Hey everybody, it’s the daily posting for July 6, 2005! It’s time for some good, old-fashioned blogging!

*ahem*

Okay. A couple user survey questions. Please leave your reply in the comments.

1) Can you see all the foreign-language characters properly? For example, the title of the site, the category names, and the greek title for the “Comments” section on the sidebar.

2) Have you had any difficulty accessing the comments? (They should be fairly straightforward w/ no logon required.)

3) Is the sidebar content useful for you? Too much/too little/just right?

That’s it for now. Thank you.

Sidenote: Switchfoot’s newest single is up for sale on iTunes. Right here, baby. It’s called “Stars” and is off of their upcoming album “Nothing is Sound.” (Jake, I expect nicer comments this time.)

Update: I’ll be changing the names of a couple of the categories so it should be visible by anybody. If anyone knows a fool-proof way to include non-Latin characters in a universal manner, let me know. (Though I suppose I could make a graphic, I’d prefer to just have a name for it.) In addition, if you know the Spanish word for “entertainment,” let me know. Babelfish hasn’t been much help in finding a fitting translation.

Categories: Life
Tags: Jake, Switchfoot

I saw many friends yesterday. I got to Nebraska shortly after noon. I proceeded to my former place of residence on campus and spoke to my Residence Director, some friends in a connected hall (Dennis, Zach), bought a book of undergraduate literature which includes three of my poems, saw and talked to more friends, and then went to SpaghettiWorks. At SpaghettiWorks, I saw more friends.

From there, I proceeded to the Crescent Moon and talked to Wiggins for quite a while. It’s incredible having somebody in my life who can listen to whatever I say no matter how personal it is and not have them think any worse of me. Wiggins is like that with me and he definitely threw a lot of truth and ideas to think about in my direction. If you don’t have somebody like that in your life… get it! It’s good. One of the hard parts about being in Colorado is I don’t have somebody like that in my life as consistently as I used to, but it’s good to have it at all.

At 8pm many people converged upon The Pit (Jake, Varv, and Phil’s house). A few episodes of Invader Zim were watched and some talking was done. I got to see Jesse Luebbe, Tyler, Jake, Phil, Cora, and Tracy. Grant also came by and we talked for a little while.

Once that was done, I left to go visit Pizzo. We were able to walk around and talk for a while and it was good.

So basically, in the last day I’ve seen, talked to, and spent more time with friends than I have probably in the last month (other than Main Event). I needed it.

That’s all for now. G’day.

Categories: Friends, Life
Tags: Cora, Crescent Moon, Jake, Nebraska, Phil, The Varv, Tracy, Tyler, Wiggins

I went to Main Event primarily for social reasons. I figured it would also be a good time to worship God through music and hearing a lot about him, but I considered that it would simply be another advantage and not so much my focus. It turns out this idea was wrong. God totally used this weekend to tell me some things. One of the biggest is that Japan still matters and missions still matter and that if I’m not going, I better be staying for the right reasons. So I’m evaluating my reasons to make sure they’re legit and not excuses.

One of the other big things is the importance of spending time with him. Having been a Christian most of my life, it would seem like this should be obvious. I know about it, for sure, but so often it’s easy to put aside the simple things like spending time reading the Bible in order to run off and gratify my own selfish desires. That ain’t cool! I need to spend more time listening to him and talking to him.

My primary reason for going was also satisfied. Thursday night, I got to Kansas State and was able to spend a large amount of time with Allie and also go to Nav Nite. The time together with Allie was wonderful. God gave us some good opportunities to talk and he certainly answered some prayers.

I really enjoyed seeing my other friends as well including many from this summer like Engle, Larry, Leslie, and others. I saw some friends from Nebraska including Cora, Jake, and Double-J. There’s also Jenny who somehow seems no longer a Nebraskan while she’s wearing purple, but is certainly not somebody I would consider a “Wildcat” yet. But she’s a friend, so the color doesn’t matter.

As soon as I finish posting this, I’m gonna get ready and drive up to Lincoln and spend the rest of today there before heading home tomorrow. Yay for that!

This is me signing off. G’day.

Categories: Friends, Life
Tags: Allie, Cora, Double-J, Engle, Jake, Jenny, Navigators

Switchfoot is playing in Denver on the 15th at 8PM. My bro Isaac and I are hopefully going. Anybody else interested? (Jake, it’s the Friday of Fall Break, cut out early and COME!)

Categories: Music
Tags: Jake, Switchfoot

I drove down to the springs yesterday afternoon. Met up with Jake and Phil at Castle Rock to follow them down the rest of the way. We met in the Walgreens parking lot.

A black SUV is driving by Walgreens and yells out the window “Hey dude, you need any home stereo stuff? We got some free with our purchase.”

uh… “How much?”

“You want to see?”

“Sure, I guess.”

Jake and Phil both stated a desire to leave immediately.

The black SUV spins round a couple corners and drives up in the parking lot to “show me the goods”. The driver gets out quickly, opens up the back and says “Here they are.” I see about six full stereo systems in boxes in the back. He quickly continues, “They’re originally $1,600 each, see.” He points at the tag. “How much will you pay for one?”

“Uh, I don’t have that kind of cash.”

“You got any? Can you get some?”

“No, sorry man.”

He complains, “Then why’d you ask ‘how much?’” as I walk back to my car.

Immediately both guys get back in the SUV and haul off. I stand there thinking how odd the whole situation was and wondered about the offer’s speed. The glances and nervousness in the man’s voice also bothered me.

Driving away following Jake back towards I-25, several police cars pulled down a road south of Walgreens and appeared to be surrounding a suspect. I never saw who they stopped, but I have strong suspicions.

Categories: Life
Tags: Colorado Springs, Jake, Phil, police, Walgreens