Blog December: New Year

I'm just gonna throw up some music to listen to while you do what you do today.  Happy New Year.  Be safe.

Blog December: Phones

Blog December: Waiting 2

Hope and Waiting (in case you missed it)

So this thought crossed my mind the other day.  Not really new thinking, but it was important to my brain at the time.

In July or August we start seeing Christmas stuff go out on shelves at stores.  In October or November we start hearing Christmas music.  We know we're in full swing when Black Friday hits.  In churches we have the Advent Season to prepare us for Christmas.  We sing Christmas carols.  If we're lucky people bring cookies to our house.  Carolers might make an appearance on our doorstep.  There's preparation. 

There were no billboards saying "The Messiah is coming on 0 A.D."  The waiting had been going on for centuries.  They knew it was going to be from Bethlehem.  Can you imagine being a pregnant lady in Bethlehem.  What pressure.  "Maybe this one will be the Messiah".  Or being a little boy.  Would the neighbors be watching you closely for signs of the miraculous. 

We have waiting which we know will come to completion on a very specific day.  They waited indefinitely.  I can't imagine that kind of waiting.  God's promise was out there....but it was undefined. 

In that context, Simeon being told that he won't die until he sees Messiah, is even more amazing.  It's not as if growing up he heard that it'd be "any day now"....his father, and grand father and great grand father and on and on had been waiting for Messiah.  And then at an old age he was told he would see Messiah before he died.  Wow. 

So I go back to the idea of hope.  There was no less hope that Messiah would come.  They wanted rescued.  For that matter if you're a good Jew, you're still waiting for Messiah.  There was hope...expectancy...waiting with baited breath (I don't understand that expression). 

I asked before....what are you waiting for?

Blog December: O Christmas Beard

Blog December: Merry Christmas

From my family to you and yours:  Merry Christmas

This is how I'd like to believe Santa really gets around.

Blog Christmas: Christmas Eve

My brain is a jumble of different thoughts this morning.

I'm thinking about tonight's worship service.  Our pastor is out of town.  Not that big of a deal since he doesn't usually preach on Christmas Eve anyway.  We do a series of reading through the Gospel account of Jesus birth, and intersperse that with congregational singing, special music and the choir.  Like lots of churches we close with candles and Silent Night.

I'm singing a song with one of my good friends who has an amazing voice.  I love singing with her.  She makes me sound good.  Problem is I woke up with a frog in my throat from sinus drainage and I'm struggling this morning.

So part of my brain is on tonight.  On walking our church through a service.  On attempting to sing when my body isn't cooperating.

The other part of my brain is thinking about me as a little kid.  Today was HUGE.

See, Santa came to our house while we were at church on Christmas Eve.  He was a sneaky guy.  We would all go to church together and when we got home presents were there...stockings were filled.  Santa is real.  I don't care what you say.

So my kids are bouncing off the wall today....in anticipation for tomorrow.  I can't imagine having to deal with my brother and I all day long in anticipation for tonight.

So....if you're singing something tonight....what are you singing?  OR if you were going to sing something what would you sing?

Also....when did you open your presents?

Blog December: Useless Inventions

Blog December: Duck Dynasty

People have been telling me about this show called Duck Dynasty for awhile.  As you may know we don't have TV.  However I found it online.  It literally took me 6 minutes to be hooked. 

Fabulous beards.

Blog December: It's the End

Blog December: Guns

The following is off the top of my head rant style.  I'm tired and grumpy today....so if you don't like it, you can't just attribute it to that.  We can still be friends.

I'm really tired of seeing people use this tragedy of children being killed as a chance to stand on a soap box and talk about gun rights.  You are being completely classless.

I have yet to see any lawmaker say they want all guns banned.  I have seen them say that they would like to close loopholes in already existing laws and make sure that the regulations that are on the books are being inforced.  Even the NRA is for that.

We're dealing with a horrific event and you're talking about the second ammendment.  As I read earlier today......"The founding fathers were not psychics who could predict the future. They didn't think of everything. The Constitution doesn't mention online identity theft. Does that mean we shouldn't protect ourselves from it?"  I see reading the Constitution like reading the Bible....you have to read context into it.  Where our founding fathers making sure that we all were able to have automatic weapons if we wanted.....even though there is no possible hunting use for them?  OR were they saying that the government shouldn't be able to take away a means to protect yourself.  Let's be real here folks, if the government wants to come against the people.....you need tanks, spy planes and freaking bunkers or you're done for anyway.  So don't tell me that it's to protect you from the government.

