We Made It

The Kentucky mountains have two things in great abundance:

1. Trees.
2. Men sporting Mullets.

It is really beautiful up here. We are sharing a cabin with several young and enthusiastic people in the show. I fell just a tad like a camp councilor. The cabin where we landed houses most of the tech guys. They are all outside by the woods right now, burning scrap wood from the set and smoking... stuff. They seem to be pretty nice fellas. "Stuff" does that to ya though. I don't think I've ever met a mean "stuff" smoker. I don't know though, they may just be smoking good old home-grown tobacco.

Amber and I got lost in the mountains on our way back from the town food market, creatively named, "Food Town," as opposed to "Food Suburb," or "The Greater Food." Food Town had two things in abundance in its isles:

1. The biggest selection of Little Debbies I've ever seen.
2. Men sporting Mullets deciding on which Little Debbies they want for breakfast.

Getting lost in mountains, in the dark, is a tad creepy. A deer came flying out of the woods and in front of the car. I spared her life, or she spared mine. I think the deer had a mullet. However, it could have been a trick of the light. You know, like when you look at a light and then you look away and still see light? The deer could have just appeared to have a mullet from me staring too long at some dude's mullet whilst he gathered the ingredients for his morning Little Debbie omelet.

Yes, this post is just a tad on the city-slicking snob side.

Did I mention how beautiful it is up here?

New York State of Mind

Amber and I are heading out for Kentucky tomorrow and we are a little sad. We are excited about all the fun stuff we get to do but we have really grown to love our place here in the city, not to mention some new friends that feel like they've been our friends for a loooong time, and a really great church. (Of course it doesn't help that the weather up here has been nothing short of paradisal lately.)

I think part of the sadness comes from the fact that we are just feeling like we are getting settled in. Things are familiar to us and that's always hard to leave.

Everyone always gets a little antsy when they talk about moving to NYC because they can't imagine living in such a big and busy place. But one of the many cool things about the city is that every 5 blocks or so is its own little neighborhood. Pretty much everything you need is within your five blocks and that's essentially how it is for every 5-10 blocks in Manhattan.

Don't get me wrong, Kentucky is beautiful and we get to do some really great music in the middle of the rolling appalachian hills, but this past year has been a bit of a rollercoaster and just about the time we are feeling settled in our new place, we are up and out again. And by golly, there is something to be said about feeling settled. I've moved around my whole life and so has Amber. We know that Kentucky is were we are supposed to be this summer and we'll be so durn busy that the time will fly by like a Subway... sub...way.. AWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

And so it goes in this business.

You can never say never with God, but we have pretty much decided that after this, we doubt we'll be doing something like moving out for 11 weeks again. I'm sure it will be a blast and we'll have lots to share, but after this summer, we're thinking we might want to plant a few roots down here in this big awesome town. (Knock on wood praise the Lord.)

The blog will probably go silent for a week or two but as soon as we can, we'll give you an update!

The Biggest Single "Thing" in our Solar System

Jupiter's Magnetosphere!!! (Although, I'm up to being schooled on this. This was recently learned on my part.)

Jupiter's magnetosphere is very special. It is the biggest thing in the entire solar system. Not only is it big enough to hold all of Jupiter's moons, but the sun itself could fit inside. It goes all the way to Saturn. If it could be seen at night, it would be as big in the sky as the full moon or up to five times as big.

Jupiter has a wind-sock shaped cloud which goes around inside the magnetosphere. Jupiter's magnetosphere is so powerful it also makes radio signals and other waves, called whistler waves, chorus and hiss. In fact, you can tune your radio to an empty station, late at night in the desert, and you would be able to hear the sucker. You would hear a kind of roar or weird science fiction sounding noises. People have been seriously creeped out by it's noise. The magnetic field is so intense and wide, that it influences Earths magnetic field, adding billions of watts of electrical energy to it. Essentially, Jupiter is on big nuclear power plant in the sky.

The magnetic field is generated by eddy currents in Jupiter's metallic hydrogen core. Magnetic fields are pretty interesting and intense things. If it weren't for Earth's big magnetic field, the sun's solar wind probably would have blasted our atmosphere off long ago, evaporating all the water, causing the atmosphere to become very dense and heated, sending the greenhouse effect out of control. In a couple million years, we'd be looking like Venus- a 900 degrees hell pit.

