I Enjoy Facebook

2009-03-17T22:43:00.005-04:00

It has been said that Facebook is for people you knew, Twitter is for people you don't know yet. I think this is true, as I have particularly enjoyed stretching both directions recently with both tools.

Below is a screen shot of a recent "conversation" I had with several old friends. The cool thing about this to me is that I know that if I could get these people in a room together, they'd probably all get along great! Below are comments from Chapel friends, Cedarville friends, high school friends from Kansas City, high school friends from New Jersey, and local friends. It is a lot of fun to be reconnected, even if the thing that reconnects you is trivialities. Ultimately, I see Facebook and Twitter as a ministry tools, but that's fodder for another post.

Name that Tune(s)

2009-03-13T13:02:00.003-04:00

Some may watch this and think the guy who created this has way too much time on his hands. Maybe, but I think it's genius.

All the video clips below edited together in this video were taken from videos posted all over YouTube and sown, and looped together to create this little masterpiece.

Chick-Fil-A, the service economy, and your church

2009-03-13T11:07:00.003-04:00

In 2005, Janet and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with the best vacation ever. We saved money for months and months and blew it all in one week. We went on a cruise to the western Caribbean ports on Royal Caribbean. We loved it!

One of the things about cruiselines and high-end vacation places like Disney is that they are selling you an experience. The commodity is more than the boat, the hotel, the beach, the mouse ears, whatever you may be doing. The commodity is actually everything surrounding it.

Our family has become regular Chick-Fil-A customers. Especially on Tuesday nights when with the purchase of a regular "value" meal a kid's meal is free. The restaurant at this location usually has "the cow," a balloon person, face painter, crafts, plus other freebies for the kids. They love it. We enjoy it.

But the thing about Chick-Fil-A, and the thing about its astounding growth in the last few years relates back to the experience it creates for its customers. Consider this:

What other restaurants, fast food or otherwise hand out so many coupons for free food?
What other restaurants have specific family-friendly weekly nights? I mean more than just "kids eat free," I mean actively giving away desserts, doing fun stuff for kids.
Where else can you go to see a cow walking around on two legs?
What other fast food restaurant features a hostess that comes out, offers to remove your trash and tray and get you a refill? And no, they don't accept tips.
The phrase "My pleasure." In place of "your welcome." I would wager the same consulting firm that trained the Royal Caribbean staff must have also trained the CFA staff. The difference is subtle, but significant. "Your Welcome" implies automatic response. I-say-this because you-said-that kind of thing. It also carries a connotation of "I didn't mind doing that for you." "My Pleasure," on the other hand has much stronger service overtones. It says "I really wanted to do that for you, and I'd do it again."
What other fast food restaurant is specifically and intentionally closed on Sundays because it is The Lord's Day?

Finally, the refills. Has anybody encountered a Chick-Fil-A where the soft drink dispensers are available for you to use? I used to think it was a mistake for CFA to not put them out for everyone to serve themselves. Now I am convinced it is intentional. I believe they keep them behind the counter because they want you to come ask for a refill. They want to force the service interaction, and create another opportunity to say "My Pleasure."

So how do the Chick-Fil-A principles apply to our churches? What lessons of service and kindness are Chick-Fil-A stores teaching by example that the church should already know? If a fast food restaurant can exemplify Christian values, stick firmly to biblical principles, and produce a quality product enough to generate a blog post like this, how much more should people be walking away from a gathering of any kind at a church and want nothing more than to come back?

Yeah, I can't bowl

2009-03-08T23:50:00.004-04:00

There is an axiom concerning my athletic abilities I've discovered over the years: My bowling and golf scores are usually about the same.

I don't know if I'm a lousy bowler because I never bowl or if I never bowl because I'm a lousy bowler. It doesn't matter. I feel confident with a couple of other things I can do with my hands besides serve a spherical object with three holes drilled in it down a greasy runway in an attempt to knock over ten wooden pins. What a dumb "game."

The boys love it, and that's why we did it. Our scores are here below.

In my defense, please note that the boys had "bumpers" up, as indicated by the icons in the orange squares.

You may also notice I scored two strikes in a row. This, I thought was because for fun I switched from a 15 pound ball to a 10 pound ball. I don't think that was it because I used the same ball on the last frame to little fanfare.

I either push the ball from right to left, or I push it in a straight line. The straight line always happens when I'm off center on the right. Yes, I could practice and get better, but then I'd be spending money on something I don't really care about, plus if I got better it would mess up the delicate equilibrium I have achieved between my golf and bowling scores.

"...and now on to the scores."

2009-03-03T23:42:00.002-05:00

I tweeted earlier today that I was looking into Neil Postman, who's book Amusing Ourselves to Death I finally read five or six years ago. It had been a while since I had heard anything about him and I was curious to know if he had done any recent research.

I was prompted to look into him again, wondering what, if anything he has had to say regarding the acceleration of media, trivial information, and bizarre juxtapositions of news items brought on by the internet. His book, "Amusing..." out in the mid-80's before the internet explosion, and really before cable and satellite became mainstream, dealt with how the never-ending flow of information over the airwaves diminished intelligent discourse and robbed truly important events of their meaning by pairing them (unwittingly, usually) with "...and now a word from our sponsor."

Unfortunately, I discovered that he passed away in 2003.

What rekindled my interest in him and these thoughts was an emotional report I saw this morning on ESPN's Sports Center. The story was an update of the NFL players and friends who have been missing off the coast of Florida. A former coach was being interviewed, choked up, could barely finish his statement and then asked quickly to be excused from the cameras.

Back at the anchor desk, we heard (after an uncomfortable pause) "And now on to the scores."

If ever a triviality was unwittingly delivered on the same plain as a life and death event, it was exemplified here.

Is the Tooth Fairy Real?

2009-02-22T22:26:00.002-05:00

How can you prove to yourself once and for all whether there really is or is not a Tooth Fairy?

My ten year old Austin had an idea. I thought it was clever.

For some time he had a loose tooth. A molar that was really starting to bother him when he chewed food. I offered several times to just yank it out and be done with it, but he didn't want to hear it!

Finally one day it fell out. But it fell out while he was with his friends at the Y. He told no one about it. Thus began the test. If he keeps this information from mom and dad, what will happen when he puts the tooth under his pillow at night?

He tested it. Like Gideon awaiting the dry ground and wet fleece, he put his faith in the Tooth Fairy to the test. And, well, his tooth was still waiting for him when he awoke in the morning. He tried it again the next night. Nothing.

His conclusion? There's no such thing as the Tooth Fairy. Surely a benevolent Tooth Fairy, who freely gives quarters and dollar bills for baby teeth would also be omniscient!

But Austin, we said, you have to tell us you lost your tooth so WE can tell the Tooth Fairy.

He didn't buy it.

Unfortunately for him, Austin has forfeited his opportunity for some cash flow over the last remaining years of baby teeth.

Inaugural Photo

2009-01-30T21:41:00.004-05:00

When you go visit this page, you may shrug. What's the big deal? A wide angle photo that captures a[n] historic moment.

Don't be deceived. Notice the zoom buttons on the left of the photo. This high resolution multi-photo-glued-together image will blow you away. It is really quite impressive.

Thought you might like it.

Things are not what they seem

2009-01-25T20:07:00.004-05:00

On Inauguration Day, Raleigh got about four inches (or more) or snow. This is not necessarily a critical piece of information, except it explains how I was able to stay home all day (because the church offices were closed) and watch the entire inauguration. My northern friends won't understand this, and believe me, it's taken me a while to overcome the urge to just go drive in the snow because "I know how." It's simply an issue of infrastructure. Little exists in Raleigh to treat the roads. Maybe the highways were treated, but that's about it, so it is considered unsafe to drive around town until the roads dry up. So due to the church offices being closed for MLK day, I benefited from a little snow to extend my vacation an extra day.

Anyway, it was great fun to sit together as a family around the TV and follow along with all the pomp and ceremony unfolding before us. One unexpected musical performance was an arrangement of Simple Gifts set by John Williams for some of the finest musicians in the world: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill. The performance was exquisite, and so was the writing. It was so artistically refreshing and so nice that the American people were subjected to such fine art! (music snob alert). I was SO impressed by the musicianship in the 20 degree weather! Amazing. Perhaps the elegance of the performance was magnified by the whatever-that-was that proceeded it in Aretha Franklin.

A couple of days ago, a freind informed me that in fact, the performance we heard was not what was played while we watched. What we heard was previously recorded. This explains why these classical musicians were using in ear monitors. I wondered why they couldn't hear each other, sitting so closely. Turns out, they were playing along to themselves. They were bow-synching.

I was devastated.

Here's a CNN report of the Yo-Yo-Vanilli scandal.

Are You an Organ Donor?

2009-01-16T21:29:00.003-05:00

This discussion came up at lunch a couple of days ago. The question is whether you have that little box checked on your driver's license that says your organs may be used in the event of a brain-dead trauma.

The follow up question is this: Is there a biblical directive to be an organ donor? Is there a biblical directive against it?

What do you think?

The Latest from Macworld

2009-01-06T15:28:00.002-05:00

I can't wait to check THIS out at the Apple store....

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Beyond Opinion

2008-12-30T16:27:00.002-05:00

Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend by Ravi Zacharias

My thoughts on this book

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was not written by Ravi Zacharias. I just wanted to get that out of the way. I noticed right away (but only after I got the book in my hands) that each chapter is written by a contributor, and is edited by Zacharias, though he does contribute to a few of the chapters.

Though the book is organized in a logical manner, it would work fine to take the segment you are interested in and read just that portion. One of the strengths of a book like this is that if you tire of a particular author, you only need to wait until that particular essay is finished, and the next chapter will contain new information on a new subject written in a completely different style. This was a strength and a weakness of this book. From chapter to chapter one could find great depth in reasoning and arguments for faith. Some of the chapters may require a couple of readings to really grasp the breadth of all the author is saying. Other chapters are quite informal and are full of anecdotes which may or may not be very useful though at least entertaining.

