Here is a video interview I did with Gavin last week.
You might not find it funny or interesting in any way.
I simply like it because I love my kids and I know I'll look back on this video later and miss the days when Gavin would climb in my lap and try to be involved in whatever I was doing.
Interview With Gavin Stinson (2 yrs old) 02-20-09 from Shawn Stinson on Vimeo.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Is It Live Or Is It Memorex?
I've heard that you can tell a lot about a person by their music collection.
I hope that's not true.
I was going through some old stuff at the house tonight and found my old cassette tape collection. I was 18 when I got my first CD player and stopped buying tapes. So this box included tapes I obtained through my teen years.
So here, for your enjoyment is a list of the what I found in this box...
Bell Biv Devoe / Poison
Warrant / Cherry Pie
Dee-Lite / Groove Is In The Heart
Aerosmith / Pump
Poison / Flesh & Blood
4Him / The Basics Of Life
6 different tapes of acapella Christian music
Good Old Rock & Roll vol 2. (du-wop music)
Major Glenn Miller & The Army-Air Force Band
Janet Jackson / Rhythm Nation
Sonia Dada / You Don't Treat Me No Good
Great Balls Of Fire Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
I'm not sure what this list says about me. But it can't be good.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Condensing
I've taken a little time today and condensed my old Myspace blog into this one.
IF you read my blog with a reader or through an RSS you may have seen multiple entries from me today. If so, sorry. Those were old posts from my myspace blog that I've brought over to this one. If you didn't see them before and are interested they're all posted in the 1st 6 months of 2008. Feel free to check out the right column and pull them up by date.
Enjoy.
IF you read my blog with a reader or through an RSS you may have seen multiple entries from me today. If so, sorry. Those were old posts from my myspace blog that I've brought over to this one. If you didn't see them before and are interested they're all posted in the 1st 6 months of 2008. Feel free to check out the right column and pull them up by date.
Enjoy.
My Criminal Past: Trespassing & Burglary
Disclaimer:
1.) This entry will be lengthy. I’m a wordy blogger already and this is a long story.
2.) This entry includes mention of an inappropriate magazine that I do not endorse, but was exposed to as a child. Unfortunately, these things did happen, so I decided to leave it in.
View Larger Map
I’ve shared with you already the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.
This runs a close 2nd.
I grew up in Fairfield, AL.
More specifically, I lived in the “Glen Oaks” community in Fairfield, AL.
I moved there before I turned 3 and lived there until I was 12. So my entire childhood is made up of memories from living on Park Avenue.
Yes, we lived at 824 Park Avenue. Sounds like a cool address, huh. Well, it was.
The neighborhood I grew up in was typical suburbs. Houses very close to each other, lots of kids riding bikes in the streets. I loved it.
One of the things that I loved most about it was that most of my good friends lived within bike riding distance. One of my best friends through the years was Tony Thomas. Tony lived in a cul de sac that was just across from our house. (Back in the day we just called it a circle. As in… “Mom, I’ll be riding my bike in the circle.” In the pic above, my house was the one with the black roof at the bottom left of the screen indicated by the “A”. Tony’s house is top right, at the end of Park Circle.
Most of the time Tony and I spent together when we were younger involved riding bikes, playing with G.I.Joe’s and transformers, and basically just playing in the yard. As we got older (11 yrs old) our discussions changed dramatically. Tony was a year older than me. Now, every guy I know had a friend when he was little that had “the gift”. At least we considered it a gift at the time. Tony had this gift. It was that he could find porn (this was way before the days of the internet). Even at 12 and 13 years old, Tony somehow knew how to get his hands on playboy magazines. And never from his Dad. They weren’t from his house. I once heard Joseph talk about a friend of his who had this “gift” as well. He could be walking through the woods, and as if he had “porn radar” he would look over and say “Hey look! There’s a playboy magazine in the ditch.” Once we discovered this publication our discussions moved rather quickly from which G.I. Joe’s we liked to which bunnies we liked. I could write multiple entries documenting the many goofy attempts these 11 year olds made to hide their shared magazine stash. I say all that to say, that Tony and I didn’t always make good decisions. We were young and dumb.
When I was 12, my family moved from Glen Oaks all the way out to Woodstock, AL. It seemed like such a long way. I was sad to leave my friends. But of course, my parents were understanding of our anxiety to leave and allowed us to spend the night with them from time to time still. This entry is about an adventure Tony and I had one of those times.
One of the things that I loved about hanging out with Tony was his room. His house had an unfinished basement. It didn’t have any windows, and was basically surrounded in cinderblock walls except for the areas where his parents had put up wood paneling. This room was cool because it ran the entire length and width of the house. So Tony’s room was as big as their entire house. He had a living room area, a bedroom area, and a play area. It was what we might think of as a loft apartment now. Just one big room with no walls to separate the different areas. Having a room that big, with no windows led to hours upon hours of playing hide and go seek in the dark and laser tag (a very cool game from my childhood.)
So there we were (a great beginning to any story) playing in Tony’s room as usual. Since we had already moved, it had been a couple months since I’d seen Tony, so he had changed his room up a little. One of the coolest things he changed was the lighting. He realized that colored bulbs would be so much cooler than white bulbs, so he asked his mom if she would buy him colored bulbs. Of course, she said no. So that left him to figure out his own lighting tricks. It didn’t take him long to discover that if you color a white bulb with a magic marker it will work just as well, so he began to do that. He colored most of the bulbs in his room. I say most, because his parents caught him in the middle of this project and promptly put a stop to his artwork.
So we stood there talking about how much better his room looked now, and how much girls would like it when they came over. (No girls ever came over, but we had a plan that we should be prepared in case they did. Remember, we were 12.) The only way it could look better would be if all the bulbs were colored. But sadly, his parents put a stop to the coloring, so we needed to figure out a way to get more bulbs, so that we could color them and he could swap them as necessary with the white ones so his parents wouldn’t be mad. Hmmm, where could 2 12 yr old’s with no money get light bulbs?
Eureka! I had an idea. When we moved, we moved into a new house that we had built. As part of the payment for the house, the builder took ownership of our old house and was going to fix it up and re-sell it. But it had only been a few months, so he hadn’t touched it yet. And guess what! When we moved we forgot to take our light bulbs. So surely some Stinson needed to go get our bulbs, right? This thought process was mistake #1.
We had it all planned out. I knew where the hidden key was. We’d get the key, go in to get the bulbs that were rightfully mine, and head back to Tony’s to continue making his room a perfect place for impressing girls. The closer we got to the house, the more we started to talk about old times and memories of growing up together. There were a lot of memories in that yard, in that house. One of those memories involved my bedroom window. My window was right beside the back porch, so it didn’t take me long as a child to figure out that I could climb in and out of my window very easily to get into the back yard. So that became a regular route for me to get from my room to the back yard. In room, out window, onto porch rail, onto porch, into yard. And vice versa. As we approached the house and headed to where the hidden key was, I said “Hey, I’ve got a great idea (This was mistake #2) let’s go through the window one more time for old times sake.” And what do you know it was sunlocked. So in we climbed. Imagine now, if you will, the image of two 12 yr olds climbing into an empty house through a rear window. I’m sure it was quite a sight.
So we’re in the house now, and getting all the bulbs we can carry. I do recall stopping for a minute and looking at the door frame where we marked me and my sisters heights as we grew through the years. We spent a little time looking around the empty house where I grew up (We’d only been out of it for 2 months. I’m not sure what I expected to find.) And then decided it was time to go. So we headed out the back door (Mistake #3). Not the front door like a normal person might do, but the back door. I’m not sure why. This is where the memory gets a little fuzzy. I remember us laughing as we headed through the back yard and toward the gate. We paused to open the gate and ‘CRASH’ tony dropped some bulbs (Mistake #4). Ugh.. Should we go back for another? Nah, we decided to head on back and come get more if we needed them. Then time froze. Seriously. We walked through the gate, turned to close it back then turned back toward the front yard and that’s when we heard him “FREEZE! DON’T MOVE!”. We glanced up and that’s when we, two 12 year old from Glen Oaks, Alabama, carrying light bubs, were staring at two police officers, their guns were drawn and pointed at us. I can remember thinking how big the barrel looked from that angle. I don’t think I’d ever looked directly into a real gun barrel before. They asked us what we were doing.
I’m pretty sure my answer went something like this… “Weeeee (shaky voice)…… uuuuhhhhh… were geeeetttttinnnng…(voice getting shakier, lips beginning to quiver)….. some light buuulllbss… f-f-f-from ….m-m—myyyy …hh-h-house. (stuttering wildly, Trying to hold back tears.)
“We’ll see about that. Come with us” He said.
As we rounded the corner into the front yard, I was amazed. I’d never seen so much blue and white before. There were 4 police cars with lights on in the street. There were 6 additional police officers in the front yard. They had their hands on their holsters as we rounded the corner, but once they saw us, it was as if they immediately thought we were not a threat and quickly headed back toward their cars to go back to whatever they were doing before they got the call. That is, all of them left except for the two that had already spoken to us. They sat us down on the porch and began to grill us . I can remember having to tell them over and over that “this is my house, or well.. it use to be my house. I even know where the hidden key is.” That was not enough proof for them. I took them in and showed them where everyone’s room was and showed them the height chart in the door frame. They began to believe me, but at this point I was so frazzled I couldn’t contain it any longer, I began to wail. Crying, boohooing, sniffling, snotty crying. I just couldn’t help it. I was afraid I was going to jail for stealing my light bulbs. Apparently my tears didn’t prove my point either. So one of the officers said to me “Do you know your neighbors?”
Me: “Well, yeah, I know all of them except for the people that live behind us.”
Officer: “That must be why she didn’t recognize you when she saw you climbing through your window”
Me: Internally (Ugh, that’s how we were caught?)
Remember now that visual of the 12 year olds climbing in the window. My neighbor saw that and called it in. Looking back on it now, I probably would have too.
Officer: “Do you know this neighbor”(pointing to the house to our right).”
Me: “Of Course, that Mr. Turner. He’s known me my whole life.”
So off we went to Mr. Turner’s house.
I should probably pause to tell you about Mr. Turner. You know that guy that every neighborhood has. “Stop shooting fireworks!” “You kids get off my lawn!” “Why do ya’ll have to make so much noise?” That was Mr. Turner. He was the meanest man I’d ever met. I can vividly remember the day (when I was 7) that I was riding my bike down the hill beside my house and decided to “bail out” like I’d seen “Bo Duke” do in an episode of the Dukes of Hazard on TV the night before. So I’m moving along at a good clip, I jump off my bike and watch it expecting it to roll a few more feet then fall over. Guess what? It didn’t. It went a long way. It went all the way across our yard, down the hill, and WHAM! Right into the side of Mr. Turner’s house. I ran and hid as fast as I could. I realize now it might have been a good idea to get my bike first, then run away. But I wasn’t that smart. There were conversations between my parents and him and I had to apologize to him that evening. No damage was done to the house, it just made a lot of noise. But it definitely shaped my opinions of Mr. & Mrs. Turner. I don’t recall any kind words between us after that.
So, back to the original story. Here was Tony and I walking with two policemen from my yard to Mr. Turners. I remember expecting him to peek out the door and say “you cops get off my lawn. “ But he didn’t . Instead we rang the door bell. And he answered and said “May I help you officers.” I was so glad he was nice to the officers. It was now just going to be a few more minutes and this whole ordeal would be over. He would confirm that the house next door had been my house and we’d be let go. As they filled him in on the situation I was so relieved. Then they asked him the final and important question… “Do you know this young man?”
His answer… “No officer, I don’t.”
"What the...? Are you kidding me?" That’s what I was thinking. What I actually said between sobbing crying was “Mr. Turner, it’s me Shawn. I lived next door for 10 years until we moved a couple months ago.” He still looked at me puzzled. At this point I knew that he was either really the meanest man ever to walk God’s green earth or he was senile. Either way, I was getting no support from him. Then an Angel of God spoke. Mrs. Turner peeked over his shoulder from inside the house and said “well yes, of course we know him. We watched him grow up living next door to us.” Hallelujah. My identity had been confirmed.
