Excitement

We had a pretty low-key weekend but it was good. Saw various family members and hung out with friends a little. DeAnne decided that she wanted to watch all the Harry Potter movies again so we started that on Saturday. She went ahead without me Sunday afternoon and I think she finished up last night after I went to bed. Watching them just got me excited for the new one coming out in November, the trailer for which came out yesterday. You can check it out here. It's awesome. November seems like it's forever away now.

So yeah, I'm excited about that. I'm also excited for Wednesday Night Band. We practiced yesterday afternoon and it was the first time we've been able to practice with Andrew, our drummer. It went well though and he added a whole new dynamic that I think is really going to take things up a level.

That's about it for the most part. Like I said, we had a low-key weekend, which is fine by me. Work has been crazy the past couple of weeks. We're running up on a big deadline to get some regulatory stuff done and we're all running around like headless chickens trying to get all this stuff done so that we're compliant. We're getting there though. In fact we should be able to wrap up today and maybe after that we can take a step back, catch our breath and then actually get some real work done.

See you on Thursday.

--Paul

Titles are the Hardest Part

If there's one thing I struggle with when writing this blog, it's titles. Just the nature of the thing, I guess. Of course, now I'm grasping for a topic, so who knows? All right, we'll go with Wed. night band.

Wednesday nights are still going well. We still have a few kinks to work out here and there, but I feel like we're getting a little bit better each week. Considering we only get to practice for an hour or two each week, I think we've done really well. The important thing though is that I feel like we really are leading the youth into a deeper worship experience. Each week seems to have its rough spots at the beginning but once we settle in and have a little fun with the first couple of songs, there always seems to come a moment when the Spirit hits and you can just feel the whole group worshipping. It's a really special moment and the last couple of weeks it's led in to Garrett's sermon really well.

We also had a good time going out to eat with Bryan, Adrienne, Amy and Garrett last night after services. We hit the Huddle House and it was as good as it ever has been. We don't eat there often, and I've never eaten anything that wasn't breakfast related but I've rarely had a bad experience there.

No major plans for the weekend. We've reached the point where I'm going to be cutting grass each week, so I'll be doing that Saturday morning but outside of that, we haven't planned anything in particular. I hope you all have a good weekend and I'll see you on Tuesday.

--Paul

Upgrade

The new version of the operating system that runs on the iPhone and the iPod Touch came out yesterday. Now called "iOS 4", it added several cool new features. The biggest one for me though, and the one I started using immediately, was application folders. You can now group apps on the home screen and when you click on the group, it opens a sub-window with the apps in it. Before the upgrade last night, I was up to four pages of apps to have to swipe though. Now I'm back down to a single screen. Because my iPod is a little older, I missed out on multitasking, but that's not a huge deal breaker. I don't find myself in a situation where I need it very often.

Going back over the weekend, it was good. We had a good Father's Day hanging out with both my Dad and DeAnne's Step-Father. We got to go swimming with Bryan and Adrienne a couple of times and I managed to get the grass cut Saturday morning before it got blazing hot that afternoon.

We also spent the later part of Saturday buying, blanching and bagging peas. I know, there's a certain amount of city in us that we just can't bring ourselves to shell peas, but it's just so much easier to buy them shelled and put them up from there. We have actually talked about a garden but we feel like we need to get a freezer first. That would require us to make room for it in the storage room and that brings up an entire set of new issues. So for now, we buy and cram what we can into our fridge's freezer. It's not a perfect system, but it works for right now.

--Paul

More Games!!!

Actually, I'm going to try and keep the game talk to a minimum today.

Let's start with Sony. They're doing 3D on the PS3 and they've got a motion controller too, called "Move". Sony seems like they're trying to take motion controls to the hardcore gamer and I'm not totally convinced it's going to work. They definitely don't seem to be going after the Wii crowd like Microsoft is doing. They may have better tech for gameplay though. We'll just have to wait and see how it shakes out. The 3D thing though. Yeah, maybe it's kind of cool, but I don't know if I'm ready to spend a four-hour gaming session wearing 3D glasses and that's just the minor problem. The major problem is cost. Sure, the PS3 is going to do 3D with just a system upgrade that will be downloaded. Your T.V. is not though. As it stands today, 3D is a $3,000 to $4,000 investment in new tech. I think that's a tough sell for the average gamer.

