Where to Eat? LV Day 2

I know, I'm behind on my posts. As I have mentioned, my internet options are very limited. It is so unbelievable, and ironic, even, that the one place where the greatest concentration of tech minds are gathered, internet is scarce or unavailable all together. But don't get me started. I'm paying $10.99 for a 24 hour internet connection right now so I'm squeezing in all I can. We leave for home tomorrow, my internet runs out in about an hour, so I'm going to try to get this post off before I run out of time!

We flew in on Saturday night, technically that was day 1. Sunday was our first full day, however, so day 2 was Tuesday and here are some pictures and commentary of places we went, ate, and explored. Janet's probably right, people like pictures, so here are some pictures...

Where we ate Monday night.

A picture of something, not sure what, on the strip.

Inside the Venetian.

DB and Neil waiting for a romantic gondola ride.

Yeah right, notice the price!

Good ensemble--nice gig! playing to....

....these people. Notice the sky on the ceiling.

Rafael would be proud!

NAB Day 1

It is really hard to describe how big this thing is. For anyone who has ever been to the LV Convention Center, you will have a pretty good idea when I tell you that it consumes the North, Central, South lower and South upper Halls, plus the Hilton across the parking lot, where I believe a few keynotes and things like that are being delivered.

We started off the day heading straight for the Apple display, where they were demoing the release of Final Cut 2. A very impressive demonstration of the power and intuition of the video editing software. Actually, they've bundled several software items into that one package so it's pretty impressive. The rest of the day was spent watching a few demos of various software and hardware products from companies such as Sony, Panasonic, JVC, etc. High Def stuff, displays, cameras, it's all kind of overload. At lunch, after having wondered around for a while by myself, Tim asked me what I thought. I answered that I was somewhere between overwhelmed and bored.

The Apple Final Cut 2 Presentation

Neil's jaw was perpetually dropped open as cool new feature after feature was revealed.

We are here as a team primarily to research SAN server information so that we can hopefully set up a high capacity video editing server that can be shared over fiber and edited on several work stations. It has been very interesting to be on a lot of these conversations of discovery and planning. I've learned a lot so far.


These pictures were taken on the stairs halfway between the upper and lower South Halls. One, looking left, one looking right. I can't even show the full size of the hall with these shots. Take what you see and multiply it by four, plus some things outside, which I'll show tomorrow.

The Dam Tour

Here are some things I didn't know about Hoover Dam:

It is 760 feet tall.



It straddles the boarder of Nevada and Arizona.


It was built during the depression.



It has smaller generators that provide the power needed to run the dam itself.

Ninety-Six people "officially" died while building the dam. Those were official government numbers of people who died on site. The distinction is important since those (in the hundreds) who died in the ambulence or at the hospital later on were not counted in the official government numbers, nor were their families awarded government compensation for their losses.


It provides electricity for parts of California, Arizona, and Nevada.



Where we were in the generator room, behind us, there was 450 feet of concrete between us and Lake Mead at a depth of 300 feet!

Here the guys are looking at some fish in the lake.

Church in Vegas

Part of the reason for coming to Las Vegas the day before the NAB show started was to have an opportunity to go to a church. The cool thing was that we had [almost] our whole music programming and media staff with us (we had to leave some behind to run the ship! (thanks Mike and Nathan!)

The church we decided to go to is a larger church by attendance. The Church's name is Central Christian. It is located off a major highway and finding it didn't seem to present too many problems. We were able to go to first time visitor's parking right up by the building. It looked like regular attenders had to park in the "dust" parking lot, which was really just a cleared dirt area. There's plenty of dirt here.



The service began about ten to fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled start time with a couple of praise songs led by the worship band. The band featured a leader playing acoustic, an electric lead, an electric rhythm player, a bass player, drummer, B-3/keyboard guy (who also doubled as a vocalist), a "front" female (soprano), plus to "back" vocals, two guys and another girl, who was covering alto. So all together, there were four guys and two girls, vocally.



From a technical standpoint, the look was outstanding. It should come as no surprise that a church in the Las Vegas area who wants to push the presentation envelop not only has plenty of resources to draw from in terms of expertise, but also is uniquely aware of what is possible. Walking into the room, you're greeted with a techno-idustrial look, house lights way down, a blue look on the stage, and a sense that something was about to happen.

The house presentation featured four front screens. Two on the off-stage outside provided I-mag and song lyric content, while the screens on the stage in the background provided visual effects, complemented by the LED display installed in symmetrical fashion in the back ground. The visual coordination and feel and look of the stage was nice.



One of the things that frustrate many churches is the ability to mix sound in a large room. This room was no exception. From what I remember, there was a great deal of low end, which is great. There was plenty of bass, but as you continued on up the frequency spectrum, the clarity diminished severely. The lead voice was always pushed out front, but secondary voices were hard to pick out. We watched all morning as the B-3 player worked and worked on his instrument, but we never once heard it. OK--I heard it once. Literally, once.

The players were having a great time, they were all connected musically to one another by IEMs which meant that they each probably had the sound in their ears exactly the way they wanted it.

So the "sermon" was presented as an interview between the senior pastor and someone I had never heard of, "Dog, the Bounty Hunter." He apparently has a big show on A&E where he, as a former felon, is tasked with hunting down other wanted criminals.

He came across as being somewhere between a WWF wrestler and a NFL running back. Cocky, self-assured, but articulate, a good story teller, and larger than life. He conveyed to all of us from Providence a vague understanding of God. He did this by acknowledging any good thing that happened in his life seemed accidental or fortuitous at best, as being directed by God somehow--with the help of his "crazy" praying, Christian mother.

What frustrated me was that the pastor did nothing to steer the conversation toward Christ. We brought our Bibles, but never once cracked them open, even the music, as slick as it was, tended toward pronoun-centricity, never rich with theology, never a hint, really, of theology. Here was a church who had thousands of people attend over five weekend services, and they all heard exactly the same thing: God (or the big guy upstairs, as "Dog" referred to him) has got your back.

