So I've seen a number of people do a post where they set their iPod or iTunes to random and list the first 15 songs that come up. I'm joining the fun now with my iTunes (since the iPod is downstairs and I'm feeling too lazy to actually go get it right now).
1. The Color Green [Gloris in Excelsis] - Rich Mullins
A good start... you can't go wrong with Rich.
2. Heaven Heals - The Normals
This is quite possibly the least pathetic or bitter break-up song I've ever heard.
3. I Need Somebody - Chagall Guevara
Steve Taylor during his exile from CCM.
4. Just Missed the Train - Kelly Clarkson
What a voice... she's still my American Idol.
5. My Friend (So Long) - dc Talk
How much longer will their sabbatical last?
6. World Without End - Five Iron Frenzy
I wish they were still together.
7. Birdland - Buddy Rich Big Band
Great pep band memories from high school.
8. Down with the Ship - Seven Day Jesus
An under-appreciated CCM band with positive high school memories for me.
9. To Be Myself Completely - Belle and Sebastian
I really like most everything I've heard by these guys. They're definitely worth checking out.
10. Believe Me Now - Steven Curtis Chapman
How is this working out that so many artists with significance in my life (that I haven't listened to in awhile) are showing up on this list?
11. On Distant Shores - Five Iron Frenzy
The first repeat band, but not a bad one for sure.
12. The Remedy (I Won't Worry) - Jason Mraz
What a fun song... I'll always associate this with the summer after graduating from college and the reminder it served!
13. Grains of Sand - Sarah Masen
My favorite female vocalist of all-time finally shows up! I was getting nervous.
14. Fade to Grey - Jars of Clay
Who (besides me) thinks that Much Afraid was quite possibly their best album??
15. Will You Be Mine - Big Tent Revival
Good ol' Steve Wiggins!
This worked out pretty well, if I may say so myself. I'm sorta surprised that Sixpence didn't show up at all on this, nor did anything from any musicals, but that's the way it works out sometimes. If you haven't done this yet, do it.
As far as the rest of life, my German class finished today. I'll do my final translation over the weekend and then it'll be done. I will be able to focus primarily on reading for my comprehensive exams, while also working on my paper on Harry Potter and Personal Identity. I think the title may end up being "Will the real Harry Potter please stand up?", but we'll see if the papers comes together in a way that it makes sense for the paper to have that title. Also, on Monday evening, we fly out of Dallas to go to Tennessee for family vacation. We're returning to the same area we honeymooned not even 11 months ago, so we're definitely looking forward to that. Maybe in the next few weeks I'll get a chance to post something profound.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Late night/early morning thoughts...
It's quite late here in Waco, but I'm still up. The German translations had to be done, so I stayed up. Now I'm letting them set in a bit before looking at them again before bed, as there is a quiz tomorrow over the vocab in the sentences.
My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on Monday. I feel so blessed to have parents that have exemplified to me a good marriage. The whole family is meeting up in Tennessee in about 3 weeks for vacation and to celebrate the big anniversary! When I think about the fact that Jess and I have been married for a little more than 10 months, 30 years seems so far away. Between now and then, I have no idea what will happen, but the possibilities are exciting for sure!
The decision to do a five-week intensive German class while trying to study for my first set of comprehensive exams will not rank among my best decisions of all time. I'm just hoping to still have hair left when this summer is done!
Jess and I recently became members at our church down here. It's a baptist church... so I guess that means we're baptists now. However, we're a part of the CBF (Central Baptist Fellowship), not the Southern baptists. Our church has really been a blessing to us as we've been down here. I like to describe it as the church home I always longed for but never believed existed. It is quite liturgical, following the church calender and the lectionary, while incorporating moments of silence, the ringing of the bells, responsive readings, Scripture readings, and the passing of the peace of Christ to name a few.
The word from the insurance company is that we'll get our car back by June 30th. That is exciting.
I went on a bit of a spree this afternoon while taking a break from reading. On Tuesday, iTunes adds the new releases to their store, so I was browsing through it. As I was browsing, I stumbled upon an album from a CCM artist, which led me down many rabbit trails in my trip down memory lane. In addition to the purchases I made, I looked at songs by Bryan Duncan, Bob Carlisle, Wes King, Gary Chapman, Al Denson and others. I ended up buying two songs: "Save the World" by Eric Champion and "I Surrender All" by Clay Crosse. The first song takes me back to high school and the positive affiliations I make with this song. The second song is one of my favorite CCM songs as a song of personal commitment, although I must say I prefer my brother Jared's rendition of it.
