10 reasons why men should not be church leaders

i blogged about eugene cho's website a couple days ago and upon a return visit, i came across some more thoughts on the need for equality for women in church leadership (and beyond). one of his most visited blog posts is a satirical list of the 10 reasons why men should not be ordained. obviously this is a joke, but it serves to show how ridiculous the arguments against women being able to lead the church are.

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.

8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.

7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.

5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.

4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.

1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.

good stuff.

also, coincidentally, the latest post on cho's blog is about general injustice against women throughout history. it's a compelling and worthwhile read.

olive's first (real) trip out of the house

tonight, lucy went and hung out with aunt ann while christen and i took olive out to dinner. thanks to the ol' iphone and the great app, camerabag (itunes store link), we got this photo:

thoughts from my doctor's office waiting room...

so, I'm currently sitting in my doctor's office waiting room in the saturday "acute illness" clinic. (that's code word for all the lazy bastards who didn't take the initiative to schedule an appointment during the week like other normal people...) a few observations/thoughts:

1. ok...I lied...this has nothing to do with the doctor's office...but how about those razorbacks!! (this is where you can internally cue the razorback fight song in your head...) in the end, dick saved the day... (please get your freaking minds out of the gutter, people...)

2. it's very interesting (a.k.a. annoying) to observe moms with their kids. a couple observations:
a.) naturally, every mom thinks their kid is the most important one in the room. I'm not saying this in a good way... memo to moms: your snotty-nosed kid is only special to you! seriously, as I write, there are 3 moms that are visibly upset when they walk out and call someone besides their kid's name. chill out moms...you're kid's just another brick in the wall...
b.) the waiting room is not your kid's personal jungle gym. I'm not talking 2 or 3 year olds... I'm sitting across from a girl who's at least 10 and you would think this is an audition for "so you think you can dance" for sickly people... attention mom: get off your cell phone and show your pre-teen how to connect her rump with the chair...

3. oh, the blatant, inappropriate public, small space cell phone usage. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that your 30-minute conversation about tammy's Christmas party can wait until you're not sitting next to me and 20 other sick, irritable people. hang it up there, buffy...

4. oh no... I'm definitely not done with inappropriate cell phone observations... I'm consistently amazed by people who refuse to put their phones on silent and then have those ridiculous 300 decibel marimba or cracked out xylophone ringtones. that alone is bad enough, but then it's always those people who, when they get the phone call, they have to slowly pull out there phone, open it, stare at it for 30 minutes while it rings, and THEN they decide to answer it. oh my gosh... no lie...it's literally happening right now with a guy sitting behind me... oh wow, his ringtone is some credence clearwater song (of course, all garbled and distorted...)

5. they just told someone that walked that there is a 2-hour wait. the person then proceeded to ask if he could go run some errands and have them call him "when it's his turn." when the woman nicely said "no," the guy proclaimed to everyone in here that "dr. rollins' office people will send you a text message and he has a nicer waiting room." is this real life?

6. well, another cell phone ringtone blarer...I'm not sure, but it sounded like some circa 1987 r&b action... classy...

7. I love the "whisperers" in here whose whisper is most peoples' normal talking voice. if you don't want other people to know that "that boy over there is wearing sandals in the winter," you're probably going to need to write it, text it or tell them when you leave. look, I am one of those normal volume whisperers, so I feel your pain... but you've got to work that out...

8. oh wow... I've got to call myself out here... I'm here because what might be sinus infection. basically, my nose has been running like a faucet. so, I've just been sitting here typing away on the ol' iphone when I suddenly realize that the ol' mustache is feeling a little moist under problematic right nostril. I'm gonna be forced to pull the ol' hand wipe and then subsequent inconspicuous hand on jeans wipe... stay classy, ryan...

alright, time to wipe. peace out from the doc's office.

UPDATE: mark driscoll: the sad gospel of male chauvinism and female denigration

a few weeks ago, i posted this discussion about mark driscoll's proclamation that stay-at-home dads were on a short track to hell (with video). i'm not surprised to find that there's been others in the blogosphere (and beyond) who didn't really receive his commentary with open arms (and rightfully so). honestly, after re-watching the video and re-listening to his thoughts, it makes me even more sad that he has such a dominant voice in the church world. his comments were simply the bible wrapped in his own cultural point-of-view and that's just frustrating and a setback to people trying to be an advocate for gender egalitarianism as found in scripture.

recently, eugene cho, blogger and pastor of quest church in seattle, came onto my radar and i've really enjoyed reading his blog and learning about the faith community he founded several years ago. as a fellow seattle pastor (who's just a matter of minutes from mars hill where driscoll pastors) and as someone who also values diversity and equality within the church, cho had a pointed response to driscoll's biased assertion. you can read it here. cho did a good job articulating many of the things that i wanted/intended to say. he offers some good scriptural and cultural insights that are helpful. so, go check it out.

while we're on the topic of eugene cho and mark driscoll, cho also wrote a response to some ridiculous comments driscoll made about males and christianity and jesus in christianity today. here's cho's thoughts.

my guiding theologies: intro

for quite some time, i've wanted to do a series of posts that discuss the core values—the guiding theologies—that guide and shape my life. i prefer to use the words guiding theologies, as opposed to simply core values, because theologies describe the nature of god, of whom we were created to be like. values, often, simply suggest things that we choose, whereas guiding theologies are things that are eternal characteristics of god.

with that said, as life progresses, there are various theologies and characteristics of god that become more or less salient to us. for example, when people have children, often the characteristic of nurture is more dominant. when peoples' lives are affected by addiction, matters of redemption and healing are more prominent.

so, beginning tomorrow (i hope), i'm going to start outlining 10(ish) guiding theologies (i'll most likely do 2 at a time) that shape and direct my life. be on the lookout for that and i hope to create some dialogue about these things.

beautiful summation of the christian faith by tony jones

i don't twitter. if you would have asked me a month ago about twitter, i would have told you how retarded it is...now, though, i'm fighting the urge to jump on board. (don't...do....it...ryan...) i've been casually following a couple people here lately on twitter and i actually came across a very striking and beautiful tweet through tony jones's blog (and you can follow him on twitter here).

apparently there's a new hashtag on twitter that's becoming increasing popular called twitter of faith (hashtag: #tof). in essence, people just put a brief (140 characters or less) statement of faith, so to speak. tony is one of my favorite authors, speakers, thinkers and bloggers and his tweet of faith is particularly beautiful. i thought i would share it with you.