Jupiter's magnetosphere is a dangerous place. If you or I were to venture into any part of that puppy, then we'd be dead in short order. If astronauts ever try to go there, they will have to have some serious lead protected suits, not to mention a lead-lined spaceship. That would mean that we would have to build the space ship to Jupiter in space, because it would be too heavy to blast off! Also, parts of Jupiter's magnetosphere hold the hottest parts of our Solar system. Even hotter than the sun. Jupiter's magnetosphere reaches all the way to Saturn. Huge. If it were say, where Mars is in the solar system line up, we might be living in a very different world. Or not living.

Five Years Ago

Five years ago, my nervous system was on high alert. My hands were shaking and I had managed to down about a half a donut before I slipped my tuxedo onto my overheated body. I had tried to visit the tanning bed the day before... because, well, you know... and stayed a little too long under the lamps. Ahem.

However, when the sanctuary doors opened and the woman of my dreams started to walk down the isle towards me, my hands stopped shaking. My leg stopped wiggling. Every ounce of energy went into my smiling muscles and tear-generators. I thanked and praised God for the beauty that was walking my way, and since then a day hasn't gone by that I haven't repeated that ritual of praise and thanks.

Five years ago today, I married the most incredible girl on the planet. It has been nothing short of an adventure ever since.

In the past five years I have come to know that there isn't anything that my wife cannot do. I am constantly amazed at how kind, loving, encouraging and mesmerizingly talented she is. In about the span of two months, the girl had learned the guitar and was playing it on tour with me, on stage, in front of sometimes-thousands of people. I am constantly surprised by what she is capable of. Last time I was at her parent's house in Tulsa, I watched in amazement at the young Amber, all of 9 years old, playing piano, WITH AN ORCHESTRA.

The first time I saw her was when she was playing Rosemary in "How to Succeed in Business." She lit up the stage. I turned to the person sitting next to me and said, "Lord have mercy." From that moment on, I was always smitten with her. I didn't start dating her until three years after that, but I was always looking for her. In the halls, in choir, in the practice rooms at Baylor... I can still see her coming in late to Choir with her wet curly hair as she had obviously just woken up maybe a half an hour before.

I talked to her a few times through those years but I can only remember saying things that made little sense and thinking, "what in the heck did I just mumble?"

Then finally one day, I was asked to play for the Gospel group she was singing with. I internally said "Hallelujah" and soon after, I began to put together coherent sentences while talking to her and we became great friends.

But it was Harry Potter that did the trick.

When I toured with her Gospel group, Amber was in charge of calling the band and making sure we had the itenerary. One night she called me and I asked her how she was doing. She told me that she had picked up the first Harry Potter book and was reading it because the "chap" (a highly edited and re-typed word) she was dating had told her Harry Potter was straight from the Devil's pen. She told me that after reading it, she didn't see what the big deal was and that she was just loving the book. Then, for some reason, I asked her to read a little of it to me. I think it caught her off guard but she said "okay," with eternal cuteness and began to do so. She read about a half a chapter and I remember thinking... "I wish this woman would read to me every single night for the rest of my living days." It wasn't long after that... we were hot on the trail to the altar.

I love that girl of mine like I never thought I could love anyone. Sure, we get in fights every once in a while and we argue and we aren't perfect, (mostly me on the "not perfect" side) but these past five years have been the most exciting, blessed, and just downright happy days of my life. Every day she inspires me to be a better man and one of these days I might come close to deserving her, but I doubt it.

Happy anniversary to my incredible, captivating, wife.

Next stop: Kentucky.

Indy 4: (I Slump As I Type This.)

I'm sorry... I'm going to have to say what everyone is thinking but too reverent to speak a bad word.

Indy 4... kinda sucked. This picture sort of says it all for me.

Now, I use the word "sucked" in a relative sense. Not toooo relative, but certainly relative. Lucas and Spielberg have forced me to grade this film on a curve that they have set for adventure-sci-fi films. We are talking about the men who created E.T. We are talking about the man who wrote and directed Close Encounters of the third Kind when he was 29. We are talking about the man who created Chewbacca, Yoda, Obi-wan, Han Solo. But most importantly, we are talking about the wonder-duo who created INDIANA FRIGGIN JONES.

SPOILER ALERT: This review will contain plot elements that you may not want revealed until you see the film. But, I'm telling you, it won't matter. Everybody knows its got something to do with aliens, so make one up yourself over your ham and eggs, you'll probably come up with a plot that equals this smouldering poop-ball of a plot.

