Arnold Speaks

A friend sent me a JibJab video today, and one of the "related video" links was an animated Arnold Schwarzenegger... so I clicked, and found there is a whole site of videos (allegedly) posted by Arnold himself. :-) From what I saw, pretty funny stuff. Enjoy.

Turkey Hill Ice Cream - Celebrating National Ice Cream Month

Just like last year, the good folks at the Turkey Hill Ice Cream blog are posting fun ice cream related stories to their blog every day during July - National Ice Cream Month. I'm not sure what the exact prizes are, but I know they pick commenters randomly and award prizes all month long. Fun stuff! So, stop by and read about ice cream, comment, and maybe get some prizes! Great ice cream, great fun!

And again, happy national ice cream month! :-)

Free Derek Webb Album - The Ringing Bell

If you're a fan of Derek Webb, chances are you already have this album. But, if you're a Derek Webb fan with very limited funds (like me) then perhaps you were waiting for something like this to come along.

I got an email from the DW camp yesterday telling me I could get the album The Ringing Bell for FREE if I just tell three friends about NoiseTrade.com, the site that is offering this free download deal. So... I gave it a try, and am enjoying my new album right now! :-)

There are many more artists offering their music this way at the site linked above, but you can use the handy-dandy widget at the top of this post to email some friends, and get yourself the Derek Webb album in your email box. Fun!

Enjoy, and spread the word!

Unofficial Star Trek Movie

This weekend I discovered an unofficial Star Trek movie, which was released over the internet, officially completing this month. It's a three part series which you can watch online, produced by Renegade Studios, and actually has many familiar Star Trek actors in it, some even playing their familiar Star Trek roles.

The movie is called Of Gods and Men and was directed by Tim Russ, who played Tuvoc on Star Trek: Voyager. The story was written by two Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers as well.

Even though you can tell it's done on a much smaller budget, I have enjoyed what I've seen so far (about half way through) and wanted to spread the word. It was done, according to a wikipedia article as a "'40th anniversary gift' from Star Trek actors to their fans" in 2006.

Some Things Currently Distracting Me

• Quite a Stanley Cup Final... with Detroit winning the first two by shutting out the explosive Penguins, and then the Pens winning game three on the back of two Sid the Kid goals! Great stuff. Should (hopefully) go seven.
  
  
• Phoenix successfully landed on Mars on Sunday and I have been intrigued ever since. The link goes to NASA's website... tons of stuff there (photos, videos, etc). Pretty amazing that we can shoot large metal objects 420 million miles away, and hit a target with pinpoint accuracy - and not damage the highly sophisticated scientific research equipment. Incredible. And then we get to see photos back from it just a few hours later. Nuts.
  
  
• Facebook games and chat have also occupied some time recently. I love word games, and it's fun to play against friends (and Jen, too!) in between projects I am working on. It's kind of a funny "mental break" (since you're working your brain on your break?) but it's been a blast. I have found games similar to Scrabble, Boggle, and one called Word Twist that is similar to no other game I know of... And, I've been playing a good friend of mine in Chess. He's quite good. Haven't beaten him yet. :-) Oh, and Facebook added an instant message feature which has been a neat way to chat "live" with people I haven't talked with in a long time. Pretty amazing.
  
  
• On top of that, we've gotten to see a couple cool movies lately, as well as some awesome episodes of the Knight Rider from season two DVDs borrowed from the library! :-)

More to come, but there's more to do... so, more here later.

Ice Cream Party?

Jen sent me this link today, saying that I could win us a free ice cream party. Sounded good to me! Thought I'd pass it along here, as well. Tell Edy's why you think your neighborhood should host one of 1500 ice cream parties they'll be throwing. :-)

(Pretty sure ice cream runs through my veins... Forgot to mention that in the post below... been sharing lots of ice cream with lots of friends. OR, just eating it myself) :-)

Update from Greg's Head

I must say this poor blog has been quite neglected for the past couple weeks. It seems that my writing certainly goes in cycles. Sometimes I have lots to say and just can't help myself, so this blog is full of things to read. Sometimes I am so full of things to do that even though I do have things to say, I am not able to sit down and write them out. Other times, it's simply time for intake rather than output. I'd say we're definitely in a cycle involving a little of both of the last two.

So, instead of writing lots of detailed blogs (which I could certainly do, but must tend to other things) I will try and cover a lot of the stuff I'd like to chronicle here in bullet-point fashion.

