andrew dodson

I’ve had a productive and yet restful weekend.  Friday evening, I spent time setting up my home electronic drums (a hodgepodge of different pads & hardware).  My new Alesis Trigger came in, so I wanted to get started using it with the included BFD software.  It came with BFD Lite, but it is a really cool piece of software.  I’m planning to upgrade to the full version to get access to more higher-quality sounds.

Saturday, I sat in disappointment as the ‘Cats dropped a game to Louisville.  This team is going to set new lows for the program.  Don’t believe me?  Read this.

Saturday evening, the Josh Martin Band had a belated Christmas get-together, sans Doug (who had a family get-together of his own).  We had a good dinner and enjoyed each other’s company - without playing music - for a change.  It’s rare that we’re all together to hang out when we’re not playing music.  We did, however, have a “band meeting” to discuss some plans for 2008.  Perhaps the biggest news is that we might be adding a new member to the group, along with recording our next studio project.

Today was a great day at The Point.  Please go listen to the sermon if you get a chance.  Good stuff.  This afternoon, I spent some quality time on the media site, revamping the structure of the sermons page.  My humble attempt to mimic Desiring God’s sermon resource library.

Random Link:

• Slate has a good article on Joel Osteen.  My favorite quote from Joel - “I’m not called to explain every minute facet of Scripture or to expound on deep theological doctrines or disputes that don’t touch where people live.  My gift is to encourage, to challenge, and to inspire.”  Get out of the pulpit then!

Here’s some random blogging for you…

• I watched most of the Dave Matthews Band’s Live at Piedmont Park DVD last night.  It’s great!  Of the live DVDs they’ve released so far, I think this one is the best at capturing DMB’s live performance.  I highly recommend picking this up if you’re a fan.  If you’re not sure if you like DMB, find someone that owns this and watch it.
• I’m really liking Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song” right now.  Very catchy.
• The Bourne Ultimatum is finally out on DVD.  I watched it this past weekend, and I’ll likely be watching it again sometime on my Christmas break.
• UK’s basketball team will finish around .500 this year.  Getting Jasper and Meeks back will help, but this team needs more size.  If the UAB game is any evidence, even when we shoot close to 60%, we’re still very beatable.  Don’t look for the Cats to crack the Top 25 until this time next year at the earliest.  I hope I’m wrong on all of this.

Powered by ScribeFire.

This post is a little late, but I can’t describe how proud I am for Kentucky’s football team.  Who knew that the weekend after Midnight Madness, we’d still be excited about the football team?!  I went into the game thinking there would be no way UK could knock off the #1 team in the land, and I’ve never been happier to be wrong.  Earlier this year, I predicted an 8-4 season for the Cats.  They still have a tough slate ahead of them, but at this point, I’m thinking 10-2 or 9-3 are both very realistic.

I can only think of what might be going through Rich Brooks’ head.  A couple of years ago, UK fans - myself included - wanted him gone.  Someone on a message board said hiring Brooks set UK football back fifty years.  Well, it turns out they were right!  Fifty years ago, Bear Bryant wandered the sidelines of UK, and it was the last time we had a consistently good football team.

The AP poll awarded the Cats with a #8 ranking this week.  Earlier this year, I felt our first trip into the Top 10 wasn’t deserved.  Now, it is most definitely deserved.  Especially considering our only loss was to the team that now sits at #6 in the poll.  The bad news?  Three of our last five games are against other ranked teams.

Good luck Cats!