So, this problem was over. Right? Well, not exactly. The police made us put back all the light bulbs. We had to call my parents at work and let them speak to the officer. Then of course I got in a ton of trouble that night at home. I don’t recall exactly what all my punishment entailed, but I do remember that it involved buying new light bulbs with my own money to replace the ones that got broke. I then had to take them to Mr. Wright, the actual current owner of the house and tell him the whole story. I’m pretty sure I cried again when I told him the story. (I cried a lot as a child. It was my response to being embarrassed. But this was the last time I remember crying like that.)
I felt like such an idiot that day. And my feeling was right. I was an idiot. That was, without a doubt, one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done.
Can you top this story?
1.) This entry will be lengthy. I’m a wordy blogger already and this is a long story.
2.) This entry includes mention of an inappropriate magazine that I do not endorse, but was exposed to as a child. Unfortunately, these things did happen, so I decided to leave it in.
View Larger Map
I’ve shared with you already the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.
This runs a close 2nd.
I grew up in Fairfield, AL.
More specifically, I lived in the “Glen Oaks” community in Fairfield, AL.
I moved there before I turned 3 and lived there until I was 12. So my entire childhood is made up of memories from living on Park Avenue.
Yes, we lived at 824 Park Avenue. Sounds like a cool address, huh. Well, it was.
The neighborhood I grew up in was typical suburbs. Houses very close to each other, lots of kids riding bikes in the streets. I loved it.
One of the things that I loved most about it was that most of my good friends lived within bike riding distance. One of my best friends through the years was Tony Thomas. Tony lived in a cul de sac that was just across from our house. (Back in the day we just called it a circle. As in… “Mom, I’ll be riding my bike in the circle.” In the pic above, my house was the one with the black roof at the bottom left of the screen indicated by the “A”. Tony’s house is top right, at the end of Park Circle.
Most of the time Tony and I spent together when we were younger involved riding bikes, playing with G.I.Joe’s and transformers, and basically just playing in the yard. As we got older (11 yrs old) our discussions changed dramatically. Tony was a year older than me. Now, every guy I know had a friend when he was little that had “the gift”. At least we considered it a gift at the time. Tony had this gift. It was that he could find porn (this was way before the days of the internet). Even at 12 and 13 years old, Tony somehow knew how to get his hands on playboy magazines. And never from his Dad. They weren’t from his house. I once heard Joseph talk about a friend of his who had this “gift” as well. He could be walking through the woods, and as if he had “porn radar” he would look over and say “Hey look! There’s a playboy magazine in the ditch.” Once we discovered this publication our discussions moved rather quickly from which G.I. Joe’s we liked to which bunnies we liked. I could write multiple entries documenting the many goofy attempts these 11 year olds made to hide their shared magazine stash. I say all that to say, that Tony and I didn’t always make good decisions. We were young and dumb.
When I was 12, my family moved from Glen Oaks all the way out to Woodstock, AL. It seemed like such a long way. I was sad to leave my friends. But of course, my parents were understanding of our anxiety to leave and allowed us to spend the night with them from time to time still. This entry is about an adventure Tony and I had one of those times.
One of the things that I loved about hanging out with Tony was his room. His house had an unfinished basement. It didn’t have any windows, and was basically surrounded in cinderblock walls except for the areas where his parents had put up wood paneling. This room was cool because it ran the entire length and width of the house. So Tony’s room was as big as their entire house. He had a living room area, a bedroom area, and a play area. It was what we might think of as a loft apartment now. Just one big room with no walls to separate the different areas. Having a room that big, with no windows led to hours upon hours of playing hide and go seek in the dark and laser tag (a very cool game from my childhood.)
So there we were (a great beginning to any story) playing in Tony’s room as usual. Since we had already moved, it had been a couple months since I’d seen Tony, so he had changed his room up a little. One of the coolest things he changed was the lighting. He realized that colored bulbs would be so much cooler than white bulbs, so he asked his mom if she would buy him colored bulbs. Of course, she said no. So that left him to figure out his own lighting tricks. It didn’t take him long to discover that if you color a white bulb with a magic marker it will work just as well, so he began to do that. He colored most of the bulbs in his room. I say most, because his parents caught him in the middle of this project and promptly put a stop to his artwork.
So we stood there talking about how much better his room looked now, and how much girls would like it when they came over. (No girls ever came over, but we had a plan that we should be prepared in case they did. Remember, we were 12.) The only way it could look better would be if all the bulbs were colored. But sadly, his parents put a stop to the coloring, so we needed to figure out a way to get more bulbs, so that we could color them and he could swap them as necessary with the white ones so his parents wouldn’t be mad. Hmmm, where could 2 12 yr old’s with no money get light bulbs?
Eureka! I had an idea. When we moved, we moved into a new house that we had built. As part of the payment for the house, the builder took ownership of our old house and was going to fix it up and re-sell it. But it had only been a few months, so he hadn’t touched it yet. And guess what! When we moved we forgot to take our light bulbs. So surely some Stinson needed to go get our bulbs, right? This thought process was mistake #1.
We had it all planned out. I knew where the hidden key was. We’d get the key, go in to get the bulbs that were rightfully mine, and head back to Tony’s to continue making his room a perfect place for impressing girls. The closer we got to the house, the more we started to talk about old times and memories of growing up together. There were a lot of memories in that yard, in that house. One of those memories involved my bedroom window. My window was right beside the back porch, so it didn’t take me long as a child to figure out that I could climb in and out of my window very easily to get into the back yard. So that became a regular route for me to get from my room to the back yard. In room, out window, onto porch rail, onto porch, into yard. And vice versa. As we approached the house and headed to where the hidden key was, I said “Hey, I’ve got a great idea (This was mistake #2) let’s go through the window one more time for old times sake.” And what do you know it was sunlocked. So in we climbed. Imagine now, if you will, the image of two 12 yr olds climbing into an empty house through a rear window. I’m sure it was quite a sight.
So we’re in the house now, and getting all the bulbs we can carry. I do recall stopping for a minute and looking at the door frame where we marked me and my sisters heights as we grew through the years. We spent a little time looking around the empty house where I grew up (We’d only been out of it for 2 months. I’m not sure what I expected to find.) And then decided it was time to go. So we headed out the back door (Mistake #3). Not the front door like a normal person might do, but the back door. I’m not sure why. This is where the memory gets a little fuzzy. I remember us laughing as we headed through the back yard and toward the gate. We paused to open the gate and ‘CRASH’ tony dropped some bulbs (Mistake #4). Ugh.. Should we go back for another? Nah, we decided to head on back and come get more if we needed them. Then time froze. Seriously. We walked through the gate, turned to close it back then turned back toward the front yard and that’s when we heard him “FREEZE! DON’T MOVE!”. We glanced up and that’s when we, two 12 year old from Glen Oaks, Alabama, carrying light bubs, were staring at two police officers, their guns were drawn and pointed at us. I can remember thinking how big the barrel looked from that angle. I don’t think I’d ever looked directly into a real gun barrel before. They asked us what we were doing.
I’m pretty sure my answer went something like this… “Weeeee (shaky voice)…… uuuuhhhhh… were geeeetttttinnnng…(voice getting shakier, lips beginning to quiver)….. some light buuulllbss… f-f-f-from ….m-m—myyyy …hh-h-house. (stuttering wildly, Trying to hold back tears.)
“We’ll see about that. Come with us” He said.
As we rounded the corner into the front yard, I was amazed. I’d never seen so much blue and white before. There were 4 police cars with lights on in the street. There were 6 additional police officers in the front yard. They had their hands on their holsters as we rounded the corner, but once they saw us, it was as if they immediately thought we were not a threat and quickly headed back toward their cars to go back to whatever they were doing before they got the call. That is, all of them left except for the two that had already spoken to us. They sat us down on the porch and began to grill us . I can remember having to tell them over and over that “this is my house, or well.. it use to be my house. I even know where the hidden key is.” That was not enough proof for them. I took them in and showed them where everyone’s room was and showed them the height chart in the door frame. They began to believe me, but at this point I was so frazzled I couldn’t contain it any longer, I began to wail. Crying, boohooing, sniffling, snotty crying. I just couldn’t help it. I was afraid I was going to jail for stealing my light bulbs. Apparently my tears didn’t prove my point either. So one of the officers said to me “Do you know your neighbors?”
Me: “Well, yeah, I know all of them except for the people that live behind us.”
Officer: “That must be why she didn’t recognize you when she saw you climbing through your window”
Me: Internally (Ugh, that’s how we were caught?)
Remember now that visual of the 12 year olds climbing in the window. My neighbor saw that and called it in. Looking back on it now, I probably would have too.
Officer: “Do you know this neighbor”(pointing to the house to our right).”
Me: “Of Course, that Mr. Turner. He’s known me my whole life.”
So off we went to Mr. Turner’s house.
I should probably pause to tell you about Mr. Turner. You know that guy that every neighborhood has. “Stop shooting fireworks!” “You kids get off my lawn!” “Why do ya’ll have to make so much noise?” That was Mr. Turner. He was the meanest man I’d ever met. I can vividly remember the day (when I was 7) that I was riding my bike down the hill beside my house and decided to “bail out” like I’d seen “Bo Duke” do in an episode of the Dukes of Hazard on TV the night before. So I’m moving along at a good clip, I jump off my bike and watch it expecting it to roll a few more feet then fall over. Guess what? It didn’t. It went a long way. It went all the way across our yard, down the hill, and WHAM! Right into the side of Mr. Turner’s house. I ran and hid as fast as I could. I realize now it might have been a good idea to get my bike first, then run away. But I wasn’t that smart. There were conversations between my parents and him and I had to apologize to him that evening. No damage was done to the house, it just made a lot of noise. But it definitely shaped my opinions of Mr. & Mrs. Turner. I don’t recall any kind words between us after that.
So, back to the original story. Here was Tony and I walking with two policemen from my yard to Mr. Turners. I remember expecting him to peek out the door and say “you cops get off my lawn. “ But he didn’t . Instead we rang the door bell. And he answered and said “May I help you officers.” I was so glad he was nice to the officers. It was now just going to be a few more minutes and this whole ordeal would be over. He would confirm that the house next door had been my house and we’d be let go. As they filled him in on the situation I was so relieved. Then they asked him the final and important question… “Do you know this young man?”
His answer… “No officer, I don’t.”
"What the...? Are you kidding me?" That’s what I was thinking. What I actually said between sobbing crying was “Mr. Turner, it’s me Shawn. I lived next door for 10 years until we moved a couple months ago.” He still looked at me puzzled. At this point I knew that he was either really the meanest man ever to walk God’s green earth or he was senile. Either way, I was getting no support from him. Then an Angel of God spoke. Mrs. Turner peeked over his shoulder from inside the house and said “well yes, of course we know him. We watched him grow up living next door to us.” Hallelujah. My identity had been confirmed.
So, this problem was over. Right? Well, not exactly. The police made us put back all the light bulbs. We had to call my parents at work and let them speak to the officer. Then of course I got in a ton of trouble that night at home. I don’t recall exactly what all my punishment entailed, but I do remember that it involved buying new light bulbs with my own money to replace the ones that got broke. I then had to take them to Mr. Wright, the actual current owner of the house and tell him the whole story. I’m pretty sure I cried again when I told him the story. (I cried a lot as a child. It was my response to being embarrassed. But this was the last time I remember crying like that.)
I felt like such an idiot that day. And my feeling was right. I was an idiot. That was, without a doubt, one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done.
Can you top this story?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday Setlist 02-22-09
This entry is part of the fun going on at Fred McKinnon's website here.
We had a good day of worship at Westwood today.
As usual some folks like some songs, other folks liked other songs. No one seemed to like them all. But that's the norm. Everyone worships differently and I'm OK with that.
The 2 most discussed things form this mornings service have been the choices of doing "And Can It Be" and a southern gospel hymn medley. I'll tell you more about it in the video below.
Here's today's list...
