My mind's playin' tricks on me...

This week, as you probably know, I have been listening to country music at work. A number of times a song by David Lee Murphy entitled "Dust on the Bottle" has played. The chorus is as follows:

There might be a little dust on the bottle
But don't let it fool ya about what's inside
There might be a little dust on the bottle
It's one of those things that gets sweeter with time

Pretty straight forward song, really... it is all about the singer getting an old bottle of wine for his first date with a young lady, and how they have been together all these years... and their love just gets better and better as the years go on.

Well... the point of this post is that when I first heard this song years ago, I only paid attention to the chorus. BUT... I thought it was saying:

There might be a little dust on the Bible
But don't let it fool ya about what's inside
There might be a little dust on the Bible
It's one of those things that gets sweeter with time

Hmmmm....

I am in that place where I have been consistent enough in my blogging that I feel compelled to post, but have very little to say. I was talking with one of my lurking friends earlier this week, and she said that the more frequent the posting the lower the quality. Of course, that is not always true. But this post is a prime example.

So there you have it... a post about nothing. They should make a sitcom like that... it would be gold. Gold, I tell you!

Featured Pandora Station - Pat Green

I am not a big fan of country music (though I like dancing to it), but I decided to mix it up a little bit this week in the interest of charting new territory. I do like Pat Green, so I hope this week will produce some good stuff. I have already heard a Brooks & Dunn song... so I am not too optimistic. But as I have said before, I will hear the music without knowing who sings it... so I may be surprised. But the favorites list may have fewer songs this week... I'm just sayin'.


Here is that Pandora says about Pat Green's style: "...it features mild rhythmic syncopation, mixed accoustic and electric instrumentation, major key tonality, slide/pedal steel guitar and accoustic rhythm guitars." So there you have it... again, not sure what most of that means.

Norse gods and the like...

In my building, most people have their ID badges clipped to the belt loop on their pants (well, the men clip them there... the ladies don't always have belt loops - but that is beside the point). Anyway, in the elevator today there was a gentleman dressed in a suit (not the norm for Marathon culture) and I had not seen him before. So I took note of his name as I was curious who he was (perhaps he was important and I should know him). He also had a bit of a Euro look to him... I can't place what it was, he just looked European. Well... when I looked at his ID badge, I discovered that his name is Thor. Seriously... how cool would it be to be named Thor?

On a side note... his name reminded me of the old 80's movie Adventures in Babysitting. Does anyone remember this movie? It starred Elizabeth Shue. Cheesy, but definitely entertaining for me as an 11 year old kid.

The Apple of God's Eye?

In the this article, John Piper addresses an issue that has long been confusing to me.

The Bible teaches that God is supremely valuable. It also teaches that he delights in His children. So how does Someone of supreme value delight in/give praise to someone of lesser value?

The article offers one explanation... it is long, but worth the read.

Grammar Patrol

I was just reading a few of my more recent posts and I found a couple errors. Where is the grammar partol? Now granted, one of the errors was simply using the year 2006 instead of 2005 (you basefall fans were just too kind to point that one out to me, but I assure you it was a typo). The other one was the use of the word "of" instead of "or." Either way, I am ashamed of my blogging performance. Two errors in one week is simply unforgiveable. Do not let me get away with that in the future. I am sure if Joel Bain still read my blog, he would have pointed them out - in grace and kindness, of course. That guy has a keen eye for grammatical errors. But I digress...

Featured Pandora Station - Howie Day

This week's Pandora Favorites will be from my Howie Day station.

Pandora offered the follow explanation for why it played one of the songs so far:

"...it features basic rock song structures, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mixed accoustic and electric insturmentation, major key tonality and prominent organ."

So I am not sure what all of that means... but it sounds good.

I'm not sure...

but I may be sinning as I type this post.

I just went walking around my office looking for some kind of afternoon snack (an Antone's 7 Layer bar would have hit the spot, but alas I had none). Well, one of the admins on my floor has various snack items by her desk, so I made my way over to that area. I found snack that looked like it would satisfy my afternoon hunger. But I'm not sure God would approve of me eating it... it is one of the Little Debbie Raisin Creme Pies.

"...even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.'" - Hosea 3:1

Take me out to the ball game....

for 18 innings.

