Write it down.  You’re not that smart to remember everything.  Plus, if you get hit by a bus, a lot more is lost than your life.

“Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.”

– Horace Walpole

Nothing good happens after midnight.

I’ve been meaning to post a review of Joy Ike‘s new Album, Rumors, but I’m just getting around to it now.  If you’re already a fan, this album reminds you why.  If you’re not a fan yet, here’s a review through bias eyes and an unprofessional (and unapproved) opinion.

In retrospect, Joy’s first album, Good Morning, was coming from someone who loved to play music and write songs and was entertaining the idea of people actually paying to listen to it.  It was…but, it also worked.  Joy’s sound was original, familiar, raw, and somehow catchy all at the same time.  I was hooked right away, and I’ll be the first to admit her style is certainly a departure from my normal listening.  She had heart, believed in her music, and it showed.  Something about someone doing something they are passionate about is so engaging.

With Rumors, I was expecting more of the popular sound that I was used to from Joy.  What I got, was something a lot more serious and a lot more -real-.  That isn’t to mean that the previous songs were superficial at all, but I think they succeed at being the catchy, groovy songs they were meant to be.  The songs, and more specifically, the lyrics, on Rumors, are not as secular or topical as her first album.  Where we talked about children growing up too fast (“Hey, Where are the Kids?”), we’re now honestly talking about faith and personal struggle (“Untitled)”.  Where we were talking about getting lost in the city (“City Lights”), we’re now confronting the earth’s mystery and that man alone doesn’t have the answers (“Power”).

The result is a more potent message and it’s delivered with more powerful melody.  She stays true to her stripped down mixing, going with hand drums and a piano and the occasional strings, so we still have the same Joy Ike sound, but she’s pulling us closer by revealing, what I assume to be, herself, and her own thoughts.  An undeniable Christian philosophy is threaded through her lyrics, which wasn’t present in Good Morning. In tracks like “Power” and “Rumors” (not to mention the “Amen” at the end!!), we hear a progression that is something similar to a hymnal.  It’s moving.  It’s great.

To put it simply, I think Joy’s matured, as well as her music.  She’s giving us quality tracks, original and inspiring lyrics, and an honest message that’s not somber, but engaging.  If I had to compare her to someone more mainstream, I’d say Sarah McLachlan, which is appropriate seeing that Joy has been selected to join her in the Lilith Fair line up for Philadelphia on July 28th.  That’s going to be a big show for her, and I’m positive that we’ll hear a lot more of her, sooner than you think.  Better get your gear on while you can.

Are there more people alive right now then people that have ever died?  What’s your first thought?  I want to say that there are more dead people, but I’m not sure how to figure this out, or the best possible way to make an educated guess.

According to census.gov, there are 6,812,935,148 people alive today.  So if we assume an average of 2 people (parents) for every person alive today, then we’d only have to go through 1 generation of dead people to tip the scale to the dead people.  If the most common family dynamic is 2 kids per 2 family, then we’re almost at a stand still.  Thoughts?

Here’s a visual aid:

In our Bible study, we’re going through Hebrews, which has its ups and downs for sure (controversy around Melchizedek, God swearing against Himself in 6:13 when it’s against the 3rd commandment, or not to swear at all in Matthew 3:34, the differences between a promise and an oath, etc), but an interesting clarification occurred to me today, and I wanted to get it down on here to preserve it for later research for historical roots or existing thoughts.  I am going to keep to the theory of 2 covenants with God and His people, even though there are arguments for multiple.  The old covenant (AKA Old Testament) and the new covenant (AKA New Testament) being how we obtain salvation and how we are cleansed.

My thoughts were around the transition from the old covenant into the new covenant.   A brief comparison between the 2 covenants can be found here.  In Hebrews 8:13, depending on what translation you are reading, the old covenant is called obsolete and will decay away.  Even in 8:6-7, the new covenant is called better.  This right here would be the building blocks against the Jewish faith.  In some articles I’ve been reading, they take the perspective of uniting the Gentiles with the Jews with the new covenant (see Ephesians 2:15 and Galatians 3:28).  The key part in the Galatians verse is "…for you are all one in Christ Jesus."  He is the catalyst to a new covenant.

