This Blog Is Now A Book

December 31, 2009

I used lulu.com to publish my blog into a 400 page book. Just got it in the mail the other day, looks pretty good.

I just copied and pasted my post into indesign so I could control the formatting. Exported as a PDF and uploaded it to lulu.

There’s some typos and formatting issues I’d change but That’s to be expected with anything I write.

About 90% of the pages are from this blog, about 5% from my We Are Change Blog, and another 5% from my rechurched blog.

I wanted to publish my content only because heading forward I may just use this blog for book review or such. My bloging has fallen off a cliff in the last 6 months. Mainly because it’s a blog and I’m a guy who sits in an office all day. What I say isn’t that important.

That’s why I put the tagline on the front cover of the book as “nobody likes your blog anyways”  …. never take yourself to seriously.


Goal for 2010

December 31, 2009

Not real big into make New Years resolutions. I do however have a small list of things I’ll be working on in 2010.

º Read 24 Books (2 books a month, should be an easy goal for me)

º Record an EP with garage band. Maybe just 3 or 4 songs and a couple instrumental tracks

º Finish a rough draft of my book

º Brew a batch of Killer Beer (just a batch that I really enjoy, not a literal beer that kills you)

º Move (been considering this one for many years)

º Learn Something New (like how to make soap, cheese, or build something)

º Increase my garden from last year

º Create 2 or 3 amazing designs to add to my portfolio


Neon Horse

December 15, 2009

Currently into Neon Horse. A secret tooth and nail “super group”. I can place Mark salomon from stavesacre as lead vocals, Jason martin from starflyer 59 as lead guitar. But I have no idea who the other vocals come from. The bass and drum player are supposed to be former project 86 members.

The band does not name it’s members, and of course no one would care, except their good! Solid rock, with synths and loops, and creative vocals.

It’s different, but in a good way that makes you want to listen again and again.


Drops Like Stars Tour // Columbus

December 11, 2009

When downtown last night to see Rob Bell at the Palace Theater in Columbus for the Drops Like Stars Tour.

Really enjoyed the night. This was the third time I’ve seen Bell. Saw him twice in Cleveland for the “Everything is Spiritual” and the “Gods Aren’t Angry” Tour, so it was really nice to get him in Columbus to avoid the drive. The difference this time is I haven’t listen to him in two years, I just happen to run across his tour coming to Columbus. I even asked myself if I really wanted to go, I’ve changed quite a bit in the last two years, so  wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it.

The reason I decided to go: Bell is one of the few people who inspire me. The way he view things, phrases things, and frames them is worth the price of admission. I’ve hit a rut recently, I believe it is completely possible to work your self to death. Almost the same way you boil a frog. The heat and pressure of work and life slowly get turned up on you and one day you wake up and realize you’ve boiled yourself.

The Drops Like Stars Tour is about creativity and suffering. The two are bonded together. Some the greatest works of art come out of intense suffering. Life is not nice and neat. It is a full contact game, that gets messy and ugly at times. And in the process of Life you will at times notice parts of you laying on the floor.

The choice however is yours. If you want to be bitter and angry, the world will give you plenty to be bitter and angry about. But if you choose to take the sufferings you’ve had, the pain, the agony and make yourself better, you might just come out the other end a better person.

For me the money moment of last night came when Bell said

Pain has a way of making you honest

So true. Think about all the things we bottle up, that only come out after we hit the wall and can no longer keep them in. The honest words that often sting our loved ones. We live our lives in such a way that we try to avoid being honest with anyone.

So we suffer

………. we keep it in, and it slowly kills us

………………………………. yet when we let go

………………………………………………… we actually start to live

Something happens when we suffer. Maybe it’s the fact that we are forced to pay a price. Maybe it’s we are forced to clean up our own messes. Maybe it’s just the point that we are not in control of everything and are forced to confront reality. It has a way of making us honest.

It makes me reflect on marriage, and the pain and suffering two people can go through together.

If you want to get divorced, the other person will give you plenty of reason to do so. Because Life is not all nice and neat. It’s hard and painful and at times down right ugly. But when two people suffer together through hard times, or sickness, or death, there comes a point when you look back and love each other not for that person does for you, or what they bring to the marriage. But love that person in such an unconditional way because they were by your side when you suffered.


Best Books In 2009

December 10, 2009

#4 How To Brew by John Palmer

Started home brewing this year in February, and this book has been a life saver! I remember when I first got the book, the whole second half of the book made no sense to me, it was just over my head. Now I’m turning to the back pages to get specific answers. I decide to skip extract brewing and go right to all grain, which is by far more complicated. To me extract brewing is just making tea, The real art of brewing is in all grain.

The best part of all is you can read the whole book online for free. Though having the book is priceless.

#3 The God Virus by Darrell Ray

I really enjoyed this one. Darrel Ray has some great thoughts about what religion does to society. He’s not exactly anti-religion, he seems to give the impression that church is fine, and religion is fine IF you understand what’s going on. If your aware how religion can manipulate your thinking. A strong advocate for free thinking.