I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't. And maybe it is because we watched it right after we say August Osage County on Broadway- one of the most amazing plays I've ever seen. I know all those people in my play. They are all members of my extended and immediate family. (Some of my family still live in Osage County, Oklahoma.)

Back to the task at hand.

My problems with the flick:

A swash-buckling Indy was no longer believable, sadly. I don't know if it was the directing or the lack of build-up... but every punch that Indy gave or received was just hard to swallow, considering the man is 65. Granted, the dude looks friggin awesome for 65. If I look that good, and I will, at 65, I'm going to come back in time and kick my 33 year old but right out of this chair...

Then there was Shiah Beowulf, or whatever the crap his name is. (One of the two Hollywood names that I'll never get, and and I'm too lazy to look up. The other one is M. Night Shamalamadingdong.) I guess he was alright; he was no River Phoenix, but talented enough to like. But come on. I could see his sonship to Indy coming a million miles away.

Okay, okay. You know what this movie reminded me of? A Disney re-enactment. You know at Disney Land when they are re-doing a scene from Indy and then Harrison Ford makes a surprise appearance? Then he says his lines with a grin on his face as if he knows that you know that he's really not Indy, but that you really love Indy and him showing up is bringing you great pleasure? You know what I'm saying? I never felt like that Harrison really bought his Indy-ness. I think he had fun. But more fun because he was still able throw some punches at 65 without being rushed in for a quadruple bypass. Hooray for him and his superior genes. What I wanted was magic, and magic... I did not get. Sure there were some "fun" moments. Sure it was great to see Indy running around old ruins, but overall, it was Indy by the numbers.

Indy 4 was to Indy 1,2,3 is what Star Wars episode 1 was to Star Wars 3,4,5. I wasn't even thrilled about the return of Marian. It was all just too hokey. I know, I know. It's an Indian Jones movie. It's supposed to be a little corny. But the great thing about the original films is that you could really tell that the creators believed in the material. Here, not so much. It was like dear old dad dressing up like Santa Clause and going through the Santa Clause motions and we all play along. The difference being, it was much cooler when Dad really made an effort to help us believe that he WAS REALLY Santa Clause, thereby causing the whole latter-day charade to be a little... depressing. Depressing because, "wow, dad is looking older in that Santa costume. That means I'm older too. Wow. Old. There's really no such thing as Santa Clause. I'm old. Pass the eggnog, the eggnog WITH the liquor."

Here, the director and creator said that they made this movie for the fans. Mistake number 1. Any time you make a work of Art for any other reason than the sheer joy of it, for yourself, then it turns out a little unbelievable.

Everything seemed a little bit lazy. From the Roswell stuff to the CGI flying saucer bit at the end. Even the trick-designed temple. The crystal skull even looked dumb. Come on. Something that size, solid crystal? No way they'd be able to toss it around like a plastic football. Shoot, the original Crystal Skulls look ten times better. Kate Blanchet was even one-dimensional and comical. No wonder the Ruskies are ticked about this film.

I don't know. I hate to be such a party pooper. I would still recommend seeing it. It is some good summer fun. But nowhere NEAR the fun of the first three films. I would even prefer seeing the Mummy films over this one. And THAT, ladies and gents, is something I NEVER thought I'd say.

In the end, I applaud the creators and actors for giving it their all. These guys are my heroes. But on a scale of 1-10 on the Spielberg/Lucas chart... I'd say it scored about a 4-6. (I can't think of a Spielberg film that has scored lower than 4 on that chart, btw) Up their with maybe Hook. But even Hook had more magic than this. Maybe because it was missing Sean Connery or Saula or Marcus. Don't know. It just lacked the charm, wit, and bravura that the originals had, even at their worst. (Temple of Doom.)

I'm pretty sure I won't be buying this film when it goes to DVD. If I do, I'll buy it for the special features. I'd like to compare the enthusiasm that the filmmakers had in the first films to the enthusiasm they had on this film. I'd like to compare the skinny, nerdy Spielberg and Lucas of Raiders, running around like a giddy teenagers, reveling in every moment of torture and danger that they were putting the squirming actors through with the bugs and snakes, to the fatter and richer directors of today zooming around the sets in their jeeps telling the actors to jump around at the non-existent ants and stuff that would be added later at the Skywalker Ranch.

