A Community of Carving

Last week, my friends and I carved pumpkins at my house. It was my first time and it rocked!
We soon found out that pumpkins go bad super fast as seen here.

Defiance - December 12, 2008

UPDATE:
If you can't see the quicktime trailer above, here is a youtube trailer:

Halloween, the Airborne, & Three Hole Punch Jim

Tomorrow is Halloween. What am I doing? Probably sitting at home dog-sitting, reading my books, and watching movies. I would get dressed up, but I think I'd be the only to see the costume. Oh well, so it won't be a thrilling Halloween, no big deal. What are your plans?

On a side note, I finally bought the Band of Brothers DVD set...and I'm oh-so excited to watch it as soon as I finish the book.

P.S. Here was my costume idea:

Malachi Chapter 1

Tonight, my community group and I are going to be studying the book of Malachi and discussing what it means to fully commit to God and how we can give him our best or "first fruits". I'm excited because I'm going to put out some crappy food (rotten banana, unripe grapes, and some tiny pieces of chips) as a subtle illustration and insight into what we will be discussing. It really represents what kind of sacrifices the Israelites were offering God in the temple.

⁷ "You place defiled food on my alter." But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible. ⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?"
¹⁴ "For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations.

Malachi 1:7-8; 14 NIV

Guitar Center Needs To Be Closer

The nearest Guitar Center is in Gilroy...30 minutes away! No matter, I still visit it every once in a while. I finally bought a Boss Chromatic Tuner TU-2 w/ a power adapter, REMO Practice Pad w/ SP Drum Sticks, & another pair of Pro-Mark Sticks (I was swayed away from Vic Firths to try something new).
Now, I am looking into the future (especially since I received Guitar Center's latest monthly issue in the mail), and I am looking at a few items that I can't afford right now...perfect! Here it goes:

1. A New Electric Guitar: A Black Fender Tele(caster)
2. A New Amp: A Fender Twin Amp 100-Watt All Tube Guitar Amp
3. The Boss DD-7 Pedal (and Roland DP-2 Damper Pedal for Tap Tempo)
4. The Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive Overdrive Pedal
5. Remo Pretuned Diane Doumbek

A Cogitation on Coffee Shops

Perhaps it is the immediate relaxation and cozy atmosphere that greets people at the door? Or maybe the countless choices and combinations available to satisfy nearly any flavorful desire? Well, whatever it is, there seems to be something about coffee shops that stimulates the senses, encourages enjoyment, and draws crowds from every social stratum.
I have personally been to a number of coffee shops of different shapes and sizes. They all seem to have their own distinguishable characteristics that set them apart from each other. For some, it is their fashionable decor. For others, it is their quickness and/or quality of service to the customer. What it really comes down to is answering the question, "What do you prefer?"
Where I live, there are a slew of coffee shops to choose from, but my all-time favorite is the "It's A Grind" chain. I had the opportunity of visiting the local café and was once again satisfied with my expectations and preferences. For those of you who haven't had the joy of visiting an "It's A Grind," I will attempt to describe the experience. Imagine walking from the parking lot into a comfortable lounge filled with armchairs to your liking. From there, you make your way to the counter with a view of the menu that will meet your desires for a delectable drink. You are then instantly greeted with a cashier that can only be described as "the friend you never knew," and they wish to fulfill your coffee drink dreams. After placing your personal order, you are welcome to treat yourself to one of said cozy chairs, and after a brief moment, your refreshment is not all only prepared but brought to you. As you sip your delicious beverage, you are free to curl up in a good book, take advantage of the free Wi-Fi, enjoy the selected music playing at a pleasing volume overhead, or engage in some pleasant conversation with others.
I hope this gave you a glimpse of what a visit to this coffee house is like and encourage everyone to drop by one of your local "It's A Grind."

Cannery Row

I ♥ School

At the end of class last week on Wednesday, my writing prof makes a promise to us, "If you guys will read the two articles I told you about and write the cause & effect essay and bring it on Monday, then I promise to have your previous essays graded and ready to hand back to you. Yesterday, I wrote the essay on the violence in Americaa and was rather content with the end result. I woke up this morning at 6am and went to the 8am writing class. I got to the classroom a few minutes early, and there were a few classmates but no teacher. So I went to the computer lab printed out a copy of my essayb, stapled it, and logged off the computer. I came back to the classroom and there were more students, but still no teacher. So I sat down and checked my school email to make sure there weren't any last minute announcements for the class like "BTW No Class Today!", but no cigar. 16 minutes pass and the whole class was present but once again, no teacher. Finally, one guy poses the question, "So, how long you wanna give her?" and we all come to a decision of waiting until "20 after" and then leaving class (and turning our essays into her box.)
I was actually a little worried about her. It's very possible that she had car trouble or something, but I think it goes without saying, the moral of this story is: "Don't make promises you can't keep!"

a Risinger, Micah. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Bloodthirsty. October 19, 2008.
b Which actually took really long because the printer in one of the labs was broken, so then I had to go to a different lab, log in, download the essay, print the document, etc.

Newcomer!!

My friend Amanda finally started a blog, so go welcome her! Here is a link to the blog.

