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our family business, all american pest control, just got a face lift. a new look website with more functionality. the wifey is pretty stoked as she has worked a number of hours to get this going. check it out, let us know what you think, and if you live in the nashville area and would like a high quality environmentally friendly small business taking care of your termite and pest control needs. give us a call!
erin & i were looking at some houses in the neighborhood as a possible option for her grandmother. who currently lives in tullahoma but seems to be in nashville more and more for health reasons. some minor, some more major. while looking i was pleasantly surprised to see our neighborhood and most of davidson county is all plugged in with google's street view. it was way cool to play with.
afterwards wifey said that she might sue google for sucking up all her husbands free time. i don't know if i would blame google, i could waste just as much time on twittervision or second life. &:~D
the pic is our little corner house probably sometime in the winter as our flowers are not blooming.
this afternoon geekdom took on a whole new level participating in tim's weekly skypecast. this time i plugged into my own ustream video feed. today wasn't the best day for a phone call as a bunch of folks randomly stopped in. i think tim put me on mute because of that. sorry man. this is a bit of a screen capture of the fun. i think when i do the next blog redesign i'll set a page for ustream viewing. it's pretty cool, but who wants to look at me all afternoon long. haha!
via the ooze i was given a copy of 'my beautiful idol' to read and give my review.
i threw out some excerpts from the book early in reading. at that point i really enjoyed reading and there was some anticipation of what was happening next. where does this journey go, etc. it is a memoir of faith trying to be lived out in actions and some of those actions would be considered nutty by some, noble by others. i really liked seeing into some of the 'noble' actions and their less noble feelings. especially the attempt to be like henri nouwen. but like the impact of stories of people like henri nouwen or shane claiborne doing counter cultural attempts to the standard move upward in the celebrity/corporate world. the heart of their story and motivations is not that we all follow in their footsteps to enact their exact same things. so you get failed attempts at being who you are not.. and this went over and over and over
as i closed the book i was let down. the first half of the book was riddled with some fun stories, leaps of faith, and honest self-examination. but 230-250 pages in i was pretty much over with the self-exam that moved into self-deprecation. it just got old for me. maybe i need some epiphany to feel good. maybe the self-actualizations were not that profound for me. maybe i have my idols that are not allowing me to see past my own self.. maybe..
was it a good book? if you like memoirs then sure. it is written well and moves quickly. it has some cool spots too. i know i was really intrigued reading his understanding of speaking in tongues. something i am not familiar with as spiritual practice. but memoirs haven't traditionally been my book. i like to be challenged in thinking and this didn't take me there in the end.
blake has a more favorable outlook on the book. search for other reviews to see if i am full of crap.
i am glad to know, but a harsh reality check, of my standing as a youthworker in the church. via dave of cartoon church & cartoon blog.
spent sunday evening attending to the wedding of a family friend, jason blackburn and his new bride, jessica evangelist. a fab affair for sure. being family friends we were close enough that i was able to get some pretty cool photos. check out the blackburn/evangelist flickr album.
episode five of the youthworker movement podcast is up and going. subscribe via itunes
mark is the director of the youth ministry spirituality project and the author of "contemplative youth ministry" and "growing souls." i met up with mark to talk contemplative youth ministry approach & growing souls. how does a youth leader care for the soul of themselves and the youth in their charge. we also bring back some 80's music. interviewed at the national youth workers convention in atlanta, november of 2007.
contact me to get plugged in or ask questions on the podcast. i could use hearing from some friends.
email at: gavoweb(at)gmail.com or call: 615-357-3275
for those of you in and around hendersonville area & take a lot of photos. i wanted to invite you over to an evening with don mcpeak. don is a professional photographer of a different sort. he is passionate about action imagery. he works with belmont, tsu, sumner schools, and others. from what he told me he had a thumb print on a march madness issue of sports illustrated. since i don't get sports illustrated i cannot confirm this, but i trust him. &:~D
come by our 3rd floor lounge area at 6:30pm sunday june 1st and 8th. don will be going over the aspects of good and poor action shots. some technical aspects and some play time. so bring your camera for some good fun and learning so you can catch all those fine moments during a fabulous summer.
i am saddened to hear of the loss of maria to the chapman family. i know i am like many who have been impacted by steven's music but their family story over the years. my heart breaks for their loss.
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, sheild the joyous; and all for your love's sake. -amen
so many of you know that i do the twitter thing now. well on saturday i wrote this.
i noticed today that i had this reply from, none other than southwestair.
wasn't sure what they wanted to hear, so i told them the truth.
so this is their response.
i've been a fan of southwest for a long time. i love the hearding lines, the 24 hour check in that i always forget. mostly though, the cheaper prices and the fact that they try to have some fun doing those mundane tasks over the flight experience. never would i have imagined that i would be engaging in some customer service via twitter.. my how the world has changed.
there is no doubt that you have heard of the 16 year old girl who had pleaded a case of rape in a video and uploaded up to youtube. a part of her confession struck me. a part where she indicated that uploading a video to youtube was her last hope. this isn't just for teens there is also the wealthy new york socialite who is being divorced by her husband. she decided to throw him under the bus about sex life and more in a youtube video.
