andrew dodson

There may yet be hope for society. According to this article, only 40% of people swear on their blogs. I’ve never thought about this, but I would’ve guessed the percentage to be much higher. I mainly read news blogs, Christianity blogs, and my friends’ blogs (most are Christians), so I don’t come across much profanity on these. But, from my days at Blogger and randomly clicking through blogs, it seemed a lot were vulgar.

I’m still excited about the snow. A lot of people around here don’t like snow or cold, but I do. Actually, I don’t like cold without snow. But, cold with snow I’ll take. Anyhow, here’s some random blogging:

• I’m going to see Christian comedian Tim Hawkins tonight with a group from The Point. It should be fun, and I’m looking forward to it.
• I don’t think my PCG is meeting this week, due to Valentine’s Day. As much as I’ll try to get them to postpone their celebrations until Friday, I think I’ll be out-voted. Regardless, I’ll still be posting PCG notes for this week’s text on Thursday.
• The Josh Martin Band settles back into gigging with a performance this Friday. It’s a small gig for a church Valentine’s Day dinner, but a gig nonetheless. We’ve been working on a few new songs as of late, but I’m not sure we’ll play any of them just yet.
• I writing this post using ecto - a desktop blogging software. I’ve tried desktop blogging before, but ultimately went back to using Wordpress directly via the web, or ScribeFire (a Firefox plugin). It seems software like ecto has become more powerful since I last tried it (probably back in 2006 sometime). With the rising popularity of blogs, it seems desktop software has grown in features. We’ll try it for a few days to see if I like it. I’ve also tried MarsEdit, but ecto has more features that suit my tastes.
• Don’t miss the Extreme Makeover Home Edition this Sunday! It is a two-hour special, and it is the Louisville episode. If you remember, CLS was a part of this construction, as we assisted with some printed curtains and pillow cases.
• I can’t believe my parents are registered Democrats. Poor folks will have to choose between Hilary or Obama if they vote in the Primary. I would vote don’t vote in that case. Or, vote for the most beatable of the two, hope that one wins the Primary and then gets beat in November. I think they’re switching parties before the Election, finally.
• I haven’t publicly (on this blog) endorsed a candidate, yet. Maybe in the next week or so, I’ll post my choice and why I support that candidate. Not that it matters to you much - you can make up your own mind. But, it might drum up some support for my choice, or cause you to consider them for your vote.
• Thanks to everyone who, through the blog, Facebook, MySpace, phone calls, text messages and emails, wished me a happy birthday. I really appreciate it!

The moving process is underway.  I finally signed the lease on my new apartment yesterday, and was given the keys.  I took a load of stuff down there last night, then headed back home to finish packing.  My roommate is allowing me the use of his equipment van, which is a big help.  I’ve loaded all of my furniture into it, and I’ll load up my mattresses this afternoon.  I’ll probably still have a load for my CRV (clothes, electronic stuff, etc.), but then I’ll be ready to move.  Tonight, I’ll stay at the new apartment for the first time.

Blogging might be difficult next week.  I won’t have internet at the new apartment until the 13th.  I’ve lined up a few draft posts that I’ll post one-at-a-time starting on Monday.  That should buy me a little more time until I can have internet at the apartment.

Here’s a quick post that will be a preview of posts I’ll be writing sometime this weekend:

• Thoughts on the 13th Chapter of Matthew
• The Attributes of God: Wrath

Both posts will be related in a sense. The chapter in Matthew is a great chapter that reveals the reality of unbelievers being sent to hell. Any universalists that read this blog will be sure to be offended. I’m currently reading Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ. A portion of the book deals with the question of why a “loving” God would send people to an eternity in hell. Stay tuned!

Here’s a list of some of my favorite posts on the blog from last year (one from each month):

• The Single Life
• Frustrated By God
• My Take on Joel Osteen
• Your Mind Matters
• The Power of Influence
• Risk vs. Reputation
• God Working
• Reading the Bible Everyday
• Calvinism
• The Lost Who Think They’re Saved…
• The Presence of the Lord
• Faith in Future Grace

Yesterday, my blog turned three years old.  I’ve operated a personal website for probably five or six years now, but didn’t start a formal blog until a few years ago.  Here’s a link to my first post.

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.

I’ve been busy updating my Flickr site the past several days.  You can keep up with any new photos I’ve posted by clicking on the “My Photos” badge to the right.  The main thing I need to do is get them organized on my computer.  I’m using iPhoto to help me with this, and both Flickr & Facebook offer some very-easy-to-use plugins for iPhoto that make uploading them a breeze.

As you can also tell, I’ve switched the look of the site again.  I came across this theme on the Wordpress Theme Viewer and decided to give it a shot.  The only thing I plan on doing is creating a custom header and changing the pictures that are used with the theme - I did not take them.

I also installed a plugin that shows what song(s) I have playing on my computer at the time of the post.  Kinda neat, mostly unimportant.

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Now playing: Blue Merle - Burning In The Sun
via FoxyTunes

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Now playing: Blue Merle - Bittersweet Memory
via FoxyTunes

I’ve been meaning to point people - particularly, baseball fans - to Curt Schilling’s blog, 38 Pitches. It’s interesting to read about each of his pitching performances directly from him - how he handled each batter, which pitch to throw in which situation, etc. Of particular note is his detailing of his recent game against Oakland in which he almost threw a no-hitter.

Marc - I know you’re a Yankee fan, so it may be a little like me going to a Louisville Cardinals blog, but since you’re a baseball fan, check it out!

Democratic candidate for Governor, Jody Richards, is using Wordpress to power his campaign website. It’s a fairly simple design, but I’m a fan of simple.

Anne Northup is also using Wordpress.  A little more visually appealing.