Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I’m horrible at updating it, but when I do, rest assured its good stuff! Also, be sure to swing by the /inthekitchen section for some great recipes. Leave comments if you try them and make some suggestions if you have your own good ones.

Tis the Season

I went to lunch with my buddy Jason last week and wanted to blog about a small experience I had afterwards. As I was pulling back into work, there was a man who appeared to be homeless. I was toting my left-over Meatball Hero sandwich from Hideaway Pizza which I had been looking forward to getting all week. As I passed him, I thought, “You should give your leftovers to him.” And when I felt that gentle nagging in my heart to help someone in need, I did what most people would do. I ignored it. I passed him by, went through the parking gate and proceeded to find a spot. I couldn’t escape the feeling this time, however, and knew God was telling me to seize this opportunity, so despite my efforts to be selfish, I turned around and went back  out the gate.

I pulled up near him and saw he was digging through his backpack. With a beer in his hand, I could see he had food in his backpack. I tried to  use this as an excuse to just keep driving, but the tug at my heart did not let up. I hollared out and told him I had a sandwich. I don’t know what kind of response I was expecting; maybe cries of jubilation, maybe a firm handshake and overwhelming gratitude. But I can tell you the response I didn’t expect was this: “Where’s it from?” I just wanted to yell at him, “Does it matter!? It’s food!” and speed off, but I simply responded to his question and told him it was leftover from lunch and he would probably enjoy it more than I would. His cynicism quickly turned to gratitude and I began to get the response I had assumed from the beginning. He thanked me with a smile on his face and told me to have a merry Christmas and that was the end of our interaction.

As soon as I pulled away, a verse we’re all familiar with immediately came to mind. “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14) It’s a verse we always hear around this time of year, because its a part of the Christmas story, but how different would our lives be if we lived out that philosophy every day?

One of the greatest experiences I’ve ever been privileged to be a part of was traveling down to New Orleans after Katrina to help a few families restart. While I haven’t been on any  missions trips since, it’s definitely something I want to do again. But one thing many of us forget is its not just third world nations that need help or natural disaster survivors that need rebuilding.

Franklin D Roosevelt put it great when he said “Peace, like charity, begins at home.” Jesus put it better, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” I’ve always said it this way; “‘Go into all the world’ sometimes means goign to our own back yards.”

Just a reminder this Christmas season as you hustle around to out-do each other in gifts. And a helpful reminder of what Christmas is all about from Linus: the blanket-toting evangelist.

Another Check Mark

Lifelist item #31 – See U2 in concert.

- Check

Wow. So hard to describe the experience other than wow. It was one I won’t ever forget and I’ll be able to share years down the road. I’m not going to babble on and on about it, but I’ll say a few things. First off, I’ll get pictures up soon. I really didn’t take a whole lot since we weren’t super close and all I had was my phone. Once Alicia uploads them, I’ll add them to my page so just look to the right and click on the facebook logo.

So first off, we were at Memorial Stadium in Norman, OK (OU Sooners) which seats 80,000+. There were some areas blocked off, but the field was also full, so I’m going to say 80,000 is probably pretty close. It was pure insanity! But awesome. I’m including a couple of youtube clips because my words won’t do it justice. The first was my favorite moment of the show. The band played One a song that has inspired the “ONE Campaign” – a humanitarian and advocasy group. Its one of my favorite U2 songs, but what made it so incredible is Bono ending it with a solo of just he and his famous Irish Falcon Guitar of Amazing Grace. The second video is the Edge and Bono doing an acoustic version of Stuck in a Moment and You Can’t Get Out of It. Just amazing. And since you’ll notice both of these songs are a little bit more simple, I also threw in a video of them performing a dance club remix to the song I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight. This will give you an idea of the production I experienced with this show.

And here’s a link to the setlist of the evening. Each song has a video (not of the Norman concert) of the songs being played.

Octobery fun!

Click here for the recipe

First off, I made this last night for Alicia’s birthday. It’s Chicken Parmesean and it was a success! Check out my “In The Kitchen” section for the recipe.

Well, October is off to a busy, but great start. We started by going down to Dallas for the weekend to visit Six Flags Over Texas. I’d never been, and it was a blast! We got there when the park opened at 10am Saturday morning and stayed for about 4 hours. We left and grabbed lunch, then went to see downtown and visit the JKF assassination site. After a riveting explanation of the conspiracy theories by the nearby hotdog vendor, we left to head back.

Click the photo for more pics from the trip!

After a brief nap, we returned to the park in the rain around 6pm. Apparently, unless it is a downpour or there is lightening, they don’t shut down the rides. It was apparently just short of a downpour and if you can imagine going on an 85mph roller coaster and having the rain hit you in the face, it was a bit stinging. But fun nonetheless. And we decided Six Flags in the rain is waaay better! It was a long day and we finally left just before they closed the park at 10pm.