God's eschatological horizon, of which Jesus Christ is/was the first fruit, is approaching us; we are likewise moving toward God.

good stuff.

babybyrds.com updated!

hey everybody, make sure you fly (ha ha...get it, "fly"...because you see, it's babybyrds.com...you know, like a bird...how they fly...ha ha.....) on over to babybyrds.com! christen has finally gotten a chance to do some updates and talk about the whole olive experience from her point-of-view.

it's about time she updated it...i mean, what's she doing with all her time? feeding a newborn? looking after a sick husband? keeping her toddler from creating a crayon masterpiece on her newborn's face??

will ferrell: fashion maven

ok, i just came across this and had to take a quick break from the olive updates to share. first, we had the awesome picture from the stepbrothers movie poster and now we have a photo by photographer carlos serrao...have no idea why he shot this (for a movie??), but it's freaking hysterical.

more pics of olive: day 5 (already!)

update time:

i fee like time is flying. it's almost been a week! this is my first blog since saturday, so that may give you a little insight as to my time availability for blogging... i finally have a few minutes, so i thought i would offer a few updates and put up a few new pics.

olive: she's looking more and more beautiful each day. her skin is gorgeous, her hair is shiny and beautiful and she's starting to open her pretty little eyes up and look around more and more. she's eating fairly well (especially compared to lucy when she was born), but, i hate to report, she's not doing that well at sleeping. well, sleeping during the night time, that is. she's a pro at snoozing during the daylight hours, but she's found that, apparently, all the action goes down at night and she doesn't want to miss it. she's also decided that she's cool with sleeping at night as long as mommy or daddy is awkwardly and uncomfortably holding her, but you put her down in her bed and there's some serious shreiking occurring... so, we're gonna have to work on that. otherwise, though, she's doing really well.

lucy: i've been seriously impressed with big sister lucy. for the most part, taking care of lucy has been my job (although lucy would prefer that that wasn't the case at times...). she really loves olive and just wants to hug her and give her a blanket and rub her head and, for whatever reason, clap her hands. by and large, she's done really well. there have been, of course, a few incidences...

1. all was happy and utopia until olive made the fatal mistake of laying in the baby swing, of which lucy believes is hers. the moment lucy walked over and discovered her in it, there was some weeping and gnashing of teeth of biblical proportions... (she got over it in a minute or so and she has no problem at all with it anymore)

2. what do you get when you combine the following: art-loving lucy, a peacefully sleeping olive in the aforementioned baby swing, mommy and daddy stepping away for a minute...and a purple crayon...? you get big sister using little sister's face for a canvas... (!) fortunately, we saw her just seconds after she began, so all was well and lucy got to have a talk with daddy.

3. when i say that lucy "just wants to hug her and...", what i should add to that statement is "smacking her in the face and soft spot..." in all fairness, lucy just thinks it's a fun game, but nevertheless, it makes for a tense moment...

christen: as impressed as i am with lucy, i couldn't be any more impressed and proud of christen. she's really been amazing. she's a great mom and has done a good job juggling a needy newborn and an equally needy 18-month old (who is used to getting 100% of mommy's attention during the day). for any woman who hasn't had children and sees all those happy commercials or billboards or ads of smiling women talking about how great breastfeeding is...let me give you a reality check: it hurts like a b! don't get me wrong, we are very big on breastfeeding and don't plan on not doing it, but no one really tells you how challenging and painful breastfeeding is. with that said, christen has really troopered through all this with olive. trust me, there's been some touchy moments, but she's done really well and i'm proud of her.

me: as i said, i've, primarily, been in charge of lucy stuff. that, for the most part, has worked out pretty well...until the last 24 hours or so... apparently my immune system decided to take a vacation or just step out for an extended smoke break or something, because, of course, in the midst of the chaos of having a newborn, i'm sick! at this point, i'm actually out of bed and being somewhat functional (not much of a choice in our situation). christen's done a really good job of picking up my slack, but there's only so much she can do.

alright, enough chatter...here's some pictures. (you can see a many more at christen's flickr page). (click to see images larger)

a quick pic from olive's first night home

notes on an olive

hopefully you all have had a chance to read, a couple posts back, about the process by which we have welcomed olive into the world. if not, take a minute to read it...christen was on the brink of telling me to remove some stuff when she got a chance to read it, so that lets you know it's worth the read. :)

i thought i would follow up the long account and the initial pics (which i hope to have more of very, very soon...) with some additional notes and observations.

note 1: for whatever reason, in my 4 million word expose post that gave the detailed labor account, i never mentioned anything about weight and height (the exhaustion excuse seems valid right now...). so, she was 6 lbs, 7 oz and 19 1/4 inches long. we produce 'em skinny and long. olive's the virginia slims of babies, if you will.

note 2: speaking of measurements, as we were with lucy, we were eager to get the measurement of her head. christen and i are both proud members of the 2-foot club (our heads are at least 2 feet around...quite frankly, i could almost start the 3-foot club...). we're happy to say that olive is following directly in our footsteps and is a new inductee into the 1-foot club, which is well on its way to a 2-foot neck melon.

note 3: i offered little in the way of a description of how she looks. obviously, you can see a few of the pictures in my last post and on christen's flickr page, but those don't tell you too much. while you can certainly see lucy in her, her looks, right now, are distinctively her own.  here's a breakdown of a few of her physical highlights:

hair: she's got it. not a ton, but it's there. it's not so much blonde, and not brown, but kind of a dark goldenish color. really pretty.

nose: this girl definitely has one. it's not huge or freakish or anything, but, especially in the profile, you definitely know she has it... i'm taking credit blame for that one...sorry, olive.

mouth: you know how in the animation on the simpsons everybody's mouth is kind of where the top lip juts out much farther than the bottom lip...yeah, apparently god simpsonized little olive in the womb.

eyes: i think this is an area that she shares a commonality with lucy. like lucy, it's hard to say what color eyes olive has. if i had to describe them, i would say they're sort of a blue grey color. of course, i suspect that in different lights, they'll look distincively different.

fingers/toes: if not for the utter whiteness of olive and faith in my wife's general commitment to fidelity, i would swear that she had an affair with wilt chamberlain or some lanky nba player, because olive's rockin' some freakishly long fingers and toes. i'm talkin' genetic freak category here...

note 4: from the time we found out we were pregnant, one of the things we were most looking forward to was olive and lucy meeting. so, once olive was ready for others to come in, we brought in lucy before anyone else and had a family time. it was hilarious. lucy just sat there and stared at olive. she didn't talk. she didn't point. she didn't touch. she just stared. not an evil stare. just a stare. you could tell the gears in her brain were churning. the conversation in lucy's brain went something like this:

ok, there's mommy. and she's holding a baby. she appears to be holding it as to suggest, "this is my baby. i don't intend to hand her back to her owner." wait a minute. how can she have her own baby if she has me? i'm freaking lucy. i'm #1. maybe she doesn't realize this. wait a minute. i'm looking at daddy and he's acting in a manner as to suggest compliance with mommy's assertion that this baby is hers. i'm thinking elaborate conspiracy here... i'm sure a little gouge to the baby eyeball or firm clamp around the juggular will clear this all up and we can return to lucy queen life as usual...

note 5: olive sucks. wait, let me reword that: olive sucks all the time. wait, strike that. what i'm saying is that olive sucks constantly. ok, this isn't coming out the way i intended... olive is in a constant state of trying to breastfeed. that's more the spirit of what i'm trying to say. boobs, fingers, blankets, foreign objects of any sort...olive is trying to suck them dry of whatever nutrients may lie within. this is a challenging past-time for us because we are constantly wondering if she's actually hungry or just wanting to move her lips in a sucking fashion. she's doing amazing (along with christen) at breastfeeding, so we think she's getting plenty. so, i've just resigned to the fact that olive sucks.

alright, that's all you get right now. we've been home for a few hours now and before lucy gets back from aunt ann's house and while olive's asleep (thus, not sucking), i need to try to get a nap (and i'm not even a napper...). check back soon for further needless details and pictures.

come see the olive

i shot a zillion pictures as soon as she popped out, but since it's been a crazy day and an exhausting day, i just decided to edit a few of the ones that stood out as i quickly glanced through the shots. here some of them are (you can see a few more at christen's flickr page). (click to see images larger)

gone in 60 seconds: the story of olive grace

alright people, i'm finally getting around to it. olive grace, as teased in the previous post, made her illustrious world debut this morning at 5:06 a.m. here's the story:

8 p.m.: christen returns from visiting one of her best friends who is giving birth at baptist hospital. she tells me—before going to bed—that she thinks she could have this baby tonight.