In the first covenant, Moses uses the blood of animals to cleanse, but not grant eternal life.  (It’s important to make the clarification that killing animals did not guarantee the Old Testament followers salvation.)  So it was through death that we were cleansed.

Now, there is no plan for salvation explicitly stated in the Old Testament; unless you make a connection to Jesus Christ through symbolism or hidden meaning.  Only in the new testament are we told what we must do for salvation: Acts 4:10-12  "It is by the name of Jesus Christ…Salvation is found through no one else…"

So, we have a covenant requiring death for cleansing, jesus being a catalyst, and a new offering of salvation as a result.  So my idea was that Jesus was born into the old covenant, His blood was shed (as the Lamb of God) by the people, was put to death, and then he defeated death.  If we think of things chronologically, he dies, we would then be cleansed (if we are to allow the assumption of his death being a sacrifice, although inadvertantly) When he is resurrected, what then happens to our guilt?  My answer is that Jesus Christ now owns it, since it was washed away by His blood.  So we have no choice now but to follow Christ since we are not clean without him holding our sin.

Just like in the economy, debts can be bought.  The loophole in the old covenant is that Christ was operating under it, but had no sin, therefore no debt.  So when he is capable of maintaining integrity to the first covenant in that he remains without sin, but now that he has defeated death, he can offer it to us as well under a new covenant.  Basically, he bought us out of our old contract and is able to make his own terms so long as he operates by the original contract.  The only mentions of eternal life in the Old Testament is in the apocolyptic Daniel, where he says the dead will raise, some to eternal life. 

The unique thought here (at least in my opinion), is that Christ is not only the beginning of the new covenant, bringing eternal life to sweeten the deal, but Christ is also necessary to make the transition from Old to New.  It’s not just a "God says it’s over" and bada boom bada bing.  There is still a legalistic flow and logical understanding connection to be drawn, which is important in these days.

Taking the thoughts of this old post (talks about keeping buried bodies from decomposing naturally and feeding new growth) a little bit further, I was thinking about the space that bodies and graveyards are consuming.  Certainly with huge population growths, cemeteries have to be filling up, and you don’t build up, you build out.  So, if there is a constant growth of cemeteries, wouldn’t they be the most prominent acreage holder eventually?  Is there a growth in land dedicated to the dead documented anywhere?  Will there be a day when Arlington Cemetery can no longer hold bodies?  What happens then?

If talking about the dead is too morbid, a different but similar question is metals being used in construction.  With the size of our buildings increasing to crazy limits like we’re seeing in Shanghai and Dubai, where is all this metal coming from?  We just keep on creating new stuff, and certainly recycling has helped in recovering metals and such from other items, but i’d be willing to bet our consumption and use of metals far outweighs our cultivated supply.  So, are we digging big holes in the earth, or shearing away layers and creating big spikes in the form of sky scrapers and airplanes?

If there’s one thing that I hate most, it’s when people tell me things have to be a certain way, "just because."  This post is not directed at any 1 person, but at 1 particular thought.  When someone says that gift cards are cheating or call me lazy for giving gift cards, what they are not realizing is that their own actions are offensive to me.  I’ll try to keep my defense of the gift card in a bulleted list.

• What if I really want to give you a gift card?  A spa treatment, a favorite restaurant, a specialty store, wherever.  Are you going to say that my gift is not good enough?  I didn’t just reach my hand in a bag and pull out a gift card to toys r’ us, I put thought into where I thought you’d want to spend money.  How dare you call me unthoughtful.
• Maybe I can’t afford what I really want to get you, but I want to contribute.  Maybe when I give it to you, I’ll say, "maybe it’ll help you get that new flatscreen TV you want."  Or maybe, if enough people give you gift cards, there will be enough to get you that flatscreen you wanted, free of charge.
• Maybe I want you to have freedom.  We’ve all received gifts we didn’t want.  Maybe I know you’re a tightwad and you won’t spend you own money on something you like, so here, go on a shopping spree on me.  Sometimes I feel like I’m imposing my thoughts of the person on them when I buy them a gift.  I don’t want to be a control freak, I want you to enjoy something.
• It’s convenient.  I’m not going to lie, that’s a major appeal to gift cards.  You know where they are, where you want to go, how much you want to spend, and you’re in and out of where ever it is, avoiding all the crazy shoppers.  Gift cards are easily shipped if you need to get something online so that opens up options tremendously.  It’s also easy to travel with gift cards for 20 people than it is with 20 wrapped gifts.