The next day, on our way back to Tulsa we stopped by IKEA. I’d never been there, and the place was HUGE! Also, it provided for some birthday gift inspiration. After 3 hours of walking, we were finally on our way back home!

Monday, MercyMe was performing at the Tulsa State Fair and my station was hosting it. It ended up being a pretty nice evening despite some early worries of rain. We were told by many fair staff members that it was the best crowd they had seen so far! I also reached my goal of trying chocolate covered bacon on a stick. My expectations were destroyed. It was bad. In my 3 visits to the fair, I made it a goal to try as many fair foods as I could [afford]. Here’s the list!

• 

  Click photo for more pics from the fair!

  fried pickles

• fried snickers bar on a stick
• fried manicotti on a stick
• chocolate covered bacon on a stick
• carmel apple
• giant turkey leg
• amish moon pie (much like a regular moon pie but made by the Amish)
• roasted corn
• kettle corn
• corndog

I’ve still got a busy month left with, believe it or not, FIVE more concerts, not to mention church fall carnival, a few more remotes, and possibly a trip to Omaha for my nieces birthday!

Introducing Jesus

I have no real direction with this blog, so look out!

First of all, check out the life list! Number 29 – CHECK. I also threw up a recipe In the Kitchen for some delicious meatballs you might want to check out.

Secondly, I found out that Oklahoma is opening Black Bear Hunting Season on Thursday. I’ve never really been a big game hunter (other than the Big Game Hunter game at Old Chicago) but I think it’d be fun. So if anyone wants to come down to Oklahoma we could go bear-hunting! The season starts on October 1st and ends when the number of bears killed reaches 20 state-wide. I’ve got a 20-gauge shotgun at home, but assuming that wouldn’t be enough, I’d need to borrow a weapon.

So I found a great video by comedian, Steve Harvey. It really makes you think; How would we introduce Jesus to our friends? Would we shyly introduce him as an afterthought like the pesky little sibling who follows us around, or would we give him a proper introduction he deserves? Steve Harvey who has never made a name for himself as a Christian, makes some suggestions on how HE would introduce Jesus. And the crowd seems to give their opinion.

My Business Plan

Fig 1-1

I’m going to start a company that specializes in naps. If you live too far away from home to catch a quick nap over your lunch hour, you can just go to my store and sleep. There will be multiple sleeping options including hammocks, recliners, or the couch (see Figure 1-1 I drew at lunch). Obviously, your lunch hour is meant for lunch, so we’ll also offer soup and salad. Afterall, who doesn’t want to go to sleep with “warm soup-belly”.

As to not disturb other sleepers, no TVs would be allowed, but knowing different people fall asleep differently, every sleep station comes with the Pillowsonic Digital Stereo Pillow Speakers with a large sound library to choose from including; fan, hotel air-conditioner, muffled conversation, or your favorite TV program audio.

My staff will consist of motherly figures who will make you lie down, serve you your soup, and even tuck you in

My goal for old-age

I went to a CD release party for Josh Wilson last night and wanted to share a cool experience. If you haven’t heard of Josh, he is an artist on EMI-CMG Records who just released his second album. His first album Trying to Fit the Ocean in a Cup had the hit releases “3 Minute Song” and “Savior, Please”. We had him out in August of ‘08 for our Free Summer Concert Series at the Riverwalk, which is where he met his new wife, Becca. Her dad is the pastor of a church in town, which is why he had a release party in Tulsa. Josh is a great singer and songwriter but in my opinion, what sets him apart and has allowed for his climb in popularity is his ability to play the guitar and his skills with a loop-pedal are truly artistic. [A loop pedal records a sample of whatever is plugged into it, then plays it back and allows for layers to be recorded on top of it.]

So, I ended up going by myself to this concert and chose to sit near the outside edge in case I decided to leave early. It was, for the most part, a young crowd with the exception of some elderly, who my gut tells me, thought were just coming for a normal Wednesday night church service.

In front of me sat an elderly, very frail man, probably around 85 years old. He had great difficulty getting to his seat and as he shuffled down the pew, I thought, “boy is he in for a surprise.” It turned out I was the surprised one. Josh started his show with his own rendition of “Amazing Grace” (see below). Soon after he gets going the old man begins bobbing his head, then his foot begins tapping. Next come the claps, although his fraility made it difficult to clap on the beat, so he quickly switched to the air-keyboard. The smile on his face made it seem as though he was hearing this song for the first time.

So my goal for old age? I want to be like that guy! I want my love of music to continue to transform the way music continues to transform. You can get his newest album, Life is Not a Snapshot in stores now, or on iTunes.

More Meals In the Kitchen

I know this hardly counts as a post, but I put a few new recipes In the Kitchen. Best of all, most are semi-healthy. I’m also going to try to start organizing the recipes so they’re easier to find.