Last night, I went to the 2nd 18 inning game in Astros history. I did not, however, stay for the second set of 9. My buddies and I left after the 9th.

I did, however, attempt to will the Astros to a W by watching them on TV. I stayed up with them until 12:30 (yes, I am paying for it this morning). I retired to my slumber after the 17th inning ended... only to wake up this morning to find out the following:

1. The game only lasted one more inning (I could have stayed up for that).
2. The Astros lost.
3. Lidge has officially been pulled from the closer position.

Number 3 is one of those bits of information that you know needs to happen, but you don't really want it to (kinda like putting a dog to sleep). I heard this last night during the game... and apparently it has been discussed on the sports radio stations lately... but Lidge just has not been the same since the Pujols debacle of 2005.

A highlight of the night for me was when Mateo hit Clemmens in the 5th... only to have Clemmens take the mound and instill fear in Theriot by aiming straight for his chest/face region. I mean the Rocket was relentless... and while I felt a little wrong for encouraging such behavior, I cheered it on with the rest of the home fans. Roger received his warning and the game went on. Good times!

You see, I have this condition...

I have decided that my favorite movie (at least for the time being) is Memento.

It is my favorite movie because I have watched it 4 or 5 times since it came out a few years ago... and I still have to watch it all the way through to get the full story. If you are not familiar with the movie, it is shot in a pretty unique way that matches the condition of the main character. He can't make new memories and can only remember things about 5-10 minutes back. Well, the movie is a series of 5-10 minute chunks of events that happen in his life... and through out the movie, you realize some pretty shocking things about him and those around him.

The reason this is on my mind is that I watched the movie on Saturday and remembered just how great it really is.

So who else likes/dislikes the movie... and what are some other favorites out there?

(yes, this is a shameless ploy to get comments from my readers...)

Featured Pandora Station - Matt Wertz

This week, I will be listening to my Matt Wertz staion on Pandora. So my Pandora Sidebar will list songs that I like that (according to Pandora) have musical qualities similar to songs by Matt Wertz. Enjoy.

On a side note - check out the movie Inside Man if you have not already seen it. I watched it yesterday not knowing anything about it... fantastic movie.

That's all...

That thing is good... I mean REAL good

I just finished eating a gyro from Antone's. I can't tell if it is that I was hungry (cuz I was even though I had a decent breakfast) or if the gyro was that much of a standout meal. Seriously, from the frist bite, I wanted to be friends with it. The meat was perfectly seasoned... the only drawback was that it was a bit messy. But good food always is, right?

Anyway, later I will be enjoying my 7 layer bar from Antones (mid-afternoon coffee snack). I hope it pleases at least half as much as the gyro.

Pandora Favorites Sidebar

I have mentioned the website Pandora before, but it is worth mentioning again. It is a website that suggests music based on the style of a song or artist of your choice. Each artist you choose creates a "station" that will play music with similar qualities. I am not sure how it all works, but it is one of the best websites I have ever seen (thank you Daniel by way of Catha).

Anyway, I have recently added a sidebar to my blog that will show the songs I add to my favorites list from Pandora.

So I will be featuring a different station each week. This week, I have been listening to my "The New Amsterdams" station. This means that all of the songs that appear on my favorites list have musical qualities similar to the band The New Amsterdams.

There will likely be repeat stations if I continue this, but I will try to do a different one each week.

Enjoy...

The Line Between Fact and Fiction...

Well, that line can be very thin... at least in one's mind.

I was just at home eating lunch, and I decided to flip over to Food TV (some of my readers will remember from an earlier post that I have a mental love affair with Giada De Laurentiis - the host of Everyday Italian).

So when I flipped to channel 52, Giada was explaining what she would be creating today... and it looked good, so I decided to watch some more.

As she was preparing the meal, she explained that it was a picnic with a steak pasta salad... and some other things I didn't get to see her make. And she kept referring to Todd. She was cooking the steak medium rare because Todd likes it that way... she was using basil and parsley because Todd likes basil and parsley... she was packaging the food to take it to "Todd's office.

Unfortunately, I was watching the show alone and could not share the humor with anyone... so you all get to be in on the joke.

Maybe I should follow in this guy's footsteps.