When the interview was over, and the guest accepted the cheers and adoration of the "congregation," there came from the senior pastor an inexplicable offer to pray a prayer of salvation by repeating after him. There was no context for it, it just seemed perfunctory and out of no where.

So here's the question: Is this all a problem? Really?

The lady beside me repeated after the pastor to receive Christ. Did she? Who did she come for? "Dog," or Christ? Is it ok to lure the entertainment-centric Vegas community in with something fun to then say, "oh yeah, don't forget about Jesus...?"

Can we use any means possible to bring people into a church, entertain them, show them a glimpse of Christ, then hope they desire it for some reason, and plead with them after they've shown interest to join a small group where they'll really grow?

Are we comfortable in saying that we need a guy like "Dog the Bounty Hunter" to show up at our church because we don't believe the gospel alone is sufficient enough nor powerful enough to attract people?

Day 1 In Las Vegas

Welcome to Las Vegas

What am I doing in Las Vegas? NAB. But along the way, we're checking out a few other cool things.

Immediately off the plane, we were greeted with the most common thing seen around here. This is right inside the gate!



I wondered around the casino in the hotel we're staying in and tried to figure out the roulette table. I saw a great deal of money exchanging hands, mostly in the form of chips. The chips represented a dollar each. We're not staying in a high-stakes hotel. However, I saw one guy drop two Ben Franklin's on Red. $200 in the hopes that the little ball would end up on something red, not black or green. It landed on black. He lost $200. Sorry.

I watched another guy feed a $100 bill into a $0.25 slot machine. I thought to myself, "oh, this oughta last for a while."

He was done in less than 90 seconds. Apparently, you can bet in several multiples of the original twenty-five cents, as well as all sorts of variations related to which line everything will stop on. Kinda weird.

As far as the city, it's odd. Surrounded by mountains, clearly in the desert, it seems a bit out of place. I thought it was interesting how the pyramid hotel, the one with the light shining out of the top of it straight up into the sky can be seen from just about anywhere in the area (I know, that's the whole idea!) I took a picture of the light, kinda cool.



Oh, and the stretch hummer. That was here at our hotel.



More will be coming as I get a chance. I am surprised and fairly disappointed with our hotel. It's like staying at an airport. And it's one of the least expensive ones around. I heard it's like a ghetto compared to some of the other high-end casino/hotels here. You not only pay for everything, you pay extra for everything. Two big examples: There is a safe in our room. Nice, right? Well, you have to put two quarters in per use. What?

Second: Internet access. Wireless? Oh yeah, it's there, nice and strong signal, but what? We have to pay $10.99 per 24 hour period for the privilege to us it. I haven't given in to that yet. I am using a free Wifi louge here at the convention center. More on that later....

Oh...and another thing...I had been planning on visiting the local Y here for my work outs. Good plan, right, well, I found out that there's an exercies room at our hotel. So, I go take a look at it. Yeah, it will do, reasonable amount of equipment, I'll use it instead of driving around and trying to find the Y. But wait. It costs $5 extra to use. What? OK, so I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and go use it. You have to go to the front desk in the morning to get the key (card) for the room. So here I am at the front desk at 6:15 AM, asking for the key.

"oh, it doesn't open until 7:30." WHAT? Dumb. I'll be at the Y tomorrow morning!

Travis and Katherine

I got a pretty good view of the ceremony from my spot at the piano. Nice ceremony, they held it together, and Chip did a great job as well. I don't think I've ever been a part of a wedding where the bridal party was so huge! I had to play while eight girls came down the isle. Fortunately, it was a small auditorium so it didn't take them too long!

Congratulations to Travis and Katherine who are honeymooning in Ireland!

Overheard at the Y

On Wednesdays I do a chest workout. I end by doing three sets of push ups to failure. That isn't important, but you should know this is why I overheard the following conversation. (While I was resting, and resting, and resting....)

Next to me, on a floor mat was a woman, mid-late 40's, I guess, stretching and contorting in some crazy fashion after pilates or yoga or some combination thereof. An acquaintance of hers, on the other end of the exercise mat asked her this:

"So do you miss teaching at State?"
Yoga woman: "I didn't at first but I've been missing it more and more lately."
Friend: "Are you a doctor?"
Yoga woman: "I have my Ph. D., yeah."
Friend: "What's it in?"
Yoga woman: "Thermodynamics"

So I haven't been able to get that conversation out of my mind. I wonder what it would be like to have a Ph. D. and then, for some reason, decide not to use it. It sounded like she took some time off (several years) to be with her kids while they were young.

I sometimes think about getting a Ph. D. but for me it would likely be more for the experience and growth rather than actually using it the way most people do. Both UNC and Duke offer Ph. D. degrees in musicology, but I'm scared to death of the language requirements. (German or French just to get in, plus two other languages by completion (Italian, German/French, Latin)). The actual course work would probably seem easy compared to the languages.

A Composition degree doesn't really interest me. The admission requirements are difficult, as they should be, and though I enjoy trying out an orchestration every once in a while, my passion is not composition.

The other question of earning another degree is the "what for" question. I want to learn more, and I guess if I'm going to go to the trouble I might as well earn something along the way. Oh, maybe some day.

Our New Van

Here are some pictures of the new van. Nothing fancy, and actually, nothing new, just new to us.


And yes, I've checked, rust is at a minimum on this thing. The shock towers look great as well as the body, a scratch here or there, nothing major, but no evidence of rust. So, no bells and whistles, just a regular, hopefully reliable van that will last us another 100,000 miles or more!

New Van

What's wrong with this van?

Nothing, right? Looks like a 1996 Grand Caravan in reasonable shape, but there are problems. Two big problems under the hood.

