by Greg

Burning The Candle at Both Ends

So this week I’ve been trying mornings. It seemed recently like with all that I had to do, I was working later and later into the evening, then making dinner for my family way too late, and then having a not enjoyable couple hours with my kids. (Then exhausted once it was just me and Jen time… and Cameron…) 🙂

I figured, might it work better if I get up a tad earlier? Why not? I decided to give it a try, and a client of mine forced my hand when an urgent project necessitated a 6:00am meeting on Tuesday morning after Labor Day! Nice!

I agreed to it, and woke up at 5:00am on Tuesday. At 5am, it’s still dark. To me, that is not right. You don’t wake up when it’s dark. But, I went with it.

As I mentioned, my plate is extremely full at the moment, so it was pretty cool getting so much time to get so much done. Problem was, I didn’t stop getting stuff done until after 6pm. Long, tiring day.

Got to bed by 11:15pm that night though, not bad! Second straight night closing my eyes on the post meridian side of the clock!

Next morning, didn’t have to wake up that early, so got up at 6:15am. That’s still early morning! Was still kind of dark. (But better…) Yesterday was no different in the amount of work to be done, but was able to finish up at 5:15pm, slightly earlier. (Of course, on Tuesday we took about a 2 hour break in the middle of the day to celebrate “NOT Back To School Day” as a family… so I may have worked more hours on Wednesday…) Another long day, and this time we headed out for some fun and errands for the evening. Bedtime? Midnight. (Ante meridian this time.)

This morning the alarm clock wasn’t working. 🙂 (It was functioning properly, it just wasn’t accomplishing the task of awakening me!) Ended up realizing it was going off at about 6:30am.

5:00am, 6:15am, 6:30am … not sure that’s going in the right direction, but it’s going.

We’ll see how long I can keep this up. I’d like to try it at least another full week. I’m doing pretty OK with getting at least 6 hours of sleep, but that’s the hardest part. Normal bedtime for me is two or three in the morning. Definitely been an adjustment.

At the moment I feel like I’m burning the candle at both ends… but I am getting stuff done.

Now… back to work! 🙂

by Greg

Oh Nine, Oh Nine, Oh Nine

For some reason, I’m one of those people who like it when the calendar says something more. Earlier this year we had 07/08/09. Seven, Eight, Nine. That’s fun! Every year there’s one day where the day, month, and year all match…

And today is that day! 🙂

Hope you have a great 09/09/09!

If you’re looking for something to do today, I’ll bet Apple can help with that… (We’ll be watching here!)

by Greg

[Song For The Day] Come As You Are

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song (at Amazon) | Album

Come As You Are
Today’s song – the final song in this 7-day celebration of the 7-year anniversary of the album – is the title track, Come As You Are. If you have been following along all week, you may see the reason we chose this song as the title song for the album. Most of the 13 tracks on it remind us of God’s unending grace and love for us. How he invites us to Come As (we) Are, not who we will be. It’s truly the “good news” that Jesus brought, and we still live in today.

I wrote the song for both piano and guitar, but perhaps mainly piano. The song is sung from the voice of God, until the middle section where we sing back to him “I am not worthy of the cross! I am not worthy of your love!” How can we, who are so often selfish and so often just messed up … how can we be the object of his affection? But, “as dearly loved children” … we are. And the middle section resolves back to our Father singing to us, “Come as you are, I want to be – so near to your heart just call on me. I will never desert you, in my arms I will shield you from all harm… come as you are.”


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

by Greg

[Song For The Day] You Love Me

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

You Love Me
Today’s song probably doesn’t get played very often. It’s not a “radio length” song. (It’s around six minutes long.) It’s near the end of the album, and we don’t do it that often when we perform live. But in our recent listen to the album, we really enjoyed it on many levels. First, it’s another great reminder that no matter how ugly we get, even at our worst moment, God loves and accepts us completely. He’s not afraid of our ugly. And that super amazing love draws us to him, and truly changes our hearts. Amazing.

Musically, the song starts with a little bass groove (from Todd “Bassshaker” Earnst!) and has a little of everything in it. A guitar-driven song, there are multiple layers of guitar: acoustic, crunchy electric, a little “wah wah” 70s-sounding guitar… you name it! The funny story behind the song is that when we first got Ian a tiny 1/4 size guitar, I was having fun playing with it, and ended up writing this song while I did!


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

by Greg

Right Idea, But Still Scary

If you don’t have time to watch this whole thing, then watch the last 10 seconds or so. But be warned, out of context it will just be scary. Very scary. Very “Un-American”.