Orchestral Prelude: You Are My King (Amazing Love)
Announcements
And Can It Be (Updated Hymn arrangement)
You Are My King (Amazing Love)
Welcome / Fellowship
Power In His Blood Medley
-There is Power In The Blood (Ab / BH#225) – 1st V & C
-Are You Washed In The Blood (Ab / BH#229) – 1st V & C
key change then…
-Glory To His Name (G / BH#252) 1st V & C 2x
Be Unto Your Name
Offertory Prayer
Choir Special: Calvary’s Love
Transitional Chorus: I Love You, Lord
Message: Bro. Steve “Truth For life: Faithful love” (Exodus 20:14)
Theme: Marriage; Love & Commitment
Invitation: Softly & Tenderly (HYMN)
Closing Chorus: There is Power In The Blood (HYMN)
I play two short song clips in the video below. You can hear these in their entirety for free at www.lifeway.com/worshipproject
Sunday Setlist 02-22-09 from Shawn Stinson on Vimeo.
How was your Sunday?
We had a good day of worship at Westwood today.
As usual some folks like some songs, other folks liked other songs. No one seemed to like them all. But that's the norm. Everyone worships differently and I'm OK with that.
The 2 most discussed things form this mornings service have been the choices of doing "And Can It Be" and a southern gospel hymn medley. I'll tell you more about it in the video below.
Here's today's list...
Orchestral Prelude: You Are My King (Amazing Love)
Announcements
And Can It Be (Updated Hymn arrangement)
You Are My King (Amazing Love)
Welcome / Fellowship
Power In His Blood Medley
-There is Power In The Blood (Ab / BH#225) – 1st V & C
-Are You Washed In The Blood (Ab / BH#229) – 1st V & C
key change then…
-Glory To His Name (G / BH#252) 1st V & C 2x
Be Unto Your Name
Offertory Prayer
Choir Special: Calvary’s Love
Transitional Chorus: I Love You, Lord
Message: Bro. Steve “Truth For life: Faithful love” (Exodus 20:14)
Theme: Marriage; Love & Commitment
Invitation: Softly & Tenderly (HYMN)
Closing Chorus: There is Power In The Blood (HYMN)
I play two short song clips in the video below. You can hear these in their entirety for free at www.lifeway.com/worshipproject
Sunday Setlist 02-22-09 from Shawn Stinson on Vimeo.
How was your Sunday?
Friday, February 20, 2009
Optimus Privates
You guys know I love my kids, right?
Here's further proof of why I love being a Dad.
You get to have conversations like this.......
(Note: Optimus Prime is a toy that can "Transform" from a Robot into an 18 wheeler. When in Robot mode, his windshield ends up on his chest, like a chestplate.)
Ethan: "Daddy, what are these?" (pointing to Optimus's chest)
Me: "Ethan, that's his windshield."
Ethan: "No Daddy. I know it's a windshield when he's a truck. What is it when he's a robot."
Me: "It's his chest"
Ethan "I don't think so Daddy. I think it's his nipples."
Me: "Ethan I'm pretty sure its just his chest. Those would be mighty big nipples."
Ethan: Pauses, pulls up his shirt and looks at his own nipples. and then says "OK, it may be his chest."
2 minutes later....
Ethan: "Daddy, that's his chest, right."
Me: "Yep"
Ethan "So where are his nipples?"
Gotta love it.
Rock The Vote
Ok, so I'm thinking about blogging about an interesting/funny story from my life.
but I can't decide what to write about. Which of these sounds more interesting?
A.) Duke Vs. Woody (a story about a dog and an encounter with a Dodge Aries Station Wagon)
B.) Littering & Seven Other Deadly Sins
C.) Childhood Safety for a 4 year old: 1979 Vs 2009
D.) Breaking & Entering, Burglary, & The Business End of A Glock
Comment and let me know which you'd prefer to hear.
but I can't decide what to write about. Which of these sounds more interesting?
A.) Duke Vs. Woody (a story about a dog and an encounter with a Dodge Aries Station Wagon)
B.) Littering & Seven Other Deadly Sins
C.) Childhood Safety for a 4 year old: 1979 Vs 2009
D.) Breaking & Entering, Burglary, & The Business End of A Glock
Comment and let me know which you'd prefer to hear.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
February 19th
Today is February 19th, 2009.
Did you know that today in history….
In 1473 The astronomer Copernicus was born.
In 1881 Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
In 1945 during World War II, some 30,000 United States Marines landed on the Western Pacific island of Iwo Jima and began a battle that lasted a month.
In 1975 in Columbus, Mississippi, Shawn Stinson was born.
In 2002 Vonetta Flowers became the first black athlete ever to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
In 2008 Toshiba, creator of the HD DVD, conceded to Sony's rival Blu-ray format.
So yes, you may have noticed in that list that today is my birthday. I found out today that I also share a birthday with Smokey Robinson, Jeff Daniels, Seal, Benicio Del Toro, Justine Bateman, and Haylie Duff. Very interesting list.
I’ve been thinking about my birthday a lot today. 34 years old. I’m 1/2 way to 68. I don’t imagine I’ll make it much past that so I guess I’m in what some people call “mid-life”. I don’t think I’ve experienced any kind of crisis yet. Maybe that will come this year. This has been a great year though. As it was my 33rd (the Jesus year) I made a real effort to be a better man. I’ve read the bible more, prayed more, and been more conscience of taking care of myself. It’s been nice to realize that I can do difficult things if I put my mind to it. I lost almost 50 lbs during my 33rd year. For the first time in my life I ran a full mile. Those are things I never thought I’d do.
Thinking back over this year and all the others, I realize how much I have to be thankful for.
-I’ve got a beautiful, supportive wife who goes above and beyond what any wife & mother should do for her family. Without a doubt, she puts me and the boys above all else in her life and it shows in all her actions. I cannot say how glad I am that she continues to put up with this nerd. I really don’t deserve her.
-My two sons bring me more happiness than I ever thought was possible. Watching them grow up and learn new things every day is such a wonderful journey. Ethan played little league for the first time this year and Gavin is now talking so much I’m amused that we were ever worried about him.
-I’ve got not one, but two great jobs that support my family and allow me to make money doing things I enjoy.
-My family, both blood and in-laws, are better than I can describe. They are always there when needed to support or help me.
-My church, although it is one of my jobs, it is my church first. This “faith family” is very loving. I’m humbled that they allow me to be a “lead worshipper.”
-My friends, I admit I don’t get to hang out as much as I’d like to , but I know that they’re always there for me. You know the kind of friends I’m talking about, The ones that you don’t mind calling at 2am when you’ve had car trouble or the ones that will help you move. Those are the kind of friends I have.
-I’m also thankful for all my past friends that I’ve reconnected with on Facebook, ning, & myspace with. It’s been great catching up with all of you and learning where life has taken you.
I guess most of all I’m thankful for my Heavenly Father. Thankful that he’s given me all these things in my 34 years of life. Thankful that he’s blessed this guy who is definitely not deserving. Thankful that he continues to show me grace, mercy, and love in ways I could not have imagined.
If my next 34 years are ½ as good as my first 34, that will be okay by me.
Did you know that today in history….
In 1473 The astronomer Copernicus was born.
In 1881 Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
In 1945 during World War II, some 30,000 United States Marines landed on the Western Pacific island of Iwo Jima and began a battle that lasted a month.
In 1975 in Columbus, Mississippi, Shawn Stinson was born.
In 2002 Vonetta Flowers became the first black athlete ever to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
In 2008 Toshiba, creator of the HD DVD, conceded to Sony's rival Blu-ray format.
So yes, you may have noticed in that list that today is my birthday. I found out today that I also share a birthday with Smokey Robinson, Jeff Daniels, Seal, Benicio Del Toro, Justine Bateman, and Haylie Duff. Very interesting list.
I’ve been thinking about my birthday a lot today. 34 years old. I’m 1/2 way to 68. I don’t imagine I’ll make it much past that so I guess I’m in what some people call “mid-life”. I don’t think I’ve experienced any kind of crisis yet. Maybe that will come this year. This has been a great year though. As it was my 33rd (the Jesus year) I made a real effort to be a better man. I’ve read the bible more, prayed more, and been more conscience of taking care of myself. It’s been nice to realize that I can do difficult things if I put my mind to it. I lost almost 50 lbs during my 33rd year. For the first time in my life I ran a full mile. Those are things I never thought I’d do.
Thinking back over this year and all the others, I realize how much I have to be thankful for.
-I’ve got a beautiful, supportive wife who goes above and beyond what any wife & mother should do for her family. Without a doubt, she puts me and the boys above all else in her life and it shows in all her actions. I cannot say how glad I am that she continues to put up with this nerd. I really don’t deserve her.
-My two sons bring me more happiness than I ever thought was possible. Watching them grow up and learn new things every day is such a wonderful journey. Ethan played little league for the first time this year and Gavin is now talking so much I’m amused that we were ever worried about him.
-I’ve got not one, but two great jobs that support my family and allow me to make money doing things I enjoy.
-My family, both blood and in-laws, are better than I can describe. They are always there when needed to support or help me.
-My church, although it is one of my jobs, it is my church first. This “faith family” is very loving. I’m humbled that they allow me to be a “lead worshipper.”
-My friends, I admit I don’t get to hang out as much as I’d like to , but I know that they’re always there for me. You know the kind of friends I’m talking about, The ones that you don’t mind calling at 2am when you’ve had car trouble or the ones that will help you move. Those are the kind of friends I have.
-I’m also thankful for all my past friends that I’ve reconnected with on Facebook, ning, & myspace with. It’s been great catching up with all of you and learning where life has taken you.
I guess most of all I’m thankful for my Heavenly Father. Thankful that he’s given me all these things in my 34 years of life. Thankful that he’s blessed this guy who is definitely not deserving. Thankful that he continues to show me grace, mercy, and love in ways I could not have imagined.
If my next 34 years are ½ as good as my first 34, that will be okay by me.
Who Cares?
This blog entry pertains to the best show on TV right now, LOST.
If you have not seen this weeks episode, and don't want to be spoiled, click away now. If you're not into LOST, I suggest you re-examine your priorities in your life and start watching it. You can see every single episode on abc.com for free. How cool is that?
So following the example of my friend Jamie,
here is a play by play of my reactions from last night's episode.
-Cool, opening is the exact same as pilot episode. Jack on ground staring through trees at the sky.
-Note to self, when going back to live on a crazy island again, bring a gun, not a guitar.
-Does Mrs. Hawkings remember Desmond? Yes, she does.
-Mrs. Hawkings is like a creepy teacher.
-Are they believing Mrs. Hawkings story? Quote -Jack "This is ridiculous." I agree.
-Ben's got to "take care of some unfinished business with an old friend"?. I bet he's going to kill Penny!!!!!!
-Shoes!? You've got to get something that belonged to your deceased father, and you get his shoes?
-Where's Aaron!!! Stop sucking face and ask her where Aaron is.
-Wow, what happened to Ben? Who got the best of him? I bet it was Desmond.
-Jack's lost it. He's talking to a dead guy while playing with his feet.
-Who is the guy at the airport that said "sorry for your loss" to Jack. I bet we'll see more of him.
-Sayid? Arrested????
-How'd Hurley get here?
-45 minutes into the show and I've got more questions than answers.
-Quote.. Jack - "What about all these other people? What's going to happen to them?" Ben's response - "Who cares?"
-Yeah, Frank is back. I like Frank, especially when he was "The Lawnmower Man."
-Quote - after seeing all the Oceanic 6 on the plane Frank - "We're not going to Guam are we?"
-Jinn!!!! In Darma clothes!!! In a 70's van that looks new!!!!
I love this show!!!
Sunday Setlist 02-15-09
This entry is part of the fun going on at Fred McKinnon's blog here. Be sure to check it out.
We had a good Sunday this past week.
Here's the list, and then a video entry that goes into more detail.
