Best Compliment You Can Give A Band (Styx)

I tried, unsuccessfully (thank goodness), to blow my home theater speakers watching the Styx Grand Illusion / Pieces Of Eight DVD.  

Those two albums from the late 70′s are so great.  The band plays both albums back to back.  It was the first time I’ve ever heard songs like Castle Walls and Aku Aku performed live. 

Here’s something about Styx that I think sets them apart (at least for me). When you go back and listen to albums like this, you find yourself thinking, “Ok, this is my favorite Styx song”. Then the next song starts and you think,  ”Ok, this is my favorite Styx song.”  

 

And the cycle repeats.

 

I have a feeling for some musicians that may be the best compliment they can receive.

Desert Island Albums

In my blog reading, I’ve come across some fellow bloggers who’ve taken the time to list the 10 albums they would want with them on a desert island. It’s a ridiculous notion, really, to contemplate not only landing on a desert island, but remembering to bring your 10 favorite albums.

With my smartypants on, I decided right away that I would pick my 10 favorite box sets, but then decided to make it hard and exclude all box sets and greatest hit compilations. There goes my beloved copy of Slim Whitman’s Greatest Hits.

So if I’m stuck on a desert island, I’m hoping it’s not a deserted desert island. If so, I’d be sitting around playing euchre with Gilligan, John Locke and Brooke Shields (all whom forgot to bring their 10 favorite CDs) and jamming to these classic albums.

What are your 10 desert island discs?

The Age Of Plastic – The Buggles
90125 – Yes
II – Chicago
Out Of The Blue – ELO
2112 – Rush
Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd
A Night At The Opera – Queen
The Sweet – Sweet
Toto – Toto
Asia – Asia

Honorable mention:

Difford & Tilbrook – Difford & Tilbrook
War – U2
Can You Still Feel? – Jason Falkner

How To Ruin A Song? Make A Christian Version

I’m sure there a lot of ways to ruin a good song, however near the top of the list for me is making a Christian version of the song especially by changing the lyrics altogether. This was a pet peave of mine for a long time and part of what turned a lot of people off to Christian radio in the mid 80′s.

If you want to sing these original songs to God and you feel they are appropriate, then please just do it. If you have to change the lyrics, then maybe you shouldn’t cover the song at all?

I can’t say this without also thanking musicians that have become Christians and have not gone back into their past and changed or re-rerecorded their songs. Among these: MC Hammer and Lou Gramm (Foreigner)

A friend and I have started a list of songs that (in our opinion) should never have been “Christianized”. Here is the beginning of this list:

1. Some Kind Of Wonderful by Grand Funk – Mark Farner
2. Lonely People by America – Dan Seals
3. Broken Wings by Mr. Mister – I can’t remember the band, but trust me, it was not good
4. My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion – The Joshua Band
5. Jesus Just Left Chicago by ZZ Top – Just kidding, but imagine how bad this would be?

Are there others I’m missing?

The “OMG Dad You’re Annoying” Wave Off

When you’re the parent of a teenager who is dropping your child off at a friend’s house, you wait until they are in the door.

This is what you do. You are a good parent.

The teenage boy is absolutely horrified by this, especially if the friend’s house belongs to a girl. This is when the child flails their arms wildly trying to get you to leave before the door opens.

We call this the “OMG Dad You’re Annoying” wave off.

Thank you Collin for recently refraining from such wave. You are growing up so fast.

How To Get A Song Out Of Your Head

Start by playing the song all the way through. If anyone interrupts the song, start it over. This purges the system.

Then, you must immediately play any* song by J. Geils Band three times in a row. Again, no interruptions or you should start over.

This is also the cure for hiccups and is being tested on monkeys with brain cancer.

* Please note this does not work with the song “No Anchovies Please” off of the Love Stinks record.

A Hopeful Browns Fan

How To Schedule A Yammer Message For Later Delivery

Here goes my most geeked out blog post ever.

This is for Yammer users who want to schedule a Yammer message for posting to their Yammer network at a later time.

We use this at my company, Intrapromote, for staff announcements on new blog posts set to publish the following day.

So, you want to schedule a Yam to hit your Yammer network feed at a certain time? Yammer doesn’t have this feature, but here’s how to make it happen.