One thing that the newest installments of Star Wars and the lndy 4 has taught me. CGI is still nowhere as good or as believable as good old fashioned models and puppets, or real snakes and real bugs. Nothing will ever top the first 30 minutes of Raiders. Nothing. Ever. Just good old fashioned filmmaking at its best. From the lighting to the editing to the acting to the directing.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure this was all shot digitally. Film looks so much better. It just does.

Final Grade: C. I hate giving that grade. I really do. I feel like I'm talking bad about my father or something.

Science Trivia!

This could be very tricky or very simple.

Either way, you may NOT use the internet for help. That's cheating, and zero fun!


Here tis'

What is the biggest "thing" in our solar system? (Thing=1 thing, or object.)

One More German Post: A BIG Thanks

I just wanted to say again how darn happy that I passed that test. I also wanted to say a quick word of thanks for all the good folks in Houston and abroad for their prayers and for putting up with all my trips and making me feel welcome and loved.

Thanks to the Holtzmans for their constant love and warmth. You guys made my trips feel like a visit to my folks. You've been there prodding me along from the start and I can't express how much I love ya.

Thanks to Josh and Elise Moore, for your constant encouragement and inspiration. You guys are just a powerhouse of a couple.

Thanks again to Greg Stahl for all your encouragement and understanding throughout my whole degree process. I can't thank you enough for always telling me that my degree comes first but at the same time using me at WTBC in the ways that always emphasized my strengths. I'm sorry I didn't get to catch lunch with you last time I was there, but you are loved and appreciated.

Thanks to Cary and Popcorn for letting me use Barney (their spare car!) on my visits. You guys saved us a truckload of money on my visits and you've also been a constant fount of prayer and encouragement. Cary, your project is one of the most enjoyable things I've ever worked on. I can't wait to hear the finished product.

Thanks to Tim and Angela Boone... these guys have been quietly helping Amber and I since we've known them. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have been able to complete our last CD or move to NYC. I'm not sure if they want people to know all that but I just had to include them into the mix. I have hardly met kinder people. When I needed testing for dyslexia this past month, Tim (a well known surgeon) and his wife went out of their way to find a friendly neurologist for me to take the exam. Also, the man saved a friend of mine's life one time at church when Tim noticed the staff infection on my friends arm and how it was swelling. My friend's doctor had prescribed the wrong antibiotic and Tim called in the right prescription right then and there at church! Just salt of the earth people I tell ya.

Also would like to thank my Mother and Father-in-law. (and Baca and Tinydancer too!) I don't know what I ever did to deserve to be welcomed into such an amazing family, but they have been nothing but flat-out-incredible in their constant love and support of a such a odd-ball son-in-law. Along with my family, they are the most incredibly wonderful people I have ever known. When I first came to visit them at their house while courting Amber, I had to take a walk because I was overwhelmed with love for these people. I say a quiet prayer of thanks every time I hear a horror story from one of my buddies about their in-laws. I am truly, truly blessed beyond comprehension.

Another big thanks goes out to my Dad and Mom... if I get going here, I might not stop. A quote from my mom after I failed my German test the second time: "Son, I don't want to hear any of that business about dyslexia or ADD. Attention deficit disorder? How about attention DISCIPLINE disorder? If there is anything I've known about you since I gave birth to you, is that when you set your mind to something, hell or high-water won't stop you. Just like when you decided to get into all the honors classes in the ninth grade because that's where the pretty girls went. You just have to WANT to do it. So, buck up and get a tutor." Yes Mother. Needless to say, I got a tutor and passed. (I also got a cover letter written to the German department, not to mention an incredibly pretty wife.)

Of course, my wife... Off the charts. She deserves a truckload of diamonds and a hundred love-songs for all the encouragement and support she has given me. More on that later. (Five year anniversary coming up in three days!)

Of course there are a ton of people who have been encouraging and who have been praying for me all the way... Joan and Rick, Susan and Dave, Michael and Jean, Susan and Rick, Phil and Brenda... the list goes on and on and on.

All of that sounds like I just won the Nobel prize or an Academy award or something, but for me, I might as well have. It has been a looooooong haul with this here degree and this German test just about kicked my but in the 11th hour. (Cue Rocky music.) So I'm feeling mighty good right about now, and sometimes you just need to give thanks. It feels like a giant German Waterbuffalos' hoof has just been removed from my crotch (Or something like that,) allowing me to FINALLY graduate. Oh the eloquence of a DMA candidate...