The chapters I found most useful and eye opening were "Challenges from Science" (John Lennox), "The Trinity as a Paradigm for Spiritual Transformation" (L. T. Jeyachandran) (one of the most thought-provoking things I've ever read) and "Challenges from Islam" (Sam Soloman)

Probably the greatest thing I will take away from this book, however is the idea of teaching apologetics to my kids. Not in a formal way, but in the casual everyday encounter with culture and life and the Bible. We as a church have lost that intentionality regarding our young people and I am determined to make apologetic thinking a part of their education and skills! Check back in about 10 years and we'll see how that worked out.

We used this book as a small group tool. We meet weekly and read a new chapter each week. There was usually plenty to discuss from the readings. Each chapter was usually 20-30 pages each.

View all my reviews.

Check Out My Landing Page

2008-12-30T09:25:00.003-05:00

Just for fun I've created a landing page. What is a landing page? It is an attempt to solve a problem created by multiple social networking outlets. The solution to a problem only the internet could create. I decided to create it after reading this article.

The idea behind a landing page is that it can be tailored to suit the audience who arrives on it.

Think about why people click the URL on a Twitter profile?

Most times that I do it - I want to know more about the person behind the Twitter account. I want to know who they are, what they do and how I can connect with them.

Being taken to the front page of their blog doesn’t really answer all of these questions without me having to do some more work (looking for an about page, sifting through their latest posts etc).

Also, in an attempt to be creative, I managed to secure a cool domain name with the ".me" extension. So I got "Brian Is Me"

My Christmas Gift to You

2008-12-24T22:54:00.004-05:00

OK, it's not entirely from me. OK, it's not from me at all--at least not in the sense that I created it, I'm just bringing it to your attention.

For all you Firefox users out there, install this clever little add-on. It will enhance your Google search results by providing a context cloud of related terms to your search. Very handy. Hard to describe, just give it a try!

I hope you all have a great Christmas!

Harry Connick Jr Concert

2008-12-19T16:25:00.003-05:00

We had a great time with Neil and Kimsu at the new Durham Performing Arts Center Wednesday night, taking in a Harry Connick, Jr. holiday show.

It was more than just a holiday show, however, as Connick's two hour-straight performance turned in several classic New Orleans blues, such as Beale Street Blues and St James Infirmary.

As a special bonus, his good friend Branford Marsalis joined him on stage for a couple of tunes. Marsalis is not part of the tour, but since he lives in the Durham area, he was a welcomed and easy addition to a great show!

Here left to right are Connick at the piano, Lucien Barbarin on the trombone, Mark Braud on the trumpet, and Marsalis on the Soprano Sax.

Here are some random things I enjoyed about the concert:

1) the venue. The new "DPAC," as it's called is elegant and state of the art. It seats 2,800 (most or all of which were full) and sounds and looks outstanding.
2) the band. By this I mean the horn players, in addition to a couple of excellent soloists, the horn section was tight, confident, and in perfect sync. There were three trumpet players, three trombone players (including an excellent bass trombone player) and three saxes (tenor, alto/tenor, bari). This was scaled down from the normal big band of 4/4/5. I imagine Connick had to do some revoicing and rearranging to make all that work.
3) the rhythm section was outstanding as well. The bass player in particular was spot on with time and intonation. He and the drummer worked so well to create deep, deep pockets.
4) the intonation. Trumpets in octaves, the band harmonies, and balance were perfect.
5) great time. Everyone knew where the pulse was. Even when Connick intentionally played so far behind the beat on some of those blues tunes. It never slowed. Just a perfect feel.
6) great improvisational solos. No one played a bad solo. Connick's playing is so tasty. Somewhere between his former teacher, Ellis Marsalis and Thelonious Monk--he has a strong blues influence but also plays very percussively and angularly at times.
7) great singing. Connick knows his limits vocally and stays right in his comfort zone--keeping everyone listening in their comfort zone!
8) great entertainment. Part of what made the show so enjoyable was the fact that Connick is great at talking. Plenty of humor and improvisation which was a lot of fun.

If you ever have a chance to see Connick, do it. You won't regret it!

Drive faster!

2008-12-17T17:10:00.004-05:00

I cannot be convinced that school buses driving on the highway, even in the right lane, with lights flashing on top, and behind and in front and beneath, is remotely safe when they move at 45 mph while traffic all around them moves at 70 mph. This cannot possibly make things safer all around. In the last two days I have encountered dangerous traffic conditions, once in the morning and once in the evening because of school buses going too slow.

Drive faster or get off the highway. Someone's going to get hurt. In an effort to make things safer for the kids on the bus, bus drivers ironically create unsafe conditions for everyone around them.

60 P.S.I.

2008-12-15T23:16:00.004-05:00

Some advice for you, but first my boring story:

Last week I went to a gas station a block from the church to fill up. I didn't go to fill up my gas tank, I went to fill up my tires. I have had this Buick for about three months now but I had not yet put air in the tires. It turns out they were all under-inflated by about 10 lbs each. I was unclear however exactly what the tires SHOULD be inflated to. I couldn't find the information on the tire (besides, it was night and dark), and the sticker inside the driver's door that usually has this information was torn off.

So I put 32 PSI in each tire and drove off. It occurred to me later to check the owners manual. Oddly, the manual didn't say anything about the recommended tire pressure--except for one tire.

It said in big bold letters to be sure to keep the spare doughnut tire inflated to 60 PSI. I wasn't even sure where it was! The next day I found it hiding under the "floor" of my trunk and checked the pressure. The pressure was so low, it barely moved the needle on my gauge. Only to about 10 lbs.

So I took it back to the gas station with free air and after about five minutes of standing there pumping air in the tire, it is now completely inflated to 60 PSI. Hopefully I'll never have to take advantage of that.

My advice to you, again, 1) keep your regular tires inflated to the recommended spec. 2) find your spare (and I don't mean the one around your waste.) 3) inflate it completely. 4) pray that you'll never need it.

Would there be anything worse than having a flat tire on some highway, pulling over, jacking up the car, replacing the tire with the spare only to find out your spare is flat too? OK, there might be some things worse, but this is such an easy preventative fix!

The Five Love Languages of Children

2008-12-07T14:01:00.001-05:00

The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you have children, you should read this book. The love languages apply to more than just children of course, they relate to everyone, but this book focuses on relating the love languages to children.

The authors, Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell say that by the ages of five or six you will be able to see characteristics of a dominant love language emerge in your child. The five love languages identified by the authors are 1) Quality Time, 2) Physical Touch, 3) Words of Affirmation, 4) Gifts, 5) Acts of Service.

The reason the love languages are important is because it is how you can uniquely identify with your child to help the feel loved the most. It is also a way for you to recognize when they are attempting to dispense love in their most meaningful way.

Besides simple recognition, the book spends a couple of chapters dealing with the love languages related to discipline and learning. Without a full "love tank," children will not respond well to either discipline or learning.

Again, for parents with children living at home, I would highly recommend this book.

View all my reviews.

[sic]

2008-12-04T22:15:00.003-05:00

We rarely eat Chinese food. In fact, I would say most of the time, Chinese is something that always sounds like a great idea until you're in the middle of eating it--then you wonder why you thought it was such a great idea.

Anyway, I was struck by the wisdom that came my way via the "fortune" cookie at the end of the meal. It read "Only talent people get help from others."

It may be that they're trying to see if we've been paying attention to the "Learn Chinese" found on the opposite side of the "fortune." Unfortunately "chun juan" (Egg roll) isn't going to help me with this quote.

I have been pondering the meaning. Could it really be saying that only "talented" people get help from others? But then why would that be the case? If they're so talented, they should be able to help themselves. Should it be "tolerant" people? Can someone please help me with this?

Mr. Fix-it

2008-11-29T20:27:00.004-05:00

Most kids, when they dream of and look forward to Christmas think about the snow, or the lights, or putting up decorations, or opening presents. I looked forward to those things as a kid too, but the thing that Christmas meant more than anything to me was that we got to set up the train around the tree.

This was dad's train, a collection of Lionel engines, tracks, and cars accumulated since the time he was a kid (and we know that was a very long time ago). Somewhere about the time I was 12 or so I was allowed to take over the annual "setting-up-of-the-train." I enjoyed it a lot. Probably because of the fantasy of running the machines, pretending I was actually in the engine and making it go, the wires, the set up, the layout. It was kind of the analog version of Sim City.

So fast forward a couple of decades and now I have the train, though the excitement has worn off a little, it's still fun to get excited about seeing it run yet another year, especially through the eyes of Reece, who just can't get enough of it. Anyway, crawling around on the hardwood, trying to assemble a couple of tracks, and get wires to plug into the right things, and set the wheels just right on the track to avoid a short, and don't touch things or you'll get a little shock just didn't have the same appeal it used to.

One of the set of engines that we had was this diesel model. A Union Pacific engine that just never quite worked right. I have memories of it roaring but not moving. Seemed it didn't have the weight the cast iron engines had to pull a lot of cars. Even when the load was lightened, it still moved reluctantly. I can remember dad taking it to have it worked on. I think this happened more than once. A little lubrication, an adjustment here or there, and it at least moved again, but still didn't compare to the robustness of the locomotive models.

Well today I ran the train for a while--Reece and Lindsey couldn't wait for me to do it! and all of the sudden the U. P. train just stopped. Light stayed on, but the train made no sound and went nowhere.