8 p.m. and a couple seconds: i think to myself, "self, i don't know what it is, but i think this could be accurate foreshadowing..."

11 p.m.: as i was in the living room ironically blogging away creating this post, i begin to hear what is either christen breathing quickly and moaning or a coyote with asthma...

11 p.m. and a couple seconds later: christen calls me, "ryan, can you come in here? right now." (frantic, yet demanding intonation...)

11:07 p.m. (admittedly, a little slow of a response...was researching famous november 25th birthdays...): i go in there to find christen sitting up in bed breathing quickly, moaning and grimacing all contraction-like (thus confirming that there is nary an asthmatic coyote...) she informs that that she's having real deal contractions and that she thinks this could be it. she tells me to call her sister, ann (who will be keeping lucy during the labor ordeal).

11:07 p.m. and a couple seconds (sensing the need for more responsive actions...): me calling andrea:

(ryan dials number)

(phone picks up)

(clearly a person answers...)

(click. hung up on.)

11:07 p.m. and a couple seconds and a couple seconds: ryan is one persistent you-know-what. calls back immediately (sensing that andrea pulled a christen and hangs up when she half-asleep answers a call.)

(ryan dials number)

(phone picks up)

ann: bla na ik albutte um gues?

ryan: ann, are you awake?

ann: olne blah gee bumper niner?

ryan: ann, wake up. it's ryan.

ann: (as to somehow fake me out into believing that she's been awake the whole time and i'm the idiot here...) hey, what's up. yeah, i'm awake. (as coherently as possible.)

ryan: blah blah blah. get ready. blah blah blah. come on over. blah blah blah. we're having a freaking baby.

11:08 p.m. through 1:20 a.m. (not worth giving all the moaning and coyote-like details here): basically, we have me timing contractions on my iphone. christen continuing with the barbaric wails. me trying to convince her that it could be fake labor. her threatening to beat me with a blunt object if i keep trying to convince her that it could be fake labor. christen taking a warm bath. me—after quitting trying to convince her it's fake labor—blowing a gasket in my back by deadlifting my 39-week pregnant wife from a bathtub. me deciding in the 11th hour that it would be a good idea to pack some bags. christen transitioning from asthmatic coyote to full-blown irish banshee. andrea finally showing up. us driving to hospital.

1:30 a.m.ish: we arrive at the hospital, only finding that in order to get christen in a wheelchair (whereas a jazzy would have been so much more awesome...), we had to traverse a skywalk that is a good hundred feet in length. this felt like some kind of sky world in super mario where you have to overcome the bridge challenge in order to make it to the prize...seriously people, just move the freaking wheelchairs to the beginning of the skywalk...

1:40 a.m.: they put us in a room and this is when the obligatory phone calls to family begin.

1:45 a.m. through 3 a.m.: contractions continue. christen gets the drunk medicine that really doesn't help the pain, but hey, why not make a screaming mom feel like she's thrown back a few too many??

3 a.m.: anesthesiologist to the rescue. a few observations here:

1. just that morning, christen and i watched a cnn piece about how 2% of anesthesiologists are addicted to the drugs they administer. so, is this guy the 98% or the 2%? he looked a little shady, but it may have just been the fact that he had squinty eyes from just being woken up at 3 a.m.

2. speaking of just being woken up, this guy looked like he was lazarus having just been raised by jesus. i expected to see death linens falling off this guy. now, think about this: this is the dude who's about to stick a big freakin' needle in your spine. do you hear me? a big freaking needle. in your spine. you know...that big bone thing that if you screw with, you will die...

3. finally, speaking of big freaking needles in your life-giving bone (no, not that life-giving bone...i mean your spine), i witnessed an epidural with the birth of lucy last year, but this crap doesn't get any easier to watch. remember the data: sleepy lazarus dude who may be addicted to anesthetics and is two millimeters away from ending your life with a metal prick.

3:05 a.m.: lazarus crack man does his job and all is well. christen's labor potty mouth is finally put to rest because of drugs.

3:05 a.m. through 4:45 a.m.: blah blah blah. small contractions. blah blah blah. waiting. blah blah blah. family hovering in room.

4:45 a.m.: after manually breaking her water, our nurse (who is an unbelievably great nurse...thanks lissy if you're reading this) informs us that her head is basically about to pop out and if christen does so much as sneezes, this baby is hitting the floor. notice that i have not mentioned anything about the doctor being there...

5 a.m.: nurses, visibly about to freak out about the doctor not being there, sigh in relief as doctor waller walks mosies strolls saunters in the room and prepares to have a baby.

5:05 a.m.: everyone in place. doctor gives the green light for pushing. christen, drawing from her past constipation face experiences, gives a huge push.

5:05 a.m. and 30 seconds: head out. slimy. goopy. beautiful. here comes the second push.

5:06 a.m.: heave ho, we have a baby. alright! olive is olive and not oliver (we were worried) (thanks rob and stephanie for your life experience striking fear and doubt into our hearts...).

so there ya go. there's the play-by-play. after just one minute of pushing (as compared to about 45 minutes with lucy), we had a beautiful and incredible and perfect little baby girl: olive grace. in all her goop and blood and general mess, she was gorgeous and just what we hoped for. through my tears and my exhaustion, i cut her little umbilical cord and proudly handed this beautiful little girl over to her mommy for the first time.

i hope to give further notes and observations in the coming day(s), but i thought i would at least get you through the actual delivery for now.

time to go to sleep (no exaggeration or joke, in the last 40 hours, i've had about 1.5 hours of sleep...aye carumba...).

scratch that last post...

...yeah, forget everything i said in that last post...

it's 3 a.m.

we're at the hospital.

i'm predicting baby within the hour...

more details and pictures to come...

olives available next tuesday...