Surrender is something that isn't easy for me, but something that I recognize the need for more and more in my life. To what or whom do I need to surrender? My wife? God's will? Love? God Himself? I think some of those answers are better than others... and some of those answers aren't necessarily different.
Ok, I think the scatteredness should come to an end now, but maybe sometime soon I'll get a solid, cohesive post that actually says something interesting!
My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on Monday. I feel so blessed to have parents that have exemplified to me a good marriage. The whole family is meeting up in Tennessee in about 3 weeks for vacation and to celebrate the big anniversary! When I think about the fact that Jess and I have been married for a little more than 10 months, 30 years seems so far away. Between now and then, I have no idea what will happen, but the possibilities are exciting for sure!
The decision to do a five-week intensive German class while trying to study for my first set of comprehensive exams will not rank among my best decisions of all time. I'm just hoping to still have hair left when this summer is done!
Jess and I recently became members at our church down here. It's a baptist church... so I guess that means we're baptists now. However, we're a part of the CBF (Central Baptist Fellowship), not the Southern baptists. Our church has really been a blessing to us as we've been down here. I like to describe it as the church home I always longed for but never believed existed. It is quite liturgical, following the church calender and the lectionary, while incorporating moments of silence, the ringing of the bells, responsive readings, Scripture readings, and the passing of the peace of Christ to name a few.
The word from the insurance company is that we'll get our car back by June 30th. That is exciting.
I went on a bit of a spree this afternoon while taking a break from reading. On Tuesday, iTunes adds the new releases to their store, so I was browsing through it. As I was browsing, I stumbled upon an album from a CCM artist, which led me down many rabbit trails in my trip down memory lane. In addition to the purchases I made, I looked at songs by Bryan Duncan, Bob Carlisle, Wes King, Gary Chapman, Al Denson and others. I ended up buying two songs: "Save the World" by Eric Champion and "I Surrender All" by Clay Crosse. The first song takes me back to high school and the positive affiliations I make with this song. The second song is one of my favorite CCM songs as a song of personal commitment, although I must say I prefer my brother Jared's rendition of it.
Surrender is something that isn't easy for me, but something that I recognize the need for more and more in my life. To what or whom do I need to surrender? My wife? God's will? Love? God Himself? I think some of those answers are better than others... and some of those answers aren't necessarily different.
Ok, I think the scatteredness should come to an end now, but maybe sometime soon I'll get a solid, cohesive post that actually says something interesting!
Monday, June 4, 2007
A Welcome and a Weekend
I have decided to make the switch from Xanga/Livejournal to blogger.com. I've been thinking of a good opening post for awhile, and although there have been a number of topics considered, the events of this weekend are just too much not to write about.
This weekend I went back to Indiana for a quick trip for Jay's high school graduation open house. I arrived in Fort Wayne late Friday night and flew out early on Sunday morning. I made it back to Berne with no problems at all. However, after being at my parents' house for about an hour, I get a phone call from my wife. She's in tears, as she was in an accident, hitting a parked vehicle while trying to find a friend's apartment. The car was not really drivable and she was shook up, but there were no injuries to her apart from a bruised ego, thankfully. We exchanged multiple phone calls over the next 14 hours or so as we were trying to take care of insurance issues and getting a rental car and all that jazz. Now, there is a nice little red car sitting in front of our apartment. I don't know why, but I've always found red cars to be a bit too flashy for me, and now having to drive one, my fears have been confirmed. However, that is not important to the story.
Saturday afternoon/evening I participated in Jay's graduation open house. My mom made far too much food, which she always does, but it was all excellent food. I also was able to reconnect with one of my favorite teachers from high school as well as a couple of dear friends that I hadn't spoken to since Christmas. Both conversations were welcome, as it is always nice to pick back up with people that you haven't seen for some time, and have it be as though you were never really apart.