Thank you guys, and thank you JESUS! Hallelujah Howdy-doo-ya!!!

Now lets all hold hands and join in the Doxology...

Lately

Soooooo. How's it going? Been slam-busy here learning three honking scores. The music I have to learn in about a week:

A Chorus Line
Wizard of Oz
Honky Tonk Angels.

Don't get me wrong, I like the music. I LOVE the Wizard of OZ. Its just that... that's a dang buttload of music to learn in a week. A crap-blasted-drive-me-to-smoke bunch of music.

Other than that, I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately. I can't figure out why either. I've read plenty of things blog-worthy. Like, the Pope declaring E.T. as our alien-brothers and sister... things in Christ. I found that to be both a tad weird and cool as heck.

Speaking of cool, Iron Man was cool... Prince Caspian was cool as well, although, Iron Man was cooler...

I've been reading a bunch about how people are ticked off at the deviations from Lewis' book. Come on. What do you expect? Personally, there were only two things that annoyed me about the movie, the rest I enjoyed a great deal. Here goes: 1. Prince Caspian's hair. He had way to much hair and it made me envious. 2. Kids fighting battles. Not that I think kids shouldn't fight and kill, I do. But it's just not realistic. I can't get into toddler blood-battles, only because I really don't believe that they can kick butt. Maybe if they were some sort of cybertronic terminator kid. Now, that would be a bad-a munchkin. (Okay, as I wrote the second annoying thing I remembered a third annoying thing.) 3. Aslan was cooler this time around, but they made the lion smile when he hugged Lucy. I thought that was a little gay. (That is not meant to offend any homosexual reading this, and is purely a slang term, meaning I thought Aslan smiling was lame. In fact, I tried to think of another word to use, but gay just sort of best wrapped up what I was feeling about the smiling lion, so there you have it.)

But there is something about those Narnia books... they remind me of something. Sort of reminds me of Christianity. Hmmm. I wonder if they are Allegorical?

Truth is, they are not. There are parallels for sure, but Lewis did not set out to write an Allegory. He set out to write a fantasy world, the Allegory was incidental/more intentional as time went by. I do love the parallels to Christianity, but first I want to see a fantasy. I figure that God gave us this big ole' imagination... and we've already got the Bible stories, which are great. So why not make up some new stories?

Ironman: Kicked A-S-S. Bigtime. Roberto Downy Jr. is one of our generation's most amazing talents. I am so glad that guy is done visiting the slammer. It's about time. More detailed review of that coming...

Anywho, that's about it for me tonight. Sorry I don't have much more to offer for your evening pleasure. I apologize for the grotesque overuse of the word "cool" but my window is open by my desk and the air that floweth througheth it is nice and... cooooooool. I suppose I could have substituted cool with "neatopaskeeto" or "fantastilicious" but I'm too lazy and this is a blog. You get to read it for free. That gives me the right to overuse cool until it morphs into a giant fingernail craping down your cranial chalkboard. cool cool cool cool cool cool cool. CoooooooooooooooOOOOOOoooooOOOOOooooL.

I sure will miss NYC. Man, will I ever. It has been a sunny 65 degrees steady for the past two weeks. Central Park has been downright dreamy.

In the immortal words of Kip Dynamite, "Peath Out."

Planet X (Or Nemesis Star)

When I was about 7 years old we had this globe. I loved that globe with a passion. I don't know why, but I just did. I used to spin it around and run my fingers across the fancy raised mountain ranges and dream about going other places.

One day, I was staring at the globe and I said, hey mom... the earth looks like a big puzzle. I think that maybe all the continents were together at one time. Don't you think? I just remember my mom and dad looking at each other.

Two years later we moved. I lay in bed one night and added up the age of the earth. I had just learned that the earth was supposedly billions of years old and yet, the bible seemed to only add up to several thousand years. And then there was all that flooding business and the rainbow. Well, according to my science book, the rainbow was just light refracting off of water. And good lord, what about the dinosaurs?

A year after that, my dad gave me Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I don't think there has been a book that has more captured my imagination. I used to lay in bed and study all the cool pictures and imagine what it would be like to go there. We had just moved the second time to Indiana, and I'm not sure if you know this, but Indiana has some spectacular starry skies. So I would sit out on the back porch and pick a big glowing star and imagine going there in an instant.