This happens occasionally. Tracks become separated, or the engine is sitting on a dirty part of the track, making a poor electrical connection, but nothing I did could get it moving again. So I picked it up and examined it. I found a loose wire underneath where the gears are. OK, that could be something--question is, do I want to get into this tonight? I figured out how to pop the top off and when I flipped it over on the inside, I discovered a different loose wire which had broken from the top of the motor.

I decided to operate. I found my little soldering pen, some solder, got my wire strippers, and went to work.

Reece just couldn't stand it. Totally beside himself with curiosity. Using that iron again brought back all the memories of breathing in that second-hand lead-rich smoke.

Anybody who has ever done any soldering will tell you it's a three handed job. I was having a hard time getting the iron hot enough....

..So I switched from the 10-watt iron to the 75-watt gun. THAT did the trick.

Put it all back together, and the final result:

Finale Issues

2008-11-28T22:51:00.002-05:00

When you use a piece of software for what feels like nearly every day for over 10 years, you feel like you've earned the right to gripe about it a little. Finale is the software program I have been using since 1994 or 1995 as a grad student at Kent State. The theory/comp teaching assistants had the duty of being in charge of the computer lab on a rotating basis. That was my first real exposure to Finale.

Since then I've developed the love-hate relationship one develops when you learn to use a tool to help you create or enhance your art, but one who's quirks and idiosyncrasies can just drive you crazy sometimes. I've been lurking on the MakeMusic Notation forum, looking for answers to some of my issues, and finding none, or at least no satisfactory answers, I decided to create this post.

Post title: I will upgrade to 2009 when...

I have been using Finale since 1997. It was version 3.5 or something back then. It's gone from being a functional notation program with plenty of user deficiencies to a functional notation program with a much improved interface but with the addition of features and functions that most people will probably never use. Yes, it's nice to be able to define the bar thickness, but really--who actively goes in and edits that?

Alright, so here's the point of my post. There have been nagging deficiencies--things that seem like they should take fairly high priority to fix--that have been broken either since they were introduced or since I've been using the program and as far as I know have never worked properly or have never been addressed.

One caveat. I will admit that I may simply not know that there is, in fact, a solution to some of the issues I list below, and if there is an easy fix, please, please let me know! HOWEVER--I will say that I have no intent to shell out another $100 every year --or ever other year for new and likely obscure features that I will probably never use when more fundamental functions of the software has yet to be addressed.

*Articulation in multiple layers -- why is it that if I have a series of notes in layer one, and I add, say, staccato articulation to them, then go back and add another series of notes in layer two, the placement of the previously entered articulation gets all screwed up? The issue worsens if I need to add articulation to the notes of layer two as well. This should not be a hard problem to solve. Does Finale really think we oughta have accents and other articulation markings appearing in the middle of the staff, or on top of secondary notes? Why do I always have to move the articulation manually when this happens? This is dumb.

*Cancel and OK quit working -- some have suggested repairing permissions to keep the dialog boxes working properly. Really? This works only for a second, if at all. I have Finale on two computers. The problem persists on both of them, and it happens in no other app that I run. If I get a staff tool dialog box, for example, I make my selections, click ok, and it does nothing. It only works when I click at some black area of the dialog box. That is so dumb. Can we fix that please?

*Rhythmic notation - I am frustrated with the arbitrary nature of the rhythmic notation. It appears on the middle line of the staff with the stem going down whether you want it to or not. I would love to be able to flip the stem, and if necessary, move the location of the rhythmic notation so I can place notes in other layers if necessary that are non-rhythm notation notes.

*Enharmonic memory -- When you are in speedy entry and you put up an accidental in the key of C, say a G#, the enharmonic settings may be that Finale reads it as an Ab. OK, but in this case you need it to be a V/vi so you change it to G# by pressing 9 on the key pad, but then if you have another G# in the same measure, it still puts up an Ab. Duh. Really? I JUST told you this pitch is a G#. Even if my enharmonic spellings are set to favor flats, it really oughta look at that and say-Oh, he's working in sharps right now, not only will I assume that for THIS measure that's the orientation we need, but if there is a tie from the G# of the measure in question to the next measure, I'll make an appropriate note of that too. But NO.

*Placement of brackets with quarter note triplets-- can we get this right already? I mean come on, MakeMusic has been working so hard for so long to perfect the slurs, but they've completely forgotten about triplet brackets colliding with note stems or beams. Come on.

* Pickup measure help --When setting a pickup measure, why doesn't Finale auto-fill all other measures in the score with the corresponding pickup value with rests? If I have an eighth note pick up in one or two instruments, the opening measure in everyone else's part should not remain a whole rest, it should automatically be changed to the value of the pickup measure.

*Autosave -- This needs a lot of work. I have learned over the years that you never know when Finale is going to crash. It will crash, it is the nature of computers and software, and Finale is not notoriously stable. So Autosave is an important feature. It has baled me out (see untitled loop below). I currently have my Autosave set to fire every five minutes. Yes, five minutes. However, this leads to significant problems while operating in various functions of the program.
--Autosave sometimes crashes the document by putting you in a loop you can't get out of if you've freshly opened a document ("untitled") and haven't had a chance to "save as..." If your autosave kicks in and you have this untitled document open, you can't get to the box that lets you name it and save it. The only choice is to force quit. Completely unacceptable.
--Autosave needs to be kept in the background and keep it from interrupting whatever I'm doing. For example, when one becomes significantly proficient at speedy entry, you can be humming along, entering, entering, rest, note, rest, note, note [autosave] note, tie, note--dialog box--too many notes in the measure, etc. What? Oh, no I didn't --stupid autosave occurred as I made an entry that wasn't registered BECAUSE AUTOSAVE TOOK PRECEDENCE. FAIL.
--Autosave interrupts anything the user is doing: whatever menu you have pulled down, whatever speedy entry or lyrical entry you're attempting to make and totally takes you out of your flow. Again, the software should serve the user, not the other way around. Make autosave happen completely in the background and seamlessly, so I don't even know it's happening. I don't even need to see a dialog box flash up there for a second. Just do it.

* Staff expression shortcuts -- When working in a score, there are plenty of times while using a staff expression tool I would like to use the shortcut of holding down an assigned key and clicking and adding something to most of the score, but not all the score. For example, maybe I want to add a rall. but I don't need it to appear on both piano staves or both vocal staves. But it needs to appear everywhere else. Is there no global way that I can still use that shortcut but specify staff exceptions? I know about groups, but that doesn't work with short cuts [that I know of].

*Staff group extraction -- the new extraction process is the opposite of user-friendly. I cannot figure out what single thing has benefited or what advantage has been gained over the previous approach. Can someone explain to me why I can't name a staff in a group and have the group show up in the extraction window? Really? Dumb.

*Document preferences -- Certain prefs oughta stick with the document. For example, if I last leave off inputing lyrics in "section 1", save the doc, open it on my other computer (or later on the same one), and continue entering lyrics, I don't want to discover that I've been entering in default "verse 1" for the past half hour. If I leave off in section 1, save the doc and open it in another context, or on another day, it oughta remember where I was.

In fact, the doc should open to the last place I was editing, with the tool I was using, not at the very beginning, or at least this ought to be an option.

OK--I can't be the only one. What other aspects of Finale need to be addressed that have long-standing difficulties. I think most would rather see these annoyances dealt with rather than new features added.

I have a 10 year old

2008-10-25T16:29:00.005-04:00

It's hard to believe that Austin is ten years old today. Janet has been reminding him of his difficult delivery for the last 24 hours. THAT was a story.

What does this ten-year-old want for his birthday? His own email address and his own blog. He got what he wanted but his blog is invite-only so if you want to view it, email me and I'll send you an invite. (he is a kid, after all, grateful for the security built in to blogger.)

I also took him and a couple of his buddies to Adventure Landing today where they played arcade games for an hour, played a round of 18 holes of miniature golf, a game of laser tag, ate lunch, played a different 18 holes, and called it a day. Here are some pictures of their adventures.

Funny Picture Break

2008-09-27T21:54:00.002-04:00

Here are some goofy things I've collected over the last couple of months for this purpose. Weird sense of humor, I know.

Blood and Thunder Review

2008-09-27T00:36:00.001-04:00

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I picked this book for no reason other than I loved the last book I read by Hampton Sides. His book, Ghost Soldiers, was so well-written and thoroughly researched that he became an instant favorite of mine as an author.

This book was no different. Scholarly, but not dry; dramatic, but objectively so; focused, but set on a broad landscape of the American west, while covering a range of years from the early 19th century through just after the civil war.

"Blood and Thunder" refers to the genre of twenty-five cent pulp fiction novels which were precursors "...to the modern western, briskly paced and packed with cliffhangers and hair-raising scrapes." The subject of the Blood and Thunder stories and the central character around whom this book is based is Kit Carson.

Yet this book isn't about the exaggerated way in which these novels portrayed Carson, this book was about the "real" Kit Carson. The loyal, meek, witty, intuitive, illiterate tracker of the West.

Though Carson is the central figure in the book, the book is paradoxically not exactly about him. It is a story of Manifest Destiny, of the Navajo nation, of General Kearny, of General Carleton's vision of a Utopian Indian reservation, and even the vast terrain of the west, from the Rockies to the desserts to the canyon homes of the Indians took form as an important character in this narrative.

And the narrative, expertly woven with historical and cultural backgrounds, explanations, quotes from official documents, diaries, and letters, brings the reader along as though the account given is a novel rather than actual history.

Hampton Sides has written objectively, giving the reader a good sense of the mood of the times related to western expansion, the perspective of various Indian tribes and their histories, attitudes of Mexicans, Indians, and white Americans towards each other, and the bleak hardships of life in the West in the 19th century.

I highly recommend this book, especially if your appreciation or knowledge of this time period and geographic region is lacking. After reading it, you will have received a comprehensive picture and a narrative of this era that is balanced and far more than simply anecdotal.