• Work
  I have been very busy with web and graphic design, so much so that I am considering expanding. It feels as though the work load has grown too much for one person to handle. (At least, and still have family/free time.) I'm not certain how to work that out just yet, but the influx of clients continues, as well as a regular stream of work orders from satisfied current customers. A week or so ago I felt as though I was cresting the seemingly insurmountable hill of open projects, but then the hill just got a bit taller. So, I press on... Have made a few cool additions to my site (linked above) in the middle of the various projects I have been working on. I seriously need to update my "samples" page though as several of those clients have closed up shop and are no longer on the internet! :-)
  
  
• Music
  Oh, I finally did take our "Christmas decorations" down at our basicmm.com website, too. :-) I forget what motivated me to do it, since it was already late April or May when I did, but ... anyway, it's done. Also on the music front, our trip to Virginia in June may be in jeopardy because our family is too large to house! :-) We'll see what happens there...
  
  
• Fun
  Jen & I both have been enjoying Facebook and the many fun things therein. They added a live chat feature recently which has been extra cool. Realtime re-connecting with people you haven't spoken with in many years, or perhaps barely even know. Fun! (At least, for me that's fun!) Also, definitely loving playing the various word games there. I do love word games...
  
  
• Brennan Manning
  Jen cleaned out the attic recently and found a bunch of old cassette tapes. In one of the boxes was a set of teaching tapes we had purchased. It was "Healing Our Image of God... and Ourselves" by Brennan Manning. Manning's background as a catholic priest (and a monk, I believe) gives him an interesting perspective on the Gospel. But the heart of what he says is so great. It's the simple truth of the incredible love that our Father - Abba - has for us. We heard Brennan at a retreat over 10 years ago, and got his tapes there. He's been saying the same thing for decades - and I believe God has been re-emphasizing this basic point to me and Jen in recent years again - because it's the core of the Gospel/Good News. God loves us more than we can ask or imagine, and invites us to live life side by side with him, as his kids. Great stuff... on tape 4 of 5 right now. More on this to be sure...
  
  
• Friends
  Our closest friends - who are more like family - are moving. Their last day in town is next Wednesday. We have lived in the same town as them since we met in our college years. I moved up here to Rochester area with them right after college. Our kids have grown up together, sharing most of the fun/special days together. We've known of the move for a couple months now. That's kinda nice. Been a nice long goodbye. But it's still a goodbye, and life will definitely change. Very exciting for them, and I'm sure God will blow us away with the way(s) he fills what we can only see now as a void. But it's pretty sad at the same time. We're sure there will be tears next week. In the mean time, been helping with packing and moving as much as we can, and also just visiting as much as we can, while they're still here. We'll certainly see them again, but 15 minutes is a lot closer than 6 hours driving time. :-)
  
  
• Family
  We've also been visiting family a lot this month. We got to see my sister's new house in the Buffalo area. Then went over the next weekend for a big garage sale, and I made a nice mother's day lunch for my mother-in-law. :-) We're going over again this weekend, and then the next for various family events, too! It's nice that they are close, but it's also certainly an expense with gas being near $4.00/gallon!! Yikes!
  
  
• New Friends
  Jen has been going to the community center on Thursday mornings to join (mostly) moms with their pre-schoolers for a couple hours of playtime/funtime. This has been a cool way to meet people we have seen around town (at other similar events) and get to know them better. We obviously have the common link of having tiny kids :-) Looking forward to getting to know all of these new friends - who mostly live right around the corner(s) from us - over the summer.
  
  
• Lilacs!
  Whether you pronounce it "lie-lock" or, the proper, phonetic way (li-lac)... :-) I am just loving these flowers again this year. Been a neat spring in general. The flowering trees have been beautiful. Our neighbor has several lilac bushes and has generously allowed me to snap of some blooms whenever I'd like. And so, I've had beautiful, fragrant lilacs on my desk for the past week or two! Love it!
  
  
• Entertainment
  Almost forgot... been watching the NHL playoffs mostly these days. TiVo has been very helpful as we are usually out for evenings, but then watch the game in fast-forward once we are home! As close as the season was, it was surprising to see Pittsburgh and Detroit each take 3-0 series leads. The other teams both won their game fours, but should be a fantastic Stanley Cup Final between Pittsburgh and Detroit! They're both amazing.
  