Orchestra Prelude: Come Thou Fount (Update Hymn Arrangement)
Call To Worship: Choir - I Will Rise Up
Announcements
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing (Updated Hymn arrangement)
Mighty To Save (Hillsong)
Welcome / Fellowship
Sing To the King (Tomlin)
Come Thou Fount (Updated Hymn Version) with explanation of "Ebenezer" All 3 verses then repeat to “prone to wander…”
Offertory Prayer
Ministry In Song: Rhythm section instrumental (Who Can Satisfy w/ Blessed Assurance)
Message: Bro. Steve – “Truth For Life : The Fate Of Hate” (Exodus 13)
Theme: Handling Anger
Invitation: I Surrender All (HYMN)
Closing Chorus: Sing To the King (Tomlin) - omitted and closed with prayer instead.
Sunday Setlist 02-15-09 from Shawn Stinson on Vimeo.
How was your Sunday?
We had a good Sunday this past week.
Here's the list, and then a video entry that goes into more detail.
Orchestra Prelude: Come Thou Fount (Update Hymn Arrangement)
Call To Worship: Choir - I Will Rise Up
Announcements
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing (Updated Hymn arrangement)
Mighty To Save (Hillsong)
Welcome / Fellowship
Sing To the King (Tomlin)
Come Thou Fount (Updated Hymn Version) with explanation of "Ebenezer" All 3 verses then repeat to “prone to wander…”
Offertory Prayer
Ministry In Song: Rhythm section instrumental (Who Can Satisfy w/ Blessed Assurance)
Message: Bro. Steve – “Truth For Life : The Fate Of Hate” (Exodus 13)
Theme: Handling Anger
Invitation: I Surrender All (HYMN)
Closing Chorus: Sing To the King (Tomlin) - omitted and closed with prayer instead.
Sunday Setlist 02-15-09 from Shawn Stinson on Vimeo.
How was your Sunday?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service
Have you ever heard the phrase “wearing your Sunday best”. I’m sure you have.
I can remember a time in my life when everyone did just that, got dressed up for Sunday.I’m not sure who started that tradition, but I’m pretty sure it was a woman who wanted to show off her new hat.
I read a blog today in which someone was talking about the dress code for the choir at their church.It reminded me of a few encounters I’ve had with church and what people wear. So I thought I might share some…
1.) When I was young, my mother and sisters always wore dresses to church, both AM & PM services. I remember it being a big deal when some of the youth girls started wearing pants on Sunday nights. It didn’t take long for everyone to get used to this idea and the adult ladies started doing the same.
2.) When I was in high school we had an issue with some of the girls dressing inappropriately to church., I’m not talking about dresses vs. pants. I’m talking about tight pants, tight shirts, etc. That was bad enough, but to make it worse, these girls didn’t fit into the clothes they were trying to wear. The words “muffin top” and “midriff bearing shirt” should never be mixed. It all came to a head when our pastor, preached on the topic and said from the pulpit “now some of you young ladies are trying to put 10 lbs of meat in a 5lb bag.” It was a great moment.
3.) My family was involved in starting a new church in the early 90’s. We were the only “contemporary church” in our area. None of the guys wore coats and ties, few of the ladies wore dresses. I enjoyed not being pressured to dress up to lead worship, but felt like a child when I was told by my pastor to at least tuck in my shirt.
4.) When I was singing in a band with some friends, we were invited to sing at a small country church. We brought some friends that worked with us at the YMCA. Coming straight from work, they were wearing shorts. When we arrived we were shocked by 2 signs. One outside the church beside the door. “It is expected that all ladies entering God’s house be dressed appropriately in a dress.” There was another sign on the pulpit “Authorized King James Version Only”. Lets just say that was not a fun night.
5.) Not long after joining at Westwood I was asked to fill in on praise team one Sunday. It was also explained to me that all praise team members must follow the dress code. (skirts or dresses for ladies, suits & ties for guys.) I didn’t own a suit at the time, so I had to go and spend over $200 just to be able to sing on praise team that Sunday. I abolished the dress code immediately upon asking to be interim worship leader.
6.) I typically wear a coat and tie on Sunday mornings to church. I started doing so in the beginning just to help the transition from the previous leader to me. No need to stir things up right at the beginning. I began to notice that on the Sundays that I didn’t wear a suit one of our senior adult ladies would come up to me with a big sweet smile and say ”You sure did look nice last week in that suit.” Maybe she really thought I looked good the previous week. But after she’d done that every time I wouldn’t wear a suit, I knew she was trying to make a point.
Clearly this is an important topic for some. But for me it really doesn’t matter. Someone once asked me “Wouldn’t you dress up if you knew the President was coming”. My answer “Probably”. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that I don’t know the president. It might take a suit for me to make a good impression on him. But I know God. And he knows me. He knows me better than anyone. Am I going to impress him by putting on a tie. I don’t think so. There’s nothing I can do with my wardrobe to impress him. What I wear only is an issue to me and the people who see me. I guess the real question is how much do I care about what the other people at church think. Could my lack of a tie cause someone to not be able to worship? I hope not. If so I think the issue is theirs, not mine.
So what’s the point in all this… am I going to change my wardrobe. Maybe a little. But not too much. I can’t afford to go out a buy a bunch of new clothes. But, I don’t like ties. I’m not comfortable in them. I wear them for the congregation, not for me. So for those of you from Westwood, you may see less of them on me. But I’ll probably keep wearing coats most of the time. For one reason… I’ve come to appreciate the fact that if you’re wearing a coat you don’t have to iron your whole shirt.
Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even leave my shirt untucked.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Upcoming Movies
One of my favorite websites to visit is http://www.comingsoon.net/.
It is all about movies in production or planned.
It's interesting to follow the news stories on that website to see movies that are "in talks" to make and either get made or fall apart. I read an article today about an upcoming movie that I thought looked interesting...
But first,
Have you ever seen any of the Predator Movies? I think there's been four of them. At least there's 4 that I've seen. I wouldn't call myself a fan of them. But they're pretty good action movies to watch when you're bored. In case you're not familiar with this fine work of cinema.
Here's a breakdown of past Predator movie plots...
1.) Predator - A creature from space that hunts for fun arrives in the Jungles of South America and hunts a group marines led by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
2.)Predator 2 - Another creature from this same species arrives in New York and hunts New Yorkers, specifically police officer Danny Glover.
3.) Alien Vs. Predator - Predators come to earth to hunt "Aliens" (a different species from a different movie series) and humans get in the way.
4.) Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem - Predators continue to hunt "Aliens" on Earth. This time in Texas.
Sounds like some Oscar calibur stuff, right? Well maybe not. But I think we might have an Oscar trophy coming soon for Mr. Predator. Check out this real synopsis for the upcoming Predator movie from comingsoon.net.
"Will Clark is set to direct 'Pride and Predator' , which veers from the traditional period costume drama when an alien crash lands and begins to butcher the mannered protagonists, who suddenly have more than marriage and inheritance to worry about. Shooting will begin in London later this year. Elton John executive produces, and his Rocket Pictures partners Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish are producing. Clark, who directed award-winning short The Amazing Trousers , wrote the script with Andrew Kemble and John Pape. "It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect," Furnish said."
HOW AWESOME WILL THAT BE!!!!
I normally hate those "period pieces". You know, anything that is set hundreds of years ago and everyone's speaking with an accent. Think "Little Women" or anything based on a Jane Austin novel. I typically try to stay far away from those movies. (There was one exception though, "The Other Boleyn girl". That Scarlet Johanssen is a great actress.)
But I gotta say, I think this take on it will be hilarious.
Reading about this brilliant movie idea, made me think two things though...
First, Did that say produced by Elton John? Can that be right? Surely there aren't two Elton John's in the world.
And second, That's a pretty good combo. I wonder if other movie styles I don't like could be made better by inserting things I do like.. Hmmm....
Idea 1.) Kids in two rival gangs meet in the street for a "dance off" and are interrupted by a "cloverfield" type monster.
Idea 2.) A teacher leaves her comfortable college professor job to take a job with troubled students at a school in the inner city. Both teacher and students learn valuable lessons from each other. One problem though, everyone is turning into zombies.
Idea 3.) Funny, gorgeous, but lonely girl in the city is trying to find Mr. Right. Along the way she dates a bunch of jerks. After every bad date she returns to her best guy friend to discuss the perils of dating. Little did she know he was Mr. Right all along ..... and he is also a superhero.
I better stop blogging and find out how to copyright these ideas.
Based on these ideas it looks like I might have a future in screenwriting.
It is all about movies in production or planned.
It's interesting to follow the news stories on that website to see movies that are "in talks" to make and either get made or fall apart. I read an article today about an upcoming movie that I thought looked interesting...
But first,
Have you ever seen any of the Predator Movies? I think there's been four of them. At least there's 4 that I've seen. I wouldn't call myself a fan of them. But they're pretty good action movies to watch when you're bored. In case you're not familiar with this fine work of cinema.
Here's a breakdown of past Predator movie plots...
1.) Predator - A creature from space that hunts for fun arrives in the Jungles of South America and hunts a group marines led by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
2.)Predator 2 - Another creature from this same species arrives in New York and hunts New Yorkers, specifically police officer Danny Glover.
3.) Alien Vs. Predator - Predators come to earth to hunt "Aliens" (a different species from a different movie series) and humans get in the way.
4.) Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem - Predators continue to hunt "Aliens" on Earth. This time in Texas.
Sounds like some Oscar calibur stuff, right? Well maybe not. But I think we might have an Oscar trophy coming soon for Mr. Predator. Check out this real synopsis for the upcoming Predator movie from comingsoon.net.
"Will Clark is set to direct 'Pride and Predator' , which veers from the traditional period costume drama when an alien crash lands and begins to butcher the mannered protagonists, who suddenly have more than marriage and inheritance to worry about. Shooting will begin in London later this year. Elton John executive produces, and his Rocket Pictures partners Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish are producing. Clark, who directed award-winning short The Amazing Trousers , wrote the script with Andrew Kemble and John Pape. "It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect," Furnish said."
HOW AWESOME WILL THAT BE!!!!
I normally hate those "period pieces". You know, anything that is set hundreds of years ago and everyone's speaking with an accent. Think "Little Women" or anything based on a Jane Austin novel. I typically try to stay far away from those movies. (There was one exception though, "The Other Boleyn girl". That Scarlet Johanssen is a great actress.)
But I gotta say, I think this take on it will be hilarious.
Reading about this brilliant movie idea, made me think two things though...
First, Did that say produced by Elton John? Can that be right? Surely there aren't two Elton John's in the world.
And second, That's a pretty good combo. I wonder if other movie styles I don't like could be made better by inserting things I do like.. Hmmm....
Idea 1.) Kids in two rival gangs meet in the street for a "dance off" and are interrupted by a "cloverfield" type monster.
Idea 2.) A teacher leaves her comfortable college professor job to take a job with troubled students at a school in the inner city. Both teacher and students learn valuable lessons from each other. One problem though, everyone is turning into zombies.
Idea 3.) Funny, gorgeous, but lonely girl in the city is trying to find Mr. Right. Along the way she dates a bunch of jerks. After every bad date she returns to her best guy friend to discuss the perils of dating. Little did she know he was Mr. Right all along ..... and he is also a superhero.
I better stop blogging and find out how to copyright these ideas.
Based on these ideas it looks like I might have a future in screenwriting.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Gloom, Dispair, and Agony On Me
It’s Friday, and I’m distraught.
I’m not supposed to be distraught on a Friday. Fridays are supposed to feel relieved, happy, and joyful. I’m distraught because Iris missing.
I’ll pause while you take a moment to reflect on the gravity of the situation.
Now, In case you don’t know, Iris is my iPhone.
This morning as I was gathering up my things to leave, I realized she wasn’t in her normal place.
Like most guys, I have a place where I empty my pockets when I get home every day.
Well, I actually have a few different places where this might happen, but Iris wasn’t in any of them.
So, frantically I started looking in any other place I thought she might be.
On my desk?…no
On the bathroom counter from when I took her out of my pocket to give the boys a bath?...no
How about somewhere by or under the pile of clothes in the living room floor that I was working on folding last night while I watched “The Office”?...no
“OH NO!” The realization set in that I might not be able to find her before I had to leave. I thought maybe I better check and see what time it is. Oh Crap, I was 3 minutes late already.
I had to leave right then.