Problem is, if you watch the rest (minus a few other wacky moments) you’ll see again what I was talking about yesterday. What Obama wants to motivate people towards is good. The others-awareness that Jesus lived and that we are teaching our kids. The scary part is at the end where the actress says, “I pledge to be a servant to our president.” Um… ? I’m good with the “pledging” to serve other people, so as far as the president is a “people” that’s cool… but well, just watch the last 20 seconds. You’ll see what I’m squeamish about.

Also in the video you’ll notice that they mention usaservice.org. I checked out that URL and it just forwards to serve.gov. I think that’s a mistake. I know, it doesn’t really matter, but again, it’s either from the “ground up” or from the “top down” and if it is a .gov website, that’s from the “top down” (at least, in our current way of thinking regarding government). Should have stuck with the first URL.

One more line that stood out in this video that I don’t think a lot of people hold to was, “I pledge to commit to my own change before I ask others to change.” Another thing Jesus said was, “First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” (He’s a pretty smart fellow, Jesus…) Again, if we stick to this and work on getting our own lives focused on helping others (rather than making other people help others, or complaining that they don’t) then real good will be done.

So if we drop the crazy allegiance to a man – Barack Obama – or even the office of president, then we’re on the right track. In fact, I’m glad I know of usaservice.org (I’m going with that one) now. We know of plenty of opportunities to help out, but we’ll check on there too and see if there’s a place we Campbells can help out as a family, too.

It’s nice to be nice.

(It’s scary to pledge allegiance to a person. Just don’t do it people. All men (people) are created equal. Let’s try to live that.)

PS… I know this is not news, I just happened to stumble upon it today…

by Greg

[Song For The Day] What I’m Askin’ For

Come As You Are
Come As You Are

Purchase @ iTunes
Song | Album

What I’m Askin’ For

Today’s song is one of my favorites both because of what it says and how it musically says it. The song is very sad sounding in parts, lamenting. But in the angst of that lament, the truth of God’s unchanging love for me becomes the one thing I can hold on to. We can get so confused by the stuff that happens around us, wondering, “God, do you still love me? Then why is my life falling apart?” No one has an answer for all the bad-to-horrible stuff that happens in life, but we do know and trust God’s love (for us!) is the anchor we can hold on to through any of life’s storms.

What I’m Askin’ For is a piano song, and as I said before features pretty cool dynamics. Starts and ends very quietly, but builds up in the middle… have a listen, you’ll see. And don’t miss the lyric, because it’s true. “I have known your love before – and I know it doesn’t change – I know that what I’m askin’ for – has really always been the same.” This song reminds me of the message of one of our favorite books, “He Loves Me“. Also worth checking out!


LISTEN HERE (for RSS feed only) | lyrics @ basicmm.com

With this being the 7th anniversary week of the release of Come As You Are, I am highlighting some of the songs we liked best from the album. All week I’ll post a song (via the magic of Grooveshark.com) that you can listen to, and a link to purchase the song or album from iTunes or us. You don’t have to buy it… since you can just listen to the whole thing right here at GregsHead.net … but if you don’t have the album, we have a bunch of CDs sitting in boxes that would be better off sitting in your music player of choice. 🙂

by Greg

Anchor Bar: Now in Rochester!

The famous Anchor Bar (the originator of the Buffalo Chicken Wing) is now a franchise? Just heard it reported that the restaurant is opening a new location here in Rochester!

Sadly, even though I am famous for my own wings, and love to eat good wings by the dozen… I’ve never had Anchor Bar’s wings… perhaps with it being a bit closer… may just have to try it out! 🙂

by Greg

Listen. Just Listen.

One last thing to say in the arena of politics today.

For a while now I have been really bothered by the way political discussions are so heavily slanted in one direction or another. The same issue can be discussed by either “side” of an issue using almost exactly the same terms but applied equally to either side. The “left” accuses the right of being “stupid”, “ignorant”, having “blind party allegiances”, and of course, misrepresenting the facts. The “right” is guilty of exactly the same broad-brush labeling.

I’ve said before on this blog that I am – if anything – libertarian. I suppose I would fall under the more socially conservative brand of such a label, but basically I believe both “sides of the aisle” are just in it for themselves and all are inflating our government to some monstrous entity it was never intended to be. Rights and responsibility belong squarely in the hands and on the shoulders of the people. Period.

Perhaps because I have no allegiance to any party I can see this more clearly? I’m not sure why it’s so hard to see, but the plain truth is…

No one is listening.

