The Front Range

New Site

2009-03-31T23:47:00.001-06:00

I have a new site: www.thecompstons.com

The Best of 2008

2008-12-21T00:03:00.012-06:00

Here's my year-end list of all things music. I've tried to make these picks on what I actually thought about the music rather than what would make me look smart or hip or whatever. Thus, I made my picks before checking out the year-end lists on pitchfork, James's blog, or anything else. Make sure you check out James's list too - our categories correspond.

Worst Album Art

5. Cardinology - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

4. Chinese Democracy - Guns n Roses (mostly because the art was picked like a decade before the album came out)

3. Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket

2. Plunder, Beg, and Curse - Colour Revolt

1. At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade

Most Overrated Album

5. Street Horrrsing - F*** Buttons

4. Chinese Democracy - Guns n Roses

3. Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket

2. Only By the Night - Kings of Leon

1. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Best Live Show

5. Explosions in the Sky (Ogden Theater, Denver)

4. Fleet Foxes (Hi-dive, Denver)

3. Andrew Bird (Mile High Music Fest)

2. The Dodos (Hi-dive Denver)

1. Spoon (Mile High Music Fest)

Biggest Disappointment (and some regrets)

5. Wolf Parade album being merely "really good" rather than blowing my mind

4. The super-lame Boulder crowd for the Deer Tick/Felice Brothers Show

3. Waiting too long to buy Fleet Foxes tickets for their second Hi-dive show (that's what you get for assuming that the 50-person crowd won't increase after their album drops)

2. Ryan Adams releasing Cardinology, instead of a really good album

1. Passing up the $8 Frightened Rabbit show because I was "too tired"

Best Track

10. "Murder in the City" - The Avett Brothers (Second Gleam EP)

9. "Shout Me Out" - TV on the Radio (Dear Science,)

8. "Furr - Blitzen Trapper" (Furr)

7. "Easy Does It" - Bonnie Prince Billy (Lie Down in the Light)

6. "Cries of the Dead" - Chad Vangaalen (Soft Airplane)

5. "Keep Yourself Warm" - Frightened Rabbit (The Midnight Organ Flight)

4. "White Winter Hymnal" - Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes)

3. "Nothing Ever Happened" - Deerhunter (Microcastle)

2. "Joe's Waltz" - The Dodos

1. "Inni mer syngur vitleysingur" - Sigur Rós (Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust)

Best Album

25. Shining Violence - The Low Lows

24. Volume One - She and Him

23. Shallow Graves - The Tallest Man on Earth

22. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles

21. At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade

20. You and Me - The Walkmen

19. Lust Lust Lust - The Raveonettes

18. Exposion - White Denim

17. Hold On Now, Youngster... - Los Campesinos!

16. In Ear Park - Department of Eagles

15. Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down - Noah and the Whale

14. Dear Science, - TV on the Radio

13. Modern Guilt - Beck

12. Alopecia - Why?

11. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

10. Soft Airplane - Chad Vangaalen

9. For Emma Forever Ago - Bon Iver

8. Parc Avenue - Plants and Animals

7. The Stand Ins - Okkervil River

6. Microcastle - Deerhunter

5. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - Sigur Rós

4. The Midnight Organ Flight - Frightened Rabbit

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

2. Lie Down in the Light - Bonnie Prince Billy

1. Visiter - The Dodos

UPDATE: I just checked out Pitchfork's top 50 albums. I'm pumped that TVOTR and Deerhunter were in the Top 10, and that Fleet Foxes are Number 1. I'm also not surprised that Vampire Weekend hit #7, although it's total BS self-made internet media hype. I'm most astounded, however, that Visiter, my #1, was not in the top 50. Apparently I don't have very good taste.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Apparently James doesn't have good taste either (read: sarcasm), since he also has the Dodos at #1.

Free Pop Music

2008-12-13T12:32:00.003-06:00

James has a new post about a conversation we had about how the definition of pop music has been distorted, and makes the case for redeeming it as good art.

9+2=13

2008-12-08T00:39:00.003-06:00

Apparently, the quarterback for the Redskins, Jason Campbell can't do math. His quote following today's game:

"We were 6-2 and now we're 7-6 and you find that hard to believe," quarterback Jason Campbell said. "You'd thought you'd be at least be sitting here 9-2 or maybe 10-3."

Last I checked, 7+6=13, and so does 10+3. 9+2 however, does not.

Best Man Fail

2008-12-06T17:35:00.005-06:00

Via Fail Blog.

Fact o' the Day

2008-12-03T15:57:00.004-06:00

Apparently, Woody Harrelson's father Charles was a hitman in Texas and at one time was held in the Supermax prison in Florence, CO for assassinating a federal judge. He died in 2007 though. I wonder if he hung out with the Unabomber? I actually discovered this fact because of multiple comments that my current facebook/twitter pic looks like the unabomber. Wikipedia took it from there.

Come on demcoracy

2008-12-03T13:31:00.004-06:00

A CNN poll shows that 6 in 10 Americans are now against bailing out the Big 3 automakers. Now, if only their democratically elected representatives will listen to them, we might stave off the stupidity I recently spoke about here.

UPDATE: Partial victory! The Senate killed the auto bailout this week. However, there's been talk that the White House might try to use some of the $700B from the financial bailout for the auto industry. Why can't they take a hint?

Playoff/Finals Beard

2008-12-02T18:48:00.002-06:00

Finals are looming, and I have 5 of them in 8 days. Each of them comprises 100% of my class grade. In honor of this being crunch time, I've grown my playoff beard, or in this case, I guess it's my finals beard. Enjoy.

The Fam

2008-11-25T21:33:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow my family starts getting into town for Thanksgiving. My parents and two of my brothers are coming with their significant others. I love Thanksgiving, the holiday to kick off the holiday season, as well as to stuff ourselves with vast quantities of food. In honor of Thanksgiving, as well as other holidays, check out this clip from Jim Gaffigan.

Lebron v. Melo

2008-11-22T15:01:00.008-06:00

I just bought tickets for my first NBA game ever. On Friday, December 19, I will head to the Pepsi center in Denver with Adam and two friends from school for the renewal of the Lebron-Carmelo rivalry as the Nuggets host the Cavs. I'm not gonna lie, I used to be a huge NBA guy, and now, after a several-year hiatus, I'm getting back into it and I'm really excited to go to a game. Especially a game featuring my favorite player to watch in the league. Don't worry though, I'll be rooting for the Nuggets all the way. Should be a great time.

Big (Bad) Three

2008-11-20T13:32:00.003-06:00

Just for the record, I don't think the government should bail out the "Big 3" automakers. While we may have already actually crossed the line of rescuing businesses who brought calamity on themselves, I feel like I understand why these companies suck better than the financial institutions, and can therefore more easily condemn their proposed bailout.

I think it sets a really, really bad precedent of giving large corporations the option of getting money from the government rather than taking actions internally to remedy the real problems. The two biggest problems, as I see it, are as follows: (1) these companies generally don't make cars people want to buy, and (2) they suffer from massive structural inefficiency. The first point is the most basic free-market fundamental there is. You have to make products that people want more than similar companies' products or you won't survive. I don't think our government should artificially preserve a company that can't do this.

Second, GM in particular is horribly inefficient with its money, and that isn't because of the relatively high price of labor in the U.S.. The main reason that Toyota can make money producing cars in the US and GM can't (other than the fact that people want to buy Toyotas) is that Toyota produces the same number of vehicles in the US as GM, but does so in only 12 plants, as opposed to GM's 70 plants. Just the difference in overhead costs and management is staggering and explains pretty much everything you need to know about GM's balance sheet.

