well, i’ve been off work all week. that is a long weekend. a 9-day weekend, to be exact. Erica and i had a great time in rehoboth beach. the place was empty, much different than the hustle and bustle you’ll find in the summer, and it was nice to walk around a bit and feel like you had the whole place to yourself. we’re definitely thinking of doing it again next president’s day week.

the sad news of the week was the unexpected passing of erica’s uncle ron. (i thought i posted about him before when we took him out for sushi, but i can’t seem to find it). Ron’s heart stopped beating on Tuesday morning, and while they were able to restart it eventually, there was no brain activity at all. I’m not quite sure how old Ron was, in his 50s i believe, but he was a really funny guy and brilliant too, from what i hear. Unfortunately i never got to see Ron at full capacity because he had Parkinson’s Disease and ever since i had the pleasure to meet him it had been getting worse and worse. He is survived by his loving wife Linda, who I know is really going to miss him, and his daughter Tamara, who is in college right now studying to be something great. The service is tomorrow night, and I’m proud to be able to serve as a pallbearer. If you have an extra prayer lying around, lift one up for Linda and the family as they try to pick the pieces of their life back up and somehow move on.

+ Today is my last day of work for a while as I am off next week. Pretty excited about that. Erica and I will be chilling in Rehoboth Beach, DE for a couple nights of relaxation and childless mornings. I’m looking forward to doing some writing, reading, eating, and sleeping.

+For the second night in a row, local TV stations have ticked me off with their cancellation anouncements. I understand that these are necessary, although I much prefer to get mine online where i don’t have to wait for them to get all the way through the alphabet, but have these people ever heard of efficient spacing. ABC27 on wednesday night and NBC8 last night were both guilty of the same thing. Take a page out of ESPN2’s book and use a slim ticker at the bottom of the screen, folks. Instead, i had to deal with this while i was trying to watch The Office last night:

Are you kidding me? Look at that! By my rough estimate using photoshop, that cancellation bar is taking up 28% of the screen. ridiculous. They are essentially using 4 lines of space to display 2 lines of text. There’s no need for the huge channel 8 logo on the right over there either. In the grand scheme i know this is about as important as hangnails, but it really annoys me. Why wouldnt you want to make that info as small as possible? It’s beyond me.

+ I’m pretty excited for my guitar. I own two acoustic guitar, a Martin DM and a Martin D35. The latter i purchased off of Cliff Young of Caedmon’s Call about 3 years ago. I had always wanted a D35…i love the 3-piece back and the solid bass sounds that resonate because of it…so purchasing one from a member of my favorite band was quite a thrill. The guitar has served me well over the past few years, but i have always felt bad because i’m afraid that it is bored with me. When it belonged to Cliff, it got to see the country, playing 50-100 shows a year in front of lots of people. Now with me it spends most of it’s time in my basement where i play it a few times a week. So why am I excited? Well, my friend Jon (who plays in a band called The Mint) is borrowing it tonight to play a show with it. It’s an acoustic set they are doing to open for Lovedrug at The Chameleon is lancaster. Not a huge deal, but i’m happy that my guitar will get to be in the spotlight again. I’ll be there cheering it on. Then, it’s back to the basement.

+ softball season is starting to pick up. I’ll be returning to my post as President of the leaguefor the second year. We had our first meeting last week and i think we’re making some good changes. I want my regime to be one of progression and evolution, where we stay ahead of the curve and don’t die off like the other leagues around here. I think our team is changing our name from the Saints to the Astros, so i’m pretty excited about that too. New uniforms and everything. Maybe that will help us turn around that 5-13 record we finished with last year.

+ speaking of warm-weather sports, pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training! We’re just 45 days away from the Red Sox opening up the season in Kansas City on April 2nd. yeehaw!

+His name is Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda. He oversees about 300 congregations and counts over 100,000 followers. His church brought in 1.6 Million dollars in offerings last year. Oh, and by the way, He believes he is Jesus. His doctrine is that “under a new covenant with God, there is no sin and no Satan, and people are predestined to be saved”. In 1998 he claimed he was the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul. 2 years ago he declared himself Christ. Apparently last week he called himself “the antiChrist” and revealed a ‘666′ tattoo on his forearm. His explanation is that as the second coming of Christ, he rejects the worship of Jesus of Nazareth. Read the Newsweek article here.

+ If you don’t know who Rob Bell is, well, he’s a brilliant communicator. He also happens to be the pastor of a church in Michigan. He also happens to be an author. His second book, Sex God, hits the shelves next month. You can read the first chapter here. Actually, let me say that again. You SHOULD read the first chapter here.

+ TigerDirect has some pretty sweet deals right now on HDTVs. You can get something 42 inches now for under $1000, which is crazy. Here’s a bunch of their deals.

+ According to InfuzeMag.com, Toy Story 3 will be happening in 2009, Lovedrug’s new album is good but not great, and Indiana Jones 4 could be hitting theaters next year.

+  Finally, this video had me laughing in my cube. I don’t know anything about it, except that it looks like it’s some pastor at an old-time church trying to sing 2 songs that he doesn’t know. The beauty is that he doesn’t crack so much as a smile the entire time. I’m still not sure if this is funny or not, but it had me laughing.

my article Survey Says! is currently headlining on the front page of the Burnside Writer’s Collective. w00t! The editors thought it was my best piece yet, so i was pretty stoked about that.

If you like the article, leave a comment on their site using the Burnside Comment form found after the article. (shameless!)

If you hate the article, leave a comment here on my blog so that the Burnside folks never see it. (shameful!)

If you refuse to read it, then i will fight you to the death.

bryan