Year / 2007

by Greg

Apple Feuding with NBC

AppleApparently, Apple is sick and tired of NBC’s shenanigans! The 3rd largest music retailer in the world (who also sells video content…) is parting ways with all of it’s NBC content (30% of it’s top shows!) in the month of September! Seems a drastic move by Apple, but they contend that NBC wanted to double the wholesale price of their shows, which would have raised the cost to consumers from $1.99 currently to $4.99/episode.

NBC on the other hand seems to claim almost the opposite… that they wanted to combine some of their content to make the package more attractive to the consumer.

Either way, the consumer is losing in this spat.

You can read more most anywhere on line, but here’s a link to get you started.

I hope they make up soon. We got the Knight Rider from iTunes, and NBC also has the Sci-Fi channel as part of their content. And, it’s just not nice to fight…

by Greg

The Week The Was(n’t?)

It’s just after midnight, and I am sitting on my in-laws’ porch in Clarence, NY, sipping a mug of Chamomile tea… thinking back on a crazy week of fun.

But one of the more memorable things about the week was that it felt like there were a few days that just didn’t happen at all! I could NOT remember what day it was this week!!!

Let’s start waaaay back at Sunday. Last weekend I finished up a video edit for some friends who went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. They asked the Tuesday before the Sunday that they needed it for a special lunch they were having at their church. I got it done in time, and, since Jen and Julia weren’t at the “top of their game”, I took Alex & Kirsten up to the party by myself. We stayed for lunch, and watched most of the video… but headed out early to get some needed items at the stores nearby there and head home to be with Mom (who still wasn’t feeling great.) That night I was supposed to do a Buffalo Bills Review, but ended up being postponed to Monday night. So, it was a full, full day.

Monday was quite strange as Jen’s parents (on whose porch I now sit) came through our town, and whisked away the other five members of my family to visit the NY State Fair for the day! They had a blast, but as I mentioned earlier here on my blog, it was very strange being alone the whole day. And, due at least in part to that strange aloneness, I pretty much lost a day. I thought Monday was the 26th (it was the 27th) and just really lost that entire day. Then, add to that a super late night due to the Bills podcast, and Tuesday was pretty confusing to me…

I really was getting confused.

I forgot to put the trash out Tuesday morning, because it never occurred to me that it actually was Tuesday. Crazy things like that. I couldn’t get on track last week.

Then, when talking with a friend who shares a birthday with her husband (Aug 29th, part of last week…) we talked about having them come over for dinner/snacks on Wednesday, their birthday. That was such a fun idea, I decided to plan a bit of a surprise party around it! Well, plans kept changing, but we eventually made it happen on Thursday night. I was making tequeños, and several good friends were coming to celebrate with us/them. But, it’s always an adventure with these friends…

An hour before they were to come over, they called and said they would be getting there around 9, and then have to leave to get their sister at the airport later that night. (Later that night?? There are only 3 hours left in the night at 9pm…) 🙂 I thought about calling off the party, since the guests of honor would not be there, but… we went ahead with it anyway and it turned out great!. We had (eventually) 12 kids and 9 adults there for the impromptu party! It was a blast. Tequeños were great, and we even went up to Chill & Grill for ice cream! Awesome!

After they all left (around 11:00 or so) we sat down to watch the BIlls final pre-season game, which we had TiVo-ed earlier in the evening. Starting a 3-hour football game at 11:15… even for Mr. Late Night was a risky thing to do. Especially a pre-season game. 🙂 And yes… midway through the second half… I fell asleep. Tried THREE TIMES to finish the game again (when I would wake up and rewind to where I left off) but to no avail. Ended up watching it the next day.

Speaking of the next day… That Friday morning, I first cleaned up from the party, then I went to help some friends finish moving. Then I went shopping. Then I ate lunch. Then I packed up to head here to Clarence. So, what was supposed to be a work day was not one at all.

And again… calendar confusion ruled with an iron fist. A big, heavy, confusing iron fist. 🙂

So, I know today is Sunday. Well, to me it’s the end of Saturday. We had an excellent day, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, Duff’s chicken wings for lunch with our friends the Drakes, and then a date-night with our friends the Chis. They treated us to roast beef (beef on weck) at Andersons, and some ice cream, too! (Oh, and a pug cake!) And earlier in the day, Dave schooled me on his Wii. (Boxing and baseball.) We played a fun game with the Chis, too. Good stuff.