The structural inefficiency of GM and friends is my biggest argument against the bailout. It's not that they need government money to survive, its that it's much more convenient to them to get bailed out than to have to face restructuring their company, which will involve cutting many, many jobs. In my opinion, they will have to deal with those problems eventually anyway, and the solution isn't going to be pretty, or any better because we give them a little cash in the meantime.

I hope that politicians - democrats and Obama in particular - put aside how denying a bailout will look for reelection and stand up for rational government.

Finally

2008-11-18T18:57:00.004-06:00

One of the main reasons I voted Obama earlier this month - and was so happy to see him win - was because I believed that it would mean a return to Constitutional government, both in foreign policy (see the Bush Doctrine) and in the separation of powers (see Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales). Today, sources say Obama has picked Eric Holder to be his Attorney General, and I couldn't be happier.

Eric H. Holder Jr., Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton administration, asserted in a speech to the American Constitution Society (ACS) that the United States must reverse “the disastrous course” set by the Bush administration in the struggle against terrorism by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, declaring without qualification that the U.S. does not torture people, ending the practice of transferring individuals involuntarily to countries that engage in torture and ceasing warrantless domestic surveillance.

“Our needlessly abusive and unlawful practices in the ‘War on Terror' have diminished our standing in the world community and made us less, rather than more, safe,” Holder told a packed room at the ACS 2008 Convention on Friday evening. “For the sake of our safety and security, and because it is the right thing to do, the next president must move immediately to reclaim America's standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.”

My hope for a government that really does check itself against the fundamentals of the Constitution grows by the day.

Last Pictures

2008-11-18T14:07:00.001-06:00

Really cool list of the last photos taken of famous people. (via the Daily Dish)

My day just got 12x better

2008-11-18T11:17:00.003-06:00

I just downloaded and listened to an unreleased Ryan Adams & the Cardinals album that leaked yesterday. It's from the beginning of the Cardinals era when they were recording some tracks for Elizabethtown. It sounds really similar to Cold Roses, which is a great, great thing.

Einstein's Riddle

2008-11-18T02:01:00.007-06:00

He claimed that only 2% of the world could solve it.

There are five houses.
The Englishman lives in the red house.
The Spaniard owns the dog.
Coffee is drunk in the green house.
The Ukrainian drinks tea.
The green house is immediately to the right of the ivory house.
The Old Gold smoker owns snails.
Kools are smoked in the yellow house.
Milk is drunk in the middle house.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Chesterfields lives in the house next to the man with the fox.
Kools are smoked in the house next to the house where the horse is kept.
The Lucky Strike smoker drinks orange juice.
The Japanese smokes Parliaments.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

Now, who drinks water?

Who owns the zebra?

In the interest of clarity, it must be added that each of the five houses is painted a different color and their inhabitants are of different national extractions, own different pets, drink different beverages and smoke different brands of American cigarettes. In statement 6, right refers to the reader's right.

Answer Below!

Global Warming?

2008-11-12T23:14:00.005-06:00

According to the National Weather Service, November 14th is the latest date that the first snow of the year has come to Denver. Right now, it is the 12th and we're flakeless. Where are you winter precipitation? As much as I like warm weather, it's time to bust out the heavy clothes. For real.

In a related story, Boulder environmentalists gnashed their teeth at a study that showed global warming would actually benefit the Boulder Valley by increasing water supplies. Don't you love irony?

*Update: On the 14th, Denver got a small amount of snow, preserving the record for another year.

Will Obama change Arcade Fire?

2008-11-05T22:58:00.012-06:00

The day after the most exciting political event of my 24 years, I am pondering the ways in which the world has changed. Yes, Obama's election surely alters the political climate of the country and world, but it also affects much smaller aspects of my worldview. Today, while walking down the street, I listened to Neon Bible by Arcade fire for the first time in quite a while and instantly thought of the show I saw them play at Red Rocks just over a year ago. Just before playing the song Intervention from Neon Bible, Win Butler dedicated the song to "Governor Bush." Since then, every time I've listened to that song, I have been bombarded by the political frustration which the band articulated so well, and with which I identified so easily. Today though, things were different.

The song's lyrics hadn't changed since the last time I heard them, but somehow they felt distant. They felt lighter than they used to, like they were somehow ironic. I realized then that the old meaning and had been taken and redeemed, replacing the heaviness of cynicism with, as cliche as it sounds, hope. Despite months of listening to Obama speeches and knowing that his presidency would mean changing the political climate, it failed to coalesce into reality. Until now. As I listened to Win Butler voice his anger, it finally sunk in that the reasons for his angst and mine, the hypocracy and fear of the last 8 years, were in the past. The lyrics that only recently had me shouting along in the car gave me a calm optimism and a smile, knowing that we can make progress. Our country, and more importantly, our people really can change and inspire. Yes. We. Can.

It will be interesting to hear the next Arcade Fire album. Funeral was supremely introspective, and Neon Bible was fueled by external frustration, not the least of which was political. It doesn't seem too crazy to think that their next effort will be filled with hope. If Obama's victory can change the way I hear music, it goes without saying that it might change the way a politically-conscious band makes music. After all, the line "I don't want to live in America no more" may no longer accurately express Win Butler's feelings. It sure doesn't come close to mine any more.

Back in Ot - Seven (Take this James)

2008-01-11T09:25:00.000-06:00

Here is some of my best-of for 2007. Comment away, James.

My favorite albums of 2007
No, this is not my list of the best albums of the year, but some of them might correlate. Oh, and I don't write reviews as well as James.

11. Person Pitch - Panda Bear
One of the more creative records of the year that was best described by Adam Anglin when he said it was great to fall asleep to. I'll admit that I've always been a bit of a sampling and electronic junkie dating back to my love of the Crystal Method, as well as my own experimenting (The Creator). However, I leave it at number 11 because, even though it has countless layers of sound, I found it to be better suited as background music, or for falling asleep (I also excluded the album Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective, Panda Bear's band, because I just haven't listened to it enough yet. It is a little further out there on the electronic spectrum, and thus, an album I'm growing into, kind of like enjoying dark beer.)

10. The Shepherd's Dog - Iron and Wine
I'll admit that I've never bought a whole Iron and Wine album before this one, but I liked what I had heard, and when I found out that he Sam Beam was using a full band for this one, I thought it would be worth checking out. There are some great tracks on here, my favorite being White Tooth Man, but I start to get a little bored about 3/4 way through. Still, worth multiple listens.

9. Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Disclaimer: I love Jack White. Icky Thump had pretty much everything I wanted in a White Stripes Album: Strange and incomprehensible beat changes in the middle of songs (Bone Broke), Jack White humor songs (Rag and Bone), crazy sounds that a guitar shouldn't be able to make, and a song from a genre that shouldn't work (Little Cream Soda). I also love the heavy organ used in a track that is slipping my mind (maybe I'm Slowly Turning into You). A good Stripes album, but still not my favorite (De Stijl)

8. Armchair Apocrypha - Andrew Bird
My favorite part of this album is the lyrics. The music is definitely fun and catchy, but the lyrics are what hooked me. The tricky wording in Imitosis lends itself more to hip hop than pop rock, but it feels smart, like Mr. Bird is a big dork and he's making fun of himself and the smart words he knows. I also like how the album darkens toward the end and seems to let itself come unglued a bit.

7. The Reminder - Feist
Each song on the album takes on a different style, but maintains its tone throughout. Highlights include train whistle back-up singing reminiscent of early 60's R&B, some great understated guitar lines, and, of course, Feists plain, but unique voice.

6. In Rainbows - Radiohead
For the record, I paid 2.5 pounds for the album, you free-riding cheapskates. Thom Yorke's lyrics never fail to create really weird mental images, and the band's fusion of electronics and analogs is pretty much legendary at this point. All that said, the album is very down to earth. My favorite track is Bodysnatchers (It's on my snowboarding mix).

5. Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
Possibly my most played album of the year. Pretty much any time I drive somewhere in the morning and it's not cloudy, I pop it in and let Either Way start my day with its warm lyrics and smooth guitar. Then it's on to a real wake-up with the Nels Cline's roasting solo (that unfortunately always makes me think of Volkswagen now) in You Are My Face. I don't know if I can pick a favorite track, but the first one that pops up is Hate it Here. Probably the most interesting part of the album is listening to the lyrics knowing how Jeff Tweedy has gone through some major substance problems, but is on the other side of them now. What Light is particularly inspiring in that light.

4. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb is one of my favorite tracks of the year. The whole album is really accessible and catchy, but still pushes the creative envelope and makes its own sound. It would have been nice to see them live for free at the U of A, but the selection people waited until after I left to bring in a real band. It's ok though. I love Better than Ezra. Oh, and Japanese Cigarette Case is a great song too.

3. The Stage Names - Okkervil River
This was a late comer for me as I didn't get this album until early December. I got their previous album Black Sheep Boy in August and loved it. I haven't had as much time with Stage Names yet, but I can tell its going to stick in my ipod for a long time (my Ipod is still small enough that I have to change out music). The first track, Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe, has one of the catchiest melodies of any song this year, and the guitar in the latter part of the song screams for it to be blasted in a car. A Girl in Port, as pointed out to me by Adam, has some really deep lyrics about...well, a Girl in Port, but not in the usual way. Okkervil River definitely knows how to put a song together and have every part accent the others (xylophone in Savannah Smiles, which is about his daughter). Stage Names is full of them and is a must have for 2007.

2. Boxer - The National
Favorite tracks include Fake Empire, Squalor Victoria, Start a War. The drums are incredible on pretty much every track and contribute a lot to the album's tone. The lyrics are incredible. So unique. Has anyone else ever used the phrase "standing at the punch table swallowing punch" and made it work? Not to mention the very beginning of the first song, which goes "stay up super late tonight, picking apples, baking pies." I don't know why those words fit, but they do and I love it. I can't see ever getting tired of listening to it.

1. TIE!!!: Writer's Block - Peter Bjorn and John & Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
Ok, this may be a cop-out, but I don't care. I've definitely listened to Neon Bible more, but Writer's Block made a huge late push to pull even. While I still think that technically, Neon Bible could be considered a sophomore slump because of how unbelievable Funeral was, it still stands out from (almost) all others. Arcade Fire continue to defy genre classification in this, more outward commentary on pretty much any social issue they could think of. It doesn't hurt that I saw them live at Red Rocks this year with LCD Soundsystem (see note below). The best description of Arcade Fire in general that I've heard is "urgent melancholy," and that is true for Neon Bible. Through even the mellow songs, the beat is still moving and creating a sense of urgency. My favorite track is No Cars Go, but My Body is a Cage is an incredible song that incorporates some thick organ and really big drums to bring the album to a close. Interestingly, while the whole album leading up to the last track faces outward, making poignant social commentary, My Body is a Cage returns to the introspective form of Funeral and hints that all the social problems start with yourself. Deep.
Writer's Block is not nearly as epic as Neon Bible, but spans a wide spectrum of styles. From the melodic whistle-a-long of Young Folks to the hip-hoppish beat of Amsterdam, PB & J show off their versatility. Each song has its own feeling that evokes mental images and personal memories. My favorite track is Roll the Credits, not because it has the best melody or lyrics, but because it makes me feel like I'm in a Wes Anderson flick (is that a good thing?) I'm still not convinced it wasn't on the soundtrack for Darjeeling Limited. While Arcade Fire is the better band, I can't ignore the quality of Writer's Block, so it's a tie.

Note: I loved LCD Soundsystem live, and the songs off their new album Sound of Silver were incredible. I fully expect to love the album when it arrives from James via the U.S. mail.

Best Live Music Moments

3. Phil Wandscher, lead guitarist of Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, interrupts the beginning of a song by repeatedly yelling "F*** Ryan Adams!!!" Phil was a guitarist with Ryan in Whiskeytown, and is obviously jaded from the experience. It just solidified my love of Ryan Adams being an A-hole.

2. Ryan Adams playing (at Red Rocks) an all electric version of I See Monsters from Love is Hell and completely roasting my face. The Cardinals are the tightest band I've ever seen.

1. The encore of the Red Rocks Arcade Fire show in which they started with Windowsill from Neon Bible, ran that into a cover of Money Changes Everything by Cyndi Lauper, and finished with Wake Up, my favorite track from Funeral. Fantastic.

Best movie I watched for the first time in 2007, regardless of when it came out

11. Children of Men
10. JFK
9. Raging Bull
8. Darjeeling Limited
7. 12 Angry Men
6. Pulp Fiction
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. Hot Fuzz
3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
2. Memento
1. No Country for Old Men

That's all for now. Feel free to comment my (or your) life away.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2007-11-11T16:57:00.000-06:00

The sole purpose of this post is to solicit the opinions of my film-savvy friends - you know who you are. I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey again a couple of weeks ago, thinking it might make more sense than it did when I was 15. Well, it did, but not completely. So, please offer your hypotheses/theories as to what the "monolith" represents, as well as the meaning of the last 25 minutes of the movie. Oh, and if you rip off something you read online, don't put it on here. I refrained from looking up random critics' analysis because I don't want to be stuck in their minds. I would, however, like to know what my friends think.

Steve-O-Lantern

2007-11-01T14:22:00.000-06:00

Kristen and I carved this pumpkin.

I swear I'll have a meaningful post at some point...

2007-10-23T08:04:00.001-06:00

I went to urban dictionary this morning where they had several words displayed for my enjoyment. My favorites were dotcomrade, idiotarod and flintstoning. Enjoy.

The quotable Dwight D. Eisenhower

2007-10-10T13:44:00.000-06:00

Don't ask me how I found these, just enjoy them. Sorry if this wasn't what you were wanting from a long-awaited post.

"I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center."

"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it. "

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom. "

"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."

"Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs."

"There are a number of things wrong with Washington. One of them is that everyone is too far from home."

"Ankles are nearly always neat and good-looking, but knees are nearly always not."

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world on arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. nder the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."

Fever Pitch

2007-09-14T11:50:00.000-06:00

It will be a show. It is always a show, in April and September and in between. Yawkey Way waited quietly for it yesterday in the early afternoon, cars lined on both sides of the narrow street that will turn into the best street fair in baseball and maybe all of sports in the late afternoon today, when the turnstiles are set up and the music is played. And from Brookline Ave. to Van Ness there is as much baseball in this one block as there could ever be anywhere - because the Yankees have come to town again.
- Mike Lupica

Amen brother. Amen.

A little impulsive

2007-09-11T09:56:00.000-06:00

A little impulsive, yes. But I don't think I'm going to regret it. On Friday night last week, my friend Adam who lives in New Hampshire called me. He is the youth pastor at a church there and among the congregation is the VP of Marketing in the Northeast for Duncan Donuts. Apparently, said VP offered Adam 24 free tickets to the Red Sox/Yankees game next Sunday, the 16th. So, Adam called and said that he had an offer for me that he didn't expect me to take. Boy was he wrong.

After mulling over the pros and cons for a day and a half, Kristen and I bought tickets to Boston for Friday night. We'll be spending the weekend in and around Boston with Adam and his wife Jessa (one of Kristen's best friends), and hopefully we'll get to see my brother and his family.

And then there's the game. I went to an unimportant game at Fenway against the Angels about five years ago in the beginning of August. The atmosphere was incredible then, so I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in the last regular season Red Sox/Yankees game of the year when the teams are only separated by a few games. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and we took it. Be looking for some updates throughout the trip. I hope we get to go into Boston on Saturday and watch that game at a bar somewhere near Fenway. Those of you who really know me know that I'll be living a dream-especially if they win.

