What a weekend. Yet another where I went non-stinkin-stop. So, what was the greatest most absolutely fantastic part of my entire stupendously wonderful weekend? Hmmmmmmm... It could have been lots of things, but the first thing comes to my mind the washing machine tearing up and having to go drop a load of cash I didn't have to buy another one. Yeah, as Tony the Tiger would say, that was GRRRRRRRRR-Reat! The coolest thing is, it went down on Friday night. So, It set a fantabulous tone for the whole weekend! Ain't it great! And let me tell ya, I it was so much darn fun unloading the new one, moving out the old one and then installing the new one myself! I know most of you would have paid the extra money that you didn't have to have someone put it in for you. Not me my friend!!! I just adore do it yourself work! I get a real kick out of the bumps and scraps and sore back I get from taking care of bidness all on my own! Man, I am so pumped typing this that I could screech like Howard Dean! EEEEEEEEE-YYYIIIIIIII-UHHHHHHHH.

Anyway, It was a very very busy weekend yet again. But so far, Monday has started off decently. I am hungry though. I think I'll go to Subway cause I have a card filled up with stamps. I need to save all the money I can after buying a major appliance I didn't know I'd be buying.

I was so busy that I watched NO basketball this weekend. That's almost unbelievable. What is more unreal is, I didn't care so much that I missed it.

Oh, I am pumped for Ern. I like to see him pleased with something. Ern is one of those people that you just get joy from seeing pleased. Anyway, it will be cool to have him closer in.

By the way, in spite of my rant above, I did have a nice weekend overall and was not miserable in the least. God is good, even when your washing machine breaks down.

Well, I guess Red Bud winter was only a 2 day season. Argh!!

Anyway, we went bowling last night. It was my first trip in 3 weeks and I stunk it up. I'd like to blame it on the lane because the one we were on just wasn't hooking, but I was never able to adjust. And by game 3, you'd think I'd have been dialed in. Oh well...

Between John Kerry, Richard Clarke, John McCain, and a host of others, I am really about to puke over politics. If I hear Kerry say that the tax cuts Bush pushed through only helped the rich, one more time, I will scream. I can attest to the fact that A. I am not rich. Not even close. and B. the tax cuts helped us bigtime. So I wish he'd shut his Heinze Ketchup Hole!

What else can I yell about? Just kidding. I am in a pretty good mood. If you aren't, then remember how good it is just to breath.

If I hear one more person talking about how we are in Red-bud Winter and still have Dogwood and Blackberry winter to go I will scream! People around here talk about those like they happen every year! And they don't! Last year, when it got warm, it stayed warm. It's suppose to get warm again tomorrow and who knows, maybe it will stay that way! I sure hope so.

I woke up very sleepy this morning. But I am finally waking up. I had another good, if short, weekend. One of these days though, soon, I am going to take a weekend and do absolutely nothing. I think I cram way too much into them to many in a row and I never get a good, full on, rest.

Family Update: The Vettster is STILL dealing with all this sinus/allergy stuff. I feel bad for her. We've both been sick a lot this winter, but her more than me. Riley is 8 months old now. It won't be too long before he is walking. BeBe is growing up so fast. My little girl thinks she is big stuff now. And usually, she can back it up. Zxyan is as sweet as ever and Ricky, well, he could be nicer sometimes. :)

Work calls. Back later.

Mike is indeed a Dad and has a precious little girl. Congratulations man. She's beautiful. Enjoy every moment of her being so small and depending on you for everything. Briannah recently learned to tie her shoe, and taught herself I might add, and it nearly broke my heart. It's one more thing she'll never need me to do for her again. So when things get hectic and you are in a hurry to get somewhere and she needs you to do something that you take for granted, slow down, and enjoy it. There is one thing though that she will always need for you to do, love her with all of your heart. You'll understand what that is all about when she grows a little, becomes aware, and looks at you for the first time like you are the most amazing thing in the world. And you know what? For her, in that moment, you are the greatest thing in the world, and even though she won't be able to say it yet, that's her telling you she loves you.

So again, congrats, and enjoy yourself...

