A sad farewell...

Greetings, friends. I have long feared this day would come. I had hoped that my new job might afford me more time but after working until 2:00 AM, followed by another night where I was working until 10:00 - I'm beginning to realize that I was wrong.

I've never wanted to have a blog where updates suddenly cease leaving readers wondering if the author got eaten by wild dogs. Not only do I enjoy writing but I also enjoy replying to all your posts, which too takes time. It's very sad for me to say but I am going to have to end this blog as I cannot give it the care it deserves.


Levi looks to the future.

I am going to continue blogging in 2 forms: First, I am going to develop my business blog, and write posts that are far more boring than ever. Second, I plan to start a music/movie review blog with Sadie in the future but only when I have the time to actually design the thing. I don't know if either will interest you but I hope you stop by - if only to say hi.


We've had some laughs, haven't we...

Bo, carry the torch, brother. I'm sorry that I was not strong enough to stay the course.

Sadie, it's been fun, cousin. I hope that our blogging paths may meet again in the future.

Zombieslayer, you were a late and very welcome addition to our blogging family. I will be sure to stop by your anti-zombie compound when I have free time.

I wish to thank, Joe, Mom, Roz, Claire, Walker, Simon, Amber, Zach, Aunt Melanie, David Floyd, Natalie, Ben Ross, Bizarro Christopher Paolini and everyone who stopped by to offer their opinion. God bless you.

Let me leave you with this very special message, which you can print out and hang on your wall if you want:


May your arrows be sharp, feet be fleet, and daggers sharp too.

Three artists to check out - Folk to Rock to Metal

So the Kings lost again last night, but at least it wasn't the debacle that occurred the night before. In fact, once Bibby and Peja stop building brick houses I think we're going to have a team that's pretty dang scary. But in other news...

Folk: Derek Webb & Sandra Mccracken


Sandra, me and Derek

So about one week ago I had the pleasure of attending a concert featuring Derek Webb and his wife, Sandra Mccracken. I also managed to get my picture taken with them. Yes folks, that's me in the picture above. I've grown about 3 feet and gained about 150 pounds since you last saw me but don't be fooled.

The concert was great. It was all acoustic but kept me on the edge of my seat for the length of the show. Sandra (We're so close that I only need to use her first name) has a voice like an angel. I could've listened to her sing all night. Towards the end of her set Derek (me and D-man are on a first-name-basis too) came up to accompany her and they sounded especially beautiful together. One of the songs they sang together was "Trade my love", which has some very moving lyrics:

I will not sing songs
I will not speak words
I will stay with you
and all that you carry,
I will trade my love...
For all your fears

Take what you will from them but those words remind me of God's love for us. How he took all our fears, sin and shame and gave us his love. Think of the verse: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."

Click here to listen to 'Trade my love' by Sandra Mccracken and Derek Webb

Rock: The Fray



I found these while surfing the radio and I was instantly caught by the lead singer's voice. It's not amazingly original but it's really got a lovely quality to it. The Fray have that Folk Rock thing going that works so well for The Counting Crows and The Gin Blossoms. They have some highly enjoyable music so check them out.

Click here to listen to 'Cable Car' by The Fray

Metal: Dream Theater



One day, I rode to lunch with a friend from work and he proceeded to crank the volume to nearly ear-splitting levels and played a 13-minute song by a band I'd never heard of called "Dream Theater". I was so impressed by the song (it was called "The Glass Prison") that I immediately rushed home to *ahem* download it.

The musicianship on this song will absolutely blow your mind. I don't think I've heard a band with each musician so wickedly talented. The song's pretty hardcore but I've got to share it. Zombieslayer and Zach I think you should really check this out.

Just in case your wondering, this song as about the drummer's battle with alcoholism.

Click here to listen to 'Glass Prison' by Dream Theater

Just for those who are still reading this, that wasn't really me in the first picture. *Ha ha, sniff* we had a laugh, didn't we? Here's a recent picture of yours truly to clear up any doubts. (I'm the guy on the left.)



Cheers.

Things can change...

Rosa Parks

I know I'm late to the party on this but there's something about the photo above that stuck a chord in me. It hit me that 50 or so years ago it was okay to in America to opress a human being because of their skin color.

I was raised in a very Christian, Californian home with numerous ethnicities in my liniage, so racism wasn't something I ever really thought about. Racists were wierd people who lived either, a long time ago or in small backwoods pockets of The South.

But it wasn't very long ago that we we're seriously debating if black kids should be allowed to go to the same school as white kids. Heck, even ride on the same bus. If someone even suggested that today in a decent public place, I know that America would react with digust. But just a little while ago our Sentators we're debating this in our capital!