Week 1 in the Books

2007-09-05T07:49:00.000-06:00

More like week 1.5 in the books. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected either. Most days, I get out of class early enough that I can finish my reading by dinner time and have the rest of the night to goof off. Plus, I don't have to work, so I've really got more free time than I've had in years!

Class has been interesting. I really like all my professors so far. My favorite is pictured to the right, named Pierre Schlag. He's fairly laid back, incredibly smart, and witty to no end. He also seems to wear the same type of outfit every day - the same one as the picture, only changing out the colors of shirt, jacket, and pants.

One major difference between this and undergrad is that here, everyone is always prepared and ready to talk. Most people are scared that they'll get called on and grilled, so they don't want to look stupid. As a result, we get some pretty interesting conversations. One day we discussed whether a person giving an engagement ring to a girl constituted a legally enforcible contract (talk to me for the result).

The weather has been incredible lately. It rains pretty much every afternoon for about 30 minutes, but then clears off again and is nice and cool. Last weekend we hiked in Rocky Mtn. N.P. with Erin, which Kristen has pictures of on her blog. The view was great for how short the hike was. The rest of the weekend, we lounged in the apartment and worked on the coffee table we're making. Pictures of that soon.

Last night, we went to the CU student group to end modern day slavery. All the people there were really cool and like-minded. I even found some people to go to the Arcade Fire concert with me in a couple of weeks. The discussion about events we might have was really exciting, but just as exciting was finding some christian people who I immediately felt we could become good friends with. I'm sure there will be more about them soon. We're hanging out with them this Saturday - finally some new friends! (No offense Erin).

Kristen and I have been discussing whether I should try to do an internship with IJM this summer, and we're really not sure. We realized that we should be praying about it more, so if you could join in that, I would appreciate it.

Oh, and I'm expecting massive numbers of emails about visiting us in the winter to start rolling in at any time. Send them on.

I think I might be busy next week

2007-08-24T15:01:00.000-06:00

Do you remember when you started college? There was probably someone - or multiple someones - who gave you a speech about how "you might have cruised through high school without really studying, but college is going to be different." It was kind of intimidating at the time, whether it was actually true or not.

Well, this week I received that speech again, only this time it went something like "you might have cruised through your undergrad without studying much, but this is going to be different."

It was twice as intimidating as the first time because I know how much I worked in my undergrad program. While that realization was settling into my brain though, a 2nd year student (a 2L) told me that you never really need to study later than midnight. There were certainly more than a few times I did that in just my last semester of IE, so maybe I'll live after all.

Webster v. Blue Ship Tea Room, Inc.

2007-08-22T18:17:00.000-06:00

Ok, I realize I haven't posted since we moved to Colorado. The lack of internet is killing me. I don't even really have time to do this now!

An overview:

The new apartment is good, much like the weather.

Kristen's internship is two days - and two home visits - old. She loves it.

Law school has been intimidating so far. 1 class during orientation this week, but 5 books to buy for it and 4 chapters to read the first night of orientation. Oh boy...

I also just wrote my first case brief, which was over the case mentioned in the title of this post. It involves a woman who got a fish-bone lodged in her throat eating chowder in New England and had to have it surgically removed. The judge said that she should have known there were bones in chowder! Cheers!

The beginning of the end

2007-08-10T21:25:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow morning, we and several friends will be packing up our 16' Penske truck with all our earthly belongings. We'll be staying the next couple of days in Rogers with Kristen's parents, so this is our last night in our first apartment. It has served us well, despite its lack of counter space and miniature stove. We'll miss it.

On a similar note, we're already missing friends who have moved before us, are going to move, or we're moving away from. It will be strange not to be able to call any of a large number of people to go get a drink on a random night. In honor of those people, here are some photos. Enjoy.

*Note: If you weren't in a picture, it's not because I won't miss you, it's because I couldn't find a picture of you - and there are only so many pictures you can put in a post.

Let it ride

2007-08-05T14:32:00.000-06:00

On Thursday night, 3 friends and I gathered for our long-awaited trip to see Ryan Adams & the Cardinals at Red Rocks outside Denver. Despite a three-hour delayed start (still looking for that car key), we left Fayetteville at about 9:30pm for our drive through the night. We blasted music and multiple episodes of South Park as we cruised slowly across Oklahoma and Kansas.

During a stop at a gas station, Jordan purchased a bumper sticker at a gas station that read "Git 'r' drunk!" and secretly placed it on the back window of Ben's Trooper as he slept. Later, Ben and Taylor were sound asleep and Jordan and I were beginning to fade, so we decided to stop for a little rest. The stuffy car found us sweaty and sleepless though, and before long, we had resorted to a cold beer at a dark, rest-stop picnic table at 5:00 AM - a first for both of us.

The rest of the night was uneventful and we arrived in Denver mid-morning Friday. After some frisbee in a nice park, we dined on peanut butter and jelly doled onto bread with our index fingers. There were still several hours until showtime, so we made the most of it and headed over to the Coors Brewing plant in nearby Golden. 45 minutes of beer education was topped off by three free Blue Moons in the Coors Lounge. By the time the beer was gone, we had just enough time to drop by Taylor's Aunt's house for a quick shower before the show. We cleaned up and headed North to Morrison - home of the Red Rocks amphitheater.

Spats of rain on the highway made for nervous conversation as we hopped highways around the city. We had our rain jackets, but preferred to sit on them. The clouds began to clear though as we drew near our destination. Large orange-red rocks jutted out of the earth like battered tombstones as we climbed up the little road to the venue. We placed wagers on the most likely first song and excitedly discussed the possibilities.

We parked and began the ascent up the path that led to the amphitheater. The view was incredible and we knew it would only get better. We stepped out into a seating area that seemed to be cut from the rock itself. Surrounded by natural walls on three sides, it looked down on Denver like an eagle's nest. The Denver-based band Devotchka (best known for their songs on Little Miss Sunshine) was playing when we arrived. They sounded good, but we were really just biding our time.

Next came Lucinda Williams who seemed like she didn't want to be there, and secretly, I wished she wasn't. Her set seemed to drag on endlessly - cliché guitar solo after cliché guitar solo. We stayed occupied by mocking the shallow - and often gross lyrics of her songs. By the time her show was over, our anxiousness had built into an energy that came out quickly when the lights were dimmed for the real show.

The Cardinals, led by Ryan Adams opened with the first track off of their 2005 album Cold Roses - Magnolia Mountain, which was none of our picks. I quickly noticed was the band's sound was completely unified - each instrument contributed to a single sound rather than a bunch of melodies battling for attention. The band also mixed in new ways to begin and end their songs, and in a couple of cases found ways to change the entire song. Part way through the set, Taylor spotted some open seats down below us, so we began our descent toward the stage. This continued in stages throughout the show until Jordan, Ben, and I were on the first row of the general admission section, and Taylor had snuck up to the front of the VIP area.

I was repeatedly struck by how different Adams' music came across live. For example, before this show I often found myself chuckling at the song I Taught Myself How to Grow Old on his new album Easy Tiger. Some of the lyrics seemed too over-the-top to be doing anything but parodying typical, depressing singer-songwriter material. On Friday though, the same lyrics literally gave me chills. Adams seemed to sing them at the end of a long, exhausting trip that had worn him to the bone - and I felt his fatigue. At the same time, I became acutely aware of how pertinent the song was to my life.

It seems like this stage in life is marked with expected maturity from others, but incredible uncertainty about how to act that way. There are people who offer advice that is often helpful, but it's still not enough. Truly, there is no one who can tell you how to grow old and make adult decisions. For the most part, you just have to figure it out for yourself, which hurts. This is true even for Christians. While God clearly shows us that we will have to depend on Him, he basically leaves our day-to-day lives for us to figure out. When we fail and get hurt, it's Him we need to lean on and find our identity and joy in. John wrote about something like this on his blog one time in one of my favorite posts of his.