View all my reviews.

Augmented Reality

2008-09-25T13:10:00.002-04:00

This is pretty amazing and doesn't even seem possible, but it is! This video is from this year's TechCrunch50 conference and I heard about this company on this week's TWiT.

House Review

2008-09-18T21:19:00.004-04:00

House by Frank E. Peretti

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
How disappointing. I had heard such great things about Dekker and in fact, really wanted to read his color trilogy (Black, Red, White) but those weren't available at the library.

I have a solid history with Peretti, but I hadn't read him since college.

I've been in non fiction so much lately, I decided to take a break from it and get into something light and fun.

Here's the thing about this story. It's a little Stephen King, it's a little "I know what you did last summer," and it tries to be the Christian produced movie with not-so-subtle world-view mantras repeated by the characters as though people use Christianese to summarize their world-view.

I didn't care about any of the characters. I just couldn't get interested. I don't recommend it at all.

Back to my non-fiction, I guess.

View all my reviews.

What I've learned from selling and (almost) buying cars on Craigslist

2008-09-18T21:19:00.003-04:00

This may be of some help to you if you ever find yourself in the situation we found ourselves in last month.

A not-quite-right sound began eminating from our 98 Sienna somewhere between Ohio and Iowa on our trek to the mid-west in July. As it got louder and louder, and through a series of other oddities, we were forced to take it to a dealer where we learned that a bearing was going inside the transmission.

This was unnerving, because in addition to the literally thousands of dollars we had dumped into the thing over the course of just 15 months that we owned it, we were in Waterloo, IA and needed to get back to Raleigh. We were advised to not make the trip by one mechanic. The other thought it would be ok and we could decide what to do when we got back.

We took our chances and made it back.

Shortly after that, I began to notice some odd things going on with my car (98 626). After having it examined I learned the following things were about to break: The radiator was just about rusted out, the transmission cooling lines were clogged (due to the rust, probably), the transmission fluid was (as a result) burnt, the bearings were shot in both front wheels, and the whole front end was rusting out and would need to be replaced soon.

So, two vehicles that were going to need some serious money to repair and upkeep, and in both cases, the amount of money needed for their survival was much more than they were worth.

Now, allow me to get to my point: Our decision was to sell both vehicles. Who's gonna take them? Carmax? They took them for a little spin and made their offers. Not too impressive, but at least we had something.

How about Craigslist?

OK--so here's where it gets interesting. if you peruse the auto for sale section of Craigslist, you will discover there are two types of sellers.

The first kind of seller has owned the car for a long time and it is in "mint," "perfect," or "like new" condition, even if it is five or eight years old. It has a lot of miles, but they're highway miles, which somehow is supposed to ease your mind about just how many there are. It's clean. He has all the maintenance records so you can see how much money he's already put into it. He may list a blue book value which is meaningless because it is only an average of what people are asking for that particular model, not what they're actually getting for it. These people have an emotional attatchment either to their vehicle or to the care they've given the vehicle and as a result, they expect you to acknowledge this and reward them by paying a little (or a lot) more than you would from a licensed reseller.

The second kind of seller (this was me in both cases) recognizes that their car is a piece of junk. It may be nearly falling apart, but those issues, though perhaps mentioned in the interest of disclosure, are de-emphasized while superficial qualities of the vehicle (leather, CD player, cruise, A/C) are exaggerated. "Please, yes, I know the puddle of oil in the driveway is not good, but hey, it has an antenna that goes up and down!" These sellers are happy to just get rid of it. They want something for it-- as much as possible--(and certianly more than Carmax), though they'll probably take just about anything you offer them before you walk away.

I was upfront about all the known issues with both of my cars, both in the ad and in person. I let people take them for a test drive and sold both vehicles within 24 hours of their listings, a week apart from one another. Neither of the buyers asked if they could take the car to a mechanic (which I would have certainly permittied--though I never suggested it), but both brought "a guy" who knew a little something about cars, looked it over, and gave his blessing to the sale.

I interracted with a guy who was "me" a week later, trying to sell a Honda Civic. It had over 200k miles on it. He was a mechanic and put some time and money into it. I think he really liked the car and hated to get rid of it. At least that's what he wanted me to think. He had replaced the timing belt, made some interesting alterations to the thing, and was pretty proud of it. He faultered when I asked him if I could take it to my mechanic to have him look it over. He eventually agreed. My mechanic strongly advised against me buying it. I didn't. Looking back, best $40 I ever spent.

The Lord provided us with a car my mechanic was about to sell that he had worked on for several years and I felt pretty good about: his mother in-law's car. So I've got the old lady car, a Buick Century, but it does what it's supposed to do, and I'm grateful.

The person-to-person transaction was a great experience each time. Unfortunately I had to expeerience it three times in two weeks, plus a dealer exchange (that's another post). Use Craigslist to buy and sell, it's a great tool, but I believe you will quickly be able to place every ad into one of the categories given above. This may help you in your negotiations.

What Hath Hanna Wrought

2008-09-07T15:34:00.002-04:00

The tropical storm that flew through North Carolina the other day left us quite a bit of water. This is good because we have been in a drought for the last two years or so, but after this rain fall we may officially be out of it. Of course, the quantity of rain was not good for everyone as many communities in our area experienced flooding. This is the graphic seen on WRAL's weather page. It looks like the 5.19" reading was taken at RDU, which is on the other side of town from us.

Using our handy-dandy rain gauge, given to me by none other than the mayor of Boone herself (Sheri's mom!), we received 3.6" of water in our yard. That would have been over about an 18 hour period.

Practicing the Diminished scales

2008-09-06T00:35:00.005-04:00

Time to geek out on a little music theory. I haven't done that in a while.

I've been spending some time working on exercises and scale patterns related to the diminished scales. You've heard of major and minor scales? Well, those are good to know for sure, and any good jazz player should be able to pull a few modes out of the hat--particularly Dorian modes for minor chord passages, Mixolydian for dominant chord passages, and even a Lydian scale mode for #11 passages. (And really, once you learn your major/minor scales, it's just a matter of displacing your starting point and you are instantly in a mode!)

Still with me?

The diminished scale is something I've always been scared of. Instead of seven notes in the scale, like all the scales listed above, the diminished scales have eight notes. This is odd because it is an adjustment for fingering (I still haven't found good fingering for the scales) but it's also an aural adjustment. The octave doesn't come when you expect it to. There's always one more note to go!

The diminished scale is based on an alternated whole step/half step pattern. Because of the way Western music has evolved over the centuries, this means there are only three of these scales before they start to repeat. Here is what they look like.

The reason I want to get to know them is because I have always struggled with how to handle long passages with prolonged diminished chords. More on that later. But I have recently learned that diminished scales are particularly useful over altered dominants. Chords with sharp 9ths, flat 9ths, sharp 11ths, and 13ths can all be embellished by choosing notes from the right diminished scale. Here is an example of how the notes line up over a G dominant harmony, and how each of the notes of the diminished scale play out functionally.

So back to the long prolonged chords of diminished harmony. Duke Ellington's "Caravan" is a good example of this. You can hear a 30 second clip of it on iTunes here. You can see that the entire A section is a prolonged Gdim7 chord. In F minor, this functions as the vii(dim) chord, or functions as dominant. Can you tell which scale from my first example above the melodic material is based on?

The Airplane's Destiny: Mass Destruction

2008-08-31T20:47:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow Austin's reading will be from this book about the Wright Brothers. As I flipped through it tonight to determine how much to read tomorrow, I skimmed this paragraph:

"Although Wilbur died before the airplane's full potential was realized, Orville lived to see airplanes used to transport deadly atomic bombs in World War II and to commercially transport hundreds of thousands of people all over the world."

Good to know. I'm sure Orville is very pleased with the destructive legacy this author feels is so important to mention over commercial flight. In a kid's book, no less.

Don't mess with Natural Selection

2008-08-30T17:15:00.004-04:00

We spent as much of the day as we could at the North Carolina Zoo today. It was a hot and humid day and the NC zoo is big and spread out. Lots of walking and an occasional creature to see.

Inside the amphibian exhibit was this display next to a couple of frogs.

Really? who are we to interfere? Isn't this anti-evolution? Maybe I missed something.

Wallet update

2008-08-29T23:52:00.002-04:00

My wallet post generated quite a stir. I guess there's a lot of pent-up insecurities out there among guys trying to do the right thing with their money while feeling secure, but not looking like they've got a small print edition of Crime and Punishment in their pocket.

I glanced down my page at an ad that appear for thin wallets. Maybe this is something that can be a solution for us all!

The future of web browsing

2008-08-28T23:31:00.002-04:00

Thanks to my cyber-friend Tony Steward for sharing this in his RSS feed. I am so impressed by this I can't wait to install it and start playing with it now!

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

What's in Your Wallet?

2008-08-21T23:00:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago I made a decision to stop carrying a wallet. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, I fairly unscientifically concluded that while I think everything is ok, sitting on a lump of leather and plastic on one cheek, but not the other can't be good for the lower back over the long haul. Second, I had a fear, rational or not, that my wallet could easily slide out of my back pocket and could disappear all together. This would happen not in my office or in my car, but in some place like a food court at a mall, where I would likely never recover it again. Finally, I've noticed a specific kind of wear in my pants, right along the fold or edges of the wallet, where some of the fabric is beginning to tear. Fabric of my pants, not the wallet.

Wallets for most guys are a microcosm of most women's purses. Most guys, if they were to dig their wallets out of their pants right now, would find business cards, receipts, the phone number to the local Chinese restaurant, a couple pictures, a miniature day planner, calculator, various credit cards, drivers license, and maybe a stick of gum or something. Even if you don't carry a wad of cash around (and who does these days anyway?), some tri-fold wallets can mount to an inch or more in thinkness. Who needs that?