And expect a real post soon!

Thanks friends!

Award Nominee and Lifelist Item #37

First off, sorry for the lack of updates. I officially suck at it and will quit promising to get better (although, I will continue to try to get better).

So first off, I got a text the other morning from an old collegue that said he saw my name on the Echo Awards ballot for Promotions Director of the Year presented by Christian Music Broadcasters. I wasn’t notified of this at all so I’m not sure exactly how this process works, but as near as I can tell, for each market size (Major, Large, Medium, and Small) they nominate several people for each category. Each radio station is sent out the ballots and they vote on the winner. My station, KXOJ, falls in the “Large Market” category, which is determined by the potential audience size of our area. Large market is all markets from #26(Riverside/San Bernadino, CA) to #100(Boise, ID). Tulsa falls at #65 and Omaha/CB falls at #72 (Lincoln, NE is #172 by the way and Sioux City, IA is all the way down at #278). I know the nominations are more or less random (I later found out I was also nominated for On-Air Personality of the Year with a whopping 4 hours/wk), however, I’m still excited for the potential résumé bump. The CMB Echo Awards will be given out at a big radio conference in Orlando September 10-12th.

Last weekend Alicia and I attended the Gatesway Balloon Festival. Every year, tons of people come in and show off their hot-air balloons. At night, the balloons glow because of the fire inside of them. Unfortunately, it was quite windy that evening and only one balloon even attempted to inflate (unsuccessfully). The highlight of this trip, however, was the helicopter ride! They had fairly inexpensive helicopter rides they were offering which lasted about 10 minutes. I keep a life list of things I’d like to do one day and that was on it, so Alicia took me on a ride so I was offiically able to cross of “Ride in a helicopter”! I’ve got my tickets to see U2 in October so I’ll be able to cross off #31 (and wouldn’t it be nice, #23) and she promises some tricks up her sleeve before then that will let me cross off another! So I’m making headway!

I told her to remind me to video the experience so I can post another vidcast as I didn’t think about doing it for the helicopter ride! I did catch some pictures though, so here they are below!

Omaha is my Homaha

Well its been a week but I’m finally getting around to posting this. My girlfriend, Alicia, and I made a trip up to Omaha for the start of the College World Series and to see some family and friends. It was really a great trip! Here’s the highlights.

We got into town late Friday night, then Saturday hit up Game 1 of the CWS with my old college roommate, Joel, along with some of his family. Afterwards, we spent some time with my sister, Karin, and grilled out some delicious Pineapple Brats and shot off fireworks.

On Sunday, we drove out to Oakland, IA and visited my old home-church. I got to see some old friends, and got to see dad preach, which is always awesome. We visited my hometown on the way back and had lunch with my grandma. Perhaps the best part of that day was at my parents house though. I’d told Alicia about my house growing up and she had indicated how envious she was of everything that came with living out in the country. We got to the house and dad was gardening so we said hello, then began to walk inside. As we were going towards the house, we spotted a deer crossing the yard like a picturesque moment. We hung at the house for a bit, then headed to my other sister, Stephanie’s house to grill out with the family. We had a great time playing basketball and playing with the kids out on the back patio.

Monday was a full day but a GREAT day! We got up early and visited Omaha’s Henry Doorley Zoo. Its one of the top zoo’s in the nation and with good reason! While there, I got a phone call from the Sports Animal, a sister station of the station I work for. The host of the mornign show knew I was visiting CWS so he called to get a live update. I was a little unprepared but was glad for the opportunity. I included the clip below. We spent nearly 6 hours there before finally seeing everything we wanted to see. We finished up and we were pooped! As we were leaving we commented on how we wish we had a hot tub to relax in. That gave me the idea to call up the water park I used to work for and see if my former employement still had any pull. Thanks to Christi and the kind folks at Coco Key Water Resort, we had a nice relaxing afternoon in the water!

We had planned on meeting some good friends of mine for a double date but had some conflicting schedules so we moved those plans to Tuesday and instead had a date night with just the two of us. Even though the whole vacation was kind of an “escape date” for us both, we really didn’t get a lot of time with just the two of us so it was nice. We went to the Old Market and ate at Spaghetti Works, then wandered around for a while. I showed her some of the sites including the big slides! I think she enjoyed them!

On Tuesday we did another baseball game along with my dad, then that evening went on our double date which included dinner at Rick’s Cafe Boatyard, ice cream at Ted & Wally’s, and finished it off with a gondola ride around the big fountain at the Heartland of America.

Wednesday was just a travel day, but we still enjoyed it nonetheless! I put a few photos up here but you can also visit my facebook and check out my photos by clicking the facebook logo on the right side of the screen.

Sports Animal Broadcast

I’ve been in the kitchen

New post under In The Kitchen. Asparagus Carbonara – with bacon! Mmmmm… Bacon.