And that brings up another thing.  Don't show me how Stalin disarmed the Soviet Union and then killed millions or Hitler or Mao......again you're using insane people and tragedy to make a baseless point.  In each case it was one individual who had supreme power over ever facet of the government and military to enact horrible things.  As bad as you think our President might be, the Constitution which you love to wave around, prevents him from having supreme power like that. 

And just because I don't own a gun, doesn't mean I can't understand or talk about it.  I've never done heroin, but I"m pretty sure I'm qualified enough to talk about how it's not a good idea to my kids.

And for those saying that this happened because we took God out of our schools.....really?  That happened in the early 60's.  This crazy event happened because that happened 50 years ago?  There's no way this could happen in a Christian school?  Because my kids go to a local Catholic School and I love that they're locked down and secure, but it could easily happen there.  You know that God is central in my life, and I'm all for prayer....but this was not the cause of that.

AND arming the teachers is a horrible idea.  Why would I want a loaded weapon in the classroom for?  All it takes is one nutty student grabbing for that gun or a teacher to blow his stack at a crazy group of students.  We've all heard stories of teachers shoving students or touching students....what happens if they have a fire arm on them.  What next, shall we arm the students too?  That'll go over well.

Look here's the bottom line....if you want to protect yourself, fine.  Let's put it perspective though....little kids died.  DIED.  Shouldn't we be more about peace and grace and comfort and love and hope? 

Blog December: Cub Scouts

This is more of a personal update.  I'm now a Cub Scout Den Leader.  I didn't intend to be but I am.

It's like this.  At the end of last year, I asked Corban's scout leader if he was going to continue on this year.  I asked because he's super busy.  He said he wasn't sure because he was coaching soccer teams and so forth.  I said, "if some dad with a long goatee offered to co-lead with you, would you stay on?"  He said sure.  I figured that I could cover for him a few times.

So as the year began he told me I'd need to solo lead our meetings for the first 3 weeks.  No problem.  So at the 4th meeting I asked him how his schedule was looking now.  He said he was basically out of town most of the next couple months and asked if I could just be the leader. 

So now I'm a den leader. 

I wouldn't have volunteered for this.  But I really like it.  If I have to be the leader next year I will. 

Were you in scouts?  For how long?  If you quit do you regret it? 

Blog December: Exhaustion

I'm done.  Spent.  Fried.  I have little more to give.

Last night we were in Pittsburgh to see Toby Mac (more on that later).  We didn't get back to my parents until 11:30ish.  We had to leave their house this morning at 8:30.  I drove 3 hours to get back in time to pick up Mari's car that had my hockey gear in it.  I drove another 1/2 hour to Jamestown to play a weird timed hockey game.

We played a young team.  They're always fast.  I always face a lot of shots.  I"m now sitting in the front row of the church practicing the children's Christmas pageant.  I'm the narrator....and playing two songs for people to sing.....and reading the part of one of the saints in heaven.

I'm done.  My brain can't handle much more.  I'm slowly reaching "shut down" mode. 

Mari's bringing me more coffee.  It'll help a little.  I don't believe in energy drinks.

So what do you do when you're shutting down?  What tricks do you use?  What do you eat or drink? 

Blog December: Christmas Movies

This is pretty simple.  You NEED to post a comment for this to work.

As I scroll through Facebook it seems that there are two types of people.

People that quote ELF and people that quote National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  I don't see Rudolf or Christmas Carol or Frosty being quoted.  Just those too.

So for today, I NEED you to click the Comment section below and cast your vote below.  Elf or National Lampoon's?  OR vote for something else.  Do it NOW!

December Blog: Dogs

Preface:  I'm not a dog or cat owner.  I do understand that pet owners have a special bond with their animal.  I don't want to just toss that aside.

This morning on the way to school, Corban yells "DID YOU SEE THAT DOG?  It had some sort of red and green thing wrapped around it."  I had to explain that some owners put sweaters on their animals.  Corban's reply was just "Why?"

Why indeed.  You do understand that dogs come with fur on their body right?  The design of the fur is to protect them from the elements right?  In fact their fur is actually called a "coat".  Why would you put a sweater on your animal. They don't need it.  You are subjecting your animal to being mocked by all it's friends.  Cruelty I tell you.

And this might be overstepping things a bit here.....dogs are not people.  I know they're great companions and all....but they're not humans.  They don't need to take on human attributes.  They will not talk.  They will not go out and get some milk for you when you're out.  They are not humans.  They don't need dressed up like a human.

EXCEPTION:  If it's -15 degrees and there's a foot of snow and your dog is 8 inches tall, and you want to make sure they don't turn into a pupsicle outside, I'll allow the sweater.