So back to my decision. After considering a money clip, I opted for a band. Not just any rubber band--but a band designed specifically to snugly hold items the size of credit cards.

So here is my question. Forced to be minimal, what items do you carry? For me, it is my key card to get me around the building at church, my drivers licence, a credit card, my ATM card and my heath insurance card. Other near necessities I've considered adding: my Qdoba card, Blockbuster card, and the AAA card.

What else should I be carrying?

Rachmaninoff had big hands

2008-08-15T20:15:00.001-04:00

Anyone who has ever attempted Rachy's Prelude in C# minor will appreciate this the most...

Apps overrun Facebook

2008-08-08T22:41:00.003-04:00

The idea of Facebook opening itself up to the world of developers so that little apps could be developed was a clever idea. It drove even more traffic, encouraged even more interaction, and became a stage for creativity and originality.

I have squandered hours of my life (and certain friends, you know who you are) using one app, which has been terminated under the threat of a lawsuit: Scrabulous. I haven't tried the reinvented version of it yet, but according to this article, something like Scarbulous will be reinstated soon if it hasn't already.

The downside to Facebook releasing it's API for developers is that a lot of nonsense apps have been created. Several weeks ago, I decided to begin my personal ban of them, saving up for just the right moment to hit the "ignore all" button. I figure a nice round number like 100 is a good time.
Here we go!

No posts=I've been gone

2008-08-07T20:52:00.003-04:00

If you've been following my twitter, you know I've been gone for a while. We had a good time seeing friends and family, a little mechanical drama, but when everything is said and done, I have to say there's no place like home.

It's hard to read that GPS. I reset all the numbers before we left. The total miles driven in two weeks is 3087.3 miles. I know that's no record, but it sure did feel like one!

The Kids Join Me For some Laptop Time

2008-07-21T20:17:00.001-04:00

Tools I use on the Mac (Part 1)

2008-07-19T14:28:00.006-04:00

My status bar is getting full. I took a little snapshot of it to share some goodies that I have discovered that I find quite useful and most of them are free.

First I have the Plaxo sync panel. This is the little app that runs in the background syncing my calendar and contact info with their server so that I can eventually get that data to my phone as I've written about here.

Whenever a user in my address book joins Plaxo, the contact information they enter is automatically merged with the contact information I currently have, including pictures, job titles, etc.

The next tool is the very handy 1Password bookmark panel.

It allows me to access any bookmark I may have from any browser I use.

It is kind of handy, but I really only use Firefox right now, so I haven't had much need for it.

Next is this cool little app called Desktoptopia.

Every so many hours, depending on my settings it downloads a new desktop background which I can rate from 1-5 stars or reject all together. It's fun because it beats the OS-installed desktops that get a little old after a while. Plus once it downloads the picture, it not only resizes to fit your resolution, but it stores it locally.

Next is Spanning Sync. This little app is great because it syncronizes my iCal info with Google Calendars.

This allows Janet and I to share calendars and have our information almost instantly up to date, plus I can share calendars with the music staff, both internal and public and I can do all the editing I want right from iCal. Plus any of the changes any of the shared users make on their calendar will be reflected in my iCal, thanks to Spanning Sync. According to their blog, they are about to release version 2.0 which will also sync contact info the same way. There is a $25 annual subscription for this service, but I have found it to be well worth it for my purproses!

Next is "Caffine."

What does it do? When it's turned "off," it does nothing but sit in the status bar.

When it is activated, it keeps your computer from falling asleep. It keeps the screen from dimming and even keeps the back light turned on under the keyboard.

This is handy if you are doing something like watching a streaming video, or just want to keep the computer from going to the screen saver on you. Seems like a small thing, but it has become a really handy little app.

Next there's Quicksilver, a little productivity app that runs in the background and waits for you to evoke it using short cut keys like ctrl-space.

It is more than an application launcher, you can do things like create and send an email, create a to-do, launch a track in iTunes, etc, all from this little interface, without having to go into each individual application. You can watch these very useful introduction videos on how to use it here and here.

Finally, there are various computer status idicators, from iSlayer.

I could have activiated many more pieces of information, but I wasn't interested in seeing realtime updates of my memory usage or processor speed. What I have activated, however, in order of appearance, are my fan speed, hard drive capacity, network I/O, and processor temperature.
There are several more tools I use frequently on my PowerMac machines that do not reside in my status bar and I'll post about some other time.

What would You Do?

2008-07-13T19:54:00.002-04:00

This evening, I began preparing for our annual pastor's retreat. This is an ironic event because I am technically neither a pastor, nor are we under duress such that retreating is required. Still, it is a staff get-away sanctioned by the elders as something healthy and even necessary for our team so we do it. Since I've been on staff we head to West Jefferson, a nice little community in the northwest corner of the state in the mountains far away from things like cell phone towers and the internet. That's not actually true (and as such, I'll try to keep you updated on twitter), but it is serene enough that it sometimes feels that way. In my office, I have a lot to do. At home, Janet and the kids wouldn't mind if I stayed around for the next few days, but I do genuinely enjoy the guys on staff, even if it means I have to play golf.

This leads me back to the part about the preparation. The last time I played golf, was on last year's retreat. And the time I played golf before that was on the previous year's retreat. You get the idea. Golf is fine if you have unlimited time, financial resources, and patience, and since I lack in all three, it receives very little of the required dedication from me.

So my preparation for this event entails removing my golf bag from the corner of the garage--where it has sat since--well, since I cleaned out the garage a few months ago--and literally taking a broom and brushing off the dust, cobwebs, a couple of spiders, and whatever other interesting stuff accumulates over the course of a year on an untouched item in one's garage.

I went through the pockets to check and see if I actually had any golf balls. I haven't lost them all yet, so I'm good. I even have a few tees and a glove.

I was surprised, however, to find in one of the golf bag pockets two snack items.

Before I go any further, I need to introduce you to my taxonomy of favorite snack items. There are three things that I will snack on at just about any time: peanuts (I prefer to crack them out of the shell), popcorn (butter doesn't hurt) and Doritos.

What do I find in my golf bag? A little Planters package of salted peanuts, and a small little Doritos bag. The expiration date on the the peanuts reads 2/17/08. That seams pretty clear. However, the Doritos bag has a slightly ambiguous "8/14" printed on it. No year.

You may not appreciate my struggle. I would really like to load up on those snacks tonight! In spite of the dates (they always go to the safe side by at least a year, right? plus the Doritos bag didn't give a year so it could be THIS year, right?), I could either

Eat them anyway
Feed them to my kids (see if anything happens)
Mix them with fresh items, see if I can tell a difference
Save them for a White Elephant gift exchange
Keep them for some of the neighborhood kids at Halloween
Throw them out

Any other suggestions? What would YOU do?

High Gas Prices Yield unintended consequences

2008-07-12T15:22:00.003-04:00

I was reminded of Guy's post of a couple months ago regarding the high cost of gasoline when I saw a brief blurb today about how higher gas prices leading to fewer people driving are leading to fewer highway fatalities.

"...For every 10 percent increase in gas prices, there was a 2.3 percent decline in auto deaths. For drivers ages 15 to 17, the decline was 6 percent, and for ages 18 to 21, it was 3.2 percent."

Should I be gaining any increased sense of security heading into our Iowa trip later this summer?

Yea! Google Browser Sync may be resurrected!

2008-07-12T01:12:00.002-04:00

Good news from this Ars Technica article for all who are geeky enough to care:

The popular Google Browser Sync extension for Firefox, which synchronizes browser settings and information across multiple computers, is now an open source project. Google is distributing the Browser Sync source code under the BSD license and is making it available through a Subversion source control repository on the Google Code website.

This is a major reversal of Google's position on Browser Sync, and it will very likely save the add-on from extinction. Shortly before the official launch of Firefox 3, Google said that Browser Sync development would be discontinued and encouraged users to adopt Mozilla Weave or Foxmarks instead. The availability of the Browser Sync source code, however, will make it possible for the open source software community to collaboratively bring the add-on to the new version of Firefox.

Please, somebody who's smarter than me, take the open source and make it work for FF3!

[this is a follow up from this post and this post]

Kids Pictures

2008-07-11T13:24:00.002-04:00

Radio that's "Safe for the Whole Family" Part II

2008-07-07T20:58:00.004-04:00

One of the issues of popular music is that if we're not careful, we can thin the text to a place where complex ideas and thoughts are forced into a synonym corner. Crafting text carefully to be clever is one thing, crafting text to be clever while maintaining depth of meaning is another--and evidently much more difficult.

What in the world am I talking about? Let me give examples. This was first brought to my attention several years ago with the song "I Stand Amazed." Written by my buddy Travis Cottrell and Dennis Jernigan.

I see the stars that You have made
I know You call them each by name
To think Father God who heaven displays
Is thinking of me in intimate ways


Chorus:
I stand amazed in all of your glory
That you would die for me   I stand amazed

Now I am in no position to "explain" the trinity, nor am I a theologian, but we need to be careful of what it is we're learning from song lyrics that flow well, but inadvertently teach un-truths.

What is wrong with this passage? Did God make the stars? Yes. Does he know them each by name? Sure. Is "Father God" thinking of us "in intimate ways?" Yes, we can surmise from scripture that this is the case. Did "Father God" die for me? No.

Heresy you say? Not at all. Jesus died for us, not "Father God." Poetic license? Jesus is God, right? Yes, but Jesus prayed to the Father to let this cup pass before he went to the cross. Jesus the Son was crucified, not "Father God."

There are further examples from the songs of yesterday's post. These are songs that are currently on Christian radio stations, and in the top 20, no less.