...ok, not so much olives in the plural form... more like the singular olive...

olive, in the baby form, will make her triumphant arrival next tuesday, november 25. after several weeks of slow dilation and olive shimmying down into the lower nether-regions of the birth canal, our doctor put forth the option to induce. although we're not huge fans of the idea of being induced, christen would have had this thing removed through her belly button at this point.

so, make sure you check this blog and babybyrds.com on tuesday. i hope to get pics up as soon as possible. obviously, it will be somewhat difficult, but at very least, i may try to post a couple crappy iphone pics.

knowing the birthdate (or hopefully knowing...) is kind of weird, but it's kind of good knowing when the end will be instead of living in perpetual suspense. i decided that since we know, i would take a quick look at who olive will share a birthday with. we have some mixed results...

1. barbara and jenna bush: hopefully olive's father will be a little brighter than these girls' father...

2. christina applegate: slutty bundy or hot anchorwoman?

3. amy grant: oh, how jesus will love olive (until she starts doing that devil secular music...)

4. john f. kennedy, jr: i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that olive's daddy won't ever be living in the white house...

5. john larroquette: the most famous television male slut of all time...

6. donovan mcnabb: while she could have professional football skills, i'm banking on her doing commercials for campbell's chunky soup someday...

7. joe dimaggio: i would say that maybe olive will play for the yankees someday, but we all know that even jesus hates the yankees...

video roundup: from advent & atheists to mashups & masterpieces

alright, so hopefully you took a look at our elderly rapper friends in my last post... today, for whatever reason, i came across a number of interesting videos and i thought i would just go ahead and share them here.

1. coldplay ft. jay-z performing lost: seriously, you need to check this out (and get the free download...downloading as we speak, so i can't really speak for how good/bad it is, although both jay-z and coldplay have both signed off on the project...)

2. advent conspiracy: this is good stuff. christen and i have made a conscious decision to cut down on some christmas spending this year for various reasons and it would be good if others did so as well.

3. hitchens/wilson debate sneak peek: i don't know a lot about this, but it's a documentary that i believe comes out in the spring that features a debate between renowned theologian douglas wilson and renowned atheist christopher hitchens. i just thought the preview was cool and it alone makes you want to watch the documentary (if for no other reason than being shot so well).

4. timelapse painting: this kind of creativity really amazes me. good stuff.

is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?

i'm not even sure what to say... just watch...

a serious moment: top 10 grossest foods...

here at beingryanbyrd.com, i like to make sure that all my posts are hard-hitting and gravely serious. so, i hereby present: my top 10 grossest foods.

look, i know you've all been dying to read this kind of in-depth and personal insight from me and that was keenly brought to my attention today by a friend. she spoke. i listened.

most people would never guess that i might just be the world's pickiest eater. i know my slim figure clearly indicates that.... i don't know why it is, i'm just really picky. mainly, it's a texture issue (and you can see a fairly distinct texture pattern in the list). ultimately, i just love simple foods and i eat a lot of those simple foods. ok, here's the list:

10. bleu cheese (cheese or dressing form): first, let me just get this out of the way: i don't like cheese. yes...that's the first bomb i'm going to drop on you. second, anything that is purposefully injected with mold should not be introduced to the body...

9. any type of casserole: another truth to establish here: i don't let foods mix. i'm a one at a time kind of eater and i like to keep foods in their own little distinct area. so, casseroles are the ultimate in mixing foods.

8. tomato soup: don't eat tomatoes. don't eat soup made from tomatoes. the smell is horrendous and i have no desire to lap up a bowl of hot, strained tomato.

7. caesar salad (any salad dressing, for that matter): one of my most horrifying food memories involves caesar salad. let's just say it was a formal dinner in which saying 'no' wasn't really an option...the more i chewed, the bigger it got...slimy, nasty lettuce ended up in my napkin...

6. boiled hot dogs (pink variety): i actually do like hot dogs...only in the grilled variety, though. in fact, i have to have them very well done. boiled hot dogs are just the opposite of that. then, throw in being those fat pink hot dogs, and you've got the perfect storm for hot dog nastiness.

5. cottage cheese: anything with the alternate name of 'curds' is not entering my system. period.

4. tuna fish: if this list was about bad smells, this would be #1 by a longshot. i literally have a memory as a child on a family vacation where my family decided to make tuna fish (from those nasty little packets) in the hotel room and i had to sit in the bathroom with the door closed until they were done eating and the smell dissipated...

3. velveeta cheese: again, cheese. velveeta cheese (specifically in the form of cheese dip) is the king nasty of them all. like tuna fish, this would also climb near the top of the worst smells list.

2. sour cream: i have a hard time not putting this #1. think about this people: sour. cream. cream. that is sour. that's not right. just thinking about it, my eyes are watering a little and my body is asking my permission to dry heave...

1. mayonnaise: no doubt about it, if i were to bite into something with mayo without knowing, i would absolutely throw up on the spot. all you need to do is watch someone make mayo from scratch and you will realize that it has absolutely no business on or around our tastebuds.

there ya go. always bringin' the hard-hitting news stories here on the ol' blog. comments?

advent songs: scrooge, the music snob, approved.

i've blogged at least a couple times about noisetrade.com and i continue to check regularly (they also have a blog/rss feed if you're interested in keeping up) for new music. if you didn't read about noisetrade, in essence, it's a free/pay-what-you-want music download website. founded by derek webb, it's really a cool way for artists to get their music out and for people to check out some music they might not have otherwise come across. i personally have discovered so much good stuff and have paid exactly zero dollars to do it.

one of those music projects i discovered was an unlikely discovery. sojourn music, which is the music ministry of sojourn community church in louisville, kentucky, has released a new album called advent songs. i knew nothing about the church or the music ministry, but the artwork looked interesting and, of course, it was free. (attention artists: when you create good music, make sure you spend the same time producing great cover/booklet art. research shows—and i prove—that people are more likely to pick up albums of artists that they know nothing about if it has visually appealing artwork. it's only fair to assume that if the package sucks, the music will follow suit.) the music is really incredible and beautiful...but what makes that surprising is that it's christmas music...

why am i surprised, you ask? let me give you a quick overview of me around christmas: does the name scrooge mean anything to you? sad, but true. don't get me wrong. i absolutely love christmas and have my whole life. i look forward to christmas. but...there's a few reasons i've sort of become a scrooge:

1. rampant commercialization of christmas. the fact is, christmas is about a savior who stepped down from heaven and came to live with us. not tickle-me elmo. not cabbage patch dolls. not nintendo wii's. not any of that crap.

2. christmas happens in december, not august. (or july, or whatever). when i walk into a store in august and they have a giant christmas section set up already, i throw up a little in my mouth (or in the nearest stocking...).

3. christmas music is terrible. and cheesy. it's really bad. again, the main issue is that christmas music has become a commodity that has very little to do with a baby messiah and more to do with a profitable fourth quarter for record labels.

