Here's what I picked up most recently from Barnes & Noble:
The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything by Brian McLaren

It's been a good week for pictures I took last year at Cornerstone. Now one of my pictures has cracked the top 500 at Flickr, on their scale of "interestingness."

But you'll have to follow this link to actually see it. Gotta keep driving numbers there :)

Look familiar? This shot graces the cover of the Cornerstone Festival 2007 brochure that arrived in my mailbox today.

I thought I'd shot it, but had to look through thousands of shots to see if I really did. Yup. I did. And here it is. Actually, I count no fewer than six shots in the mailer that came out.

So if you get a Cornerstone mailing, look for the inset shot of Relient K on the front cover and that's my handiwork :)

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone!

The producers are work treated me to a cookie with a picture of me (kinda) on it :)

Since when do they arrest witnesses?

That was my thought when stopping by the police station. Fairly routine beat call for a TV reporter. I check the reports daily. Heard about a shooting (guy shot in the hand with a rifle) and figured I'd need a soundbite on that on.

So I'm talking to a police captain and he mentions they arrested two witnesses. I thought he misspoke. Witnesses? Since when are witnesses hauled off to jail?

They are when they're wanted on outstanding warrants.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised that the kind of people who would witness a shooting would be wanted. Especially a shooting involving a rifle and close range in a home in a rundown neighborhood next to the tracks.

I'm a Guitar Hero! RAWK ON!

Career mode complete on easy and medium. But hard looks too hard. I'm gonna need to practice!

Favorite albums of 2006:

Leigh Nash - Blue on Blue
The Violet Burning - Drop Dead
Mute Math - Mute Math
The Lonely Hearts - Paper Tapes
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Pristina - Stars & Sirens


Hmmm. I'll have to think more and update this later.

It's a stake through the heart of central Nebraska. Four days after freezing rain left inches of ice on everything, it's melting. Tonight that forced the evacuation of the TV station I work for. Thankfully, I work in the news bureau an hour east. My office has power and heat and lights. Can't say the same for the main station. They've been running on generators for days. That's enough power to keep the station on the air, and to power maybe two computers. We've had to anchor the news from our bureau several times, because it's a) the only place with steady power and b) doesn't have giant icicles crashing through the roof.


This is a small icicle, relative to the ten pound chunks that have fallen through the roof of the TV station. A 500 foot tower broadcasts our signal for dozens of counties.


See the coating of ice falling from this street sign? That's a small scale example of what I'm talking about. There are thousands of power poles down. That's hundred of miles of high voltage lines. And it's not like losing power to a square mile of city. Bringing a square mile of rural farm land back on the grid may only bring power back to a handful of people.


The ice storm has left 30,000 rural Nebraskans without power for four days. Sure, it looks amazing, but it's been devastating. That's not 30,000 in one or two towns. That's 30,000 spread out over a dozen counties.

There's ice on everything. Every chain link fence, every power line, every car, mailbox, sidewalk, and tree. It's been in the 40s the last two days, so at least it's melting. But the damage has been done.

Icy fingers reach from my front lawn...

Ice coated each and every blade of grass.