I didn't know what a shock tower was until I had two mechanics in the last year tell me that the rust is really bad on this van and that I should really consider getting rid of it "in the next year." What?

I figured these guys were not used to seeing Ohio rust. But this was an exceptional rust job! The shock towers house the shocks and springs. The shock is bolted to the top of the tower and the whole weight of the van rests on the shocks and the springs. Of course, the shocks are supposed to absorb the impact of uneven roads and along the help of the springs.

So anyway, the rust is eating away at the top of the towers. This, as you can imagine will be problematic soon as eventually, the steel will give way, the springs will pop through the top of the tower, and the van will be crippled, probably worthless.





So we made an upgrade. Remembering our experience with a certain Previa that got us to 352,000 miles, we went back to Toyota, with the purchase of a Sienna (sorry, no picture!)

Feeling Prepared

This has not been my week.

I know--it's only Wednesday.

I walked into my office on Sunday morning to the sound of all five (or more?) fans on my G5 up at full speed. That is not a good sign. Usually this means the computer was reset for some reason--probably due to a power outage. Sure enough, there was a fire that effected several thousand people Friday night. All I remember seeing was a flicker, but I live on the other side of town.

Anyway, rebooting the computer did nothing. It gave me the usual Mac startup sound, but then nothing. Like it was stuck in neutral. No hard drive noise, no display at all. Nothing. I shut it down and tried it again, and again, and again.

On Monday I took it to the Mac store (thankfully just up the street) but the warranty had expired so to my surprise, the guy behind the desk suggested I try an authorized Apple tech in town that would save me some money over using the Apple repair.

So that's where I took it. They diagonised the issue as a faulty video card. I should have my computer tomorrow.

BUT--the thing that saved me was an external hard drive. Not just the hard drive but a little software program called SuperDuper. Months ago I set it to backup my internal hard drive. After making an initial backup of everything on the drive, every night around 11:00pm it backs up anything from the day that had changed or had been added. This keeps it very current and keeps the backup fairly short.

So, the very last chart I edited, pdf I ran off, mp3 I added on Thursday was backed up and available for me. All I had to do was plug the drive into my laptop and everything I needed was there.

The only thing I couldn't do was create charts. I didn't take the time to try to configure this computer for the midi and keyboard settings, plus, even though I had access to Finale, I could not use it to print or save since two instances of it had already been registered on two different computers.

So friends, take my advice, even though it appears my hard drive is ok, I've been without my computer all week, but not my data! It could have been a lot worse.

Favicon

I spent a good portion of this afternoon trying to be clever. It turns out, I'm not so clever.

Have you ever noticed the little icons in the location line you your browser? It's called a "favicon." The blogger template kind of comes with one, but I decided to try to put my own up there.

After digging around, I found a simple little graphics editor/creator for OS X, and I made this little icon on the right. A little more research revealed that this little icon (a favicon.ico file) is a 16X16 bit file in 4 bit colors. This means that it would not be a matter of simply reducing my original icon, but the colors would never work as well, since they are out of the scope of 16 bit colors.

So I downloaded "graphics converter" and tried to create a little 16X16 version of what you see above. It ended up looking ok, but then I couldn't get blogger to read it and incorporate it. I used code I found from a website, but as you can see, all I get is a "can't fine this file" icon. (At least that's what it looks like in Firefox).

So how does MLB.com do it? They have red white and blue (basic colors), but the resolution seems much greater than 16 bits. What about the Apple favicon? It has smooth rounded edges. I'm starting to think that the whole 16 bit thing isn't really true.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Oh yeah, is "PB" too obvious?

Church Evangelism

This is AWESOME! Thanks to Jeff for bringing it to my attention. Give it a chance. It gets better as it goes on. Kind of like a Christian Ask a Ninja.

Sounds like a train

Not to trivialize recent tornadic events around the country, but I am curious, what did they say a tornado sounds like before the train was invented?

Quote of the Day

Jack Bauer [yelling at a guy while pointing a gun at him]:

Interlace your fingers.

Who talks like this?


[examining a guy who just got shot in the arm, without even removing his sleeve]:

It went clean through, didn't hit any major arteries, you'll be fine.

Jack Bauer, M.D.

[upon realizing his father tried to have him killed]:

How could I have been so stupid?

You go, Jack!

Shark

There's a show on CBS that I began watching a few weeks ago. It's called Shark. It's about a LA (where else?) DA who specializes in solving high-profile criminal cases. I've maybe seen four or five episodes. There is a clear and unfortunately, predictable formula that is emerging. Viewers of this will know what I'm talking about.

1. A crime is committed. This is usually a murder. We only see glimpses and flashes. It's never clear exactly what happened, but we know it can't be good.
2. Shark, the DA, who has no life, immediately appears on the crime scene, talks fast, barks orders, and returns home where he struggles to have a relationship with his almost-college-aged daughter.
3. Evidence starts to become clear. It points to Shark's initial hunch. Who's guilty? A spouse, usually. Things are going well. The trial starts but you know things are going a little too well. There is, after all, a half-hour left. Something has to go wrong. Sure enough,
4. something comes out of nowhere. It is usually an unexpected person, an unlikely piece of evidence, or a simple oversight on the part of the suave DA A-team. Totally disrupts the plan. It looks like the one we thought a minute a go was so going to jail is about to get off free. Is he really guilty?
5. But wait. Someone says something. Something that's maybe always been there but always overlooked comes to Shark's Holmes-like attention, and ah-ha, with 15 minutes left, he yells more orders to his team, go find out this, get someone to admit to this, stall this person and before you know it,
6. we're back in court in the closing scene, showing that Shark's instincts were right after all and presto-chango, original suspect goes to jail.