#2 The Naked Now by Richard Rohr

Just finished this. It’s one the few books in the last two years that has actually inspired me in a positive way. I have spent a lot of time laying in bed this month with different chucks of this book eating away at me. I connect with the way Richard Rohr thinks, I don’t think everyone will. I can easily see where most christians would criticize him for being to loose with his theology. I think thats a shame because this book really presents a great opportunity  to open the way you think.

#1 Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

1100 plus pages and seven months worth of reading. This one requires some discipline to finish, but in the end one of the best books I’ve ever read. John Galt’s ideas of work and life are contagious and inspiring. Is there a better way to live? I would suggest there is.


Best Albums of 2009, And Some That Came Close

December 4, 2009

It’s that time of the year again. Time to recap my favorite things of the year. First up Music.

Things That Disappointed Me

Skillet, “Awake These guys and gals are hugely talented, I love some of their old stuff. But I can’t help but feel they miss putting out a complete full album every time. This one has 2 maybe 3 really good songs, the others I just don’t care for.  The appeal to me is the hard rock sound with a great mix of synths and loops. I think it’s not hard enough for me, I really wanted an album that moved me, that could pump me up and just didn’t get it.

Notables That Didn’t Make My Top 5

John Mayer, “Battle Studies”  Still listening to this one. Love the blues influence.

Dashboard Confessional, “Alter The Ending”  Love that you get the full album plus the full album a la acoustic version. nice touch.

Switchfoot, “Hello Hurricane”  Some really great lyrics dominant this album. For me the downside was I just wasn’t a big enough fan of every song.

Fallout Boy, “Folie à Deux”   Now technically it came out in late December of 2008, I didn’t pick it up until January this year.

Chevelle, “Sci-fi Crimes”  Had to resist putting this on the top 5. Chevelle is one of the very few bands that I would pay to see live.

The Decemberist, “Hazards of Love”  A very unique sound, sort of folky. I love to listen to them when I’m working or designing, it’s a perfect background sound track.

TOP 5

#5 The Fray

This one had a good run on my list. I’m a big fan of piano rock. I think my downfall was over playing it to death!

#4 Kings Of Leon, Only By The NIght

Really different sound. Never heard of these guys before this year, but I enjoyed it a lot.

#3 Flyleaf, Memento Mori

Really liked their last album, so I had high expectations for this one. Pleasantly surprised this ones a big step up from their last one.

#2 Paramore, Brand New Eyes

Honestly I had heard of Paramore but never listened to them. For some reason I gave this one a listen, turned out to be one of my favorites for the year. The lyrics are great especially in “Careful” and “Brick by boring brick”. favorite song: “All I wanted”

#1 Emery, In Shallow Seas We Sail

I complained last year that Hawthorne Heights album was good, but not good enough and that I needed to just wait for emery to put a new album out. This one was better than I expected. Hands down my favorite of the year. I love the synth sounds they have added, the precise screaming, the drum loops, and vocal harmonies.

The best way to listen to this album is to get a good pair of headphones and turn it up. The full album is really good so if i had to pick a favorite song, I’d picked “Churches & Serial Killers”.


Rob Bell In Columbus

November 26, 2009

Rob Bell in Columbus, Ohio on December 10 for the Drops Like Stars Tour.

Just found out they are filming the Columbus tour for the DVD.

Already got my tickets.


New Gloss Box Mac Dock Icons

November 19, 2009

Click for Large Picture

Click For Large Picture

Had some free time at work and my dock icons looked at me the wrong way. So the obvious solution was to change them all!

You can download the Photoshop working file here, if you feel inclined.


Pipe Cleaner Zoo Animals

November 9, 2009

I don’t know about you, but Sundays in our house are for constructing pipe cleaner zoo animals! Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping faster then twisting and turning small wires with fuzz into elegant  beast of beauty.

What we have here is a rare breed of zebra know in the safari as the “Mullet” Zebra. And next to him is the endangered “Afro” Giraffe.

Good times.


Why Voting In Our Democracy Doesn’t Matter Anymore

November 4, 2009

We vote because we believe it changes things, we vote because we have FAITH in the system. We vote because it’s the only control we feel we have. We use voting much like charity work in America. We do it so we feel good about ourselves.

But voting in a Democracy doesn’t matter. It only works for the majority, the minority are left unheard. You only need 51% of the public to agree with you, to have total control. That’s why we were not founded as a democracy, our founding fathers laid the frame work for a constitutional republic. a society of self-government, self-reliability, and self-accountability.

All the talk on the news is we need to vote out every member of congress. The media’s job is to make you think your vote matters.  Why you ask? Because it’s the only way to make the system keep going. As long as people feel they can change our country by voting, the duopoly of Democrat and Republic lead decisions continue. We are presented with two options for the mere sake of making it look like we have choices. It’s a formality really, if they thought the public would go for only one choice trust me they would do it.

That’s why Goldman Sach’s and JP Morgan give money to both Democrats and Republicans. THEY DON”T CARE WHO WINS. As long as you don’t realize they don’t care. That’s why the media marginalized candidates who were anti-war and anti-big government. Ever heard of Mike Gravel? I would hope not, other wise the media hasn’t done a good job.