4. removed in order to respect my wife's wishes... (thus breaking one of my few blog rules about not editing ex post facto, but i prefer my wife over my rules...)

all this to say that in spite of my scrooge-like behavior during this time of the year, i have listened to this album of christmas songs several times today since downloading it (and, just ask christen, i'm an anti-listen to christmas music in november kind of person). what sets advent songs apart from other christmas music is that it's really beautifully done and it's primarily a worship album—not just a christmas album. it worships god, not sticks him under a tree with boxes and bows.

one final note concerning sojourn community church. i heard about this church a few months ago, but didn't make the connection at all until just a little while ago (long after i had listened to the album multiple times). like i said, they're based in louisville and really have a heart for the city of louisville and the arts. they produce music, foster a community of visual arts and really just connect to the rhythm and culture of the city. you can check out their website to find out more, but this is all to say that some of what they're doing there is the kind of thing i'm wanting to build here in little rock. i think there's an overlooked community here in little rock that wants to explore faith through the lens of the arts—music, visual arts, writing, film, spoken words, intelligent dialogue, online communities, etc. i've dropped little hints on the blog before about some stuff we have brewing, but soon and very soon, i will give a very detailed and "official" announcement about plans on the horizon. i'm very excited to share it in greater detail!

alright, here's a couple tracks from the album. (don't forget to go to noisetrade and download your own copy. it's free!)

amen, amen:

god is with us:

you listen to what??: an unlikely list

as most of you faithful blog readers know, i have music on the brain very often. (obsessive may be the appropriate word.) and, you may have observed that i tend to swim in the waters of folk/indie/acoustic/alt country kind of stuff. and you also may know that while i have these tendencies, i have a pretty diverse assortment of tastes. but, what you may not know is that my variances are truly deep and wide.

so, there may be some artists/songs that you would be surprised to hear that i like. (and some maybe that you wouldn't be...) here's a list with audio tracks. some are the artists in general and some are particular tracks (and not necessarily their larger body of work). (these are in no particular order)

1. michael jackson. stranger in moscow.

if i survey my entire life's love of music, this guy is going to come out of top every time. a lot of people have a very short memory and forget that this is the greatest pop star in the history of music. weirdness doesn't negate greatness.

2. fiona apple. not about love.

chick music? i think not. fiona apple's passion (read: craziness) comes through on every track and it makes for incredible music...for chicks...or dudes.

3. adele/amy winehouse/lily allen/british soul pop invasion. best for last (adele).

this whole wave of female britpop/soul has been great. i think winehouse's back to black was the best album of 2007, but since it's a little too obvious, i decided to post an adele track.

4. alison krauss. let me touch your for awhile.

whereas i like folk/alt country sort of stuff, alison krauss is a little more country/bluesgrass than i usually tend to like. her voice, though, and songwriting are amazing.

5. barenaked ladies. brian wilson.

i can't explain exactly why, but brian wilson is one of my favorite songs. it's a song that i can put on repeat in itunes and listen to over and over and never get tired of it. as opposed to the previous artists, i like barenaked ladies in limited doses. i like their greatest hits album, but i don't own any of their other albums.

6. brandi carlile. downpour.

ok, so this one may not be as big of a surprise since i've talked about her several times, but still, there's a lot of unlikely factors. "chick" music. lesbian power songs. whatever other stereotype/label you would like to apply.

7. dixie chicks. voice inside my head.

not only do i have an unlikely love for the dixie chicks, but i've actually shelled out cash and seen them in concert. they really transcend country music and they're latest album, particularly, was incredible.

8. justin timberlake. future sex/love sounds.

that's right: an ex-nsync member. seriously, though, doesn't everybody love justin timberlake? in terms of pop music, he puts out really intelligent and creative stuff.

9. natasha bedingfield. these words (i love you).

look, if you're only association with natasha bedingfield is the theme song for the hills, then do yourself a favor and go listen to some more of her music. much like justin timberlake, it's actually intelligent pop music.

10. nelly furtado. the grass is green.

unfortunately, nelly furtado has pulled a john mccain over the last couple years. in other words, the person she was for her first couple albums, sadly, is a distant memory from what she/her music is now. her first couple albums were this sort of pop/folk/world music blend kind of thing that was really interesting and creative.

so there ya go. thanks for serving as the priest in, this, my musical confessional.

did anybody hear we're gonna have a black president??

so, i'm sitting here watching 60 minutes and it's completely devoted to president-elect obama's first media interview since his victory a couple weeks ago (and michelle obama). all i can think is, 'we have a black president. a black president. this guy is black. and he's the president. of the united states. you know, that united states that wouldn't let black people drink out of the same water fountains as white people about 50 years ago. that united states that shipped over boats full of black people as their property. yeah, that country. now, a black guy is running the joint.'

wow. i know it's sort of cliché to harp on it, but it's truly amazing and inspiring and unbelievable that our country has elected a black president.

incredible.

UPDATE: he just mentioned living next to a place called harold's chicken shack...here comes the forwards about chicken and watermelon in the white house... honeymoon's over.... :)

hell freezes: my wife's a blogger!

as i told you all yesterday, babybyrds.com is up and running (and some improvements have already been made from the time i posted it). i posted the first little ditty on there, but today, christen has entered the blogosphere! indeed, hell has frozen (because of all the months that christen has made fun of me for be a goofy blogger).

she posted a humorous/horrifying story that you should definitely go check out.

so, go. now! (or she will unleash her pregnant wrath upon you...)

new kevin max track, take ??

a while back, i posted several very rough demos of some tracks from kevin max's upcoming ep, crashing gates and passing keepers, due out on december 9 (via itunes, with a physical version due out in early '09).

well, those rough tracks have now been mixed and mastered and if there was ever an example of the night and day difference between mixed tracks and demos, this would be it. i've heard pieces of most of the mixed/mastered tracks and they really sound amazing. it's sort of like when you hear an opening act at a concert and you think they're really good until the headliner comes out and blows them out of the water.

so, one of the best tracks in my very cursory listens is called the saint of lonely hearts. it's great lyrics and a really great sound that hearkens back a little to between the fence and the universe with a blend of the imposter. good stuff.

if you want a further glimpse at kevin max's new ep, he just released an ecard with samples of each of the songs, lyrics, a "making of" video and the album artwork (among other things). here it is:

(p.s. kevin max. rev room. december 9. 8:30 p.m. be there.)

babybyrds.com!

i'm excited to let you guys know that we got babybyrds.com up and running tonight! this will be the home for all things christen and ryan offspring: namely, lucy and olive (but we're sure there will be more to come down the road...). primarily, this will be the place that christen blogs, but i'll hop on from time to time. we'll be putting pictures, updates, video and whatever else seems to be entertaining with the byrd babies. of course, this will be especially useful in the coming days whenever olive decides to make an appearance in the world. we'll try to get pictures up there as soon as we get the chance.

it should be noted that this is a work in progress. right now, it's only one page (the blog), but i hope to find time to put up and about us page and maybe a photo page. we'll see. check back soon/often!

the real atlas: sad analogous observations

i came across this on telegraph, a news site out of the uk. it's a really fascinating map software that depicts the nations of the world, not by their physical size, but by their demographic importance on a range of subjects. there are some interesting analogous observations that really aren't that difficult to make.

as a standard, here's just the standard map that is produced by this software. you'll notice that, as opposed to the "normal" maps you see, the nations are scaled in proportion to other nations' area. so, you'll note that the united states is relatively small based on its small land area in contrast to africa or russia.

now, on to the issues.

first, here's a map showing the projected wealth distribution by the year 2015. observations: united states is enormously larger than the "standard" map. china is the largest percentage. in contrast, notice that africa is barely visible (particularly in comparison to the "standard" map above.



let's make a sadly analogous observation concerning this map that shows the percentage of hiv victims throughout the world. observations: both the united states and china—the wealthiest nations—are barely visible. on the other hand, africa—the poorest nation—has no other comparison in the world in terms of people with hiv.



third, here's a map showing the nuclear weapons in the world. observations: of all categories, this the one in which the united states is the biggest. russia, our "enemy", is right there with us. on the other hand, the vast majority of the world isn't even represented on this map. no africa. barely china. barely india. barely southeast asia.



this final map shows another sad contrast to the previous map. it depicts the number of war deaths over the last 50 years. observations: biggest nuclear owners, america and russia, barely visible. people with no or very little nukes: africa, china, southeast asia, india. mass death.



i'll let you draw your own analogies and conclusions...very sad...

boo on women...