All About Jesus, Steve Fee:

giver of every breath I breathe
author of all eternity
giver of every perfect thing
to you be the glory

maker of heaven and of earth
no one can comprehend your worth
king over all the universe
to you be the glory

I'm alive because i'm alive in You

it's all because of Jesus I'm alive
it's all because the blood of Jesus Christ
that cover's me and raised this dead man's life
it's all because of Jesus I'm alive

every sunrise sings Your praise
the universe cries out your praise
i'm singing freedom all my days
now that I'm alive

Verses describe attributes and actions typically ascribed to God the creator, yet the chorus changes gears to being all about Jesus.

You Reign, MercyMe

Even before there was a drop in the ocean even before there was a star in the sky even before
the world was put in motion You were on Your throne You were on Your throne.

[chorus]
You reign glory in the highest You reign let creation testify by Your name every knee will bow
and every tongue proclaim that Jesus reigns.

Even before Your hand made the heavens even before the breath of all mankind even before we
had to be forgiven You were on Your throne You were on Your throne. [back to chorus]

Yesterday, today and forever Your are God who was, and is and is to come. [back to chorus]

Very similar to Fee, a kind of lyrical "mode mixture" switching between actions and attributes of God the Father (Creation in the verses), but proclaiming "Jesus reigns" in the choruses. Is this a problem? Maybe not. Perhaps that is the point of the song, that Jesus is God, and God is also Jesus, however the change from one character to the other is not very clear, and the listener can easily presume that we're talking about the same Person of the Trinity, that Jesus the Son=God the Creator (Elohim not withstanding)

Song of Hope, Robbie Seay Band:

I will sing a song of hope
Sing along
God of heaven come down
Heaven come down
Just to know that You are near is enough
God of heaven come down, heaven come down

All things new
I can start again
Creator, God
Calling me Your friend
Sing praise, my soul
To the Maker of the skies
A song will rise

[excerpted]

So again, God of Heaven came down, but not as "Creator, God," or as "Maker of the Skies" but as Jesus. This is omitted in the song. God the Father is in heaven, Jesus came to earth, sent down from God, and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit.

Love is Here, Tenth Avenue North:

come to the waters, you who thirst and you'll thirst no more.
come to the father, you who work and you'll work no more.
and all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed:

love is here.
love is now.
love is pouring from
his hands, from his brows.
love is near,it satisfies.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.
cuz love is here.
[Excerpted]

Either this is brilliantly poetic (I'll give them that) or it is modally inaccurate. The verse talks of coming to the Father, but the chorus depicts the crucifixion of the Son, yet makes no distinction between the two.

What difference does all this make? Is this me splitting hairs, or is this "hair-esy?" I think it's something we need to watch out for. Being aware of which person is being sung about is important, just like we would want to keep clear which of the Godhead we were discussing in a conversation. The danger is that even if these songs aren't sung in church, the undiscerning or ignorant listener my receive falsehood when he believes the source to be reliable and full of truth.

If these songs work their way into a corporate worship context, we run the risk of misappropriating the richness of the "Word of Christ" and misappropriating the use of music to "teach and admonish." (Col 3:16) Instead these songs may "breach and astonish," and will not edify the body with Truth, and in fact add to confusion, resulting in people like me writing posts like this.

Radio that's "Safe for the Whole Family" Part I

2008-07-06T21:44:00.003-04:00

While driving around town with @fiscalfitness the other day, we were inexplicably listening to one of the local Christian radio stations. A discussion ensued about various tag lines used by most contemporary Christian radio stations: "Safe for the whole family," "Positive, encouraging," "family friendly," etc., and why they aren't more overtly "Christian" in nature. Why not something like "furthering the gospel of Jesus," or "Magnifying Christ between Sundays," or "Proclaiming the good news of Jesus," etc.?

The assumption presented in the question is that these stations identify themselves as truly Christian. Maybe that isn't the case. It is easy to presume that they consider themselves such but don't want to say the name of Jesus too loudly. But before we jump on the blame-the-radio-stations band wagon, maybe we should consider the music they play. I did a very quick survey of this week's "Top 20 Christian songs" according to "20, The Countdown Magazine" and discovered some interesting things:

Of the top 20 songs for the week ending June 30, 2008, four of them specifically mentioned Jesus or Christ. (Fee, Casting Crowns, Matt West, Natalie Grant)
Six songs mentioned "God" or "Lord" or "Father" (Matt Maher, MercyMe, Tomlin, Robbie Seay Band, Tenth Avenue North, Jado Lavik)
Six other sings held down the pronoun ministry, using You or Your in ways that could mean just about anyone (Third Day, Jeremy Camp, Building 429, Aaron Shust, Mark Harris, Decemberadio)
Three songs were about things other than God or Jesus, or things clearly religious in nature (SC Chapman, Need to Breathe, Afters)

So what is the conclusion? Half of the top 20 songs for the week were not overtly about God. Sure, the artists will say they were, but they weren't overtly about God or Jesus. This proves nothing, other than the fact that the radio station tag lines are accurate after all. Their music is "positive and encouraging." They're not seeking to teach theology in their music. Is that ok? Sure, I'm very comfortable with "kingdom perspective" on activities of life outside of praise and worship music that some of these songs touch on. the problem does not appear to be what the radio stations say they're doing, not at all. The "problem," if there ever really was one, is the assumption "Christian" radio stations must play music that only talks about Jesus or God in order to be Christian. This is not the case, since the station programming doesn't even refer to itself as Christian. In essence, the issue is, there is no issue.

But...

I do, however, have a problem with some of the lyrics presented in some of the songs listed above. This little investigation has forced me to read carefully the lyrics of each song, and I have discovered some subtle "confusion" in some of the lyrics which I will delve into in Part II.

I set a world record

2008-07-02T21:55:00.002-04:00

Have you ever participated in something on the scale of a world record? Well, I did! And though I didn't install Firefox 3 until two days ago, at least I downloaded my copy on the everybody-download-firefox-today day, June 17th.

I like it, it seems to run well, and I have installed it only on the laptop. Silverlight is still not compatible with it, so I can not watch streaming baseball games from MLB.TV on it, other than that, most of my most loved and oft-used extensions have been upgraded. The del.icio.us add-on is especially good. Give it a try!

Perpetually Surprised at Time

2008-07-01T21:04:00.003-04:00

Janet and I began reading a A Severe Mercy a while ago. We were on a roll at first, taking turns reading it aloud before bed several nights a week. We let it slide lately, but I have been stuck on a recent passage we read and I've been turning it over in my mind a lot lately.

The story of the book is of a couple who, through a series of life-circumstances, come to find themselves at Oxford and interacting with CS Lewis. This began first by letter as Lewis recommended books for them to read, then would discuss what they read. Their exchanges deal with fundamental beliefs: likelihood of God, likelihood of redemption, and the need for salvation. The portion of the letter below is from Lewis back to them and I am intrigued by the way he frames the idea of time.

It is quite clear from what you say that you have conscious wishes on both sides. And now, another point about wishes. A wish may lead to false beliefs, granted. But what does the existence of the wish suggest? At one time I was much impressed by Arnold's line "Nor does the being hungry prove that we have bread." But surely, though it doesn't prove that one particular man will get food, it does prove that there is such a thing as food! i.e. if we were a species that didn't normally eat, weren't designed to eat, would we feel hungry? You say the materialist universe is "ugly." I wonder how you discovered that! If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is it you don't feel at home there? Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been or would not always be, purely aquatic creatures? Notice how we are perpetually surprised at Time ("How time flies! Fancy John being grown--up and married! I can hardly believe it!") In heaven's name, why? Unless, indeed there is something in us which is not temporal.

I like this because I have felt it, but never articulated it. It's kind of the ontological argument for not belonging here. We don't feel time moving on as it moves on, but only when we look back and realize how much has gone by. I think most of us recognize time moving by with regret, understanding that we will never get it back. Heaven, being timeless, will redefine eternity for us. We think of eternity as never beginning and never ending, but even as we define it, we do so using terms of time. We are prone to define it as what it is not.

Saddleback Conference, Day 4

2008-06-28T22:25:00.007-04:00

The final day of the conference was compressed since it more or less ended mid-day with a beach gathering and bonfire at Huntington Beach later that evening. I don't know how well it was attended, and as you would expect on the last day, the attendance began to dwindle as many had to catch flights home.

Emily and I went to Alva Copeland's "Transforming Singers into Outstanding Servants." It was outstanding. Some tidbits from her talk:

When auditioning vocalists, the first question she asks is, "Did you come to serve?" If you came to sing, this is the wrong ministry!
We're looking for servants who can sing, not people who are looking to be seen.
Just like the disciples, sitting around looking at each other wondering "which one is the greatest?" instead striving for
servant leadership: group of people submitting to each other to achieve something they could not do alone
The platform is not for personal affirmation--the cross is for that.
No level of importance is attached to an assignment.
Nurture the "glad we can be doing something" spirit in the team. Don't ask them to make sacrifices you aren't willing to make.
Do not allow the pursuit of excellence to foster or fuel a performance mentality (Quest for perfection). Excellence is more about discipline and sacrifice to give something that was costly to you.
Set aside personal gain, abandon personal agenda.

After her session we went and got a burger at the famous "In N Out Burger" fast food chain. And yes, it was a good burger. I checked out of my hotel room and went back to campus where I explored their new "Refinery" building which is supposed to become their youth hangout facility. The building comes complete with skateboarding ramps,

a little place to buy food and chat with your friends,

an incomplete amphitheater,

a basketball court (behind the windows),

a nice view from the outside stairs going to the 2nd floor

and a game room.

From there, I wandered into the in-progress Deliriou5? concert. I wasn't too interested in hearing them, but I recorded part of their video word-feeding ideas which I thought was clever.

Finally, I met up with The Chapel gang one last time at Laguna Beach where we stood around for a while and tried to figure out where to have dinner.