  And, we've rediscovered our fondness for the 80s TV show, The Knight Rider. Our friends, the Vs, enjoy it as well (we loaned them our iPod to watch Season One in its entirety) and Season Two is now coming to our mailbox via Netflix. :-) Pretty corny at times, but also pretty fun. Ah, the good ol' days...

There have been lots of other fun events the past several days/weeks. Really can't share them all here. As I said, it's been a time of doing and intake more than a time of output :-) Suffice it to say, all of these social events have reminded me again that I am (or have become) a people person. I am not sure why I am doing an office-related job, then... :-) But am still super thankful for the provision we see from God in that.

More to come on the stuff I have been thinking through from the Brennan Manning tapes, as well as some good conversations with the church (friends who are fellow followers of Jesus), and just the stuff God has been placing on my heart and mind. So fun to share every bit of life with someone who loves me so much. Hope you know that, and you're experiencing that, too.

Buffalo Bills News

If you are an NFL fan, you know that the annual college draft took place this past weekend... and perhaps you are happy (or unhappy) with your team's picks. Well, the Bills used all TEN of their picks and have some pretty great new players. If you are interested in seeing what I wrote about the new guys, you can read my article here, or you can just head over to the articles page and browse the many videos and links I posted yesterday. Oh yeah... maybe even more fun... we also did a show last night, with four of the possible five BBR Guys in attendance! Fun stuff. Enjoy :-)

What Ever Happened To Steve?

We have kids. Lots of 'em. And they all like Blue's Clues. As do we. We even don't mind Joe, who replaced the un-replaceable Steve a couple years back now. Steve is definitely the best.

Well, not really sure why, but this morning I decided to Google "what happened to blues clues steve". Turned out to be quite a funny/interesting webventure.

Turns out that Steve just decided after episode 100 of Blue's Clues, that it just wasn't what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He's a musician at heart, apparently, and decided to pursue that. He released an indie record in 2002 I think? And is currently working on a new one (though the dates on his website seem to be pretty old... so not sure about that.)

I just found it fascinating to see "Steve" rockin' out in a music video (his own song) on a Steve Burns fan site.



Life moves on I guess. Good for Steve. Funny story from his "Press" page on his website:

One Spring afternoon in 1999, Steve Burns was on his way to a date. He was driving through New Jersey, fighting jitters, primping in the rearview, when something on the side of the road caught his eye; a mailbox with blue cartoon paw prints on it and a message that read YOU JUST FIGURED OUT JONATHAN'S BIRTHDAY! While most rock singers would have shrugged off such fleeting details, Burns recognized them as symbols revered by millions of Americans - Americans under four feet tall and on a first name basis with Steve Burns.

"It was obviously a Blue's Clues party," says Burns, who was, in fact, the host of Blue's Clues, one of the most popular children's programs in television history. He glanced at the toys and props left in his car after a recent charity performance. The khaki pants. The iconic green-and-olive striped rugby shirt.

"I gotta do it," he said.

He met his date, changed clothes, and drove back to the party. "We just showed up with the toys and knocked on the door," says Burns, a slight 30-year-old sipping a latte in and airy Brooklyn cafe. "I was like 'Hey!' " His narrow face and big, dark eyes bloom into the fully dilated character beloved worldwide. " 'Who's Jonathan?' The kids were, like, 'Cool! Steve's here!' " So Burns loped around, clowned with the youngsters, dispensed toys, and refused cash from the bewildered dad. It was a magic little moment - a kindhearted breach in the space-time continuum - and we sit silent for a second, contemplating it.

It would be strange being a rockstar to 3-year-olds everywhere... :-)

For you Steve fans out there... here are some pertinent links I stumbled across today:
www.steveswebpage.com
www.steveburnsrocks.us
Steve Burns - Wikipedia
Steve Burns (Band) MySpace Page

Thoughts on Barack Obama

I don't tend to wax political here... mostly because, while fascinated, I think it just gets pretty silly pretty quickly. It's been an interesting presidential race, though, with two democratic candidates firing shots at each other, and the republican candidate not seeming to have much (real) support from his party. Don't forget the perpetual third-party candidate, Ralph Nader. He's in the mix, too. Sorta.

Well, while Hillary is making up stories about dodging bullets, Barack Obama is both drawing praise and criticism for his views on race in America.

I said before what I think about "race". It should be a non-issue. We are all one race, we just have a few different features, and many different cultures. But we're all human. End of story. But with various comments from Obama about his "typical white person" grandma, and recently about how "bitter" people cling to religion and guns, as well as the racial comments by the preacher from his church... race is clearly an issue with senator Obama.