though i do not discount that these people have hurt. it is interesting to see how the crowds rally for or against your hurt. there is account now that 'crystal' the 16 year old girl consented to her sex. so now videos are popping up bashing her in very mean ways. mean enough and vulgar enough that i care not to link to them.
so i am wondering why the variant opinions.. i know people can be mean and rub salt in wounds. but generally people are caring and would tend to hurting people. so why? the only idea i can come up with is that putting videos out like such are, in-fact, acts of aggression. yes, people need to be outed for misdeeds and held accountable. but to air it in a youtube fashion may be perceived as aggression back, and that diminishes the empathy that one might normally have for a victim situation.
i understand that victims of all sorts of mistreatment want accountability & justice for actions taken against them. when that justice is not what they imagined is youtube really the last resort? one might want to rethink that & be prepared for the consequences.
am i way off?
i was telling some of the chat people in second life about this. yes, there is a dance for jesus club. what is interesting. the two times i've gone the (the first time i found it and the 2nd to go take the pic) there are a number of people there. so maybe that is needed in the kingdom folks. church planters take notice!
so on my way into church today i was thinking. will the rise in gas prices incline people to change their churches? now, some already subscribe to the parish church, that church closest to where they live. but i know more and the trend has been to drive to a church passing a number of other churches. i've been told by church planter/growth people that a 45 minute drive one way is reasonable to expect that someone will drive to get to church.
if such is the case, do you think that saving money will compel folks to find a closer to home church community? or will this be a no brainer to keep paying, 4-5 dollars a gallon of gas (when it gets there) to attend a one to three hour period with a church community?
in other thoughts. how should the church react to people spending so much money driving and using fuel that it might impact their giving. not that the price of fuel should have to do with this dilemma, but what about the church's witness to conserve energy resources. should we start encouraging picking up friends for church, not having meetings and studies throughout the week? doing some busing? promoting ethanol fuel? educating further on other cost saving practices?
today was graduation day for hendersonville high school seniors. some of my pictures seeing my third set of graduates from hendersonville.
caught a pre-screening of prince caspian tonight courtesy of the folks at interlinc and youthworkermovement. i didn't know what to expect past the first 5 or so minutes. so i was interested to see how i would or wouldn't appreciate it.
i am not an expert in this book like others i dwell on the missing length of depths of various conversations, like that of the fab four with the beavers in lion witch and wardrobe. so for you purists. i probably will let you down.
so i share my feelings through the movie.
was it better than lion witch wardrobe? eh, probably not. but, it is hard to beat that initial allure capturing the narnia world. glad the worlds are back in order.
so i have this illness, it is called "yes." i say yes too many times, to too many projects or positions. sometimes it has given me some real benefits, other times not. it has me thinking, what are good guidelines for making "yes" decisions to participate in or take on new endeavors?
my initial guideline thoughts
what other guidelines might be employed in saying "yes" or "no"
Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. -psalm 82
i've been really poor with my uploading pics to my project 365 this past month. but for all the mothers out there from our front porch family to yours, Happy Mother's Day
i've had a pretty good time of late discovering second life. caught this article by the center for parent/youth understanding on second life becoming more into first life.
Even though just four years old and relatively unknown to non-cyberspace dwellers, the last few months have vaulted SL into the public, real world consciousness of advertisers, businesses, universities and ordinary people looking for fun, companionship or something a little different from the first life they are currently living.
...
SL represents another step in cultural interaction. As with other Internet advancements, the possibility of good and evil is present. I would imagine, for the good, in the near future, churches may make use of SL to promote events, hold services and even provide support networks. However, I also imagine, for the bad, that evil influences will continue to find ways to lure avatars (people) into dark places. So, since SL and similar sites are here, let me offer a few suggestions and observations:
...
Cyberspace reality does impact the way one interacts in the real world. As demonstrated, the real world is cashing in on the real needs expressed in SL. It also has been demonstrated, more than once, that relationships built in cyberspace, even though beginning with the promise of confidentiality, find their way into the real world either by choice or by deception. The real world impact of SL conjures up the following questions: If SL users, particularly teens, can use the anonymity of SL to work through identity issues, how will that affect the struggle for identity in first life interaction? Furthermore, if avatars, who gather enough resources, can find life fulfillment in SL (friendship, security, sexual fulfillment, religious enlightenment, etc.), how will that affect the search for the fulfillment of those same needs in first life? Realize cyberspace does impact the way we live life outside cyberspace.
Don’t let your SL experience cheapen the way you view and live life in the real world. Even though real-world interaction and challenges have found their way into SL, and participants can lose real money in this virtual world, remember that there is a real life outside of SL where real people are living life in all its fullness, failures and pain.
one the shows i've been getting interested in lately is gossip girl. since coming back on the scene with new episodes this new show, based off a series of books has some interesting hybrids and is meshing mainstream media with web2.0.
simple premise, think beverly hills 90210 characters move to upper east side new york, take on the charming care for human kind of cruel intentions, with the omnipotent narration of desperate housewives. mix in that, a blog. it could be a new favorite of mine.. when nothing else is on.
actually, i'm just intrigued how these characters are interlinked with a cyber media. with the target audience being teenagers i wonder what this might mean to the blog world. there are already enough gossip blogs, but when teens want to be somebody will similar blogs which talk of their happenings start popping up? as we know, it seems better these days to have people notice you with negatives rather than not be seen at all
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