Drum Sticks & Practice Pad

Calling All Fellow Musicians! What drum sticks should I buy? (I like Vic Firth's, but which model?) I found a practice pad on Guitar Center's website from Remo and I think it'll be good for practicing in my room, but I need some sticks, so please help me out!! I think I remember using 5A's, but I can't fully recall.

SIDE NOTE: The Drum Sticks have to be from Guitar Center!!

The Battle of Buying Movies

My mom needed to pick up some stuff at Target today, so I joined her figuring I would do my usual sweep of the "Family Games" & "Movies" section. I did so, and found a few interesting movie choices like Catch Me If You Can, Schindler's List, Road to Perdition, Music Within, etc.

I ended up grabbing Cast Away and Music Within. I have seen Cast Away before and it is a personal fav. of mine (2/3 of the movie is Tom Hanks' wonderful performance...Perfect!) so it wasn't a difficult decision to buy it. However, the dilemma behind all of movie-shopping experiences is buying a movie I haven't seen and taking the risk of watching the movie without any hope of return or exchange. It forces me into the gamble of responses like, "I'm glad I bought it" or "Well, there goes that money".

I saw a trailer for Music Within a while back and it grabbed my attention with it's interesting plot and lead role, "Ron Livingston" whom I recognized from Band of Brothers. If you haven't seen the trailer go here.

Anyway, when I got home, I got wise and looked up reviews and ratings of the movie and found that it wasn't all the trailer had cracked it up to be. Se la vie, but the good news is that I can still take it back since I haven't opened it yet.

If you have seen the movie, please let me know what your thoughts are about the film before I return the DVD. I'm thinking that I will get Road to Perdition instead, especially after seeing the trailer, reviews, cast, and plot...it's looks golden.

Missile Bell

Trace Bundy has come out with a new CD called, "Missile Bell" and it you can buy it here.
I highly respect him for his musical abilities, his heart for Christ, and for his self-supporting/hard-working ways (he isn't signed, but works as an independent artist!).
Here is his website.
Here is one of my favorite songs of his, Love Song.

Book Schedule

Nerd Alert:
Whenever I decide to read a book, it always turns out to be quite an undertaking. I sometimes stop reading the book after a while, or forget about it. Sometimes I even start reading more than one book and it becomes overwhelming to finish multiple books.Currently, I have been in between 6-8 books. So I came up with a solution...that's right you guessed it: A WEEKLY BOOK SCHEDULE! So now I read only one book per day and don't get pressured with finishing all of the books. I narrowed down my list to 6 books so that I have one day of no reading. Some of the books are new to me, some I have read, but I will say that I am enjoying all of them. The Book List is:

Library Upgrade

Salinas Public Library recently updated their system and database. Just thought I'd let you know.

Oh and I checked out some new stuff:

New Look

So, I have been tinkering away at my blog this evening, and have basically settled on this new look. I'll wait a couple days and see if I like it or not. In the mean time, let me know what you think.

Call + Response

Here is there website.

Go here if you want to take action.

Go here to find a theater near you.

Corkboard/Hat Rack

Who needs a bulletin board when it can be used for a hat rack?

I'll Take "Crazy Named Composers" for $600, Alex.

I took another trip to the local building of books (library) and checked out some more music* (classical composers if you hadn't guessed already) and a new book, D-DAY by Stephen Ambrose. I don't know why I grabbed D-DAY because I'm only in Ch. 4 of B.O.B. (Band of Brothers). But at least I know its ready for me when I finish. Also! I forgot to post the DVDs I checked out before...

I also picked up a Bill Charlap Trio CD...jazz.

*Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Schubert, & Verdi

By the by

I don't know if I ever mentioned why I have been taking so many photos lately. It's because I am taking a nature photography class this semester and I have trying to get in the habit of taking photos, messing with settings, taking walks, etc. So...now you know.


Jeez...I have nothing else to say about this. So I guess I'll just tag the infamous closer.

THE END.

My Hood

I took a walk around the neighborhood today and took some photos. Here are a few:
Here are the rest...

Vineyard

We went to this vineyard a while back to take some family pitures and I just thought I'd share some of my photos. Go here for more.

XDR-TB

Thanks Twin (Micah).

Begotten Nerdishness

Jim & Christi McGill encouraged me with an email earlier. I don't need to go into the details, but I'll just explain that they sent me a link to a network group of nerds and it really galvanized me to be open about my nerd-dweeb-techie-ness. SO I am taking the first step of putting myself "out there"...

1. I have an obsession with WWII stuff (books, movies, video games, history, items, etc.)
2. I have had a recent fascination with books (of all kinds)...and it is usually difficult for me to sit down and finish a book.
3. I have an online account with blogger, myspace, facebook, flickr, picasa, twitter, youtube, vimeo, 12 seconds, apple, salinas valley public library, google, amazon, and many more webites/companies
4. I enjoy the occasional computer/video game...hl2, cod2, coh....
5. I like sharpened wood pencils with full erasers (that actually erase pencil markings)
6. I really enjoy watching movie trailers or as some people call them "previews"...I have a widget for apple trailers
7. I enjoy studying the bible, hebrew/jewish/greek/roman history and culture, commentaries...
8. I love learning new words that I can add to my daily and not-so-daily vocabulary
9. I love listening music that makes my heart and mind groove
...and you probably already know this, but here it goes...
10. I desperately want a full beard that screams, "I am beardcore!!!"

Head Shots of Katie