Then there's Nintendo. Nintendo didn't have a new motion control system to show off. They've been doing that for four years now. So instead of showing off new control systems like the other guys, they showed games and they were pretty awesome. New Zelda, new Donkey Kong Country, new Goldeneye, a new party game, new Metroid, new Kirby, new Kid Icarus. It was like a love-fest for anyone who's ever owned a Nintendo console. Just about every classic franchise Nintendo owns was represented and it was incredible. Then they had the new DS, the 3DS. Yes, it does 3D but where it differs with Sony's approach is that it does 3D without the glasses. It also does 3D on the screen it comes with. No word on price, but knowing Nintendo, they're going to be looking to sell a lot of these when they come out.

Well, I spent more time on games than I thought I would. Sorry.

Outside of the game world, last night was the first full night of "Wednesday Night Band". We played a couple of songs last week, but this week we did a full, four song worship service. It went pretty well. There were a few rough spots, but it was all for the Lord and I feel like He was lifted up and by the time we were done, everyone seemed to be in the right mindset to hear from Him which is what the band is there for.

--Paul

Games!!!

As I mentioned last week, E3 starts this week and Microsoft kicked it off yesterday with their press event. They showed several games that I'll have to have including Fable 3 and Gears of War 3 but the main thrust of their show was their motion control system, now called "Kinect"( formally Project Natal).

Microsoft seems to really be going after the Wii crowd with Kinect. All the games they showed looked like HD counter-parts to Wii games. I'm not sure that it's going to matter though. While they're going after the Wii crowd, I think it's pretty obvious that Kinect is something that goes beyond waving a controller around. The fact that there isn't a controller, just your body seems to come across very well.

I said it last year and I'm still saying it: What Microsoft is doing with interfaces with Kinect may be more important that what they're doing with games with Kinect. Being able to wave at the xbox to sign in, being able to navigate menus with the wave of a hand, being able to push buttons and so on and so on. All of it has huge applications outside of the Xbox. Put the Kinect cameras into TVs, Tivos, PCs and you have a whole new world of operating the devices that we use every day. And that's just with your hands. They've done what appears to be incredibly strong voice recognition so that you can say "Xbox ______" and it will likely do what you told the Xbox to do. Play, Pause, Stop and selection commands were all shown off to great effect. Again, I was just as excited last year about the interface capabilities as I was the games and the same is still very true this year. If Microsoft will license this technology to other companies, thing could get very interesting, very quickly.

Sony and Nintendo are up the next couple of days. For those of you who have no interest in this stuff, I know, I'm sorry, but this is probably what you can expect the next couple of blogs. Hand in there.

--Paul

5 Years

So I was planning on blogging this morning in order to wish DeAnne a happy anniversary today. I didn't realize that when I left my blog yesterday at two things I love that happen in June that she would actually call me out in the comments about not talking about our anniversary. Now it just looks like I'm responding to her comment and that I did forget. I promise you, I did not forget, it was all a plan and as usual, DeAnne managed to blow it up in my face. Anyway, on to what I had planned to say.

Today marks five days since DeAnne and I got married. I've heard that it's good luck for it to rain on your wedding day. I don't believe in luck, but if I did, then I would have to say that we should have it running out our ears. The day we got married, the first tropical storm of the year landed due south of Andalusia and then moved directly over us. It rained most of the day and the wind was blowing 30+ MPH the entire time. In a way, it was appropriate. During the five years that we've been married, we've faced many storms in our lives. I firmly believe that we met and were married in God's time though because we've clearly made one another stronger and together we've been able to weather things that we never could have faced on our own.

DeAnne, I love you. I've said it more times than I can imagine and I intend to keep saying it until the day I die. Thank you for loving me. I don't always understand how you manage to but I thank God every day that you do.