(takes ernie's olive branch and whacks him behind the knees with it)

:-)

I have edited out some posts on the Nirvana/KC thread. I did this so that the original discussion would not be overshadowed by a whole other line of conversation.

I am glad to hear things worked well for Mike and Toni. I just hate that I found out 3rd hand on a website. :)

Let me run down my weekend real quick... so, we had a babysitter lined up for Friday night. When I got home, I found out we wouldn't be dropping off the kids till 9:00. Well, that kinda sucks. So, I went on over to my Dad's and re-recorded the one line of my song that I didn't like. Nailed it first time, sweet. So then we are going to go ahead and get it mixed down, burned to CD and start listening on a wide array of stereos to make sure our mixing effort was worthy. Well, as we are working on this my phone rings. It's Vette. She says one of her tires is going flat. It's like 7:30 and unless we get it fixed, we can't drop off the kids, thus no babysitter. So I go back home, with my Dad, to put on the spare. I get the jack out and then struggle with how to get the spare from under the car. After 15 minutes, I figure it and am ready to go. The jack isn't working quite right. Further inspection reveals the main rod in the jack is broken. Great. So we drive the Van over to my Dad's, as it had enough air to make. We use the little jack from my car which required me to crack forever to get the stupid thing off the ground. Finally, success. We take the van back home, Evette is going to take the kids, and meet up with me at my Dad's. Now, back to the studio. We have a hard time getting the finished tracks bounced down. We spend till the wee hours and still have nothing. What a crappy Friday night. I take the tracks home with me on my jumpdrive and have an epiphany. I test it out on Cakewalk, and bam! It works. So I call Dad and we decide to try it the next day. I have to get up early Saturday to get to church and get ready for practice. So I was dead tired. Practice was great. Our new drummer is awesome and we are a full 4 piece band now. It is so much more fun to play without that drum machine. Evette headed out Saturday afternoon to get her hair cut. It's really short now and looks spectacular. Afterwards, we went to eat. It was nice sharing a meal without the kids for once. I love'em, but a break is nice. We split up and she heads over to get the kids. I head to Dad's to finish the song. After a few tweaks and beating our heads against the wall, success! First song, done and on a CD. Back home, in bed, then up for church. Praise and worship was great. There is a wholeness to the team now. The congregation was very receptive and enjoyed the music. We had a pot luck afterwards and then Easter play practice. Oh yeah, I am in the play and I am playing Jesus. Gracious. Helped Mom with a computer problem last night and that was about it. Another jam packed weekend spent. I go through weekend hours like water.

Okay, Ern, I just read your Nirvana post. Now, please please please don't get mad about the things I am about to say. And, if you do get mad, I claim pre-forgiveness. Dawgs can do that.

Alright, that said, everything you said in your post about Nirvana is pretty much cliche' now. I've spouted out the same cliche's. The whole antithesis to glam, tapping into angst, didn't give a crap angles have been overhyped now to the point of being ludicrous. I really think we are giving them too much credit. They were interesting and different, but they weren't really that good. They did exist at a time when music changed, but I just don't think they changed music for the better. I blame them and some of their contemporaries for the crap we have on the radio now. Why does a discussion on albums that changed music have to begin with them anyway? It's short sighted to begin with those who came along in your lifetime. It's almost Mike-ish. Let's talk about Jelly Roll Morton, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Robert Lee Hooker and Ray Charles. How about the Everley Brothers, Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly? These are the people that influenced and gave rise to Elvis, the Beatles, Clapton, Hendrix, the Stones, the Who and Dylan. That moved us to bands like Zeppelin, Sabbath, Aerosmith and other assorted heavy stuff. Then music stalled with the singer/songwriters and disco of the 70's. But in the 80's, we did get back to rock inspired by the heavy bands of the early 70's like Guns 'n' Roses. Not to mention, Aerosmith made a comeback. What has Nirvana and Seattle given rise to? Puddle of Mudd and Godsmack? Nickelback and Default? They gave have given us Billboard Top Tens full of no talent Rap music. If anything changed music in the early 90's it was unhappy people who had no reason to be unhappy. Cause it sure wasn't good music that did it. I just look at the rock landscape today and ask, "How did they make things better?" If someone can show me some real evidence, I am willing to listen. Otherwise, I just want the cliche'-ed praise of Nirvana to go away.