...so says the southern baptist convention/lifeway resources. well, to be fair, they're actually saying boo on women pastors and the publishers who choose to feature them on the cover of their magazine. 

what you see to the right is the cover of the september/october edition of gospel today. their cover story dealt with breaking the glass ceiling of female leadership/pastors within the church. great idea, right. not so much according to lifeway/sbc.

shortly after receiving their shipment of magazines, lifeway decided to pull every magazine from the shelves of their over-100 store chain of christian bookstores. women pastors is the devil, apparently.

hopefully you just read a small glimpse of my feelings about female leadership and pastors (and gender roles, in general), so i won't go into some long diatribe about female leadership (obviously, i strongly affirm it and will actively be seeking it out for our church here in little rock). in this case, though, it's more than just them being against female church leadership. the broader issue is the paternalistic nature of the southern baptist convention (and, certainly, others...but they just happen to be committing the offense here...and are often guilty of this crime).

one of my values—that i would like to believe is also a jesus value—is engaging dialogue that encourages personal decision-making and intellectual biblical self-discovery. in other words, the church, sadly, has a tradition of trying to think for people, rather than encouraging people to self-discover and be led by the holy spirit. in this case, the southern baptist convention—on record—is against women being pastors and other forms of female church leadership that is "over" men. so, when a magazine runs a cover story about female pastors, they find it threatening to their thought control and pulls it from the shelves.

to me, it shows a lack of faith in people's judgment and personal scholarship (not to mention faith in the holy spirit to lead us to truth) and would rather just tell people what they should believe. that certainly doesn't reflect the leadership and teaching of jesus.

look, in the end, lifeway is a business and a business has every right (and it sometimes makes sense) to pull something from their shelves that they think is "wrong" or "false teaching" or whatever. but...when you make the big deal be women pastors, that's pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. if gospel today is running a cover story that says "f**% god" or something like that, then i, by all means, have got your back, lifeway. go ahead and pull it from your shelves. but women pastors? come on. spend your time with real theological issues—not whether people with vaginas should preach a sermon.

(just for the record, i have many friends who are a part of the southern baptist convention and they are great and good people and christians. i just happen to disagree with many of the stances of the convention—just like i sometimes disagree with own denomination's stances. disagreeing doesn't mean we can't be friends. it just means we disagree.)

don't stop believin'

who doesn't love journey? i mean, where else can you find a band that combines classy power ballads, rock mullets, and steve perry's sweet sweet buttery howl? can't do it.

so, wasn't it a beautifully classy moment yesterday when apple announced that journey's don't stop believin' is the all-time highest selling song on itunes. what!? journey? to date, it's sold a little over 2 million copies. certainly the ridiculous music buyers throughout the world have not stopped believin'.

interestingly, they say that the sopranos finale (which closed with this song) was a major bump in sales. from the night of the show's airing to the following tuesday, the song's sales had a 482% spike. steve perry officially offers his mullety thanks to the jersey mafia.

so, in honor of this announcement, i present to you the awesomeness of journey:

mark driscoll: the sad gospel of male chauvinism and female denigration

i just spent literally an hour writing this blog post and when i got done, i decided what i wrote wasn't helpful, at best. so, if you want to read it, you can do so here, but otherwise, here's a much more helpful post:

basically, i came across this video today that was posted by mark driscoll (pastor/founder of mars hill church in seattle; author and speaker who is adored by his "charismatic calvinist" cronies throughout the country; general scripture-twister...). it is of a q&a session he and his wife did and he decided to specifically post the video of this question and answer. it is another example of how he has a couple pet issues that he pushes down everyone's throat in the name of god and in the name of "de-wussifying" the world. apparently the god and scripture he speaks of is a different god and a different bible than i'm familiar with.

when i saw this, it really made me angry, but moreover, i was very saddened because this man has so much influence over people—many of those people are friends of mine, unfortunately. let me offer a few points of clarification on the crap he's feeding in this video (and elsewhere).

1. much like many of the other anti-egalitarian things that driscoll pushes as truth are products of his hyper-literalism that he uses to interpret the bible. i'm drawing a blank now, but there's an interpretive term that describes this very thing. in essence, it's the idea that every narrative detail of the bible is completely normative in nature. (the discussion of the concept of "all narrative isn't necessarily normative" is one that deserves a lot more time and attention to detail that i may consider.) that is, to say, that cultural implications inherent in scripture are obsolete. so, when driscoll claims that women shouldn't speak in church based on his proof-texting of passages found in 1 timothy or 1 corinthians, he completely strips the social and cultural implications of the narrative.

2. driscoll is famous for claiming that those who disagree with him do so because of false cultural arguments. not just in the sense that i described in point #1, but from the perspective of current culture. so, when he criticizes people for saying that issues of gender roles are culturally toned in the bible, he's basically saying that we've sold out to the "oprah culture" and turned our backs on the "literal truth" of scripture. i would argue the exact opposite. i believe that driscoll interprets this stuff from a very distinct and modern cultural viewpoint that has been prevalent in the church for a very long time. within american church culture, unfortunately, it is much more acceptable and culturally "normal" to disenfranchise and diminish women's roles than in the "mainstream" culture. driscoll has chosen to strip the bible of its beautiful and wonderful jewish/ancient cultural implications and replaced them with american church culture.