No one. No one is bothering to hear what any other opinions might be. No one seems to care to actually come at the issues or problems or whatever it is that supposedly are at the heart of any discourse from the perspective of the other person or “party”. I hear things said about “the right” that I know are not true. (Because I believe some of the things that are being “attacked”, and the reasons given by “left-leaning” folks that I believe them are nowhere near the truth. I fully assume the same is true in reverse.

If we would just bother to actually listen to each other, we’d find we’re not that different.

The approach, and even general philosophy of how to manage/govern a large group of people may differ, but the heart of the matter (what happens to our families, neighbors, communities, and even our country) is the same. We are the same.

I’m not sure our selfish nature will ever allow us to truly listen to one another. But if we ever did, the results would be astounding. True, others-oriented cooperation is at the heart of real community, isn’t it?

“Treat other people the way you would want to be treated.”

A paraphrase of the so-called “Golden Rule”. Words spoken by Jesus. Perhaps we should really listen to them.

by Greg

Is Barack Obama in the Right Place?

I mentioned in my previous post that one of my “qualities” is that I can truly give people the benefit of the doubt. I presume the best of intentions from everyone (perhaps because I know my heart, and I only have the best of intentions for everyone I know – and don’t know – around me) and that extends even to people whom I disagree with.

Like our current president, Barack Obama.

I really don’t agree with anything he is doing or wants to do with our government, but if you have time to listen to what he says (and, if you actually do listen to what he says) in the full version of the speech I mentioned previously, perhaps you’ll agree with me that perhaps Obama shouldn’t be in the office of President, but would be more suited as an “activist” or whatever you want to call such a person? Someone like Martin Luther King, Jr… who did not hold any political office, but was superb at championing the rights of people who were not being treated equally, as our Declaration of Independence declares that we do.

If you listen to his words… he’s right. America can be changed (for the good) from the ground up. There’s the key. And perhaps even he has missed it. (Which is one reason why I still have some reluctance to believe what he says…) The key is from the ground up. As president, he is trying to affect change from the top down. Making government policies to mobilize the citizenry to “community service” is more coercive than culture changing. Sure, good things may happen, but people aren’t responding to the “call to service” … they are responding the the authority of the government.

I really don’t think that funding such endeavors with people’s tax money (money that is required to be given) will ultimately affect the change he wants. (Also, I know that we do not HAVE the money he is wanting to invest in these programs. National debt is off-the-charts ridiculous, and the deficit (expenses vs income) is equally ridiculous, even though we the people are also ridiculously overtaxed in every way.)

I believe Barack Obama could be (maybe is?) a great leader of people from the ground up. But perhaps he would be more effective in doing that in a non-governmental role? He may get that chance in 2012 … I don’t think he’ll disappear from the public scene any time soon. Maybe if someone else were to take his place as president, he could affect the change in thinking that he seems to want to bring to America – a more involved, others-oriented way of doing life.

That would not be a bad thing. Let’s just not have the government mandate it.

Related Links:
United We Serve annoucement (whitehouse.gov)
Serve.gov (locate or post opportunities to serve near you)
Local Volunteer opportunities @ CraigsList (CraigsList.org)

(There are tons more… just Google “opportunities to serve” or “Volunteer opportunities” or check with your local Salvation Army. It is good to serve.)

by Greg

Obama’s Civilian National Security Force

I’ve heard this audio clip a few times, so I looked it up and found this YouTube clip. What is he talking about? Seriously? Isn’t our military the most well-funded in the world? First, where will he get the money to equal or best that funding for a “civilian national security force” (there are some sources given in the volokh.com link below), and, second… what in the world is that most-well-funded-security-force-in-the-world for? Why not just bolster military funding?

To me… this is a very troubling sound clip. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so perhaps the wording he chose was just, well, poorly chosen. From what I’ve found, he does just want to get people more involved in community service. But why call it a “national security force”? Again, it’s still troubling… but here are some more links for you to research for yourself.

UPDATE: After listening to the full-length speech below, it definitely does give more context. One thing is for sure about Barack Obama… he can definitely deliver a prepared speech. In context, in summary, his desire is to motivate each citizen of our country to give their time to helping other people, doing things that serve the community. Those two lines from the video above are a very poor choice of words (at least). I still do not agree with most of what the president has done (ridiculous “stimulus” package using money that doesn’t exist, managing/interfering with private industry (auto industry), and a tax-funded health care system – which is now apparently “on hold“) but I would say in the context of this one political speech, Obama’s remarks are less cause for concern.

Related links:
H.R. 675: Building Obama’s National Security Force (infowars.com)
Funding Barack Obama’s “civilian national security force.” (volokh.com)

(Unfortunately, I could not find the full transcript from any official site, including whitehouse.gov, but I did find the full version of the video.)