What you’re going to do is create an email and schedule it to send to your Yammer network at the time you want it to hit your Yammer network feed. IMPORTANT: You will need Boomerang For Gmail or some other email scheduling program. My instructions below are based on using Boomerang.

1. In your Yammer Account Settings (Edit Account > Notifications) uncheck the box next to “Require me to confirm my email before it’s posted”

2. Compose a new email From the email address registered in your Yammer account

3. In the To field, put [your yammer network name]@yammer.com

4. In the Subject field, put the subject of your yam or leave blank

5. In the Body field, enter your Yammer message

6. Schedule your email to send at the time you want the message to hit your Yammer network. With Boomerang, Click Save Now, then click Send Later, assign your time and click Confirm.

Your Yammer message will be emailed to Yammer at the time you assigned and hit your Yammer feed about 30 seconds afterwards.

That’s some serious geeked out tweakage!

Some Thoughts On Giving More in 2012

I’m reading a book that’s main focus is about a “hole” in the Gospel. The author’s main point is that the Gospel of Christ is more than just believing, it’s also about living it out through tangible expressions of our faith.

I had a bit of an epiphany recently. I was walking around totally engulfed in myself when suddenly a question popped into my head. It was actually kind of simple yet profound. The question was: “What have I done today that isn’t about ME?” Ouch, right?

That question hasn’t left me. The more I think about it, the more simple it becomes. And I wonder what 2012 might be like if we asked ourselves this every day and had an answer other than “wow, not much”. Could this take us a small step away from our self absorbed mentality and move us toward intentionally and tangibly acting out God’s love like He intends us to do?

Jesus tells a story about a rich man who isn’t willing to forsake everything for Him. That’s a little bit hard to relate to, the idea of forsaking EVERYthing. It really makes you wonder what kind of disciple am I really willing to be. But what if we start by just forsaking SOMEthing? What if we asked ourselves “what did I do today that wasn’t about me?” so often that it really got ingrained into who we are and we see what God does with it? Then, I think we get closer to the Gospel overflowing from our head and our heart to our hands and our feet.

The Ausbury family will be looking for ways we can really act out our faith this year both individually and together as a family. We’re setting up a bulletin board so we can routinely see what this looks like.

An interesting point made in the book I’m reading refers to Matthew 25 where Jesus gives a glimpse at the final judgement where the goats and sheep are divided. The author’s point is not about making sure you are a believer so that you fall into the right group (the sheep), he points out that if you look further into Matthew 25 you’ll see that the goats and sheep are separated based not on their confession of Christ, but on how they acted out their faith to the poor, the sick, etc. I never saw this verse that way, but I think it’s a good point.

I wrote a 2012 version of Matthew 25:35-36 to consider:

For I was hungry while you enjoy all you can eat buffets.
I was a stranger and you went out of your way to avoid me.
I was thirsty while you actually threw away bottles of water.
I needed clothes while you have 3 of the same turtleneck.
I was sick and you acted like I had it coming.
I was in prison and you said I was getting what I deserved.

Anyone up for giving more than you’ve ever given in 2012? I hope to be blogging about these things this year.

Baby Jesus 2011

It’s time for the 4th annual Where’s Baby Jesus annual tradition at our house. Here are links to the last three years: 2008, 2009 and 2010 (amazing to see how Collin has grown the last 4 years!)

So this year, Collin didn’t hesitate to let Baby Jesus take a camel carriage ride all by himself. As you can see from this picture, Baby Jesus looks quite content and like he’s digging this ride! The camel has that look on his face that says, “Uh huh, that’s right…Son of God right here!”

 

Groupon Poupon

I was talking with a friend today who was frustrated after trying to use a Groupon right before it expired — and was treated poorly once the business knew he had a Groupon.

I’ve noticed this as well. We bought a weekend at a bed and breakfast near Atwood Lake, OH. Here’s how the phone call went when we called to set up a reservation:

“Hello, we’d like to see if there is any availability for the last weekend in October.”

“Do you have a Groupon?”

“Yes, in fact we do.”

“The only availability we have is Thanksgiving weekend.”

“We can’t come then. Do you have any other availability?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now. Can you call back? I’m making pancakes.”