Now, 50 years later, there's still problems but it encouraged me to see how a society can change and I wanted to pass it along. If you're getting discouraged by things you're seeing, if you're upset by the opression and injustice in the world around you, remember Rosa Parks and take a little hope. Things can change. Don't give up or stop trying.

Crushes on fictional characters

Ahhh, finally I can sit down and write a post. It's been a busy week, striking out on my own here, but I'm loving every minute of it. However, I don't feel like writing about my work or anything really serious. Let's talk about crushes (or "sunflowers" for my midwestern friends). Specifically crushes on fictional characters. I hope my beautiful wife doesn't mind me talking about this. (It's not like I'm going to get together with any of these girl after all.)

My first real crush, the first time I felt the pangs of affection, was on a fictional character: Princess Amanda. I was ten-years-old at the time. That's her, slaying the dragon in the picture below.



She was a character in a wonderful book, Tales of the Kingdom which was an allegory of Christianity. Unlike most modern Christian fantasy, this remains one of the more lovely and skillfully written books I've ever read. I still pull it out and read a chapter or two every now-and-then. And when I was eleven I really had feelings for Amanda, one of the main characters. I remember thinking that it was kind-of sad being in love with a person that only existed in fantasy. Needless to say, it didn't last. (An interesting side note: My first crush on a real girl was purely because I thought her name was Amanda -- a sort-of real life incarnation of Princess Amanda, I assumed. It came as a shock when I learned her name wasn't Amanda. It's nice to remember how deep I was.)

Moving on, another young crush (and a less-obscure one) was on some girl named Tami Stronach - better known as The Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story.



I always thought Lana Lang was cute. If I was Superman I would've gone for her instead of Lois.



And while we're in the Superman universe, when the right artist was drawing Supergirl I was smitten. But with Supergirl it definitely depended on the artist. With her it went from attraction to feeling repulsed, depending on who was at the drawing board.



(While we're on the subject, probably my wierdest crush ever was on a lady who did the voice-over for a radio commercial. I was about nine and every night I'd listen to the radio program, Adventures in Odyssey while I went to sleep. During the program a commercial would regularly air, narrated by a missionary women, asking for financial aid for starving African children. "Your donation can bring these children life," she said in a rich foreign accent. I can still hear her right now. I have no idea why I liked her... But I did. And speaking of Adventures in Odyssey, for those of you who listen to the show, I used to have a crush on Lucy Cunningham-Schultz. Yes, I'm serious. Don't worry, those two are about as weird as it gets.)

Modern-day fictional-crushes?

1) Renee Zellweger as Nurse Betty.
2) Dawn Tinsley from The Office
3) Elizabeth from the Pride & Prejudice TV Series
4) Eowyn from the Lord of the Rings (when she's not all intense).

Okay, now that I've fully embarrassed myself it's your turn. What fictional characters have you fallen for? I know for a fact that my sisters always liked Tramp from Lady and the Tramp so I'm pretty confident that I'm not alone in this.

Work: Chapter 2

Me in my ex-cube. I have no idea where this picture came from. I just found it in a desk drawer today.

Thanks for the patience folks. Sorry that I haven't been around for the past week.

Today was my last day at Sutter Health. It was odd packing up my desk and discovering long-forgotten stuff: An ancient CD from MacWorld, a horribly outdated book on JavaScript, a birthday card thanking me for my hard work at Sutter. Weird.

It was even stranger saying goodbye to people that I've spent the majority of the past five years of my life with. People that, no matter what -- if I'm grumpy, tired, excited -- I see every day. Some I've connected with, others I haven't. But it was strangely sad to shake hands and say goodbye. There's definitely some folks that I'll miss.

Driving home for the last time was odd too. I did my usual routine: Listened to Grant and Mike argue with callers about The Kings, stopped by my favorite mini-mart for a grape juice then proceeded to have my usual near-nervous breakdown while I battled traffic. Finally I turned the corner into my driveway and my little boy, Jack ran out to meet me. He had made me a "Congratulations" sign on leaving my job and couldn't wait to show it to me.

I'm glad that I'm closer to home now. I'll have about 3-4 extra hours each day and I'm excited to use them. I look at how God took care of me and my family through the rough times in the economy (actually he did more than just take care of us, he pampered us) and I know that he'll take care of us now. culturezoo is his and I want to run it like he'd want me to.

I'm opening a new chapter in my worklife and I want Jesus writing more of the plot. I prefer his endings to mine.

Now I need to check in with the rest of your blogs and see what's been going on.

Pardon moi

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note that I'm going to be slightly absent from blogging this week. I've lost any semblance of free-time at the moment. Things will change once I've finally left my job. So you can expect a decent post in the near future. Until then...

I quit, I quit, I quit. I quit, Mister White.

Aaugh! I just gave my two week notice at my job of 5 years! Aaugh!

I can't believe it. I just quit.

culturezoo here I come.