Home Alone

See what happens when my wife leaves me home alone on a Friday night...I go and redesign the blog!

Earlier this week it occurred to me that I needed to update the design a bit. I knew I wanted to go with words only (i.e. no pictures) in my redesign of the header. I tweaked the dark gray background color until it was perfect (probably spent a little too much time doing that!) And then I found the font -- it was pretty close to what I had in my mind's eye -- close enough that I didn't have to troll the internets to find THE PERFECT FONT. That saved me a few hours, no doubt. So then I like played with all kinds of textures for the header, but I just keep coming back to the clean and simple look of the gray by itself.

Then I tweaked some of the background colors to better match the header. I even experimented with some oranges and blues for the sidebar colors, but again, feeling the mono vibe tonight. Oh...and I so wish Blogger allowed you to pick whatever font you wanted for the main text areas, but alas, it doesn't -- so I play within their rules.

Do you even care about any of this?

Probably not, but what can I say, I got home from work at 5pm, changed out of my work clothes and have been messing with this every since. I'm just now starting to realize that I'm a bit hungry. Must take care of that...

Audio«»Visual

Photo by Trey Ratcliff [Stuck in Customs, Flickr]

Anathallo . The River [follow link to mp3]

XLIII Champs!!

Congrats to the City of Pittsburgh and all my Steeler-lovin' peeps!

I still miss the 'Burgh and all you guys!

Photo: Angie Mouer

Piano Man

Light-Paint Piano Player from Ryan Cashman on Vimeo.

08 In Sound

Odd year in music for me.

Two of my life-long favorite musicians -- Weezer and Beck -- released new albums this year, but I didn't buy either one. In fact, other than one or two Weezer songs that I stumbled upon, I didn't even take the time to look them up on the Internet. For Christmas, my wife surprised me with Jon Foreman's solo-effort best-of, Limbs and Branches, but I just didn't buy hardly any music this year.

I listened to David Crowder Band's Remedy and Jeremy Riddle's Full Attention a lot during 2008, but both were released in 2007. I also found myself gravitating to a lot of old Sufjan Stevens, in lieu of any new material from him in 2008. Dare I say it, but I honestly had to scrounge around my MP3 files to even find songs to post here. But don't click away from this page just yet...upon further review, these songs definitely deserve a listen.

As always, follow the link to the MP3 and grab them quick because the links expire in 7 days.


Alias . Crosswalks
This track is epic! Layer after layer of sound. And just full of everything I love about a really good song.

The Ting Tings . Keep Your Head
You know them from the Apple® commercial, but their entire album is chock full of quality indie-pop, with this song barely squeezing out Be The One as my favorite.

TV On The Radio . Halfway Home
This song tells of a journey, the destination of which is somewhere different for every ear that hears.

Jon Foreman . Your Love Is Strong
"[S]ongs have become my way of finding beauty in the midst of chaos and the pain. It’s a way of finding redemption for mistakes and regrets that I have." Jon definitely tapped into the beauty of life on this one...bask in it.

Mount Eerie, Julie Doiron & Fred Squire . You Swan, Go On
Short...but sweet. And that's really all I have to say about this little gem.

Lykke Li . Dance Dance Dance
Up and coming artist whose music Stereogum describes as a mix of soul, electro and "powdered-sugar pop." That works for me, I guess. I just call it "intelligent pop."

Regina Spektor . The Call
This song kinda got buried in a movie sequel that didn't exactly live up to its predecessor. Regardless, it touches a spot deep within and Regina elicits emotion with her soft voice that few can match.


Previously: 2007 In Song . Six for '06

Going Beyond Z

"So on beyond Z, it's high time you were shown that you really don't know all there is to be known." [Dr. Seuss]

Great line. Great lesson. This recognition in my own life has truly opened me up so much spiritually. Actually, just opened me up to life -- and in that, opened me up spiritually. I've found it's a natural flow.

The virgin birth is a great example of this. What do the implications of that mean to us today in the sense of whether God is still creating/putting events into action that go beyond Z? Have we as Christians lost a zeal for life because we believe God stopped going beyond Z at the end of Revelation? Do we think we've seen it all? Do we think we know it all? Are we missing spritual blessings today because we've stopped looking beyond Z? Are we letting true life pass us by?

I don't know the answers.

Maybe they're individual.

I'm just asking the questions.

Just continuing the dialogue...

Kiera Lynn...

Photo by Rick Mouer

My beautiful niece...just one of the many things for which I am thankful. In fact, the blessings in my life surpass the ability of my brain the remember them all. My prayer today is that I would be a better steward of every good thing the Lord has given, including all the intangibles -- my buying power and the choices I make concerning the origin of goods that I purchase, my ability to create change, my ability to positively influence others and the choices I make concerning the use of my time.

Will you join me?

Help Maria Ruiz become a CNN Hero

Update: Voting has now closed. Tune into CNN at 9 ET/PT Thanksgiving night to see who America chose as CNN Hero of the Year.

Suffrage

I live in America
In strange ideas
In stranger times
I've no idea
What's right sometimes

-Sufjan Stevens, The Upper Peninsula [mp3]

I've come to believe in my short 33 years on this earth that the fate of our world lies less in the decision we make on a day such as this, and more in the decisions we make on a daily basis about how we choose to live our lives. And I'm not a model of a person making these daily decisions, but at least my eyes have been opened and I'm striving to make some necessary changes. So, "choose today whom you will serve...but as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."

Related: How Shall We Then Vote?