My highest score ever is a 140...

Starlight Lanes in Flag (not pictured)

I think I am going to go out for the PBA, the Professional Bowlers Association. I remember watching it on TV as a kid growing up on my Dad's four channels. The excitement, the suspense, the competition... Ok, so it really wasn't that exciting. Bowling to me, on TV at least, was anticlimactic at best. You expected the person to get a strike, how else could they be competing at this level. Its sort of like watching the homerun derby in Baseball. You expect them to hit homeruns... When they don't, people look at them funny. You watch the Homerun Derby to see your favorite MLB players hit the most spectacular homeruns ever. You watch the PBA to see you favorite bowlers make the most fantastic strikes you have ever seen. Maybe you watch the PBA like you watch NASCAR... Just waiting for the really horrible wreck. Be honest, on an oval track, its really not that exciting. But, things certainly get interesting when someone wrecks... Especially if there is more then one car involved and things are on fire. In bowling, the wreck is the 9 in the 9th frame... So devastating... But, we are sick, and we are drawn to it.

I went bowling tonight with my friends Carl and Mike up here in Flag. It was pretty fun... I bowled a 120 the first game, with a [9/X] tenth frame just for show. I only needed to knock down one pin in the 10th to clinch victory. Carl posted a modest 90 somethin, and Mike... We'll Mike had a good time. The second game was a bit more of a battle. I started out nicely, with a [71][X][X][8/] for my first four frames, but then, Carl jinxed me. I was up by more then 30 points heading into the 6th frame. I told Carl he could still win (technically it was possible, but would require some magic). He almost got it... He posted a few spares and a strike heading into the tenth, and I posted about 10 points in three frames. Carl finished with a 101, and was actually ahead of me, with one remaining frame for me. I only need to knock down 4 to clinch, and I got 7, and 2... Due to a pending spare, I finished with 113.

PBA, you better watch your back. I am coming like an out of control locomotive. Chris "The Loco Motive" Warren.

I almost died. Ok, not really, but I did gasp.

..Coldplay..

I drove to Flagstaff, AZ (home of NAU) today, and on the way, I caught up on my Relevant Podcast goodness. During the slices segment, they reported that during the Brit's (sort of a People's Choice/Grammy's for Britian) Coldplay frontman Chris Martin announced that they were "taking a break" a "long break", "...It will be years before you see us again." So I checked it out on MTVnews.com.

It appears that the British tabloids might have jumped the gun by reporting that Coldplay are calling it quits. The whole thing started Tuesday night when frontman Chris Martin told the audience at the Brit Awards (sort of the U.K. equivalent of the People's Choice Awards), "It's going to be a few years before you see us again ... People are fed up with us — and so are we." Most of the British press took this to mean that the band was actually splitting up, and they reported thusly, sending Coldplay fans worldwide into a tizzy. But according to the band's label, Capitol Records, the reports are not true. "Coldplay are not quitting," read a statement by the label. "They are on the road until July, when their 16-month X&Y world tour ends in Japan. They will then continue working on new material." ... Speaking of the Brit Awards, Kaiser Chiefs and crooner James Blunt helped Coldplay take home the major prizes. Former British Army captain Blunt won Best British Male and Best Pop Act for his debut, Back to Bedlam, the bestselling album in Britain last year. The Kaiser Chiefs snagged Best British Group, Best British Rock Act and Best British Live Act. Coldplay won Best British Single for "Speed of Sound" and Best Album for X&Y.
entire article here.

And we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Here is another article from Billboard.com, with some interesting stats about record sales and tour sales.

Coldplay was my pick of the week a few weeks ago. "Pick of the week", that sounds lame. Ha ha ha. Listen again here.

Third Day Thursday

Third Day :: Offerings

I don't really like Third Day all that much. I never bought into the hype around them, and even now, they bother me a bit. C'mon... They are sponsored by Chevy (look at the bottom of any page on their website). That said: I do appreciate good music.

This song really spoke to me, worship has been hard for me lately. Singing isn't, but real meaningful worship has been hard to come by.

Agnus Dei/Worthy off the 2000 release of Offerings: A Worship Album.

I hope this leads you to worship. I'll be up in Flagstaff for the weekend, word up to my Flag peeps. :)

Click here to listen in a new window.
Click here to go to the media archive.

Corruption.

Forbes.com list of the world's most corrupt countries.

Before you accuse me of being more nerdy then you already think I am, let me make this disclaimer: I do not frequent Forbes.com, but everyone knows that they are famous for their lists. From the 400 Best Big Companies to The Best (and Worst) Dressed Billionaires and even The Most Expensive Diseases.