I read an opinion piece recently from a local radio talkshow guy because the title caught my attention. "Barack Is Not A Unifier". I read it, and I don't think the writer is a supporter of Obama, but the article didn't come across as a slam, more just a "wake up and smell the coffee" about this guy. It is strange how he is seen as a unifier when he has been quite extreme in his voting record, and the stuff I hear from him only unifies the people who think the same as he does.

I'm not supporting any particular presidential candidate here, nor trying to tear down any in particular. But I do think the national media (or maybe just his own campaign folk) have done a good job of painting Barack Obama in a very rosy light. I definitely shy away from labels, but if you had to pigeonhole me, you'd probably call me a Libertarian. I think that might be 180 degrees opposite of what Obama thinks regarding goverment and it's role in society.

Will be an interesting year. If the rockstar wins the election, Obama will be our next president. (And I will be very thankful for checks and balances at that point.) I still think Hillary cheated somehow when she won the elections up here in NY. I have never met one Hillary supporter up here in our area. (Though I have seen a few bumper stickers...) :-) So... don't count her out. And McCain... has been strangely silent. He'll win if the other two divide the voters enough, or even just make them mad enough to "vote for the other guy".

So, that's all the politicalness from GregsHead for now. Maybe more in November...

You Might Be A Large Family If...

Jen reads lots of blogs by other home schooling moms, and various other family-oriented blogs. She read a list to me from this blog the other night, and I thought it was funny in relation to one of my recent posts below, On Being Seven.

I have not checked with the author about publishing her work here (not even sure it's originally hers) but I figure one or two ... or more... is just publicity for her blog anyway... :-) Enjoy... (and click the link above for the rest!)

• Cheaper by the Dozen is one of your favorite movies.
  
• You buy milk 5 gallons at a time.
  
• You need a minimum of 2 carts in the grocery store.
  
• The children are lonely when there are only 4 of them home.
  
• Your grocery budget resembles your house payment.
  
• You just really wish people would not think they were clever for saying, "Don't you know what causes that?"

:-)

UBA

I saw a pretty cool thing on the Red Robin website today. We love their food, and celebrate all of our birthdays there, but now I will also be visiting their website.

It's called UnBridled Acts (of kindness), and just features stories of their employees going way above and beyond their normal duties. I read two, and there was a neat one about a Red Robin employee just paying for the coffee for the car behind him, which started a crazy chain reaction that ended up coming back to that same guy...

Check it out. Always cool to see selflessness in action. Wish that was more the norm than an "amazing story".

(But then, it wouldn't make for as cool a web page...) :-)

100 Miles Per Gallon?

Came across an article in my news feed today talking about a new engine that is based on a concept from a 1930 engine that could increase automobile gas mileage up to nearly one hundred miles per gallon! That seems pretty crazy, but the article references the different structure of the piston chamber reducing weight and allowing more space (for more pistons I presume) as well as firing on both sides of the chamber?

Here's an excerpt...

The unusual configuration results in several advantages. Gas mileage can be boosted by 40 percent to 50 percent, when a two-module engine is compared with a standard diesel. The engine also can be made 30 percent lighter. Because the engine modules are horizontal, cars can be more aerodynamic.

(I do not presume to know what they are talking about, but it was interesting enough for me to post the link here.) :-)

Perhaps I have a subconscious fascination with the automotive industry as my Dad spent 30 plus years of his life working for them? :-)

Coverings

I came across a blog post today that was pretty interesting, and I thought I'd pass it along. Jen and I talked about it a bit tonight on our way home from the evening's activities... it's just interesting how we put stuff between us and God. It could be a person (pastor, accountability partner), or a group of people (elders, leaders), or ... well, lots of stuff.

As the blog post says, the cross removed shame, and removed the need for a "covering". You may not be familiar with that terminology, but basically it's the idea that you need help living your life out with God. You need to be "accountable" to other believers. While there may be truth there, it's the wrong approach. It puts something between you and God. This blog post/email has an interesting take on that.

Another Reason to Not Divorce

I've written here before how much divorce pains me. Well, apparently it pains the planet as well. Interesting...

What Color Am I?

I don't know why these quick little quizzes are so fascinating to me, but they are... My pick was interestingly accurate. It said to choose the "most appealing" one... that could mean a lot of things, so I chose the one I noticed first. Here's what it said about me.