Now back to the concert. I repeatedly felt small revelations like this in the lyrics and presentations of the songs. By the end, I had already come to the conclusion that it was probably the best concert I'd ever seen (I really haven't seen that many though). Then came the finale - I See Monsters off the Love is Hell EP. I have always liked this song for its lyrics and interesting guitar and vocal melodies, but it wasn't one that I would have pictured being an amazing live song. I couldn't have been more wrong. The first two verses of the song were just like the album, soft and heartfelt, but at the end of the third, Adams swelled his voice into a howl as the band rose behind him, along with the crowd. Then they let it all loose as the guitars roared into roast-mode, Adams leading the way. This continued until the rhythms began breaking into a fluctuating staccato - moments of exploding sound followed by smooth silence cut cleanly on the ends. I can't describe the last few moments of the song as anything but thrilling. I'm not sure, but I think my mouth was a gaping smile as the flashing lights died and guitars fell. It's something I'll remember for a long time. The moon and stars mixing with the city lights below the red rocks of the amphitheater as one of my favorite bands played their brains out. I would recommend it to anyone.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful: sleeping past noon, Garden of the Gods, another all-nighter, and a run-in with the police an hour from home. All in all, well worth it.

The End of Pratt & Whitney: A Reflection

2007-08-01T18:51:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow will be my last day of work at Pratt and Whitney. The job itself has been less than interesting in my 13 month tenure, but I've learned some good lessons. Here are a few of them.

1. Machinists and welders make better friends than managers. It's true! I've loved "fitting in" with the blue collar population of Springdale. Which leads to my next point.

2. Blue collar workers love the lottery. It doesn't matter how many times I tell them that "the lottery is a tax on people who can't do math," they play anyway. It didn't help any when about 15 of them who go in together on tickets won about $200,000 last winter. You have to consider that they've been playing for about 20 years straight and that they only got approximately $10,000 apiece they got after taxes though. All told, they may have made a couple hundred bucks.

3. If an old machinist named Floyd tells you to come stick your finger in between two electrical conduits to feel the air coming out, don't do it. Just don't.

4. The nickname "Tapeworm" is a term of endearment.

5. Don't bother calling fouls in break-time basketball against machinists in steel-toed boots.

6. Ignore the fact that the name of the break/lunch snack truck is "the Roach Coach." The sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits are fantastic.

7. The molten-lava machinist coffee is best tolerated when mixed with hot chocolate mix.

8. The instant you tell a machinist that you're going to be a lawyer, they'll ask if they can call you if they get in trouble. Then they'll tell you how much money you're going to make.

9. If I had to work for a huge corporate company like this for the rest of my life, I don't know what I'd do. Probably something rash.

10. In your last couple days of work, you will be called "short-timer" at least 60 times a day. In fact, you might even be told (as I was) that "you're so short, you're going to need a ladder to get into that chair."

I feel like my time at P&W has been a tale of two jobs. On one hand, it's very corporate and very cliche. Big egos and micromanagement. On the other hand, there's the blue-collar community of hourly employees. I loved these people. While I would never want to feel the way they do about their jobs - work for the weekend - I love how they work. Most of them work their butts off, getting there early and staying late when necessary. Some have been working there doing the same thing for the last 20 or 30 years. They have made good lives for their families while doing the same, repeated work for years and years. I don't know if I could do something that monotonous for that long without complaining at least twice as much as they do. They are handymen. They drive trucks (literally, they all drive trucks). They even have great names, like Floyd, Wiley, Walt, and Bruce.

To say the least, I went into this job wondering how often I would get into arguments with crazy conservative rednecks. What I found were reasonable, hard-working citizens. So, this is my tribute to these men and women, the pseudo-archaic workhorses of America. The glamorous, self-glorifying monstrosity of the corporate world could learn much from you. Work on good people. Work on.

*Note: The picture isn't of actual people I work with - I found it on the internet from another Pratt & Whitney site.

A little help

2007-07-30T20:49:00.000-06:00

I have a bit of a dilemma. But first I need to note the bumper sticker I saw today.

I was driving down College when I came upon a hispanic guy driving an old accord. I immediately noticed his identical double bumper stickers which proclaimed "¡Viva Espringdale!" There was a big smile on my face. Can't really tell you why, though. I just love something about people who come here to find better lives and actually make it enough that they want to identify themselves with the area. It also made me think of little Mexican kids yelling "¡Estuart!" at Roca Blanca when Stu moves back there.

Back to my dilemma. I (with help from Kristen) buzzed my hair on December 10, 2006 in my bedroom using a #2 guard. Then, I got the sides cleaned up on March 6, 2007. Since then, it has had a life of its own. I've even survived most of the summer without succumbing to the heat and shaving it all off for the comfort. Recently though, I've waged an internal war with myself over whether to cut it or not. Twice now I have decided to buzz it, only to change my mind at the last second. I like how my hair looks, but I've grown a bit tired of it and the ease of having 1/8" hair is calling.

Here's where you, the blog reader, come in. Below you'll find a poll with three options. Choose one and choose wisely. The results will determine the fate of my 7 1/2 month-old hair.

My wife's new name

2007-07-29T22:13:00.001-06:00

Everyone should go to my wife's blog and suggest a new name for it. I already did.

Generosity

2007-07-28T22:33:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday, a friend of Kristen's family (and me) did something generous. Some of you may know him from when he bought me my sweet Cannondale road bike. His name is Dr. Bill Hof, co-owner of Boozman-Hof Regional Eye Clinic in Rogers with our Congressman. He is an avid road and mountain biker, and also very free with his money when it comes to other people. So, on Tuesday night when I was told that Dr. Hof had bought me the mountain bike pictured below, I wasn't as surprised as I probably should have been.

Needless to say, I was thrilled. Dr. Hof explained it perfectly. "It would have been a borderline sin to move out to Colorado without a mountain bike." You're right Dr. Hof. I took it out for its maiden voyage with Kristen's dad this morning on a 9 mile loop near Beaver Lake, and it rode like a dream. I think I might do it again tomorrow. Thanks Dr. Hof.

Me, as a Simpson

2007-07-26T20:11:00.000-06:00

Here's a picture of me as a Simpsons character. You can do this too at www.simpsonizeme.com.

Rather dashing isn't he.

Keep Fayetteville Funky

2007-07-18T20:43:00.000-06:00

I recently purchased a "Keep Fayetteville Funky" sticker for the outback. If you're not familiar, it's supposed to encourage people to support local businesses and help the quirkiness of Fayetteville survive the mass influx of chain-establishments. As a result of this sticker, I started considering my favorite local haunts. So, here they are in no particular order.

Best Bar:

1. Crown Pub: Coolest atmosphere of the on-Dickson bars, created by the well-stocked juke box, 25 cent bowling game, and dart board. Throw in the beer selection (Smithwicks, Guinness, Harp, etc.) and the coolest barkeep/owner in town, and you've got yourself a good time.

2. Hugo's: Best atmosphere in all of Fayetteville. The history and clientèle (not to mention the beer selection) make any trip to this haunt seem meaningful. If I had started going here earlier in college, it might have been #1.

3. Brewski's: One word - 71 beers on tap. Ok three words and a number. You've gotta love the tables on the street and the fact that you're never lacking for a good beer you've never tried before. The only downsides are the less-than-stellar wait-staff and the high noise-level (not conducive to conversation).

Best Low-Priced Eatery:

~It's a tie!

1. Kosmos Greekafe: Gyros with feta and $1 draft Shiner Bock. Need I say more? Athens never had better.

1. The Flying Burrito: You can't beat a chicken burrito on a spinach tortilla with rice, black beans, mild salsa, pico, guacamole, cheese and lettuce. Or maybe that's just me. Burritos bigger than my biceps are always a good thing.

