My search for electronic drums has brought me to the Yamaha DTXpress III Special. Thanks to some help from John Martin at Memorial Baptist Church, I’ve decided this is the best set for me to start my journey into the world of electronic drums. I still can’t believe I’m doing this, but at the same time, I’m ecstatic. I keep thinking of more and more advantages to having an electronic kit. I think it’s going to be great.
I’m pondering a move to electronic drums. It’s something I’ve never thought I’d ever do, but with my current playing situations, it seems inevitable.
Pros:
Cons:
I’m currently looking at one of the high-end Roland kits. I may have the ability to get the kit for half of its retail price through a connection with a dealer. We’ll see!
Though maybe against my better judgement, I finally broke down and purchased a new camera this weekend - the Canon SD400. I got a very good deal on the little sucker, and it takes some pretty good pictures. I’m going to work on a new photo gallery at some point this week and upload some of my newest pictures for y’all to see. More to come….
In an effort to keep my Potential: Reached campaign alive in 2006, I’ve enlisted the help of someone I respect a great deal - Mike Barnes.
For those that don’t know him, Mike was my first basketball coach when I was in the fifth grade. Strangely enough, after the basketball season ended, I didn’t come in contact with him until I started attending Crestwood in 2003. He was a highly successful Sprint employee until God led him down a different path. Now, he is a part-owner of Wireless Blue and the sales director at CLS. Starting this year, he came on full-time at CLS, so I’m able to be around him every day.
Not only is Mike successful professionally, but privately as well. He is a very Godly man, and a wonderful family man. He considers both elements (professional & private life) to be of equal importance, and I couldn’t agree more. If you’re having personal problems, they will affect your work. If you’re having work problems, they will affect your personal life.
Time management has become a huge issue in my life. I’ve blogged about desiring the invention of an anti-sleeping pill, as well as extending the day from 24 hours to 36. There’s just too much in a day’s time that I want to get done. This issue effects both my personal and professional life.
I’ve only met two people in my life that were masters of time management - my college band director, Dr. Pete LaRue, and Mike Barnes. Fortunately for me, Mike has agreed to assist me with time management issues, and after a couple of days, I’m already noticing improvement. I look forward to a paradigm shift in this area of my life.
I think…. think… my search for a good Bible and good Bible translation is over. To date, my personal favorite has been my New Living Translation Life Application Study Bible. It’s still high on my list (#2, actually), but there was always something about it that was lacking.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been struggling to decide on the right Bible translation for myself. I love the readability of the NLT & NIV, but I wasn’t sure I wanted a paraphrase. I tried an ESV and really like it, but it wasn’t a study bible (I may purchase a copy of the Reformation Study Bible ESV at some point).
I came across the Scofield study bibles during a trip to Corinth last week. Since I already had an NIV study bible, I decided to go with a New King James Version of the Scofield. The study notes are great. Currently, I’m going through a phase of desiring more theological study, and the Scofield bible provides that. There’s notes on lots of theological subjects, original language word studies and more. Deciding that I liked the study notes so much, and knowing I’d be using it a lot, I took it back today in exchange for the NIV Scofield. I’m really enjoying it so far.
Though the NIV is a paraphrase, it’s still highly regarded. What settled the issue was this fact: You can sit down with multiple translations of the Bible, but when it boils down to it, the message is still the same. If your faith & beliefs are sound, you will interpret a verse or passage the same way in every translation of the Bible. After that, it becomes a matter of which wording you like best. Though I’m still a big fan of the NLT, for now, I’ve settled on the Scofield NIV as my #1 bible.