They left for SNA and I hung out for a while and got some sun-setting pictures before heading off to LAX.

My flight was a 11:55pm departure to Atlanta. It was a four hour flight and I ended up in Atlanta at about 7:00am. I did not sleep well. I think I maybe got a total of two and a half hours. I was real conscientious of the guy next to me for some reason. Anyway, I slept more on the plane on the way from ATL to RDU. I don't remember the take off and when I woke up we were beginning our descent.

It was a great conference--it has been a treat to get to go there because you are surrounded by people just like you. My plea again will be for members of my staff and members of our volunteer team to be able to take it in together. There will be infinitely more musical benefit for us as a ministry and staff than yet another trip to NAB.

Saddleback Conference, Day 3

2008-06-26T02:09:00.006-04:00

It is very difficult to articulate the choked up feeling you get when you hear hundreds, really over a thousand voices lifting up worship with a song that is so simple, yet so well written. Such was my experience earlier today with Paul Baloche with his song "Your Name." Baloche as much as anyone seemed to understand and appreciate his audience. He led and was led by the wall of three part sound coming back at him from an enthusiastic crowd. One thing about this conference, it never lacks for worship participation nor enthusiasm. Pictures or video will never do justice, but here are some pictures of the hour we had together,

as well as the "room," completely engaged.

In a short time he encouraged worship teams, worship leaders, and spoke from the vantage point of one who knows exactly how challenging it can be to do what we do, but his words of encouragement from scripture and prayers were challenging and uplifting.

The workshop sessions today were an hour and a half each. The first one I attended was entitled "Church 2.0" which dealt with using 2.o web as an asset to not only connect our congregations and teams, but our communities and the unlimited scope of the internet gives us tools to reach the whole world. There was a lot of great content and the session was taught by Greg Atkinson, who is finishing a book of the session title.

A couple of websites of interest discussed in this session were

The next session I attended was taught mostly by Carlos Whittaker. He talked about how he used 2.0 tools to manage his team. In particular how he "cheated time" by keeping connected with people and what they're thinking through blogging and Twitter. He said he hardly ever communicates with people by email anymore. He has his team sign up for a twitter account, encourages blogging, has everyone share a del.icio.us account, share their devotional thoughts through youversion, and encourages all of them to be on Facebook so that they have a way of staying in instant and tight contact.

There was a lot of information given in these two sessions and a lot to digest, and a lot ot process practically and philosophically. It was a great day of learning for me and I'm excited to see what kinds of things I can do to implement some of these things for our team.

The evening concerts were big. Big Daddy Weave sang the first hour,

and Kirk Franklin led the second half. Everybody should experience a Franklin concert at least once. It was high-energy but well balanced. Great singers and players-the keyboard harmonies were so cool--someday I'll learn how to play like that! Best quote of the evening from KF "I didn't fly all this way just to do Stomp!"

Saddleback Conference, Day 2

2008-06-25T03:42:00.005-04:00

This busy day began with a general worship session, that began with none other than Psalty. If you don't know Psalty, you probably didn't grow up in the 80's. The time ended with a group and pastor from Destiny World Church in Atlanta. They had a lot of energy. I think that is an understatement.

After our break at 10:30, we regrouped in the worship center for a worship concert with Nathan and Christy Nockels. They were great. It sounds like they have a lot going on as they are literally moving from Nashville to Atlanta this week.

The lunch break featured the usual live music around campus. First there was the Saddleback team doing some gospel tunes in a little amphitheater area, then there was the fusion jazz going on in another area. They weren't afraid to run that one loud, and Rick was prepared with ear plugs.

The rest of the afternoon were spent in workshops. The first one I attended was about improving your church's vocal team. Some of it was stuff I had heard before and things I think we practice pretty well, about being on time, being prepared as a leader to help your team be prepared, hedging and confronting pride issues, etc. The workshop ended with Tim Davis showing us how they do their vocal charts. He uses the Nashville number system. As you can see below, this system codifies parts and pitches, but does nothing for rhythms. He dictates the rhythm and then rehearses each part. The numbers represent the scale degrees. We spent some time learning this little tune.

Reasons he mentioned for using this method for their vocal teams: 1) many people can't read music, and those who can, can't read the rhythms anyway 2) he can make the chart quickly 3) he doesn't have to pound out the parts on the piano. In response to my question about transitioning people who are already used to reading notes and rhythms to this system, he responded by saying, in essence, if the team already knows how to read notes and rhythms, then don't move them, and oh, if you can find the charts with the rhythms and parts on it, then great. I think we'll be ok.

The next session I went to was a session on maximizing Ableton Live in your worship services. This was an esoteric workshop that was lightly attended, but helpful, even though it was sponsored by a vendor offering his performance tracks. The tracks they sell are actual studio tracks that are used on regular recordings (Israel, Baloche, Tomlin, etc), so you literally have the guitar, loop, pad, fxs, drum tracks, even backing vocal tracks that you can play (along with click) to fill in the spots you don't have. Pretty slick.

The last session I went to was pretty good, but it was too elementary for my experience. I am not an experienced B3 player, but I was hoping to learn more than what this class offered, which was stuff I already knew. It was nice, however, because it was set up as a lab and we all got to play along and watch what he was doing through his little camera projected on the wall.

The evening concert featured Jadon Lavik, who played and sang all of his songs with just his guitar--no band. He was excellent. Great writer and singer.

The Saddleback team presented an entire arts package, which was also excellent, centered around the American church's complacency regarding social injustices around the world, from human trafficking to AIDS in Africa. My favorite moment of the night was the Selah arrangement, which they did in the weekend services of I Bless Your Name.

After the concert, I went with my Chapel friends to the Cheesecake Factory for fun and, of course, cheescake.

Saddleback Conference, Day 1

2008-06-24T02:48:00.003-04:00

The day did not hold a lot of events for us. We really took it easy today, after going to the gym of course! We went to Laguna Beach and ate lunch,

got our toes wet in the Pacific,

and tried to keep from getting knocked over by sudden waves at apparently high tide.

We found The Chapel gang at registration and went in for a concert, featuring Adam Watts, Meredith Andrews and Leeland. Meredith was great. Here is one of her songs.

After the concert, there was some great jazz out on the plaza held together by Tony Guerrero. Here is their performance of Blue Monk. The guitar solo is particularly good.

It's been another late day--meeting time begins at 8:30 and I'm still going to try to get a good leg workout in early in the morning!

SoCal adventure, Day 3

2008-06-23T00:44:00.007-04:00

Today we had a busy day. We have visited three churches and taken in five services in a little over 24 hours! It has been great to see how various churches "do church" and hear how other churches experience similar positive and negative issues from a musical and technical standpoint as we do at Providence.

We started our morning back at Saddleback where I went to the gospel style "Praise" service and Kenton attended the high octane "Overdrive" service. In the Praise service, they covered a couple of the Israel Houghton songs. Here is a little snippet of the service:

One of my disappointments about being away from home this weekend is that I was going to miss Joel and Sonia's version of "When I Think About the Lord." Well, I was fortunate to hear it covered congregationally at this service. A great sound!

A couple of quick observations.

There were a total of four songs in the opening.
Buddy Owen's sermon included some worship time at the end so I'm betting they did that today as well (we didn't stay for the whole thing).
They had another B-3 in this venue.
It appeared that the sermon was the 4:30 service from Saturday was the one they used in the outside venues all day.
The "welcoming pastor" spent a good deal of time inviting the congregation to thank-by-applause the members of the band and the vocal team and the choir, some specifically by name. I don't know if that was the norm.
Saddleback does a good job of welcoming people coming onto their sprawling campus.
It was interesting that with the venues spread out across campus, when the music your venue was done, you could often hear and feel the pulsating music from another venue.
Across the campus the venues focused on a theme, but did not necessarily contain the same songs. Each venue leader appeared to be allowed, maybe even encouraged to plan a service that matched the overarching weekend theme in the language of its venue.

After our time at Saddleback for the 9:00 services, we took off for Mariner's Church to take in their 11:00 service. This seems like a nice church. The whole courtyard area is set up for kids. Not sure if this picture shows all the beach balls and toys out in the lawn area, but I wanted to run out there and play.

The music was led by a band, song leader playing acoustic guitar, electric, bass, drums, keyboard, violin, and two female singers. The song selection featured a couple of hymn reworkings for band (Great is Thy Faithfulness and one other well-known one that I've forgotten), along with You Are Holy (Prince of Peace), and Heart of Worship.

The presentation looked nice, the worship leader was a little elementary-school singing some of his instructions which felt weird to me for some reason, but seemed likable and enthusiastic. The pastor's name is Kenton, which Kenton seemed to think was cool.

This was the church's version of laying hands on people during a dedicatory prayer for their VBS teachers for the week.

They must do it often because people didn't need much instruction on what to do. I just thought it was interesting. There was an overflow area we discovered that was pretty full, multiple flat screens carrying the service. I don't know what to say about the 45 minutes we spent there. It seems like a nice church--I don't know what I was expecting, but from a musical standpoint, from an engaging standpoint, it was kind of underwhelming. Of course, I had just come from a high-energy gospel style service to a small-sound presentation, but still, I was hoping for a little more on the musical side.

After this service we ran up to Dodger Stadium where we sat and watched the Indians play the Dodgers. The bad news was it was 94 degrees. The good news is our seats were in the shade from the overhang of the section above us. The bad news is, the Indians lost the game. The good news is, they won the series. The final score was 4-3. Paul Byrd was rocky in the first inning and gave up all four runs before the first out was made. The team never recovered.

I think Casey grounded out on this at bat, but a run still scored.

After the game, we drove a couple miles up the road to the 6:00 service at Mosaic Church. This church was in downtown L.A. It meets in a nightclub known as the Mayan Theater.

