Random Abstract

With all of the preparations for our upcoming move, the uncertainty about when we will sell our house and what house we will be moving to, as well as keeping up with my regular responsibilities, my mind has been a little more random than normal...

Just finished watching American Idol. I'm glad that Jordin won, but we had a split vote in our house. Morgan and I were Jordin fans, but Anne and Sydney were Blake fans. Samantha couldn't split her affection, she was voting for Jor-ake. :) Last night, Anne and I were in a "call a thon" and I'm glad to see that my extra perseverance paid off!

Speaking of random music...yesterday I loaded the Yahoo music jukebox with the new album from Linkin Park. I was interested to hear what Terry Storch had been raving about. Then I decided to check out Gretchen Wilson, (Texas prep music) and I couldn't pass up Andre Previn playing Gershwin. Tonight I added the new Maroon 5 album. I've been waiting for this one...

Whatever happened to Basia? When I was in college (half a lifetime ago) she was the freshest voice around. I was reminded of her while I was waiting in line for takeout at Pei-wei. They were playing the track From now on (Live). I loved how great her voice sounded with just an acoustic guitar and simple percussion. I have a dream that one day I'll be waiting in line at a take out store, and hear my music played in the background. Lofty stuff, I know....

I had to open a new bank account since my current bank doesn't have any branches in Frisco. I looked online and found a Washington Mutual branch in Frisco, and there's one here too. Even though I originally chose it for the free checking account, I was pretty impressed with their approach to banking. (It may not be new, but I haven't shopped for a bank in a while.) Instead of the usual line up of tellers, these tellers stand at kiosks in the middle of the bank. The bank has a real open feel to it which I find refreshing. I'm always thinking of ways to make the church feel inviting, and it seems like these guys are doing the same thing with banks. I like their slogan too, "free checking, free smiles."

I just finished reading (actually listening to the audio versions) two books by Rob Bell. Velvet Elvis talks about doctrine and the basis of Christian faith. He uses an interesting metaphor and says that our interpretations of the bible and doctrines should be more like springs of a trampoline, rather than bricks that are built upon. I'm still processing that...

His second book is called Sex God. I liked this much more than I thought I would (I'm not a big fan of titles for shock value). The premise is that God has created us as both spiritual and sexual beings. If we are too far on the side of sexuality we become animalistic, but if we repress and ignore our sexuality we become angelic, which is not who God created us to be. You'll have to read the book to get the longer explanation. But, it makes a lot of sense and also is a great celebration of what true love is all about.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight. Oh, one more thing...20 bonus points to the first person who knows the significance of this post's title.