Blog December: Jay-Z

To say I"m not a Jay-Z fan would be an understatement. I would struggle name anything he's done. But I know who he is. This cute encounter on a subway is fabulous though.

Blog December: MUST WATCH Geniuses

I don't remember where I found this.  Someone linked me to it at some point.  Basically a kid from Sierra Leone dug in garbage cans and found old electronics and made his own equipment....and then got to go to MIT and learn from experts.  You need to watch this!!!

After watching that, you need to READ THIS. It's Ethiopia related. Basically someone dropped off two taped up boxes of tablets in a remote village. Not only did they figure out how to work them and use them to learn.....they hacked them. FABULOUS!

Blog December: My Drumline

For the past 13 Falls, I have had the honor of being the percussion instructor for the Warren Area High School Marching Band.  For the first 11 seasons I got to work with the band director who was my band director which was a true pleasure.  The last two season I've had a new instructor each year.

Through it all though, the students are the fun part.  I love getting to hang out with awesome kids, who work hard to get to the end of the season.  I don't always love the hot rehearsals of August, or the freezing football games of late October, but I love the students. 

Drumline's are a funny beast.  We're a weird pack.  We're part of the bigger band, but we're a family unto ourselves.  We have nicknames (some of them do.....usually created by me), we have traditions that we follow religiously, and we laugh at things that only we find funny.  Basically....we rule.

Every year as part of my responsibilities, I write a new cadence for our drumline.  A cadence is a musical piece just for percussion that we use while we're walking places.  Most area marching bands use the same cadence for years on end.  In a way it makes sense to do that because the returning students just have to help the new students learn what they already know.  The down side is that it gets old quick.  I want to hear something new each year.  I also like to watch my students tackle a big project and work at it together.  It's fun to watch their faces as they realize they've got it.

This year was a little different.  The new director wanted to use a piece of music for parades that was split into 3 parts.  In between each of those parts was a horrible 1950's style drum cadence.  I couldn't have it.  So I wrote our cadence in three sections of 12 bars.  So we could split it up to play between those parts of music OR we could play it all together in one chunk.  It was a challenge.  In the end we only mastered the first two sections.  The third section was hard.  I was a little bummed, but that's the way it goes.

So for the first time ever, I tried recording the cadence.  Our crappy camera didn't pick the sound up amazingly, but you get the idea.  Here's my line performing the first 2 sections of this years cadence entitled "3".







 As I mentioned, we also have traditions.  Some traditions make sense.  Others do not.  One tradition we have is this:  At every home football game I stand up and yell something like "Hey everybody, second home game of the season!"  to which everyone yells "It's a big one".  I don't know why we do it.  But we do it.  We've been doing it forever.

Another tradition is this:  At the end of the year the marching band has a night we call the Stadium Review.  We play all our music on the stage of the auditorium for parents and the community.  When it's all over, the drumline walks down the hall to the boys bathroom.  They all (boys and girls) cram in there and play the cadence in the deafening stone walled room as loud as they can.  I don't encourage this, but I put up with it.  I'm not sure how it started, but they do it ever year.

We then take a group picture.  Here's part of the bathroom cadence, and the picture.  I love my drumlines every year.

Blog Christmas: Walkman

I remember my first Walkman.  I begged for one.  I couldn't wait to have the ability to move about the world with my own music.  I wouldn't be tied down to a giant "boom box".  I could listen in the car on trips to my grandparents.  I could walk down the street to my friends house.  I would be the master of my own destiny. 

I took that thing everywhere.  It went to Thailand with me.  It went to Arizona.  It went EVERYWHERE. 

News today that Sony is finally discontinuing the Walkman.  Honestly, I would've thought this had already happened.  A sad day regardless.

Did you have a Walkman?  What's your favorite memory of your Walkman?  Share by using the comment section below this post!

Blog December: On a Limb

This was the devotional that we had with the kids after dinner tonight.  I liked it a lot.

Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.  Take a risk and go out on a limb with Me.  If that is where I am leading you, then out on that limb is the safest place for you to be.

You want to play it safe, avoid all the risks you can.  But taking risks is part of living close to Me.  Trying to live a risk-free life tells Me that you don't really trust Me.  You have to make a choice:  Will you keep trying to be safe at all costs?  Or will you follow Me with all your heart?

I may ask you to stand up for someone who can't stand up for himself, to say no to a friend, or to tell a stranger about Me.  But I"ll give you the strength and the courage to do it.

Life with Me is an adventure.  If you stick with Me, you'll not only have My protection, but you'll learn to relax and enjoy the adventure.  So be willing to follow wherever I lead-even out on a limb

Blog December: Bounce