And to debunk the nay-sayers:

• Gift cards are impersonal – well, personalize your gift cards then.
• Gift cards are not thoughtful enough – A valid concern and risk.  Let’s look at ourselves before we accuse others though.  Is there a way you can make it easier for someone to get you a gift?  Maybe drop them hints.  Sometimes, they don’t know you enough to get you something, and sometimes, you’re too rigid for them to risk getting you something that you might not like…like a gift card.
• It’s cheating – Really?  Since when did giving and receiving gifts become a competition?  Maybe you should be glad that the person stuck it to the man and didn’t spend have to spend a dime on you because their credit card points paid for your $100 gift card.  Sure, they could have used it themselves, but they chose to give it to you.  Ungrateful.  In these tough economic times, maybe a little cheating by buying gift certificates at grocery stores like Giant Eagle for all sorts of places is in order since it gives the buyer credit card rewards as well as gas points.  That’s a smart shopper if you ask me.
• It’s such a waste since gift cards often go unused – True Story.  Whose fault is that though?  Maybe the receiver was too lazy or caught up in their own arrogance and distaste for gift cards that they didn’t use it.  If I give a gift card to someone, I ask them later on how they spent it, to make sure they did enjoy it, and also next year, maybe i’ll have an idea of something to give them.

The neutralizers, or reasons I can understand:

• It’s not pretty.  You’re right.  You can dress it up and go over the top if you really want to though.  Wrapping paper is such a waste though.  Not only does all that cost ridiculous amounts of money for all the fixings, but you just tear it up and throw it away.  Let’s stop the waste before we even get to recycling by reducing our output.  There’s just something sentimental about unwrapping a nice present though.
• It can be last minute.  It doesn’t have to be though.  I don’t think gift cards should be someone’s bread and butter every christmas and for everyone.  But the generalized statement shouldn’t ruin the good that can come from gift cards.
• Gift cards are mass produced.  Definitely something to consider.  I’m all for supporting local businesses and small shops and artists when possible.  You walk a thin line to consumer whoring, but with a little tact, you should be fine.

I’m a little frustrated with group think, I think you can tell.  When email first came around, do you think people said, "oh my, don’t email me, write me a letter, that’s how it should be done."  You bet your arse they did.  Does that mean they were wrong?  No, but it doesn’t mean it was right either.  People have opinions, and people have feelings.  Sometimes the two collide.  You can either learn to love people for their difference of opinions, or try and change them.  How about you work on the gift of understanding, K?

heh, just browsing through the old posts on my blog and found this:  http://www.sixf00t4.com/article480.html  Pretty funny considering the timing and my recent thoughts on turning 26.  I don’t remember writing that post at all, and that is why I love documenting my life.

So, here’s the story of what I’ve been going through with my truck.  I don’t consider this a closed issue until it’s back in my possession safe and sound.

Friday night my truck was making a weird whistling noise as I headed out to Philly to spend the weekend with Kallie and bring back her large items.  I had thought that I shouldn’t risk driving it with the noise, but plans were already set, so I went for it.  I get to the West Chester / Downington exit a little after midnight, and I had to stop because the noise had grown into the worst grumbling/grinding noise, and I knew something was about to break severely.  I called AAA, and they sent someone out named Josh.  The last time I got AAA the dude’s name was Josh.  within a few seconds of him hooking up the truck, it started to rain and Kallie showed up to pick me up.  So it all went pretty smoothly there, which kept me pretty calm.  Josh had asked me where I wanted it towed to, I had no clue, so he suggested a sunoco dealership down the road, so I said sure.  I had a little cringe at the idea of vulture like mechanics waiting at the Sunoco for they’re latest meal from the turnpike.