3. driscoll does what many of us do—myself included—in various areas of life. he has transferred his experiences and his particular life circumstances into biblical standards. when you view this clip, you'll see that he talks about his family and the way his family chooses to live. while this could certainly be a "chicken or the egg" situation, it appears from driscoll's larger body of work (sermons, teachings, biography, etc.) that this is a trend for him. i have no doubt whatsoever that mark and grace driscoll are followers of jesus who are pursuing a life for their family that honors god, but it's also clear that he chooses to teach people to be disciples of jesus and mark driscoll.

so, anyway, here it is.

fear and loathing (and burning) in san francisco, part 2

anguish. pain. (mixed with a tiny dash of hope).

cardinals: 29, niners 24.

fear and loathing (and burning) in san francisco

tonight's a big night: the niners are actually on t.v. and, even bigger, monday night football. these days, it would be a gross understatement that niners fans have been in much anguish and pain over the last 6 or 7 years. certainly, there has been weeping and gnashing of teeth on a biblical level.

currently, i should note, the niners, heading into halftime, lead the cardinals, 21-13. the niners just had an unbelievable drive to end the half and score (with an incredible catch by vernon davis), but it still doesn't take away the pain of this, another underachieving season (so far).

in honor of the deep and pulsing pain that the niners fans are experiencing while waiting for our return to glory, i decided to mess around with garageband a little. trust me, don't get your hopes up. this is very basic and rough. i've played around with garageband quite a bit in the past, but this was just me screwing around with a song that expresses so much anguish, that i can only believe that ray lamontagne is a niners fan...

seriously though, i've been listening to this album (ray lamontagne's trouble) quite a bit and this song—burn—has particularly stood out to me because of its raw emotion and brutal anguish. in the midst of rediscovering this song over the last week, i stumbled upon a live version by brandi carlile (who is definitely my music crush...of course, i believe she likes girls...so that's why she's just my music crush...). so, i did a little mash-up of the two versions. brandi carlile brings the pretty; ray lamontagne brings the pain. hope you enjoy.

what's in my [proverbial] 6-disc changer

1. ray lamontagne: trouble

2. keane: perfect symmetry

3. damien rice: live at fingerprints: warts and all

4. ray lamontagne: gossip in the grain

5. burlap to cashmere: anybody out there?

6. brandi carlile: covers (unofficial compilation)

changeling by clint eastwood

yesterday, christen and finally had a chance to see clint eastwood's new movie, changeling, starring angelina jolie and john malkovich. from the first time i saw this trailer and knew that eastwood was directing, i was looking forward to seeing it. in the past several years, a clint eastwood directed movie probably meant that i would enjoy. particularly in the case of 2003's mystic river and 2004's million dollar baby (not to mention 2006's flags of our fathers and letters from iwo jima), eastwood has created moving and timeless classics.

quick synopsis: **CONTAINS SPOILERS** christine collins (angelina jolie) shows up from work one day to find that her 9-year old son, walter, had been abducted. after countless dead-ends over several months with the corrupt and p.r.-driven lapd, she learns that her son has been found in illinois. staging a press event, the corrupt police captain brings her to the train station, only to find that the boy they have brought her is not her son. overwhelmed with emotions and unsure how to respond to the police pressure, even though she knows this is not her son, she brings him home and begins the process of collecting information to prove to the lapd that this is, in fact, not her son. when she presses the issue—along with the help of an outspoken pastor (john malkovich)—she is subjected to a week in the county psych ward, where she is promised she can leave when she clears the lapd of any wrongdoing. after discovering that her son was, in fact, the victim of a local child serial killer, she is released and thereafter pursues legal action against the lapd. in the end, collins is never reunited with her young son, but continued to search for him until the day she died.

ok...now that that's out of the way... on to some observations.

1. first of all, this movie, like the other eastwood flicks i mentioned earlier, was incredible. great story (true story, at that). great directing and acting. beautifully shot.

2. speaking of beautifully shot...this movie was, well, beautifully shot. one of the things i love about eastwood's recent movies is the shadowy, desaturated palette he uses. of course, some of the credit goes to eastwood's cinematographer, tom stern, but the palette was largely eastwood's brainchild. the palette, which was also used by stern in all the aforementioned eastwood movies, is so palpable it could be listed as another actor.

3. john malkovich brilliantly portrayed reverend gustav briegleb. briegleb, who pastored st. paul's presbyterian church in l.a., was an outspoken advocate for civil rights and regularly challenged the lapd on their corruption. by all means, i'm not one of these angry fundamentalist christians who is always harping on how christians are portrayed in the media. certainly, a broad consensus could probably agree that media depictions of christians aren't all that great, but in fairness, it is often deserved. in this case, though, briegleb was the hero. he was the champion of justice and did it all with eloquence, bravery and intelligence. it was such a refreshing way to see a christian and moreover, a pastor, portrayed in a movie. one of the cornerstones of the christian faith ought to be social justice and being an advocate for the oppressed, but that is often forgotten in the christian community and, likewise, in the media.

4. finally, in the movie, eastwood gruesomely depicted an execution by hanging. leading up to the scene, i assumed it would be handled the same way as a sex scene of t.v. that is, to say, that it would be primarily innuendo as the camera pans away at the moment. in this case, you watched every last detail of the hanging: the chilling walk up the stairs, the desperate hymn-singing as the noose was placed around the prisoner's head, the cold onlook of the victims' families, the silent anticipation of the fall and, most disturbing, the despairing twitching and flailing in the fleeting seconds of the hanging prisoner's life. it was truly disturbing in its cold and objective portrayal of the execution.

i really can't remember if i've talked about it on the blog before, but one of the things i feel most passionate about is the sad injustice that is state-sanctioned executions. this is one of the saddest and lowest things in our society. i believe it breaks the heart of god and therefore, should break our hearts. i don't care if someone has stolen a couple dollars or murdered an entire village of people, no one deserves to die at the hands of another man. life and death is a matter of god—not you and i. watching the gruesome scene in the movie only reinforced my feelings. whether it's hanging, electric chair, lethal injection or whatever, the death penalty is inhumane, cruel and unusual.

our country is a long way from a moratorium on the death penalty, but i believe this could be one of the areas where the church could join together and create a cultural movement of change. unfortunately, whereas most of the denominations in the u.s. have officially condemned the death penalty (methodists, episcopalians, lutherans, mennonites and others), the largest and unfortunately, most politically influential (southern baptist convention) has repeatedly wrongly sanctioned the death penalty, stating that it is directly sanctioned by god through the noahic covenant. so, sadly, the church, like in other important matters, is largely divided, with the largest denomination leading the way in the division.

oh wait...apparently my nice little review of changeling has be pre-empted by my soapbox issue...what a surprise.

ok, so, you can take this away from this blog: don't kill people and go see changeling. :)

great quote

i've heard this many times before, but a pastor at church today used this and it really jumped out to me.

politics. religion. relationships. true in any context.

when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

                                                               —bernard baruch

ok, point taken...

the times they are a-changin

a minute ago, as my itunes library was shuffling through various songs, it landed on bob dylan's venerable classic, the times they are a-changin'. i couldn't help but to think that this song, in the wake of the election of president obama, is once again very appropriate and timely. dylan released this song in 1964, which was just after kennedy's assasination and near the height of the vietnam war. certainly, at that time, times were a-changin' and certainly, today, the same could be said. how history repeats itself.

so, here ya go. ladies and gentlemen, bob dylan.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

lucy lu: sans parents

lucy spent a couple days at grandma and grandpa's house, which meant the following:

1. she got to stay up really late

2. she could get away with not taking naps

3. she generally got what she wanted, and

4. she got to go to day care with grandma and aunt bethany

the former of this list is by far her favorite part. the times in the past that she's gone to cradle care, she's had a blast. lucy loves other kids (let's hope that works out with her soon-to-be little sister...) and she knows there's all kinds of fun toys there for her energetic wrath to be unleashed upon. my sister took some pictures of lucy's escapades and i thought i would share them with you.