You love a free and spontaneous life. And you strive to enjoy every moment, in accordance with the motto: "You only live once."

You are very curious and open about everything new. You thrive on change. Nothing is worse than when you feel tied down.

You experience your environment as being versatile and always good for a surprise.

So, click the image above and take their one-click test. See if it accurately describes you. :-)

Willow Creek Repents?

I saw a quick post by a friend today linking to an article about Willow Creek perhaps "repenting" of it's church/business model?

I don’t think it's that groundbreaking, as it seems WCCC is just going in a different "business" direction, but it's still pretty interesting to see them find that the super elaborate programs aren't all that helpful in people walking daily with Jesus. (Admittedly, I scanned the article quickly … will read again later, but I think that was a major part of it.)

"The Show" as I like to call it (not necessarily derisively) has been the main focus of the American church for so long… would be interesting to see such a key player in that take a different direction. (Again, I think they’ll just figure out another way to make a business model of life with Jesus, but… that's just me)

Here are a couple of articles I have posted here in the past that may be relevant:
The Important
Quantifiable

Candidate Calculator

I found this site last night, and thought it was interesting... I actually care very little about politics because I really just don't like government very much at all anyway. I know it's idealistic, but I definitely have Libertarian leanings, where each person is responsible for themselves, and the people around them. I don't like that the government seems to be taking more and more control over people's lives. :-( Definitely not a socialist... :-)

Anyhoo... looks like I need to vote Huckabee. (Um, seriously... don't you think he should change his name or something? President Huckabee???) :-)

Click the image above and see who you should vote for! :-)

(direct link: http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html)

The Bleacher Report

I have been fascinated with a new website I found via an application on Facebook. It's called The Bleacher Report, and the idea is that it's an open source sports page. Anyone can create an account and contribute, and anyone can modify existing articles. These modifications can be just correcting grammar, spelling, typos, or even incorrect facts. Some of the articles I have posted there have actually been considerably re-worded, but in a good way. It's like having an editor for free! (And if I want to change anything, I can always go back and change it.)

Stop by for a visit, create an account if you're into sports of all sorts... and comment, edit, revise, or start your own sports column! :-)

One of my recent articles there, "Are The Bills Better Off Without Losman?" was instantly in the top news results for a Bills-related search. Pretty crazy!

You can just stop by my page there, too, if you'd like:
http://www.bleacherreport.com/users/1447-Greg_Campbell

Quick Links

Hey folks... more to come, even today I hope. But have a couple quick things for you today:

Five Free Songs!
If you're on Facebook, I heard through a podcast today that you can get 5 free songs from iTunes just by joining the Ticketmaster Live group. And, it's true. I have 5 song credits on my iTunes account, just for joining their group. Neat!

The Holy Observer: October Edition
Folks, this site is just so well done. If you haven't clicked over there in the past when I've linked it, you ought to take a moment and do that today. So well written, and expertly designed... and hilarious! I love the church sign for this month! :-)

Enjoy... More to come.

Looking (Linking?) Back

What a week! I'm sitting here on my porch with a nice hot cup of tea, at one in the morning, following an hour of trying to restore the network here in my house... have I mentioned before that I have four routers on my network for six or seven computers? Yeah... I need an IT department...) and I finally feel relaxed. :-)

It's been that kind of week. I actually don't think I took any sort of real break today. I know I didn't eat anything until dinner. That was kinda crazy... I just couldn't stop. Too much to do. At least, that's how it felt.

I mentioned earlier this week that the blog has been silent not because there's nothing to say, nothing to share... just simply because there was no time where I could sit down and share. Here's a quick overview of the past while for the Campbell family...

Work
Some people still have no idea what I do, but if you look at our income taxes, you can see that the majority of our money comes through my web design business. Just a couple weeks ago that picked up again big time! I got a few new clients (The Center For Body Wellness, First Church of Christ Binghamton (still their old site), and I'm working on a brochure for Angel Eyes Security), and lots of new work for current clients (Houston Nutraceuticals, The Scarlet Thread, Orient Express Band, Christian Way Farm, and Project URGE) and some stuff that I have not gotten started on yet for other existing clients (In House Graphics, Cross Creek Church, and Aussie Hill Alpacas.)