So what's the problem with this? A good mystery seems like it oughta supply the viewer (or reader) with all the necessary information up front, so that we can play along at home. This doesn't happen. We can guess at certain details to try to fill in the blanks, but there's no Matlock-like put-it-all-together at the end, only new material that of course would point to an obvious conclusion. I don't watch crime shows for some reason, and maybe this is why. This show, if it represents the popular genre, is far too tidy. One hour, crime committed, suspect nabbed, suspect almost gets off, DA discovers something (along with the viewers), back to the court room, suspect found guilty, DA makes a cleaver quip toward the unlikely chief DA, reconciles with his daughter in some sub-plot, and just like in real life, wraps it up in an hour.

I'm already board with it...I thought I once liked it. I guess my Thursday night TV viewing is just gonna be a half hour of 30 Rock. Maybe some Office too.

Knight Rider's KITT up for sale

This is a picture-perfect reproduction of the Knight Industries 2000. Unfortunately, after all that money and man-hours, the gooey center is still an '80s F-Body. Canadian seller zapper80 has done an awesome job putting this car together, and claims a cost of over $40,000 CDN. For all of us kids of the 80's.



read more | digg story

Say What?

A recent pre-meeting conversation:

Patty[who is from Georgia]: Sheri, did you bring the peanuts?
Brian[who is most definitely not from Georgia]: You like peanuts?
Patty: Oh yes, Bob and I eat them all the time
Brian: Do you buy them in the shell so you have to crack them out?
Patty: Yeah, we like them that way.
Brian: I LOVE peanuts--eat them a lot! (they're the perfect snack!)
Patty: I like to eat them balled.
Brian: Balled?
Patty: Yeah, I really like them that way.
Brian: Balled. I've never heard of that before. Balled?
Patty: Yeah, you know, put them in hot water, then drain it and eat them.
Brian: Oh, you mean "boiled?"
Patty: Yeah, that's what I said, "balled."
Brian: No, you said "balled." I've never heard of "Balling" something. I have, however heard of "boiling" something--though never peanuts.
Patty: Well, "BOY-ALed" peanuts are good.
Brian: Ok, I'll have to try them some time.

This Day in History

A very significant event happened today many years ago. It sent cultural shock waves around the country. It was an arrival anticipated like no other arrival. It had a profound musical impact on the nation, and really, the world. We have never been the same since. What happened on this day so many years ago? Click here to find out. (If you click on this link AFTER Feb 7, you'll have to follow the link then change the date to see what I'm talking about)

Guaranteed to waste your time!

Vote for your favorite Superbowl commercial!

Personalized Plates

I recently registered our vehicles. On the form there was a little check box asking if we wanted to change our plates to a personalized plate. I've always ignored that check-box. But this time around, for some reason, I actually gave it some thought.

People often select cryptic plate ideas based on their own personal interests or skills. I just can't see myself being pretentious enough to drive down the street with a plate that reads "JAZZMAN" or "PIANOGUY." I would need something a little more geekish. Something that only others in the know would get.

North Carolina offers this site where you can type in your ideas and see if its been used by someone else. I checked, both "88 KEYS", "88 KEYZ", and "TRIBEFAN" are taken. But as I said, those aren't quite my style. It's tricky to fit your personality into just eight characters.

If I were to get personalized plates, I might choose from something a little more obtuse, like these (and they're all available):

• TRITONE
• SHARP 9
• BOETHIUS
• THE JAKE
• GUIDO 5
• POCKETS
• FMAJ7#11

What would YOU choose?

So many books, so little time

I have two books I'm currently reading, and many in the queue.

I've just gotten into Terry Pluto's Faith and You (thanks Rob!). A series of essays on daily life and perspective. Pluto is a sports writer for the Akron Beacon Journal, but came to know the Lord and now makes contributions to the religion section of the paper as well. He has great sources inside the Indian's and Brown's front office.

The other book I'm into is a book recommended to me by Bill. It's a book entitled Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069. The authors, Neil Howe and William Strauss show some very interesting data regarding generational cycles in America. They are not saying that you can see this in other countries, but they believe they have found a pattern of historical cycle that can act as an accurate predictor of what may lie ahead.

It's going to be hard to reproduce their chart, but as an example (I'll try),

Year Historical Example:	Year 0 1901-24		Year 22 1925-42	Year 44 1943-60		Year 66 1961-81
Elder Age 66-87	Progressive (Adaptive) sensitive	[Secular Crisis]	Missionary (Idealist) visionary	Lost (Reactive) reclusive	[Spiritual Awakening]	G.I. Civic (busy)
Midlife Age 44-65	Missionary (Idealist) moralistic	[Secular Crisis]	Lost (Reactive) pragmatic	G.I. (Civic) powerful	[Spiritual Awakening]	Silent (Adaptive) indecisive
Rising Age 22-43	Lost (Reactive) alienated	[Secular Crisis]	G.I. (Civic) heroic	Silent (Adaptive) conformist	[Spiritual Awakening]	Boom (Idealist) narcissistic
Youth Age 0-21	G.I. (Civic) protected	[Secular Crisis]	Silent (Adaptive) suffocated	Boom (Idealist) indulged	[Spiritual Awakening]	Thirteenth (Reactive) criticized

I've actually combined a few of their tables into this one. The years across the top are birth years, the far left column shows the ages. You should also understand this chart diagonally, rising from lower left to upper right as the people in the "generational cohorts" age together.

The interesting thing is, according to the author (and it would make sense) that each generation enters the same secular crisis or spiritual awakening at the same time, but at different points in their lives. The result is that they react differently to each one.

