Tag: review

Arcade Fire in The Suburbs – Initial thoughts

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

I first heard about Arcade Fire’s latest release, The Suburbs via a snippet I heard on Sound Opinions Sunday night.

I’ve heard of the band, but honestly could have never told you much about them before Sunday night — other than kids seem to really dig them — and it sounded like Sound Opinions did too.

So when I Kevin Hendricks alerted me that their album was only $3.99 for download from Amazon, I grabbed it up.

And now I invite you to join me for my initial listen to the album….
Continue reading Arcade Fire in The Suburbs – Initial thoughts

Flip UltraHD review

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you may know I purchased a new Flip UltraHD recently from Amazon.

I’m pretty excited about it.

I’ve had an original Flip camcorder since shortly after they came out — back when it was known as the Pure Digital Flip (before Cisco bought Pure Digital). I’ve shot numerous videos with it and loved it’s ease of use, size and simplicity.
Continue reading Flip UltraHD review

Thoughts on St. Peter’s Brewery

Just received this via email from a good friend…

JB….I got past all the holiday company and finished your book last night…a few thoughts:

1. I was very impressed with the depth of character development all the way though…especially Jimmy, GT, Kim, and Eddie…..but Pete was my favorite BARNABAS of the bunch.

2. I also thought you did a great job of developing the threads of multiple themes…you had to think way ahead to do that and weave it all together!

3. Of course the obvious message about discovering faith-life through authentic relationships was crystal clear and effectively communicated too.

4. Most importantly, someone with a gift for writing like this needs to do it for a lifetime….I know you stir the water in lots of arenas, but my opinion is that this area is a calling for you. The pen is still mightier than the sword! This type writing gives you room to develop ideas/personalities/core values that goes much further than the typical blog. I know you seek to follow HIM and will do that well….but, I believe HE has given you an unusual talent, a “sword”, for advancement of the Kingdom.

—

Thanks so much for the kind words!

You can read other reviews or order the book at stpetersbrewery.info.

If you’ve read the book (or are reading the book) I’d love to get your thoughts as well – good or bad. What do ya think? What’s challenging you? What questions are coming to the forefront?

The Year in Review

11/365

Jim Gray (Beaconhill NW) offered up a great list of introspective questions for closing out 2009.

I shared my answers on his blog (whether he was looking for that or not :-)) and thought I’d share them here as well.

1. What are the 2-3 themes that personally defined 2009 for me?
grace. patience. love wins.

2. What people, books, accomplishments, or special moments created highlights in 2009?
publishing my first novel in Dec., working through the foster care process to get certified as foster parents, our first cruise with friends in February and our second cruise with family in July

3. Give yourself a grade from 1-10 in the following areas of focus for 2009:
vocationally – 6
spiritually – 6
family – 6
relationally – 7
emotionally – 8
financially – 6 – this one always worries more than it probably should
physically – 7
recreationally – 6

4. What am i working on that is BIG?
I don’t know that anything I’m doing would be considered “BIG”. I’d like to think of the things I’m doing as small but having impacts on individuals – such as our podcast, my novel, laundry love, and our community groups.

5. As I move into 2010, is a majority of my energy being spent on things that drain me or things that energize me?
It’s a mixture. From 8-4:30 much of my time ends up spent on things that drain me. My evenings and weekends I try and focus on things that excite me but I’m also trying to re-prioritize some things and find more balance among the things that excite me.

6. How am I preparing for 10 years from now? 20 years from now?
Probably not very well. I’m more focused on the next 6 months than anything beyond that.

7. What 2-3 things have I been putting off that I need to execute on before the end of the year?
I hope to be doing some video/audio production work during my week off as well as some projects for our tribe – including building an online solution for tracking our “members” as well as preparing for some training for our community group facilitators.

What about you? How would you respond to these questions?

Bono to ground control – ‘Houston we have no problem’

U2 in Houston, Texas Oct. 2009 :: With or Without You

Wow!

Resting up from a quick trip to and from Houston, Texas last night to see four Irish lads and their space station (aka U2‘s 360 World Tour).
Continue reading Bono to ground control – ‘Houston we have no problem’

Carnival Ecstasy review

As promised, here is my first report card on the two cruises we’ve taken this year (so far :-)). I’ll rank both cruises (and hopefully future cruises) on the same scale: 20 categories, scored 1-5 (5 being the highest); then total the points for the overall cruise score (out of 100 possible points).

In February 2009 we took the Carnival Ecstasy (see the Wikipedia entry) from Galveston, Texas to Progresso, Mexico and Cozumel, Mexico. The cruise was priced around $300 per person and Laurie and I traveled with two friends.
Continue reading Carnival Ecstasy review