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I could waste hours of my life following campaigns, commentaries, editorials, and whatnots deciding who to vote for and why; but I don’t.

I don’t bother, because I don’t vote. I did it once as a novelty when I turned 18. I probably won’t ever again.

So why this amazing unpatriotic, anti-political disinterest?

I believe that it is beyond the power of any elected official in Washington to make any truly meaningful difference in my life, or the lives of any other citizen in this country.

By the time any man or woman gets to office, their hands are already so tied by favors to be returned, other parties to negotiate with, personal agendas, etc. that I think they probably struggle to tie their own shoes.

I think the best we can hope for from any administration is that it will be there and it will do “stuff”. Meaning that it will remain more or less in control of maintaining general order and stability among our citizenry (is that a word?). It will generally do a decent job of protecting us from harm, and more or less ensure that our economy remains healthy. There are enough checks and balances (not to mention very short terms lengths) designed within our system of government to discourage any outright tyrannical activity.

As long as somebody in America gets elected president, you can count on the above happening. Anything else that adds or subtracts from anyone’s personal legacy amounts to not a whole lot in the long run. Presidents will come, presidents will go. America will remain.

So where’s the real power for change in this country?

I’ll address that next week.

…is that I never give myself time to write. I should slow down every once in a while.

I have these great ideas about articles, opinions, editorials, updates; but I never get around to writing them. Then I forget what they were.

I’ve been super busy with the business the past couple of weeks, as well as planning/hosting my daughter’s first birthday. MIL (Mother-in-Law) and BIL (Brother-in-Law) were in town as well, which is always fun, but sort of added to the general chaos of the week.

Needless to say, it’s nice to have an opportunity to really relax for a bit before a new week starts it all over again. Not that I won’t be busy this weekend either. I’ve got web design, yard work, worship band most of Sunday.

But right now, the baby’s sleeping, the wife’s at work, and it’s just me here- kickin’ it quiet style.

BTW- has anyone seen the new Snickers packaging? I saw a crazy new logo yesterday at Wal-Mart. I’ve been looking online for some info, but have found none. It’s not even one their website (don’t click the link- I’m putting it up there for google to find, but the site is flash based, so it sucks and you’ll have to mute your computer really fast before it loads or else you’ll get bombarded with sound effects that you don’t want to hear.) I’ll post pics as soon as I can get some.

I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church.

I’ve always been told to do everything “as unto the Lord”.

I always thought that sounded a little like bull$%*@.

I’ve struggled specifically with that theme ever since I was old enough to really start to understand that I, as a human, was not doing everything “as unto the Lord”. We’re probably talking since eleven or twelve years old. Long enough for me to really start to ignore the fact that I wasn’t doing it. Continue reading →

I don’t know why I entitled this post the way I did, nor do I know why now after months of ignoring this site I’m planning a redesign.

Could it be that now I’ve quit my job I have so much more time that I can actually think, and now translate that into writing?

Not sure.

I have enough actual work to do to keep me busy; what with the music store, my guitar students, the publishing company we’ve just started, and everything else that I was already involved in.

It seems so much easier now, though. No longer working for wages, wondering exactly how we’ll make it. Even with all the questions life is better. Is it faith? Stupidity?

Probably some fluctuating combination of the two.

Regardless, I apologise for my neglect, especially to my brother Nick. I think Letters from Outer Space was my idea even. It’s been over two months since we’ve corresponded.

There’s a lot of life that I have to catch up on. I hope to keep you all involved in the process.

I think I’m going back to MovableType.

I swear I’m going to write more.

6 more weeks till I quit my job.

Ok, so Nick didn’t exactly complain, but he’s definitely been suggesting that I write more frequently. I have a little news to share to catch you all up.

1. A partner and I are starting a business. It will be a retail musical instrument shop. Make us your friend.

2. I met Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars last week. Very cool

3. I am taking college courses in guitar from Berklee Music’s online school. I am particularly excited about this because I am learning for learning’s sake and for my own personal enjoyment and not for career advancement. My mother does not completely understand this, but that’s okay.