Whew! And the crazy part is, I'm sure I forgot a few! (By the way, if you clicked on all those links, you should get a prize. I'm not sure who you'll get it from, but you should get one.) :-)

Add to that all of the hosting accounts that I must regularly maintain (email problems, hosting questions, domain renewals, hosting invoices, technical support, and the list continues) as well as my OWN sites I need to maintain (GregsApples.com and BuffaloBillsReview.com get the majority of my attention. Though, my blog does get updated now and then. My web design site is horribly neglected, however. I did post a few links to the ol' Link-O page I maintain this past week...

Apple Sales
ON TOP OF ALL THAT... I have about a dozen peoples and/or businesses who are maybe at step 3 out of 5 in the purchase process for a new Mac. (OK, yes... I made that up. I just mean they are all pretty close!) So I've been doing a lot of research, communication, and question answering there. Even sent out a newsletter last week. :-)

If you're interested in a new computer, or even an iPod or AppleTV... stop by my store! Or, shoot me an e-mail. I can probably help you out.

Buffalo Bills Review
In talking with a few friends this week, I realized that some folks don't know that I - along with my partners in crime Dave Drake, John Dupra, and Dre Smith - am something of an international celebrity. :-) OK, not entirely, but we have found a small bit of success with our little show, now in its third season. It's a fun hour of Bills fans talking Bills football. We have guests on now and again, including some current Bills players like Brian Moorman the Pro Bowl punter. The team is 0-3 this year, but that hasn't stopped our downloads, and iTunes ranking from continuing to rise. Guess we're doing something right. :-)

And, it's tons of fun. :-)

Well, as I said, we must be doing something right, because all of a sudden we have had three websites contact us to purchase ads on our website! That's great! The site is finally not only paying for itself, but even making a little money. (Just a little, mind you... but it's a start!) I've been busy the last couple weeks setting up our various advertisers as well. (And of course, keeping up with all the latest Bills news. Anyone aware of all the insane injuries the Bills have sustained through only three weeks this year?? It's just nuts!)

Family
AS IF that all was not enough... we still have four kids to take care of, and boy do they need taking care of! :-) Hehe... :-)

One good thing, family-wise, has been that Jen & I have been trying to get one night (or even daytime) out per week. We have an awesome babysitter, and we try to take full advantage of that. :-)

Facebook
Oh, and I mentioned this before, but I must say I am enjoying the wonder that is Facebook. I have reconnected with - and stayed connected with - so many folks through that site over just about a month's time. Very cool. Almost too addicting, though!

MONK!
Oh yeah... the other thing that has taken some of my time over the past several weeks... we're Monk junkies! We're most of the way through season four now, and looking forward to seasons five and six! We are getting them on DVD from our library system! AWESOME! Free Monk! :-) The show is hilarious (we think) and such a breath of fresh air compared to just about EVERY other current TV show. Even though it's about a homicide detective, it's not over the edge as far as graphic grossness. The language is tolerable. It's just nicer on the soul. And, it's funny. :-) (Plus, it has revealed the OCD in me. I find myself straightening things all the time, and cleaning things... pretty funny.) :-)

Man. No wonder I never post anything here anymore. :-)

Interesting Articles: Space, The Web & Miracles

I found a couple articles that interested me in my news feed this morning...

One Small Step Toward a Mars Landing ... at Sea
Reid Stowe is a "professional adventurer" (what exactly is that?) who is 100 days into a 1000 day stay on a small boat in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. His goal is to help NASA prepare for what it will be like to have a very small group of people on a small vessel for close to three years. Interesting research project. He also has a website aptly named 1000 Days At Sea.


How Mark Zuckerberg Turned Facebook Into the Web's Hottest Platform
With my recent delve into the world of Facebook (finding and reconnecting with friends whom I have not had any contact with for over 20 years!) I noticed this headline, and found the article quite interesting. I had heard earlier that Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, had refused a $1 Billion purchase offer, but did not know the rest. Including the estimate that Facebook is now worth at least $5 Billion. Good job, Mark.

'Minor Miracle' For Everett
This is the best article, at least regarding the substance of its content. As you likely know, Buffalo Bills TE Kevin Everett suffered a life-threatening spinal injury on Sunday during the Bills/Broncos game. We were there. It was awful. Even worse was the report from the doctor who performed surgery the next day. (Watch Monday's press conference at BuffaloBills.com.) But last night, reports began surfacing that Everett was able to move his arms and legs, and doctors are actually optimistic that he will walk out of the hospital. That's just insane!

If it's true.

