hello friends,
i'm sitting in my parent's hotel room in ithaca ny. today is the last day of vacation, which always makes me very sad. however, this has been one of the longest trips i've ever taken, and so i will be more than happy to get home. unfortunately, my travels are only half over.
the vacation wrap up is as follows:
day one: we drove to new york city. we stayed at dee's house on breezy point, which is a tiny house, but a lovely house. we spent the week up there in between the beach and the city. highlights were sitting on the beach doing nothing, riding in a taxi cab in which i was certain we were going to die while the driver was singing a song in some language i didn't recognize, realizing that there were enough dunkin donuts to insure you will have access to coffee at any time you might need it, and the last evening spent on the beach watching the seagulls pick up clams (or something in a shell), flying through the air, and dropping the clams to break the shells. awesome.
we then drove through lovely PA and heading up north to ithaca for this weekend's festivities. highlights include a really crummy hotel room a few billion miles away and getting to hang out with my families. i am speaking tonight at the wedding. i have given this talk a few billion times (kids, you remember the three hebrew words for love don't you?). everyone is asking me if i have notes, and i'm being silly and telling them i do not. the talk is in my head. as previously mentioned, i have given it a billion times. it's just fun to make people nervous about what i may or may not say tonight. i am such a dork.
tonight we will drive back to pittsburgh. i will sleep in my bed for one night. then tomorrow i will awaken, lead worship at the bridge (which i miss dearly), take a nap, repack, and head to selbyville. remember when i used to think being a touring musician would be fun? i don't.
signing off!
j

ps. a music video for your enjoyment.

hello friends,
as i may have mentioned here (i've mentioned so many things on xanga and mentioned what i'm about to mention so many times that i am almost certain the two would have intersected by now. if they have not, rest assured that i am not so ego-centric that i read my own blog to make sure i haven't said what im about to say already. pressing on...) i have decided to spend more time out of my office, among the people. so today, while i'm waiting for a phone call from ed to see if we are going to look at a new house for him in the near future, i am at the mall. jim the other day told us that his "branch office" was the mcdonalds in town. i liked the term branch office, and because i am un-original in every way, i am going to steal it for my own purposes.
today is not really a work day. typically it would be my day off. however, there were kids that needed to work on a recording project and then there was an ipod that needed to be repaired at the mall. so, after the repair, and before the call from ed, i decided to come up to the food court and write a little bit, as my sermon is just in the formative stages and it's friday. (this, the sermon, is frightening me). i have decided to park myself in a table directly across from the sakkio japan. i have decided that because i am out here to meet with kids, hopefully some new kids, that to be in such proximity to the free sample lady can only be a hot-bed of traffic. thus far, i am correct. what i find humorous is that though i have already purchased my subway sandwich, and am clearly eating her competitors product, she looks at me every now and again to make sure that i don't actually want a sample. some people are persistent.
i also purchased a few books for my library. i actually finished a book at alive, and so need to begin another book promptly to maintain the momentum. purchases include:
1) Saving Darwin by Karl W. Giberson. It's a book about how to be a Christian and still hold to some of the truths that evolution presents in our modern day world (some of you are already thinking of the angry comments you can leave. i await the debate with pleasure)
2) Crazy Love by Fancis Chan. this book is about how jesus is crazy in love with us, but typically our reaction is to go to church once a week, sing a few songs, and try not to curse. we can and must do better.
3) lord save us from your followers by dan merchant. this book is about how christians are crazy and everyone knows it.

that said, ed has not called yet, and i see no reason not to be reading one of these fine works of literature with my darling wife.
godspeed,

jason