And tomorrow begins the Walker Family Reunion. An annual Labor Day weekend event. (With a recording of the BBR thrown in there for good measure.)

Long, crazy week. But full of lots of the people we love the most.

It couldn’t be better. 🙂

by Greg

Relief

The past week saw a bit of relief for us on the income freeze. I think I have mentioned here that the summer was quite a financial drought. Not many (maybe there weren’t any?) of my current clients needed any substantial work done on their existing sites, and not much new business came in. We haven’t been getting much if any income from my various income streams. (Web design, music, Mac sales… even the Buffalo Bills podcast or various publishing endeavors.) It’s not only been frustrating… has been quite a weight to bear, with unpaid Bills mounting.

But the last week or so has changed that a good bit. Four new clients/jobs. (One paid their deposit, another paid today, and the other is about 80% committed to the new project.) I got a payment from Apple, and a payment from a gig earlier this summer. I even got a royalty check from CCLI, who pays artists when churches report having used their material. Not much, but it was a nice gesture. 🙂

But it all was kicked off by the insane generosity of some friends of ours. Not only did they drive a long way to treat us to lunch – and a good one at that! – they also offered to help us catch up on some of our bills! What??!? I just didn’t even know what to say! It almost seemed unfair to them. Why should they bear our financial burden? But even in my own words I understood that I must accept. “Bear each other’s burdens,” it says. And Acts talks about a church where “no one was in need” because they all took care of each other.

Quite humbled (often we have been the ones on the giving end of this deal) and just floored at the offer, I accepted, and they wrote us a very generous check. We were able to pay a past due debt that was definitely hanging heavily over my head. What an incredible gift.

Add to that generous gifts and help from family, and some other friends who a few weeks earlier had done a very similar thing!! Holy cow. God is not taking care of us through my talents, abilities, skills, or hard work… he’s taking care of us through the relationships he has given us.

That is terribly humbling. In a good “terrible” way. I am so amazingly thankful, and glad to see God is also giving to those who are giving to us. You can tell (and I know from experience) that the giving of this financial help is just as cool (or more) as the receiving is for us. Incredible.

Thank you, friends. Thank you, family. Thanks for loving us, and for letting God provide through you. I hope I get to return the favor – not to feel like I have earned your gift, at least I hope not. But instead, to be able to love you as you have loved us… with lavish generosity. And maybe not you… but someone else God connects us with. There will always be needs. That is for sure.

So, thanks to God for the new work to do, for the future work that seems to be lining up, and mostly for reminding me again of what really matters in life – the people he has surrounded us with.

by Greg

Not Like Us

I was thinking about life this morning, in the shower… as I usually do. Sometimes it’s the mundane “what do I have to do today” kind of stuff, other times it’s “meaning of life” kinda stuff. I suppose it was the latter today.

We’re still in a pretty good pinch financially. We have some temporary relief for the moment thanks to some incredible (and unsolicited) generosity of our friends and family. And for some reason, even when there seems to be a lead (a new client, interest in our trailer for sale, or any other possible income) they seem to fall through. It can be pretty frustrating…

What would cross my mind in years past would be that “God disciplines those he loves.” I would begin to search inside myself to find something about me, or something I was doing or not doing, that might be displeasing to God. That usually did not take very long. So, I would tell God I am sorry for that, and ask him to help me fix it, and I would assume that my repentant heart would curry God’s favor once again. (Meaning, whatever bad thing I was calling God’s discipline would be lifted from me.)

Sometimes that would happen, other times it would not. Certainly could not detect any sort of pattern. The only pattern I could discern was my repeated attempts to work my negative circumstances in life into some form of disciplinary action from my Father with a capital F.

But over the past many years, I have been learning of his grace – unconditional grace – and his way of dealing with us. It’s not do right, get good… do wrong, get bad. At least not always. Not that predictable. The one thing that I can count on is that he loves me. A lot. So many scriptures tell me that. A lot.

Still, we persist in this idea that if something is wrong, God is punishing us. (And sometimes we think the reverse, where good stuff means we must be doing “something right”, but usually we just take the credit ourselves for that.)

