Why didn't I think of this one? Blender magazine is publishing its list of the Top 50 Worst Songs Ever. Care to share yours?

We're really enjoying the DSL at the office (Sara especially likes iTunes radio) and it's all working well. We couldn't decide if we could afford it at home, but Sara just got a raise, so we're going for it. I'm hoping to finally get my Linux comp online. Then I can forge ahead into the high countries of geekdom.

Roger McGuinn, lead singer of the Byrds, appeared on The Screen Savers last week. He showed how he recorded his last album at home, using Adobe Audition. He also mentioned that he has recorded some folk songs and made them available for free on his website. Watch out, though, some of the older songs are in Real Media format.

Jared pointed out this flash movie. You've never heard the default windows sound effects like this.

Blues in Bufe.mp3


Here's another short clip I made in Adobe Audition. On this one I used loops to create the drums, bass, and Wurlitzer and the infamous Bufe Petty supplies lead guitar. It's only 12 measures long and under 700 kB. Oh, and Bufe says anyone who downloads this song owes him 99 cents.

I drove to Kansas City today and I was listening to some mp3s on my Pocket PC.

I really like this lyric from "In Christ Alone" on the Newsboys worship album:

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

And this is from Waterdeep's "Everyone's Beautiful":

Still they were beautiful
Everyone's beautiful
All of us crawling on hands and knees in need of you

I just read that Waterdeep is going to stop touring. They're playing a farewell show on April 30 and May 1 . . . in Kansas City. This is very close to where I live. Anyone want to go? Tickets are $15.

Leo Laporte is returning to TechTV!

First, let me apologize for the lack of posts the past two weeks. See number 5 for an explanation.

5. Dawson's Creek While TiVo and Dawson's were the subjects of my last post, I feel I must bring them up again. For the past two weeks, my part-time job has been keeping up with my two-a-day recordings of this television show. I told myself that I would stop watching once they got to college, but that didn't happen. Yes, it is dumb. Yes, I can't believe I'm still watching. But every night after Emma goes to bed, I open up our Now Playing window and there they are, calling out to me: "What will happen with Joey and that professor?" "What about Jen and Dawson? You know they eventually have to break up. How will it happen?" I know, not the questions of the century, but give me a break -- I stay at home with a two year old. I'm not trying to reform the Electoral College or anything. (Plus, I have to do something while Danny is playing Gunbound.)

4. Vacation We get two weeks of vacation from the church each year, and we always have a hard time deciding what to do with it. Since Danny is doing two youth camps and one major youth trip this summer, we've decided to take an earlier week of vacation. We are going to Brendan's graduation, then to our old stomping ground, Kirksville, then Kansas City and then possibly to Nebraska to see Brandon and Keri (and Eden). If you know me, I am always excited about a road trip and a change of scenery. (You will also know that I start planning suitcase-packing schedules about a month in advance. I'm that anal.)

3. Sesame Street One of the few shows I can stand to watch with Emma (Dora's too repetitive, Oobi is too weird), Sesame Street is and always will be awesome. The new characters, once you get to 'know' them, are great -- Zoe and Rosita (or, if you are Emma, 'Mozita') especially. Just the other day, I got to see the sketch with "Teeny Little Super Guy", the character on a cup who spins around the sink talking to other cups. (Remember: you can't tell a hero by his size). What a great show!

2. My brother Lucas, my brother, is in the Navy and is currently in Iraq. I haven't seen him in two years, which is really strange because when Danny and I were first married, he lived with us in our very small K-ville apartment (think glorified attic). He's a fun kid with great taste in music (I'd like to think I had something to do with that, but probably not) and an even better sense of humor. So Lucas, if you're reading this, I miss you and hope you get to come home soon.

1. My mission Last week was a very reflective one, spent figuring out why I am here (when I wasn't watching Dawson's). I discovered that when I first became a Christian, I changed everything about myself, including my personality. In the last year or so, I've finally recovered that part of myself that believes it is vitally important to point out the traditional/fundamental/absolutely incorrect assumptions made by Christians everywhere. As I recently said in an email: My [current] life as a Christian is not much different than my life as a non-Christian. What I mean is that I still have doubts, I still question everything, I still don't read the Bible a lot or pray a lot or give sub-standard, one-size-fits-all Christian advice. I prefer to say "I have absolutely no idea" than to pretend I understand a person's problem or know what advice a person needs to hear. This is how I deal with the "Do unto others" idea practically. The point is that I do not deal well (you could say I abhor) with what I deem to be cookie-cutter Christian rhetoric because it doesn't work. Aaaahhhh, introspection.

Wired has two interesting stories right now.

Attack of the Movie Clones
Check out the website for the Godsend Institue, which claims to be able to clone lost loved ones. But look closely at the picture of the doctor on this page. Looks a little like Robert DeNiro, who is set to star in a new film about cloning called Godsend. It looks like more Blair Witch type PR. The movie comes out April 30.

Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11
This is all about lazy journalists who have taken Onion articles seriously. It includes my all-time favorite, the Harry Potter article that passed through every evango-fundamental emailbox back in 2002.

We've now got a recording set-up here at the church. A few people were saying they'd like to have a worship cd from our band, so we purchased Adobe Audition (formerly known as Cool Edit Pro) and a multi-track sound card (Echo Layla). I spent some time yesterday and this morning setting it up and learning how to use it. Here is a link to a song I made while I was messing with the new set-up. I started with a drum loop from Audition, then recording myself playing guitar, bass and lead. Then I went back and replaced the drum loop with me playing drums. This is pretty rough (and I'm a crappy musician) but it shows what is possible.