3. Slim Chicken's: The grilled tenders with honey mustard may be greasy, but they're Matt Jones approved.

Best Pizza:

1. Tim's Pizza: I'm pretty partial to the Pizazz, but ask Adam Anglin about the turkey salad.

2. U.S. Pizza: The first time I had the Pizza Sub, I was a believer. Toss in a table on the patio and call it a night.

3. Geno's Pizza: $1 slice night was a staple during my entire college campaign. Make sure you get there before the Kappa Sig house and grab some extra napkins to sop up the extra grease. Feel free to munch on the ice.

Best Burger:

1. Hugo's: Only just had it recently, but it was incredible. The swiss cheese and bacon was probably the juciest, most flavorful burger I've ever had.

2. Hoghaus Beerburger: The beer queso on top gives it a unique flavor. Accompany it with some chips and more beer queso, and maybe a micro-brew (Levi's Old World Ale) for a knockout.

3. Brenda's Bigger Burger: A old-school little burger stand at the corner of Hill and 6th. It doesn't get much greasier. That brown bag better be absorbant.

Best Mexican:

1. La Huerta: 2 for 1 margarita night is the only way to go. Pretty much anything you can think of is great. Just be careful if a long-haired waiter brings you a strange looking shot for your birthday.

2. Acambaro: The sheer number of locations are reason enough to love it. Chicken enchilada's can't get much better.

3. Mexico Viejo: Try ordering an order of chips and queso for take-out. About $5 will get you more cheese dip than you thought would fit into a pie pan.

Best Coffee Shop:

1. Arsaga's: Family owned, roasts their own coffee, and the former baristas (Kristen) are hot.

2. Common Grounds: OK coffee with an average beer selection. The spinach artichoke dip is great, but the prices are a little steep.

3. The Perk: The best tea of any Fayetteville shop. Catch some live music on the weekends while you play a heated

Best Mid-Priced Cuisine:

1. A Taste of Thai: You can't get a bad dish. Try the red curry and make sure it's 4 stars if you want to do it right.

2. Penguin Ed's Barbeque: If you can't get full on the half-chicken dinner, then you're probably obese. The ribs are the best in NWA and can't come without some batter dipped fries.

3. Rice Village: Salted edamame by the bowl, freshwater eel rolls, and big slabs of salmon. If you call raw fish your dish, then this is your table...or something like that.

Best Snow Cones:

1. The Ice Man Cometh: Corner of Rolling Hills and College across from Fiesta Square. Buy 10 get one free! Tiger's Blood is unstoppable, and try adding some rum from Midway Liquor next door for an adult cone. Go early to dodge the high school crowd.

2. & 3. There's no comparing with Ice Man

Best Non-Food Related Establishment:
*Note: Ok, some of these aren't even local businesses at all, but I still like them, and it's my post. So there.
1. Fayetteville Public Library: Books, of course, but also a good selection of movies and music. Plus, an Arsaga's inside!

2. Dickson Street Book Store: Deceptively big. I still have no idea how to find a specific book...or section for that matter. It reeks of coolness, though. Have John Schellhase show you around.

3. Gulley/Wilson park: These are practically interchangable for me. Wilson is close, but Gulley is big. Plenty of room to throw the frisbee in either though.

4. Old Main Lawn: Many a love was kindled here. Only one for me though. I don't know how many hours I've sat under a tree, walked the sidewalks, or thrown a frisbee here. It's one place I'll miss badly when we move.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Maybe I'll come up with some more categories at a later date. Bon appetit!

*Note: I really haven't eaten at what I would consider a high-priced restaurant in Fayetteville. Thus, no category.

Book your dates!

2007-06-18T21:43:00.000-06:00

If you'll notice, in the blog list on the right, there is a new link called "Hotel Compston." If you're wondering what this might be, give it a click. Due to the overwhelming number of verbal commitments to stay in our future apartment in Boulder, I have created a Google calendar to allow for ease of scheduling. You'll find it if you follow the aforementioned link. It should tell you when people have already scheduled and avoid multiple phonecalls. I'm still figuring out how to make it fully functional, so if you're having trouble, give it a few days. If you snooze, you looze (lose), so book soon!

A long ride in the new ride

2007-06-11T21:28:00.000-06:00

Ok, I get it. Time to post. Sorry. I don't have internet in my apartment. That aside, things have been busy. Kristen and I sold both of our cars and purchased a Subaru Outback similar to the one here. We love it so much that we took it all the way to Colorado last week. We took wednesday through sunday to drive out and look for an apartment, as well as accompany Erin while she looked in Denver.

We had a bit of frustration in apartment shopping, finding little that we could afford that was within two states of Boulder and larger than 34 square feet. Eventually we did find one that will probably be open in August. It's in Broomfield, about 15 minutes from campus. 2 bedrooms, a big balcony/patio, and even some counter-space in the kitchen.

One of the best things that happened was Kristen's internship interview with Boulder County social services. She really liked her prospective supervisor, and at the end, they said that if she wanted the position, they would stop interviewing people. So that's great news. Of course how could they not hire Kristen? I mean come on.

We also found a great Irish pub called Conor O'Neills. The barkeep poured a good Guiness and they even had corned beef and cabbage. The weather on our first day in Boulder was incredibly cold. Kristen was getting worried about freezing to death, but luckily we found out that it was just a freak cold day. The next couple of days were perfect. No humidity. I love not sweating from just standing up.

We walked around the CU campus and I loved it. I think we're definitely excited to get up there and become locals now. It was also just a really fun road trip, despite the fact that we spent 99% of the 5 days in the car. Plenty of new inside jokes.

P.S. There James, I wrote a post...
...that's what she said.

I'm going public

2007-05-07T12:16:00.000-06:00

Destination: Boulder, Colorado...

It's true! Many of you already know, but I'm going fully public here on my blog. I've been accepted to the University of Colorado Law School and have confirmed enrollment. Not only that, but they gave me a large financial aid package, so we aren't even going to be in debt after I get out! There are things that would have been great about the other schools, but God has made it perfectly clear that this is where we're supposed to be. So, we're moving in August. Kristen will finish her classes in the summer and do her last internship in the fall in Boulder.

I'm really excited for a number of reasons.

The University of Colorado's Law School was recently ranked #36 in the country, and #9 in the West.
Boulder is 1.75 hours from Breckenridge, Keystone, etc.
There are (at least) 10 breweries in Boulder and a large assortment of ethnic restaurants.
No humidity
30 minutes from Denver
Denver has a federal court of appeals (which would be an incredible internship)
Solid live music scene
Plenty of reasons for friends and family to come visit.
A fellow grover just told us about a church some friends started in Boulder that is similar to the Grove.
Unbelievable number of hiking/bike trails

So, as you can tell, I'm pumped. I know that later in the summer when moving time gets closer, it will be more bittersweet leaving the place I've lived for the last 16 or so years. But, I'm ready for a new adventure. So start checking your calendar and plan to come see us. We'll have two bedrooms since we'll actually have money with my scholarship, so make use of it. If nobody visits within the first year, I'll be severely disappointed.

For those of you who are staying here or going somewhere other than Colorado (read: anyone but Erin), let's make a point of hanging out this summer. Maybe we should go camping, Wes. Since it seems to always fall through. I just want to make sure I get my fill of good friends before we leave, because it might take a while to make new ones, and years to make friends like the ones I'm leaving. Call me sometime and I'll buy you a beer, or a gyro.

Roe v. Wade in Limbo?