Is our sudden lack of income the result of some known or unknown sin in my life? Maybe Jen’s? If I repent of my current failures (of which there are many) will the money start flowing again? I obviously can’t know the answers to those questions, but I think I can see evidence that suggests the results will not be (necessarily) directly tied to my choices or actions in the immediate future. There may be consequences to my poor decisions, mistakes, failures, or general lack of wisdom and discrepancy. But, God does not seem to operate on a “if a = b then c” system.

God almost does the opposite. When the disobedient, unruly, lazy son asked for his share of his father’s inheritance… his dad gave it to him. He knew what his son would do with it, but he still gave it to him. And, he let his son go off and actually do what he knew he was going to do. How many of us could actually knowingly fund our children’s debauchery? And – even more – allow them to really go through with it? I’m not sure I could…

But God is way more patient that we are. God also sees way more of the big picture. He is not doting over every little thing we do wrong or don’t do right. He walks with us, and encourages us toward the good, and away from the bad. If we fail, he is there to pick us up. He’s not there to immediately punish us. He wants us to succeed. (Not in a “success deity” kind of way… in the Kingdom success kinda way. A very backwards way.)

All of this may not make too much sense, but I could see God working this through in my head and heart the other day (when I started this article) and wanted to write it down, and perhaps share it with you. You may think that bad circumstances in your life are God’s direct intervention to “teach you a lesson”! I can not know what he is doing (or not doing) in and for you. But I do know that he is teaching me to trust him. Trust his love, trust his goodness, trust his provision, trust his lead. I have been learning again through a tough financial time – a tough time to trust my Father – just what matters in life. It’s not my stuff. None of it. It’s the relationships he has placed me in. My family, my friends, my neighbors. All I need to do is trust and follow God’s lead (based on what I have learned of him, and seen him do in the past), and love the people whom he has placed around me. Every day there is another chance to learn.

And isn’t that true “discipline”?

by Greg

Steven Curtis Chapman

Steven Curtis Chapman VideosSome 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! 🙂

by Greg

Quick Kirstie Story

This morning, 3-year-old Kirsten joined Dad and the boys for our morning Bible reading. We are near the end of the book of Luke, and Jesus is getting people riled up – almost the time that they killed him. Which also happened to be Passover, when they kill lambs.

I read the words, “The day had come for the Festival of Thin Bread, and it was time to kill the Passover lambs.” Immediately, Kirstie responded, “Oh no!” A seriously concerned look came over her face. Why were they going to kill lambs???

I smiled and tried to explain old testament sacrifices, and even how Jesus was the Lamb of God… and the cool significance there. But I think it might have all been lost on the disturbing thoughts of those bad guys actually killing the Passover lambs!!!

🙂

by Greg

Happy Birthday, CAYA!

Come As You AreToday is the 5th anniversary of one of our albums, Come As You Are. CAYA, as it is known around here, is CD that I recommend to people who don’t have any of our CDs. I think the Christmas album is my favorite overall, but this one is the best collection of songs that captures most of our sound. From one instrument and two vocals, to nice acoustic rhythm stuff, to a full-on electrified rock out song (or two). It’s definitely a favorite.

We had a big CD release party on August 29th, 2002, and I think around 200 people came to celebrate with us. If you were there, thanks for coming! If you didn’t yet get your copy of CAYA, you still can!! 🙂 We have some, and you can just order through our site. Or, you can always pick it up at iTunes. Or just a track or two, if you want.

(By the way, I just noticed when getting the iTunes link… there are no reviews there on that page. Anyone who knows the album care to leave one? That’d be swell!) 🙂

So, it’s a fun day in the basic world, and just thought I’d share. Five years is a long time. But actually, the songs on the album are as old as 14 years old now! That’s awesome! 🙂

Happy Birthday, CAYA. 🙂

by Greg

Growing Up "Right"

The Price is RightI was downstairs for a bit this morning (baking some chocolate chip cookies, actually…) and overheard Jen and the kids in the living room. They were watching the Price is Right, and I could hear things like, “That’s $92!?? No way!!” and, “Yes!!! Michael got $1.00!!!! Now [the next person] needs to get $1.00 too!”

First of all, it’s cool that my kids cheer for other people. That’s a life lesson that will serve them well if they carry it beyond gameshows. But, the other cool part?