I would suggest guarded excitement as I am having trouble corroborating this story. There are no updates on BuffaloBills.com, which is extremely suspicious. I'll keep digging, but the linked article above does seem quite hopeful, and credits a few trustworthy sources. We shall see. From what I heard on Monday, even Kevin's survival is a "minor miracle".

More Kevin Everett Links:

• Send Kevin a Message of Support
  
• Shocked, Soaked, and Sad (from BuffaloBillsReview.com)
  
• Week One Overview: Some Highs, Too Many Lows (from BuffaloBillsReview.com)

Steven Curtis Chapman

Some of you may know that I hold Steven Curtis Champan - and particularly his music - in high regard. More than that, there's definitely some strange connection I have with him. When I hear his stuff, I just completely identify with it. Those aren't the right words. I can't really explain it. It's almost like we're song-writing brothers or something. Twins even. When I hear his stuff, I can hear beyond the lyrics and music... I can hear how he wrote it. And, on top of that, nearly every time I hear his stuff, I either feel like writing a song, write a part of a song, or actually write a whole song.

Yes... it's kinda weird.

Perhaps someday I will meet him, and we will collaborate on some musical project. That seems far-fetched from my current vantage point, but there's definitely something strange there...

Strange is cool.

Well anyway... I found out that he has a new album coming out soon, and he's doing a tour to promote that, among other things. A good friend of ours has been to a few (I think) of his shows and is just blown away by them. Not only the music, but just every part of it. What he says, how it's said, and the music is powerful, too! :-)

Tonight I was visiting his website and found a pretty fun feature. It's not unique to him. The internet has brought the "famous people" a lot closer to us "regular folk". (In fact, some of you reading this right now might think I'm famous... so it has also made us "regular folk" appear "famous". Fascinating... It is indeed the great equalizer. Well, on his website you can view some amateur-ish videos of him in his home studio, teaching us his songs. :-) It was cool to get a preview of the new songs, and just fun to have him teach it to me :-) (He even told us the guitar tuning... just for fun.)

So, click the photo or link above and go check it out. And, if you get a chance to see him in person, I hear it's phenomenal.

And I hope to get his new album, This Moment, as soon as it is available! :-)

Nessie

August 22nd, in the year 565 (whoa, that's a LONG time ago!) the Irish monk St. Columba is said to have made the first sighting of the Loch Ness "monster" while helping establish Christianity in the wilds of Scotland.

Crazy.

T-Shirt Wish List

I found this shirt a very long time ago (I think through PodcastAlley.com, a podcast directory where my shows are listed) and wanted to get it then... still want to get it now, but not wanting to drop $18 on a t-shirt (plus shipping) :-)

It does fit, however. (As I post this, I am editing my show, working on my site, and planning to be up for a couple more hours as I do so...)

Speaking of t-shirts I've always wanted to have... I saw this awesome endorsement for Sunday morning attendance before last year's tourism season here in Palmyra. (I think this is even better than Hebrews 10:25!) :-)

You Can Find Just About Anything...

on the internet.

(And at the same time... a whole lot of nothing.) :-)

Thanks, Chi.

Badgers

Steve posted a link to this on his blog this week... and I checked it out... and laughed. And a few times have visited the site again... it's hilarious! Very, VERY strange. But, you have to laugh after a while... :-)

badgerbadgerbadger.com

(or, click the photo to view just the flash movie, resizeable to fit your whole screen) :-)

Thurman Thomas in the Hall of Fame

If you missed it, Thurman Thomas was enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend! That's fun stuff for Bills fans! Thurman was definitely one of the key elements of our FOUR CONSECUTIVE Super Bowls. He and Jim Kelly definitely deserve to be the first two from that team (besides Coach Marv Levy) to be added to the Hall of Fame.

There's a bunch of great stuff about Thurman online... check out the article I posted tonight at BuffaloBillsReview.com. There are several links there including a couple to videos of his speech given yesterday at the NFLHOF in Canton, OH.

He was an incredible player, and it was fun to re-live the memories as I read the articles and watched the videos this week. Congrats, Thurman!

Might As Well Face It

90%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

you're addicted to blogs...

Bloons

Thanks to my niece Sammy for another fun (addicting!) online game to play! (Hope it doesn't crash my blog again!) :-)

direct link.