So I call the place first thing in the morning.  They don’t normally work Saturdays, contrary to what Josh had said.  They did have a guy in though, and he said he’d take it for a spin to see what was wrong with it.  He said he couldn’t find the keys though.  I told him they might be in the gas tank.  He said he’d check there and get back to me.  By noon I’m wondering if he found the keys or if he had been able to look at it, because I’d like to get it to somewhere else if they couldn’t.  I called them, he said he found the keys in the gas tank and they’d take it for a spin in a bit.  Around 2 they call me, tell me it’s the rear end/differential that needs replaced.  I asked for just a ball park on what he thought it would cost, and he said that he’d have to get back to me Monday because he’ll have someone look at it to see what the options with it were as far as getting a new one, rebuilding the current one, or what else he could find. 

Alright, so I told my boss Saturday I’d be out of the office Monday, but I’d keep him in the loop.  Monday morning comes around, Sunoco says that it’ll be $800 for the part and $400-$500 for the labor, and could take a couple days.  That was a blow.  I said go for it though.  I also called my mechanic back home and asked them what they thought, and they said $800 sounded reasonable.

Also Monday, Kallie’s car needed to get inspection and emission done.  So i took it to this guy down the street from her.  It wouldn’t pass because her left tailout is busted and the check engine light was on.  I authorized him to do a diagnoses on the engine, and he told me that if I drove over to Jersey, I could get a tail light for $60 instead of him having to get it from the dealer for $120.  The check engine light was on because the front catalytic converter is going bad, but he had some sort of tool he could run to find out just how bad it was.  I drove it over night and Tuesday he cleared me there as soon as I could get the tail light from New Jersey.  Wasn’t too much hassle, and I just worked from Kallie’s place.

Tuesday morning though, Sunoco called me to say they ordered the wrong part and the right part was going to be $1200.  I said no way, my mechanic says $800 is good.  He says he called all over the place and that’s all he could find.  I said I wanted to call around and see what I could find on my own.  He started trying to convince me just to go with the $1200.  Josh no likey.  I called Serah’s father in law who lives out there to see if he knew of a good mechanic.  He got me in touch with someone who did some research for me and said that $900-$1200 would be a range they could find a rear for my truck.  I found something online for $950 +$150 shipping.  Then I called Lacey’s back home to see if they could help me find a part and maybe i’ll get someone to drive it out to me.

  By this time, 10:00 am, I had to call off work to deal with this.  Lacey’s calls me back and actually found a place in North Philly that had what I need for $850.  Only snag is that it has to be a garage that buys it.  So i call the Sunoco and the guy is not happy with me, almost like he’s offended I’m telling him how to do his job.  He said I can go buy a part on my own and bring it in, but if it doesn’t work I would have to take it back and get the right part.  He was not willing to talk to the place to make sure it was the right part to avoid that situation.  It was basically $1200 or nothing in his mind.  I call AAA to see if i can get it towed somewhere else for free, and I can if I can produce 2 things:  1) proof that I don’t owe the mechanic money (I don’t think I do…) 2) They can’t fix my truck.  (Hmm….well, they can’t get the part they quoted me and they can’t get the $850 part I need).  So I call the Sunoco back around 4PM to see if they’d agree to helping me out there since this was getting so difficult, and the guy that I had been talking to all day leaves at 2pm.  I asked if there was someone else I could talk to and he said no, and basically hung up on me.  So much for trying to resolve this amicably.

So I go back to Chuck’s, where Kallie’s car was, to get her car squared away, and I ask him if he’d want to work on my truck since he’s basically awesome.  He said yep.  He gave me his buddy’s towing service number.  A quick call there and $110 later, bam, my truck is at Chuck’s place by nightfall.  I have no idea how that is legal, since I never provided proof of identity, pretty sure no one was at Sunoco to sign off, but whatever.  Now my truck is at Chuck’s so Kallie can walk to pick it up instead of having to find a friend to drive her to West Chester.

Talked to Chuck this morning, got him in touch with the place with the part, and I think he’s got it all under control.  I’ll check back in with him later today, but so far so good…Sunoco called…I kinda don’t want to return their call…thoughts?