At least Bon Jovi is still going strong.

It has been a really good week. It started well and is finishing up strong. Evette and I will be all alone tonight. All the younguns' will be gone. We may make it to the G n R thing tonight possibly. That's all on Evette. Tonight we do whatever the heck she wants. She deserves to have the decision in her hands.

Tomorrow will be our first practice with a live drummer. It is going to add so much to what we are trying to do. We've been praying for 2 years that we'd find someone to fill this role, and faithfully, God has answered. We are still praying for a bass player so Dad can move over to the guitar. Although, he seems pretty content with the bass right now. With Rebecca back on keyboards we are four piece right now. Not bad for a church our size.

If you are ever having any problems with doubts, seeing God's glory, or just don't feel the closeness of God that you have before, read this....

Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

When you look around at the world we live in and see the beauty of what God created, it all just screams "God is great! He's awesome! Check out his beauty!" It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, looking at a beautiful sun set or a mountain covered in fog, you can understand just how great the creator of all things is. When I drive home each day and see Bays Mountain climbing up out Kingsport, I can't help but say thanks to God for being who he is. It makes you feel small, and it should! God and all that he created is unimaginably bigger than us. Yet, he still reaches down and loves us more than anything else he made. Wow.

Ok, check this out... It's awesome.

James 2
23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[1] and he was called God's friend. (NIV)

Whoa. Abraham was called God's friend. And the fact that this is written the Bible means that GOD himself called Abraham friend. The creator and sustainer of all things called Abraham, an imperfect man, not worthy of being called dirt by God, 'friend'. That just strikes me as an almost unbelievable concept. If no one else calls me friend, I sure want God to. I think of what goes into a friendship: agreement, loyalty, love... and I feel pretty rotten about how I must let him down. To be a close friend to someone, you have to be in agreement, having a like mind. Boy, I sure do blow it there sometimes in my relationship with God. Close friends are loyal and committed. Yikes, I'm a louse. Friends love one another. Am I always showing the lord love like I am suppose to? Thank goodness for his love. I'm so glad he loved me so much he'd give his son to suffer and die so that all of these shortcomings I have won't keep me away from him. If you are reading, how is your friendship with God? Does he call you friend?

Things are still going well this week. I just can't seem to get down about anything. Went and listened to the latest mix on our song today and Dad has it sounding pretty good. We're gonna redo one part and hopefully it will be mixed, bounced to two tracks and in a listenable format by the weekend. Then on to the next. It's tough putting the time into it to getting done quicker when everyone involved has a full-time job. We'll get there though.

Ever read your Bible and you read a passage it feels like God himself just wrote that as a letter especially to you for that very moment? That is so cool. For some of you a better question may be. Ever read your Bible? :) I know I don't enough, but I sure am trying to do better.

I think I’ll go for a walk outside now, the spring sun’s calling my name-I hear you now-I just can’t stay inside all day, I gotta get out, get me some of those rays! Everybody’s smiling (sunshine day) Everybody’s laughing (sunshine day)Everybody seems so happy today- It’s a sunshine day.

Sorry. I feel into a Brady Bunch episode there for a minute... :)

Monday, Monday... Ya know, I feel pretty darn good today. Had a great weekend, got some much needed rest, and still was able to do a few things that I needed/wanted to do. A couple things have tried to get me into my head this morning and just weren't able to take hold. It' s gonna be a great week.

Dad and I are all but finished now with the first song we've worked on. I did the vocal track this weekend and Robbie said it sounded pretty good. And we all know if it were bad, he'd have busted unmercifully.

A prayer at church has been answered and we will finally have a live drummer. The drum machine did a good job filling it's purpose, but a real drummer will be great. Hopefully this weekend he'll have everything in place and will get started with us.

Phone's ringing... back later...

The weekend is here, yip yip yahoo! It's been a long week. I started it off with a stomach bug and work was very busy to boot.