 

 
 

the day after...

baby byrd #2: very close...

i got to thinking today and realized that the thing that is currently the most important matter in my life has gotten very little face time here on the ol' blog. that thing, of course, is the impending birth of our second sweet little girl, olive.

first of all, once upon a time i believe i promised to let everybody know the name we've chosen. (broken promises could be the theme of this blog...sorry, folks.) obviously...you just saw it, but for the official unveiling, her name will be olive grace. it's a name we've loved for a long time. some have supposed that it came from little miss sunshine and while we certainly love that movie (and own it on dvd), it didn't really come directly from that. we just love the name olive and it made the cut.

on to the present. due date: thanksgiving. last week, though, at christen's appointment, let's just say the doc touched the top of olive's head. yeah. crazy. christen is thinning out quite a bit and obviously dilated enough for the doctor to touch olive's shoulder melon (and, with my genetic hand-me-downs, melon is a very appropriate term...). he's saying it could be at any time, but that we definitely won't make the due date.

christen's ears were very pleased at this news. we obviously don't want anything unsafe, but now, at 37 weeks, we're considered full term. so, any day is good for us (christen especially).

so, there ya go. get ready. olive's on the way. i think i haven't talked about it a great deal on the blog because it's one of those things that's so uniquely special to me, that it's difficult to express in concise and readable ways. it's to not sound cliché, but my family is so deeply important and everything to me, so the expectation of olive's arrival is just really emotionally overwhelming.

i truly can't wait to see and touch and hold olive. i can't wait for christen to make it through labor and have the joy of holding olive for the first time. and, probably more than anything, i can't wait for the first time for lucy to meet and hug and kiss olive (i believe there's gonna be some serious busting of tears on my end...).

so, hang in there. she's on her way. follow the blog and you can be one of the first people to see pictures and hear all about her.

president barack obama. finally.

YES!

avoiding all over-dramatization, this is truly a moment that i will never forget.

at a loss for words. relieved. amazed. thankful. moved.

24 karat bull.

it's story time with uncle ryan. gather round kids.

once upon a time there were a group of people of god who were living in very dire times. the political climate was uncertain. economically, things were tight and religion was a very divisive issue. in the midst of all these crises, instead of putting their faith in god to see them through, the people turned to a golden cow. they gathered round this cow and cast their prayers, hoping that the golden cow would change their political and economic plight.

what is that you say? sounds like the story of the golden calf in exodus 32?

well, kids...

WRONG!

this is the story of...

...october 29, 2008.

wow...seriously? way to go, christians. history repeats itself. quit relying on wall street. while i certainly hope and trust that newly elected president obama will do some things to help change the economic climate, ultimately, my money's on god.

(*just in case the photo isn't clear...this is a group of christians who organized a day of prayer for wall street to straighten out and "restore" our "economic hope" in america...)

new mute math track

for a while now, mute math has been making a serious play for becoming my favorite band...we'll see how that race shapes up. one of the telling signs will be their highly anticipated follow-up to their self-titled debut. i've been really excited about it for a long time and has made its way to the very top of my personal most anticipated list. originally, it was slated to come out in september '08 and i'm not sure if anybody told you, but it's november now... so, there's been no definitive date yet, other than "early '09."

in the meantime, though, kids, we've got a little teaser in the form of the twilight soundtrack that released today. by all means, i have no plans whatsoever to see the movie, but i got the soundtrack today in order to hear the new mute math track called spotlight. apparently, this track will be on their new album in '09, but on this soundtrack, it has a different mix.

it sounds incredible and if it's any indicator of their new music, i'm just as excited as ever. so, here ya go. check it out.

nerd alert! nerd alert!

watching cnn election coverage.

holograms.

freakin' holograms.

wow...not sure what to make of this...

holograms......

UPDATE: 9:45 p.m. we've got another hologram sighting... this time, it's the u.s. capitol building. political and historic architectural nerds everywhere are wetting their pants...

(ooh....sidenote: campbell brown just got straight fact-checked by john king. indeed, john king is the king of all touchscreens AND, now, the king of all 'boo-yeahs'...)

UPDATE: 9:52 p.m. WHOA!! will.i.am hologram! OMG! (yes! i just used omg on my blog...) this is the all-time classiest moment of the entire cnn coverage. i mean, if you're a overused beats, humps-loving nerd, then you're probably in techy heaven watching this right now.

alright, anderson cooper just promised "more holograms" to come... stay tuned, kids.

one final thought...

we're less than 24 hours away from finding out what kind of change is coming to our nation. go vote. make an informed choice. i don't care who you vote for as long as it's for conscionable reasons (however you might define that).

my honest prayer for tomorrow is that we, as a nation, won't embarrass ourselves and let non-issues determine the race. so, i'll leave you with this very clever and poignant thought.

nothing says 'i love you' quite like a copyright-infringed mixtape...

so, i was inspired by amanda to do one of these goofball mixtapes. this one's at mixwit.com and there are plenty others (8tracks, muxtape [temporarily down because of the ridiculous riaa music witch hunt...], favtape, to name a few). so, here ya go:

UPDATED CONTENT: well, another day sick and stuck in bed=another mixtape. this is the sickness of the 90's mixtape. it's like some kind of rash that you can't control. once you record a tape with a little chumbawamba, new kids and color me badd, the next thing you know, you've fired off 20 more for all the girls you've fallen in love with in your 8th grade science class with classy little ditties from the likes of all-4-one, richard marx and bryan adams.

anyway, i decided to give 8tracks a whirl. the main advantage over mixwit is that you can more easily upload your own songs. so, this playlist is more reflective of the songs i really like from my favorite artists. so, check it out by clicking here or listen below. (and go check outn these artists if you like them. my intention was to use this sort of how paste's monthly sampler turns me onto artists i might not know.)

speaking of hulu...

...they have the entire barack obama prime time special that aired tuesday night. it was incredibly produced and it was very endearing to barack obama, the person, and not just barack obama, the politician.

you can go check it out at hulu's site or you can watch it right here.

music on mtv?

i'll spare the details, but let's just say that i had a rough night that was comprised of plenty o' hugging of the toilet... so, i've been stuck in bed all day, which hasn't been too exciting.

in between watching episodes of real chance at love, celebrity rehab with dr. drew and other classy shows of similar kind, i've been perusing a new website that launched last week. it's called mtv music and it does something shocking: it brings music to music television. i know, i know, that seems insane for mtv to do something like this, but it's true.

basically, it's like a hulu for music videos. it has hi-res music videos and claims to have every music video ever made (although i quickly disproved that claim...how are you not going to have one of the best videos ever, black hole sun by soundgarden, on a site that says it has every video ever....??). anywho, the way it's better than hulu and some other video sites, though, is that it doesn't interrupt the videos with advertising.

it's good stuff, so you should go check it out. like i said, they're hi-res and they're fully embedable. speaking of fully embedable (not to mention fully awesome...) :

Rick Astley |MTV Music