Then of course came all the other celestial stories in the bible that didn't seem to make senses. The sun standing still, fire from the sky... the star of Bethlehem... They always bothered me because I had learned that things like that... well, the don't just happen.

Fast forward through about 15 years of doubt and faith... to my geology class in undergrad. I took the class because I thought it was going to be a blow off. Nay, it was not. In fact, outside of my Astronomy lab, it was the most difficult course in my whole undergrad. But one thing stuck from that class. They professor's views on Global warming. He was a published Geologist that would teach a semester and then go out and do... important... geology stuff. His view of mankind being responsible for global warming was this: Hogwash. Before you get riled up, the man was an atheist democrat as well. Anyways, he said that the world's climate goes in cycles. And that civilization has just been lucking out for the past 8 thousand years or so. And even then, a few hundred years ago the earth's climate was about 20 degrees colder. What he did say, was that they really don't know what causes the abrupt changes. They really don't have a definitive answer for plate tectonics. The moon just doesn't have that kind of power, and the sun pulls even less on the earth. That's why they try to explain it all happening in million or billion year time periods. However, even that is full of holes. What' even weirder is that the other planets seem to be heating up as well.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago.

There are two theories about planet x. One the scientists don't have much of a problem with, and the other, well, for some reason, they don't like it.

First is the Nemesis Star theory. It goes a little something like this: One day, the dinosaur big-wig scientists were all sitting around a table and realized that the big extinctions tend to happen on a cyclical basis. Every several hundred million years or so. So, a few scientists came up with a not-so-crazy idea: First, that our sun isn't that much different than all the other stars in the sky in that it is actually binary. Most stars are. We've always thought that our sun is a little weird that way, and if it is a single star, then it is. So these scientist believe that every several hundred million years, our twin star, an failed star called a brown dwarf, makes its way on a long elliptical orbit towards us. It drags along a bunch of comets and meteorites in its wake, and bombards the earth with some big ones. The theory, is quite possible. This, they say, wipes pretty much everything out every several hundred million years.

The second one, scientists don't like. It is the planet x theory: Its proponents say that the orbit is much shorter. About every 3600 years and would put the next fly by at 2012. They say that it could even cause the earth to stop rotating for a day or two. It would also, probably cause quite a bit of earth quakes and probably a huge flood. (Just imagine what the moon does to the tides.) Then, that reminded me of a few story in the bible, Joshua. So, I did a little search and according to the biblical archaeological timeline, Joshua kicked some but about 1480 B.C. And, around the same time, on the other side of the planet, they Mayans wrote of the sun disappearing for a day or two. They cast bets on where it would rise. Weeeeeellll, that pretty much goes in line with the 3600 year fly by. Then of course, there's the flood that was probably about 3600 years before that, and wiped out the ancient Sumerian civilization, which happened to be a more advanced culture than the Egyptians. And I won't even begin to talk about how they talked about a 10th planet, they called, "the destroyer." (They were very advanced astronomers.) It's just gotta make you wonder if Noah wasn't some kick-butt Sumerian astronomer. Sort of like Superman's dad on Krypton.

Anyways, a more recent flyby by a brown dwarf twin on an elliptical orbit, makes some sense to me. It makes sense as to why the sun is throwing big friggin storms our way. It makes sense why the other planets are heating up. It makes sense of our extreme plate tectonics. It makes sense as to why our polar caps seem to take random shifts every 10000 years or so. (That Woolly mammoth they found in Siberia... it had tropical leaves in its jaws. Something froze that sucker where it stood, or it drown and froze quick.) It makes sense of all the ancient documents like the bible talking about these huge, world-wide disasters. It makes sense of the flood, and the sun standing still in the sky. It makes of why civilization is so very, very young.

Also, when the first planet X theories started to rise, scientists didn't want to believe it. Then in about 1983, they pointed a large infrared telescope and the papers where filled with the headlines: "Planet X discovered." Mysteriously, the next week the papers went silent. Then they came out with a report that it was probably just a hazy, un-formed galaxy. Shortly after, the U.S. government started work on a HONKING huge infrared telescope on the south pole, pissing all of our friends in other countries off. I don't know... it all sounds fishy to me.

So what do you guys think? Possible? Thoughts? It is weird to me that scientists don't have a problem with the Nemesis star swinging our way every few hundred million years, but they do when you start talking about 3600 years. Fun to think about...