Facebook

I finally decided to take the plunge and actually use a Facebook account I set up not long ago. I have heard its coolness praised over and over on the various tech podcasts I listen to, so I finally decided to try it out. Pretty neat so far. Have reconnected with one friend from high school (it's been 15 years!) and then several other folks I haven't heard from in a while. I put their little badge in the sidebar, so you can click over to my public page, and if I know you... add me to your friend list and I'll add you to mine.

Seeker

I Stumbled Upon a site today that offered a short questionaire about how you "experience the Holy". It was an interesting question that I seldom ask - certainly not often with that wording. So I took it.

According to the test, I am a "Seeker". Click on the little canoe to read what that's all about. Pretty interesting stuff. Here's a snippet:

["Seekers"] do not feel the need to accept traditional faith patterns in order to come to a lively trust in God. They do not feel that faith needs to be categorized or institutionalized in order to be real.

If you're interested, take the test yourself!

Ice Cream Personality?

I took one of the ice cream quizzes linked from the ice cream blog today, and here are the top two results:

Mixed flavors
You are a negotiator. You'll do anything you can to avoid open conflict so you never start quarrels. You will give in when you think it's appropriate but you can be doggedly persistent when you know that justice is on your side.

Chocolate chip
You sincerely believe that everything around you is beautiful, even though other people may not notice. You are a determined person and set high goals for your life.

Jen (and I agree) thinks that the second one is probably more accurate, but I don't just like Chocolate Chip Ice Cream... I like lots of flavors WITH chocolate chips in it!! :-) (As you'll notice from my post yesterday...)

Anyway, take the test yourself if you'd like! And don't forget to comment on the ice cream blog. One lucky July commenter will win a year's supply of Turkey Hill ice cream!! Whoohooo!

Making Ice Cream This Month?

If you're planning to make ice cream this month (National Ice Cream Month, don't ya know!) then perhaps a visit to this site would be helpful. Found it linked off of the Turkey Hill Ice Cream blog. Seems like tons and tons of great, helpful ice cream-making information.

Making ice cream is definitely an art. As I have learned from many unsuccessful attempts at doing so. I'm good with food in general... so it's fun when I discover something that is a challenge! Hope to keep improving my ice cream making skills this summer, and I think some stuff on the Ice Cream Recipes.com site might help. :-)

Enjoy your ice cream!

National Ice Cream Month!

July is national Ice Cream month, and I got an e-mail today from Turkey Hill dairy (yes, I subscribe to an ice cream newsletter... that might tell you something about how I feel about ice cream....) announcing a give away in July of FREE ICE CREAM. (One winner gets a year's supply, four more get a month's supply.) Just stop by their blog every day in July, leave a comment, and you'll have a chance to win.

Here are the links:

• Website
• RSS
• E-mail Newsletter

How much ice cream can you eat in 31 days? I guess we'll find out...

Tumblr

So, I visit LOTS of websites throughout a week's time... Often I will post links here (and I will continue to) but I have heard of a site called Tumblr which seems perfect for posting links to cool sites I come across. I decided to start an account where I will (mostly) share good web/design tools and resource sites. So, the address corresponds with that...

bwd.tumblr.com

So.. not much there yet, but more will follow I'm sure. Bookmark it for future reference. There's also a feed, if you know what to do with that...

Microsoft Surface & The iPhone

Microsoft announced last week a revolutionary "new" interface for computing. I really wanted to comment on it last week, but with a very shortened week, did not find the time to do so. A friend posted a link on his site, reminding me to comment... so, thanks Steve. :-)

This really looks phenomenal. It's a real interface. No mouse... no keyboard. You just use your hands. You can even have multiple touch points. It's fantastic.

And looks A LOT like the iPhone.

When the iPhone was announced (and demoed) in January, Steve Jobs said they had filed LOTS (he said a number, but I forget what it was) of patents for this phone, and that they would be enforcing them vigorously. And after seeing the Surface demo online last week... I can see now why he said that. :-)

Microsoft claims they have been working on this project for five years. I believe Apple claimed a similar time frame for the iPhone. It will be quite interesting to see what happens here... :-)

So, if you'd like to check it out... it really does look fantastic. (Link below...) I love the way you can set stuff on top of it and it automatically recognizes it as a device to read or save to! Fantastic.


In related news... Apple announced today that iPhone will be released to the public on June 29th. They also released some ads. Neat stuff.

Technology is pretty cool!

But of course... Apple's is just a tad better. (And Microsoft is a LOT better at copying it...) ;-)

LINKS:
microsoft surface
apple iphone ads