Gmail brings me interesting topics in the form of RSS feeds right in my email box. I love it.

But, more seriously... Corruption, poverty, oil money, HIV/AIDS those are issues that need to be addressed now. We cannot push these issues off onto yet another generation. Africa will self implode if we do not help them. As it is, many of it belongs to Warlords, while the rest wallow in the myriad of poverty and disease.

International Relations and Linguistics are defiantly on the short list of possible degree programs I would like to be involved in.

America: you can make a difference.

Christians: you are called to make a difference.

Together we can.

For more info on poverty and AIDS in Africa, visit one.org, or data.org

Through being nice, but it is Thursday...

::Bleach::Audio/Visual::

So, I felt bad about not giving you a song of the week last week, but, you did have a bonus track the week before, so don't complain to loudly... :)

I wanted to do something really special for you this week, and was going to try and have a video posted in lieu of a song (a music video, so that is would still qualify for song of the week.) But, I am through doing nice things for the week, nothing I have done has worked out according to plan. So, you will have to wait until I feel like being nice again.

Bleach was a fun band when they were around. I recently picked up this album in remembrance of the good times I had with Bleach playing in the background. It is a must for anyone who was even a casual bleach listener over the last decade. I would include my normal slew of links to interesting things about Bleach, but I couldn't really find anything interesting except the stuff at tooth and nail's site.

I'm working on an archive page that will have all of the songs that I have put here at one time or another, so look for that soon.

I have a test in Russian 202 today. Yay. &hearts.

Report For Duty Soldier!

image taken from gerber.com

Funny article in Friday's Moscow Times. I've copied here for you because the website requires a subscription to access archived news stories.

Russia has a conscription army, where you are required to serve, I am not sure all of the requirements or exceptions. It is the opposite of the United States, where we have a professional army, unless the draft in enacted, in which case we revert to a form of conscription.

Friday, February 3, 2006. Issue 3345. Page 2.

One-Year-Old Gets Drafted
The Moscow Times

An army recruitment office in Volgograd mistakenly drafted a 1-year-old boy, and the child's grandmother was prepared to take him to report for duty but decided not to because of the cold, Izvestia reported Thursday.

After Dima Verenitsin turned one on Jan. 9, he received orders from a Volgograd army recruitment office to report for duty by Jan. 16, Izvestia said.

"At first I wanted to take him to the recruitment office, but then the cold wave came and he got sick," Verenitsin's grandmother, Lyubov Galushkina, told the newspaper. "I decided to call instead. They could have at least joked around with me, but instead they were rude to me."

Vladimir Morozov, deputy head of the recruitment office, said the office had received false information that Verenitsin was born in 1989.

Yikes. !!

Audio A calls it a day, i call it Thursday.

15 years is a long time.

Well, this weeks addition should certainly be less controversial. ;)

Audio A has been on my mind because I recently heard, on Relevant's podcast that they are calling it a day. Frontman Mark Stuart has used his voice to the limit. Audio A fans, have you noticed that he is a little more hoarse on the last couple of albums then before? His vocal cords simply cannot handle it anymore, he has consulted with his doctors, and they have told him not to push it, or he could lose it permanently.

I offer one of my favorite tracks of all time that Audio Adrenaline ever recorded. Off of the 2003 album Worldwide, its the final track on the album the Ocean Floor Radio Remix. I actually like this acoustic version better then the original.

BONUS TRACK THIS WEEK
In honor of the Mae concert on Sunday in Phoenix (@ 7:30 Marquee Theater in Tempe)... Here is a little love.

The Everglow, the title track on Mae's latest(?) release.

What Audio A song has touched you? Leave me a (non anonymous) comment. :)

Terra Nova RED

Cafe Terra Nova

I have been doing some wonderings as of late (the last few months). Emergent is part of it, so if you want some concrete answers on where I am, you won't get many. But, I can tell you that the journey is good.

My friends Jacob and Tania Bailey are in Santiago, Spain working at a cafe. I love it. Jacob put together this 8 minute video to highlight and explain what they are doing in Spain. It makes me want to scrape together what little money I have, buy a one way ticket, a Spanish pocket translation book, and join them there.

Alas, for now, out paths are not one in the same, and though I can't see over the next hill... I feel good about it.

The video available for download will work perfectly on Mac's (yet another tip to the almighty Macintosh), but the compression will not allow for Windows users to view it with WMP or Windows version of Quicktime. So, download this nifty multi-platform media player (VLC) here and then enjoy the video.

Download the 23mb video here.
Download the 9.2mb VLC here.