Headline: "Bush says world leaders should condemn Myanmar junta"

He went on to further explainiate,

"I mean, hey, if I can't smoke it, then nobody else can either."

Freeeeeedooooom

If you own an iphone, stop what you are doing and download iliberty. I just finished playing Super Mario Brothers on my phone. My iphone now records video. My iphone now had GPS. My iphone has a bazillion games. My iphone has an etch'n'scetch. (the image goes away when you shake it.) My iphone now has the entire KJV on it. My iphone can edit photos. I can watch tv on my iphone and listen to satellite radio. My iphone has a guitar tuner on it. (A real one that hears the pitch.) My iphone has a piano on it that records whatever tune comes to my head. My iphone has a voice recorder on it. I can record songs on it with a band simluator. It can do just about anything you want it to. My iphone has guitar hero on it and I can make my own songs.... say like a guitar hero track with just the cello line to Elenor Rigby. Pretty soon, the iphone will change the tech-world, forever. It has been liberated and it is more amazing than I ever imagined it to be. The iphone even can run pro-tools, remotely. That means, when I'm by the mic and by myself, I can use my iphone as a remote controller to the protools. Oh, and its also a phone.

It is truly amazing. Astounding.

Coming Soon To a Blog Near You... (my blog, btw)

Also... New news from the Neuropsychologist... Seth Ward is officially ADHD, slightly dyslexic, and...

Evidently, according to the doc and his preliminary initial assessment of my test results... I'm officially OCD. Been that way since I was a little tike. Furthermore, the ADD acts as a nice little compliment to the OCD. I tend to obsess over the things that I can't remember and mull over them - obsessively until I no longer sleep. Causes ALLLLL kinds of guilt and procrastination. Pretty enlightening stuff. It was one of those moments when someone tells you something and its like a GONG goes off that sort of explains the missing piece that describes your whole life's angst.

I've always playfully suspected OCD because when I was a kid I used to get up 4 times a night to check the oven and door locks, and worry constantly that I had every disease that I would hear or read about, and worry that a fire would consume us all in the night, and worry about my sisters dying, and worry about the end times, and worry that my mom and dad were getting divorced, even though they were and still are hot on each other. It it wasn't for my mom and dad's patient understanding, I'd probably be in the looney bin. It became a weekly routine to wake my dear old dad up in the middle of the night with my new fear and obsession for the week. I can still see my dad sitting across the living room, in his recliner, with his disheveled hair and wearing his robe telling me, "no son, your growth isn't stunted and you don't have a brain tumor. It's all in your mind, well not the tumor just your worryin' about it. You are perfectly fine. Now, lets pray."

I suppose that tendency to obsess never went away.

I guess I just thought I eventually grew out of those old OCD tendencies. Try again. Still there evidently. I'll hear the full report next week after the doc and his crew have had a chance to decipher the code of my noggin. And good lord, what a test. All day at looking at puzzles and answering the MOST probing questions imaginable. Sheesh. However when the real couch sessions started, it turned out to be pretty darn cool.

Anyways, until then, you will get a full update on my theories of planet X and how it will very soon change our world... forever.

H-Town fun: White and Nerdy.

Since I've been back in Houston, I have:

Played for my Church here, and sang one of my favorite hymns with some of my favorite people.

In the process of mixing several tracks of an upcoming record that I produced for my good buddy, Cary. (Gonna rock people!)

Recorded a new song of mine in the wee hours of the morning with Josh Moore.

Taken a German exam for my Doctorate, (and rocked it, I hope... dear Lord please.)

Played with my little niece and nephew until they about gave me a heart attack.

And, last but not least, I got to play on a major up and coming Rap Hip Hop record. That's right, you heard me. It was so darn cool. I don't even like rap music, or didn't... I should say. My buddy, Josh Moore, producer and writer of some of Caedmon's Call's best and most well-known songs songs, not to mention the co-producer and writer of Bethany Dillon's first record, not to mention Bitter Kiss- his greatest opus, is now... producing an incredible Rap record for a pretty darn famous Hip Hop artist. (whose name I am not allowed to tell) This particular Rapper has 3 songs right now in the top ten billboard hits or whatever. Evidently Houston is somewhat of a new phenom when it comes to rap music. Something called the Dirty South. So, old Sethro will have his name listed on this guys next record as one of the musicians.

However, my trip really hasn't felt complete because I haven't managed to fit in some sort of major dental torture. There's always next time.