Gravel was a Democratic candidate for President in 2008. Gravel is firmly against war, I don’t mean he’s anti-war like Obama who said he would bring our troops home, and then continued the wars, explained the wars, hired private contractors to replace soldiers, and then sent more troops to Afghanistan. Not that kind of anti-war. gravel is a point your finger  in the face of the corporations anti-war.

Wonder why you never saw him in a debate? He says he was purposely kept out of the early debates because he’s anti-war, and when he asked why he wasn’t allowed to debate. They told him someone at GE didn’t approve of his views.

See the illusion is you have a choice. You can vote for any of the candidates we have pre-approved.

Diebold who is one of the largest electronic voting machine operators in the US, who was used for the Presidential election, has 5 developers that are convicted felons, including Senior Vice President Jeff Dean, topping the list are his twenty-three counts of felony. Don’t forget the two people convicted of voter fraud in Ohio for the 2004 elections. doesn’t that smell like democracy, placing a vote on a Diebold machine, that doesn’t spit out a voter receipt and doesn’t make the voting record public?

Don’t believe me that it’s a stacked house, can you name an Independent politician? Do you know the name of the only truly independent senator in the house? out of 100 senators there is only one Independent! And no I don’t count Lieberman as Independent in my eyes.

Our country faces a great threat, but it is not a Democratic Problem, it is not a Republican problem, it is a corruption problem. You can vote every member of congress out, every senator, replace every aid in the white house, we can protest against every bill that hurts small town Americans and at best we will create stagnation.

We have made honesty a liability in Washington instead of a virtue. We need to remove the revolving door of corporate influence in private government, we need to remove the lobbyist, we need to remove politically correct speech, we need a public that is more informed about government and liberty then they are about fantasy football stats and fall tv schedules.

We are losing an informed pubic to the self indulged, narcissistic entertainment industry of “ME”. I can hardly have a intelligent political discussion at work or in public with out someone bringing in the “he said/ she said” argument of democrat vs republicans. The republicans always think it’s the democrats fault, the democrats always think it’s the republicans fault. It’s never going to change. You know why, because at the end of the day republicans and democrats are forced to support party lines, they have to put food on the table too.

I think people who believe voting changes things are good intentioned patriots. I also think they are naive not to see the tyranny closing in. voting may work in a republic, it doesn’t not work in our current state of affairs. Protesting may work when government is scared of the people, it does not work when government owns the guns. Is it any wonder that the number one industry in the United States has become the Military industrial complex of war, security, and surveillance. Is it any wonder we are busy spreading DEMOCRACY in the middle east and not a Constitutional Republic?

Our government has become fat, bloated, complacent, and corrupt. We have public officials who don’t pay taxes and get appoint secretary of treasury, we have congressmen charged in money laundry that sit on the board of financial oversight, we have governors of states profiting from political decisions,We have Chris Dodd who is the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee receiving contributions from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan! How is that even possible? Not to mention the fact that we can’t ignore the moral failures of our elected officials. It’s become common place to find out a politician is having an affair, of using tax payers money for personal vacations, or over paying for services to companies that profit their friends and families.

Voting is much like choosing the Prom King & Queen. In the end it comes down to who do you think you can live with hearing about and see on every magazine for the next 4 years. Think about this, what would make more change in our government. If 100% of people voted, or if 0% voted? The system only works if we comply.

But what happens when the feds start suing people for garage sales? and swat teaming families that sell eggs? Or get this what happens when  the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service feels like they have to have their very own SWAT team? Did we vote for this? Did we vote for Obama to head the UN Security Council? Did anyone ask you? Did the New York Times even mention it’s a violation of section 9 of the US Constitution?

You may say local politics are more important. Local issues affect your life before national issues do.

In Ohio for example our big issues was “issues 3″ should we build casinos in Ohio, after all it would create 34,000 jobs and we need jobs were in a recession. It would keep a billions dollars in state and we need revenue, after all were in a recession. But there is no talk about the fact that this was the 5th time Ohioans have voted on this issue. See voting doesn’t work …. because if an issues fails, it just comes back next year, and the year after, until they finally get it passed. the best we can hope for is a stalemate, to drag things out.

But the real issue isn’t even talked about. If your economy is so desperate for jobs and money that the only way you can create that is by people gambling, what kind society are you left with? Instead of cutting the budget, deflating government and state payrolls. We encourage people to gamble what little money they have. Why is it that answer is never making tough decisions and cutting programs, it’s always raising taxes, selling bonds, and finding new ways to con money out of tax payers.

I believe we are far past voting for change. We didn’t vote ourselves away from King George. We didn’t protest with clever slogans on poster board for England to leave us alone. When we get to the point of people having nothing left to lose, that’s when we will see real change in our country. When people stop feeling entitled to the profits of tax payers production. When we start creating and producing instead of consuming and plagiarizing. When blogs are filled with original content instead of re-posting mainstream news.

When kids start looking up to Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin as role models instead of athletes and rock stars. When people start reading history and living in reality instead of fantasize about hitting the lottery. When kids decide to learn how to play a real guitar instead of playing Rock Band …. that’s when change will come to America.