Here is a very interesting (at least to me) section of the book:

How can this cycle exist in a complicated world? To be sure, history has its good and bad surprises and accidents, its good and bad actors...Some would say instinctively that history is too cluttered to allow for our kind of cycle. But such a prejudice focuses too closely on events without sufficient attention to the response those events generate. It is the response that determines the social moment. Compare, for example, the American response to World War I and World War II. Both wars were preceded by aggressive foreign acts (the sinking of the Lusitania, the air attack on Pearl Harbor). In one case, Congress waited two years before declaring war; in the other case, it declared war the next day. In one case, the war helped propel divisive movements like Prohibition; in the other, the nation mobilized as a single organism. Both wars ended in a total victory-but in one case, soldiers came home to moral nagging and vice squads; in the other, they came home to ticker-tape parades. Both wars strengthened America's influence overseas-but in one case, that influence was quickly squandered; in the other, it was consolidated over the next two decades.
Why? When a society is in the midst of a Crisis era, as America was in 1941, generational forces tend to congeal a secular crisis from whatever exogenous events arise...Indeed, the generational cycle has significantly influenced how Americans have acted during and after every major war in their history. Which wars occurred in comparable constellational moods? The Revolution and World War II (Crisis eras) The War of 1812 and Korea (Outer-Driver eras). The French and Indian War and World War I (Inner-Driven eras). What many historians consider the nation's most misguided wars, the Spanish-American and Vietnam--were waged druing the social turmoil of Awakening eras. These parallels are instructive. They suggest how fortunate America may have been that the world's hour of fascist peril came when it did, and not a quarter century earlier or later.

I'm only on chapter five!

Readings in War

For anyone who's interested, I thought I'd share what my reading has been of late.

I recently finished a book entitled The Illusion of Victory: Americans in World War I by Thomas Fleming.

One of the crazy things about my developing interest in history is that it's really hard to know where to start. A few years ago, I was curious about how World War II started, so I did what any reasonably savvy computer user would do and checked out wikipedia and a few other Google searches. Almost every article or essay on the subject of the beginnings of World War II began with a statement something like this: "To fully understand the reasons for the start of the second World War, one must understand the reasons for the start of World War I, and the failure of the Treaty of Versailles.

Well, I knew little about World War II, I knew even less about World War I. So, I went on a little hunt, and found a great book: A Storm in Flanders. I've commented on this book before. I really found it very interesting, and as the war was, very depressing. This book focused on the Great War mostly from the European viewpoint, though the author's intent was to write it for Americans who knew little about the war.

Fleming's book, Illusion of Victory, focuses on America's involvement in the war, and primarily focuses on Woodrow Wilson's failure as president to guide the country into the war (after running for re-election with the slogan "He kept us out of war"), and his failure as diplomat as he asserted himself as an almost unwelcomed negotiator for peace on the European stage.

One of the most startling things I took from this book is how unbelievably deceptive and censoring the federal government became toward it's citizens. People live in a great deal of ignorance about the current conflict in Iraq (and I use the term "conflict" intentionally since the 2nd World War was technically the last war declared by the US). If more people had a better sense of history, (and I can say I only feel like I'm getting my bearings lately), they would be surprised at what the Wilson administration (and later the Roosevelt administration) sanctioned regarding propaganda, what we would consider political "incorrectness" today, and stubborn political unilateralism. If you weren't on board with Wilson, too bad, he was gonna do things the way he wanted them done.

As I am learning, the problem with history is that it is hard to know where to start. I have now gained a broader appreciation for the start of WW II because of understanding WW I a little better. However, there were world events that took place before WW I that influenced it! Many US military commanders of World War I got their experience from fighting in the Spanish-American War! Now who can tell me something about THAT?

More on other books I've reading to come....

Confused?

Maybe this will help you understand the whole AT&T, Cingular, SBC thing...

Are you kidding me?

This little blurb just came in an email to me on an account I rarely check. Does anyone else find this slightly ironic? Or am I just too cynical?

It used to be that you could sit down and watch an evening football game with your children without fear of them being exposed to inappropriate material. Sadly, that's no longer the case as was proven Saturday night during the Fox broadcast of the NFL playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and the Philadelphia Eagles.

During a cutaway shot to the stadium spectators, the camera focused directly on a woman wearing a t-shirt clearly inscribed with the words "F--k Da Eagles" (without the dashes). The shot stayed focused on the woman and her shirt for several seconds. There can be no doubt that this was an intentional airing of patently offensive language on the public airwaves, as the person wearing the profane t-shirt was chosen by Fox Network's broadcast crew from more than 70,000 spectators in the stadium. The camera operator selected that particular woman and the director and/or producers of the event made an affirmative and conscious decision to air the shot from that particular camera, forcing the f-word into millions of homes. Furthermore, the v-chip would not and could not have protected children and families from the type of content evidenced here.

To view the offensive scene, click here. WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT

Fans on the East Coast saw this obscenity televised during the Family Hour (8:30 p.m. ET) -- but it aired at 5:30 p.m. in the evening on the West Coast.

That was the content of the email. Weird. Call Fox now, by the way.

New Year, New Work Out

I've been fairly consistent over the last few years going to the Y and working out each morning. It's hard to tell, I know. The matching component to a good work out is a good diet. I at least have a decent work out.

I have, however, decided to mix things up a bit. I've become too predictable so I created a new 10-day cyclical work out for myself that hits the whole body, with each exercise hitting the muscles in a slightly different way. With the help of my friend Bill, who is also joining me on this venture (though I'm not sure he knew what he was getting himself into!), I'm excited to kind of push myself a bit more than in the past. For all you weight lifting friends out there, join me on this routine!

Week 1

Monday - Back

• Deadlifts
• Front Cable Pulldowns
• Straight Arm Push Downs
• One Arm Cable Rows
• T-Bar Rows
• Bent Over Row

This is followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio with my heart rate in the range of 130-140 bpm.

Tuesday - Legs

• Squats
• Leg Press
• Lunges
• Straight Leg Dead Lifts
• Standing Calf Raise
• Seated Calf Raise

Wednesday - Chest

• Flat Bench Press
• Incline Bench Press
• Decline Dumbbell Flys
  
• High Cable Crossovers
• Dips
• Push ups (three sets each to failure)

This is followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio with my heart rate in the range of 130-140 bpm.