There's a song that, at some point, DeAnne and I started singing back and forth as a joke. Over time, the joke became a reminder of our love and became kind of a theme for our relationship. You can't really dance to it, but if we were to have a song that was "our song", then this song would be it. A lot you already know the song I'm talking about. I want to close today's blog with the lyrics to it.

They say we're young and we don't know

We won't find out until we grow

Well I don't know if all that's true

'Cause you got me and baby, I got you

They say our love won't pay the rent

Before it's earned, our money's all been spent

I guess that's so, we don't have a pot

But at least I'm sure of all the things we got

I got flowers in the spring

I got you to wear my ring

And when I'm sad, you're a clown

And if I get scared, you're always around

Don't let them say your hair's too long

'Cause I don't care, with you I can't go wrong

Then put your little hand in mine

There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb

Babe

I got you, babe

I got you babe

I got you to hold my hand

I got you to understand

I got you to walk with me

I got you to talk with me

I got you to kiss goodnight

I got you to hold me tight

I got you, I won't let go

I got you to love me so

Babe

I got you, babe

I got you babe

--Paul

Geeking Out

June is just a great month. It may actually be my favorite. Summer gets kicked off, vacations are happening, and above all else two events that I look forward to every year take place.

The first started this past Monday. Every June Apple holds it's annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) and for the past four years (including this one) Steve Jobs has used his keynote speech at the beginning of the conference to introduce the newest iPhone. This year's iPhone 4 looks just amazing. It looks pretty much like the prototype that was leaked a month or two back, so we already knew that it was a good looking phone, but the real surprises were in the software. Apple is bringing 720p HD video recording to the phone and with it they're bringing their iMovie video editing software. You'll be able to take video, edit it and then share it via email or youtube right from your phone. They've also added a front facing camera so that you can now do video chat. There were a couple of other features they showed off but a lot of it was re-tread from the OS preview they did several months ago. All good stuff and it makes me want an iPhone really, really badly.

The other event is the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, that starts next week. This is the yearly video game convention where all the major video game companies show off the games they're working on for the near (and sometimes, not so near) future. There's always a lot of one-ups-man-ship involved and it's always interesting to see who puts on the best show. Microsoft will get things kicked off and will probably focus on their motion detection system, Project Natal. Sony will also be talking about motion control and will probably have a lot of games that make use of the Sony Move controls. Finally, look for Nintendo to show of the next version of it's handheld system, the 3DS, that will have a 3D game screen and retain the touch screen aspects of the original DS. There's always a few surprises to, so look for me to be in full geek mode next week.

--Paul

We're Back

Myrtle Beach was pretty awesome. As I'm sure you noticed from the lack of posts last week, we stayed pretty busy. The weather was a little iffy the first couple of days so we filled that time with a little shopping and a trip to the Ripley's Aquarium. We did get some beach time in and managed to not get burned. We saw one dinner show while we were there, the Dixie Stampede. I was afraid it was going to be pretty hokey but it turned out to be a lot of fun and the food was far better than I ever thought it would be. The best meal we ate though was at a Brazilian restaurant called Rioz. We've never had the chance to eat at a Brazilian steakhouse before and the experience did not disappoint. It was expensive, but I think that DeAnne and I got our money's worth out of it.

The other big thing that we did was we got our picture taken holding a baby tiger. There was a preserve in the area and they had a station at a shopping area where they brought some tigers to each day for the public to have their picture taken. We only got to hold the tiger for a few brief seconds but it was still a pretty amazing experience. DeAnne has the pictures but she hasn't scanned them in yet. I'm sure as soon as she gets a chance she'll have them up. It was the one thing that she really wanted to do while we were there and I think it pretty much made the trip for her.

Other than that we did a good bit of shopping. There were two outlet malls and a couple of open-air shopping centers, so DeAnne was pretty much in heaven. We also went on a guided tour of the area that my Mom had set up. We drove around in a Jeep and got to hear a lot about the history of the area. It was really interesting and we got to see a lot of stuff that we never would have thought to look for.

It was a great time and it ended way to quickly but it's good to be back home. We got back early enough Sunday that we were able to make it to church Sunday night and it was a great way to cap off the week. See you on Thursday.

--Paul