Here’s a quick wrap-up from the weekend:

• Something is wrong with the world.  The UK football team now sits at 5-0 and #8 in the latest AP poll.  It’s just weird seeing the football team ranked higher than our basketball team has reached in the last couple of years.  The consensus seems to be the #8 ranking is high for UK.  Most fans would feel more comfortable with the mid-teens ranking they had last week.  But, with so many upsets over the weekend - especially in the top ten - it only seems fair to reward the Cats for their strong play.  They face a tough test on Thursday night against South Carolina.  After that comes #1 LSU.  The week after that is a Florida team that suddenly looks beatable.  Could the Cats be 7-1 after the Florida game?
• I unloaded the Gretsch drumset and Zildjian ZHT hi-hats this weekend.  I didn’t get near what I wanted for them, but I needed to get rid of them.  I haven’t received much interest from anyone wanting to buy them, so I traded them in at Guitar Center for a Boss DR-3 drum machine, a set of Travis Barker double sticks, and two cables that will replace my need for two direct boxes (1/4″ TRS to XLR male).  The good news is that the drum machine will get a lot of use in my new electronic drum setup.  It has some great tom sounds, fairly good snare sounds, a good ride cymbal sound and very good percussion sounds.  It also gives me the ability to program my own drum loops.  So, even though I didn’t get the value out of the drums and hats I wanted, I at least got something I’ll put to use and not let collect dust in the corner.
• I was very excited about the Bengals-Patriots Monday Night Football game tomorrow night.  Until I remembered that I have JMB rehearsal tomorrow night.  It’s catch 22.  I love playing any chance I can get, especially with JMB working on new material, and I can continue to test and tweak my new setup.  But, I’ll miss most, if not all, of the Bengals playing the best team in the league on a big stage in front of a national audience.  Granted, they’ll probably lose, but it’d be nice to watch.  I’ll still enjoy rehearsal, though.
• One year ago, I was attending the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis.  This year’s conference has wrapped up and Desiring God has already posted all audio and video.
• I’m making tentative plans to attend the Resurgence Conference in Seattle early next year.  I’ll have to start saving my pennies, but it’s actually a fairly affordable conference - only $99.

After a weekend break, I have some catching up to do….

• My apologies to Rich Brooks.  A couple of years ago, I was wondering why UK would ever hire a retired coach and expect to build a program.  Seems he’s done quite a good job over the last two seasons.  Sitting at 4-0 and looking at the rest of the schedule, I think UK is capable of a 10-2 record, but that’s awfully optimistic.  The thing is, it’s hard to tell just how good they are.  We’ve beaten two ranked teams in consecutive weeks.  At this point, the sky’s the limit.  With Notre Dame sitting at 0-4 for the first time in history, it would seem the college football world is off its axis.  Why not dream about a 10-2 season for the Cats?
• The Bengals played much better against the Seahawks than I expected.  They still couldn’t pull it out, but I had expected a loss anyway.  Granted, it would’ve redeemed their loss against the Browns last week, but I still think they have a decent shot at my prediction of 11-5.  I don’t expect them to beat the Patriots next week, but after that, the schedule softens a bit.
• The Josh Martin Band DVD is finally available!  I watched bits and pieces Saturday night, and watched it in its entirety yesterday.  I’m very pleased with how it turned out.  I still think it’s the best mix I’ve done to date, and Bert did a great job editing the video to get the best camera angles of each shot.  Bert also did a wonderful job on the artwork.  Thanks to Kari McGrath for some great photos to work with!  The DVDs are $15 and you get a copy of the audio CD as well.  I’m planning a fairly large update and/or redesign of the JMB website, so it will be available at our online store very soon.
• The hybrid drumset has performed admirably over the last two weekends.  I think it’s fairly close to being the perfect drumset for all occasions and playing situations.
• My new Motorola Q is pretty cool.  I’m really glad I didn’t spend a lot more money on a new Treo because it seems the Q can do everything the Treo can do.  I had to purchase a special program to get the phone to sync with my Mac computer, but that has made it very easy to keep track of contacts, calendar dates, etc.  I’ve yet to drop a call since switching back to Verizon, and the reception on my calls has been very clear.

Powered by ScribeFire.