Thursday - Arms

• Heavy Barbell curls
• Concentration curls (preacher bench)
• Hammer Curls
• High Pulley Curls
• Bar Press Down
• Kick Backs
• Lying Tricep extensions (Skull Crushers)
  
• One Arm Reverse Pulldowns

Friday - Shoulders

• Machine Press
• Front Raises
• Cable Lateral Raises
• Machine Laterals
• Behind head Smith Press
• Incline Bench Raises (face down)
• Upright Rows
• Front Shrugs

This is followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio with my heart rate in the range of 130-140 bpm.

Saturday or Sunday - 40 minute walk

Week 2

Monday - Back

• Pull Ups
• Behind head Lat Pulldowns
• Close Grip Pulldowns
• Seated Rows (separate handles)
• One Arm Dumbbell rows
• Good mornings

This is followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio with my heart rate in the range of 130-140 bpm.

Tuesday - Legs

• Smith Squat (legs out front)
• Front Squat (weight on shoulders in front of head)
• Leg Extensions
• Leg Curls (face down)
• Seated Calf Press
• Seated Calf Raise

Wednesday - Chest

• Pullovers
• Machine Press
• Machine Flys
• Decline Press
• Low Cable Cross over
• Push ups to failure (three sets)

This is followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio with my heart rate in the range of 130-140 bpm.

Thursday - Arms

• Heavy Barbell curls
• Incline Dumbbell Curls
• Wide Grip Barbell Curls
• Close Grip Barbell Curls (preacher bench)
• Rope Press Down
• Seated Tricep Press
• Machine Extensions
• Dips

Friday - Shoulders

• Arnold Presses
• Front Raises
• Lateral Raises
• Machine Laterals
• Behind the head Smith Press
• Cable Rear Laterals
• Rear Shrugs
• Front Shrugs

This is followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio with my heart rate in the range of 130-140 bpm.

Saturday or Sunday - 40 minute walk

Tuesdays and Thursdays I usually start with a little rotator cuff exercises after a five minute warm up, just to maintain those muscles.


My goals--

I would love to get to where I can do three sets of 10 pull ups each.
I once benched 285. That was before "the accident." It would be nice to get close to that again.
I used to try to squat 225 but two things happened. 1) I had a little pain in my right knee--a sure sign I was trying too much, but 2) someone told me my form was wrong so I went back to 135 and I'm working my way back up with correct form. I'm at 185 now.

In three months, I'll try to change this whole thing up again.

I am a Google junkie

If Google ever crashed, I'd be in trouble. I was just thinking about all the Google services I use:

• This blog lives on a Google server somewhere
• I have three gmail accounts
• I use the Google servers to sync my firefox bookmarks/passwords/cookies between my home computer and work computer
• My default map is Google Maps
• I have made phone calls from the Google map to a business where it says "click here to call"
• I have texted myself data from Google maps about a business address/phone number
• I enjoy using Google Earth a lot--it's a great teaching tool for the kids as well (version 4.0 was just released)
• I have gone completely to Google Calendar, which very soon will be able to fully sync with iCal.
• It's my default search in Firefox
• I have an adsense account
• I use their Docs and Spreadsheets (though I actually had an account with Writely before Google purchased it)
• I manage my digital photos with Picassa
• I distribute my photos online with Google/Picassa picture share
• I love doing searches using scholar.google.com
• I use Google chat
• Google News is one of my news bookmarks
  
• Froogle is the first place I search when I want to buy a product I don't normally purchase
• I have subscribed to usenet groups through Google
• I like to search through Google Video

Are there any Google services that you use that I don't know about?

I got dugg

For those of you who follow digg, you may have already seen this. I submitted a picture I stumbled upon, put it in the offbeat news section and got to the front page! The digg totals are piling up. It's at 2444 as of this post. Go digg it!

If you sign up at digg, let me know your user name so I can add you to my friends list.

Great Extension

For those of you who use Firefox, (and if you don't, WHY don't you?) there's a GREAT extension I just discovered that really enhances the tab experience. It's called Tab Mix Plus. I would disable your other tab extensions and install this one. I think it only functions in FF 2.0 or higher. Tell me what you think. I really dig it. (Digg it).

Song in my head

Yesterday I woke up with a tune in my head. Not MY tune, some one else's tune. One of those days. I just couldn't get it out of my head no matter what. In the shower, it was there. Breakfast, the same. We went for a walk and I was grooving to it (hopefully no one knew it). I played my Christmas music station on the computer through Pandora. Once the music stopped or I walked away from the computer, it came back. I was whistling it off and on all day. I don't even really know the words.

It's not like it's a bad tune. I actually rather like it. I could have been worse. Could have been Feliz Navidad. It could have been Gilligan's Island. Thankfully it wasn't.

Does this ever happen to you?

What was my song for the day yesterday? Van Morrison's Moondance. Don't ask me why.

Beauty and the Beast

We had the DVD from Blockbuster's mail service sitting by our TV for probably three weeks or so. Just never got around to watching it. Finally, I was able to convince my wife to give it a try. We put the kids to bed, popped some popcorn and put on Peter Jackson's King Kong.

I had seen this version of the movie once before. In the theater when it was released. If you have never seen PJ's version of King Kong, you should rent it. It takes a while to get moving, but we have to decide that we like Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and are at least suspicious of Carl Denham (Jack Black). Liking Ann was easy, and Carl was easy to like--and dislike as Jack Black did his con-artisty job of getting everyone he needed imprisoned on a ship bound for an uncharted isle. (Sounds like the makings of a bad sit-com).

PJ's version of this story is a little bit like Kong meets Jurassic Park. It's a long movie too. It took us two nights to watch the whole thing. Janet watched about two-thirds of it then decided it was time for her to go to bed.