I got a new CD last Saturday. It's by the Passion Worship group. The name is Hymns: Ancient and Future. What they did is took 14 hymns that were at least 100 years old, modernized them and added choruses to a few. Now, along with the Integrity folks, Passion are the cutting edge of contemporary praise and worship. So, it was quite a leap for them to re-do a lot of 'old' songs. I grew up signing hymns. Each church we went to from Presbyterian, to Methodist, to Baptist, had their own favorites and some that only they sung. So I have heard a wide range. I love hymns. They are beautiful both poetically and in their truth. However, I think the style and melodies are a bit dated. This CD addresses that in a wonderful and fresh way. A lot of folks would feel it is wrong to set these hymns to different music and give them new melodies. The fact is, most were written without melodies and were set to different songs of the day. Eventually, each one settled into a melody and that is what we have today. So most hymns had their words and melodies written at completely different times by different people! So I think bringing them up to date gives us the best of both worlds. As usual, the Passion folks are very solid in their presentation and it's impressive that the entire album is live and of such a high quality. 4 of my favorite Worship Leaders show up on this album: Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, and David Crowder. If you love Praise and Worship music and hymns, this CD will be an absolute delight.

I also bought the new Todd Agnew album. I originally thought he was going to be a Christian version of disposa-rock, however after meeting and talking with him a month or so ago and now listening to his album, I was mistaken. I'll tell you all about it soon.

I have a poem for Duane and Clint to revisit the old days at Charter...

Buddy let me tell ya
Daily life wasn't half bad
It was a time to behold
Gosh, I was rarely ever sad
All was well
Men could be men
You had to laugh often
Somehow Clint was Clem
Times were great
And so was I
Never a problem
But that's a lie
Really there was one
Often it occured
Unless I am mistaken
Gargantuan head boy always overheard
He was quite a bother
Loved to shuck corn
Unless it was geeky
Very kooky or abnorm

Decode the secret message...

OK, let me drop a little knowledge and let you in on some of things I do at work. I'll make this a little series. So lets say I'm sitting here and one of our salesmen call in from a customer's place of business and says, "I have these people who want to upgrade the RAM in their computer." I ask what kind they need, the answer, "I don't know." I ask what kind of computer is it and they don't that either. So what is a fella to do? Well, there is this neat little free tool out there at that when run, will profile the entire computer. It's like looking inside the computer without ever opening it up. So we run this and it usually tells how much RAM is there and what kind. In this particular case it doesn't tell what kind. So now what? I simply take the board number, returned by belarc, and punch it into Google. Bam! Now all I have to do is locate a good price on it, price for retail, and quote it. So if you have never see it, check out belarc. It is very handy if you are helping out someone with their computer and know little about what's inside.

Family update... Riley's first tooth started coming in last week. He was fussy all week, had diarrhea, and just generally seemed to feel bad. We couldn't figure until we thought, hey, maybe he's teething. Sure enough, he has a little toofer coming in the front on the bottom. He is a little over 7 months old and already has really strong legs. If he is like our other kids, he'll be walking in about 2 months or so. So bumps and bruises aren't far away.... Well, Zxy is 10 now. Yes, I have a child who has hit double digits. Yikes! in 3 years I'll have a teen. Gracious. Bri will start school in the fall and is already worrying about what she'll wear. Just like a woman. Ricky is settling down and finally starting to get over the terrible 2's a little. He says about 10 new words a day now it seems. Evette is on spring break this week and I think she is glad. She is enjoying school, but it has been hectic to say the least.

So yesterday we had Zxyan's 10th birthday party at Skate City. Yes, the Richmeister when skating. Now, when I was in middle school, skating was the thing to do and I was actually a very good skater. Years later I was wondering how I would do. Well, it must be like riding a bike because I was pretty good at it. I really had fun. I want to go more now because of the exercise. It works as good or better than running without jarring your knees and hips. I think I'm gonna get a pair of rollerblades. I've always wanted some and I think now is the time.

Saturday was a nice day out with the family. We had lunch, hit the Christian bookstore and just took it easy all afternoon.