andrew dodson

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m heading to Maysville this afternoon for Christmas with my mom’s family. I’ll be back home tonight, then Christmas at home with mom, dad and Jason tomorrow. Friday and Saturday, I’ll be in Ashland with Julie’s family. Should be a good few days of rest and enjoying family and friends.

Here’s a few random blogging items:

• I’ve added a new plugin to the blog that lets you share posts on different social networks.  Not that my posts are all that important, but just in case you want to share them, now you have the option.
• The New York Yankees are evidence of the problem with professional sports.  In the past few weeks, they have dumped $452 million into three players.  This is on top of their new $1.6 billion stadium.
• I picked up Rush’s Snakes and Arrows DVD last night.  It’s the first Rush DVD I’ve purchased, and so far, I really like it!  Neil Peart is an amazing drummer.  I was lucky to see them in Columbus several years ago.  I also found Alex Lifeson’s Barbie doll groupies pretty humorous.

Finally, let’s not forget:

Luke 1:68-79 Listen

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Okay.  I’ve decided to blog again.  Yes, wishy-washy.  Just like I said I’d be.  The thing is, I really do have a lot to blog about, and the last couple of weeks has revealed this to me.

Wordpress 2.7

Wordpress just released version 2.7, which is one reason to blog.  Wordpress is one of my favorite things in this world, and it really shows how big of a geek I can be.  I was actually anticipating the release of 2.7.  I’ve used Wordpress for the past four years and don’t plan on using anything different anytime soon.  I’m sure there’s other blogging and content management solutions out there, but I’ve just fallen in love with Wordpress.

New in 2.7 is what you (the faithful blog reader) can’t see.  As I type this, I see a whole new look in the dashboard (i.e., control panel or “back end”) of Wordpress.  It’s been completely redesigned and it’s great.  As mentioned, the new version and the new look of the dashboard is inspiration enough to blog.

A Girl

For the first time in the history of this blog, I’m going to post about a specific girl.  Her name is Julie and she’s pretty awesome.  For those of you that keep up with me on Facebook, this is old news, but it’s new to the blog.

We’ve been dating for a couple of months now, and I’m pretty happy.  As my mom pointed out in a comment a couple of posts ago, she could likely be a reason for posts being scarce as of late.  She has occupied a lot of my free time lately, but if I had to choose between time with her or blogging, it’s a pretty safe bet I’ll pick time with her!  Both of our sets of parents met last night for the first time, and it went very well.  It’s been interesting that all of the “next steps” of the relationship have gone well, without either of us being nervous (meeting parents, meeting family members, meeting each other’s friends).  It’s been a good sign – it’s just felt “normal” in a very good way.  Prayers are appreciated!

Behold the Lamb of God

For the second year in a row, I was a part of performing Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God at The Point.  We were fortunate to have the same crew as last year, with the addition of a couple of string players (who added immensely to the performance).  I am so blessed to have been gifted with the ability to bang on drums for the glory of God.  I am so blessed to be connected with so many amazing musicians that want to glorify God through their talents.  I’m not sure how many (if any) of the bunch will see this, but I just want to thank them for letting me be a part of it all.  It was beautiful.  And a special thanks to the Tomkins family for helping with sound and MediaShout.

My Blog’s Birthday

I started this blog on December 27th, 2004.  This week, it will turn four years old.  I can’t say I thought I’d still be blogging in four years when I started.  Blogs may be dying out, but deep down, I do enjoy getting on here and typing out my thoughts for the world (or, a few people) to see from time to time.  A lot of blogs have a central theme or purpose.  I like that mine is a mix of personal thoughts, sports, music, occasional humor, and most importantly – God.  I hope to continue to blog more about all of these topics more in 2009.  All of this to say, this blog isn’t going anywhere.  I’d miss it too much.

Merry Christmas!

Okay, here’s the deal.  I think I know what I want to do with this place.  This space.  Whatever you want to call it.  The blog will continue to exist in some fashion.  However, it will no longer be on the front page of the site.  I’m using Twitter more, which is really easy to use for quick, daily updates.

Picture this.

When you come to this site, the first thing you’ll see is my latest Twitter posts.  A list of my most recent blog posts will also be on the main page, so you can see if I’ve posted a blog entry lately.  The blog and other pages will be links off the home page.

I think this is what I want to do.  I think.  We’ll see.  As I sit here typing this, I kind of miss blogging.  Wishy-washy.