Wired Parish Blog

New Staff and Coming Up for Air

So we've been without a beloved assistant for the last six weeks. That means details have fallen (more or less) to me. That means I have a stack of items on my desk and my assistant's desk that need attention--yesterday.

Aarrgh!! I never met a detail I liked.

But help is on the way. our new assistant Britt starts next Monday--as in 'less than a week.'

Thank you, Lord . . .

In the Ears

Stealing a page from Terry Storch to give you what's riding through the headphones this week:

John Mayer - 'Continuum'
Thievery Corporation - 'Cosmic Game'
The Killers - 'Sam's Town' (I can't stop listening to this . . .)
U2 - 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'
Murray Head - Freaking 'One Night in Bangkok' Please make it stop . . .

Blogs I'm Reading

A few blogs I've run across in the last couple of months that are very much worth reading:

Unclutter

How to Change the World - Guy Kawasaki's blog

Church 2.0 Blog

Internet Outsider - Henry Blodget's blog. Henry is perhaps best (worst?) remembered for his $400 price target for Amazon.com back in the iNet Bubble Days. (It never got there.) He's resurfaced post-Bubble, and I've been very pleasantly surprised with his insight and analysis. No, he's not a formally-trained analyst, but he has very interesting things to say and much of it seems to be spot-on.

One Night in Bangkok

Road tripped w/ our two boys today. Recorded 'One Night in Bangkok' by Murray Head on XM because I thought Matthew (4, bordering on 5) would like it.

Turns out he did.

Turns out we listened to it--not kidding--15 or 16 times through Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Gonna be a while before that little ditty leaves my mind.

Previous I-want-to-hear-it-again-and-again-and-again songs in Matthew's playlist:

'Come on Eileen' - Dexy's Midnight Runners
'Forever and Ever' - David Crowder Band
'Take My Breath Away' - Berlin (not the ridiculous Jessica Simpson cover)
'I Don't Know Who' - Killola
'Original of the Species' - U2
'Fast Cars' - U2

NFL Draft Dilemma

The NFL Draft is tomorrow, and the eyes of OU fans will be glued to the TV to see where Adrian Peterson goes.

My dilemma is that on the one hand, I want AD to go as high as possible in the draft for the sake of his bank account and OU's prestige.

On the other hand, I wouldn't mind if he slips to the 8th or 10th or 12th spot because that will mean he will be with a better team. As much as I'd love for him to go 3rd, I'm not that excited about his playing in Cleveland.

Here's to hoping he goes to a team that a) has a strong offensive line and b) is committed to becoming a championship team.

Fascinating Agnostic Blog

Normally I would just add this to Delicious so blog subscribers could see, but I'll throw this one out to everyone.

Basic Premise: An agnostic couple visits and rates churches. Very insightful.

Check it out.

Christmas Comes Early

Oh this is rich . . . Voce.com. $200/month gets you unlimited calls, txts, and data. A new phone every 12 months. A free replacement phone every year should you lose or destroy yours. ANNNND you get a personal research assistant (answers within 3 rings) that will research anything that can be done w/ a phone and computer. For instance, 'I need showtimes for 'Blades of Glory.' Call these two theaters and call me back with times.' Or 'I want to buy my daughter a pony. Email a list of companies who can help.' (Apparently this was a real call.) Or 'I'm lost in Dallas. Help me find where I'm going.'

That's freaking amazing!

Jackie Robinson Day

Totally dug the Robin Roberts interview with Jackie's wife Rachel last night on ESPN. You can see the interview if you dig around on ESPN.com.

Sooner Seahorses

Moved last week. Madhouse. Not speaking in complete sentences very often. But I wanted to get three things on the table while I'm trying to catch my breath.

1. I started a fairly hardcore workout/diet plan today. Runs for 90 days. I'm trying to drop 17.5 pounds between now and June 30th. That's moving from a ghastly 197.5 to a respectable 180. Traded in my six pack for a keg some time ago, and I want it back! I tell you this as a motivator for me. I don't want to tell you in 4 weeks or 8 or 12 that I'm not following through. Can't take shame if I announce my intentions and don't follow through.

Note: If you want to be one of my whip-cracking motivators on this Journey of Wonder, email me, and I'll add you to my list of motivators on Traineo.

2. Remember that if you subscribe to the RSS feed for the WP blog, you not only get posts delivered to your doorstep, but you also get daily updates from newly bookmarked stuff that I put in Delicious. You owe it to yourself to subscribe just so you can see my bookmark from last week on peanut butter disproving evolution. Spectacular.

3. Follow me here: Moved into new house Thursday. Big trash day is today. Previous owners left indescribably atrocious solid concrete, OU Sooner seahorse birdbath. Three seahorses. 2 feet tall. Painted crimson and cream. 'OU Sooners' painted on each. 7,000 pounds. Holding up a birdbath.

Horrific. Words cannot describe, people. I was mortified to see it given my affections for my beloved Sooners. Complete embarrassment to all things crimson and cream.

Last night I rolled Bob, Barry, and Bud Seahorse out to the curb. AND IF I'M LYING, I'M DYING . . . IT WAS GONE THIS MORNING!!!!! The other trash was still there, but not the freaking birdbath. SOMEONE ACTUALLY THOUGHT IT WAS WORTH RAIDING BEFORE THE TRASH PEOPLE SHOWED UP!