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Even though there will be no shortage of media attention on this topic, I can’t pass up the opportunity to throw out my opinion.  Today, the Mitchell Report was released, detailing the use of steroids by Major League Baseball players in recent years.

Without a doubt, the biggest disappointment is seeing Roger Clemens’ name on the list.  One of the greatest pitchers of all time is now linked with cheating.  Is it true?  It certainly seems so, although Clemens’ lawyer has already issued a statement denying the report.  Being a pitcher myself, he was never a big inspiration to me, but I always respected him.  He seemed to be cut from the same mold as Nolan Ryan - a big, strong power pitcher from Texas who had a tremendous work ethic to stay on top of his game.  Now, it seems that image has been tarnished, and he’ll now be known as a cheater.

The biggest surprise was not seeing two names on the list - Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire.  The same two guys that helped start the steroids debate ten years ago are nowhere to be found on the list.  Are they innocent?  I have my doubts.  Their explosion in size during their careers, coupled with their performance would certainly lead one to think they’d be guilty of steroid use.  After all, these two factors are the same criteria being used to say Barry Bonds is guilty of steroids use.

Another name nowhere to be found on the list is Ken Griffey, Jr.  I was very happy to not find his name on the list.  While he’s had a tough time in Cincinnati, Junior has always been an exemplar of what it means to be a professional athlete.  He’s done everything the right way, stayed out of trouble and has been a positive role model.  There are many other Major Leaguers who fit this mold who also deserve credit for keeping the game of baseball fair and fun.  By not taking steroids, they’ve upheld the integrity of the game.  The steroids issue is yet another case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch.

I’m very grateful to Major League Baseball finally taking a stance on this and hiring Mitchell to investigate steroids use.  This past season, attendance continued to grow, and it seemed America was finally forgetting the 1995 strike, and falling back in love with America’s past time.  By taking a stance to fight steroids use, fans should respect MLB even more and continue filling the seats in 2008 and beyond.  It will be nice to get back to the way the game is supposed to be played, with respect for integrity, tradition, and for every aspect that makes us love the game of baseball in America.

I’ve been doing a little “blog cleaning” tonight (”house cleaning” in the real world).  As you can see, I’m using a new theme.  It’s a combination of a theme authored by someone else and a little of my own creation mixed in.  The picture is of downtown Minneapolis, taken by yours truly.  This is pretty simplistic, so I may tweak it a bit more.  Then again, simple is good.  We’ll see.

The focus of this site is going to shift slightly.  From now on, it will be an entirely personal site.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll be transitioning any and all BADmedia info over to a new site dedicated to BADmedia.  I’ll be launching the BADmedia site soon.

If any of you out there are referencing my site from “www.brianandrewdodson.com/blog,” please update your bookmarks to reference “www.brianandrewdodson.com” instead.  The “/blog” part is getting deleted soon.  This will also affect any RSS feeds that reference “/blog.”

Thanks to Wordpress, I’ve imported all of my posts from the “/blog” setup to this one in the root directory.  It took all of about five minutes.  Yet another glorious part of using Wordpress.

Back to your regularly scheduled blog reading.

Psalm 33:10

In this verse, God is dealing with “Godless nations who seek their own will and not God’s,” according to my Reformation Study Bible.  The second part of this verse - “he frustrates the plans of the peoples” - tends to hit close to home with me a lot.  Mostly because it’s difficult for me to rest in God’s will from time to time.

As I’ve told many people before, I am nowhere close to where I thought I’d be at this point in my life.  Five years ago, I would’ve told you that I hoped to be married, possibly with a kid, a nice job making $60,000-80,000 per year, putting my very expensive college education to use.  I’d be playing in a popular band that played regularly to adoring crowds, toured on occasion, and had record label attention.  I’d have a nice house with a personal recording studio, and I’d drive a nice SUV with no cares of the poor gas mileage.

Instead, I’ve become a Christian and attend a great church.  I’ve fallen in love with God’s Word, even if I fail to live up to it.  I’ve yet to find “the one” (much to the chagrin of my mother), and that’s perhaps a topic for a different blog post.  I have a decent job that I enjoy, but I don’t make a killing, and I’m not necessarily putting my degree to use.  I play in a band that I enjoy dearly, and we play a couple times per month at the most, occasionally travel away from central Kentucky, and people seem to like us.  I don’t own a home, but I’m looking.  I drive a Honda CRV that is in good shape, but isn’t anything fancy.

As you can see, God has obviously had different plans for my life than I expected.  So much of my time can tend to be spent seeking my own will and not God’s.  I thank Him for leading me to this verse.  Maybe I can learn to rest in His will more often and live a life of peace instead of frustration.

If you play music, record music or just listen to music, you’re indebted to Les Paul.  I bet you didn’t know that.  Les Paul is one of the most innovative musicians and recording engineers of all time.  Innovations in electric guitars and tone?  Thank Les Paul.  Sound-on-sound and multi-track recording?  Thank Les Paul.

Apple Pro has a really interesting article on this still-living, still-working-at-ninety-two genius.  Feel free to also read his Wikipedia entry.  Thanks Les!

As Thanksgiving rolls around this year, I’m reminded of how I am extremely blessed.

• I have a Lord and Savior that offered grace and eternal life in heaven to me when I deserved extreme punishment.
• I have a great set of Christian parents that raised me right.
• I have a wonderful church, pastor and church family.  They encourage me, help me grow, and they’re a joy to worship with each week.
• I have a job I enjoy and a boss I actually enjoy working for.
• I’ve been blessed with the talent to play a musical instrument.  From this, I’ve had the experience of playing with and learning from some of the best musicians around.  My musical “career” so far has been pretty awesome.
• I’m blessed with material things that - far too often - I take for granted - a nice place a live,  a vehicle that gets me where I need to go, clothes, food, and much more.

Psalm 30:4

Psalm 118:1

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

> Photo Album

I know a lot of you out there are waiting with high anticipation to hear about my Extreme Makeover experience a couple of nights ago.  I haven’t had time to get my pictures onto the computer just yet, nor have I had time to blog about it.  In the mean time, here’s some random blogging….

• I set a goal earlier this week to not spend any money this week.  So far, so good.  Two days to go.
• I went to the gym last night for the first time in forever.  I did the treadmill for thirty minutes.  Ran two miles and walked another half mile.  I’m going back today.  Thankfully, I’m not that sore today.
• Kelly and Ericcia are having a baby!
• Stay tuned tonight or tomorrow for the Extreme Makeover experience recap.

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Here’s the spot WLEX ran tonight on CLS. I will be uploading pictures tomorrow, after our trip to Louisville!

This post has been hard to keep under wraps for the past week or so. But, it’s now official - CLS has been contacted by ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition to do some work for them on a current project in Louisville. I haven’t wanted to say anything until I knew it was going to happen.

They contacted us a little over a week ago to do screen printing on curtains and pillow cases. Normally, this is outside of our realm, but considering the customer, we were glad to help! I coordinated art work with them today, and I believe Dwayne and Jana took care of the printing this evening.

As part of the deal, we have been told we are welcome on the site as much as we would like. As of right now, we are planning to make a group trip up to Louisville tomorrow evening. As I’ve pondered before, I may get some of my questions answered. Stay tuned for updates and pictures!

[11/12 4:00 p.m. UPDATE:  The State Journal sent over a photographer this morning to get shots of the fabric being printed.  Someone from the show’s crew has stopped by to pick up the printed fabric.  We are currently waiting on a crew from WLEX, who is also coming by to do a story.  A group from CLS is planning to head to Louisville tomorrow evening to tour the site and possibly help out.]