So out the door I went. Dropped Gavin off at Karen’s and off to work without my beloved Iris.
(Karen is my wonderful mother-in-law. I couldn’t ask for better in-laws. More about her in a minute.)
As I drove to work, listening to the radio (Wow, how long has it been since I listened to the radio?) I pondered the things I could be doing if she had been with me….
Listening to one of the many podcasts I listen to, checking my e-mail, looking at my daily to do list and figuring out my plan for the day, or even listening to the most recent episode of LOST that I’d download from itunes a couple days before. (Don’t worry I don’t watch tv while I drive usually, I just lay it in the passenger seat and listen to it.) But sadly, today my headphones sat in the passenger seat looking useless.
Of course, my mind was preoccupied with trying to figure out where she could be.
Let’s think through last night events….
1.)Got home
2.)Hopped in the car with Kristi to go to Karen’s to hang out and watch Survivor.
3.)Took boys home to get a bath (Had Iris and laid her on the counter)
4.)back to Karen’s to see visiting friends of the family.
5.)While hanging out, Kristi mentioned “Dancing with the Stars” she wasn’t aware the cast lIst for this year had been announced. I looked up the list on the internet on my iPhone to show her pics.
6.)Headed home in Kristi’s car.
Got home and went to bed.
So the way I figure it, Iris is either….At Karen’s, In Kristi’s car, or somewhere at home that I haven’t thought to look yet.
If she’s at home, I’m sure I’ll find her tonight.
If she’s in Kristi’s car, I’ll be able to find out when Kristi gets home. (You might think I could just call Kristi either on her phone or mine but I tried that. She never answers her phone anyway. She uses it for outbound call only. Now that aggravation is a whole blog in itself.)
In case she’s at Karen’s, I think I should send a special message to my mother-in-law….
Karen,
You know how much I love you, right? I mean, you gave me Iris for Christmas. I love you for a lot of reasons, but today that is one of the big ones.
But, I am also aware of how you look at Iris. I saw the glimmer in your eye when you borrowed her to play checkers a couple weeks ago.
I know you want to have an Iris of your own. I figure if I left her there you would have told me when I dropped Gavin off this morning, right?
I wouldn’t imagine that you would hide Iris from me. Or would you?
If you have her, I would only ask that you consider letting her come back home.
I don’t really have any money for a ransom, but I’m sure we can work something out.
I just know I miss Iris and I trust, if she’s with you today, you’ll take good care of her.
-Your favorite son in law,
Shawn
So here I sit, having to use my computer to get to the internet. Having to use Outlook to check my e-mail.
If you need me. Don’t text or call my cell today. I don’t have her with me.
With great sadness,
Shawn
Right before I hit post on this Karen called me and said “You’re not going to believe this. The phone gods have been kind to me. I just found an iPhone and a credit card in my seat cushion. She actually called her Iris. That makes me smile.
So, my sadless is a little lessened. At least Karen has told me she’ll give her back.
Glad Iris is ok… but still wishing she was with me.
-Shawn
I’m not supposed to be distraught on a Friday. Fridays are supposed to feel relieved, happy, and joyful. I’m distraught because Iris missing.
I’ll pause while you take a moment to reflect on the gravity of the situation.
Now, In case you don’t know, Iris is my iPhone.
This morning as I was gathering up my things to leave, I realized she wasn’t in her normal place.
Like most guys, I have a place where I empty my pockets when I get home every day.
Well, I actually have a few different places where this might happen, but Iris wasn’t in any of them.
So, frantically I started looking in any other place I thought she might be.
On my desk?…no
On the bathroom counter from when I took her out of my pocket to give the boys a bath?...no
How about somewhere by or under the pile of clothes in the living room floor that I was working on folding last night while I watched “The Office”?...no
“OH NO!” The realization set in that I might not be able to find her before I had to leave. I thought maybe I better check and see what time it is. Oh Crap, I was 3 minutes late already.
I had to leave right then.
So out the door I went. Dropped Gavin off at Karen’s and off to work without my beloved Iris.
(Karen is my wonderful mother-in-law. I couldn’t ask for better in-laws. More about her in a minute.)
As I drove to work, listening to the radio (Wow, how long has it been since I listened to the radio?) I pondered the things I could be doing if she had been with me….
Listening to one of the many podcasts I listen to, checking my e-mail, looking at my daily to do list and figuring out my plan for the day, or even listening to the most recent episode of LOST that I’d download from itunes a couple days before. (Don’t worry I don’t watch tv while I drive usually, I just lay it in the passenger seat and listen to it.) But sadly, today my headphones sat in the passenger seat looking useless.
Of course, my mind was preoccupied with trying to figure out where she could be.
Let’s think through last night events….
1.)Got home
2.)Hopped in the car with Kristi to go to Karen’s to hang out and watch Survivor.
3.)Took boys home to get a bath (Had Iris and laid her on the counter)
4.)back to Karen’s to see visiting friends of the family.
5.)While hanging out, Kristi mentioned “Dancing with the Stars” she wasn’t aware the cast lIst for this year had been announced. I looked up the list on the internet on my iPhone to show her pics.
6.)Headed home in Kristi’s car.
Got home and went to bed.
So the way I figure it, Iris is either….At Karen’s, In Kristi’s car, or somewhere at home that I haven’t thought to look yet.
If she’s at home, I’m sure I’ll find her tonight.
If she’s in Kristi’s car, I’ll be able to find out when Kristi gets home. (You might think I could just call Kristi either on her phone or mine but I tried that. She never answers her phone anyway. She uses it for outbound call only. Now that aggravation is a whole blog in itself.)
In case she’s at Karen’s, I think I should send a special message to my mother-in-law….
Karen,
You know how much I love you, right? I mean, you gave me Iris for Christmas. I love you for a lot of reasons, but today that is one of the big ones.
But, I am also aware of how you look at Iris. I saw the glimmer in your eye when you borrowed her to play checkers a couple weeks ago.
I know you want to have an Iris of your own. I figure if I left her there you would have told me when I dropped Gavin off this morning, right?
I wouldn’t imagine that you would hide Iris from me. Or would you?
If you have her, I would only ask that you consider letting her come back home.
I don’t really have any money for a ransom, but I’m sure we can work something out.
I just know I miss Iris and I trust, if she’s with you today, you’ll take good care of her.
-Your favorite son in law,
Shawn
So here I sit, having to use my computer to get to the internet. Having to use Outlook to check my e-mail.
If you need me. Don’t text or call my cell today. I don’t have her with me.
With great sadness,
Shawn
Right before I hit post on this Karen called me and said “You’re not going to believe this. The phone gods have been kind to me. I just found an iPhone and a credit card in my seat cushion. She actually called her Iris. That makes me smile.
So, my sadless is a little lessened. At least Karen has told me she’ll give her back.
Glad Iris is ok… but still wishing she was with me.
-Shawn
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Shhh!
This morning I had a very interesting conversation with Ethan. On a typical morning we have to drag him out of bed. Just like his father, he doesn't want to go to bed at night, but definitely doesn't want to get up the next morning. Well this morning was a little different. Today he hops right out of bed and almost came running through the house to find me. When he did find me he said "Guess what I saw last night, Daddy." He seemed very excited. I assumed he was going to tell me he watched a new cartoon, or saw something cool on Justice League or Transformers. He went on to say...
" I saw a guy on TV last night who could eat spaghetti and then pull the noodles out of his nose."
Ethan looked so excited. It was as if the guy he saw had cured cancer or solved our national economic troubles. I could tell he was impressed so I wanted to try to match his level of appreciation with my response. "Really? Wow, that's cool!" It was his next statement that really puzzled me though and is the reason I'm writing this blog entry. He then whispered.....
" Yeah, it was cool, but don't tell Mommy."
Now, why this incredible human achievement should be kept from Kristi, I'm not sure.
But for some reason it is something that only us guys should know about.
So, Kristi, when you read this please don't tell Ethan I told you.
I'd hate for him to know I can't keep secrets as important as this.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
101 things to do
I was looking at my many to-do lists today and realized that I've got a lot on my plate.
When I combined the lists just from home and church I have almost 101 things I need to do.
Some more important than others, but needed none the less.
You just might learn a little about me and my family along the way.
So here, not including stuff I need to do for my full time job, is my list of 101 things I need to do.
You'll notice a theme as you go through this list. Some of them effect the next one on the list. Especially the ones that begin with these #'s 5, 12, 25, 39, & 74. They
1. Paint wooden Front Porch railing
2. Weather proof wood on back deck.
3. Pressure wash the brick around bottom of house to get mud from construction off.
4. Repair crack in concrete sidewalk
5. Repair vinyl siding issue above garage doors
6. Buy ladder so I can Repair vinyl siding issue above garage doors
7. Lose weight so I don’t exceed the maximum weight restriction of affordable ladder
8. Repair hole by mailbox that postman left me nice note asking me to fix
9. Research retaining walls and other options for keeping mud off of driveway
10. Remove old barbed wire fence and brush from in front of and along side of property.
11. Remove dead pine tree from tree line
12. Research types of plants to use in yard
13. Buy plants and material to use in landscaping of yard
14. Plant the plants in the yard
15. Enjoy looking at plants in the yard for a few weeks
16. Dig up plants that have died during those few weeks.
17. Buy more plants
18. Plant those plants
19. Be sure to water plants in the yard.
20. Sweep Garage to remove mud that was in driveway and was tracked into garage
21. Put up more shelving garage
22. Organize garage
23. Organize storage room in garage
24. Put up shelving in inside storage room
25. Pressure wash outside storage shed to remove what appears to be green mold from siding.
26. Find lost key to storage shed
27. Move storage shed to better place in yard
28. Run power to storage shed in new spot.
29. Organize storage shed
30. Give Kristi key to storage shed so it doesn’t get lost again
31. Buy books shelves for office
32. Organize office
33. Build new computer out of all the old computer parts in the office for boys to play with.
34. Re-organize files in the office
35. Shred old files in the office
36. Finalize Storehouse issues (long story for another day)
37. Shred everything that says Storehouse (same long story)
38. Run wiring for surround sound in living room
39. Purchase new entertainment console
40. Purchase 46” HD1080p lcd television
41. Mount new 46” HD1080p lcd television
42. Call for help while attempting to mount new 46” HD1080p lcd television
43. Successfully beg and plead charter or AT&T to make high speed internet available for my house
44. Purchase Playstation 3
45. Spend all free time playing PS3 online
46. Apologize to my wife and children for ignoring them due to playing PS3
47. Call Exterminator before the ants come in the house, again.
48. Organize “junk drawers” so that we only have 2, not 7.
49. Figure out a plan so that laundry goes from dryer to closet or drawers rather than dryer to laundry room floor.
50. Repair broken tiles on kitchen floor
51. Work on storage space under the house making it more usable.
52. Finalize Date for Easter Musical
53. Finalize song list for Easter Musical
54. Finalize drama/video for Easter Musical
55. Finalize involvement of community churches for Easter Musical
56. Work on Marketing for Easter Musical
57. Organize soloists & duets for Easter Musical
58. Work on “special music” calendar
59. Work on Children’s choir calendar
60. Begin looking at VBS music
61. Pick children’s choir musical
62. Pick Fall Worship musical
63. Discuss community Christmas concert ideas with Minor high school and other churches (too many details to list)
64. Work on Choir website for better communication
65. Research podcasting for Steve’s sermons
66. Play ball with Ethan to get him ready for "coach pitch" this season.
67. Work with Gavin on using the potty. I'm really tired of diapers.
68. Practice guitar every day
69. Write a praise song
70. Lead at least one song from guitar this year.
71. Read the entire bible
72. Read all the books I have before buying any more.
73. Run in a 5k
74. Buy the embroidery machine from Kendra for Kristi that we’ve discussed.
75. Take Embroidery machine to have it “tuned up”.
76. Watch Kristi try to lean to monogram.
77. Watch Kristi get tired of trying to learn to monogram.
78. Box up monogramming machine for storage
80. Seek buyer for monogramming machine
81. Sell comic books on e-bay
82. Sell G.I. Joe’s on ebay
83. Sell Star Wars figure on e-bay
84. Sell old Palm Pilot stuff on e-bay
85. Wash car
86. Vaccum car
87. Clean out trunk
88. Wax car
89. Have car serviced
90. Have Kristi’s car serviced
91. Organize plans for Anniversary trip to the Mtns.
92. Find worship leader fill in for that weekend
93. Research Disney trip for Family in Fall of 2010
94. Edit old home movie footage
95. Edit old MoreAbundant concert footage
96. Make video for Ethan’s 5th Birthday
97. Work on shawnstinson.com website
98. Find way to make money on shawnstinson.com website
99. Retire from full time job due to money made on shawnstinson.com website
100. Work full time as a worship leader and blog guru.
101. Take time to do more of these things and less time making lists
When I combined the lists just from home and church I have almost 101 things I need to do.