I stayed up far too late with my family on Saturday evening, given that I had to be up at 4:45 to head to the airport for a 6:45 flight. My flight from Fort Wayne to Dallas was going very well up until we got about 100 miles from Dallas. The pilot came on the intercom and said that we would be in a holding pattern here for some time as Dallas was having thunderstorms. Ironically, when flying back from Josh and Stacy's wedding, we were unable to fly into Dallas right away due to storms. We eventually were re-routed to Fort Smith, Arkansas, as we began to run low on fuel. We got off the plane while waiting out the storm. Eventually, we reboarded and were off to Dallas on what was supposed to be a 40 minute flight. Everything was supposedly about an hour delayed at Dallas, so a 40 minute flight would leave me with 35 minutes to make my connecting flight to Waco. However, the 40 minute flight turned into a 60 minute flight. I began to get a little nervous as I now would have 15 minutes to make my connecting flight. We then waited at the gate for 10 minutes for someone to let us off the plane. I now had 5 minutes to make my connecting flight. However, the flight had been delayed an extra 10 minutes, so I had hopes of making it. I ran through the terminal (through 30 gates) with my bags, and made it to the gate with 7 minutes to spare. I walk up to the counter and ask about the Waco flight. They informed me that it closed about 2 minutes ago and I didn't make it. I pointed out the window and said that the plane is still at the gate, with the walkway connected to it. Is there any way I could make it on the plane? They said there was not, and I asked when I could get a flight to Waco. The next open spot on a plane was for Monday morning. This arrangement would not work, given that I have class in the morning and I'm not going to wait 20 hours for a flight when I'm a 2 hour drive away from my home. I asked about shuttling me to the Waco airport on the ground, but they said they didn't do that. I told them that I knew that wasn't true as they've done it for people I know. They then said that it has to be at the very least 10 people to do it, and that is only if there are not flights that day still or something like that. All this time, the walkway remained attached to the plane that I was supposed to be on. The flight time had been delayed an additional 15 minutes while I was talking to them, but they would still not let me on the plane. I finally asked about a refund for my ticket from Dallas to Waco as I'd just have my wife pick me up, and they informed me I'd have to speak to someone at the ticket counter, which is outside of security, which also meant that I would be unable to get any food or anything like that. I was informed that a partial refund (as opposed to a refund for the entire trip) cannot be handled at the airport, so they gave me the contact information to get my refund as well as a standby ticket so I could get through security to get food while waiting on my wife. I did check and see the likelihood of getting on the flight I was standby for, and it was overbooked... just like every flight from Dallas to Waco yesterday. There was no chance of me getting on since they were struggling to get people to get off. (On a side note, I did see the David Crowder Band across the waiting area. I thought about going to talk to them, but decided that I was in too fowl of a mood to enjoy an encounter like that. Anyway, I live in the same town as them. I'll probably run into them at Ninfa's or some place like that.)
So I waited for my wife to come pick me up in the little red rental car. I ate some lunch, translated some German, and read some Aristotle. Two hours later, she arrived, and we got back to our apartment around 5:00 pm. It was a long weekend to say the least, especially concerning transportation for the Schwartz family!
Before wrapping this up, I have one more beef with airports. On Friday night, my layover in Dallas was over suppertime. There was a Pizza Hut express near my gate, so I was going to eat there until I saw that it was $9.50 to get a personal pan pizza, breadsticks and pop... and there was only one pizza and one set of breadsticks in the warmer and the expiration time was about 10 minutes away, so they'd been there for awhile. I decided for $2 more, I could go to Chili's Too and get better, more filling food... so I did. It was good. But I don't understand why in the world they charge so incredibly much at airports for food apart from the fact that they can. Damn capitalism!
Anyway, welcome to the new home of my thoughts. I'll try to post semi-regularly with various thoughts about life and events that occur. Please comment when you like!
This weekend I went back to Indiana for a quick trip for Jay's high school graduation open house. I arrived in Fort Wayne late Friday night and flew out early on Sunday morning. I made it back to Berne with no problems at all. However, after being at my parents' house for about an hour, I get a phone call from my wife. She's in tears, as she was in an accident, hitting a parked vehicle while trying to find a friend's apartment. The car was not really drivable and she was shook up, but there were no injuries to her apart from a bruised ego, thankfully. We exchanged multiple phone calls over the next 14 hours or so as we were trying to take care of insurance issues and getting a rental car and all that jazz. Now, there is a nice little red car sitting in front of our apartment. I don't know why, but I've always found red cars to be a bit too flashy for me, and now having to drive one, my fears have been confirmed. However, that is not important to the story.