Erwin McManus is the pastor. I'm glad we went. It was an interesting experience. The church at this location (they have others spread around town) is geared for the 20-something crowd. They began a series today called "Practical Wisdom" from the first seven verses of Proverbs 1.

Here's what the room looks like. I captured this before the service started.

This band was led by a guy singer playing electric guitar, a female singer who also played Sleigh Bells and Orchestra bells. The drummer played "shieldless," and there was a bass player as well as a rhodes/moog-mod player and an electric violin player.

I think the mix was the best one we heard all day. The guy and girl sounded great and there was a third girl that played the piano (solo) and sang at the end. Also very good.

The songs were not familiar to me. Some seemed original, only on one song did I get a sense of the congregation singing along like they really knew it.

From the moment the doors opened (about 15 minutes before 6:00), a gal was sitting on a little side stage, evidently oblivious to the room. She was creating a thing in photoshop or pagemaker that was projected from her laptop onto an over sized tee-shirt "screen." She finished with it about three quarters of the way through the service (in the middle of the sermon), got up and inconspicuously walked away. No one said anything about her, or about it, pointed it out, etc. Just kinda happened.

McManus was great. After teaching a little bit on Proverbs 1:7, he decided to dispense wisdom by taking specific "what should I do in this situation" questions from the "community" with the help of people on roving microphones. He handled it really well.

This has been a really long day. Kenton has been sawing logs over here since 10:00. We look forward to seeing the rest of the Chapel crew arriving tomorrow.

SoCal adventure, Day 2

2008-06-22T10:48:00.003-04:00

As a YMCA member, I am entitled to take my local Y card to another community greater than, say 50 miles than where I normally live and use it to get in to another Y where ever I may be visiting. I found close to where I am staying, however, a 24Hour fitness center and discovered that they had a free 7-day pass online. So I printed it out and brought it with me.

Turns out they really only want you to use the free seven day pass thing if you're a local resident. I get it, but "Mark" was kind and decided to give me the pass anyway so I can come in and use the gym over the next several days at no charge--even though I will never be joining that gym.

The place is very impressive. In total square footage, (I believe he said 60,000) larger than the Y I'm used to, and layed out differently. It is a huge rectangle with an upper mezzanine level. There's the group fitness aerobic class behind a glass wall so everyone who comes in can watch, a "pro shop" where you can buy your vitamins and protein shakes, a ton of treadmills, eliptical stuff, and a cycling class room. There's also a basketball court, lap swim lanes, and a spacious weight area, full of all sorts of great machines.

The place was packed and that was probably because it was Saturday morning, but I still had no trouble getting to the equipment I needed for a good shoulder work out. One weird thing, when I got up stairs to the weight area, I saw a sign that said something like "Towels are mandatory, sweat is optional." OK, I thought, where do I get a towel?

I went to the front desk and asked an indifferent employee about this and she told me I had to buy one for $3.25 or bring one from home. Well, since I was already THERE, I decided to just buy one. No complimentary towel service? Weird.

After the workout, I got a sandwich and some guys came in to get some food in this car. I have no idea what it is, but it was very cool!

Kenton changed his plans and came in on a train to the Irvine station, just five minutes from where I'm staying. That worked out real well and it's been great to catch up.

We went to two services at Saddleback. The first, at 4:30, was what they called their "Classic" service and was led by Rick Muchow, a band, a trio, and an orchestra.

The message was great, about Paul and Silas in jail from Acts 16, and was given by Buddy Owens. I have to say, if you go expecting Rick Warren and you get Buddy Owens instead, that's not so bad. He did a great job.

We had planned on going to the "Elevation" service, but found out it was a singles service. It was in a different venue, at 6:30. Despite being married, we decided to sit in the service for the music set and then left once the same sermon we just saw started.

Aside from one song (Selah's I bless your name), the whole worship set was different, but the thematic content was the same. The band was pretty good--your average church band (though I have to say the band at the "classic" service didn't exactly knock my socks off--and I realize I'm being hyper-critical of the pianist who had a hard time with time. Don't we all? The drummer was very solid and in two slow songs, a cut time song and a slow 6/8 held everyone together). Anyway, I'm glad we went to the venue. It was well-equipped. Oh, and both venues had a B-3! How cool is that!?

After the services, we grabbed something to eat and decided to go see Indiana Jones. Let me save you the time. Don't see it.

SoCal adventure, Day 1

2008-06-21T15:35:00.006-04:00

I enjoy traveling from east to west. And I don't mean from Capital to Glenwood, I mean from Raleigh to SoCal. The thing about leaving early is that even though you spend what feels like most of the day traveling, once you arrive, you still have plenty of time to do things because of the three hour time change. In my case, I arrived so early, I almost had too much time.

I decided to go spy out some famous streets in North LA, in an area known as Hollywood. Maybe you've heard of it.

I got a couple of pictures of the famous Hollywood(land) sign, but this may have been my best angle.

After spending some time finding a place to park, I stepped out of my rental car (which, by the way, is a red Mustang--truthfully, I don't really care for it) and found myself at Hollywood and Vine in the midst of the "Walk of Fame." I took a few pictures of the stars with names I recognized.

One of the more interesting things about this to me was that this was in an area full of regular stores. Below is a picture of a line of stars along Hollywood Blvd next to a tire store. But this is just a downtown area. The stars continue around Sunset Blvd and several of the connecting streets adjacent to a CVS, a Borders, an auto repair shop, a McDonalds, etc.

Another feature of this area are the homeless people. This caught me off guard as you had a surreal mixture of touresty people like me, taking pictures of the side walk, regular people scurrying from place to place to either shop or go to work, and homeless people asking for change. The whole juxtaposition was not at all what I expected.

The whole reason I hung out in this area of town (not specifically to see the sidewalk, I can assure you) is because I had arranged to meet my cousin, professor Joe at a restaurant. He is teaching at USC in San Bernardino, and teaches mostly Children's Literature. It sounds like he's enjoying it. We had a great time talking about families, interests, and life stories. I was surprised at how similar our interests in understanding things are, but with specialties in different disciplines.

We had decided to meet at Taix French Restaurant on Sunset Blvd. in part because I thought I might go to see the Dodgers play the Indians. We were SO CLOSE to the stadium, but we didn't finish up until after the game started (we were chatting nearly three hours) and I was beat up, having gotten up at 3:50 that morning.

I had about an hour drive down to Orange County where I am staying. It was fun to listen to the legendary Vin Scully call the CLE/LAD game on the radio. He's been their broadcaster since 1950. Once I got back I stayed up a bit, finished the game, discovered I had a full-sized refrigerator, sink, dishwasher, microwave and two stove top burners in my room (it's a Candlewood Suites hotel) so I went and got some food before I went to bed.

Saddleback Worship Conference

2008-06-18T22:46:00.003-04:00

I am looking forward to attending my third worship conference at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. I can't believe it will be my third time going. I originally did not make plans to attend this year because I just went last year. But once I found out my buddies from Akron were going, I decided it was too hard passing up hanging out with them again.

I am leaving RDU Friday morning at 6:00AM. Day one is a personal day, looking forward to visiting with my cousin. I hope to update this blog with my experiences as I attend several services in Orange County and Los Angeles churches over the weekend. Follow me here, on Facebook, Youtube, and of course on Twitter as I constantly update my status with the events and workshops I hope to attend.

If you do anything in church music, either as a staffer at a church or as a volunteer, at a small church or a large church, this is a great conference and I hope you can attend it some time!

This conference looks to be well-connected with my buddy Rich Kirkpatrick already setting up the official worship conference blog. The conference site is here, the macro schedule here, and you can download the individual workshops we have to choose from here.

No More Google Browser Sync

2008-06-13T22:23:00.006-04:00

Just minutes after posting a twitter that I'm considering moving to Firefox 3, I read this post from Lifehacker about how Google will be discontinuing support for their own Firefox extension, Google Browser Sync for the new version of Firefox.

This tool, which I have written about before, synchronizes your bookmark and password data across all the computers you use. It usually worked pretty well too, as I have had four browsers all synced together with it.

It was a tough call, but we decided to phase out support for Browser Sync. Since the team has moved on to other projects that are keeping them busy, we don't have time to update the extension to work with Firefox 3 or to continue to maintain it.

So, since I've become so accustomed to this feature, I've began to look for other options. Fortunately the article already provided a few suggestions including one for Foxmark, which not only allows synchronization across your several computer's browsers, but allows you to log in from anywhere on any computer and access and edit your bookmarks.

We're big Foxmarks fans around here—in fact, we always thought that Foxmarks beat Google Sync when it came to bookmarks.

So I've registered one computer so far with Foxmarks and I'll try it out on a couple of other machines and see how it goes. Oh, and Foxmarks is very much looking forward to the release of Firefox 3. One more thing to try to smooth the transition! Do you sync your browsers?

UPDATE: I don't think I will make the move to FF3 until the Silverlight/MLB bug gets fixed. Apparently, Major League Baseball games cannot be watched in FF3!

From the office of redundancy office

2008-06-13T00:31:00.005-04:00

We had an interesting portion of the afternoon today getting the kids' pictures taken. The photographer was great, the kids were great and they actually seemed to be having fun getting in the various poses and laughing at the photographer's corny jokes.

As we stood around waiting for the pictures to "upload," so that we could choose the prints we wanted (the result of which yielded a customer service experience I don't even want to get into now as a colossal rant would ensue, raging against bad training, under-empowered employees, presumption that the consumers are technology idiots, and frankly a deliberately executed formula to undermine any integrity), I spotted this sign at the desk stating the hours of operation. I couldn't resist and snapped a picture of it with my phone.

Tell me if I'm missing something. Wouldn't it have been easier to just indicate the hours as Monday-Saturday?