2007-04-18T22:29:00.000-06:00

This morning, the Supreme Court ruled on a case involving a state law prohibiting "partial birth abortions." You can read the full text of the decision here. By 5-4 majority, the Court found that the law was not unconstitutional and did not place an undue burden on the right of a woman to obtain an abortion. This was a major statement for one reason in particular. In all past cases in which similar laws have come under judicial review, the Court has overturned the law based on the fact that no exception is made for women whose life may be endangered without the abortion. This law, like the previous ones, contained no such exception, but was upheld nonetheless.

This point was emphasized by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she read her dissenting opinion aloud from the bench (which rarely happens). She was obviously upset by the decision and called it alarming in its disregard for women's health. She also noted that some doctor's claim that the procedure is necessary to preserve the life of the mother in some cases, refuting the conclusion reached by the majority that there was evidence that the procedure was never necessary.

It will be a highly controversial decision for years to come and may prove to be one of the definitive cases of the decade or longer. It has large implications such as opening the door to future state-initiated restrictions on abortion procedures. Look for new legislation from state governments to start picking off specific types of abortion procedures one by one. With the precedent of not requiring a life-endangerment exception now set, it will be easier to find viable ways to justify abortion restrictions.

Of course, all of this wouldn't be possible without the new conservative majority on the Bench. I don't know what I think about the Justices. I know that I currently have a distaste for extreme conservatives in general, and that makes me want to dislike the new Justices. However, I believe that this is a good decision, and a step in the right direction. I'm not going to act like I know everything about abortion. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have to choose between wife and child, nor am I saying that would be easy. What I will say is that for those people who seek abortion as a means of avoiding the consequences of their actions, this decision will hopefully slow the mindless spending of life. As for the others, I'm not going to try and judge whether it is more righteous to save the mother or the child. I hope that I know what I would pick. That being said, I don't know if it is our government's place to decide which life is allowed to exist if it comes down to one or the other. It's a scary thought.

The bottom line is, abortion ends life. If life could be preserved in all circumstances, it would be wonderful. But, as my wife said recently, a long time ago there was a tree that two people were told not to eat from, but they did it anyway. No, the fetus that is aborted does not have a chance, but neither does the little girl chained to the bed in the Kolkata brothel. Neither is a greater tragedy than the other.

*Note: I feel like I went off on a rant, which may or may not make sense. If I completely lost you, I'm sorry.

Remember?

2007-04-13T11:17:00.000-06:00

I found this little gem today. It reminded me of how I'm not in shape at all any more. It was fun to be conditioned like we were in this picture. Not so fun to be in as much pain as we were in this picture though. The training for the marathon sucked pretty bad, but I have good memories of not being out of breath in the middle of 14 mile runs and watching fireworks on the 4th of July while on a 10 miler. Northside.

Well put

2007-04-06T12:37:00.000-06:00

I stumbled upon this article today and thought it was pretty good. Adam, this is a pretty good representation (albeit, not perfect by any means) of some ideas that I agree with.

*******

By Roland Martin
CNN Contributor

Editor's note: Roland Martin is a CNN contributor and talk-show host on WVON-AM in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith."

NEW YORK (CNN) -- When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant only caring about two issues, abortion and homosexuality?

Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it's a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.

Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that's no big deal.

The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it's high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith. And those on the left who believe they have a "get out of sin free" card must not be allowed to justify their actions.

Many people believe we are engaged in a holy war. And we are. But it's not with Muslims. The real war -- the silent war -- is being engaged among Christians, and that's what we must set our sights on.

As we celebrate Holy Week, our focus is on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But aren't we also to recommit ourselves to live more like Jesus? Did Jesus spend his time focusing on all that he didn't like, or did Jesus raise the consciousness of the people to understand love, compassion and teach them about following the will of God?

As a layman studying to receive a master's in Christian communications, and the husband of an ordained minister, it's troubling to listen to "Christian radio" and hear the kind of hate spewing out of the mouths of my brothers and sisters in the faith.

In fact, I've grown tired of people who pimp God. That's right; we have a litany of individuals today who are holy, holy, holy, sing hallelujah, talk about how they love the Lord, but when it's time to walk the walk, somehow the spirit evaporates.

A couple of years ago I took exception to an e-mail blast from the Concerned Women for America. The group was angry that Democrats were blocking certain judges put up for the federal bench by President Bush. It called on Americans to fight Democrats who wanted to keep Christians off the bench.

So I called and sent an e-mail asking, "So, where were you when President Clinton appointed Christian judges to the bench? Were they truly behind Christian judges, or Republican Christian judges?

Surprise, surprise. There was never a response.

An African-American pastor I know in the Midwest was asked by a group of mostly white clergy to march in an anti-abortion rally. He was fine with that, but then asked the clergy if they would work with him to fight crack houses in predominantly black neighborhoods.

"That's really your problem," he was told.

They saw abortion as a moral imperative, but not a community ravaged by crack.

If abortion and gay marriage are part of the Christian agenda, I have no issue with that. Those are moral issues that should be of importance to people of the faith, but the agenda should be much, much broader.

I'm looking for the day when Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, James Kennedy, Rod Parsley, " Patriot Pastors" and Rick Warren will sit at the same table as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia Hale, Eddie L. Long, James Meek, Fred Price, Emmanuel Cleaver and Floyd Flake to establish a call to arms on racism, AIDS, police brutality, a national health care policy, our sorry education system.

If they all say they love and worship one God, one Jesus, let's see them rally their members behind one agenda.

I stand here today not as a Republican or a liberal. And don't bother calling me a Democrat or a conservative. I am a man, an African-American man who has professed that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that's to whom I bow down.

If you concur, it's time to stop allowing a chosen few to speak for the masses. Quit letting them define the agenda.

So put on the full armor of God because we have work to do.

*********

Feel free to post comments/thoughts.

Go Sox!

2007-04-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

The best 7 months of the year are upon us! That's right, baseball season! Only 161 games left, so grab your beer helmet and watch the boys of summer.

Why I love journalism...

2007-03-28T22:09:00.000-06:00

First of all, this is not the post I referenced in the Monday's at Six-Thirty blog. It can be found below, titled "Practical and fantastic." You should read it, then come back to these incredible statements.

"Former Major League Baseball pitcher Ugueth Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the attempted murder of five workers on his family's ranch, the Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday.

The 33-year-old free agent was accused of joining a group of men in attacking and injuring workers with machetes and pouring gasoline on them at his family's ranch, located about 25 miles south of Caracas.

"The ruling was too severe," said Jose Antonio Baez, a former attorney who represented Urbina. "
-ESPN.com

Too severe indeed, Mr. Baez.

Practical and fantastic

2007-03-28T14:26:00.000-06:00

I love this idea! You may have heard about WorldBank winning a Nobel Peace Prize for a program granting micro-loans to the poor so they could finance small business startups. Well, today I heard about a grassroots operation similar to this where anyone can give small loans to poor people around the world for starting their own businesses. It's called Kiva. I encourage everyone to check it out HERE. They even pay you back after they've gotten going. It's so practical! I love it! It makes me really excited and I want everybody to do it. I'm going to look hard at finding somewhere to put some of my money. You should too. Be inspired!

Winter Park

2007-03-25T13:31:00.000-06:00

The past week was spent in Winter Park, Colorado doing some snowboarding. It was really warm and the snow wasn't too good, but it was fun nonetheless. Plus, we came away with no serious injuries except for a sore wrist. We also got to spend some time with Kristen's sister and her husband and baby. I'm definitely not ready to have kids yet. One interesting development of the week, though, was that my desire to go to Boulder for law school grew significantly. The fact that it is so much more affordable than some other options, and that it's in Colorado helped that. I really don't know which way I'll end up going now. I'm definitely ready to get some letters of acceptance and decide, though. I'm including a blair witch-like video of me nearly eating it on my snowboard while jumping a little ridge. I swear it felt like I got higher than that.