A couple of football bits…

• Kentucky’s football team has, arguably, one of the toughest schedules in the nation this year.  Pre-season rankings showed that half of the Cats’ slate this year were Top 25 teams.  Most have them pegged to finish 6-6.  After one of their best seasons in a long while, and with a solid group of returning players, it’s somewhat disappointing to see such a tough schedule.  Welcome to life in the SEC.  But, after two weeks of play, that schedule isn’t looking so tough anymore.  The latest polls show South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee rounding out the bottom of the Top 25.  Seems to me, all three those games could go either way - hopefully in the Cats’ favor.  I’m still sticking to my guns that it is not unrealistic to see UK sitting at 6-0 going into the LSU game.  A tough Louisville game and South Carolina sit in front of LSU.  After seeing Louisville’s defense fail to show up against Middle Tennessee, I’m thinking UK has a very real shot of winning.  As mentioned, the South Carolina game could go either way.  If UK can beat U of L, there’s no reason they can’t beat the Gamecocks.  I’m predicting another 8-4 season for the Cats.
• With the Reds‘ season coming to a disappointing close in the next couple of weeks, I’ve officially turned my attention to the Bengals.  They open their season tonight on Monday Night Football  against the Ravens.  Can enough of the Bengals stay out of jail this year to get the Bengals to the playoffs?  I predict an 11-5 record for Cincy this year.  Yes, it seems optimistic, but they have a fairly easy schedule, aside from early games (losses) to the Patriots and Seahawks.  Beating the Ravens twice will be tough, but doable.  They’ll split with Pittsburgh, and depending on the development of St. Louis and San Francisco throughout the season, those games could go either way.  There’s no reason for the Bengals to not win the division.

Powered by ScribeFire.

I thought this was pretty clever…. if you’ve got five minutes to spare, give it a look.

Just a few weeks shy of having the Major League’s worst record and being fourteen games out of first place, the Cincinnati Reds have found a little life.  Thanks to some stumbling by a couple of teams in front of them, and a recent six game winning streak, the Reds find themselves a mere seven games out of first place with a little over a month left in the season.

Since firing Jerry Narron, the Reds have the NL’s best record at 29-19.  The Milwaukee Brewers have successfully stumbled out of first place and given the Chicago Cubs a taste of first place.  Injuries seem to be plaguing the Cubs, so it’s anyone’s guess if they can hold on to the lead.  The St. Louis Cardinals have remained consistent all season, and they sit in third place, just two and a half games out of first.

While it’s not probable the Reds can gain enough momentum to get back in the race, it’s not impossible by any means.  Especially in the league’s worst division.  Last season, the Reds all but gave up in September, only to find themselves three games out with a week left in the season and a series with the eventual World Series champions (St. Louis) in front of them.  They didn’t pull it off, but hopefully learned a valuable lesson - never, ever give up.

It should be an exciting September in the central division.  Anything can happen in baseball, so I wouldn’t rule out a tight, four-team race for the division crown heading into the last week of the season.

A few random blogging topics on my mind today:

• Congrats to Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. on getting inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.  It couldn’t have been any more deserving for two class acts.  Gwynn is arguably one of the greatest hitters to play the game, and who can question Ripken’s ironman streak of consecutive games played - not only the streak, but to put up some great offensive numbers day in and day out.  I only caught highlights of their induction speeches, but it only made me respect them more.  They are two reasons why I grew up loving the game of baseball.
• I find myself actually looking forward to UK football this year.  I think they’re going to have a very good season (having eight home games helps).  Woodson, Little and Burton should be fun to watch on offense.
• I started reading Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus yesterday.  Time will tell if I’ll get halfway through it and stop reading (what usually happens), or if I’ll actually make it through it.  I am taking notes while reading, so I should be able to post a pretty good review when/if I finish.  The main point so far seems to be seizing “divine” moments every day.  Every moment of our life is a gift from God to do good.
• I’m looking into the possibility of getting a new vehicle.  My CRV is still in good shape, but needs some work, and I’m not sure I want to spend much money on it.  Top choices as of now are:  Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota RAV4, or Toyota Corolla.  As I blogged about my budgeting the other day, I’d really rather do nothing altogether.  But, at some point, I’m either going to have to fix up the CRV (and keep fixing it up over the next few years) or dive into a car payment.  Suzuki is offering some good deals right now and they have a very good warranty, so that’s the direction I’m leaning.

Powered by ScribeFire.

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!