i just added 86 contacts to my msn instant messenger list. what was i thinking?

i'm really not much of a chat type guy, so we'll see how long it takes to drive me crazy

stuff i've been thinking about:

- post modernism. this is one of those things i've been gnawing on for a long while now
- community, and what it means
- prayer. why do we make it so complicated, and such a production? i guess i'm as guilat as anyone of those
- the gospel. why do we tie so much baggage to it? the gospel has nothing to do with abortion, drinking, homosexuality, or voting republican. but why do we tie those things to it?
- football. hey, i gotta have some fun
- relationships. a friend brought up an interesting point. how much should you deal with your own problems, insecurities, and weaknesses before engaging in a new relationship?
- money. it sucks.
- girls. i probably think about this too much. but what guy doesn't?
- irony. what's the deal with kids who wear t-shirts from the 1982 YMCA volleyball league or whatnot? is it to be ironic? that seems to be a part of post-modernism, in that all these diverging influences all come together. the more distant two things seem to be, the more likely someone is to bring them together. like a punk band with a video starring alan thicke. i'm justing waiting for somebody to mix bluegrass and rap. or big band and synth pop. or whatever

Why haven't I posted in three weeks? probably because I just moved. As in moved three days ago. Yep.

It wasn't too bad a move. Just across town. And I had a couple of good helpers.

Thursday is Thanksgiving, but once again I don't get to be home with my family. I've had several offers from people willing to feed me, which is nice, but it would be better to be with the family. But I will get more than a week with them around Christmas.

So I've been listening to the new u2: best of 1990-2000 and got me thinking about my favorite U2 songs of the last decade. Here's a short list, and I'm giving more weight to the songs that have been underappreciated in my view.

"Until the End of the World" from Achtung Baby
"Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World" from Achtung Baby
"Lemon" Perfecto Mix. The original is on Zooropa. They should have put this mix on the new best of disc.
"Stay" from Zooropa
"Please" from Pop. Dang that's a great song. The only one of the album I listen to over and over.
"North & South of the River" A b-side from the Pop era
"Beautiful Day" gets me every time. The last minute of that song make me teary eyed
"Walk On" -- the imagry also gets me at a very emotional level
"When I Look at the World" - track from All That You Can't Leave Behind
"Summer Rain" a bside from that time

I've started hearing conspiracy theories about Paul Wellstone's death in a place crash last week. A google seach turns up dozens of hits for such topics as "Was Wellstone Murdered?" and the like.

There's even a make your own conspiracy theory. mine:

What They Don't Want You to Know
In order to understand Paul Wellstone's death you need to realize that
everything is controlled by a a football team made up of aliens with
help from South Dakotans.

The conspiracy first started during Sept. 11 in Minnesota. They have
been responsible for many events throughout history, including the
fall of Rome.

Today, members of the conspiracy are everywhere. They can be
identified by telling pun filled jokes.

They want to murder Jesse Ventura and imprison resisters in Arkansas
using cars.

In order to prepare for this, we all must photograph my car. Since the
media is controlled by the ACLU we should get our information from
Matt Drudge.

I've started hearing conspiracy theories about Paul Wellstone's death in a place crash last week. A google seach turns up dozens of hits for such topics as "Was Wellstone Murdered?" and the like.

There's even a site where you can

Saturday, November 02, 2002

go out and but the new sixpence album Divine Discontent now.

If you like pop music that actually has something to say, get it. This is a band that hasn't put out an album in 5 years (because of legal crap) so the anticipation has been killing me. But the album's definitely worth it.

Also, I plan on picking up the u2: best of 1990-2000 greatest hits disc when it comes out soon.

Other than that, a quiet week in Nebraska. It seems like my friends are all busy this week. Some went on a trip, one couple just got engaged. Another friend moved away. Most work with the youth group at my church, called free life so since they were all busy I got to run the show this week. It went ok, not great, but good enough.

Yesterday I saw a real live Texas Longhorn. Right next to a Nebraska cornfield. The ironic thing is today's big football matchup is between the Texas Longhorns and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

And a local radio station's going to have me on their morning show in a few weeks. Sounds like fun. I really don't listen to their show, to be honest, but I've run across it once in a while. And they may ask me to fill in once in a while when the male host is gone, which would be cool.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! we're getting our first snow of the season today!

And I love it.

Some people can't stand the stuff, but I don't see what's so bad about it. Keeps things interesting. At least most people in Nebraska know how to drive on the stuff. It takes quite a bit of snow, and more importantly wind, for them to call off school, close down town, and shut down the highways. Fortunately, the wind hasn't been too bad today.

I'm more than ready for this. Summer was unbearably hot and dry at times, made more uncomfortable by having a cast on my arm during the hottest 6 weeks of it. So when it comes to snow -- bring it on!

other than that, work's been pretty boring lately. although we have an election coming up in two weeks. That'll be fun. Tonight I have youth group. Next week, I'll be running the show. Which is a little nerve racking, considering we've had in excess of 200 kids coming every week to what we call free life

saturday night. what did i do today?

first i updated the free life web site. free life is the youth group i work with. we have a couple of hundred kids who come every week. it's church, only it's not like church. our youth room has video games, pool tables, big screen tvs, a computer network, a stage, professional sound and lighting (go jeremy!), a house band. it's more like a club than a sunday morning worship service. but that's okay. anyway, today i updated the middle school free life web page and i updated the high school free life web page. matt and sheree will be excited when they see it :) (they're the paid staffers -- i'm just a volunteer).

also, i made some changes to echo base - my fan site dedicated to synth pop group the echoing green.

and for good measure i made a few changes to my personal home page

and i watched some husker football as they lost again. now the world series is on, but in case you haven't caught on, my two favorite teams lost in the league championship series'.

what have i been listening to today? U2's War, Lifehouse's Stanley Climbfall, and some techno stuff I burned.

saturday morning. what to do today?

i could sit around and tell you what i think of nebraska gubernatorial candidate stormy dean. but i won't even bother. although governor stormy dean has an intriguing ring to it.

I just visited james lileks' site where i was checking out the grooviest motel in wisconsin

today i'll probably check out the husker football game as much as i love football, this has been a crappy year, because my teams are all losing. part of me says 'it's only six months until baseball spring training.'

so what's new? besides that my two favorite baseball teams (twins cards) both lost.

work's been pretty ho hum lately. although we have the general election coming up november 5th just in time for the big tv sweeps month. other than that, we've been doing the typical fall stories -- flu shots, etc.

it's tuesday night, and i don't have anything to do. which is rare anymore to have a free night. i really don't know what to do with it. so let's recap last week:
sun - church, followed by after church gab-fest lunch (usually until after 2pm) followed by football, followed by more football
mon - monday night football with friends
tues - think i worked late
wed - free life (youth group) went out afterwards with matt, sheree, jared. ate at perkins until 12:30am. twins, cards both lost
thurs - played roller hockey for a couple hours
fri - hung out at church with a bunch of middle schoolers. sheree and i gave a bunch of sudanese kids rides home, despite their inability to give directions
sat - football
sun - football
mon - football
tues - today

now playing:
sixpence's new single "breathe your name" featuring ubercool b-side "northern lights"
any and all u2
recenty dug up fleming & john's _delusious of grandeur_

and that's about it. spent a bunch of time at church, or watching football with people from church. and won in both my fantasy football leagues to boot. :)