As I watched this movie again, a thought struck me. There would never have been a story if anyone other than Ann/Naomi had been taken by the big ape. I mean, suppose the smug film director Carl/Jack was taken away by Kong. The rest of the guys from the boat would have said (in their best Seinfeld voice), "Hum, yeah, that's a shame," and probably would have booked it on out of there. But since the lovely Ann/Naomi went missing, all the guys just had to go after her. Had Jack gone missing, it would have been a much shorter story.

Let's see....which would YOU have gone after?

So here are some questions of logistics: 1) Once knocked out by a singular bottle of chloriform, how did they get Mr. Kong up onto/into the boat? 2) Are there really any more uncharted islands? 3) How did the natives come up with the technology to keep Kong out of their quaint little settlement? 4) What girl in her right mind would scale the Empire State Building? 5) Are there really that many ladders and steps to the top? 6) Could one stand at the top really? with a 25 foot monkey? 7) Come on now, can Kong really beat up three T-rex dinosaurs? 8) if you're a passer-by in Manhattan and there's a big ape on top of the ESB, and planes are firing on him to kill, would you stand down there at the foot of the building waiting for him to fall? 9) if you're Jack Driscoll/Adrien Brody, how do you feel coming in a close second to a big ape? That can't help your self-esteem.

Millions of bags of Doritos wash up on NC beach (w/pictures)

A cargo container that apparently fell from a ship washed up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina today and spilled thousands of bags of Doritos brand tortilla chips on the beach. Scavengers collected the chips, which were apparently still fresh due to their airtight packaging. I wish I was there for this.

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Pet Peeve #657

People who tell me that I'm slacking because I haven't posted in a while.

In The Chair

More cool stuff found on YouTube. Ok, not to make this blog an aggregate reader of YouTube, but I wonder how my instrument learning days might have been different had this been available. It's worth watching the whole thing to see this technology. By the looks of it, it appears to be limited to instruments that can play only one note at a time since it seems to be designed to interpret pitch and rhythmic accuracy of a single note.

I'm fortunate to get to play with a great group of players every week, but for some folks, even experienced players, this looks like a great way to keep your ensemble chops up!

Rueben's Tube

One of the most interesting physics experiments I've ever seen involving sound and fire. Some one needs to email him and tell him it's "Dave BRUbeck," not "Dave bruBECK!"
Good stuff! Enjoy!

Pet Peeve #832

I used to think it was just Ohio drivers that did this. It's not. It's spread to North Carolina. Of course, it could have been a transplant...I don't know. But good grief, why put on your left turn signal, and the go to the RIGHT side of the lane in order to make your sweeping left turn?

We're on a two lane road with a nice shoulder. I could easily have gone around, but Nooooo. I have no choice but to hold up because for some reason to make a left, you have to go to the far right of the lane.

My approach has always been to go to the left most side of the lane, keep the wheels staight and let others get around me. Oh, and signal, of course.

You know you're a home owner....

....when you have to take the trash out.
....when you're concerned again about how much water you're using.
....when you make that big payment every month.
....when you begin to imagine how you might modify parts of your house's structure some day.
....when you begin to learn your neighbors' names. (apartment living is sometimes too cloistered)
.....[more from my readers?]

It's good to have a house again.

Jesus Camp

Once while flipping around the TV channels, I stopped at the Simpson's. Pretty funny show at times because they pick on everybody, leaving no one out. (I'm not suggesting that we should all start watching the show!) On this one particular evening I watched a brief scene as Flander's kids (the token "Christian" family) told the Simpson kids that they were going to church camp "...to learn how to be more judgmental."

It made me laugh.

This ABC news report about a Jesus Camp documentary reminds me of the Simpson episode because it presents a view of Christian youth and the Christian world that is skewed by a minority but then extrapolated on the rest of Christianity as a whole. Notice how the church camp footage is interwoven throughout the piece.

Bumper Sticker Theology

While driving home from work the other day, I found myself behind a Ford Focus with a bumper sticker on the back that looked something like this:

At first I chuckled. Then as I thought about it, I realized there was nothing here but mockery. There are so many assumptions and presuppositions written into those five words that actually communicates the opposite of any belief in Christ's return, or even Christ himself.

I remember Dr. Larson saying once that when he was a kid, growing up in evangelical fundamentalism, which yielded it's corresponding legalism, that if he was in a movie theater when Jesus returned, he wouldn't be taken with the rest of the Christians. This, of course, had nothing to do with salvation, nothing to do with eternal security and nothing to do with living in grace. These kind of Sunday school scare tactics have led to a kind of cynicism that leads to questioning the faith, the validity of salvation and even the eminence of Christ's return.

"Jesus is coming-look busy" implies that even if we believe in Christ's return, he is the mean boss pulling into the parking lot and we have to get back to work, close our solitaire (or worse), and "do Christian stuff." It makes Christ out to be a miser rather than a loving savior who freely gives.

It also implies that Jesus wouldn't know what we were doing before he returns, that he can be fooled or deceived. Underlying this thought too is the idea that "looking busy" is how we earn his approval. It's a works-based theology that takes us back to the middle ages in some ways. I picture the poor uneducated masses, muttering up some prayers paying some indulgences throwing in a little mysticism, and hoping for the best, not really sure if what they're doing will appease a distant Almighty, who hates them because of their sins.

Ultimately, the "look busy" theology identifies itself as a non-belief system. Since we don't know when Jesus is coming (after all, they've been saying that for 2000 years!), and since he evidently hasn't yet, let's go ahead and acknowledge what we're all feeling: we don't really want to look busy. It's far easier to do what we want, rather than to live for they guy who isn't here yet anyway.

As I looked up the words of the bumper sticker I came across an entire line of items with this silly little mantra emblazoned on them. If this is how you want to approach the return of Christ, you can proclaim it in any one of the following ways:

refrigerator magnet
a tote bag


cooking apron,

mouse pad,


doggy t-shirt,

shorts,


a badge,


a people t-shirt,


a mug, and my favorite......





a "made in the USA" thong.