Saturday afternoon/evening I participated in Jay's graduation open house. My mom made far too much food, which she always does, but it was all excellent food. I also was able to reconnect with one of my favorite teachers from high school as well as a couple of dear friends that I hadn't spoken to since Christmas. Both conversations were welcome, as it is always nice to pick back up with people that you haven't seen for some time, and have it be as though you were never really apart.
I stayed up far too late with my family on Saturday evening, given that I had to be up at 4:45 to head to the airport for a 6:45 flight. My flight from Fort Wayne to Dallas was going very well up until we got about 100 miles from Dallas. The pilot came on the intercom and said that we would be in a holding pattern here for some time as Dallas was having thunderstorms. Ironically, when flying back from Josh and Stacy's wedding, we were unable to fly into Dallas right away due to storms. We eventually were re-routed to Fort Smith, Arkansas, as we began to run low on fuel. We got off the plane while waiting out the storm. Eventually, we reboarded and were off to Dallas on what was supposed to be a 40 minute flight. Everything was supposedly about an hour delayed at Dallas, so a 40 minute flight would leave me with 35 minutes to make my connecting flight to Waco. However, the 40 minute flight turned into a 60 minute flight. I began to get a little nervous as I now would have 15 minutes to make my connecting flight. We then waited at the gate for 10 minutes for someone to let us off the plane. I now had 5 minutes to make my connecting flight. However, the flight had been delayed an extra 10 minutes, so I had hopes of making it. I ran through the terminal (through 30 gates) with my bags, and made it to the gate with 7 minutes to spare. I walk up to the counter and ask about the Waco flight. They informed me that it closed about 2 minutes ago and I didn't make it. I pointed out the window and said that the plane is still at the gate, with the walkway connected to it. Is there any way I could make it on the plane? They said there was not, and I asked when I could get a flight to Waco. The next open spot on a plane was for Monday morning. This arrangement would not work, given that I have class in the morning and I'm not going to wait 20 hours for a flight when I'm a 2 hour drive away from my home. I asked about shuttling me to the Waco airport on the ground, but they said they didn't do that. I told them that I knew that wasn't true as they've done it for people I know. They then said that it has to be at the very least 10 people to do it, and that is only if there are not flights that day still or something like that. All this time, the walkway remained attached to the plane that I was supposed to be on. The flight time had been delayed an additional 15 minutes while I was talking to them, but they would still not let me on the plane. I finally asked about a refund for my ticket from Dallas to Waco as I'd just have my wife pick me up, and they informed me I'd have to speak to someone at the ticket counter, which is outside of security, which also meant that I would be unable to get any food or anything like that. I was informed that a partial refund (as opposed to a refund for the entire trip) cannot be handled at the airport, so they gave me the contact information to get my refund as well as a standby ticket so I could get through security to get food while waiting on my wife. I did check and see the likelihood of getting on the flight I was standby for, and it was overbooked... just like every flight from Dallas to Waco yesterday. There was no chance of me getting on since they were struggling to get people to get off. (On a side note, I did see the David Crowder Band across the waiting area. I thought about going to talk to them, but decided that I was in too fowl of a mood to enjoy an encounter like that. Anyway, I live in the same town as them. I'll probably run into them at Ninfa's or some place like that.)
So I waited for my wife to come pick me up in the little red rental car. I ate some lunch, translated some German, and read some Aristotle. Two hours later, she arrived, and we got back to our apartment around 5:00 pm. It was a long weekend to say the least, especially concerning transportation for the Schwartz family!
Before wrapping this up, I have one more beef with airports. On Friday night, my layover in Dallas was over suppertime. There was a Pizza Hut express near my gate, so I was going to eat there until I saw that it was $9.50 to get a personal pan pizza, breadsticks and pop... and there was only one pizza and one set of breadsticks in the warmer and the expiration time was about 10 minutes away, so they'd been there for awhile. I decided for $2 more, I could go to Chili's Too and get better, more filling food... so I did. It was good. But I don't understand why in the world they charge so incredibly much at airports for food apart from the fact that they can. Damn capitalism!
Anyway, welcome to the new home of my thoughts. I'll try to post semi-regularly with various thoughts about life and events that occur. Please comment when you like!
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