4. I love most people more today than I did yesterday. (At least I hope I do)

5. My wonderful wife and I are expecting a special delivery in September, codename: K2. I hope you all out there are smart enough to figure that out. For updates on the current kid, check out thenewestneville.com

Ironic Thought for the Day: The man who will make the best president for the United States of America is probably the man who least wants anything to do with the position.

I’ve been sick for like a week now. It sucks. What doesn’t suck is that my wife bought me ivory guitar saddles for Christmas. One for each guitar. Yippee!

I traded out the old synthetics for natural material on my Taylors and boy what a difference. I got to try my hand at some minor luthiery sanding and shaping them too. That was fun.

Also, I discovered this guy a week or two ago. Great music. Sort of Jack Johnson-ish, but more mellowy and hippie-like. Check him out. No, really, I mean it.

I’ve been working with Wordpress for a week now, and I’m having trouble deciding if I made the right move by switching from Movabletype. There are definite benefits, but also a few drawbacks. I’m especially curious about my decision because I hadn’t really given the newest version MT a thorough test-drive. Anyway- here are some of my thoughts.

+1 Auto-Save

I love this feature (although I’m pretty sure it was also implemented in the newest release of MT). I can’t say how many times I’ve started a post, then been logged out for whatever reason and lost an entire post in MT. Wordpress doesn’t do it often, but often enough while I’m writing so that I at least don’t have to start completely anew.

+1 k2

The guys over at binarybonsai have done an excellent job putting together a nice, flexible framework for WP blogs. It’s really nice looking without any tweaks at all too, which is something I was sort of looking for. I’m still sort of digging in, so I don’t have much to say other than my first impressions are positive.

+1 Email to blog

I’ve wanted this feature in MT for forever. It’s not always prudent to log into your private blog and start typing away, but if your entry could be cleverly disguised as writing an e-mail…

-1 Template Tags

It’s mainly due to a lack of familiarity, I guess, but I just found customizing templates in Movabletype to be so much easier and so much more natural to me. The fact that I still only know the very basics of PHP isn’t much of a help either, but I think MT is a little more user friendly in this regard.

-1 No multiple blogs

One of the things I loved about MT was the ability to use multiple blogs on the same MT installation. It was just another way to further organize my data and made blog-specific formatting really easy. Rather than adjusting the formatting based on category.

That about wraps it up for now. To tell the truth, this post has been almost three weeks in the making, so I’ve totally lost my train of thought here. I may come up with some more comparisons later, but for now I think I’ll just publish this nonsense so that you all can read it.

I suppose I’ve just been tagged by one book meme.

I don think I’ve ever been “tagged” before. Not sure how I feel about it, but since I’ve got a few minutes here at work, here goes…

1. One book that changed your life: Dune - Frank Herbert

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: David Copperfield - Dickens

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Desert Island Survival for Dummies

4. One book that made you laugh: A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson

5. One book that made you cry: The Return of the King - Tolkien

6. One book that you wish had been written: Erik Estrada: My Road from Harlem to Hollywood (Oh wait, that book was written; and I own it.)

7. One book that you wish had never been written: The whole Left Behind Series (I don’t think I can do better than Nick here)

8. One book you’re currently reading: Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

10. Tag five other people: Sadly, as I have been slipping farther and farther away from this beautiful online community, I’m only going to be able to tag one, Dave

There may be more tags later, once I dive into the archives of the old Brainpick.org (back when I was using MT). There’s one of you in particular that I miss, and I’m not sure if I can find you again, but if you’re reading, you had an old-style bicycle in your header image, and your wife dominates you in all Monopoly games. I do hope I can find you again friend.

Robert Jordan is dead.

Although I’ve known it was coming, the news still happens to shock me. I have been reading his Wheel of Time fantasy series for at least ten years now. Reading one book and waiting axiously a year or more for the next to be published. His stories have taken me away to a world of imagination and magic. They have given me a reprieve from real life when it was needed and a whole new universe to explore. His worlds were as detailed and intricate as Tolkien’s and as deeply real as Herbert’s.

His expiration brings a little sadness to me, but joy as well as I read the letters of others who feel the same as I do, and as I remember the journeys he took me on with his words. I am truly thankful for his dedication to his art and the mastery with which he executed it.

Mr. Jordan, I cannot wait to share you with my children.