Adulthood

2007-03-02T19:39:00.000-06:00

I feel a little bit more like an adult today. Kristen and I took the money we got from federal grants for school and opened a money market account. 4.6% interest sure beats my savings account. "That's not bad, man. Because it's completely liquid and almost risk-free," says Adam Argo, accounting major. Welcome to adulthood

Victory!

2007-02-26T13:07:00.000-06:00

I won Adam Argo's Oscar contest by three points! My spoils include a free week of facetime on Adam and Meredith's blog, as well as a five-pack of beer from Adam (he gets to keep one). Check it out!

Spiders on drugs

2007-02-17T14:58:00.000-06:00

A friend emailed me this video. It's really funny, especially when you note the filmmaker at the very end.

The Oscars 2007

2007-02-16T00:40:00.000-06:00

I'd like to challenge everyone to take the Adam Argo Oscar Challenge here. I'm not sure what the winner gets. Maybe a song written personally for them by Adam. It doesn't matter if you don't really know anything about the movies being judged, or even movies at all. Just do it. For fun.

I think he needs a new prescription

2007-02-10T11:22:00.000-06:00

I saw this video on CNN this morning and laughed out loud. This is one crazy optometrist.

The Waiting Game

2007-02-08T20:49:00.000-06:00

All my applications are done. I've written my personal statements and my professors have written letters expressing what a great law student I will make. All that's left now is the waiting. I've applied to the three schools above (Columbia University being the one in the middle), as well as the Universities of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and Chicago-Kent College of Law. I have my favorites, but all that will really matter in the end is who accepts me and who gives me a lot of money. I have a lot of good anxiety about finding out. The kind of anxiety where I'm really excited about any of them and am just really ready to find out. I'm sure I'll post after I find out, so be looking for the result.

Something for the kids

2007-02-02T00:33:00.000-06:00

Tonight, I went to the John Mayer concert at Barnhill arena. I'm not sure if I would have originally paid $30 to go to this concert, despite being a decent fan of John, but since it was free, I was all over it. I didn't have a lot of anticipation leading up to it like I do most concerts. All of a sudden it was like, "Oh, that concert's today."

So Kristen and I went. I went anticipating to see some amazing guitar playing mingled with some crowd pleasers. A few songs into the set, I started thinking about how Eric Clapton has called Mayer the next great guitarist, and with what he's shown in his album Try! with John Mayer Trio, I can't argue. Anyway, as the concert unfolded and he became more free with his playing, I became acutely aware that I was seeing something abnormal. His songs aren't anywhere near my favorites; they aren't even really my style. The concert itself wasn't that enthralling, but the growing knowledge of the level of Mayer's guitar skill was.

Hearing someone talk about how good someone is at something can't compare with witnessing the act. I realized toward the end that there aren't many people alive that can play the electric guitar like that. It occurred to me that I'll probably see a decent number of concerts in my life, but 25 years from now, it won't mean anything to my kids that I saw the Decemberists (which I haven't actually seen yet), regardless of how much I liked them personally. It will mean something to them when I tell them that I saw John Mayer when he was young and in his prime because by then, he will have become the great guitarist of our generation. In reality, it's kind of like seeing Michael Jordan play basketball. It may seem not nearly that cool, but it's not every day that you get to see someone who is the best at what they do perform, especially when what they do is something you wish you could do.

All this to say, the John Mayer concert may not have been cinematic or full of energy, but it was honestly musically inspiring. I decided not to sell my electric guitar tonight. Sorry Adam. Thanks John.

**EDIT**
So, while John Mayer has inspired me to play my guitar more, I changed my mind and sold my electric guitar last night. It's all acoustic from here on out. The money is paying for my new snowboard.

You get the feeling you're a little weird

2007-01-29T21:44:00.000-06:00

I've decided that I'm not really normal. I've always known that I was a little dorky, but I think it's picking up as I go. For example, I've developed this strange interest in theoretical physics and stuff like dark energy and "The Big Rip". Call me a freak. Go ahead. I don't really know why it's interesting to me, it just is. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I truly believe that God is controlling all of this crazy stuff and the more I learn about it, the more I think that He's a genius and we as humans aren't. Right now you're like, "Stephen, how can you sit around and think about stuff like that?" But I'm telling you, it's exciting.

Here's an example. Studies have shown that the universe is expanding, but the amount of space between things isn't increasing, the actual space itself is stretching. So through some disregarded logic, if God created the universe through the big bang, all the matter in the universe, as well as all the space in the universe was at one time contained in a small dense area. This was before the explosion. Think about that time. All the space in our universe was inside that area. So what was outside it? It wasn't space. It wasn't nothing. It was not. It was non-existence. So for that little ball of universe to even exist, it either had to be self-sustaining, or it had to be sustained by something else. Enter God.

How would that ball of existence come to be in an eternity of non-existence anyway? Good question. Not to mention the fact that matter cannot be created or destroyed...by any known power. Either that ball had existed for all eternity in that state, it had been in a cyclical big bang/big crunch process for all eternity, or it was created at a specific point in time at which things were set in motion. If it had been in that state for all eternity, it's theoretically impossible for it to have converted to such a drastically different state (call me if you want me to explain this, as it's my own personal theory). As for the cyclical existence, recent findings on dark energy suggest that infinitely repeating explosions and contractions are highly improbable and the study actually begins to point to a single-cycle big bang model. So, we're left with the idea of creation at a discrete point in time. This is what I believe in. I believe it points directly to God and his fantastic power in creating our universe.

To close, I want to note that research has shown that if the universe was created by the big bang theory, the density of the originating ball would have had to be within 0.000000000000001 of a specific value (the critical density) or it would have; A. Already collapsed back on itself. or B. Expanded so quickly that no energy transfer would be possible in the universe (heat death). What are the chances that the density of the universe's seed randomly fell in that range. An industrial engineer would say zero, and so I do. In light of this study, the world's foremost living authority on theoretical physics (and my favorite), Stephen Hawking, said in one of his books, and I paraphrase, that if the universe was created by the big bang, it is highly unlikely that it was created by anything but a God with a purpose for it. Pretty big statement.

That's all. Just a little food for thought from a self-confessed nerd.

A few of my favorites

2007-01-28T22:57:00.000-06:00

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip to Kolkata.

This one's from the Christmas display in the Singapore airport. We were bored.

This is (from left to right) Urmilla, Jorah, and Elijah (Jorah's youngest son). I think the food is from our wedding feast.

This picture is from our Christmas party. Shown are Kristen, Cindy, the french girl she was a secret santa for, and Wonil, a guy from South Korea who was Kristen's secret santa.

This is from our visit to the village of Kalikapur with Urmilla. Ranjan in front is holding shoots of rice.
Breakfast in Darjeeling fit for a brochure. Too bad I had coffee that morning. (Darjeeling is world-renowned for its tea, if you didn't know).

We happened to walk up on some buddhist monks on this trail. This is my favorite picture of the trip. It just came out really well with the mist and the prayer flags and all.

This isn't so much about the picture as it is the story behind it. This is Julian the British guy and the Indian officer who forced the kid to go into the lake after our frisbee (a.k.a. kentucky fried chicken bucket li
The dehumanizing life of a rickshaw wallah.

??? Never saw any emus.
Enough said. I don't even need to tell you what that alley smelled like.

Fresh

2007-01-12T22:45:00.000-06:00

In my conversion from the old blogger to the new blogger, something happened. My blog was a casualty. In light of this, I'm christening this new blog, complete with a new blogging standard. I want to post, and post often. The old blog was like a dog that gets played with once a month; not very friendly and probably not making anybody happy. The new blog will be like a mug of coffee at a cheap diner, always replenished, and usually a little more than expected. That's my starting point. A new beginning to coincide with my return to western culture.

What should I do with my hair?
	Keep it as it is.
	Buzz it with a #2 guard.
	Get it trimmed up by Adam’s mom

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