Some more important than others, but needed none the less.
You just might learn a little about me and my family along the way.
So here, not including stuff I need to do for my full time job, is my list of 101 things I need to do.
You'll notice a theme as you go through this list. Some of them effect the next one on the list. Especially the ones that begin with these #'s 5, 12, 25, 39, & 74. They
1. Paint wooden Front Porch railing
2. Weather proof wood on back deck.
3. Pressure wash the brick around bottom of house to get mud from construction off.
4. Repair crack in concrete sidewalk
5. Repair vinyl siding issue above garage doors
6. Buy ladder so I can Repair vinyl siding issue above garage doors
7. Lose weight so I don’t exceed the maximum weight restriction of affordable ladder
8. Repair hole by mailbox that postman left me nice note asking me to fix
9. Research retaining walls and other options for keeping mud off of driveway
10. Remove old barbed wire fence and brush from in front of and along side of property.
11. Remove dead pine tree from tree line
12. Research types of plants to use in yard
13. Buy plants and material to use in landscaping of yard
14. Plant the plants in the yard
15. Enjoy looking at plants in the yard for a few weeks
16. Dig up plants that have died during those few weeks.
17. Buy more plants
18. Plant those plants
19. Be sure to water plants in the yard.
20. Sweep Garage to remove mud that was in driveway and was tracked into garage
21. Put up more shelving garage
22. Organize garage
23. Organize storage room in garage
24. Put up shelving in inside storage room
25. Pressure wash outside storage shed to remove what appears to be green mold from siding.
26. Find lost key to storage shed
27. Move storage shed to better place in yard
28. Run power to storage shed in new spot.
29. Organize storage shed
30. Give Kristi key to storage shed so it doesn’t get lost again
31. Buy books shelves for office
32. Organize office
33. Build new computer out of all the old computer parts in the office for boys to play with.
34. Re-organize files in the office
35. Shred old files in the office
36. Finalize Storehouse issues (long story for another day)
37. Shred everything that says Storehouse (same long story)
38. Run wiring for surround sound in living room
39. Purchase new entertainment console
40. Purchase 46” HD1080p lcd television
41. Mount new 46” HD1080p lcd television
42. Call for help while attempting to mount new 46” HD1080p lcd television
43. Successfully beg and plead charter or AT&T to make high speed internet available for my house
44. Purchase Playstation 3
45. Spend all free time playing PS3 online
46. Apologize to my wife and children for ignoring them due to playing PS3
47. Call Exterminator before the ants come in the house, again.
48. Organize “junk drawers” so that we only have 2, not 7.
49. Figure out a plan so that laundry goes from dryer to closet or drawers rather than dryer to laundry room floor.
50. Repair broken tiles on kitchen floor
51. Work on storage space under the house making it more usable.
52. Finalize Date for Easter Musical
53. Finalize song list for Easter Musical
54. Finalize drama/video for Easter Musical
55. Finalize involvement of community churches for Easter Musical
56. Work on Marketing for Easter Musical
57. Organize soloists & duets for Easter Musical
58. Work on “special music” calendar
59. Work on Children’s choir calendar
60. Begin looking at VBS music
61. Pick children’s choir musical
62. Pick Fall Worship musical
63. Discuss community Christmas concert ideas with Minor high school and other churches (too many details to list)
64. Work on Choir website for better communication
65. Research podcasting for Steve’s sermons
66. Play ball with Ethan to get him ready for "coach pitch" this season.
67. Work with Gavin on using the potty. I'm really tired of diapers.
68. Practice guitar every day
69. Write a praise song
70. Lead at least one song from guitar this year.
71. Read the entire bible
72. Read all the books I have before buying any more.
73. Run in a 5k
74. Buy the embroidery machine from Kendra for Kristi that we’ve discussed.
75. Take Embroidery machine to have it “tuned up”.
76. Watch Kristi try to lean to monogram.
77. Watch Kristi get tired of trying to learn to monogram.
78. Box up monogramming machine for storage
80. Seek buyer for monogramming machine
81. Sell comic books on e-bay
82. Sell G.I. Joe’s on ebay
83. Sell Star Wars figure on e-bay
84. Sell old Palm Pilot stuff on e-bay
85. Wash car
86. Vaccum car
87. Clean out trunk
88. Wax car
89. Have car serviced
90. Have Kristi’s car serviced
91. Organize plans for Anniversary trip to the Mtns.
92. Find worship leader fill in for that weekend
93. Research Disney trip for Family in Fall of 2010
94. Edit old home movie footage
95. Edit old MoreAbundant concert footage
96. Make video for Ethan’s 5th Birthday
97. Work on shawnstinson.com website
98. Find way to make money on shawnstinson.com website
99. Retire from full time job due to money made on shawnstinson.com website
100. Work full time as a worship leader and blog guru.
101. Take time to do more of these things and less time making lists
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
25 Random Facts and one bonus
I have caved to peer pressure.
Too many of you on facebook have sent me this.
I figured I might as well do it too (and now post it here as well with a bonus fact just for you blog readers.)
So here are 25 Random Things about me…
1.)I weigh 38 lbs less today than I did a year ago. (it was 46 but the holidays were not kind to me. =)
2.)I love playing with my sons and watching them learn how to do new things.
3.)I got pulled over by the police for speeding, swerving in the lane, driving too slow, etc…. 30 times by the age of 30.
4.)I have never tasted beer or smoked a cigarette, but a cigar with the guys from time to time = good times.
5.)This may come as a shock to many, I have hunted, shot, cleaned and eaten squirrels but never hunted deer.
6.)Michael Jordan has heard me sing. Me and some friends sang the national anthem at a Barons Game when he was playing baseball in Birmingham.
7.)My favorite comedy movie is “Tommy Boy”. I laugh out loud every time I watch it.
8.)Anyone who’s ridden in my car will agree with this…. One of my worst traits is that I only wash/vaccum/clean my car a few times a year.
9.)I know a little about a lot (computers, music, video gaming, video editing, web design, accounting, marketing.) but I only know a lot about a little.
10.)I know 6 chords on the guitar. With those 6 I can play many praise songs (if I’d only practice).
11.)I can play the trombone but haven’t really done so in public since high school.
12.)My office at church and home is very cluttered and unorganized. But my office at work stays so organized people there make fun of me.
13.)I have never been arrested.
14.)I love movies. I spent more than 102 hrs in 2008 watching movies and DVD’s.
15.)Speaking of movies, I’ve never seen Casablanca or Monty Python’s Holy Grail (only clips from both) Apparently they’re both classics.
16.)I still keep up with what’s going on with G.I.Joe and the Incredible Hulk movies/toys/comics. (Things I was interested in as a kid) I loved the recent Hulk movie and am looking forward to G.I.Joe movie this summer. Yes, I’m that big of a geek.
17.)I have a huge birthmark on my right calf that looks like some kind of freckle island.
18.)Confession: I’ve been a Christian since I was nine, but have not yet read the entire Bible.
19.)I’ve only been in one real physical fight in my life. It ended when she pushed me backward over a desk. Yes, she.
20.)I love it when I can make my wife laugh. (with me, not at me. Making her laugh at me is easy.)
21.)When I sing and listen to modern worship music I worship. But Southern Gospel music is way different. I don’t enjoy listening to it, but I love singing it. I’m not sure why.
22.)I know how to drive an 18 wheeler (forward, I can’t back up with a trailer) but am not legal to do so.
23.)I’ve never (knocking on wood) had a car accident.
24.)My wife, Kristi, is hilarious. She’s so witty. I wish I were witty like Kristi. Anything I’ve ever said that was remotely funny was thought out carefully before being said out loud. I even once said something to her to see if it was funny knowing I was planning on saying it in a church service weeks later.
25.)Don’t mess with me. I may be big… but I’m slow. Wait…. what?
And a 26th Random fact just for my blog readers...
26.) I won the "Best Actor" award in my senior play in high school.
Too many of you on facebook have sent me this.
I figured I might as well do it too (and now post it here as well with a bonus fact just for you blog readers.)
So here are 25 Random Things about me…
1.)I weigh 38 lbs less today than I did a year ago. (it was 46 but the holidays were not kind to me. =)
2.)I love playing with my sons and watching them learn how to do new things.
3.)I got pulled over by the police for speeding, swerving in the lane, driving too slow, etc…. 30 times by the age of 30.
4.)I have never tasted beer or smoked a cigarette, but a cigar with the guys from time to time = good times.
5.)This may come as a shock to many, I have hunted, shot, cleaned and eaten squirrels but never hunted deer.
6.)Michael Jordan has heard me sing. Me and some friends sang the national anthem at a Barons Game when he was playing baseball in Birmingham.
7.)My favorite comedy movie is “Tommy Boy”. I laugh out loud every time I watch it.
8.)Anyone who’s ridden in my car will agree with this…. One of my worst traits is that I only wash/vaccum/clean my car a few times a year.
9.)I know a little about a lot (computers, music, video gaming, video editing, web design, accounting, marketing.) but I only know a lot about a little.
10.)I know 6 chords on the guitar. With those 6 I can play many praise songs (if I’d only practice).
11.)I can play the trombone but haven’t really done so in public since high school.
12.)My office at church and home is very cluttered and unorganized. But my office at work stays so organized people there make fun of me.
13.)I have never been arrested.
14.)I love movies. I spent more than 102 hrs in 2008 watching movies and DVD’s.
15.)Speaking of movies, I’ve never seen Casablanca or Monty Python’s Holy Grail (only clips from both) Apparently they’re both classics.
16.)I still keep up with what’s going on with G.I.Joe and the Incredible Hulk movies/toys/comics. (Things I was interested in as a kid) I loved the recent Hulk movie and am looking forward to G.I.Joe movie this summer. Yes, I’m that big of a geek.
17.)I have a huge birthmark on my right calf that looks like some kind of freckle island.
18.)Confession: I’ve been a Christian since I was nine, but have not yet read the entire Bible.
19.)I’ve only been in one real physical fight in my life. It ended when she pushed me backward over a desk. Yes, she.
20.)I love it when I can make my wife laugh. (with me, not at me. Making her laugh at me is easy.)
21.)When I sing and listen to modern worship music I worship. But Southern Gospel music is way different. I don’t enjoy listening to it, but I love singing it. I’m not sure why.
22.)I know how to drive an 18 wheeler (forward, I can’t back up with a trailer) but am not legal to do so.
23.)I’ve never (knocking on wood) had a car accident.
24.)My wife, Kristi, is hilarious. She’s so witty. I wish I were witty like Kristi. Anything I’ve ever said that was remotely funny was thought out carefully before being said out loud. I even once said something to her to see if it was funny knowing I was planning on saying it in a church service weeks later.
25.)Don’t mess with me. I may be big… but I’m slow. Wait…. what?
And a 26th Random fact just for my blog readers...
26.) I won the "Best Actor" award in my senior play in high school.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sunday Setlist 02-08-09
This entry is part of the fun going on at Fred McKinnon's blog. Check it out here and let everyone know how your service went....
I'm trying something new today.
Here's our service list, and following is a video commentary from me about it.
Announcements
For The Beauty Of The Earth - updated hymn arrangement
Unashamed Love - Ten sheckle shirt
Welcome / Fellowship
Crown Him With Many Crowns - updated hymn arrangement - had rough transition on a key change. Not a huge issue, just a hiccup. Everything went ahead as normal.