I now can be certain that my kids are growing up right. They get quite regular doses of The Price Is Right!! You’re not a true American kid if you don’t know how to play Plink-O or the Shell Game or that cool one where the mountain climber climbs up, and if you got the wrong prices, falls off the top of the mountain.

Glad to know my kids are growing up Right. 🙂

by Greg

Mormons, Catholics, Santeras… Oh my!

Catholicism and Santeria

So, the other night I was going through our video podcasts, getting caught up on the ones I hadn’t yet seen. There’s a little blue dot next to the new ones, it’s really cool. (We use FrontRow on our Mac Mini, hooked up to our TV in our living room.) We watch probably 8-10 different ones, including a couple tech-related ones, a NASA podcast, and a couple more from National Geographic.

Well, one of the National Geographic ones was called “Santeria“. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, so I clicked and watched. It was about people in Cuba, celebrating the Feast Day of St. Lazarus. (Or something like that.) It is a Catholic tradition, and in Cuba they go all out. They crawl on their hands and knees (or even bellies) for miles, with pain being a tribute to this “saint”.

The interesting part – and the reason for the little podcast – was a lady who is both Catholic, and a Santera. Santeria is a religion which worships many gods, who they believe correlate exactly with the saints of the Catholic church. So, St. Lazarus day also belongs to Babalu Aye, his “twin” African spirit.

I really don’t intend to put anyone down here, or start an argument at all… I’m really not sure why or how religious feelings go down so deeply, causing things like what Al Qaeda wants to do to “the infidels”, and all the similar events throughout history… but, when I saw this, it just reminded me that all religion is very strange. Even Catholics.

Now, you can say that the strange ones are the Santeras, who “made up” the African spirits that match the Catholic saints. And I know, the saints were at one time just ordinary, historical people. But… at least some Catholics pray to saints, and have these very ritualistic practices on the saints’ special days. It’s really just as religious as the Santeria religion. (Minus the animal sacrifices…) 🙂

Why do most Christians think Mormons are worshipping demons, and have strange religious ceremonies (temple proceedings, baptisms for the dead, etc) when Catholics pray to Mary, various other “saints”, and have very religious rituals that are commonly practiced? There are tons of Catholic dotrines that are way outside of what you read in the Bible, and now the Pope (who himself is “outside of what you read in the Bible”) is saying that Catholics are the only real Christians.

I’m not bashing Catholics. Or Mormons. Or Santeras. (Ok, they’re the strangest of the bunch to me, but…) My point is, religion is so crazy. What is it in us that feels the need to appease a higher power so that life will go well for us. And don’t think I’m giving “mainstream” Christianity a pass, either. There are plenty of “appeasement” rituals there, too.

The whole idea that by doing some ritual, or saying some set of words a certain number of times, or anything like that is so foreign to what Jesus taught and lived. Actually, he ridiculed the religious leaders who tried to make others follow meaningless rituals and religious rites. He just loved people, and wanted them to know that God loves them. Sin hurts us, and Jesus came to defeat sin and death for us, cause we can’t. And he did.

Religion is a feeble attempt at the reality of life with God that Jesus showed us is possible. And is made possible through him. Not some incantations or rituals we do once a year, or more. But life lived everyday in companionship with our Father who loves us, and Jesus our brother, and his Spirit who lives in us and teaches us everything we need to know.

You can keep trying to make God like you, with your religious rituals – no matter how big or small. Or, you can just accept that he does. And that’s that.

[Related reading: He Loves Me by Wayne Jacobsen]

by Greg

Evidence

Here’s a little bit of evidence that I have been unable to get to my blog very much this past week or so…

Yesterday, August 26th, went by without me noticing even once that it was the fourth anniversary of my blog’s existence! 🙂 I had been looking ahead to that date all month, planning to say something about it… but… welll….

I didn’t remember.

Sorry, blog! (Can you say sorry to a blog?) 🙂

More to come soon… I’m working on the Buffalo Bills Review right now. Fun show this week! Maybe the most fun ever! 🙂 Even added some “out takes” to the end of this show. 🙂

Fun stuff.

So, happy bloggiversary to GregsHead.net. Four years in the books. Or, on the web. Or something. 🙂