86 Year Old Fla. Man Finally Pays $1 Parking Ticket From 1946!

"William Fogarty doesn't understand the fuss. He just forgot to pay a parking ticket. When he finally realized it, the 86-year-old retiree made good and mailed in a money order, to pay a $1 ticket he got 60 years ago."

I wonder how many of my creditors will be so kind and let me wait years and years to pay back my debts...

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I'm a nerd

Wow--it's worse than I thought...(Thanks a lot, Matt!)

Oscar Peterson

Someday I'll play like Oscar--OK, probably not. No one swings like Oscar--his rhythm sections are always so great...listen to how tight they are. For some real featured solo piano, go to about 6:00 in.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (Part I)

Lightening rods, libraries, fire stations, modern diplomacy, The University of Pennsylvania, the Declaration of Independence, Voltaire, and the postal service, all have Ben Franklin in common. Walter Isaacson, in his biography about Franklin does a great job of objectively and chronologically laying out Franklin's life through much research, study of letters to and from Franklin, and a bit of analysis thrown in along the way.
This 493 page hardback edition (plus another 100 pages of notes and appendices), is a very well written story of a man who intersected with so many people, activities and ideas, it seems he could have lived several lives.

Early Life

Franklin was born in 1706. He was child number seventeen and because of this could not apprentice in the family business, which was candle making. Instead, he became an apprentice to his brother in the print shop. This he began when he was only ten years old.
At age seventeen he ran away from Boston, short-changing his duties as an apprentice to his brother and went to Philadelphia. Isaacson writes that Franklin

"...had the happy talent of being at ease in almost any company, from scrappy tradesmen to wealthy merchants, scholars to rogues. His most notable trait was a personal magnetism; he attracted people who wanted to help him. Never shy, and always eager to win friends and patrons, he gregariously exploited this charm."

As Franklin arrived in Philadelphia with no money and no reputation, he journaled a manner of living that became a kind of personal credo, or at least "version one" of it. Here, at age twenty, he came up with four basic "rational" rules for how he would live his life:

1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some time, till I have paid what I owe
2. To endeavor to speak truth in every instance; to give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim at sincerity in every word and action--the most amiable excellence in a rational being.
3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of suddenly growing rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of plenty
4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever.

As a blossoming businessman in Philadelphia, Franklin continued to network, creating a club of tradesmen called the "Junto" where members of the middle class could assemble on a regular basis and learn from one another. They would share ideas, strike deals and build networks. Franklin used this network to his advantage over many years to follow.

Franklin, even as a teenager was forever writing "letters to the editor" or various essays about public policies, issues of the day, religious and moral issues, what have you. Having his own printing press gave him much opportunity to distribute his essays and political thoughts throughout Philadelphia and Pennsylvania through his newspaper. He would also print pamphlets that would be distributed through out the colonies. One important thing he finally received as appointment was the role of the post master. This was significant because he no longer had to pay the previous post master (also a publisher/printer) a fee to distribute his papers. As post master, Franklin began to gain control of distribution, and eventually set up post offices around the colonies. Thanks to his organization, a letter previously sent by post from New York to Philadelphia could take weeks. After Franklin organized the postal service, that time was cut to just a couple days.

One of the interesting traits of Franklin was that he was never into theoretical abstractions. He would come up with an idea and along with it a plan to implement it. His prescriptions, weather it be the Albany Plan, or ideas on how to start a fire company or build a library, always consisted of a great amount of detail regarding the internal structure and inner workings of an organization. He was a very thorough writer and thinker and almost every letter he wrote or political plan he drew up featured tedious details on exactly how a given operation, trivial or monumental, should run.

Politics

Franklin's approach to politics can be boiled down to his belief in the common man's right to assemble and elect for themselves representatives. Through out his life, until the end of the American war for Independence, Franklin's opposition were the Penn family and supporters of the appointed governors. Among the supporters for the proprietary governorships was Philadelphia's other printer, Andrew Bradford. The rivalry escalated from poking fun at eachother's printing errors to serious clashes and personal attacks over the course of a few years.

Even in the tumultuous days of the Declaration of Independence, Franklin considered himself a subject of the king and always sought a profitable way to provide electable representation of the colonies to England. Even after the Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed, Franklin still desperately sought to make the colonies an extension of the crown. Franklin believed in the ability of the people to govern themselves, but still held to a "sovereignty-of-the-state" notion that he believed could be reconciled if each served the other fairly. This of course could not be resolved politically or diplomatically and eventual war resulted.

Women

Isaacson notes that Franklin often alienated his male friends but never lost a female friend. He married Deborah Reed Rogers in 1730. Their relationship, as I'll note later was not a close friendship or romantic interest, but rather seemed to be more like a contractual obligation. She, the wife, he the husband. She work hard at home and helped with the general store in the print shop while Franklin, who loved to travel, did so frequently. While away, Franklin entrusted her with the duties on the home front, but rarely expressing a great deal of emotion regarding missing her while he was away, all while in letters, providing exact instructions regarding the finances and affairs of the home and the business.

Many of Franklin's letters reveal a quite flirtatious tone with many of the young women he met in his travels. This was the case through all his life, women of France, England, or the colonies loved him, or at least admired him, and returned the flirtatious rhetoric. Franklin, however, many times upon realizing he was approaching the moral boundaries of the relationship (especially in his letters) would suddenly feign a "but that will never happen" or a self-deprecating "Woe is me" kind of tone. As he got older, this tone would become abruptly paternal, particularly as his "intellectual" interests remained young enough to be his daughter. Franklin did genuinely enjoy the company of women, probably more than men, and found their conversations stimulating. The exceptions were Deborah, his wife, and Sally, his daughter, whom he constantly kept compartmentalized in familial roles, with more duty and obligation attached rather than love or passion of any kind.

More to follow...