Author: Jonathan Blundell

Well, today has been an odd day in a few ways – but very enjoyable.
I’m sure its the new work schedule and the fact that I have to BE at work every day by 9, but I feel like I’ve been going to bed earlier each night, which is changing my weekend sleep schedule too.
I was up and working by 10 a.m. Saturday, which may seem late to some, but Saturdays are my normal sleep till 1 or 2 days.
So after getting up early and staying busy all day, I was pretty beat by the time I got home from watching The Wedding Crashers last night.
Matt, Erin and I went to to 10:30 show in Killeen. We had a good time, but I was about to fall over asleep when we got home around 1 a.m.
I tell you all that to setup my odd day today.
I woke up at 9:30 a.m. and lounged around while waiting for my jeans to dry in the dryer. It takes forever since I don’t actually have a heating element that works. I think I’ve gone through four dryers since I graduated college in 2003.
So I waited and waited for my dryer to finish. And around 10:20 I finally pulled my jeans out (still damp) to finish getting ready.
Since I resigned from my position as Singles Intern at Immanuel Baptist in early June, I’ve been meaning to take the time off to visit other churches in the area. I had originally planned to visit Taylors Valley this morning, but I was told that Immanuels Associate Pastor was preaching this morning, so I planned my morning around going to IBC at 10:45.
But somewhere between pulling my pants out of the dryer, getting dressed, feeding the dogs and getting in my truck, 15 minutes had passed, so I knew I’d be late. I hate being late.
So I decided to drive by Taylors Valley and see what time their service started instead.
Out front was a nice sign that said Taylor’s Valley but no times for their services.
I drove by four other churches and none had a service time posted. What gives?
Is it a secret that the general public can’t know? Now several of these churches proudly told me who their pastor was and their website address.
But what good does that do me if I’m driving by looking for a church to attend on Sunday morning?
Needless to say, I didn’t make it to church this morn. And while I’d like to gripe about the churches not having times posted on their signs – we have no times posted on our office either.
About that time, it started raining so I really lost my desire to get out and go to church somewhere.
So I set my MP3 player on a reading from 1 Corinthians and decided to drive to Salado to check on one of my newspaper racks.
While there I picked up a copy of the Dallas Morning News and made my way home.
Ariving at home around noon I ate a quick bite of food and sat down with the Morning News in my reading chair.
Yes – I have a reading chair. Now normally it becomes a catch all for clothes and other things – but its there, in my bedroom next to my lamp.
I am constantly impressed with the Morning News and their layout and editorial content. So impressed, I finally decided to apply for several jobs I saw posted in their Jobs section.
After cutting out a number of ideas for our paper, I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon getting a head start on the week. So I took the super scenic route to work and hear I am.
Typing Obits from this weekend and organzing things for the next week.
And at somepoint I’ll probably head home to finish cleaning my house.
Well, that’s about it. I’m sure no one but my mom is reading this anymore, but hope you’ve all had a great weekend.
Let me know what you did.

Holy snikies! I just found my class ring from hs. U probably cant tell but the gem is busted from a fight i got into in the church parking lot. Lol

My buddy Aaron Lehmann has posted some new demo/scratch tracks on his site – check em out.
Word

Well, we’ve had someone trying to sell ads for our online presence in Belton for oh – 6 months or so. Never had any sold. Now that I’ve moved to Heights they sold one – and I was just informed I’m supposed to update the Belton website as well as start a new Harker Heights website – or train someone else to do it.
Now, the training would be a headache – especially since The Belton Journal is done in Dreamweaver.
And – I own Dreamweaver. I’m not using company software to build and update the site – I just do it from my own personal laptop. I want to get away from that because of the time invovled and the cost of buying software for the Mac computers in both of our offices.
I’ve thought about using WordPress or another blogging software, so that anyone (on staff) can update the site with news stories from anywhere.
I’m thinking I mainly just need a blog software with categories to organize the various columnists, sports, news, etc.
Anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this?
I really like Blogger, but there are no categories – so it seems like it would be hard to use as a newspaper website.

Last Thursday WWE aired a promo featuring several men in black ski masks along with Arab-American wrestler Muhammad Hassan.
You may have seen some of the coverage already, but WWE was ripped on by numerous media outlets (who don’t understand wrestling at all). The problem with the promo and bit was that it aired the night of the London bombings (it was taped on Tuesday night). WWE representatives apolgized for the bad timing but stuck with their guns. The promo was edited out in the UN and UPN ran a scroller announcement to warn parents of the upcoming promo.

It would have been better if this segment did not coincide with the events in London last week. Putting timing aside, we believe the segment added an interesting dimension to our exploration of the Mohammed Hassan character and the plight of Arab-Americans in this country.
Essentially, Hassan called in some additional muscle in last week’s SmackDown! to beat on the Undertaker to give him an advantage in their #1 Contender match at the Great American Bash, a tactic used by other Superstars to gain a competitive advantage before a crucial match.
Because these henchmen wore masks and camouflage pants, and because Hassan is of Arab descent, some viewers may have leapt to the conclusion that these henchmen are terrorists. They are not, as our viewers will learn in future episodes.
Anyone who has followed the story of Mohammed Hassan knows that he is an American, born in Detroit, of Arab descent. He believes that since 9/11, he is being treated differently by his fellow Americans because of his Arab background. This has driven him to embrace his Arab roots, further estranging him from his fellow Americans. Many of the points Hassan raises have relevance to the prejudice of our society today. However, the way he goes about expressing these arguments is what turns people against him.

While it may seem tacktful and distasteful, it’s interesting to see that the media and others immediatly jumped to conclusions that henchmen wearing camoflauge and ski masks were terrorists.
The New York Post actually called Muhammad a terrorist in their headline: ‘Terrorist’ wrestles after bombing By Don Kaplan
Whether or not this was planned from the beginning or not, WWE and Hassan have used this incident to more adequatly tell the story of Hassan’s struggles in America as an Arab-American.
If you have a chance to watch Smackdown tonight – do so. Apparently Hassan cut a great promo Tuesday night on the media and people who generalize.

Muhammad enters admist signs that read: “Get the hell out of America Hassan” “U Suck” and USA chants
I stand here tonight, probably the last true patriot in America
I stand here tonight perhaps even a martyr against tyranny and injustice
Because the fact is – I am an American professional wrestler
But because of my heritage, because of my background, because of who my ancestors were – I’m labeled, we’re labeled terrorists, terrorists. I’m a terrorists
Well it must be true
Its gotta be true because its right here in black and white
In a reputable source like The New York Post
You don’t believe me?
Here it is: Terrorist wrestles after bombing
I’m a terrorist, we’re terrorists, we wrestled after a bombing
Well mister Don Kaplan.
Have you ever met Don Kaplan? Have you ever spoke to Don Kaplan? Have you ever spoke to Don Kaplan on the phone?
Well I never have either, so if Don Kaplan of the New York Post has never met us or talked to us, how does he know we’re terrorists

Also, read WWE’s response to the incident.
It will be interesting to see how the media covers this story after tonight.