Wonderful, Merciful Savior - Dawn Rogers & Eric Wise
Offertory Prayer - Deacon
Choir Special: Faithful & True
Transitional Video
Message: Bro. Steve: “Truth For Life: Overcoming Respect Neglect”
(Exodus 20:12)Theme: Honor Parents
Invitation: Just As I Am - Hymn Arrangement
Closing Chorus: Take Up Your Cross (Ray Blotz?)
I'm trying something new today.
Here's our service list, and following is a video commentary from me about it.
The service today was more hymn heavy than usual, but each song was done with a newer arrangement so I don't think it was too bad. People seem to enjoy the newer arrangements. It will be even better once we have a guitarist in place.
Anyway, here's the list...
Orchestral Prelude: Crown Him With Many Crowns (instrumental)Announcements
For The Beauty Of The Earth - updated hymn arrangement
Unashamed Love - Ten sheckle shirt
Welcome / Fellowship
Crown Him With Many Crowns - updated hymn arrangement - had rough transition on a key change. Not a huge issue, just a hiccup. Everything went ahead as normal.
Wonderful, Merciful Savior - Dawn Rogers & Eric Wise
Offertory Prayer - Deacon
Choir Special: Faithful & True
Transitional Video
Message: Bro. Steve: “Truth For Life: Overcoming Respect Neglect”
(Exodus 20:12)Theme: Honor Parents
Invitation: Just As I Am - Hymn Arrangement
Closing Chorus: Take Up Your Cross (Ray Blotz?)
Even now, as I watch the below video as I type this, I gotta say...I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it again. I previously had no idea I had so many weird facial expressions I make. And wasn't aware until recently that I seem to talk out of the side of my mouth. Very strange. Anyway, let me know what you think. If you're as uncomfortable with it as I am, I won't do it again.
Enjoy...
Saturday review
We had a very busy Saturday this past weekend.
We had bought tickets a few months ago to two Birmingham Broadway shows this season: "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Wicked". We used to buy Season tickets each year but realized the shows just weren't good enough to earn that much of an expense from our family budget. I enjoyed most of the shows over the years but really just enjoyed having the tickets because it forced us to make plans for a babysitter and "go out." That rarely happens anymore unfortunately. Having two kids will do that to you.
Anyway, this weekend we saw "Ain't Misbahavin". Anytime we go to these shows it's an adventure. We typically take our boys to my parents house in Woodstock, AL which means us leaving early enough to get them there (75 minute drive) then back to Birmingham for the show (45 minute drive.) This time we had a stop or two we needed to make enroute so we left our house at 10AM to go to a 2pm show. How crazy is that.
We got the boys dropped off , got to the show with plenty of time to spare and sat down to watch . That's when my disappointment set in.
I bought these tickets expecting a broadway musical. I knew it starred Ruben Studdard and Frenchie Davis from American Idol and had an idea it was mostly music from the 20's and 30's. When I sat and started looking through the playbill I saw that there were only 5 cast members. And their character names weren't very creative. Ruben was played by Ruben. Frenchie was played by Frenchie, etc. Uh Oh! looks like this will be a 2 hour concert. And that's exactly what it turned out to be. 2 hrs of singing and dancing music from the depression era. Every song was written by Fats Waller. To give you an idea... here's one of them that Ruben did. This is an original "Fats Waller" performance.
I will say, those singers and band members were really good. So the performances were good. But I really didn't care to hear 2 hours of that kind of music.
As we left I saw that a bunch of church youth groups were arriving at the Civic Center.
I remembered that "Winter Jam" was happening that night. Now, I realized a long time ago that my Winter Jam days were over. I think I would have spent much of the night saying "who are these guys?" what are they singing? I can't understand the words".
But I think in this case, i would have rather been going there than having gone to see Ruben.
So, then we headed to eat, Red Lobster. I've got a whole very long story I could write about Red Lobster but I won't. I'll just say their lack of customer service did not surprise me.
One we got back to Woodstock, picked up the boys, and got them home it was 9pm, time for bath and bedtime. Whew! What a long day.
If we're lucky maybe things will be less hectic when we see "Wicked" in April, but I doubt it.
We had bought tickets a few months ago to two Birmingham Broadway shows this season: "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Wicked". We used to buy Season tickets each year but realized the shows just weren't good enough to earn that much of an expense from our family budget. I enjoyed most of the shows over the years but really just enjoyed having the tickets because it forced us to make plans for a babysitter and "go out." That rarely happens anymore unfortunately. Having two kids will do that to you.
Anyway, this weekend we saw "Ain't Misbahavin". Anytime we go to these shows it's an adventure. We typically take our boys to my parents house in Woodstock, AL which means us leaving early enough to get them there (75 minute drive) then back to Birmingham for the show (45 minute drive.) This time we had a stop or two we needed to make enroute so we left our house at 10AM to go to a 2pm show. How crazy is that.
We got the boys dropped off , got to the show with plenty of time to spare and sat down to watch . That's when my disappointment set in.
I bought these tickets expecting a broadway musical. I knew it starred Ruben Studdard and Frenchie Davis from American Idol and had an idea it was mostly music from the 20's and 30's. When I sat and started looking through the playbill I saw that there were only 5 cast members. And their character names weren't very creative. Ruben was played by Ruben. Frenchie was played by Frenchie, etc. Uh Oh! looks like this will be a 2 hour concert. And that's exactly what it turned out to be. 2 hrs of singing and dancing music from the depression era. Every song was written by Fats Waller. To give you an idea... here's one of them that Ruben did. This is an original "Fats Waller" performance.
I will say, those singers and band members were really good. So the performances were good. But I really didn't care to hear 2 hours of that kind of music.
As we left I saw that a bunch of church youth groups were arriving at the Civic Center.
I remembered that "Winter Jam" was happening that night. Now, I realized a long time ago that my Winter Jam days were over. I think I would have spent much of the night saying "who are these guys?" what are they singing? I can't understand the words".
But I think in this case, i would have rather been going there than having gone to see Ruben.
So, then we headed to eat, Red Lobster. I've got a whole very long story I could write about Red Lobster but I won't. I'll just say their lack of customer service did not surprise me.
One we got back to Woodstock, picked up the boys, and got them home it was 9pm, time for bath and bedtime. Whew! What a long day.
If we're lucky maybe things will be less hectic when we see "Wicked" in April, but I doubt it.
Friday, February 6, 2009
#101
I've just realized that my last blog entry was my 100th posting.
100 postings, that's a lot of rambling.
I'm sure you've read them all.
Thanks to everyone for commenting from time to time.
I started this initially just out of boredom, but I've found that blogging and reading others blogs can be not only entertaining but very inspirational.
I've even been encouraged when I've looked back at past blogs of mine and been reminded about rough days I had or goofy things I did. It's helped me to remember to see the big picture and not sweat the small stuff.
So with this 101st posting I have an announcement to make.
Coming Soon...
www.ShawnStinson.com
OK, so yeah, my first thought is that it's seems a little egotistical to have your own website. But I've been wanting to start a blog dedicated to worship and being in ministry as well as having a blog about my hobbies and family. So I decided this would be a good way to do it. The new website doesn't exist yet, but I am the proud owner of the domain name shawnstinson.com.
Soon you'll be able to go there and keep up with me as well as my thoughts on worship and ministry in general. I'll let you know once it's up.
Hope to see you there.
Thanks again for stopping by.
100 postings, that's a lot of rambling.
I'm sure you've read them all.
Thanks to everyone for commenting from time to time.
I started this initially just out of boredom, but I've found that blogging and reading others blogs can be not only entertaining but very inspirational.
I've even been encouraged when I've looked back at past blogs of mine and been reminded about rough days I had or goofy things I did. It's helped me to remember to see the big picture and not sweat the small stuff.
So with this 101st posting I have an announcement to make.
Coming Soon...
www.ShawnStinson.com
OK, so yeah, my first thought is that it's seems a little egotistical to have your own website. But I've been wanting to start a blog dedicated to worship and being in ministry as well as having a blog about my hobbies and family. So I decided this would be a good way to do it. The new website doesn't exist yet, but I am the proud owner of the domain name shawnstinson.com.
Soon you'll be able to go there and keep up with me as well as my thoughts on worship and ministry in general. I'll let you know once it's up.
Hope to see you there.
Thanks again for stopping by.
Happy Valentine's Day ???
I ordered something for my father in law from Bass Pro Shops this past Christmas. Now I'm on their e-mail mailing list for advertisements. I got this pic yesterday and had to pass it along... Cause nothing says I love you like Shotgun shells and arrows.
Netflix 2008
Are you a Netflix member? I am. I love it.
It’s a great service that is unfortunately putting the video rental stores out of business. Do you remember the days of going to the store with your family or friends to pick out a movie. For me that was always part of the fun. It’s been years since I’ve done that. And I've just realized... my boys have NEVER done that. Wow.
Anyway, one of the advantages of Netflix is you can easily track what you’ve watched.
So now I present to you my list from 2008, along with some comments.
This isn’t every movie I watched, just the ones from Netflix, the ones I bought, or saw at the theatre that I can remember.
Amazingly this list represents approx 102 hrs of my life during 2008.
- The Dark Knight - Currently my #1 favorite movie. Great acting. Great action. Very entertaining. I’m waiting to buy it until I get HD (see previous post).
- Iron Man – Better than I expected. Very funny and fun. I bought it on DVD.
- Hancock – Great movie, unnecessary language. I bought it on DVD.
- Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull – fun, but disappointing.
- Wall-E –good but not as good as people say.
- Kung Fu Panda – lots of fun. I could watch it over and over, and have.
- Madasgar: Escape 2 Africa – Technically I haven’t seen all of this one. Gavin decided after 15 minutes he’d rather go play in the lobby of the theatre.
- The Strangers- very scary, but bad ending.
- Step Brothers - funny, but extremely vulgar.
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army - good flick, better than the first.
- Get Smart - boring.
- Journey to the Center of the Earth - I normally like Brendan Frasier, but this was 2 hrs of my life I wish I had back.
- Don't Mess with the Zohan - very funny, but too vulgar.
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall - forgettable. Vulgar, Male frontal nudity in a comedy? Are you kidding me?
- Redbelt - great flick. Good story, good acting.
- The Happening - As bad as people say. Mr. Shalmalan “I see a dead career.”
- Nim's Island - decent kids movie.
- The Love Guru - AWFUL! I was very disappointed in Mr. Myers. I wanted this to be funny, but it just wasn’t.
- Baby Mama – a decent movie from Tina Fey and Amy Poller. Funny, but not great.
- 21 – good. Ya gotta love Kevin Spacey.
- Fool's Gold – I enjoyed it. Many reviewers did not. I think Matthew McConahay (I have no idea how to spell that) is funny.
- What Happens in Vegas - ok, but forgettable.
- The Bucket List – Great movie with 2 great actors.
- Vantage Point - Good action flick but the storytelling gets a little repetitive.
- We Own the Night – Boring. I found myself wanting to fast forward through it.
- Jumper – fun action Movie. Mr. Darth Vader might have a future career after all.
- The Other Boleyn Girl - anything with Mrs. Johanssen is worth watching once
- Aliens vs. Predator 2 - ugh. Why did I watch this?
- Flawless - Good movie, proved that Demi Moore can still act.
- Rambo – Give it up Stallone.
- Semi-Pro – Funny but not up to snuff for a Will Farrell Movie.
- Meet the Spartans – WOW THIS WAS AWFUL. I FAST FORWARDED THROUGH MOST OF IT!!!
- Juno – what’s the big deal. A couple clever lines, but not worth all the hype.
- Charlie Wilson's War - Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Can’t beat it.
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets - They should have stopped with one. But this was ok.
- Sweeney Todd - Bad singing, bloody movie, artistic, well made movie, but not enjoyable.
- 3:10 to Yuma – Well written and acted western. See it.
- 27 Dresses- Not bad for a chic flick.
- Stardust – Pretty good movie. but I’m curious why Deniro was in this.
- Enchanted – Very funny. “It’s good”
- American Gangster - Boring. But well acted.
- Hitman- not bad for a movie based on a video game.
- Beowulf: Director's Cut – skip it.
- Death Sentence - Kevin Bacon in an action movie? Yep, and it works. Good movie.
- Evan Almighty- Not as bad as people say. I enjoyed it.
- The Brothers Solomon – awful. Skip it.
- Ocean's Thirteen- Better than Ocean's 12 twelvc, but that's not saying much.
- I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry – Funny but too preachy.
- The Brave One – Good thriller from Jodie Foster.
- Michael Clayton – great movie. Too many f-bombs.
- Across the Universe – what was I think renting this? Interesting to see how they tied all the Beatles songs together, but I didn’t care about the characters and found myself fast forwarding to the next song.
Do you disagree with any of my reviews?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I dare you...
You know that picture that you have of yourself that you hope nobody ever sees?
You haven’t thrown it away or burnt it have you? Those pictures are often comedy gold.
At least mine is.
I found this the other day while going through some stuff at my parents house. And although it is very embarrassing, I just had to share it.
I’m going to post it today with just a few notes. Later I’ll re-visit this photo and tell you some background about each little treasured part of this awesomeness.
This is a photo of me at 12 years old. I was on family vacation in Panama City Beach. (summer of 1987) I was not in costume or trying to be funny. I dressed this way to hang out around the house we rented then go out to eat, in public.
Before you comment make sure to notice…..
1.) Swatch watch
2.) Mini-mullet hair cut.
3.) Sunglasses
4.) Mickey mouse shirt
5.) Muscle shirt
6.) Mickey Mouse Muscle Shirt !!!
7.) Jamz shorts
8.) “Boom Box” ?
9.) And finally, almost cropped out of frame….Red Converse All Star High Tops.
I welcome your comments/questions and dare you to post your most embarrassing pic. =)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Life Changing Decision
I made a decision last night that has potential to be sort of life changing in a number of small ways.
Here’s the decision…
I’ve decided to give up a lot of the TV shows I watch.
My current list of TIVO’d shows is huge. What makes it worse is that I have a bad habit of trying to watch them all as soon as possible and deleting them every night. That typically means that I sit down at approx 9:30 pm and watch the TIVO’d shows until 1am so I can catch up. That's almost 4 hrs of time sure could be useful for other activities. I’ve made this decision because I realized this will help in other areas as well.
With less TV…. I will not be as tempted to eat an unhealthy snack late at night.
With less TV…. I’ll have time to play guitar (I have a goal to play in a worship service before 2009 is over.)
With less TV…. I’ll have time to read. (I have a bad habit of buying books. Not reading books, but buying books.)
With less TV…. I’ll be more likely to get my clothes together for the following day rather than running around trying to gather them every morning.
With less TV…. I’ll have time to work on a website project I’ve had in mind for a while. (more on this to come in a later blog)
With less TV…. I’ll have time to be more helpful around the house: dishes, laundry, simply cleaning up after myself.
(OK, that last one might be reaching a bit)
So, it is with a little sadness that I say goodbye to the following..
Goodbye Mythbusters, I’ve learned a lot from you nerds.
Goodbye C.S.I. : Miami. Horatio Caine, you and your sunglasses have been very entertaining.
Goodbye Law & Order. It was nice watching one show that didn’t carry over from week to week.
Goodbye KYLE XY. I admit I outgrew your teen angst a long time ago, but have enjoyed your superhero abilities.
Good bye C.S.I.: New York. I’m not sure why I watch you. I don’t feel any loss saying goodbye.
Goodbye My Name is Earl. : I’ll miss all of you, especially Crab Man.
Goodbye Dexter: Your serial killer ways were creepy and entertaining. I think that says something about me.
Goodbye Chuck: I’ve never been sure you were worth an entire hour. Maybe 30 minutes.
To all the others: Hell’s Kitchen, Late Night w/ Letterman, etc.. You will be missed but not forgotten.
I’m not giving up TV all together. These get to stay.
American Idol
Heroes (Barely, almost got cut)
24
House
Smallville
LOST
C.S.I.
Medium
Ghost Whisperer (only because I’ve been with you for so long. Your current story line is pretty stupid.)
Battlestar Galactica
The Office
30 Rock
Without A Trace
Fringe
Law and Order SVU
OK, OK! I admit, that’s still a long list.
But 2 hrs of TV a night is better than almost 4 , right?
Here’s the decision…
I’ve decided to give up a lot of the TV shows I watch.
My current list of TIVO’d shows is huge. What makes it worse is that I have a bad habit of trying to watch them all as soon as possible and deleting them every night. That typically means that I sit down at approx 9:30 pm and watch the TIVO’d shows until 1am so I can catch up. That's almost 4 hrs of time sure could be useful for other activities. I’ve made this decision because I realized this will help in other areas as well.
With less TV…. I will not be as tempted to eat an unhealthy snack late at night.
With less TV…. I’ll have time to play guitar (I have a goal to play in a worship service before 2009 is over.)
With less TV…. I’ll have time to read. (I have a bad habit of buying books. Not reading books, but buying books.)
With less TV…. I’ll be more likely to get my clothes together for the following day rather than running around trying to gather them every morning.
With less TV…. I’ll have time to work on a website project I’ve had in mind for a while. (more on this to come in a later blog)
With less TV…. I’ll have time to be more helpful around the house: dishes, laundry, simply cleaning up after myself.
(OK, that last one might be reaching a bit)
So, it is with a little sadness that I say goodbye to the following..
Goodbye Mythbusters, I’ve learned a lot from you nerds.
Goodbye C.S.I. : Miami. Horatio Caine, you and your sunglasses have been very entertaining.
Goodbye Law & Order. It was nice watching one show that didn’t carry over from week to week.
Goodbye KYLE XY. I admit I outgrew your teen angst a long time ago, but have enjoyed your superhero abilities.
Good bye C.S.I.: New York. I’m not sure why I watch you. I don’t feel any loss saying goodbye.
Goodbye My Name is Earl. : I’ll miss all of you, especially Crab Man.
Goodbye Dexter: Your serial killer ways were creepy and entertaining. I think that says something about me.
Goodbye Chuck: I’ve never been sure you were worth an entire hour. Maybe 30 minutes.
To all the others: Hell’s Kitchen, Late Night w/ Letterman, etc.. You will be missed but not forgotten.
I’m not giving up TV all together. These get to stay.
American Idol
Heroes (Barely, almost got cut)
24
House
Smallville
LOST
C.S.I.
Medium
Ghost Whisperer (only because I’ve been with you for so long. Your current story line is pretty stupid.)
Battlestar Galactica
The Office
30 Rock
Without A Trace
Fringe
Law and Order SVU
OK, OK! I admit, that’s still a long list.
But 2 hrs of TV a night is better than almost 4 , right?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Dream
I’ve had something on my mind for a while that I think I should share with you.
It’s really kind of sad.
I know many of you will hear this news and feel the need to give me a hug or say a prayer for me. I’ll accept any pity you feel led to offer.
Here’s the problem…..
There is nothing in my house with the letters HD on it.
No computer monitor, no small television, no big television, nothing.
It’s shocking and saddening, I know.
While many of you are able to count the hairs on James Spann’s head, or see every cut on the Joker’s face in The Dark Knight, I am stuck with a normal old picture.
While watching football games you can see the blades of grass, I can only see a green flat area.
I’ve been researching for a while the type of TV I would like to get.
I haven’t yet decided on an exact model. But I do know that it will be 46” or larger, have multiple inputs, and be 1080p. At least that’s the dream.
There are two major reasons my dream has not been fulfilled yet.
1.) The expense of this project involves more than just the $1000 TV. It also would mean having to get a new entertainment center, paying more to upgrade my satellite to HD. Plus, of course getting the Sony Playstation 3 so that I might watch Blue Ray DVD’s and play games. All together very costly.
2.) Economic forecast – Everyone knows the economy is in the toilet. While I currently feel pretty secure in both my jobs, nothing is too secure right now. And I feel the responsible thing to do is to spend all my hard earned money on paying off debt and going into savings.
So considering these issues I’ve decided that for now it might just remain a dream…….
And so, with a little help from Dr. Martin Luther "The" King, I share with you my dream….
I do not yet have HD. But many people do. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities and you’ll find many homes with HD. But I do not have it yet. But let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the economic difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal and are entitled to HD."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood and watch HD Television.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice where everyone can afford and enjoy HD.
I have a dream that my two little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the resolution of their screen but by the size of their Blue-Ray collection.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its lack of technology, with its outlying and rural cities not even having access to high speed internet; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers and watch movies like Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda in HD.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see HD together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I live in the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to watch together, see in 1080p together, enjoy theater quality set-ups in our living rooms together.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of HD, of thee I sing. Land where my screen is big, my computer has 900gig, We can clearly see Mike Royer’s Wig, let us have HD."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.
So let us have HD from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let us have HD from the mighty mountains of New York.
let us have HD from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let us watch The Dark Knight on Blue Ray in the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let us enjoy Playstation 3 on the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let us see every flower on a discovery channel documentary from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let us see every little star in “Star Wars” from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let us have HD from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let us have HD.
And when this happens, once we all can afford HD, when we have it from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the new song of praise...
"HD at last! HD at last! thank God Almighty, we have HD at last!"
So, If you would like to contribute to my dream of having HD in my home. I encourage you to place your donation in the birthday card you’ll be sending me on the 19th. (Only 16 days away.)
Thank You.
It’s really kind of sad.
I know many of you will hear this news and feel the need to give me a hug or say a prayer for me. I’ll accept any pity you feel led to offer.
Here’s the problem…..
There is nothing in my house with the letters HD on it.
No computer monitor, no small television, no big television, nothing.
It’s shocking and saddening, I know.
While many of you are able to count the hairs on James Spann’s head, or see every cut on the Joker’s face in The Dark Knight, I am stuck with a normal old picture.
While watching football games you can see the blades of grass, I can only see a green flat area.
I’ve been researching for a while the type of TV I would like to get.
I haven’t yet decided on an exact model. But I do know that it will be 46” or larger, have multiple inputs, and be 1080p. At least that’s the dream.
There are two major reasons my dream has not been fulfilled yet.
1.) The expense of this project involves more than just the $1000 TV. It also would mean having to get a new entertainment center, paying more to upgrade my satellite to HD. Plus, of course getting the Sony Playstation 3 so that I might watch Blue Ray DVD’s and play games. All together very costly.
2.) Economic forecast – Everyone knows the economy is in the toilet. While I currently feel pretty secure in both my jobs, nothing is too secure right now. And I feel the responsible thing to do is to spend all my hard earned money on paying off debt and going into savings.
So considering these issues I’ve decided that for now it might just remain a dream…….
And so, with a little help from Dr. Martin Luther "The" King, I share with you my dream….
I do not yet have HD. But many people do. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities and you’ll find many homes with HD. But I do not have it yet. But let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the economic difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal and are entitled to HD."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood and watch HD Television.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice where everyone can afford and enjoy HD.
I have a dream that my two little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the resolution of their screen but by the size of their Blue-Ray collection.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its lack of technology, with its outlying and rural cities not even having access to high speed internet; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers and watch movies like Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda in HD.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see HD together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I live in the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to watch together, see in 1080p together, enjoy theater quality set-ups in our living rooms together.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of HD, of thee I sing. Land where my screen is big, my computer has 900gig, We can clearly see Mike Royer’s Wig, let us have HD."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.
So let us have HD from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let us have HD from the mighty mountains of New York.
let us have HD from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let us watch The Dark Knight on Blue Ray in the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let us enjoy Playstation 3 on the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let us see every flower on a discovery channel documentary from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let us see every little star in “Star Wars” from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let us have HD from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let us have HD.
And when this happens, once we all can afford HD, when we have it from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the new song of praise...
"HD at last! HD at last! thank God Almighty, we have HD at last!"
So, If you would like to contribute to my dream of having HD in my home. I encourage you to place your donation in the birthday card you’ll be sending me on the 19th. (Only 16 days away.)
Thank You.
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